Lesson 12. Past Continuous Tense
The past continuous tense expresses an action that was being done somtime in the past, as in "I was writing Lesson 12 the whole morning". It requires another statement that preceded or follws it in order to make sense. "When you came yesterday, I was wrting Lesson 11".
Example 12.1
enti enterdu grara (last night) an sans'A Qu erguKwn
I was eating a bread when you came last night.
enti genjru ergruKw You were sleeping
gaim mihrotl feru erguKw Gaim was going to school
seKwa arbed yn blin kntnu erg`nKwn
We were studying Blin studies for three months
1st Person Singular: -u + erguKwn
2nd Person Singular: -du + ergruKw
3rd Person Singular (masc.): -u + erguKw
3rd Person Singular (Fem.): -du + ergti
1st Person Plural: -nu + erg`nKwn
2nd Person Plural: -dunu + ergdnuKw
3rd Person Plural: -unu + ergnuKw
Example 12.2 The past continuous tense of the verb ferna, to go, is (I was going, you were going, he/she was going, we/you/they were going)
1st Person Singular: an Asmara feru erguKwn
I was going to Asmara
2nd Person Singular: enti Asmara ferdu ergruKw
You were going to Asmara
3rd Person Singular (masc.): Gaim Asmara feru erguKw
Gaim was going to Asmara
3rd Person Singular (Fem.): nri Asmara ferdu ergti
She was going to Asmara
1st Person Plural: yn Asmara fernu erg`nKwn
We were going to Asmara
2nd Person Plural: entn Asmara ferdunu ergdnuKw
You were going to Asmara
3rd Person Plural: naw Asmara ferunu erg`nuKw
They were going to Asmara
Observe that (i) the 1st Person Singular has the same suffix form (-u) as the 3rd Person Singular (masc.) has: an feru erguKwn (I was going). ni feru ergukw (He was going). The continuous form feru is the same in both.
(ii) The 2nd Person Singular (fem, masc.) and the 3rd Person Singular (Fem.) also have the same suffix form (-du). enti ferdu ergruKw (you were going). nri ferdu ergti (she was going).
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Kifle
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