Past Tense 😱

Past tense verbs in Pashto are famous for being very difficult and confusing for the learner. Thankfully there are some very simple rules that we can learn, and with a little practice (ok, a lot of practice) you'll find there's nothing scary about the past tense in Pashto at all.

Now that we're making past tense verbs, we will be using the bottom half of the roots and stems tree.

And when we use these roots we will have to choose between the imperfective and perfective aspects on the left and right sides.

We'll use the imperfective and perfective roots to make two past tense verb forms:

1. The simple ( perfective) past
   • one time, complete actions
2. The continuous ( imperfective) past
   • continuous, ongoing, unfinished in the past

Then, we will see something very simple that, because it's often unknown or misunderstood, really trips people up when learning Pashto. The phrase structure totally changes depending on what type of verb we are using. The whole setup of a sentence will change depending on whether we're using:

1. Intransitive verbs
   • verbs with no object
2. Transitive verbs
   • verbs that have an object

First we'll introduce the two forms (simple and continuous past) using intransitive verbs, and then later we'll see how things change when we use transitive verbs. Let's go!

Past tense with intransitive verbs 😀

We'll start by looking at the intransitive verbs in the past tense because it's simpler. We have no object, the subject is the king that controls the verb, and there's no weird inflection going on.

Simple Past

The simple past tense is used for single, one-time, complete actions. It's also known as the "preterite" or "perfective past."

It uses the perfective root because it's looking at the event in the perfective aspect, as a complete whole.

رسېدل - rasedúl

to arrive

split head

Imperfective Stem

رسېږـ

raséG–

LongShort

Perfective Stem

ورسېږـ

óoraseG–

LongShort

Imperfective Root

رسېدل

rasedúl

LongShort

Perfective Root

ورسېدل

óorasedul

LongShort

longshort

Neg.Pos.

Pers.	Singular	Plural
1st	زه ورسېدم zu óorasedum I arrived	مونږ ورسېدو moonG óorasedoo We arrived
2nd	ته ورسېدې tu óorasede You arrived	تاسو ورسېدئ táaso óorasedey You (pl.) arrived
3rd m.	هغه ورسېد haghá óorased He/it (m.) arrived	هغوی ورسېدل haghwée óorasedul They (m. pl.) arrived
3rd f.	هغه ورسېده haghá óoraseda She/it (f.) arrived	هغوی ورسېدې haghwée óorasede They (f. pl.) arrived

Notice how when you can use the short or the long version of the roots.

A special use of the simple past

The simple past tense is also used with چې... - che... clauses to talk about if/when something happens in the future.

Continuous Past

The continuous past tense is used for:

• actions that were ongoing, in progress or repeated in the past
• actions that were going to happen (but didn't)
• actions that "would" happen
  • as in they would happen if ...
  • or as in they would happen regularly/habitually in the past

The continuous past uses the imperfective root because it's looking at the event in the imperfective aspect, and seeing the action as in progress, ongoing, or incompleted. It's often used to set the background for other events, as in: زه کور ته تلم چې... - zu kor ta tlum che... (I was going home when...)

رسېدل - rasedúl

to arrive

split head

Imperfective Stem

رسېږـ

raséG–

LongShort

Perfective Stem

ورسېږـ

óoraseG–

LongShort

Imperfective Root

رسېدل

rasedúl

LongShort

Perfective Root

ورسېدل

óorasedul

LongShort

longshort

Neg.Pos.

Pers.	Singular	Plural
1st	زه رسېدم zu rasedúm I was arriving • I would arrive • I was going to arrive	مونږ رسېدو moonG rasedóo We were arriving • We would arrive • We were going to arrive
2nd	ته رسېدې tu rasedé You were arriving • You would arrive • You were going to arrive	تاسو رسېدئ táaso rasedéy You (pl.) were arriving • You (pl.) would arrive • You (pl.) were going to arrive
3rd m.	هغه رسېد haghá raséd He/it (m.) was arriving • He/it (m.) would arrive • He/it (m.) was going to arrive	هغوی رسېدل haghwée rasedúl They (m. pl.) were arriving • They (m. pl.) would arrive • They (m. pl.) were going to arrive
3rd f.	هغه رسېده haghá rasedá She/it (f.) was arriving • She/it (f.) would arrive • She/it (f.) was going to arrive	هغوی رسېدې haghwée rasedé They (f. pl.) were arriving • They (f. pl.) would arrive • They (f. pl.) were going to arrive

Past tense with transitive verbs 😵

Here's where things get interesting. With past tense transitive verbs, the roles of king and servant are reversed! With past tense transitive verbs in Pashto:

• The object is the king of the phrase
  • The object commands the verb!
• The subject is the servant of the phrase

Also, another weird thing that happens is that the subject is inflected.

• The subject gets inflected
• The object does NOT get inflected

This isn't just some insanity unique to Pashto. In linguistics it's known as ergative alignment. And in Pashto this seemingly "backwards" phrase structure hits us whenever we use a past tense transitive verb.

The tenses (simple and continous past) stay the same and the formulas for making them are the same, but the phrase structure changes. Have a look at the examples below. Try editing them and changing the subjects and objects to see how it affects the verb. Remember, the object is king and the subject inflects.

Examples with simple past

Examples with continous past

Habitual Past Tenses

You can add a به - ba to either the simple or continuous past to talk about a habitually recurring action in the past. (Remember the به - ba always goes in the kids' section.) The difference between the two habitual tenses is slight, and depends on how we view the events.

• Habitual Simple Past
  • an event that occured and finished habitually/repeatedly
• Habitual Continuous Past
  • an event that happened habitually/repeatedly as a process or ongoing activity

Habitual Simple Past

With the habitual simple past (AKA habitual perfective past), we are talking about an action that was habitually repeated in the past, but we look at each event as a complete action, kind of like recurring snapshots taken with a camera.

Habitual Continuous Past

With the habitual continuous past (AKA habitual imperfective past), we are talking about an action that was habitually repeated in the past, but we look at each event as an activity that was ongoing or happening, kind of like a a collection of video clips.

The habitual continuous past is also used to say what would happen if some condition were true.