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TYPES OF PAST TENSE

1.Past indefinite-( )(-samanya bhoot kaal-)

2.Past continuous-( )(-apoorna bhoot kaal-)

3.Past perfect-( )(-poorna bhoot kaal-)

4.Past perfect continous-( )(-poorna poone bhoot kaal-)

Past Tense:

Building past is easy. Just take the root of a verb and add -a, -e, or -i, respectively for MasculineSingular, Masculine Plurar and Feminine both - Singular and Plurar:

Verb Stem + //(-A/-E/-I) = Past Tense

NB! For verbs, whose stem end in a vowel you have to add //(ya/ye/yi) E.g. ->

-> (Khana -> Kha (stem) -> Khaya)

Some examples:

. (mai~ khaya) = I ate.

. (mai~ padha) = I read.

. (larka khaya) = The boy ate.

. (larki khayi) = The girl ate.

. (aap piya) = You ate. (Sg. polite or Plural)

. (mai~ pani piya) = I drank water.

. (tum pani piye) = You drank water.

Some Verbs are irregular. I'll show you some of them (A little belowyou'll see the past of 'to be', which is needed to build the imperfect past

tense, necessary to be able to say such phrases as "I've used to go ..."):

Past of (Janaa = to go)

/ / / (gaya / gaye / gayi / gayi~)(1: Masc. Sg, 2: Masc. Pl. 3: Fem. Sg, 4: Fem. Pl.)

To build the past imperfect tense, we have first to learn the past tense of the "main" hindi verb:"to be" (Hona). Past of "hona" is even simplier than the present form:

Past of(Honaa = To be)

(tha) = was (for Masculine SINGULAR) (the) = were (for Masculine PLURAL)

(thi) = was (for Feminine SINGULAR) (thi~) = was (for Feminine PLURAL)

Examples:

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. (mai~ vaha~ tha.) = I was there. . (aap yaha~ the) = You (polite) was here.

OR You were here. ( /vaha~/ = there, /yaha~/ = here, /jaha~/ = where) Now as youknow here/there/where (btw, there exist also another word for where = kaha~) I'll give you ahindi proverb:

, . (jahan dhua~ hai, vaha~ aag bhi hai) = Where there is a smoke,there is a fire too.

Past Imperfect Tense:

... Verb Stem + / / (TA/TE/TI) + Past Tense of "Hona" (to be) = Past Imperfect Tense

Stem + //+ ///= Past Imperfect Tense

The past imperfect tense is used to tell about habitual actions in the past. In English it's besttranslated with the pattern "used to + verb":

. (mai~ khata tha) = I used to eat.

. (larka khata tha) = The boy used to

eat. . (larki khati thi) = The girl used to eat. . (aap pite the) = You used

to eat. (Sg. polite or Plural) . (mai~ pani pita tha) = I used to drink water.

. (tum pani pite the) = You used to drink water.

Past Imperfect

The past imprefect is used for habitual actions in the past. It is formed like the present imperfectbut with the past tense of hona instead of the present tense.

Below are shown the forms in the masculine. The feminine forms can be constructed by

replacing bolta and bolte with bolti, replacing tha with thi, and the withthin.

main bolta tha I used to speak

tu bolta tha you used to speak (intimate)

yah bolta tha this, he, it used to speak

vah bolta tha that, he, it used to speak

ham bolte the we used to speak

tum bolte the you used to speak (familiar)

ap bolte the you used to speak (respect)

ye bolte the these, they used to speak

ve bolte the those, they used to speak