Expert: PuoTaal - 5/5/2004

Question
Hi PuoTaal, how are you? I have a quick question.
I am trying to teach myself Sesotho. How do I form the past tense? Is it correct to say:
Ke ile ka reka
OR
Ke rekile

Or do they both mean the same thing? Which one is used most? Hope you can help!
Many thanks

Answer
Hi,

The two examples are not exactly the same. The word "ile" is used for the past tense while the verb change (rekile in this case) indicates the perfect tense.

The past tense indicates that an action has already taken place. When creating a simple past tense sentence, ile is added after the subject concord followed with an infixed auxiliary -a- added to the subject concord.

The perfect tense indicates that an action is completed. This tense is indicated by adding one of three formatives (-ile, -ele and -etse) to the end of the verb.


So in the first case - Ke ile ka reka - would mean "I bought". In other words the action happened in the past. While with - Ke rekile - it means "I had bought". The action is completed.

See this page for more information:
http://www.sesotho.web.za/tenses.htm