Past Tense in the Ndebele Language

Salibonani bangane (hello friends). If you are new, please start at the first post at the bottom and work your way up to this, the newest post.

Answer/ ask questions of the community Community Questions tab.

If you would like to support us, please go to our Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/NorthernNdebele or get involved as a volunteer by emailing us at northernndebeleblog@gmail.com.

Learn with the beginner lesson: Lessons tab.

Lamuhla, let us look at the Past Tense in isiNdebele. With the verbs, ukubona (to see) and ukuhamba (to go), we can say in Ndebele:

Ngibona - I see, or Ubona - you see (present tense) or
Ngabona - I saw, or Wabona - You saw (past tense).

For example, umfana wabona - the boy saw.

In the Perfect Tense (for the recent past), we can also say:

Ngibonile - I have seen (recently)
Uhambile - You have gone (recently).

For example, Ubonile'mfana? (Have you seen the boy?). Ye, ubuyile umfana, ngimbonile (Yes, the boy has arrived, I have seen him).

For more on the Past Tense, and also the Perfect Tense, go to Lesson 31 in the Lessons tab.

Hlalani kuhle bakithi.