The present tense in Konkani

ayk aamcigalaw

2021-05-23 13:03 (updated 2021-06-15 16:05)

The present tense in Konkani is fairly straightforward, except that you don't get the negative of I do something in Konkani just by inserting a don't into the sentence. Let's consider the simple present (I do something) and the continuous present (I am doing something), as well as the negative present (I don't do something).

Verbs follow some simple rules when said in the present tense:

They’re not tied to the gender of the person doing the action
They use a base for the verb + an ending based on whether the verb’s subject is singular or plural
Both the verb base and the ending depend on whether the sense is positive or negative

Simple present

The following table shows the usual construction of verbs using the simple present tense.

Sense	Singular		Plural
Positive	I do XXX	positive verb base + -taanh [1]	We do XXX	positive verb base + -taati
	You do XXX	positive verb base + -taa	You do XXX
	He / she / it does XXX	positive verb base + -taa	They do XXX
Negative	I don't do XXX	negative verb base + -naa or negative verb base + -Naa	We don't do XXX	negative verb base + -naati or negative verb base + -Naati
	You don't do XXX		You don't do XXX
	He / she / it doesn't do XXX		They don't do XXX

The negative endings with the N consonant are used only when the verb base ends with the same consonant.

Here's a complete example for the verb korcAnh , meaning to do or to make. Note that the verb base for negatives, ka-ar , is a slight extension of the positive base, kar .

English	Konkani	English	Konkani
I make	haanhvanh kartaanh	I don't make	haanhvanh ka-arnaa
You make	toonh kartaa	You don't make	toonh ka-arnaa
He makes	taw kartaa	He doesn't make	taw ka-arnaa
She makes	tee kartaa	She doesn't make	tee ka-arnaa
It makes (e.g. a machine)	tAnh kartaa	It doesn't make	tAnh ka-arnaa
We make	aammi kartaati	We don't make	aammi ka-arnaati
Y’all make	tummi kartaati	Y’all don't make	tummi ka-arnaati
They make	teenh kartaati	They don't make	teenh ka-arnaati

Here's another example for the verb roDcAnh , meaning to cry. The positive verb base is raD and the negative ra-aN .

English	Konkani	English	Konkani
I cry	haanhvanh raDtaanh	I don't cry	haanhvanh ra-aNNaa
You cry	toonh raDtaa	You don't cry	toonh ra-aNNaa
He cries	taw raDtaa	He doesn't cry	taw ra-aNNaa
She cries	tee raDtaa	She doesn't cry	tee ra-aNNaa
It cries (e.g. an animal)	tAnh raDtaa	It doesn't cry	tAnh ra-aNNaa
We cry	aammi raDtaati	We don't cry	aammi ra-aNNaati
Y’all cry	tummi raDtaati	Y’all don't cry	tummi ra-aNNaati
They cry	teenh raDtaati	They don't cry	teenh ra-aNNaati

The preceding example shows that the positive and negative verb bases can be quite different.

Special cases

The verb for being, aascAnh , is a special case in terms of endings. The following table shows how its forms are constructed.

English	Konkani	English	Konkani
I am	haanhvanh aassa	I am not	haanhvanh naa
You are	toonh aassa	You are not	toonh naa
He is	taw aassa	He is not	taw naa
She is	tee aassa	She is not	tee naa
It is	tAnh aassa	It is not	tAnh naa
We are	aammi aassati	We are not	aammi naati
Y’all are	tummi aassati	Y’all are not	tummi naati
They are	teenh aassati	They are not	teenh naati

As aascAnh is a helper verb for some tenses, it is useful to get to know these forms as they are often used in the construction of other tenses (e.g. the past continuous, which will be the subject of another post).

Use as a future tense

It's not uncommon to use the present simple as a sort of everyday future tense. For example, the phrase haanhvanh tAnh kartaanh means I do that. But it's also very commonly used to convey the meaning I will do that, i.e. indicating a future action; one can usually infer the precise meaning from the context. There is a way of saying it explicitly using the future tense – haanhvanh tAnh kartalaw – but this form is seldom used in everyday conversation. Notice that this type of usage isn't restricted to aamci – in English, the phrase I'm going shopping is quite often meant to convey I'm about to go shopping as opposed to I'm currently on my way to the shops. Another example of conflating present and future tenses in English would be a commonly used construction exemplified by the phrase I'm starting work next week.

Present participle

To convey while doing XXX, the form positive verb base + -tanaa is used. For example, kartanaa for while doing or kheLtanaa for while playing.

Searchable list of verb bases

For a searchable list of verb bases, see this page.

Continuous present

The following table shows the construction of verbs using the continuous present tense.

Singular		Plural
I am doing XXX	positive verb base + -tassa	We are doing XXX	positive verb base + -tassati
You are doing XXX		You are doing XXX
He / she / it are doing XXX		They are doing XXX

The endings -tassa and -tassati are contractions of -ta aassa and -ta aassati respectively; aassa and aassati are the simple present tense conjugations of aascAnh (the act of being). This verb is being used as a helper verb, in exactly the same way as am and are are being used in the English versions of those phrases.

Here's an example for korcAnh:

English	Konkani
I am making	haanhvanh kartassa
You are making	toonh kartassa
He is making	taw kartassa
She is making	tee kartassa
It is making	tAnh kartassa
We are making	aammi kartassati
Y’all are making	tummi kartassati
They are making	teenh kartassati

Note that this tense is not generally used in the negative sense in aamci. In English you have I don't do XXX and I am not doing XXX distinct from each other, but in aamci we use haanhvanh ka-arnaa to convey both meanings. [2]