Transcript Past Tense and Future tense

Past tense and Future tense
In order to indicate the past tense in Potawatomi we
add gi behind the pronoun and before the verb.
• Ngi zhya
• I went
• Ggi zhya ne?
• Did you go?
• Ngi maji• I left.
• Ggiwawijgemen• We read.
• Gi nébyegek• They wrote.
• Gi binchege o nene.
• He cleaned.
In order to indicate the future tense in Potawatomi we add wi
behind the pronoun and before the verb. Also wi can be used
to indicate a desired action. He wanted to clean.
• Nwi zhya
• I will go.
• Gwi zhya ne?
• Are you going to go?
• Nwi maji• I will leave.
• Gwiwawijgemen• We are going to read.
• Wi nébyegek• They will write.
• Wi binchege o nene.
• He will clean.
In the conjunct form we use ga for
the past and wa for the future.
• Ni je pi wa je majiwat?
• When are they leaving?
• Ni je wi ga je majit?
• Why did he leave?
• Ni je pi wa wawijgeyen?
• When are you going to read?
• Ni jet so bmadzejek ga giwsewat?
• How many people went hunting?
• This form will be covered more extensively in a later section.
• Ggimajimen nago.
• We left yesterday.
• Wabek nwi maji.
• I am leaving tomorrow.
• Ggizhyam ne nago?
• Did you all go yesterday?
• Gwi bodwe ne ibe?
• Are you going to build a fire over there?
Wawijge- he/she reads
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Ngiwawijge- I did read
Ggiwawijge - you did read
Gi wawijge- he/she did read
Ngiwawijgemen- We(-u) did read
Ggiwawijgemen - We all did read
Ggiwawijgem- You all did read
Gi wawijgek- They did read
Mbwachewe- he/she visits
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Ngi mbwachewe- I did visit.
Ggi mbwachewe- You did visit
Gi mbwachewe- He/she did visit
Ngi mbwachewemen- We(-u) did visit
Ggi mbwachewemen- We all did visit
Ggi mbwachewem- You all did visit
Gi mbwachewek- They did visit
Gwedemojge- he/she fishes
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Nwi gwedemojge- I will fish.
Gwi gwedemojge- You will fish
Wi gwedemojge- he/she will fish
Nwi gwedemojgemen- we (-u) will fish
Gwi gwedemojgemen- We all will fish
Gwi gwedemojgem- You all will fish.
Wi gwedemojgek- They will fish.
Mikchewi- he/she works
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Nwi mikchewi- I will work
Gwi mikchewi- You will work
Wi mikchewi- He/she will work
Nwimikchewimen- we(-u) will work
Gwimikchewimen- We all will work
Gwimikchewim- You all will work
Wi Mikchewik- They will work
Remember
• Gi is the past tense marker
• Wi is the future tense marker.
• Continue to use the verbs you have been given from
previous lessons to run through the patterns. The
more you do this the easier it will be to remember. It
will start to become second nature after awhile.