L2.4: The G Preterite

The preterite denotes an action that from the point of view of the speaker occurres or has occurred at a single point in time, also known as punctual. Therefore it is translated as simple past tense.

Important

Pattern: Prefix + R₁R₂vR₃ (+ suffix)

Personal Affixes

To denote person, gender and number personal prefixes and sufixes are added to the root

	G-Stem	Example
3s.c.	i-	iprus
2s.m.	ta-,	taprus
2s.f.	ta-[root]-ī	taprusī
1s.c.	a-	aprus
3pl.m.	i-[root]-ū	iprusū
3pl.f.	i-[root]-ā	iprusā
2pl.c.	ta-[root]-ā	taprusā
1pl.c.	ni-	niprus

Don’t panic! 😱

You don’t have to learn new personal affixes for every stem. The G-Stem personal affixes are used in G, Gt, Gtn, N, Nt, Ntn stems in all tenses. Only the root pattern changes. The stems D, Dt, Dtn, Š, ŠT, Štn have all the same personal affixes and the imperative has its own prefixes. That means you only have to lear 3 types of personal affixes. 😌.

Theme Vowel

The vowel in the preterite pattern R₁R₂vR₃ is a short one. In case of parāsu it is u as in iprus. This is called theme vowel and is unpredictable. Therefore it has to be learned for each root. There

There are three theme vowels a, i and u:

Theme vowel a

	ṣabātum	Translation
3s.c.	iṣbat	she/he/it seized
2s.m.	taṣbat	you (ms) seized
2s.f.	taṣbatī	you (fs) seized
1s.c.	aṣbat	I seized
3pl.m.	iṣbatū	They (m) seized
3pl.f.	iṣbatā	They (f) seized
2pl.c.	taṣbatā	You (pl) seized
1pl.c.	niṣbat	we seized

Theme vowel i

	šarāqum	Translation
3s.c.	išriq	she/he/it stole
2s.m.	tašriq	you (ms) stole
2s.f.	tašriqī	you (fs) stole
1s.c.	ašriq	I stole
3pl.m.	išriqū	They (m) stole
3pl.f.	išriqā	They (f) stole
2pl.c.	tašriqā	You (pl) stole
1pl.c.	nišriq	we stole

Theme vowel u

	šakānum	Translation
3s.c.	iškun	she/he/it placed
2s.m.	taškun	you (ms) placed
2s.f.	taškunī	you (fs) placed
1s.c.	aškun	I placed
3pl.m.	iškunū	They (m) placed
3pl.f.	iškunī	They (f) placed
2pl.c.	taškunā	You (pl) placed
1pl.c.	niškun	we placed

Entry in a Dictionary

In this picture you can see that the theme vowel (a) is placed right after the infinitive of the G-stem.

The independent personal pronouns can be used with verbs for emphasis or for subject with different persons:

Usage	Example	Translation
Emphasis	atta tašriq	It was you (ms) who stole
Many subjects	anāku u atta niṣbat	You and I (we) seized

Note

In this case the independent personal pronoun stands at the beginning of the sentence and not at the end like in the the verbless sentences.