Bengali Language/Verbs

Bengali verbs can be conjugated according to three tenses : Present, Past and Future

Within each tense, verbs can be conjugated differently according to their aspects : simple, progressive, perfect, habitual, near, distant, etc.

First category of conjugation : Verbs ending in consonant+-aa
An example verb of this category is :

বলা baw•laa to speak

This is the dictionary form or the infinitive form of the verb.

At the end of this verb we have লা laa, which matches the pattern consonant + -aa

To conjugate this kind of verb in the present tense, you

1. remove the -aa in the end.

2. add the following endings depending on Person. (Who is doing the action matters).

3. Note that Number (Singular or Plural) of the Subject doesn't matter. (How many persons are doing the action has no influence on the verb ending.)

progressive/continuous present
This tense describes a present action which is still going on at this moment and not finished.

perfect present
This tense describes an action which was completed in a near past.

habitual present
This tense describes an action which is a currently existing habit.

Verb conjugation in Past tense
Verbs in the past tense can differ according to aspects (whether the action was simply completed, whether the action was in the process of being completed, whether the action happened in the distant past, whether the action happened before another past action, whether the past action was habitual, etc.)

Simple past
Verb in simple past denotes a simple one-time completion of a past action

To conjugate a verb in the simple past tense:

1. from the infinitive form, remove the -aa in the end.

2. add the following endings depending on Person. (Who is doing the action matters).

3. Note that Number (Singular or Plural) of the Subject doesn't matter. (How many persons are doing the action has no influence on the verb ending.)

Progressive/Incomplete past
To conjugate the verb in the progressive past tense, just add -chhi- before the simple past endings

Distant past
To conjugate the verb in the distant past tense, just add -e- before the progressive past endings

Perfect past
To conjugate the verb in the perfect past tense, you need to do the following :

1. create the appropriate perfect aspect stem. See /Perfect Aspect/

2. conjugate the perfect aspect stem in the distant past.

Habitual past
Verb in habitual past denotes a past habit, an action that used to happen periodically over and over again.

To conjugate a verb in the habitual past tense:

1. from the infinitive form, remove the -aa in the end.

2. add the following endings depending on Person. (Who is doing the action matters). It's almost the same as the simple past tense except that the -l- marker is replaced by the -t- marker.

3. Note that Number (Singular or Plural) of the Subject doesn't matter. (How many persons are doing the action has no influence on the verb ending.)

Perfect future

 * /Perfect Aspect/