In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

87 TOPIC 25 The Verb To Be “What about the verb to be?” People often ask, as if mentioning a dreadful disease that afflicts every language learner. “No please, whatever else you say, I’ll agree to do, just don’t mention the verb to be”. Thus, the myth of the verb to be has grown, and continues to dazzle learners until today. But right here and now we want to expose the verb to be for what it really is; a simple verb that everyone can learn to use and which has an important linguistic function of expressing the existence of people, things and places. In English we use it constantly, in forms such as: be, am, is, are, was, were, being and been. In English the verb to be changes markedly in appearance from the simple present tense forms of, am and are for singular and plural, to the simple past forms of, was and were. In Ciyawo, the verb to be is also a very important and useful verb which, as Ciyawo learners, you are no doubt already using, perhaps without being aware of it. When we greet people and ask how they are in Ciyawo, we say, ‘ali uli?’, how are you? To this we often get the answer, ‘ndili cenene’, I am well. The term ali is the verb to be in the present continuous tense. It has the meaning: he/she/they/you are. The Ciyawo term ndili is also the verb to be in the present continuous tense for the 1st person singular. It has the meaning: I am. In Ciyawo there are two basic stems from which all tenses of the verb to be are made: -ŵa and -li. To these are added prefixes, including the tense markers, which indicate whether the person or thing, was, is or will be, as well as the Personal Pronoun Markers, PPM, or Class Markers, CM, which reveal ‘who’ or ‘what’ is being. The verb to be can also be formed and used to express ‘not being’. For example someone or something is not. The verb to be follows the same rules and patterns as forming other verb tense conjugations. The following example is the verb to be (+) conjugated using the 3rd person singular, ‘she’ in nine tenses. Remember that in Ciyawo the Personal Pronoun Marker, PPM, ‘A’ can represent you/they/he/she. TOPIC 25: THE VERB TO BE 88 A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING CIYAWO Verb To Be in Nine Tenses using Personal Pronoun ‘She’ The following table shows the verb to be conjugated in seven basic tenses using each of the Personal Pronoun Markers, PPM. Verb To Be in Seven Tenses using all the PPM $JZBXP  &OHMJTIFRVJWBMFOU 5FOTF ŋBMJKJ  TIFXBT QBTU ŋBƌFMF  TIFIBECFFO QBTUQFSGFDU "ƌFMF  TIFIBTCFFO QSFTFOUQFSGFDU "ƌFMFBMJ  TIFIBTCFFOBOEJT QSFTFOUQFSGFDUDPOU "MJ  TIFJT QSFTFOUDPOUTJNQMF "LVƌB  TIFJTCFDPNJOH QSFTFOUDPOU $BƌF  TIFXJMMCF OFBSGVUVSF $BDJƌB  TIFXJMMCF GBSGVUVSF "ƌF  TIFNVTUCF JNQFSBUJWF 11. 1BTU 1BTU QFSGFDU 1SFTFOU QFSGFDU DPOUJOVPVT 1SFTFOU DPOUJOVPVT TJNQMF 1SFTFOU DPOUJOVPVT /FBS GVUVSF 'BSGVUVSF / * /BMJKJ *XBT /BȁFMF *IBE CFFO .CFMFOEJMJ *IBWFCFFO BOETUJMMBN /EJMJ *BN /HVȁB *BN CFDPNJOH $JNCF *BN HPJOH UPCF $JOKJȁB *XJMMCF . :PV .XBMJKJ :PV XFSF .XBȁFMF :PVIBE CFFO .ȁFMFNMJ :PVIBWF CFFOBOE TUJMMBSF .MJ :PVBSF .LVȁB :PVBSF CFDPNJOH $JNȁF :PVBSF HPJOH UPCF $JNDJȁB :PVXJMM CF ǁB" :PV UIFZ IF TIF ǁBMJKJ 4IF XBT ǁBȁFMF 4IFIBE CFFO "ȁFMFBMJ 4IFIBT CFFOBOE TUJMMJT "MJ 4IFJT "LVȁB 4IFJT CFDPNJOH $BȁF 4IFJT HPJOH UPCF $BDJȁB 4IFXJMM CF 5V 8F 5XBMJKJ 8F XFSF 5XBȁFMF 8FIBE CFFO 5VȁFMFUVMJ 8FIBWF CFFOBOE TUJMMBSF 5VMJ 8FBSF 5VLVȁB 8FBSF CFDPNJOH 5VȁF 8FBSF HPJOH UPCF 5VDJȁB 8FXJMMCF [3.137.174.216] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 11:36 GMT) 89 Verb To Be: Present Continuous Tense (+) The verb to be: present continuous tense (+) expresses the idea that someone or something is being in the present moment and is continuing to be. For example the sentence, things are becoming expensive, yindu yikuŵa yakatala, can be expressed using this form of the verb to be. Another example is children are becoming...

Share