4. Verbs: The Aspects

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4. Verbs: The Aspects

Discover the perfective, imperfective, and future through the verb 'aru' (to write).

Kabyle does not know tenses like English. It uses aspects which indicate whether the action is completed, ongoing / habitual, or to come. This is the most important system of the Kabyle verb.

4.1. The three main aspects

AspectMeaningExample (aru = to write)
Perfective
Completed actionyura — he wrote
Imperfective
Ongoing / habitual actionyettaru — he writes
Future
Action to comead yaru — he will write

4.2. The verb "aru" (to write)

Conjugation of the verb aru (to write) in the three aspects
PronomAccompliInaccompliFutur
nekkuriɣttaruɣad aruɣ
keččturiḍtettaruḍad taruḍ
kemturiḍtettaruḍad taruḍ
nettayurayettaruad yaru
nettatturatettaruad taru
nekninuranettaruad naru
kunwiturimtettarumad tarum
nutniuranttaranad arun

4.3. Key takeaways

  • Perfective: a u often appears just before the last consonant (y-u-ra).
  • Imperfective: the central consonant is doubled (y-tt-aru).
  • Future: we add the particle ad before the perfective, but the final vowel changes (yura → ad yaru).
  • The person is marked on the verb. The pronoun (nekk, kečč…) only serves to insist.

4.4. In context

Yura.
He wrote.
Yettaru.
He writes / he writes habitually.
Ad yaru.
He will write.
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