—Kurmanji Kurdish— A Reference Grammar with Selected Readings

CONSONANT-FINAL STEM VOWEL-FINAL STEM
bí- stem -ama bí- stem -ana bí- stem -ma bí- stem -na
bí- stem -ayî bí- stem -ana bí- stem -ya bí- stem -na
bí- stem -a bí- stem -ana bí- stem -ya bí- stem -na
The past conditional of intransitives is intransitive and non-ergative; the
past conditional of transitives is ergative.
INTRANSITIVE ERGATIVE
ez bihatama em bihatana wî bidîtama wî bidîtana
tu bihatayî hun bihatana wî bidîtayî wî bidîtana
ew bihata ew bihatana wî bidîta wî bidîtana
ez nehatama em nehatana wî nedîtama wî nedîtana
The past conditional of bûn does not normally have the bi- prefix when it
means ‘be.’ Its conjugation is as follows:
ez bûma em bûna
tu bûya hun bûna
ew bûya ew bûna
In compound verbs and when it means ‘become,’ the past conditional of
bûn does have the bi- prefix.
Nêçirvanekî herî dilêr jî newirî bû bi
roj di nav re derbas bibûya.
Wê ferqiyeta herdu zaravayên kurdî
yên mezin hêdî hêdî hindiktir bibûya.
KURMANJI KURDISH
Even a really intrepid hunter would not
have dared to pass through in the daytime.
The difference between the two large
Kurdish dialects would gradually have
decreased.
The past conditional is used (1) as the complement to the past perfect
tense of karîn, which is, as has been stated, the normal equivalent to the
English past tense of ‘be able.’ While the present tense of karîn is followed
by the present subjunctive, in some dialects the past perfect is followed by
the past conditional. See the following examples.
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