a-practical-kurdish-grammar

86 A PRACTICAL KURDISH GRAMMAR
amples: («-»^ ^ (ha na-tirs-(i)m) 'let me not fear!';
f^y^ \> (ba na-khwen-e) 'let him not read'; ÖT^J^ \^^^
na-tirs-in) 'let us not fear!'; ^j>^ \i (ba na-khwen-(i)n) 'let
them not read!'
210. In the case of 'composite verbs', the negative particle
is inserted between the separable prefix and the verb. Ex¬
amples: cy^33 (war-na-gr-(i)m) 'I do not receive', or 'I
shall not receive'; "yy^ jj\,jj (war-yan-na-girtua) 'they
have not received'; ^y Id*, (hal-na-gr-(i)m) 'I will not
carry'; y^y^ ö^ (hal-yan-na-girt-(e)-bii) 'they had not
carried'.
The Tenses of the Verb
211. There are six tenses, the present, future, imperfect,
preterite, perfect, and pluperfect. And in each tense there
are two numbers, singular and plural.
(1) The present tense indicates that the action is going on
at the present moment, while one is speaking.
(2) The future tense is missing in the inflection of the
Kurdish verb. The present and future tenses are usually
alike as to form, but confusion, nevertheless, seldom arises
as to which tense is meant, as usually some 'adverb of time'
is associated with the verb, revealing its future meaning.
(3) The imperfect tense indicates that an action was tak¬
ing place, but was not finished at a given moment. It also
denotes the duration or frequency of an action.
(4) The preterite tense indicates that an action took place
in the indefinite past, either a long time ago, or quite recently.