Table of Contents
The Past Tense
- Note that the past tense in Yiddish can be translated in several ways in English, depending on the context. Besides went, the verb here may be rendered were going, did go or have gone. Similarly, the verb bought may also be translated was buying, did buy, have bought; and the verb ate – was eating, did eat, has eaten.
A Yiddish verb in the past tense has two parts: a helping verb and a participle.
The Helping Verb
- The helping verb is האָבן or זײַן. The present tense form of the verb is used.
- Most verbs form the past tense with האָבן; only a small number do so with זײַן.
The Participle
- The participle has the prefix –גע (unless the accent does not fall on the first syllable of the infinitive – see examples below).
- The participle ends in ט– or ן–.
- The participle is invariant (it does not change).
- Participles ending in ט– always come with the helping verb האָבן.
- Some participles ending in ן– come with the helping verb האָבן, and others with זײַן.
- When the accent is on the first syllable of the infinitive, participles ending in ט– are almost always formed according to the following pattern:
For example:
- קױפֿן — געקױפֿט
- לײענען — געלײענט
- בױען — געבױט
When the base form ends in ט–, a second ט– is not added, for example:
- טראַכטן — געטראַכט
Four participles ending in ט– do not follow this pattern. We have already learned these four verbs in YiddishPOP; here they are with their participles:
- ברענגען — געבראַכט
- האָבן — געהאַט
- װיסן — געװוּסט
- װעלן — געװאָלט
Participles ending in ן– are formed in various ways, sometimes with a change in vowel, a change in consonant, or an added consonant. For example:
- העלפֿן — געהאָלפֿן
- טרינקען — געטרונקען
- טראָגן — געטראָגן
- עסן — געגעסן
- גײן — געגאַנגען
- פֿליִען — געפֿלױגן
- זיצן – געזעסן
More About the Prefix –גע
- When the accent does not fall on the first syllable of the infinitive, the participle has no prefix –גע. For example:
- צעקלאַ'פּן — צעקלאַ'פּט
- פֿאַרשטײ'ן — פֿאַרשטאַ'נען
A small number of verbs have a base form beginning with an unaccented –גע. Here –גע is not an indication of the participle. As is the case with other verbs when the accent does not fall on the first syllable, no (additional) –גע is added to the participle. For example:
- געפֿי'נען — ער געפֿי'נט — ער האָט געפֿו'נען
- געשע'ן — עס געשע'ט — עס איז געשע'ן
- געפֿע'לן — עס געפֿע'לט — עס איז געפֿע'לן
The table below contains the following verbs conjugated in the past tense:
- קױפֿן (helping verb האָבן, participle ending in ט–)
- עסן (helping verb האָבן, participle ending in ן–)
- גיין (helping verb זײַן, participle ending in ן–)
At the bottom of this page, there are tables with the past tense of all the verbs that we have learned so far in YiddishPOP, and in 6.5 נאָך פּרטים you’ll find summary tables with the past tense of all the verbs that appear in YiddishPOP, and in addition, an expanded table of verbs with helping verb זײַן.
The following tables contain the past tense of the verbs that appear in the current lesson.
For word order in the past tense, see 5.3 נאָך פּרטים.
For verbs with a converb in the past tense, see 5.4 נאָך פּרטים.
נישטאָ ~ נישטאָ קײן ~ נישט דאָ
In lesson 1.3 we learned the construction איז דאָ / זײַנען דאָ that indicates existence or presence. When this construction is negated, the negative נישט is contracted with the word דאָ, and written as one word: נישטאָ.
When the construction איז דאָ / זײַנען דאָ is negated, the negative article קײן comes with a nonspecific noun in accordance with the usual rules (see 3.3 נאָך פּרטים).
When דאָ is the opposite of דאָרט, that is, when דאָ indicates place, not existence or presence, the contraction נישטאָ is not used. For example:
Note that sentences like the example brought earlier, דער אתרוג איז דאָ, are ambiguous and a broader context is needed to understand their precise meaning. The two possibilities (presence or place) can be seen in the following two questions with the same answer:
This distinction is also important in relation to word order. The adverb of place דאָ (versus דאָרט) can, like other adverbs, come at the beginning of the sentence. The second question can thus also be answered as follows:
However, דאָ that indicates existence/presence (versus נישטאָ) is never placed at the beginning of the sentence: the word דאָ must be placed after the verb in the answer to the first question:
טאַטן/זײדן/מאַמען/באָבען
In unit 4 and lesson 5.1 we learned about the cases: how some categories of nouns and related words change according to their role in the sentence. We looked at people’s names, personal pronouns, the question word װער and the definite article. We have already noted that very few nouns decline; in this lesson we are learning the forms of four that do decline:
טאַטע and זײדע decline in the accusative and the dative. מאַמע and באָבע only decline in the dative. As with people’s names, a ן– is added. Here are the forms of the four nouns in all cases, with the definite article:
Note:
- There is no ע in the declined forms טאַטן and זײדן.
- Just as the article דער (masculine) declines in the accusative and the dative, the nouns טאַטע and זײדע also decline in the accusative and the dative. And just as the article די (feminine) declines only in the dative, the nouns מאַמע and באָבע decline only in the dative.
העלפֿן
The verb העלפֿן comes with an object in the dative (not accusative!).
When העלפֿן comes with an infinitive, there is no particle צו (see 5.1 נאָך פּרטים on the infinitive with and without צו).
- The verb הענגען is conjugated in the past tense with זײַן when it is intransitive, and with האָבן when it is transitive. For example:
