Page 330 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

As displayed in Chitoniya Tharu (Paudyal 2013:194), Maithili (Yadav
1996:217), Awadhi (Saksena 1937/1971:238), Hindi (Koul 2008:105) and Nepali

(Upadhyay 2010:93 and Adhikari 2016:199), Bhojpuri has three tense system: past,
future and present.

10.1.1 Past tense
An event (or state) whose event-time proceeds the time of speech is regarded
as past tense. The past tense in Bhojpuri is marked differently according to the person,

number, gender and honorificity. For past tense, participle forms of verbs are used but
followed by -इस /-is/, -ए /-e/, -एँ /-ẽ/, -अ /-ʌ/, -ऊ /-u/, -अस /-ʌs/, -अक /-ʌk/, -अख /-ʌkʰ/,

-अन /-ʌn/, -इनी /-ini/, -अनी /-ʌni/ or -नी /-ni/ for second and third perosn in accordance

with gender, number and honorificity. Among them, the suffix -ए /-e/ is the outcome

of grammaticalization of the multifunctional clitic -ए /-e/, already discussed in

Chapter 6.2. Moreover, -इनी /-ini/ or -अनी /-ʌni/ or -नी /-ni/ is full honorific marker in

all environments replacing the infinitive/participle markers -इल /-il/ or -अल /-ʌl/. All
are exemplified in (1a-i).

(1) a. तेँ अइिलस/ले ।

tẽ ʌilis/e
tẽ ɑ-il-is/e

2SG.NOM come-PP-2.PST
'You came.' (non-honorific)
b. तू समझलऽ ।

tu sʌmʌȷ ̈ lʌ

tu sʌmʌȷ ̈ -ʌl-ʌ
2SG.NOM understand-PP-2.PST.MH
'You understood.' (mid-honorific-masculine) (06.044)

c. तू समझलू ।

tu sʌmʌȷ ̈ lu
tu sʌmʌȷ ̈ -ʌl-u

2SG.NOM understand-PP-2.PST.F.MH
'You understood.' (mid-honorific-feminine)

d. राम आइल ।
rɑm ɑil

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