Nepali Verbs - Conjugation in all forms/tenses (Part 3)

Click here for part one and here for part 2 of this article.

Here are a couple more Nepali verb tenses for you:

1.
गर्दै छ 
gardai cha
"am/are/is doing"

This tense tends to be used for things that you are doing right at the moment (eating, walking, etc) as opposed to ongoing projects (like writing a novel, etc). For the latter, you can use the next verb form.
For verbs with stems that end in consonants (i.e., garnu: stem = gar-) you can use the stem as-is and add -dai plus the correct conjugation of hunu (cha, chan, etc.)
For verbs with stems that end in vowels, keep that "n" from the -nu dictionary ending and then add the -dai suffix. For example, khaanu "to eat" becomes khaan-dai instead of khaa-dai.



The first part, "gardai," "khandai," etc. always stays the same through the various politeness levels. Only the second half, the conjugation of hunu, changes:

I = छु chu
we = छौं  chau~
you (timi) = छौ chau
he/she/it = छ cha
they = छन्  chan

NOTE:
There really isn't a negative for this verb tense. Saying something like "I am not doing" makes sense in English, but not really in Nepali. Instead, you can use the phrase "gareko chaina~" ("I haven't done") or something similar using the Present Perfect tense (seen in the previous post).

ALSO, in casual/everyday speech you can leave out the hunu part out altogether and just say "gardai," "khandai," etc.


Examples:
पछि आउँछु. अहिले खाना खाँदै छु.
"Pachi aunchu. Ahile khaana khandai chhu."
Word-for-word translation:
"Later I come. Now food eating am."
I'll come later. Right now I'm eating.

तपाईं के गर्दै हुनुहुन्छ?
"Tapai ke gardai hunuhuncha?"
Word-for-word translation:
"You what doing are?"
What are you doing?

भन्नुस न. सुन्दै छु.
"Bhannus na. Sundai chu."
Word-for-word translation:
"Please tell (won't you). Listening am."
Please speak/tell. I'm listening.

बहिनीले खाना पकाउँदै छ.
"Bahini le khaana pakaundai chha."
Word-for-word translation:
"Little sister food cooking is."

Younger sister is cooking food.

2. Continuous tenses:

garirahancha
"does/is doing (continuously)"

Like stated above, this tense is for things that you are/have been doing continuously - but not necessarily at the moment. This can also be used for things that you are doing at the moment that has been going on for a while.

I = गरेको छु garirahanchu
we = गरेको छौं garirahanchau~
you (timi) = गरेको छौ garirahanchau
you (tapai) = गर्नुभएको छ garirahanuhuncha
he/she/it = गरेको छ garirahancha
they = गरेको छन् garirahanchan

In spoken Nepali it can be shortened to "gari-rancha" or "gari-ranchu," etc.


साफा गर भनेर मागिरहन्छु  तर कहिल्यै सुन्दैनौ!
Saafaa gara bhanera maagirahanchhu tara kahilyai sundainau!
I keep begging you to clean up, but you never listen!


Usually when using this "continuous" tense, it makes more sense in speech to say "I have been doing" instead of "I am doing (continuously)." For instance, we would say "I have been cooking since this morning" instead of "I am cooking since this morning."
This is the same principle in Nepali as well.
For this we would use "gariraheko" or some form of it:


I - गरिरहेको छु gariraheko chu
We - गरिरहेको छौं gariraheko chau~
you (timi) - गरिरहेको छौ gariraheko chau
you (tapai) - गरिरहनुभएको छ garirahanubhaeko cha
he/she (formal) - "    "
he/she/it - गरिरहेको छ gariraheko cha
they - गरिरहेको छन् gariraheko chan


Examples:

बिहानदेखि पकाइरहेको छु.
Bihaana-dekhi pakaairaheko chu.
Word-for-word translation:
"Morning-since I have been cooking."
I've been cooking since this morning.

के तपाईंले औशादी खाइरहनुभएको छ?
Ke tapai~le aushadi khaairahanubhaeko cha?
Word-for-word translation:
"What you medicine have been taking?."
Have you been taking medicine?

२ वर्षदेखि यस आफिसमा काम गरिरहेको छु.
Dui barsa-dekhi yes aafis-ma kaam gariraheko chu.
Word-for-word translation:
"Two years since this office (in) I work have been doing."
I've been working at this office for 2 years.

NOTE:
Like I mentioned in part 2, when a word ends in "aeko" or "aaeko" usually in spoken Nepali it's pronounced like "aah-ko."
e.g.:
gaeko => "gah-ko"
bhaeko => "bhah-ko"
The same goes for this tense, where usually the three syllable "ra-he-ko" is shortened to "raa-ko" and "bha-e-ko" to "bha-ko." ("ma garira'ko chu," "tapai garirahanu-bha'ko cha")

Present to Past tense...

For these tenses, just like the present perfect and past perfect tenses (see part 2), you can substitute the last "cha" conjugation for the past tense "thiyo" version, which turns the tense from "is doing" to "was doing" and "have been doing" to "had been doing."

examples:

Gardai chu = I am doing
vs.
Gardai thie~ = I was doing

Garira'ko chhau = you (informal) have been doing
Garira'ko thiyau = you (inf.) had been doing

For more information on how to conjugate the "thiyo" form, please see part two :)