Bikol/Verb tenses

Bikol has three tenses: past tense, progressive tense (used for both present and habitual action), and future tense. It also has a form that is used for both the infinitive and the command tenses. Infinitive Tense The infinitive is created by placing the affix indicating the verb class onto the base. «-on» class apód ↔ apodón gíbo ↔ gibóhon «i-» class ulí ↔ iulí taó ↔ itaó «-an» class imbitár ↔ imbitarán hugás ↔ hugásan Future Tense The future tense is composed by taking the infinitive of each word class and reduplicating the first syllable of the verb base. «-on» class apód ↔ áapodón gíbo ↔ gigibóhon «i-» class ulí ↔ iúulí taó ↔ itátaó «-an» class imbitár ↔ iímbitarán hugás ↔ huhugásan Past Tense The past tense is built upon the infinitive form. (1) If the base begins with a vowel, the affix «-in-» is prefixed to the base. (2) If the base begins with a consonant, the affix «-in-» is infixed between the first consonant and the first vowel of the base. «i-» class ulí ↔ iínulí taó ↔ itínaó «-an» class imbitár ↔ inímbitarán hugás ↔ hinugásan «-on» class: This class is an exception. When the past tense affix is added to the base, the infinitive suffix is removed and the stress returns to its normal base position. apód ↔ inapód sublí ↔ sinublí Progressive Tense The progressive tense is formed by taking the future form and either prefixing or infixing (depending on whether the base begins with a vowel or a consonant) the affix «-in-» within or before the reduplicated syllable. «i-» class ulí ↔ iinúulí taó ↔ itinátaó «-an» class imbitár ↔ inímbitarán hugás ↔ hínuhugásan «-on» class: This class is an exception. As with the past tense, when the «-in-» affix is added to form the progressive tense, the suffix «-on» is dropped. apód ↔ ináapód sublí ↔ sinúsublí Alternate Command Form As was discussed earlier, the infinitive form of the verb can be used as a command. However, this only applies when the pronoun is stated. When the pronoun is not stated, the alternate command form is used. This is created by adding a suffix which depends on the class of the verb. «i-» class: adds the suffix «-an», or «-han» if the verb base ends in a vowel bugták ↔ bugtakán abut ↔ abután «-an» class: adds the suffix «-i», or «-hi» if the verb base ends in a vowel námit ↔ namíti probár ↔ probarí «-on» class: adds the suffix «-a», or «-ha» if the verb base ends in a vowel hilíng ↔ hilingá sábi ↔ sabíha