Kurmanji Grammar Series — Lesson 07. An English-language guide to past tense (Dema Borî) with Kurmanji grammar terminology, case and agreement comparisons, examples, exercises, and an answer key. Download the illustrated four-page PDF workbook.
Learning outcomes — Armancên fêrbûnê
Learn the simple past and past habitual, conjugate intransitive past verbs, recognize oblique agents and direct patients in past transitive clauses, form negation and identify common agreement patterns.
1. Past tense — Dema borî
The simple past describes completed events: Ez çûm (I went). The past habitual/imperfective expresses past routines or background situations: Ez diçûm (I used to go / I was going). The two forms are not interchangeable.
2. Past stems — Rehên dema borî
Learn both stems of a verb: çûn (go), present ç-, past çû-; dîtin (see), bîn-/dît-; xwarin (eat), xw-/xwar-; kirin (do/make), k-/kir-; xwendin (read), xwîn-/xwend-. Present stems cannot always be predicted from the infinitive.
3. Intransitive past — Lêkerên negerguhêz
An intransitive past subject is normally direct and controls verb agreement: Ez çûm (I went), Tu çûyî (you went), Ew çû (he/she went), Em çûn (we went), Hûn çûn (you plural went), Ew çûn (they went).
| Direct pronoun | Simple past of çûn | English |
|---|---|---|
| ez | çûm | I went |
| tu | çûyî | you went |
| ew | çû | he/she went |
| em | çûn | we went |
| hûn | çûn | you (plural) went |
| ew | çûn | they went |
4. Past transitive alignment — Ergatîvî
In the canonical past transitive pattern, the agent is oblique, the patient is direct, and the verb agrees with the patient. Compare Ez te dibînim (I see you) with Min tu dîtî (I saw you). The past construction is not passive voice.
5. Pronouns and case — Cînavk û rewş
Direct: ez, tu, ew, em, hûn, ew. Oblique: min, te, wî/wê, me, we, wan. Compare Min kitêb xwend (I read a book), Te kitêb xwend (You read a book), Wan kitêb xwend (They read a book). In the standard teaching pattern, the singular patient kitêb governs the singular verb despite a plural agent.
6. Agreement with the patient — Lihevhatina lêkerê
Compare Wî ez dîtim (He saw me), Wî tu dîtî (He saw you), Wî ew dît (He saw him/her), Wî em dîtin (He saw us), and Wî hûn dîtin (He saw you plural). The direct third-person ew can also be plural, in which case dîtin may be used.
| Agent | Direct patient | Past verb | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| wî | ez | dîtim | he saw me |
| wî | tu | dîtî | he saw you |
| wî | ew (singular) | dît | he saw him/her |
| wî | em | dîtin | he saw us |
| wî | hûn | dîtin | he saw you (plural) |
7. Negative simple past — Neyîniya dema borî
The simple past commonly uses ne-: Ez çûm → Ez neçûm (I went → I did not go); Min ew dît → Min ew nedît (I saw him/her → I did not see him/her). Past habitual negation is different: Ez diçûm → Ez nediçûm.
| Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|
| Ez çûm | Ez neçûm |
| Min ew dît | Min ew nedît |
| Ez diçûm | Ez nediçûm |
8. Past habitual — Dema borî ya dubare
A common imperfective past form uses di- + past stem + agreement: Ez diçûm (I used to go / was going), Tu diçûyî, Ew diçû, Em diçûn. Context determines whether a repeated or ongoing past interpretation is intended.
9. Time expressions — Peyvên demê
Useful expressions include duh (yesterday), par (last year), berê (formerly), wê demê (at that time), and her roj (every day). Ez duh çûm means I went yesterday; Ez berê her roj diçûm means I used to go every day.
10. Transitive vs intransitive — Gerguhêz û negerguhêz
Ez çûm is intransitive: ez is direct and the verb agrees with it. Min ew dît is transitive: min is the oblique agent and ew is the direct patient. This contrast is essential to the past-tense system.
11. Regional variation — Cûdahiyên zaravayan
The canonical ergative pattern is a useful learning baseline, but Kurmanji dialects differ, including in agreement patterns. Not every departure from the textbook paradigm is necessarily an error. The examples here are standard-oriented teaching forms.
12. Dialogue — Axaftin
A: Tu duh çûyî? (Did you go yesterday?) B: Erê, ez çûm. (Yes, I went.) A: Te kitêb xwend? (Did you read a book?) B: Erê, min kitêb xwend. (Yes, I read a book.)
13. Exercises — Rahênan
A. Conjugate çûn for ez, tu, ew singular, em, hûn and ew plural. B. Give oblique forms of ez, tu, ew masculine, em, hûn and ew plural. C. Translate Ez çûm; Min ew dît; Wî ez dîtim; Min tu dîtî; Ez diçûm. D. Negate Ez çûm; Min ew dît; Ez diçûm. E. Identify the agent and patient in Wî em dîtin. F. Explain why Wan kitêb xwend has a singular verb in the canonical pattern.
14. Answer key — Bersiv
A. çûm, çûyî, çû, çûn, çûn, çûn. B. min, te, wî, me, we, wan. C. I went; I saw him/her; he saw me; I saw you; I used to go / was going. D. Ez neçûm; Min ew nedît; Ez nediçûm. E. Wî is oblique agent; em is direct patient; dîtin agrees with em. F. The verb agrees with singular patient kitêb, not plural agent wan.
15. References — Çavkanî
W. M. Thackston, Kurmanji Kurdish: A Reference Grammar (2006); Geoffrey Haig and Ergin Öpengin (2018), linguistic descriptions of Kurmanji Kurdish; University of Arizona Iranian Languages, Kurmanji Kurdish overview. This is a pedagogical synthesis rather than a verbatim reproduction of those works.
16. Next lesson — Dersa pêş
Lesson 08 — Future Tense (Dema Dahatû). Subsequent lessons cover perfect constructions and modal verbs separately.
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