Tense And Aspect In Ogbunike Igbo

Affirmative
i. Nnenna ga-eje ahia.
ii. Nnenna will go to market.

Negative
i. Nnenna agaghi eje ahia.
ii. Nnenna will not go to market.

(B) Tensi Ndinaazu: Affirmative and Negative
It shows a past action, that has ended and concluded. It uses the suffix-rv, means “r” and a vowel, for example
Verb root            Ndinaazu            Sentence
-ri                         riri                      O riri ji
Eat                       ate                He/She ate yam

Negative
O righi ji = He/she did not eat yam.
The negative forms make use of the suffix- ghi.

(C) Tensi Ngaaradi:

It talks about what should have happened in the past but it did not take place. It talks about a past time. The difference between it and Tensi Ndinaazu is that the latter talks about a past and concluded action while the former (Tensi Ngaaradi) shows that “the supposed past action was not done at all. It makes use of the auxiliary verb gaara and the verb prefix a-/e- or i-/i-,

example Affirmative
i. Adaeze gaara esi nri.
ii. Adaeze should have cooked.

Negative
Adaeze agaraghi esi nri.
Adaeze should have not cooked.

ASPEEKITI (1) (A.O Enemor and E. C Osinomumu 2005:74-76) say that aspect does not point to the actual time of an event rather it points to the duration of an event. It could be an event that started in the past, continuing till the time of the utterance. It could start from the time of Utterance to an unknown completion of the event. Aspect also shows the Nature/State of things. There are four (4) categories of aspects namely.

A, Aspeekiti Mmecha

B, Aspeekiti Ngawanye

C, Aspeekiti Mmaahu and

D. Aspeekiti Mfe.

(A) Aspeekiti Mmecha: This shows the duration of an inception of an action which could have started from the past, till the completion of such an action. It uses the suffix “Ulu” or VLV, where V stands for a vowel, then ‘L’

for example i. O jeela ahia. He/She has gone to market.
ii. Nneka e jeela ahia. 35 Nneka has gone to the market.

One could see that Nneka started going to the market in the past and not as at the time of utterance, but the act of going to the market was extended to the time of the utterance.

(B) Aspeekiti Ngawanye /Ndigide: It shows the duration of an inception of an action like Aspeekiti Mmecha, but it starts from the time of an utterance till an unknown completion of the action. It goes on to the future. It makes use of the auxiliary “na” and an adverb,
for example.
i. O na-agu akwukwo. He/she is reading.
ii. Nnem na-ete ofe. My mother is cooking soup.

(C) Aspeekiti Mmaahu: It shows what one is used to, it does not point at anytime. Like Aspeekiti Ndigide it uses the auxiliary verb “na” to demonstrate itself, but the difference between them is that Aspeckiti Mmaahu shows what one does many a time/often times that he is used to but Aspeekiti Ndigide shows what one does as at the time of utterance, for example.
i. Nnem na-akuzi nkuzi. My mother is a teacher.
ii. O na-ezu ohi. He/She is a thief.

(D) Aspeekiti Mfe: It shows the state/Nature of a thing. It makes use of the Stative Verb, and this verb uses the suffix –rv at times, like tensi ndinaazu, but it shows the state of things, example:
i. Ofe ahu di uto. That soup is sweet.
ii. O pere mpe. He is short/small.

(2) (A.O Ume and et-al 1989:99-100) say that aspect shows the extension of time through the inflection in the verb root unlike, tense that points to the actual time, aspect shows the inception and the completion of an action/event.

There are 3 aspects in Igbo language namely:
A. Aspeekiti Mfe
B. Aspeekiti Mmecha and
C. Aspeekiti ndigide.

(A) Aspeekiti Mfe: Aspeekiti Mfe talks about the state of things. This category is of 2 parts.

a. Those that have no suffix, for example.
i. Obi bu nwannem. Obi is my brother.
ii. Ha mara mma. They are beautiful.

b. Those that have verb suffix, like Tensi Ndinaazu, but the suffix does not make them to be Tensi Ndinaazu. Ndinaazu Aspeekiti Mfe bears the suffix-Uru, for example:
i. Nnem Maara mma. My mother is beautiful.
ii. Obi tooro ogologo. Obi is tall.

(B) Aspeekiti Ndigide: This indicates an on-going event as at the time of utterance. It makes use of the auxiliary verb “na” or sometimes an adverb.

This category also, is in 2 parts
(a) Ngawanye and
(b) Mmaahu

(a) Ngawanye: talks about and on-going event as at the time of utterance, for example:
i. O na-agba oso.
He is running.

(b) Mmaahu: talks about what one is known for, or what happens often times, example:
i. Nna ya na-azu ahia. 
His father is a trader.

(C) Aspeekiti Mmecha: (3) (Igwe Unpublished) says that aspect does not show the actual time of an event /action rather it shows the duration of an event. This involves an event that started in the past, continues till the completion of such an event. It could start from the time of utterance till an unknown completion of the action. It also shows the nature of something. There are 4 categories of aspect in Igbo language namely:

(A) Aspeekiti Mmecha

(B) Aspeekiti Ngawanye

(C) Aspeekiti Mmahu and

(D) Aspeekiti Mfe.

(A) Aspeekiti Mmecha: Affirmative and Negative It shows the duration of an event, starting from the past till the completion of such an event. This category of aspect uses the prefix (v)le to portray itself, for example
i. O riela nri. He/she has eaten. It also makes use of the suffix –beghi in the negative form, example i. O ribeghi nri. H/She has not eaten.

(B) Aspeekiti Ngawanye: Affirmative and Negative This shows the duration of an event just like Aspeekiti Mmecha, Aspeekiti Ngawanye starts from the time of utterance to an unknown completion of the event. It uses the auxiliary verb “na”, for example Affirmative

i. Okechukwu na-asu akwa ya. Okechukwu is washing his clothes.

It also uses the suffix-ghi/ghi and the prefix a-/e- in the negative form, example:
i. Okechukwu anaghi asu akwa ya.