Past Tense

This unit introduces the past tense in Zarma, covering both affirmative and negative forms.

Simple Past

The simple past is formed with the pronoun followed directly by the verb.

Zarma	English
Joe day fuula habo ra	Joe bought a hat in the market
Djibo kan guso ra	Djibo fell into a hole
Jennifer koy Zinder bi	Jennifer went to Zinder yesterday
Zankay furo windo ra	The kids entered the concession

Negative Past

The negative past is formed by placing “man” before the verb.

Zarma	English
Bi ay man koy habu	Yesterday, I didn’t go to the market
Fred man koy klasso ra	Fred didn’t go into the class
Jennifer man koy Zinder bi	Jennifer did not go to Zinder yesterday
Zankay man furo windo ra	The kids did not enter the concession