Grammar Notes

Grammatical concepts we covered in this unit

• uses of the imperfect past tense
• affirmative and negative imperfect past tense conjugations of ըլլալ
• genitive -ի (with proper nouns)

Uses of the imperfect past tense

Western Armenian uses the imperfect past tense for three different purposes:

1. Past Progressive: I was running [when I fell].
2. Continuous Past: I would run.
3. Habitual Past: I used to run every day.

For all verbs except for our four special verbs (including ըլլալ, ունենալ, and գիտնալ that have two present tense conjugations where the "current reality" conjugation is unusual) and one defective verb, the imperfect past tense can be used to express all three of the above purposes. For the four special verbs, the first two purposes are expressed by an actual past imperfect past tense conjugation. In this unit, you learned the actual past imperfect past tense conjugation for ըլլալ (without the կը/կ՚/կու). As you'll learn later, for the four special verbs, habitual actions in the past along with unfulfilled promises are expressed by a second imperfect past tense conjugation (with կը/կ՚/կու). Just know that, for now, by learning the imperfect tense conjugations of ըլլալ, you can say quite a lot!

On the progressive կոր

Do you remember that many Western Armenian speakers add կոր to regular present tense conjugations to show a progressive/continuous action? They do the same with regular imperfect past tense conjugations as well! Speakers will say Կ՚անձրեւէր կոր ("It was raining") and Ձիւն կու գար կոր ("Snow was coming down").

For more information about the կոր addition, see page 10 of Dora Sakayan's Modern Western Armenian for the English-Speaking World.

Affirmative and negative imperfect past tense conjugations of ըլլալ

Is ըլլալ a regular verb?

Good question! Ըլլալ is actually one of four verbs that have TWO conjugations in the present and imperfect past tenses! In terms of the imperfect past, the actual past is articulated by the conjugation provided below. The second imperfect past tense conjugation reflects habitual past actions. For all other verbs besides these four unusual verbs, all three uses of the imperfect past are expressed by just one imperfect past tense conjugation.

This might seem like a lot to take in...but take heart in knowing that, by learning the imperfect conjugations of ըլլալ, you're actually getting a leg up on learning imperfect past conjugations for two of the three classes of regular verbs in Western Armenian. All verbs ending in -ել and -իլ use the actual past imperfect tense conjugation of ըլլալ as their conjugation endings!

AffirmativeNegative

ըլլալ ("to be")
1st	էի	էինք
2nd	էիր	էիք
3rd	էր	էին

Forming the negative for ըլլալ

The actual past imperfect past tense conjugation of ըլլալ is easily negated by adding a չ- in front of the affirmative actual past imperfect past tense current reality conjugation.

ըլլալ ("to be")
1st	չէի	չէինք
2nd	չիէր	չէիք
3rd	չէր	չէին

Genitive -ի (with proper nouns)

Remember that the genitive is the case of possession. It answers the questions whose? and of what?.

In Western Armenian, the most commonly used genitive ending is -ի, which is used here.

When we mark possession with proper nouns, follow the following patterns:

1. For names ending in a consonant or the vowels ի and է, add -ի[ն] (like Արմէնին and Անիին and Նափոլէոնի)
2. For names ending in the vowels ա and օ/ո, add -յի[ն] (like Մարոյին and Արայի)

Why is there a ն sometimes and not other times?

You're so observant! The -ն here marks the definite article, which we use in certain situations in Western Armenian with proper nouns. See the section in Unit 2 called "Definite articles on proper nouns in certain situations" for more information.

The gist of it for our purposes here: We use the definite article with familiar people, not with historical or political figures we do not know directly.

After you transform the name by adding the appropriate -ի, make sure you transform the thing that the person is owning/possessing by adding a possessive article (ը/ն) depending on whether the word that follows the transformed name STARTS with a vowel. Note the following examples:

• Մարալին երբայրը կը պարէ
• Վահանին քոյրն է
• Պերճին մայրն ալ կ՚երգէ