Phi pamphlets — Part 3: Slot 1: tense and aspect

mia to nila. moves seeing into the past. mia to ki nila. adds that it was already complete at the past reference time. The first two Slot 1 ranks divide those jobs: tense locates an event, and aspect chooses a view of its temporal shape.

01Tense

to marks past and so marks future. Present is unmarked.

mia to nila.

1SG PST see.

(I saw.)

mia so nila.

1SG FUT see.

(I will see.)

02The five aspects

Particle	Gloss	View of the event
`ki`	PFV	complete at the reference time
`si`	IPFV	ongoing or in progress
`pa`	INCH	beginning
`te`	CESS	ending
`ro`	HAB	recurring or characteristic

si and ro are easy to confuse because English often leaves the distinction to context. si looks inside one occasion while it is unfolding. ro looks across occasions and presents a pattern.

shia to si ke thalo.

3SG PST IPFV INFER walk.

(They were walking, as I infer from evidence.)

misheko ro nulae.

cat HAB sleep.

(The cat sleeps habitually.)

The evidential in the first sentence matters. Nothing about si says the speaker watched the walking. Aspect and source remain separate ranks.

03Completion at a reference time

ki combines with tense in a regular way:

thia ki shonela.

2SG PFV learn.

(You have learned.)

mia to ki nila.

1SG PST PFV see.

(I had seen.)

mia so ki nila.

1SG FUT PFV see.

(I will have seen.)

The tense supplies the reference time, and ki presents the event as complete at that time. Neither particle changes shape or absorbs the other.

04Combining tense and aspect

The same composition gives to si for an event that was in progress, so si for one that will be in progress, to ro for a past recurring pattern, and so ro for a future recurring pattern. te presents an ending.

Practicechoose the time and view

Translate with subject lopia and verb wile.

The child is playing right now, in mid-game.
The child plays regularly.
The child began to play.
The child had played.
The child will have played.
The child stopped playing.

Answers: 1 lopia si wile. 2 lopia ro wile. 3 lopia to pa wile. 4 lopia to ki wile. 5 lopia so ki wile. 6 lopia to te wile. For 1 and 2, ask whether the sentence looks inside one occasion or across a pattern of occasions.