Tense in Ndebele: Perfect tense

The verb: Perfect tense

The perfect tense is used for completed actions in past time, but only if they have happened recently. This
tense is sometimes translated by the English ‘have’ for example I have seen him this morning or I saw
him this morning.

Like the present tense, the perfect tense has a long form and a short form.

1 The long form of the perfect tense

To form this tense, use the subject concords (as for the present tense) before the verb stem, but
change the final ‘a’ of the verb stem to –‘ile’
e.g ngihamba…Ngihambile- I have gone
Uhambile- uhambile- You have gone
Sihambile-- we have gone
Bahambile- They have gone
Indoda ihambile- The man has gone
Izinkomo zihambile –The cattle have gone

2 The short form of the perfect tense

To make the short form, the ending ‘ile’ is contracted to ‘-e’
e.g ngibonile… Ngibone inyoka- I saw a snake/ have seen a snake
Ubone inyoka- You saw/ have seen a snake
Abantwana babone inyoka- The children saw a snake
a) The short form is more common than the long form if something follows the verb:
e.g Ubaba ubuye ekuseni- Father came back this morning
Ngimbone khathesi- I saw him just now