In the indicative mood, there are 8 tenses: there is one present tense, there are 5 past tenses, and 2 future tenses. Of the above 8 tenses, 4 are simple, and 4 are ‘compound’ — there are 3 compound past tenses and 1 compound future tense. The compound tenses are created with the help of the modal verb ‘kam’.
1. Koha e tashme of Albanian corresponds to the ‘present’ and ‘present continuous’ tenses of English. When po is placed in front of an Albanian verb that is in the present tense, the ‘present continuous’ is the English tense that better reflects the meaning. Examples:
The sentence
Un� nuk flas shqip.
is translated in English as I don’t speak Albanian.
However, Un� nuk po flas shqip.
should be translated using the present continuous of English: I am not speaking Albanian.
The conjugation of ‘jam’ in the present indicative:English Albanian I amun� jamyou areti jehe/she isai/ajo �sht�we arene jemiyou areju jenithey areata/ato jan�
The conjugation of ‘kam’ in the present indicativeEnglish Albanian I haveun� kamyou areti kehe/she hasai/ajo kawe havene kemiyou haveju kenithey haveata/ato kan�
As you see, the difference between ‘to be’ and ‘to have’ is that one has a ‘j’ and the other has a ‘k’ instead. (‘�sht�’ is another difference, but ‘�sht�’ is probably a loan-word from Latin.)
2. The past tenses. These are e pakryer (imperfect),e kryer e thjesht� (simple perfect), e kryer (perfect), m� se e kryer (more than perfect), ande kryer e tejshkuar (past perfect). The 3 last ones are ‘compound tenses’; for a given verb, the compound past tenses are formed by using the present tense, the imperfect, or the simple perfect of verb ‘kam’ + the past participle of the verb.
Koha e pakryer.
This is the imperfect tense of Albanian. This tense is used for incompleted or habitual actions in the past. Examples:
The sentence
Un� lexoja kur m� more n� telefon.
is translated in English as I was reading when you called.
When the sentence, Para 3 vjet�sh vrapoja �do dit�.
is translated into English, the construct ‘used to’ should be employed: 3 years ago I used to run every day.
Conjugation of ‘jam’ in the ‘e pakryer’ tense.
English Albanian I was, I used to beun� ishayou were, you used to beti ishehe/she was, he/she used to beai/ajo ishtewe were, we used to bene ishimyou were, you used to beju ishitthey were, they used to beata/ato ishin
Conjugation of ‘kam’ in the ‘e pakryer’ tense.English Albanian I had, I used to haveun� kishayou had, you used to haveti kishehe/she had, he/she used to haveai/ajo kishtewe had, we used to havene kishimyou had, you used to haveju kishitthey had, they used to haveata/ato kishin
As you see, the difference between the imperfect tenses of ‘to be’ and ‘to have’ is that ‘to have’ has a ‘k’ more than ‘to be’.
Koha e kryer e thjesht�. This is the ‘simple perfect’ tense of Albanian. This tense is used for actions that have been completed in the past.
Examples:
The sentence
Un� lexova 2 kapituj.
is translated in English as I finished reading 2 chapters.
Conjugation of ‘jam’ in the ‘e kryer e thjesht�’ tense.English Albanian I wasun� qesh�you wereti qehe/she wasai/ajo qewe werene qem�you wereju qet�they wereata/ato qen�
Conjugation of ‘kam’ in the ‘e kryer e thjesht�’ tense.English Albanian I hadun� patayou hadti patehe/she hadai/ajo patiwe hadne pat�myou hadju pat�tthey hadata/ato pat�n
Koha e kryer. This is a compound tense. It is formed by adding the present tense of ‘kam’ to the past participle of a verb. This tense is used for actions that have been completed in the past.
Examples:
The sentence
Un� kam lexuar 2 kapituj.
is translated in English as I have read 2 chapters.
Conjugation of ‘jam’ in the ‘e kryer’ tense. English Albanian I have beenun� kam qen�you have beenti ke qen�he/she has beenai/ajo ka qen�we have beenne kemi qen�you have beenju keni qen�they have beenata/ato kan� qen�
Conjugation of ‘kam’ in the ‘e kryer’ tense. English Albanian I have hadun� kam pasuryou have hadti kam pasurhe/she has hadai/ajo ka pasurwe have hadne kemi pasuryou have hadju keni pasurthey have hadata/ato kan� pasur
Koha m� se e kryer. This is a compound tense. It is formed by adding the imperfect (‘e pakryer’) tense of ‘kam’ to the past participle of a verb. This tense is used for actions that had been completed in the past.
Examples:
The sentence
Un� kisha lexuar 2 kapituj.
is translated in English as I had read 2 chapters.
Conjugation of ‘jam’ in the ‘m� se e kryer’ tense. English Albanian I had beenun� kisha qen�you had beenti kishe qen�he/she had beenai/ajo kishte qen�we had beenne kishim qen�you had beenju kishit qen�they had beenata/ato kishin qen�
Conjugation of ‘kam’ in the ‘m� se e kryer’ tense. English Albanian I had hadun� kisha pasuryou had hadti kishe pasurhe/she had hadai/ajo kishte pasurwe had hadne kishim pasuryou had hadju kishit pasurthey had hadata/ato kishin pasur
Koha e kryer e tejshkuar. This is a compound tense as well. It is formed by adding the ‘simple perfect’ tense of ‘kam’ to the past participle of a verb. This tense is used for actions that had been completed in the past.
Examples:
The sentence
Un� pata lexuar 2 kapituj.
is translated in English as I had read 2 chapters.
Conjugation of ‘jam’ in the ‘e kryer e tejshkuar’ tense. English Albanian I had beenun� pata qen�you had beenti pate qen�he/she had beenai/ajo pati qen�we had beenne pat�m qen�you had beenju pat�t qen�they had beenata/ato pat�n qen�
Conjugation of ‘kam’ in the ‘e kryer e tejshkuar’ tense. English Albanian I had hadun� pata pasuryou had hadti pate pasurhe/she had hadai/ajo pati pasurwe had hadne pat�m pasuryou had hadju pat�t pasurthey had hadata/ato pat�n pasur
3. The future tenses. These are koha e ardhme (the simple future tense), andkoha e ardhme e p�rparme (the compound future tense).
Koha e ardhme.
This is very similar to the future tense of English. It is formed by putting ‘do t�’ (or less formally simply ‘do’) before a verb.Examples:
The sentence
Un� do t� lexoj 2 kapituj.
is translated in English as I shall read 2 chapters.
or I am going to read 2 chapters.
Conjugation of ‘jam’ in the ‘e ardhme’ tense.
English Albanian I shall beun� do t� jemyou will beti do t� jeshhe/she will beai/ajo do t� jet�we shall bene do t� jemiyou will beju do t� jenithey will beata/ato do t� jen�
Conjugation of ‘kam’ in the ‘e ardhme’ tense.English Albanian I shall haveun� do t� kemyou will haveti do t� keshhe/she will haveai/ajo do t� ket�we shall havene do t� kemiyou will haveju do t� kenithey will haveata/ato do t� ken�
Koha e ardhme e p�rparme.
For a given verb, this tense is formed by the simple future of ‘kam’ and the past participle of the verb. It is used to describe actions, which from a point of reference in the future, belong to the past. Examples:
The sentence
Un� do t� kem lexuar 2 kapituj.
is translated in English as I shall have read 2 chapters.
Conjugation of ‘jam’ in the ‘e ardhme e p�rparme’ tense.
English Albanian I shall have beenun� do t� kem qen�you will have beenti do t� kesh qen�he/she will have beenai/ajo do t� ket� qen�we shall have beenne do t� kemi qen�you will have beenju do t� keni qen�they will have beenata/ato do t� ken� qen�
Conjugation of ‘kam’ in the ‘e ardhme e p�rparme’ tense. English Albanian I shall have hadun� do t� kem pasuryou will have hadti do t� kesh pasurhe/she will have hadai/ajo do t� ket� pasurwe shall have hadne do t� kemi pasuryou will have hadju do t� keni pasurthey will have hadata/ato do t� ken� pasur
June 8, 2003.
