Verbs - The First Conjugation (Past tense)

Verbs are the most complex part of Somali grammar. We'll go through it step by step. First, I said before that we use the command form as the base form. For example 'tag' means 'go'. To say 'I went', 'He went' etc is as follows,

Waan tagey                   - I went

Waad tagtay                  - You went

Wuu tagey                     - She went

Wey tagtey                    - He went
Waannu tagney              - We went (excl.)

Weynu tagney                - We went (incl.)

Weydin/Waad tagteen    - You (pl.) went

Wey tageen                    - They went

For simple verbs that end in a consonant, add the following to the base form of the verb

-ey (I)
-tey (You)
-ey (He)
-tey (She)
-ney (We)
-ney (We)
-teen (You)
-een (They)

Cun! - Eat!
Bariiska cun! - Eat the rice!
Hilibka cun!  - Eat the meat!
Maad cuntay? - Have you eaten?
Haa, waan cunay - Yes, I've eaten
Maxaad cuntay? - What did you eat?
Baasto baan cunay - I ate pasta

Notice with 'Maxaad cuntay?' , the focus is on what was eaten. Therefore, when answering it is more natural to use 'baan' which focuses on the noun before it 'Baasto'.