How to use the present perfect tense in Yoruba
You’ve made it very far on your Yoruba language learning journey, well done for staying disciplined and motivated up until now!
In today’s lesson you will learn how to use the present perfect tense in Yoruba.
The present perfect tense is used when something began in the past and continues in the present, in English it is usually shown by the word have/has preceding a verb in the past tense.
This may sound pretty complex but all the present perfect tense really means is just sentences that talk about the past and use the word have or has.
Examples of the present perfect tense in English
- They have danced
- She has eaten it
- I have been there before
How to use the present perfect tense in Yoruba
To put a verb in the present perfect tense in Yoruba, you put the word ‘ti’ before the verb, i.e.
ti + verb
To create a sentence in the present perfect tense that uses a pronoun, you put the sentence in the form shown below.
Pronoun + ti + verb
Example sentences of the format shown above with the verb lọ (to go) are shown below.
Example present perfect tense sentences with different pronouns
| Yoruba | English |
| Mo ti lọ | I have gone |
| O ti lọ | You have gone |
| Ó ti lọ | She/He/It has gone |
| A ti lọ | We have gone |
| Ẹ ti lọ | You all have gone |
| Wọ́n ti lọ | They have gone |
You have been shown example sentences of the present perfect tense in Yoruba that use the verb lọ, you will now be introduced to some example sentences with different verbs in the table below.
Example future tense sentences with different verbs
| Yoruba | English |
| Mo ti wẹ̀ | I have bathed |
| Àwa ti jẹun | We have eaten |
| Ẹ̀yin ti jó | You all have danced |
| Ìwọ ti ri | You have seen |
| Àwọn ti sáré | They have run |
| Ó ti sùn | She has slept |