ela ve lekti — she will read
yu ve gun — you will work
ve pluvi — it will rain
me bu ve go — I won't go.
Past tense
There are 2 particles for the past tense: he (before verb) means the completed action, -te (after verb) means the past tense for any action, completed or not:
He pluvi. — It has rained (and stopped).
Pluvi-te. — It rained or It has rained or It has been raining.
When -te and he are used together, they are equal to the English past perfect tense:
Wen lu lai-te a dom, ela he kuki-te akshamfan — When he came home, she had cooked supper.
The combination of ve with he is equal to the English future perfect tense:
Wen lu ve lai a dom, ela ve he kuki akshamfan. — When he comes home, she will have cooked supper.
• The verb "bi" to be is special, and it has the past form bin:
Wo yu bin? — Where were you? Where have you been?
Imperative mode
To stress the imperative meaning, or to make it clearer, the particle ‘ba’ may be used after verb:
Go ba dar! — Go there!
Kan ba hir! — Look here!
Nu go ba! — Let's go!
Nu begin ba! — Let's begin!
Ta lai ba! — Let him come!
There is also the particle ‘hay’ (‘may, let’) expressing a wish or permission:
Hay olo bi hao! — May everything be good!
Hay forsa bi kun yu! — May the force be with you!
Hay oni shwo to ke oni yao. — Let them say what they like.
The negative imperative is formed with 'bu' or with a special particle 'bye':
Bu go! Bu go ba! — Don't go!
Boh bye lasi! — God forbid!
Continuous aspect
It is marked by ‘zai’ before the verb:
Me zai go fon shop. — I am going from the shop.
Nau lu zai gun om se. — Now he is working on this.
Me zai go-te fon shop, wen me miti-te lu. — I was going from the shop when I met him.
Ob yu es libre manya klok dwa? Manya klok dwa me ve zai lekti kitabas in kitabaguan. — Are you free tomorrow at 2? Tomorrow at 2 I shall be reading books in the library.
The use of ‘zai’ is not obligatory. It is used only if the continuous aspect of action should be stressed.
Present active participle
Formed with -she:
Tuza sidi-she in bush ek-salti aus e lopi kway-kway nich kolina. — A hare sitting in the bush jumped out and ran very quickly down the hill.
• Basically the same meaning is conveyed through the suffix -anta, which some nouns in LdP have:
komersi — to trade
komersanta — trader
kolori — to color
koloranta — colorant
konsulti — to consult
konsultanta — consultant
But these words are not active participles, they are nouns with their own meaning.
• Instead of active participles, constructions with kel may be used:
Tuza kel sidi in bush. — The hare that is sitting in the bush.
Constructions with kel are preferable when a direct object is involved:
Kota kel chi fish. — The cat that eats fish.
Verbal adverb
This is formed with -yen:
vidi-yen — seeing
jan-yen — knowing.
• It should be noted that simultaneity of actions may be also expressed through the preposition al (at, in the process of):
Al pasi bus-stopika me he vidi ke ela stan dar. (=Pasi-yen bus-stopika…) — Passing by the bus- stop I saw her standing there.
Al vidi lu me krai-te: Namastee! (=Vidi-yen lu…) — Seeing him I cried: ‘Hello!’
• Constructions “afte + verb”, “al he + verb” mean “having done something”:
afte vidi — having seen
afte smaili — having smiled
afte audi — having heard
Afte audi om se, me he desidi miti lu. — Having heard about this, I decided to meet with him.
Al he zin shamba, me depon shapa. — Having entered the room, I took off my hat.
Conditional tense
This is formed with the help of particle wud in both main and subordinate clauses:
Me wud yao audi farke opinas. — I'd like to hear different opinions.
Yu wud mog zwo to si yu wud yao. — You could do that if you'd like to.
Me wud go adar si me wud hev taim. — I would go there if I had time.
Yeri me wud go-te adar si me wud hev-te taim. — Yesterday I would have gone there if I had time.
Me bu wud go adar. — I wouldn't go there.
The particle wud may be shortened to 'd:
Me'd go. = Me wud go.
The immediate future and past
These are the constructions “to be about to do something” and “to have just done something”. The first one is “sal + verb”, the second is “yus + verb in past tense”:
Me sal chifan. — I am going to have a meal.
Me yus he chifan. — I have just had a meal.
Ta sal go a skola. — he (she) is about to go to school.
Ta yus he lai. — He (she) has just come.
Remote past tense
The remote past tense is formed with “gwo + verb” and expresses some action as a fact of the indefinitely remote past, which is connected with the present moment only in terms of having the corresponding experience. This is something that was taking place or used to take place some time ago:
Me gwo bi in Paris. — I have been to Paris.
Me gwo jivi in Paris. — I used to live in Paris.
Me gwo flai kelkem kadalok in munda. — I have flown everywhere in the world.
Me gwo audi musika de Prokofiev. — I have heard music by Prokofiev (I have had such an experience).
Ta gwo zun sporta. — He used to go in for sports.
Me bu gwo vidi ta. — I have never seen him before.
Tense marking
There are 2 variants of tense marking in LdP: the full and the simple one.
The full variant is when you mark verb tense according to sense and without tense concordance (independent from whether it is a main or subordinate clause). Basically it means that the tense in an indirect quotation (he said that he was leaving) should be the same as in a direct quotation (he said, "I am leaving").
Examples:
Me jan-te kwo lu ve yao. — I knew what he would like.
May amiga ve skribi a me wo ta bin in saif. — My friend will write me about where he was last summer.
May amiga he skribi a me ke ta bin morbe bat nau ta sta hao snova. — My friend wrote to me that he had been ill but now he was well again.
Gela diki-te a nu suy nove kukla kel mog ofni e klosi okos. — The girl showed us her new doll which could open and close its eyes.
Me vidi-te ke lu zai lai e go-te versu lu. — I saw that he was coming (to me), and (I) went to meet him.
The simple variant is when you don't mark verb tense at all but use words like ‘today’, ‘yesterday’ etc. and the context to convey the information about time of action. This variant is appropriate in speech.
Examples:
Preyeri me zai chu shop e miti may amiga. — The day before yesterday I was leaving the shop and met my friend.
Aftemanya me go fishi. — The day after tomorrow I'll go fishing.