Past Participle
Sorry for the grammatical term, but I had to call it something. It's actually another
way of talking about things that have happened in the past and is quite commonly
used in conversation, particularly when you need to say things like -
I was born - Va mee ruggit
This form can be used for almost any verb and is recognised by the 'tch' sound at
the end of the word. To make any verb into a past participle simply find the root
as we have already done for the normal past tense and then add '
it
' to the end of it, No mutations required. In the following examples the root is shown
in brackets.
(trogg) Va'n thie troggit - The house was built
(drapp) Va'n cronk drappit - The hill was climbed
(moogh) Va'n aile mooghit - The fire was extinguished
(cront) Va'n ollan crontit - The wool was knotted
(faag) Va'n argid faagit - The money was left
(toig) Va'n lessoon toiggit - The lesson was understood
The observant ones amongst you may have noticed that when adding endings onto the
root of a verb the last letter of the root is sometimes copied so you get a 'gg'
or 'pp'. This makes no difference when speaking and when writing just close your
eyes and guess. It happens in English too (lift-lifted, knot-knotted).
As you may have feared the commonly used irregular verbs also take this tense, but
most of them follow the spirit of the rules above.
(gra) Va shen grait dy mie - That was well said
(jannoo) Jeant dy mie Yuan - Well done John
(fakin) Va'n lhong fakinit - The ship was seen
(clashtyn) Va'n lugh cluinit - The mouse was heard
(cur) V'eh currit jea - It was sent yesterday
(goaill) V'eh goit ersooyl - It was taken away
(feddyn) V'eh feddynit ayns shoh - It was found here
For a bit of revision let us look at the different ways we can talk about things happening
in the past.
Ren mee fakin eh - I saw it ( I did see it)
Honnick mee eh - I saw it
Va mee fakin eh - I was seeing it
Ta mee er n'akin eh - I have seen it
Va mee er n'akin eh - I had seen it
T'eh fakinit aym - I have seen it (It is seen at me)
V'eh fakinit aym - I had seen it (It was seen at me)
Confused ? - Try the homework using the 'it' verbs wherever possible, and it will
not always be possible, so watch out.
Focklyn Noa
Ooilley - All Rass - Seed
Clou - Print Glen - Clean
Booa - Cow Reayrt - View
Aarey - Ladder
Feyshtyn
1. I was left in the room.
2. The seed was put in the earth.
3. The newspaper was black and white.
4. The book was printed in England.
5. Snaefell was climbed by three horses
6. Douglas was not built in a day.
7. Was Peel built in a day?
8. The boat left Douglas yesterday.
9. I was left in Douglas yesterday.
10. Have you done all your work?
11. The room was cleaned a week ago.
12. We were walking down the road.
13. The book was well read.
14. I remember reading the book.
15. Have you done that before? said the man.
16. No, that was my first time, said the dog.
17. Dogs cannot speak Manx well.
18. The dog has seen the cat in the box.
19. The cat was born in the box.
20. The old horse was sitting in the field.
21. The horse was speaking to the cow.
22. The cow was not listening to the horse.
23. The horse's story was not understood.
24. Said the horse - you are not listening to me.
25. Peter was lifted above the house.
26. He didn't notice the clouds.
27. Isn't this a wonderful view? he thought.
28. How can I climb down? he said.
29. Climb down this ladder, said the man on the ground.
30. Peter climbed down the ladder.
31. The ladder was climbed by Peter.
32. Peter was a ladder climber.
33. The car was driven to Douglas.
34. Do that, said Ned, and it was done.
35. Find out, said Pam, and it was found.
36. Watch out, said John, but it was too late.
37. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's a dragon.
38. The dragon was extinguished by the fireman.
39. Look at that, said the horse.
40. I have written my answers now, said Stuart.