Mastering Past and Future Tense Conjugations with Irregular Verbs

Opening Context

Verb conjugation in Marathi is generally predictable, but the verbs you use most frequently—like going, coming, doing, eating, and giving—often break the rules. You might know how to describe your daily routine in the present tense, but the moment you try to tell a story about where you went yesterday or what you will do tomorrow, these irregular verbs can cause stumbling blocks.

Mastering these specific verbs is a major milestone in Marathi. Because they appear in almost every conversation, learning their past and future forms will immediately make your speech sound more natural and allow you to navigate daily interactions, make plans, and share experiences with confidence.

Learning Objectives

• Conjugate the most common irregular verbs (to go, to come, to do, to give, to take, to eat) in the past and future tenses.
• Apply the correct subject and object agreement rules for transitive and intransitive verbs in the past tense.
• Use the ergative marker ने (ne) / नी (nī) correctly with third-person pronouns.
• Formulate accurate sentences about past events and future plans without defaulting to present-tense structures.

Prerequisites

• Familiarity with basic Marathi sentence structure (Subject-Object-Verb).
• Understanding of Marathi noun genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and singular/plural forms.
• Ability to conjugate regular verbs in the present tense.

Core Concepts

Concept 1: Intransitive Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense

Intransitive verbs are verbs that do not take a direct object (e.g., to go, to come). In the past tense, these verbs agree with the subject of the sentence in gender and number.

The two most important irregular intransitive verbs are जाणे (jāṇe - to go) and येणे (yeṇe - to come). Their past tense stems change completely from their infinitive forms.

1. जाणे (jāṇe) - to go The past tense stem changes to गे- (ge-).

• Masculine singular: गेला (gelā)
• Feminine singular: गेली (gelī)
• Neuter singular: गेले (gele)
• Plural (all genders): गेले (gele) / गेल्या (gelyā)

Examples:

• तो शाळेत गेला. (to śāḷeta gelā.) — He went to school.
• ती बाजारात गेली. (tī bājārāta gelī.) — She went to the market.
• ते घरी गेले. (te gharī gele.) — They went home.

2. येणे (yeṇe) - to come The past tense stem changes to आ- (ā-).

• Masculine singular: आला (ālā)
• Feminine singular: आली (ālī)
• Neuter singular: आले (āle)
• Plural (all genders): आले (āle) / आल्या (ālyā)

Examples:

• राम इथे आला. (rāma ithe ālā.) — Ram came here.
• माझी बहीण आली. (mājhī bahīṇa ālī.) — My sister came.

Concept 2: Transitive Irregular Verbs in the Past Tense

Transitive verbs take a direct object (e.g., to do, to eat, to give). In Marathi, the past tense of transitive verbs follows a special rule: The verb agrees with the object, not the subject.

Additionally, the subject must take the marker ने (ne) for singular or नी (nī) for plural. However, the first and second person pronouns (I, you) usually remain unchanged in modern spoken Marathi (मी - mī, तू - tū), while third-person pronouns change (तो -> त्याने - tyāne, ती -> तिने - tine, ते -> त्यांनी - tyānnī).

Here are the key irregular transitive verbs and their past tense stems:

1. करणे (karaṇe) - to do Stem changes to के- (ke-).

• त्याने काम केले. (tyāne kāma kele.) — He did the work. (Verb agrees with काम - neuter).
• मी चहा केला. (mī cahā kelā.) — I made tea. (Verb agrees with चहा - masculine).

2. देणे (deṇe) - to give Stem changes to दि- (di-).

• तिने मला पुस्तक दिले. (tine malā pustaka dile.) — She gave me a book. (Verb agrees with पुस्तक - neuter).
• त्यांनी पैसे दिले. (tyānnī paise dile.) — They gave money. (Verb agrees with पैसे - masculine plural).

3. घेणे (gheṇe) - to take Stem changes to घेत- (ghet-).

• मी तिकीट घेतले. (mī tikīṭa ghetale.) — I took the ticket.
• त्याने निर्णय घेतला. (tyāne nirṇaya ghetalā.) — He took a decision.

4. खाणे (khāṇe) - to eat Stem changes to खाल्ल- (khāll-).

• मी आंबा खाल्ला. (mī āmbā khāllā.) — I ate a mango.
• तिने सफरचंद खाल्ले. (tine sapharacanda khālle.) — She ate an apple.

Concept 3: Future Tense Patterns

The future tense in Marathi is much more forgiving. Whether a verb is transitive or intransitive, the future tense verb always agrees with the subject. The irregular verbs use their normal stems, with only minor phonetic adjustments.

Future tense endings for the first person singular (I - मी) usually end in -ईन (-īn) or -एन (-en).

• जाणे (jāṇe): मी जाईन (mī jāīn) — I will go.
• येणे (yeṇe): मी येईन (mī yeīn) — I will come.
• करणे (karaṇe): मी करीन (mī karīn) — I will do.
• देणे (deṇe): मी देईन (mī deīn) — I will give.
• घेणे (gheṇe): मी घेईन (mī gheīn) — I will take.
• खाणे (khāṇe): मी खाईन (mī khāīn) — I will eat.

Examples:

• तो उद्या मुंबईला जाईल. (to udyā mumbaīlā jāīla.) — He will go to Mumbai tomorrow.
• ती मला पैसे देईल. (tī malā paise deīla.) — She will give me money.
• आम्ही काम करू. (āmhī kāma karū.) — We will do the work.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Applying regular past tense rules to "go" and "come"

• Wrong: तो जाला. (to jālā.)
• Why it happens: Learners try to add the standard past tense suffix -ला (-lā) directly to the root जा (jā).
• Correct: तो गेला. (to gelā.)
• Tip: Treat जाणे (jāṇe) and येणे (yeṇe) as entirely different words in the past tense. Memorize "ge-" and "ā-".

Mistake 2: Making transitive past verbs agree with the subject

• Wrong: ती चहा केली. (tī cahā kelī.)
• Why it happens: The learner makes the verb agree with the feminine subject ती (tī) instead of the masculine object चहा (cahā).
• Correct: तिने चहा केला. (tine cahā kelā.)
• Tip: When you use words like "did," "ate," or "gave," immediately look at the thing being acted upon. The verb matches that thing.

Mistake 3: Forgetting the third-person marker in the past tense

• Wrong: तो काम केले. (to kāma kele.)
• Why it happens: Forgetting that third-person subjects need the ने (ne) marker for transitive past verbs.
• Correct: त्याने काम केले. (tyāne kāma kele.)
• Tip: If the verb is transitive and in the past tense, "he" is always त्याने (tyāne) and "she" is always तिने (tine).

Practice Prompts

1. Write three sentences describing what you ate, drank, and did yesterday. Pay close attention to the gender of the objects.
2. Translate into Marathi: "She went to the office, and he came home."
3. Change the following present tense sentence into the future tense: मी अभ्यास करतो (mī abhyāsa karato - I do studying).
4. List the past tense forms of देणे (deṇe) for a masculine object, a feminine object, and a neuter object.

Examples

Past Tense (Intransitive - Subject Agreement):

• काल मी पुण्याला गेलो. (kāla mī puṇyālā gelo.) — Yesterday I (male) went to Pune.
• ती लवकर आली. (tī lavakara ālī.) — She came early.

Past Tense (Transitive - Object Agreement):

• त्याने मला पेन दिला. (tyāne malā pena dilā.) — He gave me a pen. (Pen is masculine).
• मी गाडी घेतली. (mī gāḍī ghetalī.) — I bought/took a car. (Car is feminine).
• तिने जेवण केले. (tine jevaṇa kele.) — She made/did the meal. (Meal is neuter).

Future Tense (Subject Agreement):

• मी उद्या येईन. (mī udyā yeīn.) — I will come tomorrow.
• तो नवीन फोन घेईल. (to navīna phona gheīla.) — He will buy/take a new phone.
• आपण नंतर बोलू. (āpaṇa nantara bolū.) — We will talk later.

Key Takeaways

• Intransitive past changes completely: जाणे (jāṇe) becomes गे- (ge-) and येणे (yeṇe) becomes आ- (ā-). They agree with the subject.
• Transitive past agrees with the object: For verbs like doing, giving, taking, and eating, the verb ending matches the gender and number of the thing being acted upon.
• Third-person subjects need a marker: Use त्याने (tyāne), तिने (tine), and त्यांनी (tyānnī) for "he," "she," and "they" when using transitive verbs in the past tense.
• Future tense is regular: Irregular verbs use their normal stems in the future tense and always agree with the subject.

Vocabulary List

Verbs (Infinitive / Past Stem / Future 1st Person)

• जाणे (jāṇe) / गेला (gelā) / जाईन (jāīn) — to go
• येणे (yeṇe) / आला (ālā) / येईन (yeīn) — to come
• करणे (karaṇe) / केला (kelā) / करीन (karīn) — to do
• देणे (deṇe) / दिला (dilā) / देईन (deīn) — to give
• घेणे (gheṇe) / घेतला (ghetalā) / घेईन (gheīn) — to take
• खाणे (khāṇe) / खाल्ला (khāllā) / खाईन (khāīn) — to eat

Pronouns (Subject / Ergative Past)

• मी (mī) / मी (mī) — I
• तू (tū) / तू (tū) — You (informal)
• तो (to) / त्याने (tyāne) — He
• ती (tī) / तिने (tine) — She
• ते (te) / त्यांनी (tyānnī) — They

Nouns

• काम (kāma) — work (neuter)
• चहा (cahā) — tea (masculine)
• पुस्तक (pustaka) — book (neuter)
• पैसे (paise) — money (masculine plural)
• तिकीट (tikīṭa) — ticket (neuter)
• आंबा (āmbā) — mango (masculine)
• सफरचंद (sapharacanda) — apple (neuter)
• शाळा (śāḷā) — school (feminine)
• घर (ghara) — home (neuter)

Time Words

• काल (kāla) — yesterday
• उद्या (udyā) — tomorrow
• लवकर (lavakara) — early / quickly
• नंतर (nantara) — later