Remember that there are three types of verbs based on their last vowel in the dictionary form: a-verbs, e-verbs, and и-verbs, i.e. those ending in a, e, and и, respectively, in the form found in the dictionary. Remember also that based on their aspect, there are two types of verbs: imperfective and perfective. In forming the past tenses, three questions need to be kept in mind:
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- what is the aspect of the verb,
- whether the last vowel of the dictionary form changes (and if so, to what), and
- what the endings are.
The aorist (минато определено свршено време - МОС) is the second past tense you learn about. It is made from perfective verbs. For forming the aorist from perfective verbs that end in e in the dictionary, you also need to know (memorize) which subgroup a particular verb falls into. The last subgroup you learn about in this tutorial is characterized by ending in two vowels: -ие, -уе, -ае. (Note that verbs ending in -ee do not fall in this subgroup, but instead form the aorist like the first subgroup, i.e. with the final e>a before the endings are added.) The verbs in the subgroup represented by запознае 'meet, get to know' in this tutorial, drop the final vowel before adding the aorist endings:
- јас -в
- ти, тој, таа, тоа -
- ние -вме
- вие -вте
- тие -а
As you saw in the tutorial, one exception to this general rule for forming the aorist is the verb заспие 'fall asleep'. This verb not only drops the final vowel, but also undergoes an и>a change of the next to last vowel before having the aorist endings (above) added.
Another exception to the way this group of verbs forms the aorist are the verbs потрае 'last for a little while' and залае 'start barking', which are generally only encountered in the third person singular (it lasted, it started barking) and plural (they lasted, they started barking) forms. Instead of being similar to the subgroup and exception described in this tutorial, the final vowel of these verbs changes to -ja. This is similar to the изброи 'count up, count up to' verb, which you will learn about in Aorist of I-verbs (part 2). The forms and examples of use are:
- тоа потраја. For example: Тоа потраја околу петнаесет минути. 'It lasted about 15 minutes.'
- тие потрајаа. For example: Болките потрајаа неколку дена. 'The pains lasted several days.'
- тоа залаја. For example: Кучето залаја. 'The dog started barking.'
- тие залајаа. For example: Кучињата залајаа. 'The dogs started barking.'