remedial yiddish: the past tense

[Kevin Cohen <kevin...>]

hi,

thanks to all who wrote in reply to my question about "iz + geven".  in 
gratitude, here's a little squib about the past tense (based, with apologies 
for any errors, on sheva zucker's "yiddish: an introduction tothe language, 
literature and culture").

turns out that there are a couple of (related) ways of forming the past tense.  

        conjugated form of the verb hobm 'to have' + past participle
        conjugated form of the verb zayn 'to be' + past participle

past participles are often derived from the stem form of the verb.  they're 
derived by adding the prefix ge- and the suffix -t.  e.g.,

tantzn: to dance getantzt: past part.
hern: to hear gehert: past part.


here's a few examples of past tenses, plucked from the liner notes of my record 
collection:

formed with hobm:

s'ferdl HOB ikh nit GEKOYFT
'i never reallly bought the horse'
klezmatics, banumen, shprayz ikh mir

...er HOT GESHONKEN yedn dor a kraytekhts vos shtelt for dem hign shor-a-bor
'...he has given every generation an herb which represents the earthly Wild ox'
klezmatics, banumen, mizmor shir lehanif

...vi frier HOT nit GESHPILT keyner
'...like no one has played before'
brave old world, berlin-overture

azoyfil lider HOB ikh GEHERT, nor ale HOBM mir DERESEN.
'i've heard so many songs, but i've tired of them all.'
brave old world, besarabye

HOT dus pastekhl... a kleyn sheyfele FARLOREN.
'the young shepherd lost a young sheep.'
brave old world, besarabye

formed with zayn:

nor mir ZAYNEN nit mit lang eykh do GEVEN
'but we were also here not long ago'
brave old world, berlin-overture

nor eyn lid IZ mir GEBLIBM
'one song alone has remained with me'
brave old world, besarabye

geveyn a mol a pastekhl
'once there was a shepherd'
brave old world, besarabye
(not sure what to say about lack of a conjugated verb here)

apologies for any errors--- kevin