In English, expressing that something is in the past is relatively simple. Whether it was recent, or very distant, we use the simple past to show (I ran to work). If we wanted to show something was a long time in the past, we would add auxiliary words to show it was a a long time ago. In Lingala, we have a special form of past tense to show distant past (distal).
Here is an example:
nazalá
We see that we have the normal prefix (na-) followed by the –zal– root, then the suffix with an accented ‘a’ (-á). This means I was (a long time ago).
So our structure for this tense is:
PREFIX + ROOT + á
Here are a few more examples we can use to show how it can be used:
| Lingala | English (meaning) | English (literal) |
|---|---|---|
| ntango Nzambe azalisá mabele | when God created the earth | when God he created (a long time ago) earth |
| moto ata moko te amoná ye | nobody ever saw him | person even one not saw (from a long time ago) him |
| bapesamá mboka na bango | they were given their country/village | they were given (a long time ago) village of them |
| bato basalemá na putulu ya mabele | humans were made from the dust of the ground | people they were made (a long time ago) with dust of earth |
The accent over the letter ‘a’ shows that we stress that letter, similar to the natural stress we have on the first syllable of the root of the verb. This sounds like we raise the tone from the prefix through the rest of the word. Be careful not to make it sound like a question.
Distant past is often used to show something that happened many years ago, or at the beginning of something. In general, it is normal practice to use simple past when referring to events that happened in the past within our life time.
There is also an easy confusion over the distant past with other tenses that use a similar spelling, such as plural imperatives and the subjunctive form. However, with the distant past, the final vowel (usually an ‘a’) is stressed, and show with an accent mark in traditional spelling, unlike the other two forms.