Rohingya distinguishes 12 tenses, as shown in the examples below. In these tenses, the helping verb félai shows perfect action (comparable to English "has/have") and félaat shows perfect continuous action (compare English "has/have been"). The helping verb táki and táikki are comparable to English "be" and "been". Verb-form-suffix (basic and/or helping verb) indicate both person and tense.
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When they do not accompany other verbs, they all use avere ("to have") as helping verb for forming the perfect. For example, the helping verb for the perfect of potere ("can") is avere ("have"), as in ho potuto (lit. "I-have been-able","I could"); nevertheless, when used together with a verb that has as auxiliary essere ("be"), potere inherits the auxiliary of the second verb. For example: ho visitato il castello (lit.
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As with French, this form when applied to the present tense of "to have" or "to be" does not convey perfect aspect but rather the perfective aspect in the past.Ragusa, Olga, Essential Italian Grammar, Dover Publ., 1963. In the compound pluperfect, the helping verb is in the past imperfective form in a main clause but in the past perfective form in a dependent clause.
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As an VSO language, words that correspond to verbs and helping words occur first. For example, the sentence "The chief sees the grizzly", literally translates as "see the chief the grizzly". When expressing negation in Haisla, the helping verb k̕uus-/k̕uu- would occur at the beginning of the sentence. This root is then modified with the proper ending reflecting the subject of the verb, e.g.
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However, while Shakespearean words occasionally appear in Appalachian speech (e.g., afeared), these occurrences are rare. Examples of archaic phrases include the use of might could for might be able to, the use of "'un" with pronouns and adjectives (e.g., young'un), the use of "done" as a helping verb (e.g., we done finished it), and the use of words such as airish, brickle, swan, and bottom land all of which were common in Southern and Central England in 17th and 18th centuries.
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Both languages have a construction similar to the English "going- to" future. Spanish includes the preposition a between the conjugated form of ir "to go" and the infinitive: Vamos a cantar "We're going to sing" or "Let's sing" (present tense of ir + a + infinitive). Usually, in Portuguese, there is no preposition between the helping verb and the main verb: Vamos cantar (present tense of ir + infinitive). This also applies when the verb is in other tenses: : Ayer yo iba a leer el libro, pero no tuve la oportunidad.
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The subjunctive form seldom appears outside dependent clauses. In the indicative, there are five one-word forms conjugated for person and number: one for the present tense (which can indicate progressive or non- progressive aspect); one for the perfective aspect of the past; one for the imperfective aspect of the past; a form for the pluperfect aspect that is only used in formal writing; and a future tense form that, as in Italian, can also indicate present tense combined with probabilistic modality. As with other Romance languages, compound verbs shifting the time of action to the past relative to the time from which it is perceived can be formed by preceding a past participle by a conjugated simple form of "to have". Using the past tense of the helping verb gives the pluperfect form that is used in conversation.
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Using the present tense form of the helping verb gives a true perfect aspect, though one whose scope is narrower than that in English: It refers to events occurring in the past and extending to the present, as in Tem feito muito frio este inverno ("It's been very cold this winter (and still is)"). Portuguese expresses progressive aspect in any tense by using conjugated estar ("to stand", "to be temporarily"), plus the present participle ending in -ando, -endo, or indo: Estou escrevendo uma carta ("I am writing a letter"). Futurity can be expressed in three ways other than the simple future form: using the present tense form of "to go" as in Vou ver João esta tarde "I_go to_see John this afternoon"; using the present tense form of one verb meaning "to have" as in Temos que ver João hoje "We_have that to_see John today"; and using the present tense form of another verb also meaning "to have" as in Hei-de ver João amanhã "I_have-of to_see John tomorrow".
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