The aorist: irregular verbs
The most common verbs have aorists you simply have to learn: shoh — pashë "I saw", them — thashë "I said", vij — erdha "I came", ha — hëngra "I ate". It helps to learn them in threes: present — aorist — participle (shoh — pashë — parë).
A new stem, the usual endings
Most of them change only the stem and take the consonant endings: -a, -e, -i, -ëm, -ët, -ën. For example, flas — fola, fole, foli, folëm, folët, folën. Careful: pres "to wait" — prita, but pres "to cut" — preva. And vë, like bëj, drops the -r- in the plural: vura, but vumë, vutë, vunë.
| meaning | present | "I" | "he" |
|---|---|---|---|
| to speak | flas | fola | foli |
| to take | marr | mora | mori |
| to go out | dal | dola | doli |
| to bring | sjell | solla | solli |
| to come | vij | erdha | erdhi |
| to want, to love | dua | desha | deshi |
| to eat | ha | hëngra | hëngri |
| to wait | pres | prita | priti |
| to sell | shes | shita | shiti |
| to sleep | fle | fjeta | fjeti |
| to know | di | dita | diti |
| to put | vë | vura | vuri |
| to sit, to stay | rri | ndenja | ndenji |
Aorists in -shë: jap, them, shoh
In these verbs "I" ends in -shë, while "you" and "he" are very short: dhe, dha; the, tha; pe, pa. The same goes for bie "to fall" — rashë, ra and lë "to leave (behind), to let" — lashë, la.
| person | jap | them | shoh |
|---|---|---|---|
| unë | dhashë | thashë | pashë |
| ti | dhe | the | pe |
| ai, ajo | dha | tha | pa |
| ne | dhamë | thamë | pamë |
| ju | dhatë | thatë | patë |
| ata, ato | dhanë | thanë | panë |
Jam and kam
The aorist of jam is qeshë, and that of kam is pata. But in speech "was" and "had" are usually in the imperfect: Ku ishe dje? — "Where were you yesterday?", Kisha shumë punë — "I had a lot of work" (see "The imperfect: punoja, isha, kisha"). Pata is used for an event: Pata fat — "I was lucky".
| person | jam | kam |
|---|---|---|
| unë | qeshë | pata |
| ti | qe | pate |
| ai, ajo | qe | pati |
| ne | qemë | patëm |
| ju | qetë | patët |
| ata, ato | qenë | patën |