Present Tense
In Cornish, the present tense also has a future meaning. The particle a is not used before forms of the verbs bos (to be) or mos (to go) beginning with a vowel.
y prenydh you buy, you will buy
ty a bren you buy, you will buy
hwi a you go, you will go
my yw I am
The future can also be shown by the use of the auxiliary verbs gul (to do) and mynnes (to want).
ni a wra prena we (do) buy, we will buy, we are going to buy
ni a vynn prena we want to buy, we will buy
Imperfect Tense
The imperfect tense refers to actions that were happening or used to happen in the past.
hi a gana she was singing, she used to sing
ni a viri we were watching, we used to watch
may hylli so that (s)he could, was able to
Habitual Imperfect Tense
The verbs bos (to be) and y'm beus (to have) have a special habitual imperfect tense.
my a vedha I used to be, I was
Kernewek a vedha kewsys Cornish used to be spoken
i a's tevedha they used to have
Preterite Tense
The preterite tense refers to actions that were completed in the past. The particle a is not used before forms of the verbs bos (to be) or mos (to go) beginning with a vowel.
hi a asas she left
ni eth we went
hwi o you were
Perfect Tense
The verbs bos (to be) and dos (to come) have a special perfect tense. This tense is quite formal and not often used.
gallas dhe Evrek Nowydh he has gone to New York
galsons klav they have fallen ill
deuven or ni re dheuva we have come
The perfect tense is usually formed by placing the particle re placed before the preterite tense. The particle re becomes res before forms of the verb mos (to go) beginning with e-.
ty re dhybris you have eaten
hi re evas she has drunk
i res eth they have gone
Pluperfect Tense
The pluperfect tense refers to actions that had happened or had been true at a point in the past. This tense is also called the past perfect tense. The particle re is often placed before the verb when the pluperfect meaning is intended. The particle re does not cause the soft or second state mutation in pluperfect forms of the verb bos.
ev re bia he had been
i re wovynsa they had asked
kettel dhyb'sens as soon as they had eaten
Conditional Tense
This pluperfect tense is also used for the conditional tense in Cornish. The conditional tense refers to actions that would happen or would be true under certain conditions. It is also used to express what you would like or need.
ev a via he would be
my a vynsa I would like
hwi a alsa you could, you would be able to
Future Tense
Some verbs have a true future tense such as bos (to be), godhvos (to know), pywa (to own), tyli (to pay), talvos (to be worth) and y'm beus (to have).
my a vydh I will be
hi a wodhvydh she will know
hwi a pywvydh you will own
ty a' fydh you will have
A few verbs have a future tense only in the third person singular (he/she/it). These future forms are: hwyrvydh (he/she will take place), klewvydh (he/she will feel/hear), prenvydh (he/she will buy), and more rarely gwelvydh (he/she will see), karvydh (he/she will love) and gylwydh (he/she will be able to). This tense is quite formal and not often used.
y hwyrvydh it will take place
pan glewvydh when he will hear
hwi a'n prenvydh! you'll catch it!
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