The Punjabi Past Tense: ਗਿਆ, ਗਈ and ਖਾਧੀ

The Punjabi past tense agrees with the subject for some verbs and with the object for others. Both patterns are regular.

Intransitive verbs: agreement with the subject

For verbs without an object, such as ਜਾਣਾ (go) and ਆਉਣਾ (come), the verb agrees with the subject:

Subject	Masculine	Feminine
ਮੈਂ	ਗਿਆ	ਗਈ
ਤੂੰ	ਗਿਆ	ਗਈ
ਉਹ	ਗਿਆ	ਗਈ
ਅਸੀਂ / ਉਹ (plural)	ਗਏ	ਗਈਆਂ

Examples:

• ਮੈਂ ਕੱਲ੍ਹ ਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਗਿਆ। — I went to the city yesterday. (male)
• ਉਹ ਜਲਦੀ ਆਈ। — She came early.
• ਉਹ ਦੇਰ ਨਾਲ ਆਇਆ। — He came late.

Transitive verbs: the ਨੇ pattern

With verbs that take an object, such as ਖਾਣਾ (eat), Punjabi marks the doer with ਨੇ, and the verb agrees with the object:

• ਮੈਂ ਰੋਟੀ ਖਾਧੀ। — I ate bread. (ਰੋਟੀ is feminine)
• ਉਸ ਨੇ ਕਿਤਾਬ ਪੜ੍ਹੀ। — He/she read a book.
• ਅਸੀਂ ਫ਼ਿਲਮ ਵੇਖੀ। — We watched a film.

With ਮੈਂ and ਅਸੀਂ, ਨੇ is not written, but the verb still agrees with the object. With third-person subjects, the pronoun changes form, as in ਉਸ ਨੇ.

Past time words

• ਕੱਲ੍ਹ — yesterday
• ਪਰਸੋਂ — the day before yesterday
• ਪਿਛਲੇ ਹਫ਼ਤੇ — last week

The past continuous

To say "was doing", use ਰਿਹਾ ਸੀ / ਰਹੀ ਸੀ:

• ਮੈਂ ਪੜ੍ਹ ਰਿਹਾ ਸੀ। — I was reading.
• ਉਹ ਖਾਣਾ ਬਣਾ ਰਹੀ ਸੀ। — She was cooking.

Tips

1. Learn ਗਿਆ / ਗਈ first.
2. Learn the pattern for eating and reading.
3. Use the dictionary to check verb forms.

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