6.5 Present and Past Habitual

Present Habitual Tense

The present habitual tense is used to describe habitual, routine, and permanent actions. It is also used to make general statements about the present, to generalize things, to tell universal truth and make impersonal sentences.

Habitual marker ਦਾ, ਦੇ, ਦੀ, ਦੀਆਂ with the auxiliary of present ਹੋਣਾ (to be) (ਹਾਂ, ਹੈਂ, ਹੋ, ਹੈ, ਹਨ) are used to form a habitual conjugation.

Formation: Verb stem + ਦਾ, ਦੇ, ਦੀ, ਦੀਆਂ + Aux of ਹੋਣਾ (to be).

Rules: Verb and auxiliary both agree with the subject of the sentence.

If the verb stem ends with a consonant, the conjugation would be:

If the verb stem ends with a vowel, it carries nasalization (ਬਿੰਦੀ/ਟਿੱਪੀ).

Honorific ਤੁਸੀਂ in Present Habitual Tense

Honorific ਤੁਸੀਂ: When the subject of the sentence is “feminine honorific” and mixed gender verb takes masculine plural agreement.

Examples:

• ਮੇਰੇ ਮਾਤਾ ਜੀ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਪੜ੍ਹਾਉਂਦੇ ਹਨ। (My mother teaches Punjabi.)
• ਮੇਰੀ ਜਮਾਤ ਵਿੱਚ ਪੱਚੀ ਵਿਦਿਆਰਥੀ ਪੜ੍ਹਦੇ ਹਨ। (Twenty-five students study in my class.)

Negation in Habitual Sentences

In order to change habitual actions to negative, the word ਨਹੀਂ can be used directly before the verb. When habitual sentences appear in negative generally, the auxiliary verb “to be” in present is dropped.

Examples:

• ਅਸੀਂ ਰੋਟੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਖਾਂਦੇ। (We don’t eat roti.)
• ਤੁਸੀਂ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਬੋਲਦੇ। (You don’t speak Punjabi.)

Question Words in Habitual Sentence

In order to ask questions, the question words (ਕੀ, ਕੌਣ, ਕਿੱਥੇ, etc.) come directly before the verb.

Examples:

• ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਕੌਣ ਬੋਲਦਾ ਹੈ? (Who speaks Punjabi?)
• ਤੁਸੀਂ ਦਵਾਈ ਕਿਉਂ ਖਾਂਦੇ ਹੋ? (Why do you eat medicine?)

If there is question word and negation together in one sentence, the question word comes before the negation and the auxiliary is dropped.

Examples:

• ਤੁਸੀਂ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਕਿਉਂ ਨਹੀਂ ਬੋਲਦੇ? (Why don’t you speak Punjabi?)
• ਉਹ ਖਾਣਾ ਕਿਉਂ ਨਹੀਂ ਖਾਂਦੇ? (Why don’t they eat food?)

Example Sentences

Test Yourself (Present Habitual)

Activity 1: Fill in the Blanks

Activity 2: Speaking

Describe your one day/tell us your daily routine in minimum of 15 sentences. Record your sentences by pressing the button below. Once you are done recording, you can download your audio file and send it to your teacher for feedback and/or share it with your friends.

Activity 3: Listening

Pre-Listening Activity

Listening

Watch the video carefully from 4:27 to 6:16.

Post-Listening Activity

Based on the video, answer the following questions.

Past Habitual Tense

The past habitual tense is used to express past habits, routines and permanent actions.

All the conjugations and rules are the same as the present habitual tense except for the auxiliary. In the present habitual tense, the present auxiliaries of ਹੋਣਾ or “to be” (ਹਾਂ, ਹੈਂ, ਹੋ, ਹੈ, ਹਨ) are used, whereas in the past habitual tense, the past auxiliaries of ਹੋਣਾ or “to be” (ਸੀ, ਸਨ) are used. In negative sentences, the auxiliary verb cannot be dropped.

Examples:

• ਬਚਪਨ ਵਿੱਚ ਮੈਂ ਬਹੁਤ ਦੁੱਧ ਪੀਂਦਾ ਸੀ। (In childhood, I used to drink a lot of milk.)
• ਤੁਸੀਂ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਵਿੱਚ ਕਿੱਥੇ ਰਹਿੰਦੇ ਸੀ? (Where did you used to live in Punjab?)
• ਉਹ ਕਿਤਾਬਾਂ ਨਹੀਂ ਪੜ੍ਹਦੇ ਸਨ। (They did not use to read books.)

Irregular Conjugation in Present & Past Habitual

Test Yourself

Activity 4: Speaking

Tell us about your past habits using a minimum of 10 sentences. Record your sentences by pressing the button below. Once you are done recording, you can download your audio file and send it to your teacher for feedback and/or share it with your friends.

Activity 5: Listening

Pre-Listening Activity

Learn/review the following vocabulary.

Listening

Watch the following video carefully. Then, recite the poem (from 13:35 to 13:51).

Post-Listening Activity

Memorize the poem.

ਧੰਨਵਾਦ!