A Focus on the Present

Verb Tense

Chulym has unique verb tenses that are not found in other Turkic languages. These rare tenses occur in the present tense. For the example of the present, the form -ibil is commonly used by Chulym speakers (Anderson and Harrison 2003).

There is also a rare future tense that is commonly used. It is denoted by the -lik and its negative -bik (Anderson and Harrison 2003).

In addition to the present verb tense, there are four other variations that function as the present tense. This is quite interesting due to the nature it is not found in other Turkic languages. Some of the structures used seem to be used as some form of the narrative present, when in reality are meant as past tense. At this time further research needs to be done on this specific structure (Anderson and Harrison 2003).