Indicative Present (negative)
| Singular | Plural | |||
| 1st Person | Hanv nam |
I am not | Ami nanv |
We are not |
| 2nd Person | Tum nai |
Thou art not | Tumi nant |
You are not |
| 3rd Person | To na, ti na, tem na |
He/she/it is not | Te nant, teô nant, tim nant |
They are not |
Simple Past (negative)
The past negatives of asonk are formed merely by adding an ‘n’ before the affirmatives. So “hanv aslom” becomes “hanv naslom“,
“tum asloi” or the colloquial “tum ahal’loi” changes to “tum nasloi”
and “tum nahal’loi“,
etc. It is the same for all persons, singular or plural.
It must be remembered, though, as I have already mentioned earlier, that the verb asonk cannot be used to translate all cases of the verb to be. It can be used only to denote locations and temporary states of a person or thing. For example, the Konkani for “I am here” is “hanv hanga asam“.
But if you want to say “I am a girl”, you don’t say “hanv cheddum asam“,
because being a girl is a permanent feature and therefore the Konkani for that is just “hanv cheddum.
” In such a case, the verb is simply dropped, at least in the present tense.