1.
past
punctiliar
marker; completed
past
action; past completive action or event.
This word is usually translated with the English simple past tense, indicating a completed past action. It can sometimes be
translated into the English perfect, which is especially so but not always in the abilitative mood. Bey can be used in questions and can be negated. When appearing in combination with other constructions that are not usually
translated in the past tense such as agentive constructions with the prefix ni- , it places the action in the past. Bey can also be contracted with aa , such as abey for aa bey "the person who did". Notice in the third example below, bey stands for a whole verb, "been able to duck", which was stated in the preceding clause. See the discussion about functors
and time aspect particles in the "Grammar Notes.
I already shook you awake, but you didn't get up!
Can [you] imagine, all the money has been spent by him!
Can you imagine, he has spent all the money!
Good I was able to duck, if [I] hadn't been [able to duck], I would have already been hit.
Good I was able to duck, if not, it would have struck me.
Did you already draw [your] protective charm?
[When] she gave birth, [she] was not even able to be reached by the midwife.
When she delivered, the baby came before the midwife.
Don't bring up anymore the thing [that] has passed.
[It] is as if you are blind, not having been able to see [that].
I am worried now because there is no news [which] has been able to reach me.
While [it] still hasn't been able to go too far, you stop now.
Were you able to feel the earthquake?
The dress given her by me -- oh! She still protested at first, but [it] wasn't long after [that] she was being [pleasantly]
affected by [its] beauty already.
The dress I gave her -- my! At first she protested, but it wasn't long until she was taken with it. ["Taken" here means "smitten",
as in "to really like" something.]
Was your tooth pulled by the dentist?/ Has your tooth been pulled by the dentist?
[When] I was a young child, my upper arm fat was nothing.
When I was young, I had no adipose tissue hanging from my upper arms./ When I was young, my arms were firm as could be.
2.
from a past action.
This definition is peculiar to the construction in which bey introduces the cause of the condition mentioned. In translating this to English, it requires the word "from" and usually
converts the verb to a gerund form -ing, or inserts "when", as shown in the last example. See the discussion of bey in the "Grammar Notes".
His voice was hoarse from [his] yelling habitually.
His body is strained from having carried wood.
His bones have/are overlapped from when [he] fell from the top of the tree./ His bones overlapped from falling from the top
of the tree.
3.
former; previous.
These definitions can be applied when bey is used with nouns. When bey appears with nouns, it performs a function similar to adjectives such as the English adjectives "previous" and "former".
I happened to meet with my former instructor yesterday.
I ran into a former teacher of mine yesterday.
The former custom of the aforementioned past was, so that [people] would know [that you were] wealthy, the teeth were gilded.
4.
finished; done; through.
In the absense of verbs, bey is understood to mean "finished" and can be translated with the definitions given.
[Are] you finished now?/ [Are] you through now?/ [Are] you done now?/ Are you finished already?