1.
past imcompletive action or state; also, past unintentional action.
Ley is often translated with an English past tense. Ley can be used with constructions which express unintentional action such as with the verbal abilitative affixes ta- or maka- , or with the actor focused verb matey "to die" the stem is patey . Compare the intentional action and unintentional action: 1 Nahamban eh na payung-na ma Bongao. "Her umbrella was [intentionally] left by her in Bongao." 2 Ley tahamban payung-na ma Bongao. "Her umbrella was [unintentionally] left [by her] in Bongao." Also, in story telling, its use
seems to move the action along. Aa "person" can be contracted with ley , forming aley "person who did" see the second example below. See the discussion of this particle and others in the "Grammar Notes".
I fell from the seesaw because of its flipping at once.
I fell from the seesaw because it suddenly flipped up.
If there is, it is said, a person who died,...
I am unclean because I happened to touch feces.
Her age was still young [when] she was married.
The glass was [unintentionally] broken by me.
I accidentally broke the glass.
My leg was bruised by the wood [which] fell on top [of it].
When they finished the wedding...
This example and all the rest of the examples below are taken from a folktale which was recorded live.
Well, when there was one day [that] the stepmother began to be hostile, then...
Well, when the day came that the stepmother became hostile, then...
There came a day [that] her husband was out ([he] was gambling), [so] she glued--uh...her wings [back together], [and] she
tried [to fly] in the house.
[She] was amazed, if why was it that her wings were there?
She was dumbfounded. How in the world could her wings have gotten there? [The expression "in the world" is an English idiom.]