Tamasheq

Introduction

Tamasheq is a Berber language spoken by the Tuareg.

The verb

Tamasheq verbs jave four aspects:

1. Perfective: complete actions
2. Stative: "lasting states as the ongoing results of a completed action."
3. Imperfective: future or possible actions, "often used following a verb expressing emotion, decision or thought," it can be marked with "'ad'" (shortened to "'a-'" with prepositions).
4. Cursive: ongoing actions, often habitual ones.

Conjugation in Tamasheq is done by adding suffixes (prefixes, postfixes or both) to a root. The triliteral roots (three-consonant bases) are the most common in Tamasheq.

Sample verb: ktb 'to write'

In the following table the prefixes and postfixes are marked in bold.

Past