Present tense

The Present tense (сегашно време, segašno vreme) is used to express present actions and actions that overlap with the moment of speaking and this meaning is expressed with the use of imperfective verbs. Besides that, the Present tense can be formed with the perfective verbs as well, but then it is not true present action, but more likely future in the past. Besides the present action, with the forms of present tense there is possibility to express:

• past events - the forms are the same, but the meaning refers to certain past event. This usually occurs when telling stories or retelling events.
• future events - the forms are the same, but the meaning refers to the future. Usually, these types of events are time-table or schedule of tasks that are planned.
• general facts - expressing common knowledge that is always same.
• routines and habits
• expressing preparedness and events that occur at same time - the speaker expresses that (s)he is ready to do certain tasks and expressing two actions that occur at the same time.

The forms of the Present simple in Macedonian are made by adding suffixes to the verb stems. In the following tables are shown the suffixes that are used in Macedonian and one example for each verb subgroup.

Here are some examples where the usage of Present tense in Macedonian is applied:

Јас јадам леб. (Jas jadam leb., 'I eat bread.')

Додека тој јаде, ти чисти ја собата. (Dodeka toj jade, ti čisti ja sobata., 'While he eats, you clean the room.')

Автобусот за Скопје тргнува во 5 часот. (Avtobusot za Skopje trgnuva vo 5 časot., 'The bus for Skopje leaves at 5 o'clock.')

Ако ја грееш водата, таа врие. (Ako ja greeš vodata, taa vrie., 'If you heat the water, it boils.')

Секој ден јас гледам сериски филм. (Sekoj den jas gledam seriski film., 'Every day I watch a serial film.')

Imperfect

The imperfect, or referred to as 'past definite incomplete tense' (минато определено несвршено време,minato opredeleno nesvršeno vreme), is used to express past actions where the speaker is a witness of it or took participation in it. In order to express such an action or state, imperfective verbs are used. Also, there is a possibility to express an action with perfective verbs, but then before the verb there should be some of these prepositions or particles: ако (ako, 'if'), да (da, 'to') or ќе (ḱe, 'will'). It is important to mention that when perfective verbs are used, then there is expression of conditional mood, past-in-the-future or other perfective aspects, but not witnessed past actions. Besides the basic usage of the Imperfect, with this tense in Macedonian can be expressed and:

• conditional mood - as it is mentioned with perfective verbs,
• weak command - usually a polite request,
• past actions that were repeated for some period
• preparedness - the speaker expresses that (s)he is ready to do certain tasks.

As an exemplification of the mentioned usages, here are some sentences:

Јас ловев зајаци. (Jas lovev zajaci., 'I was hunting rabbits.')

Ако не брзаше, ќе немаше грешки. (Ako ne brzaše, ḱe nemaše greški., 'If you weren't rushing, you would not make mistakes.')

Да ми помогнеше малку? (Da mi pomogneše malku?, 'What about helping me a bit?')

Секој ден стануваше во 7 часот и готвеше кафе. (Sekoj den stanuvaše vo 7 časot i gotveše kafe., 'He was getting up every day at 7 o'clock and making coffee.')

Aorist

The aorist, also known as 'past definite complete tense' (минато определено свршено време, minato opredeleno svršeno vreme), is a verb form that is used to express past finished and completed action or event, with or without the speaker's participation in it. The duration of the action that is expressed with the aorist can be long or short. For aorist, in Macedonian are used perfective verbs, but sometimes, though very rarely, in non-standard folk speech there may be usage of imperfective verbs. Besides this basic usage, the aorist also can be used to express:

• future event - the form is standard aorist, but the meaning refers to the future, usually near future as a consequence of the previous action.
• condition - past condition
• general fact - rarely used, usually in popular proverbs.

The formation of the aorist for most verbs is not complex, but there are numerous small subcategories which must be learned. While all verbs in the aorist (except сум) take the same endings, there are complexities in the aorist stem vowel and possible consonant alternations.

Note: ∅ indicates a zero ending. The suffix -ja is used for verbs of the I-division of I-subgroup and for the division of E-subgroup without vowel, i.e. izmi - izmija (wash - washed)

The following tables show the paradigm of the aorist for all three major verb subgroups and their divisions:

In the following section are given some examples about the mentioned usage above:

Ние прочитавме книга. (Nie pročitavme kniga, 'We read a book.')

Го положив ли испитот, те честам пијачка. (Go položiv li ispitot, te čestam pijačka., 'Should I pass the exam, I'll treat you to a drink.')

Една вечер спав надвор. (Edna večer spav nadvor., 'One night I slept outside.')

Perfect of perfective verbs

The Macedonian tense минато неопределено свршено време (minato neopredeleno svršeno vreme, 'past indefinite complete tense'), or referred to as 'perfect of perfective verbs', functions similarly as the English Present perfect simple. The forms of the Macedonian present perfect are formed with the forms of 'to be' in present tense plus the L-form of the conjuncted verb, which is always perfective. Important to note is that for third person singular there is no presence of the verb 'to be'. This form of the Macedonian perfect is sometimes called 'sum-perfect'. The conjugation of one perfective verb in Macedonian looks as the following one, which is the verb прочита (pročita, 'read'):

As an example of this tense:

Macedonian developed an alternative form of the sum-perfect, which is formed with the auxiliary verb 'to have' and a verbal adjective in neutral, instead of the verb 'to be' and verbal l-form. This is sometimes called 'ima-perfect'.

There is a slight difference in meaning between 'sum-perfect' and 'ima-perfect'.

Perfect of imperfective verbs

The English tense 'Present perfect continuous' functions similarly as the Macedonian tense минато неопределено несвршено време (minato neopredeleno nesvršeno vreme, 'past indefinite incomplete tense') or known as 'perfect of imperfective verbs'. This perfect tense is formed similarly as the perfect of perfective verbs i.e. with the present tense forms of 'to be' and the L-form of the conjuncted verb, but this time the verb is imperfective. Important to note is that for third person singular there is no presence of the verb 'to be'. The conjugation of one imperfective verb in Macedonian looks as the following one, which is the verb чита (read):

As an example of this tense:

Like the perfect of perfective verbs, Macedonian also developed an alternative form of the sum-perfect, which is formed with the auxiliary verb 'to have' and a verbal adjective in neutral, instead of the verb 'to be' and verbal l-form. This is sometimes called 'ima-perfect'.

There is also a slight difference in meaning between 'sum-perfect' and 'ima-perfect' regarding perfect of imperfective verbs. Ima-perfect usually denotes resultative meaning.

Future tense

With the forms of future tense in Macedonian are expressed actions that are planned to happen in future. Usually, when we speak about future, we mean expressing events that should happen soon, however, there is a special form in Macedonian to express future events from past perspective, or event that happened after some other event and this is treated as separate tense called 'Future-in-the-past'.

The simple future tense is formed by adding the clitic ќе (ḱe, 'will') to the inflected present tense form of the verb. In this respect, both Macedonian and Bulgarian differ from other South Slavic languages, since in both the clitic is fixed, whereas in Serbo-Croatian it inflects for person and number . The negative form of the future tense in Macedonian is made by adding the particles нема да (nema + da) or just не (ne) before the verb pattern, whereas the interrogative form is made by adding the question word дали (dali), also before the verb pattern. When we use the negative form nema da, there is not presence of the clitic ḱe. Usually, ḱe in English is translated with the modal verb 'will', and vice versa. When an event is expressed with the use of ḱe, then it is considered normal future, but there is a stronger future event as well which is made with the construction: има (ima, 'have') + да ('da', 'to') + present simple form of the verb.

Besides the main usage, the future tense is used to express:

• past events - expressing events that somehow refer to the future,
• orders - giving orders or commands to someone,
• prediction - predicting something,
• general facts - usually for proverbs or things that are considered as facts,
• events that repeat after some period,
• possibility - possible future events.

Some of these mentioned rules, can be recognized in the following examples:

Јас ќе одам во Скопје. (Jas ḱe odam vo Skopje) – I will go to Skopje.

Јас отидов во визбата и што ќе видам, сето вино истекло на подот. (Jas otidov vo vizbata i što ḱe vidam, seto vino isteklo na podot., 'I went to the basement and, lo and behold, all of the wine was spilled on the floor.')

Ќе ме слушаш и ќе траеш. (Ḱe me slušaš i ḱe traeš., 'You will listen to me and you will say no words.')

Колку е стар твојот дедо? Ќе да има 70 години. (Kolku e star tvojot dedo? Ḱe da ima 70 godini., 'How old is your granddad? He'd have to be [at least] 70 years old.')

Ќе направам сѐ само да се венчам со Сара. (Ḱe napravam sè samo da se venčam so Sara., 'I'd do anything just to marry Sara.')

Ќе одиш на училиште и крај! (Ḱe odiš na učilište i kraj!, 'You will go to school, and that’s it!')

Future-in-the-past

Future-in-the-past is expressed by means of the same clitic ќе (ḱe, 'will') and past tense forms of the verb:

An interesting fact of vernacular usage of a past tense form of the verb which can be used in a future sense as well, although this construction is mostly limited to older speakers, and is used to describe the degree of certainty that some event will take place in the future or under some condition. This characteristic is shared with Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin and Serbian languages.

Examples:

• Те отепав, штом те фатам. (Te otepav, štom te fatam., 'I have killed you, when I get you')
• Те фатам ли, те казнив. (Te fatam li, te kazniv., 'As soon as I grab you, I have punished you')

In this respect, Macedonian is different from Bulgarian: Macedonian is consistent in the use of ќе as a clitic, whereas the equivalent Bulgarian construction involves the inflection of the clitic for tense, person and number as a regular verb (щях да дойда, 'I would [have] come'; щеше да дойде, 'he would [have] come').