Reading level 14: A Day, Told in Order

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Level 13 joined sentences to each other; this one puts them in time. The plain past arrives — -লাম for আমি (গেলাম, খেলাম, দেখলাম) and -ল for anyone else (বলল, থামল, এল) — and beside it two pasts that are not simply over: -তাম and হতো for what you used to do, and -ছিল for what was going on at the time. ভোরে, সকালে, দুপুরে, সন্ধ্যায় and এরপর order a day from one end to the other, and বলল যে lets you report what somebody said.

Grammar

the narrative past: -লাম for আমি, -ল / -লেন for anyone else
the habitual past -ত: যেতাম, উঠতাম, কিনতাম, হতো, যেত
the past continuous -ছিল: হচ্ছিল, করছিল, দাঁড়িয়ে ছিলাম
time adverbials that order a day: ভোরে, সকালে, দুপুরে, বিকেলে, সন্ধ্যায়, এরপর, তখন
clock time with সাড়ে, দেড় and আধা
reported speech with বলল যে / বললেন যে

Text types

account
announcement

0/9 read

।

-তাম is the habitual past: what you used to do and no longer do. যেতাম, not গেলাম — গেলাম would be one particular walk.

, ।

-ছিল makes the past continuous, what was going on while something else happened. দাঁড়িয়ে ছিলাম is 'I was standing': the -ইয়ে form plus ছিলাম.

, , ।

The plain past for আমি ends in -লাম. প্রথমে, এরপর and শেষে are what put three of them in order.

, ।

বলল যে opens what somebody said. This যে is not the এই যে you call across a shop with — here it is simply 'that'.

যেদিন বৃষ্টিতে অফিসে গেলামThe morning it rained

রোজনামচা · বুধবার

, । , । , । , , । । , । । , । । , । , । , । । , । । , । , । , । । । , । , । , । । । , । , । , । , । । , । ।

An account is one person telling what happened, in the order it happened. The time words carry the whole structure — ভোরে, সাড়ে আটটায়, দুপুরে, বিকেলে — and the verbs end in the plain past -লাম or -ল. Watch for the sentences that begin আগে: those step out of the story to say what he used to do, and they use -তাম and হতো instead.

ঈদের ছুটির বিজ্ঞপ্তিOffice closed for Eid

অফিস কর্তৃপক্ষ · ৩ জুন

। । , । । । , । । , । । । । । । । ।

An announcement speaks to everybody and to nobody in particular. It opens with সবাইকে জানানো যাচ্ছে যে — 'everyone is hereby informed that' — and then runs on -বেন forms that are half instruction and half request. Nothing in it is in the past: an announcement is entirely about what is going to happen.

বার্ষিক পরীক্ষার বিজ্ঞপ্তিExam dates

প্রধান শিক্ষক · আদর্শ উচ্চ বিদ্যালয়

। , । , , । । । । । । । । । । । , । , । , । । ।

The same announcement shape as the office notice, but read the verbs against the nouns. Its nouns are a register up — সকল where the office said সব, ছাত্রছাত্রী and অভিভাবক where it said সবাই. Its verbs go the other way: every line aimed at a pupil drops to the plain -বে (সবাই খাতা ও কলম নিয়ে আসবে, কোনো খাবার নিয়ে আসবে না), and the honorific -বেন comes back only for the lines aimed at guardians (জানাবেন, রাখবেন না, অপেক্ষা করবেন, বলবেন). A real school notice sorts its two readerships exactly like this; the office notice, which has only adults to address, is -বেন all the way through.

বাজারের গল্পAn evening at the bazaar

রোজনামচা · বুধবার রাত

, । । , । , । , । । , । , । , । । । , । । । । । , । , । , । , । , । , । , । । , । , । , । । । , ।

The second half of the day the first account began. প্রথমে, এরপর and শেষে run the sequence; বললেন যে carries what each stallholder said, in the honorific past because he is being polite to them. The money has to add up across the whole text, which is what makes it worth reading twice.

কারেন্ট চলে গেলThe night the power went

পাশের ফ্ল্যাটের ভাড়াটিয়া

, । ? , । , । , । । । , । । , । , । , । , । , । , । । , । , । , । , । । । , । , । । , । , । । । , ।

An account can be spoken as well as written. This one is addressed to somebody — it opens with ভাই and a question — so it moves between the past of what happened last night and the present of what always happens. আগে … হতো and কারেন্ট যেত mark the second kind: the way things used to be.