Bengali Dialect Comparison: Present System Verbs
Although Bengali has one standard written form throughout Bengal, the vernaculars of Bangladesh and West Bengal (India) vary considerably. In this post, we’ll focus on the differences between present system verb forms in Bangladeshi and Indian Bengali.The two major dialects we’ll focus on are the dialects of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Kolkata, West Bengal, the two biggest cities in each region. We’ll also use romanized forms for the verbs, since the Bengali alphabet does not adequately represent the sounds of Bangladeshi dialects.
The two verbs we’ll be looking at are করা kôra “to do” and গাওয়া gaoa “to sing”.
Overall, the Kolkata dialect uses the same verb conjugations as standard Bengali, while the Dhaka dialect differs considerably in the continuous and perfect tenses.
Present Simple
The present simple is usually translated as “I do/sing”.
The present simple tense, both Dhaka and Kolkata dialects tend to use the standard forms.
kôra: ami kori, tui korish, tumi kôro, apni kôren, she kôre
gaoa: ami gai, tui gash, tumi gao, apni gan, she gay
Present Continuous
The present continuous is translated as “I am doing/singing”.
In the present continuous, the Kolkata dialect tends to use the standard forms.
kôra: ami korchi, tui korchish, tumi korcho, apni korchen, she korche
gaoa: ami gacchi, tui gacchish, tumi gaccho, apni gacchen, she gacche
However, some speakers of the Kolkata dialect use a slightly different form for verbs like gaoa, substituting -ich- for -cch-:
gaoa: ami gaichi, tui gaichish, tumi gaicho, apni gaichen, she gaiche
The Dhaka dialect uses very different forms, substituting -tes- for the standard -ch- and -ites- for standard -cch-.
kôra: ami kortesi, tui kortesish, tumi korteso, apni kortesen, she kortese
gaoa: ami gaitesi, tui gaitesish, tumi gaiteso, apni gaitesen, she gaitese
Present Perfect
The present perfect is translated as “I did/sang” or “I have done/sung”.
The Kolkata dialect uses standard forms of the present perfect:
kôra: ami korechi, tui korechish, tumi korecho, apni korechen, she koreche
gaoa: ami geyechi, tui geyechish, tumi geyecho, apni geyechen, she geyeche
The Dhaka dialect substitutes -s- or -is- for standard -ech-, and it doesn’t use a modified stem for verbs like gaoa.
kôra: ami korsi, tui korsish, tumi korso, apni korsen, she korse
gaoa: ami gaisi, tui gaisish, tumi gaiso, apni gaisen, she gaise
In the negative form of the present perfect, both standard and Kolkata dialect attach -ni to the end of the present tense verb (ami korini “I didn’t do”), while Dhaka dialect prefers -nai (ami korinai).