Habitual markers in the Ga language

In Ga, unlike English has habitual markers which conveys certain meanings deemed as permanent. How do I mean?

1. He is a doctor

2. She is a good person

3. Nii is light skinned

4. They are Africans

5. Every evening, Ataa Ago goes to church

6. My grandma wakes up at 8am on a daily basis

These expressions describe who you are and not just a temporary state of yours. In English, it can be seen as existing in various formats: one is a past mood whiles the other in a present mood.

For the past mood.

- She used to eat before going to bed

- We used to be bad people

- They use to come here to check up on me

In Ga, to form an habitual tense, we employ these souns "a" and "or"  to help us convey those meanings.

When the verb ends with "a", the habutual marker is "a". Any other sound, we use the "".

For example

eye nii - he/she ate

eeye nii - he/she is eating

eyeɔ nii - he/she eats (all the time)

The expression "eyeɔ nii" can play 2 main roles in the Ga language. One is a simple present tense where it means that "he/she eats." The other implies a more habitual meaning where he/she eats all the time.

Let us take another example

eejo - he is dancing

eejoɔ - he/she dances (all the time)

the 2nd implies a more habitual act whiles the first tells you what "he is doing at the moment"

In Eglish, words like "often", "always", "then" plays a more habitual role. "Then" is seen as a habitual past expression.

Think of it this way:

he often goes to chuch - efɔɔ sɔɔmɔ yaa

he often speaks Dangme - efɔɔ Daŋme wiemɔ 

we speak Ga always - wɔwieɔ Ga daa

They profesy to us all the time - amɛgbaa amɛhaa wɔ daa

Leave your questions or comments in the comment section below to help expand this article so that others can continue to learn from it?