The Past with 'bin'

01

How It Is Used

The word sits directly before the verb, after the subject and after the predicate marker.

• Yu bin go long skul aste?

  Did you go to school yesterday?

• Bubu meri bilong mi i bin dai long Febueri.

  My grandmother died in February.

• Mi no bin lukim yu inap nainpela krismas nau.

  I haven't seen you for nine years.

• Em i no bin i go long skul.

  He didn't go to school.

02

Why It Is Usually Absent

A bare verb is perfectly capable of describing the past. If the context is already past - because a time word has established it, or because the conversation is plainly about what happened - no marker is added at all.

• Mi go long bikpela stua.

  I went to the big shop.

• Mi baim ol kaikai na nupela han wats.

  I bought the groceries and a new watch.

Both of those sentences describe yesterday, and neither contains bin. What licenses them is the question that came before: Yu wokim wanem long aste?

03

When It Earns Its Place

bin is reached for when the pastness would otherwise be unclear, or when it is being contrasted with the present. It is common in sentences that set a scene in an earlier period.

• Taim mi bin yangpela, mi bin stap long ples Saina.

  When I was young, I lived in China.

• Mi bin lainim tokples Swahili long Jun.

  I learned Swahili in June.

04

Where It Stands

bin comes after the predicate marker and after the negative, in front of the verb. The only thing that can come between them is the second i that go and kam often take, as in the second example.

• Em i bin wokim san na mun.

  He made the sun and the moon.

• Em i no bin i go long skul.

  He didn't go to school.

05

Not the Same as 'pinis'

bin places an event in past time. pinis, which follows the verb, says the action is complete. They answer different questions and can appear in the same sentence, one on each side of the verb.

• Mi bin go pinis long Frens bipo yet.

  I had already been to France before.