Time Clauses with 'taim'

01

The Noun

• Mi nogat taim.

  I don't have time.

• Em wanem taim nau?

  What time is it now?

• Yu gat sampela taim i stap?

  Do you have some time?

• Sori tru, mi gat wanpela hevi long dispela taim.

  I'm very sorry, I have a problem at this time.

02

'when' - Joining Two Clauses

Put taim in front of a clause and it means "when that happened". Nothing else is added; the clause keeps its ordinary shape.

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

  When I was young, I lived in China.

• Em pasim dua taim mi kam insait pinis.

  He shut the door when I had come in.

• Taim wok i pinis, klinim masin.

  When the work is finished, clean the machine.

• Pasim win taim sikman i kus.

  Hold your breath when the patient coughs.

Either order works, exactly as in English: the time clause may come first, with a comma, or follow the main clause with nothing between them.

03

Tense Inside the Clause

The first example marks the past twice - bin in the time clause and bin again in the main clause. That is normal but not compulsory, and once the time frame is established the marker is usually dropped. In the second example only pinis appears, on the subordinate verb, and the main verb pasim stands bare; the sentence is still unambiguously about the past.

04

Expressions Built on 'taim'

A whole family of common time expressions is just taim with a modifier in front. Learning the pattern gives you all of them at once.

• olgeta taim - all the time, always
• longpela taim - a long time
• klostu taim - soon (literally "close time")
• dispela taim - this time, now
• narapela taim - another time
• wanem taim - when, what time

• Em save katim gras bilong mi olgeta taim.

  He always cuts my hair.

• Mi kaikai nau, tasol mi no save kaikai planti olgeta taim.

  I'm eating now, but I don't always eat a lot.

• Lukim yu klostu taim.

  See you soon.

• Em i ken i stap longpela taim.

  It can stay a long time.

• Em i orait long yumi putim i go long narapela taim bihain?

  Is it all right if we postpone it to another time?

Note olgeta taim for "always". Tok Pisin has no dedicated adverb for it - "all the time" is taken literally, and it is the ordinary way to say it.

05

Clock Time

The same noun introduces the time of day, in a fixed frame where taim is the subject and the hour is the predicate.

• Taim em i seven klok long moning?

  Is it seven o'clock in the morning?

The hour itself is a plain number.