Verbs - past continuous tense

The past continuous tense is used for an action which was in progress at a point in the past. For example "he was going to Gauteng". In Setswana, this is formed by using an "auxiliary verb" (ne). Both the verb ne and the original verb take the object marker.

Past Continuous positive

- ke ne ke ithuta Setswana = I was learning Setswana - o ne o ithuta Setswana = you were learning Setswana - o ne a ithuta Setswana = she was learning Setswana

ke ne ke nna kwa Kanye ngwaga e e fetileng	I was staying in Kanye last year
o ne o tshameka sentle thata	you were playing very well
Mosidi o ne a opela monate	Mosidi was singing nicely
re ne re ithuta go bala le go kwala	we were learning (how) to read and write
Bo-rra, a lo ne lo bua kaga dikgomo ?	Gentlemen, were you talking about cattle ?
Dikgomo di ne di nwa metsi kwa sedibeng	@@@
Dipodi di ne di fula kwa thabeng	the goats were grazing at the mountain