Past(Okato)
Past tense tells us about things that happen a while ago or sometimes back. Past tense in Acholi is determined by the letters A and O at the beginning and ends with o.
| Acholi | English |
| Owoto | He walked |
| Akwano | I studied |
| En olwoko latin | She washed the baby |
Past simple (I did/atimo)
But many verbs are irregular. The past simple does not end in -ed. In Acholi, these words use the verbs ending in O.
Acholi | English |
| Lokang Coyo kwan I leb Acholi. | Lokang wrote a course on Acholi language. |
| Wa neno Ogwiny I Gulu laworo. | We saw Ogwiny in Gulu yesterday. |
| Gi pwuono pul gi wang a dek i cabit ma okato | They harvested our groundnuts three time last week |
In questions and negative sentences we use did/didn’t + infinitive (enjoy/maro see/neno go/cito etc.):
Acholi | English |
| An amaro kacoke matin. Ine I maro kacoke? | I enjoyed the meeting today. Did you enjoy it? |
| Bong awil gin mo pien a pe ki cente/lim. | I didn’t buy anything because I didn’t have any money. |
| I kwato diangi tin. pe, Bong akwati | Did you herd the cattle today. No, I didn't. |
Sometimes do is the main verb in the sentence (did you do?/itimo?, I didn’t do/bong atim?):
Acholi | English |
| Itimo ngo i cabit man? | What did you do at the week? |
| Bong atim gin mo. | I didn’t do anything. |
The past of be (am/is/are) is was/were:
| I/he/she/it was/wasn’t | was I/he/she/it? |
| we/you/they were/weren’t | were we/you/they? |
Constructing a sentence
Acholi | English |
| An cwinya pe nyom pien gin gi ok kwe | I was annoyed because they were late. |
| Piny i nongo be i kare ma wu tye i ni ninywale/ninonyuale? | Was the weather good when you were on x-mass? |
| pe gi twero bino pien gin onongo tic omako gin. | They weren’t able to come because they were so busy. |
| Onongo kec pe neka pi man pe a camo | I wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t eat anything. |
| I citp woko laworo onyo i onongo ider? | Did you go out last night or were you too tired? |
Past continuous (I was doing)
| he/she/it was | playing, doing, working |
| we/you/they were | playing, doing, working |
Constructing sentence
I was doing something = I was in the middle of doing it at a certain time. The action or situation started before this time, but had not finished:
Acholi | English |
| I kare man mwoka ma oketo a tye i panyikwara. | This time last year I was living in Panyikwara. |
| I timo ngo 10:00 i diwor ma tin? | What were you doing at 10 o’clock last night? |
| I elo cinga bot Awinyo, ento en pe onongo neno. | I waved to Awinyo, but she wasn’t looking. |