Important: Different dialects may have different grammar rules for expressing time. Check with your local language expert.
There are currently no known or agreed-up names for the days of the week, the months of the year, or the seasons of the year, or how to indicate the calendar date or year.
See also Seasons, Names of days.
When deciding whether to include the past or future tense, ask yourself how necessary firmly placing an event in the past or future is for someone to understand the story/song/etc. Mandos are supposed to assume a lot about time based on the context. One way to think about it (that's good for nearly all situations): If someone using Mando'a can't see the actions unfolding before their eyes, they ought to take as true that the actions someone else is describing happened some time in the past unless told otherwise.
If you wish to indicate that an entire story takes place in the past or future, start the story with vaal (during) plus the time period in which it happens. When the part of the story that takes place in that time period ends, indicate the switch with vaal and a different time period.
If the story takes place only in the present, it is not necessary to indicate the time frame.
Do not use ganar (to have, to possess) as a helper with other verbs. If you want to talk about actions that happened in the past that either affected other past actions (the past perfect of English grammar) or still has relevance now (the present perfect of English grammar), use appropriate time markers (see below) to convey that information.
Where does time information go in a sentence?
Put this information wherever it is least likely to cause confusion due the fact that adjectives and adverbs look/sound the same and that words are often dropped for brevity.
Nakar'tuur (Unkown day)
For some thoughts about nakar'tuur, see this post in the Ba'jurir Mando'a server:
https://discord.com/channels/792811531674714162/920335804788776981/920336028882071623
Speculation about how to respond to Tion'tuur?
ca'nara: time.
sha ca'nara: when, at the time (of).
(See below for how to use it in a question.)
du'caryc: late.
(As in tardy, not as "in recent" or "toward the end of the day.")
par vencuyot: for the future, for a later time.
(Fan construction.)
vaar: early.
evaar'la: young.
ruug'la: old.
tuur: day.
(For some, this is only equivalent to one rotation of a planet. For others, it refers to a rotation and to "daytime.")
ge'tuur: half-day.
(Fan construction; means "one half of a planetary rotation.")
simir: year.
ge'simir: half-year.
(Fan construction.)
vaar'tuur: morning.
kebii'tra: daytime sky.
(Can be used to refer to "daytime" in some dialects.)
peti'tuur: midday.
(Fan construction.)
ge'catra: evening.
ca: night.
(In some dialects, ths only refers to the absence of light from a sun, which is generally during nighttime.)
ca'tra: night sky.
(Can be used to refer to "nighttime" in some dialects.)
nakar'tuur: tomorrow, unknown future day.
dar'tuur: yesterday, day in the past.
(Fan construction.)
ashi tuur: some other day, some day.
(Fan construction.)
munit ca'nara: a long time.
(Fan construction; inferred from munit tome'tayl, skotah iisa.)
skotah ca'nara: a short time.
(Fan construction; inferred from munit tome'tayl, skotah iisa.)
Tion'tuur? What day?
Tion sha ca'nara? At what time?
Tion ca'nara jii? What time is it now?
(Respond using military time; for example: 11:00 a.m. would be ta'raysh solus olan, "eleven hundred.")
Fan units of time (from MandoCreator, derived from a 2008 fan expansion that served as the base for other fan expansions)
ha'ak: a watch (length of time varies by mission, with a typical length of 3 standard hours or 12 getuse
ki'hak: short watch, hour, 60 standard minutes
getu: 15 standard minutes; 30 kumane
takum: minute, 60 standard seconds
kuman: 30 standard seconds; 30 kis'lune
kis'lun: second, 1 standard second
These can be used with a single sentence or at the beginning of a longer story. This list is not exhaustive; vaal can be used with other time words as necessary for the story. Note that some of these use fan constructions.
ibi'tuur: today, this day.
ibic vaar'tuur: this morning.
ibic ge'catra: this evening.
ibi'ca: tonight, this night.
sha peti'tuur: at midday.
(Peti'tuur is a fan construction.)
vaal vaar'tuur: during the morning.
vaal ge'catra: during the evening.
vaal ca: during the night.
(If you use ca'tra as "nighttime," then this phrase means "while there is no daylight.")
vaal kebii'tra: during the daytime.
(This phrase extends the meaning of kebii'tra.)
vaal ca'tra: during the nighttime.
(This phrase extends the meaning of ca'tra and is used instead of vaal ca.)
vaal dar'tuur: during yesterday, during a day in the past.
(If necessary, put the number in the past before dar'tuure.)
vaal ashi tuur: during some other day (but not this one).
vaal dar'ray'ture: during the past week, during some week in the past.
vaal dar'simir: during the past year, during some year in the past.
vaal vencuyot: during the future.
vaal ruyot: during the past.
ret: maybe, at an uncertain future time.
jii: now.
sha sol'yc balac: at the first opportunity.
sha vaarne balac: at the earliest opportunity.
sha jatne balac: at the best opportunity.
sha ca'nara: at the time, when.
The following past and future tense markers are rarely used in the Mando'a language. These markers are used on a single sentence; see above for how to set an entire story in the past or future. Do not use tense markers with the command particle (ke).
ven: future tense particle; use this to indicate that an action that has some degree of certainty of happening in the future. (To express something that might happen at an uncertain point in the future, use the descriptor ret.)
ru: past tense particle; use this to indicate that an action that was done in the past and is no longer happening in the present.
To use these particles, put the appropriate one in front of the related verb. Attach ru to the front of the active verb with a beten if the verb begins with a consonant or r' if the verb begins with a vowlel. Put ven in front of the active verb, but do not use a beten.
Tense particles are only placed with verbs, never with nouns, adjectives, etc. (though they appear within certain existing words). Because of this, use cuyir (to be) with the tense particle, even if you would normally drop it.
Put the tense particle in front of the negative particle (ne, nu, n'). Do not attach the negative particle with a beten to the tense particle regardless of which one you are using.
If your local dialect has a different way of using these markers, follow that dialect's grammar rules.
Examples:
Aalar. To feel. Ni aala. I feel. Ni r'aala. I felt. Ni ru n'aala. I did not feel. Ni ven aala. I will feel. Ni ven n'aala. I will not feel. Tion val r'aala? They felt? Tion val ven aala? They will feel?
Digur. To forget. Ni digu. I forget. Ni ru'digu. I forgot. Ni ru nu digu. I did not feel. Ni ven digu. I will forget. Ni ven nu digu. I will not forget. Tion val ru'digu? They forgot? Tion val ven digu? They will forget?/Will they forget?
Cuyir briikase. To be happy. Ni briikase. I am happy. Ni ru'cuyi briikase. I was happy. Ni ru nu cuyi briikase. I was not happy. Ni ven cuyi briikase. I will be happy. Ni ven nu cuyi briikase. I will not be happy. Tion val ru'cuyi briikase? They were happy? Tion val ven cuyi briikase? They will be happy?/Will they be happy?
if: meh
at the point in the past when: use sha ca'nara plus ru with a conjugated verb.
any time when: use sha ca'nara plus a conjugated verb.
as soon as: sha ca'nara plus ven with a conjugated verb.