Cherokee people, actions, and tenses are different from English.  They do not match English exactly.  They have their own, consistent, Cherokee patterns.

The Dictionary and Make a Word for Your Grandmother’s Cherokee contain the twelve “tenses” most commonly used in Cherokee language today.  This chart gives examples using the root word GO.

HOW AND WHEN THE ACTION IS HAPPENING
present	I am going
command/immediate	I just went/just about to go
present continual/habitual	I go
future continual/habitual	I will be going
past continual/habitual	I was going
past continual/habitual, definitely	I was going, definitely
past continual/habitual, they say	I was going, they say
future one point in time	I will go
past one point in time	I went
past one point in time, definitely	I went, definitely
past one point in time, they say	I went, they say
possible future/infinitive	I to go

Note that the Cherokee “command” is different from the English command.  The Cherokee command is more like a strong suggestion, or a description of something that just happened or is just about to happen.  It can be used with all ten different persons in Cherokee. 

• It most resembles the English command when used with “You,” as in “You (1) go”  hena. 
• It is like “Let’s go” for inena and idena: let’s you (1) and I go and let’s you all and I go. 
• For all other persons this tense describes action that just happened or is just about to happen.

Likewise the Cherokee “infinitive,” which we call the possible future, can be conjugated with all ten persons. It is used to create complex sentences like:

Tokiasdi uwenasdi agwaduliha = I want him-to-go to Asheville. 

For more information on the Cherokee tenses and how they are used, see Your Grandmother’s Cherokee Online Cherokee Language Courses.