Perfect tense suffix

The Perfect Tense (or aspect) indicates a verb that describes an action or state completed in the past, but which has an influence or relevance on the current moment.

In English, this is typically expressed using the Present Perfect tense, which uses have/has + the past participle:

• "The lion has died (in the past), so it is safe to come down (now)."
• "Steve has been there before (in the past), so he knows where to go (now)."

The Kovol usage

In Kovol the -got suffix is used to indicate the perfect tense.

eng undum ombo pigongg. Anggom "ong ina ege iguwot, ombo wom tumbuna om nombo

piyas" ogom
We laid my child there. I said "his mother has been buried there so bury him there under his ancestor". Ulumo - recording during a burialhttps://notes.reachkovol.com/admin/pages/17/unpublish/

eng yog mut ege nalasi tobogot nom obob mut otogomyam.
"The fire that you made and has come, I get that and burn". Silas, interview about fire

Example from translation

Steve was able to use it in the Joseph story with the verb palibinim. The suffix had never been seen with that verb before, but it worked.

“Eng wesi,” et o. “Lagab ong hubi hogu palibigot nom, ogoteleb egeme yaga” et.
"I cried out" she said. "He was scared and the clothes he had removed, he left that and went out" she said.