The verbs are generally reduced to two base forms, one for the present, another for the past. The form for the present is the same as the form for the infinitive (exception: "sêr" "to be"), that in turn comes, in the majority of the verbs, from the infinitive in Portuguese but without the final "r". Ex.: "cantâ" (from Portuguese "cantar"), "mexê" (from Portuguese "mexer"), "partí" (from Portuguese "partir"), "compô" (from Portuguese "compor"), "*lumbú" (from Portuguese "lombo"). The form for the past is formed from the infinitive to which is joined the particle for the past "~ba". Ex.: "cantába" , "mexêba" , "partíba" , "compôba" , "*lumbúba" (in the Barlavento variants, the particle for the past "~va" (or "~ba") is joined to the imperfective actualizer, and not to the verb). It is noteworthy that the Upper Guinea creoles (Cape Verdean Creole and Guinea-Bissau Creole) put the past tense marker after the verbs, and not before like the majority of creoles (check syntactic similarities of creoles).