This tense, like I wrote, is, in point of time, indefinite; but, in respect to action, it is definite. It denotes that an action was proceeding in a time past, which time must be defined by some circumstance expressed or understood.
I had written.
This, as a tense, derives its character from the preterite of the verb to have, implying past possession. Had being an aorist, this tense, in regard to time, must therefore be indefinite. In respect to action it is definite, implying, that the action was finished. As the aorist expresses time past, and by inference the perfection of the action, while the latter circumstance is additionally denoted by the participle, this compound tense is employed to denote, that an action was perfected before another action or event, now also past, took place.
The character of the remaining tenses seems to require no farther explanation. I proceed therefore to consider how we express interrogations, commands, necessity, power, liberty, will, and some other accessary circumstances.
An interrogation is expressed by placing the nominative after the concordant person of the tense; thus, “Thou comest” is an affirmation; “Comest thou?” is an interrogation. If the tense be compound, the nominative is placed after the auxiliary, as “Dost thou come?” “Hast thou heard?”
A command, exhortation, or entreaty, is expressed by placing the pronoun of the second person after the simple form of the verb; as,
| Write thou | Write ye |
| or | or |
| Do thou write | Do ye write: |
and sometimes by the verb simply, the person being understood; as, write, run, be, let[65]. By the help of the word let, which is equivalent to “permit thou,” or “permit ye,” we express the persons of the Latin and Greek imperatives; thus, let me, let us, let him, let them, write.
Present necessity is denoted by the verb must, thus,
| I must | Thou must | He must | } | write[66]. |
| We must | Ye must | They must | } |