| Singular and Plural. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nom. & Acc. | der | who? whom? |
| Gen. | dinná | of whom? whose? |
| Dat. | dere | to whom? |
| Abl. | deryán | from whom? |
Examples—Dá bandagh der are? who is this man?—dinná már are? whose son is he?—ní ant cóm asitus? of which tribe are you?—dá kasar ará tuman te káek? to which camp does this road go? Ará is also used as a relative pronoun, with hamo as its correlative, as ará ki sharo e hamo halbo, ará ki gando e hamo gum kar, whichever is good, that bring; whichever is bad, that throw away.
There are besides a number of adjective pronouns. Those in common use are the following:—Pen, another, har pen, every other, ant pen, which other. Example—kaná ílum afas pen bandagh asite, he is not my brother, he is some other man. Ákhadr, as much as, hamo khadr, so much, dá khadr, this much. Example—ákhadr ki darkár e hamo khadr haltak, as much as is necessary, so much take. Hamdún, like as—so. Example—hamdún ní us hamdún í ut, like as thou art so am I. Hamro, what sort, as dá hamro húlí are, what sort of horse is this?
ADJECTIVES.
The adjectives precede the nouns they qualify, and undergo no change for gender or number of case, as húlan are, a stout man—húlan arwat, a stout woman. Some adjectives are modified by the addition of certain particles denoting either increase or diminution, as sharo bandagh, a good man; sharangá bandagh, a very good man—chuno masar, a little girl; chunaká masar, a very little girl.
VERBS.
The verbs appear to be more or less irregular in their paradigms. I had not sufficient opportunity to examine their structure on an extended scale, so as to reduce them to some form of classification, and the natives from whom I gathered my information regarding the language had no knowledge whatever of the rules guiding their speech. The different tenses offered in the following forms of conjugations have been derived from the replies to questions requiring answers in the present, past, and future respectively, through the medium of the Persian language, and I trust they may be found generally correct.
The infinitive ends in ing, and is often used as a verbal noun. Example—jang kaning sharaf, quarrelling is not good (or proper)—rást páning shar e, speaking the truth is good (or right). The infinitive sign is generally added to the root, which is the same as the imperative, as hin, go; hining, to go—haraf, ask; harafing, to ask. But there are many exceptions to this, as bar, come; baning, to come—kar, do; kaning, to do, &c.