(3.) Aorist, formed by the addition of -r to the
(4.) Perfect; the formation of which is not expressly given, but which is said to differ from the present in not changing the vowel. However, we have the forms xet=find, xeṫi=found; (perf.) xetin=found (aorist). From the participle of the perfect is formed the
(5.) Pluperfect by adding -r.
(6.) The future is either the same as the present, or a modification of it.
I give the names of those moods and tenses as I find them. The language of the Latin grammar has, probably, been too closely imitated.
The first and second persons are formed by appending the pronouns either in the nominative or the instructive form. That an oblique form of the pronoun should appear in the personal inflexion of verbs is no more than what the researches of the late Mr. Garnett, with which we are all so familiar, have taught us to expect. At the same time, the extent to which the instructive and nominative forms are alike must be borne in mind. Let either be appended; and, when so appended, undergo (under certain conditions) certain modifications, and a double origin is simulated. That this is the case in the instances of the work under notice is by no means asserted. The possibility of its being so is suggested.
The participle of the present tense is formed in -in; as dago=eat, dagu-in=eating.
The participle of the preterite ends in -no; as xac̣e=hear, xac̣-no=heard.
There are auxiliary verbs, and no small amount of euphonic changes; of which one, more especially, deserves notice. It is connected with the gender of nouns. When certain words (adjectives or the so-called verb substantive) follow certain substantives, they change their initial. Thus ḥaṫxleen wa=the prophet is, ḥaṫxleensi ba=the prophets are, waṡo wa=the brother is, waṡar ba=the brothers are.
Again—naw ja=the ship is, nawr ja=the ships are; bstiuno ja=the wife is, bstee da=the wives are.