[11] Det, which by a common idiom can be made adjectival by adding the usual prefix, thus, ge-det = big. [↑]
[12] Bongfāng = tree, fāng-se = one, nī = sign of the genitive. As to fāng-se, see many other instances of the Kachári generic way of counting; e.g., mānsŭi sā-se, one man; mosā mā-se, one tiger, etc. There are several instances in these stories. [↑]
[13] Lāng-zā-nai, the curious “passive” or “middle” participle. Perhaps the most characteristic instance of its use I have come across is in another story not given here, where a giant insults the Kachári Jack-the-giant-killer by calling him a “godo-i-au set-bā gākhir on-khāt-nai gothō,” literally a “on-throat-squeezing-milk-exuding-boy,” i.e., a babe in whose mouth is still his mother’s milk. [↑]
[14] Hā-hā-lāgi. The first hā is the word for “earth,” the second is the same word used as a datival affix = “up to,” while lāgi is the common Assamese word repeating the idea of the second hā. [↑]
[15] Mau of course = mā-au, the locative of mā = what. [↑]
[16] Grāng = an affix commonly used to indicate the possessor of a quality. ā = sign of nominative. [↑]
[17] Bā is the sign of the conditional tense, and the adjective mazáng is turned into a verb by its use. [↑]
[18] Mā khām-nŭ (in the infinitive) is curiously like the French use of “que faire?” [↑]
[19] Ga-hām = good; hām-ā = not good, bad; hām-dang = is good; hām-ā-bai = was not good, etc. [↑]
[20] Azang is simply the Assamese e jan, used distributively by repetition and heightened by the indigenous sā-se, which means the same as Assamese e. [↑]