To enable grammarians to form a clear idea of the Indian method of variegating their verbs, and of the true meaning they convey, we must again recur to the former essential word, or rather divine emblem, _A-ah_, “he moves.” They say _A-as_, “let him move,” and _Ee-má-ko_, or _Blâ-sas A-â-á-re_, “I now move,” or “yesterday I moved;” for, like the Hebrews, they sometimes use the preterperfect, instead of the present tense. _A-â-a-ra-chu_ is the first person singular of the future tense, in the indicative mood. _A-â-ta-hah_ expresses the third person plural of the present tense, and same mood. _A-â-ta-hâh-ta-kô-a_ signifies, by query, “have ye, or will ye move?” It is their method of conjugating their verbs, that occasions any of their {72} radical or derivative verbs to exceed three or four syllables; as we see by this, which, though composed only of two vowels, or short syllables, is yet so greatly deflected. With them two negatives make an affirmative, as _Ak-hish-ko-quá_, “I shall not drink;” add the strong negative termination _A-wa_, it is, “I will certainly drink.” An affirmative question frequently implies a strong negative; as _Ai-a-râ-ta-kô-a_, literally, “will, or should, I go?” that is, “I really will not, or should not go:” and on the contrary, a negative query imports an affirmative assertion; as _A-kai-u-quâ-ta-kô-a_, “should not I go?” or, “I surely should go.” _Ee-á ko A-pâ-ret Sa-kâi-a-qua-ta kô-a_, is literally, “if I ate, should not I be satisfied?” which implies, “If I ate, I should be fully satisfied.” To drinking, they apply a word that signifies content; and indeed, they are most eager to drink any sort of spiritous liquors, when their bellies are quite full. When they are tired with drinking, if we say to any of them, _Un-ta Ang-go-na Che-ma-hîsh-kó-la Chû_, “Well, my friend, I will drink with you;” _Che-a-yôok-pa-chêe-re Too-gat_, “for, indeed, I rejoice in your company;” he replies, _Hai-a, Ook-ka Hoo-me Hish-ko Sa-nook-tá-ra_; which is, “No; for I am content with drinking bitter waters.” They constantly prefix the substantive before the adjective, and place the accusative case before the verb. If we translate the following words, _Ook-ka Pangge Hum-ma Law-wa A-hish-kó-le Bla-sas_, they literally signify, “yesterday I drank a great deal of red-grape water,” meaning claret. Thus they say, _Tik-ké-ba, Ing-glee-she Fren-she Ee-lap A-bing-ga E-tee-be_, “formerly, when the English and French fought against each other;” _Fren-she Ing-glee-she A-be-tâ-le_, “the French were killed by the English.”