The feminine and neuter forms differ from the above: thus, _uth^ates_,
thou (fem.) risest; _uth^alis_, thou (fem.) didst rise; and so on for
the other persons and for the neuter.
It will be observed that, in the case of transitive verbs, while the
present participle is active, the past and future passive participles
are passive in meaning. The same is the case with the future passive
participle of the intransitive verb. In tenses, therefore, formed from
these participles the sentence must be construed passively. The
subject must be put into the instrumental case, and the participle
inflected to agree with the object. If the object is not expressed,
or, as is sometimes the case, is expressed in the guise of a kind of
ethic dative, the participle is construed impersonally, and is
employed in the neuter form. Thus (present tense) _mul^aga_ (nom.
masc.) _pothi vacito_, the boy reads a book, but (past tense)
_mul^agyane_ (instrumental _pothi_ (nom. fem.) _vacili_ (fem.) the boy
read a book, literally, by-the-boy a-book was-read; or _mul^agyane
pothila_ (dative) _vacile_ (neuter), the boy read the book, literally,
by-the-boy, with-reference-to-the-book, it-(impersonal)-was-read.
Similarly in the subjunctive formed from the future passive
participle, _mul^agyane pothi vacawi_, the boy should read a book
(by-the-boy a-book is-to-be-read) or _mul^agyane pothila vacawe_, the
boy should read the book [by-the-boy with-reference-to-the-book, it
(impersonal)-is-to-be-read]. As an example of the subjunctive of an
intransitive verb, we have _twa uthawe_, by-thee it-is-to-be-risen,
thou shouldst rise. As in intransitive verbs the passive sense is not
so strong, in their case the tense may also be used actively, as in
_tu uthawas_, thou shouldst rise, _lit._, thou (art) to-be-risen. It
will be noted that when a participle is used passively it takes no
personal suffix.
We have seen that the present tense is formed by compounding the
present participle with the verb substantive. Further tenses are
similarly made by suffixing, without compounding, various tenses of
the verb substantive to the various participles. Thus _mi uthat ahe_,
I am rising; _mi uthat hoto_, I was rising; _mya uthave hote_
(impersonal construction), I should have risen. In the case of tenses
formed from the past participle, the auxiliary is appended, not to the
participle, but to the past tense, as in _mi uth^alo ahe_, I have
risen; _mya marila ahe_ (personal passive construction) or _mya
marile_ ahe (impersonal passive construction), I have killed.
Similarly _mi uth^alo hoto_ (active construction), I had risen. The
usual forms of the present and past of the verb substantive are:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account