40 ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX. 



woi) (tvlieii he also openedrmouili liis^ he iaught iheiri)^ and openhuj his mouth., he 

 taught tliem. 



4. By a noun beginning with 'a' ; as, 6 se aga aruij u tiir), Ite hrolce the chair 

 ruining it entirely. 



§ 1V4. The Perfect Participle is represented mucli in the same manner as the 

 present : 



1. By a verb with the prefix ' q ' ; as, ifefe qmi fii afefe, a reed shaTcen hy the 

 \oind. 



2. By a verb used impersonally ; as, igi ti d gbiq leti odo {tree tohich tliey j)lanted 

 hy river'), a tree planted In/ tlie river. 



3. By a verb used passively with a nominative ; as, k ba ile-tubn 6 se {we found 

 jailrhouse, it was-shut), wefotmd the^^ri'SOii shut. 



4. By ki, that, and a verb ; as, mo fe ri qkaq ki 6 towo re he {I vjish to see some- 

 thing that it hy thee is-done), I wish to see something done by thee. 



5. By a noun, or preposition and noun ; as, nwoq ba S oku, they fownd him dead 

 (oku, a corpse) ; o sokdle si ile re ni idalare, he descended to his house justified, lit. 

 in justification. 



Suhstantive Veris. 



§ 175. No language, perhaps, can claim so many verbs expressing existence, 

 either absolutely or in different relations and capacities. The whole number of 

 these verbs to he, including those which have other meanings, is ten, to wit : mbe, 

 wd, jk, gbe, si, ni, ri, se, dze, di. Most of them have peculiarities which prevent 

 them from being interchangeable. 



§ 176. This verb denotes existence ahsolutehj, as Olorui) mbe, God exists, or God 

 is, an expression often employed by the Yorubas as a solemn asseveration. Mbe is 

 used in all modes and tenses ; but in the imperative its place is usually supplied 

 by gbe or wfi. 



vrk. 



§ 177. W^ is also a verb absolute, but is not entirely equivalent to.mbS. 



1. It is occasionally employed as an auxiliary particle, and in this capacity forms 

 an indefinite past tense, the only one in Yoruba corresponding to the English 

 imperfect ; as, 6 wd ri, he saw. 



2 In some dialects it is preferred to mbe in the preterite ; as, 6 wa, he was. 



3. Wa is preferred to mb^ in the future, and in the imperative ; as, yi 6 wh, he 

 will he } 6 w^ ib|, he ye there. 



4. In the Egba dialect, wA is preferred to mbe, to express existence in a place ; 

 as, 6 -vfk ile, he is in the house ; lit. he is house, the preposition ni, in, being omitted 

 after the substantive verb. 



5. In speaking of the duration of existence, vrk (but not mbe) is employed in 

 the sense of to live ; as, 6 ^Yh li ogorui) odui), he lived a h^mdred years, lit. he was 

 for a hundred ye/irs. 



