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Transactions of the Canadian Institute. 



[Vol. VII. 



Present. 

 tha-desi tdh, we are three 

 tka-dah'tdh, you are three 

 tha-hide tdh, they are three 



Past. 

 tha-desftde, we were three 

 tka-dah^tde, you were three 

 tka-hide'tde, they were three 



Proximate Future. 

 tha-di/ilh, we are going to be three 

 tha-dali'tilh, you are going to be three 

 tha-ha'da^tilh, they are going to be three 



Eventual Future. 



iha-dil'tie sa, we will be three 

 tha-dah' tie sa, you will be three 

 tha-hccdff tde sa, they will be three 



In all these words the main root for three is, of course, tJia. Yet 

 tJiadesiteh, etc., are single words whose neither first nor last component 

 parts can be used separately. 



The only approach to these conjugable numerals I know of is to be 

 found in the speech of a small portion of the Carrier tribe. It is 

 restricted to the number two, natne, which becomes riat'soetne, we are 

 two (persons), nahtne, you are two, etc. I should not forget, however, a 

 peculiar set of numerals for which I find no more appropriate qualifi- 

 cative than the epithet " inclusive." These not only have in Carrier all 

 the persons and tenses of the above, but they are even modified so as to 

 form a separate class of adverbal numerals. Here are a few examples : 

 na-t' soeV torJi, both of us ;^ na-nel' iorJi, both of us ; 7ia-n(elfitorh, both of 

 you ; na-rJuvf torJi, both of them. 



The following are impersonal verbs : na-hzvuftorJi, both times ; 

 na-hwotliiVtorJi, it is going to be both times, etc.; tJia-hwultorJi, all of 

 the three times ; ti-hwiirtorh, all of the four times, etc. 



All these forms, tenses or persons can be applied in Carrier to all 

 the numerals of that class, except the first, the ninth and the tenth, and 

 in this respect, as in so many others, that language surpasses in richness 

 all the other Dene dialects. 



The Nah'ane lacks an equivalent for the personal plural particle ne, 

 which the Carriers suffix to the verb when m English we make use of 

 the demonstrative and relative pronouns " those who," as in hwofsit-ne, 

 " those who lie," the liars. Instead of this, the Nah'ane* will say, by a 

 curiously abnormal commingling of a plural pronoun with the corres- 

 ponding singular verb : " he-lies they," tsefsit oekhune. This renders 

 speech unnecessarily long and rather unwieldy. 



I With an idea of impersonality, which it is impossible to express in English, and which is absent in 

 nanel'torh. 



