3S6 



of rendering any one secure against tlie com- 

 mission of a grammatical error, either in writing 

 or in speaking, as whenever it becomes necessary 

 to distinguish the sexes, the word alca is used td 

 denote the masculine, and domo the feminine 

 gender. 



The comparative is formed, as in most of the 

 living languages, by prefixing to the positive the 

 particle jofif or doi, signifying more, and to the 

 superlatives the adverbs cad or mw, as doichu, 

 more limpid ; muliu, most limpid. The Chilian 

 wants the diminutives and augmentatives, but 

 these, as in the French, are supplied by the ad- 

 jectives pichij little, and iuta, great. Diminu- 

 tives are also formed by changing a letter of a 

 harsh sound for one more harmonious, as votun, 

 on ; vochiun, little son. The primitive pro- 

 nouns are, inche, I ; eimi, you ; tejje, which, &c. 

 The relatives are, inei/, who ; chem, what ; ta or 

 gUy that, &c. The verbs terminate in the in- 

 finitive, as in the Greek and German, in n, with 

 this difference, that all the German verbs end in 

 71, and the Greek in in, except in those cases 

 where they are contracted ; whereas the Chilian 

 terminate in the syllables an, en, in, on, un, and 

 un. They are all, nevertheless, without excep- 

 tion, regulated by a single conjugation, and are 

 of three kinds, active, passive, and impersonal, 

 with three numbers, the singular, the dual, and 

 the plural. They have all the Latin moods and 

 4 



