INFLEXION AND CONSTRUCTION OF WOEDS. ^. 



some point of time expressed or implied in the sentence. It is variously employed 

 as follows : 



1. To express anything that is past at the time of speaking ; as, mo* ti ^e e lana 

 iIlia/€6 done it yesterday), I did it yesterday ; 6 ti kxi, lie is dead; 6 qti ijb^ lana, 

 lie tvas coining yesterday ; aragb^ni ti qsina, the ancients erred. 



2. To express what is past in relation to some point of past time ; as, mo ti 16h, 

 ki 6 t6 de, Iliad gone, before he arrived (ki . . , t6, before). 



3. To express what will be past before some future point of time; as, emi 6 ti 

 loh, ki 6 t6 d6, 1 shall Imve gone, before he arrives. 



4. It is employed indefinitely like the English auxiliary liave ; as, mo ti ri i 

 nigbakugba, / have seen him often. 



§ 131. 1. The origin of the particle 'ti' is doubtful. It is not improbably, 

 however, a modification of t6, to he sufficient, to attami to, which is sometimes 

 employed as a sort of auxiliary particle ; as, bi omo dagba k t6 li ogboq {if child 

 is-grown, it^ill attain to-lmve wisdom), when the child is grown, it will get wisdom / 

 nigband ni nwoq t6 sina (tlie/i it-is they attained-to erring), then they erred. 



2. The use of ' ti ' as a pleonastic particle seems to favor the suspicion that its 

 original is ' t6.' 



a. It is sometimes employed pleonastically after prepositions expressing instru- 

 mentality ; as in the general proposition, nikpa i^e ow6 ti wdh, by labor inoney 

 comes, lit. attai/)is to, or reaches the point of, comimg. 



h. Again, ' ti ' is often thus employed after mdh, ki, ko, or k5, not ; as, mdh ti 

 16h ! (not arrime-at going), do not go yet ! 6g ko le ti so eso (it not is-alle to-attainr 

 to bearing fruit), it camiot bear fruit. 



3. The auxiliary particle ' ti ' coincides with ' t6 ' in accent, but not with any 

 other particle ' ti ' in the language. 



Future Particles. 



6 or 6. 



§ 132. This particle is the sign of the future tense, and is generally equivalent to 

 sludl or tvill. The difference between ' 6 ' and ' o ' is simply euphonic, ' 6 ' being 

 employed before close, and '6' before open vowels (§ 14). 



§ 133. It is probable that ' 6 ' or ' 6 ' was originally the personal pronoun 6 or 6, 

 lie, she, it. If so, the expression emi 6 ri, / shall see, means literally, I oxn he to- 

 see, or that is to see. 



§ 134. The particle ' 6 ' or ' 6 ' is frequently preceded in all persons and numbers 

 by the pleonastic pronoun yi, he, she, it / as, iwo yi 6 6e e, thou wilt do it / awa yi 

 6 ri, tve shall see ; 5ro ti yi o ^e (word tvhich it will come-to-pass), a v)ord which 

 will be fulfilled. (Luke, 1. 20.) 



§ 135. This particle may be regarded as an emphatic substitute for 6 or 6. It 

 is used as follows ; 



* The secondary forms of the pronouns, as, mo or mo, /, arc more frequently used than the longer pri- 

 mary forms. 



