INFLEXION AND CONSTRUCTION OF WORDS. 33 



2. Occasionally an abstract noun with a substantive verb is employed instead of 

 a passive verb ; as, mo ^e igbagbe {I am a-forgetti-ng)^ I am forgotten ^ ile di dhoro, 

 the house is a desolation, or is desolated. 



3. All nouns formed from transitive verbs by reduplicating the first syllable have 

 a passive signification ; as, riri, which is seen ; kpikpa, which is slain ; hike, lohich 

 is done. And any of these nouns may be employed before ni, to le, to form a sub- 

 stitute for the passive of the perfect aorist tense ; as, riri li emi, I am seen ; gbigb^ 

 ni nwoq, they are received; kpikpa ni 'bahk, father is hilled. In the past and 

 future tenses of the passives just mentioned, the word which represents the subject 

 is followed by ^e or di;e, to do, to he, to get ; as, kpikpa ni iwo 6 ke or d:^e, you will 

 be hilled, or get hilled-. 



Modes and Tenses. 



§ 150. The various forms of the verb, including verbal nouns, may be arranged 

 in five modes, viz, the Indicative, the Optative or Potential, the Subjunctive 

 (formed from the two preceding), the Imperative, and the Infinitive. 



§ 151. The tenses may be divided into three classes or groups, the Aorist or 

 Indefinite, the Past, and the Future. In the Indicative mode, and in the Sub- 

 junctive formed from it, the Aorist and the Past tenses have a perfect and an 

 imperfect form, while the Future exhibits a first and second future form. Those of 

 the Indicative, for example, are as follows : 



Aorist Tenses. 

 Perfect, emi ri, I see or soaj). 

 Imperfect, emi qri, I am or was seeing. 



Past Tenses. 

 Perfect, emi ti ri, Ilmve or had seen. 

 Iinperfect, emi ti qri, I have or had been seeing. 



Future Tenses. 

 First, emi 6 ri, / slmll or vjill see. 

 Second, emi 6 ti ri, I shall or tvill have seen. 



§ 152. The foregoing synopses and remarks present the general principles of the 

 Yoruba verb ; but the importance and intricacy of this part of speech seem to 

 require a more detailed exhibition of particulars. We will therefore give the 

 various usual and occasional forms of each tense, and describe the peculiarities of 

 each form. 



INDICATIVE MODE. 

 Aorist Perfect. 



ACTIVE. 



A ff i r ma ti ve . 



emi ri, ") 



emi ni ri, > I see or saw. 



emi li o ri, j 



emi iri, I see or sair roiitiniicnisly. 



