40 ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX. 



woq (tvJien Tie also opened-moutTi Jiis^ he tonight them)^ and opening his mxmth^ he 

 ta/wght them. 



4. By a noun beginning with 'a' ; as, 6 ^e aga aruq fi tdi), hs broke the chair 

 ridning it entirely. 



§ 174. The Perfect Participle is represented much in the same manner as the 

 present : 



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

 wind. 



2. By a verb used impersonally ; as, igi ti & gbiq leti 6do (tree which they planted 

 hy river), a tree planted by the river. 



3. By a verb used passively with a nominative ; as, d ba ile-tubu 6 se (we found 

 jailrhonse, it wa-s-s-hut), xoe found tlie prison shut. 



4. By ki, that.^ and a verb ; as, mo fe ri gkaq ki 6 to wo r| ^e {I wish to see some- 

 thing that it by 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 found him dead 

 (oku, a corpse) ; 6 sSkdle si ile re ni idalare, he descended to Jiis house justified, lit. 

 in justification. 



Substantive Verbs. 



§ 1Y5. 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 be, including those which have other meanings, is ten, to wit : mb^, 

 w^, y^, gbe, si, ni, ri, 6e, d^e, di. Most of them have peculiarities which prevent 

 them from being interchangeable. 



§ 176. This verb denotes existence ahsolutely, as Olorur) mb^, God exists, or God 

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

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

 by gbe or wA. 



■wk. 



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



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 wk ri, he sato. 



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



3. W4 is preferred to mbe in the future, and in the imperative ; as, yi 6 w^, he 

 will be ; 6 wk ib^, be ye there. 



4. In the Egba dialect, w^ is preferred to mb^, to express existence in a place ; 

 as, 6 vfk iltS, 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, -wk (but not mb|) is employed in 

 the sense of to live / as, 6 w^ li ogoruq oduq, Its Uved a hundred years, lit. he was 

 foi' a hundred years. 



