508 APPENDIX. 



tinctions of sex, but the presence or absence of vitality, I stall 

 now advert to the inflections which the pronouns take for te?ise, 

 or rather to form the auxiliary verbs, have, had, shall, will, may, 

 &c. ; a very curious and important principle, and one which clearly 

 demonstrates that no part of speech has escaped the transforming 

 genius of the language. Not only are the three great modifica- 

 tions of time accurately marked in the verbal form of the Chip- 

 pewas, but, by the inflection of the pronoun, they are enabled to 

 indicate some of the oblique tenses, and thereby to conjugate 

 their verbs with accuracy and precision. 



The particle gee added to the first, second, and third person 

 singular, of the present tense, changes them to the perfect past, 

 rendering I, thou, he, I did, have, or had; thou didst, hast, or 

 hadst ; he or she did, have, or had. If gah be substituted for gee, 

 the first future tense is formed, and the perfect past added to the 

 first future, forms the conditional future. As the eye may prove 

 an auxiliary in the comprehension of forms which are not fami- 

 liar, the following tabular arrangement of them is presented. 



Third person, He or She. 



gee. He or she did, have, had. 



gah, He or she did, have, had. 



gah gee, He or she shall have, will have. 



The present and imperfect tense of the potential mood is formed 

 by dau, and the perfect by gee sufiixed, as in other instances. 



I 



