404 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



Tsimshian : 



adat gE'vEdaxtga'* then he asked her 



ada iiiE dsm SE/n wtdd'i la gwa'ntgut then ye will know that I 

 have touched 



§ 62, Use of the Indicative 



On account of the tendency of the Tsimshian language to express 

 all narrative in the subjunctive mood, indicative forms are quite rare, 

 and occur almost only in statements of self-experienced facts. It is 

 remarkable that the particle na^ which expresses the completed past, 

 and which occurs in the Tsimshian dialect only, is always followed by 

 the indicative. 



I nan k!id-8ag''ap-id'°nu 1 have only walked about without purpose 

 Examples of the use of the indicative are the following: 

 dEm id'neE ah aioa'an I shall go (to) near you 196.12 

 dE7n, qald'qnoyn we will play 75.6 

 rdhne'L ui'dsE I roast that 121.9 



lEp-g'e'hEdas dze'Edze Lgo-lEp-Uf al-ine' nt grandmother ate her 

 own little vulva 121.12 {lEp- she herself; g'eh to eat something; 

 dze' Edz grandmother ; Lgo- little ; t(fal- against ; men vulva) 

 Tsimshian : 



guia'IgE ue wd'lhE sEtii'd'g'V the chief's house is burnt 



ama lod'lt Tom Tom is rich 



dEm g'idi-gd'^dn .rd° I shall catch the slave 



wd°nt yd'°gut my grandfather invites thee 



§ 63. The Negative 



{a) The negative declarative is expressed by the adverb nt'g'i (Tsim- 

 shian a'lgE')^ which evidently contains the stem rw (Tsimshian al) and 

 the suffix indicating absence. The stem without this suffix is used in 

 the negative interrogative (see § 60). The negative adverbs are 

 always followed by the subjunctive. 



nig'U hwtld'x'L hwil dd'^iLL ntelt he did not know where his com- 

 panion had gone 15.2 [JrwUd'x' to know; d^uL to leave; stel com- 

 panion) 



nig'i fesfe'st they were not large 113.9 (See also p. 403.) 



(J) The negative interrogative is expressed by ne (Tsimshian: al). 

 ML ad''d' dik'sdEdaf are they not coming? 

 rieh sg'iL ms dsm ha-iriEn-sd' g'idaf have you anything to pull it 



up with? {sg'i to lie; ttie thou; ha- means of; THEn- up; sdg' to 



pull) 



§§62, G3 



