INFLECTION FOE TENSE. 403 



now", which we often meet after verbs in the present and the future tense- 

 form. Hilnk, hiln has entirely lost its former nature of an objective pro- 

 noun that, for it connects itself with intransitive as well as with transitive 

 verbs: 



nil tiii'ma, ml a tia'ma I am hungry. 

 nil hilnk tiii'ma / was hungry. 

 I a shuaktcha yoii are iveeping. 

 i link shuaktcha you were weeping. 

 nat shlea, nad a shla'a ive see. 

 nat hilnk shlea hunk, we saw him. 



The tense-form of the uncompleted act or state terminates in -uapka, 

 in rare instances contracted into -opka, -iipka (which is a homonymous 

 suffix distinctly differing-), and is called by me the future tense. Its func- 

 tions are not always strictly temporal, for nu genuapka may stand for I 

 shall go, I will go, I have to go, I must go, I could go. If a verb in the future 

 tense stands in a principal clause preceded by an incident clause, the future 

 act is expressed, though more in Modoc than in Klamath Lake, by the pres- 

 ent tense followed by tak, taksh.* Hunk, hilk may also accompany the 

 future tense, as it does the conditional mode, but then it points to distance 

 in future, and not in the past. Cf. \Qh, 8. Tchek, tche often precedes the 

 future tense, frequently only for the purpose of emphasis; iln, una does so 

 too, but more in Modoc than in Klamath Lake. The future in -uapka is 

 inflected through all verbals like the present form ; and, as far as form is 

 concerned, can be considered as a derivative of it. Its ending is compo.sed 

 of the verb wa to live, exist, grow, sit, and of the distancial suffix -pka. Cf 

 the suffixes -apka, -pka. 



The Klamath language has no means of distinguishing clearly between 

 the tenses called in Greek Aorist and Perfect, or between the French Passe 

 de'fini and Passd indefini, nor can it express the Second Future by a separate 

 form The Latin and Greek Imperfect, when referring to length of time or 

 to the continuance of an action or state while another act is performed, can 

 often be expressed with accuracy by the suffixes -kanka, -tamna, -lita. The 



• Examples will be found in the Syntax. 



