CONDITIONAL MODE. 589 



THE CONDITIONAL MODE. 



Verbs in the conditional mode introduce an act performed or a status 

 undergone under a certain condition-, which is either enunciated by a sep- 

 arate, often incident or participial clause, or silently understood and ad- 

 mitted. The origin of the suffix -t, from : at now, then, at the time, readily 

 suggests all the uses to which this mode can be put. The hearer is notified 

 by it that such an act took place "under such temporal conditions", or 

 "under these circumstances." 



The various uses to which the conditional mode is put will appear 

 more clearly by distinguishing those instances which connect a conditional 

 sentence with it fi-om those which present that mode standing alone for 

 itself The verbal conditional will be considered separately. 



A. — The conditional mode, when accompanied by a verbal or a condi- 

 tional sentence, is often connected with the potential particle ak or its com- 

 binations. The idea of possibility thus becomes more apparent. By a sort 

 of syntactic attraction, both correlative sentences sometimes place their verb 

 in the conditional mode. 



k'lakat n' li'nk shla-6k 1 may die for having seen (the spirit), 129, 5; cf. 



130, 3. 

 hissunuk tchatch ni'sh ka-i siil'gat when songs are applied as medicine, 



then it may possibly not kill me, 1 29, 5. 

 hii nen wa'g'n ka'git, dnank i'lktcha when no ivagon is at hand they carry 



him out for burial, 87, 5. 

 shle-uta nu mish shewant a when I find it I ivill give it to you. 

 hit nil nen h6tchant, shift nish a nen if I had run away they tvould have 



shot me, they said. 

 ni ka-i spulhit s;fokti'sht nish I do not imprison him provided he has 



paid me, 62, 5. 

 8ta-6tank kaitua pAt while fasting he would eat nothing, 83, 2. 



Also the passages 105, 8. 9; 147, 13. 



B. — The conditional mode, when standing alone for itself, generally 

 corresponds to the Englisli verb accompanied by the auxiliaries tvould, may, 



