596 GRAMMAR OF THE KLAMATH LANGUAGE. 



matter to acquire. Tlieir function is to express more concisely wliat we 

 convey b}' our participle in -inff, preceded l)y some particle {for, while, etc.), 

 or by incident clauses of an adverbial, conditional, or other nature. In his 

 use of the ver])als, the Indian is guided not only by the matter he intends 

 to express, but he will choose one verbal when the subject of the noun- 

 verb is identical with that of the verbals, and another when it differs from 

 this. The corresponding chapters in Morphology will explain many facts 

 concerning the syntax of the verbals, but the examples to he now given 

 are intended as additional contributions to teach their correct use. The 

 infinitive mode is here regarded as one of the verbals, and all the verbals 

 inflected by case are here treated in one single chapter, with subdivisions, 

 just as they were in Morphology. 



1. The infinitive. 



Concerning this form, I have nothing to add to the statements maae in 

 Morphology. It occurs but rarely, and shows no inflection save that for 

 severalty. Cf. pages 409, 410. 



2. The verbal indefinite. 



A. — The SUBJECTIVE case of the verbal indefinite ends in -sh, -s (-ash, 

 -ish), and possesses no exact equivalent in the English language, though 

 we may define it as occupying a middle position between the verb and the 

 noun. Sometimes its function is that of an abstract substantive; sometimes 

 it is predicative, though in most instances the English participle in -ing 

 corresponds best to it. Tia'mish ge-u, "my being hungry", expresses the 

 same idea as my hunger; hemep^ish m'na, "his speaking or saying", is nearly 

 identical with his speech. 



The rules of its structure, whether used actively or passively, having 

 been illustrated previously (pages 323, 338, 368, 410-413), we proceed to 

 state under which circumstances this verbal is used. 



a. The verbal indefinite may stand in its subjective, uninflected, case 

 as the subject of a sentence, governing a verb, but not being governed by 

 any verb whatever — or, as forming a phrase, which has to be rendered by a 

 subordinate clause in English. 



