POSSIBILITY, VOLITION. 619 



verbal object in the form of the verbal indefinite in -sh (-ash, -ish), as seen 

 previously; cf page 598. 



kesho-a nu sbl(i-ish hunkelam I can or could not see him; lit. "I cannot 



be a seer of him." 

 pt a k(eshka nkil hemt'^ish he is unable to speak loud. 

 keshga a nu punuash I cannot drink. 

 jvL'shka zai nu kii' kotko / did not succeed when trying. 

 tchanish nil s^e'sh gi / cannot rotv. 

 tchanish tchuluish giuga/or being unable to sivim, Mod. 



B. — Possibility. The idea of possibility, referring to acts or occurrences 

 physically possible, or dependent upon tlie arbitrary decision of men, ex- 

 pressed in English by / may or might, I expect, probably, possibly, and other 

 particles of this kind, is rendered in Klamath by ak, ka and their combina- 

 tions with otlier particles, generally accompanied by the conditional mode. 



hu'kt kam gatpant he may come; I hope he loill come. 



1 kam gatpant you expect to come. 



ya-a ak at a nen / believe ye arc crying. 



shh't ak nu lilhanksli liii ni shlt'at na'sli / tvould shoot a deer if I saw one. 



nil akii hun shk'a, or hiink ak taksli lin nil shk'at lean see him (if I wish 



to do so). 

 Ampxiinkni ak sas hushts(')xuapk the Wasco Indians might kill them., 93, 7. 

 hii tidshi gitk maklaks, tankt ni ge'nt if the people ivere good-hearted 



then I might go there, 93, 9. 

 k'lakat n' il'nk shla-<Sk I may possibly die for having xeen him, 129, 5. 

 tchiitch ni'sh kd-i siiigat then he may possibly not kill me, 129, 6. 



Some instances of possibility are found in Texts, page 118, 10-12; the 

 verb stands in the declarative mode of the future tense, for tlie future tense 

 of the finite verb has no conditional form in -t. 



Two instances where the verbal conditional of the future tense is used 

 instead of a finite verb to express possibility are as follows: 



shuluashka tch'ii'nk gitki gi: "i-i i-amnash kewe-uapkaslit" he told him 

 to take off his dress: ''■you might break your beads," Mod. 



