ON THE NORTH-WESTEBN TRIBES OF CANADA. 



861 



ye 



aha ye qafl, I put it on top of 



VR It'e ye k-a, he is a good man. 

 tti tsen ye Ira, he is a strong man. 



It may be that this is a rerhum suJ)«tajitirum ; at least it seems possible to class all 

 the examples given here in such a way. 



til til an, good-natured. til tse, diflBcult. 



tU tscn, strong. ch'aij til nck\ I pretend to be sick. 



k'u til yiits, cloudy. ck''ar/ tja tllqa, 1 pretend to cut. 



til imts, strong (rope). til ts'a, later on. 



1VU tli qua thin. 



To these particles might be added one which frequently, although not regularly, 

 precedes the future tense, and in .some instances also the past. 



kye kyc qat kiik ra nPk\ I shall be sick. 



tli'tl kye qat wii na tli tsPn, I am growing weak. 

 tlPgltl kyP qat k-iik mi nrk\ am 1 not going to be sick 1 

 tletl kye qat wii nek'tc, I have not been sick. 

 tlPyitl kye nPk'tcPn ? have you not been sick ? 



The following I found only in one single instance : 



dag sete'n, it is raining. day mu stwtu-n, it was raining. 



a 1VU dag gane'n, the sun was shining. 



Tenses. 



Wemiaminov states that there are six tenses : present, imperfect, perfect, plus- 

 quamperfect, future, futurum exactum. Mj' collections contain only the present, 

 past (imperfect), and future tenses, which I give here in paradigmatic form : 



rie/i-', sick. 



In inflecting the transitive verb, the pronoun is placed immediately before the 

 verb. In many instances the verb has an indefinite object, at, which is placed before 

 the subject : at qa qa, I eat (it) : at qa c7, I sing (it); at qa xuP', I cook (it). In 

 compound verbs which consist of a stem denoting the action or state, and attributes 

 limiting the action as to manner, place, or time, the subject is placed between these 

 two parts, and thus an apparent infixion originates : 



sk'a (1) qa (2) da (:!) tg'Pk (4), I snioke = mouth (1)1 (2) around (3) smoke (4). 

 ka (1) qa (2) tlqjiktl (3), I rub witli pestle = upon (1) I (2) rvle (3). 

 to (1) qa (2) vq (3), 1 (2) blow (3) into (1). 



The following forms must be explained in the same way, although I am not able 

 to translate the elements of these words. The place of the pronoun is indicated by 

 a dash : 



k-'ant — wa nvk, angry (k-'an, angry). 

 ye — situ; to do (si, to make). 

 yiiifd — tE)l, to speak. 

 a — tVPq, to dance. 



k'an — rod, cross (k-'am,, angry), 

 •fit — s'et'e'n, to think of — . 

 a — djiiii, to dream. 



As a rule, the object is placed before the subject, but when the object is a pro- 

 noun and has a separate objective form the sequence may be reversed. lias, the 

 third person plural of the personal pronoun, always precedes the object; therefore 

 it scums probable that it is au attribute to the pronoun, limiting it to the plural. It 



