2 J- A- Fontame, 



parts of verbs. In "yV suis venn," siiis is considered as the 

 inflectional part indicating the person, the number, and the 

 tense of vcnii\ But why do we use suis rather than ai, which 

 is another inflectional part exercising tlie same function as 

 sins in some other Romance languages ? (Cf. Sp. He venido 

 as equivalent to Fr. Je suis vcnu.) This is what needs 

 explanation. Whether it is possible to solve this problem I 

 shall not presume to say, but shall offer on this subject the 

 result of my own researches. 



My subject naturally falls under three heads, viz. : — 



Chapter I. — Auxiliaries used with Transitive Verbs ; 

 Chapter II. — Auxiliaries used with Intransitive Verbs ; 

 Chapter III. — Auxiliaries used with Reflexive Verbs. 



Chapter I. — Auxiliaries used with Transitive Verbs. 



In comparing the conjugational system of the Romance 

 languages, it becomes evident that in the active voice the use 

 of auxiliaries is very nearly identical. 



All the Romance languages use the auxiliary habere ; two 

 of them may exchange habere for tenere. This interchange 

 of auxiliary verbs, unknown to the other Romance languages, 

 does not take place under the same circumstances in Spanish 

 and Portuguese. The Spanish uses tener with transitive 

 verbs when a certain stress is laid on the action expressed by 

 the verb, whereas in Portuguese tcr has almost completely 

 superseded Jiaver. This discrepancy must not be overlooked, 

 since it shows how independently languages develop. 



How is this production of a new auxiliary in the western 

 group of Romance languages to be explained } I do not 

 believe it safe to think with Diez that the Spanish and 

 Portuguese have introduced their new auxiliaries from a 



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