ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 



585 



PRONOUN. 

 Personal Pkonoun. 



I, nvE. 



thon, nS'un. 



he, she, it (present), net. 



,, (absent), nv'tgye. 



we, num. 

 ye, iiE'cEm. 

 they (present), nc'dct. 

 „ (absent), nc'detgyc. 



me, M'f.. 

 thee, Id'sn. 



him, her (present), Id'ut. 

 „ ,, (absent), csnc'tgije. 

 ns, Id' Em. 

 ye, Id'sEvi. 



them (present), Id'odEt. 

 „ (absent), Id'odEtgye. 



Possessive Pronoun. 



There is only one form for presence and absence, except that the latter has the 

 general suffix designating- absence -gya. The past is formed by the perfect prefix tl-, 

 the future by dEin-: The house that I had, tlhwVlla ; my future wife, dEmna'kysd. 



my father, nEgud'EduK. our father, UEgud' EdEni. 



thy father, nEgud,' sdEii. your father, iiEgud' EtSEm . 



his father, iiEgua' eU. their father, nKgud' Edet. 



THE VERB. 

 Intransitive Verb. 



The forms of the verb are also simpler than they are in Tsimshian. 



I am sick, sl'eph'ncE. we are sick, sipsl'epk'noKm. 



thou art sick, .n'epk'nen. ye are sick, sipsV epk' iwsevi. 



he is sick, sl'epk. they are sick, sipsl'epk\ 



The perfect is formed by the temporal prefix tls-, the future by dsm-. 



Interrogative. 

 am I sick ? sV epgunl-la. are we sick ? &ipsl' epgunuEma. 



art thou sick? sV epgEiiuna. are ye sick ? sipsV cpgunena^^.). 



is he sick ? si'Upigua. are they sick ? sipsi' epgua. 



Negative. 

 I am not sick, niyi{di) si'epgue. we are not sick, 7i/yi(di) sipsi'ipguEm. 



thou art not sick, nigi{di) sl'cpguen. ye are not sick, niyi(di) sipsVepJi'SEm. 

 he is not sick, nigi{di) si'epguet. they are not sick, niyi(di) sipsl'e2)k'tet. 



Transitive Verb. 



The transitive verb shows also small differences from the Tsimshian verb. I give 

 the forms of the verb to kill — singular dzaTi\ plural yadzi — for the imperfect, which 

 was not given in the description of the Tsimshian. The present tense is analogous 

 to that of the Tsimshian. 



The interrogative is formed by the suffix -a. 



The imperative of the transitive verb is expressed by the second person of the 

 indicative, that of the transitive verb by the suffix -tl. 



eat, yu'uQgun, eat it, gyiptl. 



