Ray & Haddon — The Languages of Torres Straits — II. 149 



rather than a present tense, usually translating the Lifu infinitive 

 sign troa. In the following examples there seems to be no indica- 

 tion of present time. Getowani mabaegopa danalpataipa a/p6, left 

 men to look after the garden ; iautumizo senabi pasau danalpotai mahaeg , 

 poipimipa^ ordered the man looking after the door, to watch (Lifu troa 

 hmeken) ; na ngulaig nabepa nidaipa, she knew what was done to her ; 

 aipa la/ropuddipa, to buy food (Lifu, troa ito xene). This use of the 

 suffix pa expresses the same idea as in the dative case of nouns. 



In a few cases, the Gospel shows pa as a present tense ending, 

 Nongo niai ha%i nulia puzipa, His disciples follow Him ; mi za ngai 

 ieudepa ? what do I ask ? ngita danalpataipa a poipiam, a toitupagiz, 

 take ye heed, watch and pray. In these three examples the Lifu 

 has in the first case the past, in the second the future, and in the third 

 an imperative without tense sign. 



{h) Iz, izo, izi. — It is by no means certain that these suffixes are 

 identical in meaning. Macgillivray refers to the ending izzi only once. 

 In a note on the words soha, sali, he says : — " These two words appear 

 to have the same meaning, but are used differently: * soh^atchin = sali- 

 mizzi,^ and both express ' having been sick.' " [ii., 304.] 



As used in the Gospel z, zo, zi usually express the present tense 

 of an intransitive verb, and correspond to the particle a in the Lifu 

 version. Ngai ngihepa mulizo^ I say to thee (Lifu, ini a qaja hoi eo) • 

 noi iautumiz nongo niai hazi, He orders His disciples ; noi hadaip waliz 

 pada/pa, he climbs up a mountain. The suffixes iz, izo, izi, do not 

 always express a present tense. In many cases they are used to 

 translate the Lifu past sign hna. Lurai siei putizi iahugudanu, some 

 there fell on the path ; goiga palgizo, the sun rose (Lifu, hna hoj'e la 

 Jo) ; noi Jcadaitarizi, he arose ; lesu nubepa nagiz, Jesus looked at him. 



(c) -n, -ni. — The ending n was given by Macgillivray for the per- 

 fect tense. As used in the Gospel, it usually expresses the simple past 

 of a transitive verb, and translates the Lifu past participle, hna, or the 

 present perfect, M, ha. Noi minarpalan senali tusi, he wrote that 

 book ; Tana nubepa angan setahi magina hoziel, they brought to Him 

 little children ; noi iman senali suJce Icoisigal nisalnga, he saw a fig-tree 

 afar o:ff having leaves. 



Just as the suffixes iz, izo, izi are sometimes found expressing past 

 tense, so also n is frequently used in the Gospels in the present tense. 

 Ngai iman mabaeg uzar, I see men walking. 



