188 Grammar of the Thadou or new Koohie language. [No. 3. 



A more significant form of the infinitive has " ding" subjoined to 

 the simpler form, as — 



Yenading, to see. Nenading, to eat. 



The present participle is the same as the imperative, and has very 

 frequently the root prefixed to it, as — 

 Dengin or dengdengin, striking. 

 The past participle is formed from the present or the imperative, 

 by subjoining lung or ting, as — 



Denginting, or denginlung, Struck, or having struck. 

 A negative form of the verb obtains throughout all the tenses, 

 by the interpolation of hi, thus— 



Deng hi in, do not strike. Hung hi in, do not come. 



Kin ka denghie, I strike not. Kadentahie, I struck not. 



Kin deng hi inge, I will not strike. 

 Also by subjoining poi, to the root, for the present tense — 

 Kin kadeng poi, I do not strike^ and 

 Kin kadengta poi, I did not strike. 

 For the future, ponge is added to the root to express negation. 

 Kei che ponge, I will not strike. 

 Nung che ponate, thou wilt not strike. 

 Hipa che pdnte, he will not strike. 

 There is no word in the Thadou language with the simple signi- 

 fication of no, or not. The negative being only used in conjunction 

 with the verb, as described above. 



The only grammatical puzzle in the language is that certain verbs 

 require a final n, in their nominatives. This is obtained by adding 

 "in" to such nouns in the nominative case as end with a conso- 

 nant, and by adding n, and prolonging the vowel when they do not. 

 For this curious inflection, I have been able to discover no rule or 

 reason, verbs both active and passive, transitive and intransitive 

 appearing arbitrarily to admit of either the one form of nominative 

 or the other. The Kookies themselves never hesitate in marking 

 the distinction, but they have never been able to account for it to 

 me ; some sense of euphony, appreciable only to their ears, is the 

 only likely conjecture I can arrive at. 



