1870.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 19.5 



/ aclilii I have gone 

 II. chali J thili 1 had gone 



\ hebi I shall have gone. 



Then there is a series of three simple tenses (which ought per- 

 haps to have been put first). 



I. mu dekhi, etc., I see 

 II. mu dekhili, I saw 

 III. mu dekhibi, I shall see. 



The habit of using the plural in speaking respectfully to others, 

 and of one self, has become so inveterate that the original proper 

 singular of the verb and pronoun has been rejected from the 

 high-polite style, and only holds its own among the common people, 

 that is to say, the three millions of uneducated folk, who know no 

 better than to speak their mother-tongue as they find it. In 

 literary compositions, the plural amhe, tumhe, semdne with the 

 plural verbs as karim, hara, Icaranti, are used for both singular and 

 plural, and in the grammars hitherto published, these forms are 

 given in the text, and the unfortunate singular karain, /caru, karat 

 is banished to a note as " the inferior style ! !" It is to be hoped 

 that this truly prse-scientific treatment of the language will not be 

 perpetuated in any future grammar. 



The infinitive ends in iba, as dsibd to come, and is declined like 

 a noun, just as the Hindi, and all other infinitives in the seven 

 languages. 



It has also a good strong form for the conditional. Thus — 



Singular. Plural. 



Mu dekhi thanti Amhe dekhi thantu 



Tu dekhi thantu Tumhe dekhi thanta 



Se dekhi thanta Semane dekhi thante 



In which, as in the Bengali dehhitam, we recognize the verb ^n 

 sthd, but in the Uriya in a more perfect form than in the Ben- 

 gali. 



As another instance of the superiority of Uriya in the matter 

 of preservation of the Prakrit and Sanskrit forms, I will put side 

 by side the simple present of the substantive verb. 



