40 THE ORMURT OR BARGISTA LANGUAGE. [§82. 



(a) A particle is simply prefixed to, or follows, the past tense already described. 

 By adding bu, we get an imperfect, and by adding su, we get a future imperfect. 

 Thus, wust'ek-am, I arose; bu wusP'ek-am, I was arising; su wust'ek-am, I shall be 

 arising. Sometimes the bu or su follows the main verb, and then it, and not 

 the past participle, takes the pronominal suffix. Thus, instead of bu wusP'ek-am, 

 we may have wusP'ek b-am; and instead of su wusP'ek-amwe may have wusP'ek 

 s-am. 



This bu and this su are also used with the present base to form, respectively,' a 

 present and a future, and their employment may be compared with that of similar 

 particles in other Eranian languages. Corresponding to bu are P'sto wu, Persian me; 

 and corresponding to sii are P'sto ba, Persian -bi, Kurdish be. But the use of bit is 

 not exactly the same as that of the P'Sto wu. In Ormuri the past participle alone 

 indicates past time, and with bu has the force of the imperfect. In P"§to, the use 

 of wu is the reverse of this. Here, the past participle alone has the force of the 

 imperfect, and with wu it indicates simple past time. Again, in Ormuri the present 

 base alone is the foundation of the aorist, a tense with an indefinite force fluctuating 

 between that of the present and that of the future, and generally used as a present 

 subjunctive. With bu this aorist becomes a simple present. In P^§to, the present 

 base by itself forms a simple present, which with wu becomes an aorist. On the 

 other hand the use of the Persian me is the same as that of the Ormuri bu. 



The Ormuri word bu may be compared with the Persian bu-, the base of the 

 verb budan, to be (GIP. I, ii, 220). So also su is to be referred to the base su- of 

 the Persian sudan, to become. Both these words also appear in Ormuri as ordinary 

 verbs under the forms bydk, to be, and sydk, to become. See the following para- 

 graphs. 



§ 82. {b) An auxiliary verb is used with the past participle. The most impor- 

 tant auxiliary is the verb substantive, the present tense of which is conjugated as 

 follows. It does not change for gender : — 



vSing. Plur. 



1. h"m, hyen. 



2. hai, hat. 



3. hd, hin. 



In this the initial ^ is often dropped, and quite possibly is not original. The 

 origin is O. Prs. amiy, Av. ahmi, Skr. asmi, 1 am. Cf. Prs. am; P. am, yam. 



The remaining tenses of the verb substantive are taken from the verb bydk, to 



be, to become, which, like the Prs. budan, is conjugated throughout. The past is 



conjugated as follows: — 



Sing. Plur. 



Masc. Fem. Com. Gen. 



1. bydk-am, buk-am, buk-yen. 



2. bydk-a or -e, buk-a or e, buk-ai, 



3. byok, ' buk, buk-in or -en. 



