1880.] 



VEEB. 



27 



The past participle is formed by the addition of the suffix tha or 

 th& to the base which is liable to modifications to be noted below. For 

 purposes of composition the past base ends in gh. (See sounds, rjli.) From 

 the base so formed the perfect and pluperfect are formed by the following 

 terminations : 



Pebfect. 



1. in Vlu, om 



2. e e, Qth 



3. — ant 



Plupeefect. 



1. athin athnn 



2. a^Ae a,the 



3. a,th, a a^^ant 



The 3rd pers. singular of the perfect is the simple form of the past 

 participle without the (/h. In transitive verbs with an object and agent, 

 this form expresses the perfect throughout, the agent being in the inflected 

 or instrumental form, while the object is uninflected ; e. g., 



marduma nay/ian wartha, the man ate bread, 

 where marduma is the inflected form of mardum. But — 

 mardum na^'hanar warth, the man will eat bread. 

 Here mardum is uninflected and naghan receives the objective inflection. 



The terminations of the present are nearly identical with those of the 

 perfect, and those of the imperfect, with the pluperfect. Both seem to 

 be formed by the addition of the present and past forms of the defective 

 verb to be to the infinitive base and the past base respectively. The 

 present with the infinitive base forms the present, with the past base 

 the perfect. Similarly the past forms the imperfect and pluperfect. 

 These forms are as follows : 



Peesent. 



Sing. 





Plur. 





I am 



an 



we are 



lira 



thou art 



e 



you are 



e 



he is 



en 



they are 



ant 







Past. 





I was 



atJiAn 



we were 



athun 



thou wast 



Sithe 



you were 



a.the 



he was 



ath 



they were 



a^Aant 



The plural forms un, e, athun, atJie, when used with a pronoun immedi- 

 ately preceding, take the prefix kh ; e. g., 



ma khiiw we are 



ma kha^/iim we were 



But this prefix is never used when a noun or adjective immediately precedes. 



