356 
MISSION TO ASHANTEE. 
\ 
is derived from avoir, were any philologist sufficiently acquainted 
with the languages to investigate them. Ne, signifying it or thing, 
is adjoined to many verbs, frequently in the present tense only, 
like the explicative particle en conjugated with " allerJ" 
The Fantee has a present, perfect, and pluperfect : as '* me 
dedee,"" I eat, " me adee,"" I have eaten, " me waya dedee,"' I had 
eat. It has no future, yet the time is marked precisely, by adding 
soon, to-morrow. Sec. to the present. 
Neither language has participles ; for, I see him coming, the 
Accras would say, according to their idiom, 
" Minna eh ba'lheh." 
" I see his coming."" 
Ba being a noun, with the definite article Iheh affixed. The Fantees 
would say, 
" Mehoon deh orraba."" 
" I see that he comes. ""^ 
Many verbs in the Accra language are conjugated like reflec- 
tives, though they are not so in their nature, as 
" Me nakoo me fai Iheh 
I not I did it, for I did not do it. 
In the Accra, ko, the contraction of nakoo, (not,) is added to 
verbs as a negative, as " meyayko," I did not eat ; yet, in some 
instances, they have distinct verbs to express the negative of the 
action, as " mahttay," I will go, " meyang," I will not go. 
The Fantee prefixes neen, not, as me dedee," I eat, " me neen 
dedee," I do not eat; and they have also, apparently, distinct 
negative verbs, as " me becko," I go, " me'nkoko," I do not go. 
The Accra resembles the Greek in the nice distinctions of some 
of its verbs and nouns. 
Gnaghmong - - To salute in the morning. 
Cotaghmong - To roll up. 
