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R. B. Shaw —A Grammar of the Language 
[No. 3, 
Ex. : fcichik dur-man, “ I am small.” 
kiehik imds-man, “ I am not small.” 
This form imas is also sometimes used in compound Tenses, instead of 
the inserted syllable, to make a negative. 
The defective verb irmaJc seems to have no negative form for the past 
tense ; but the negative Future-Present imas is used, prefixed to the 
(affirmative) Past Tense of the same verb. 
Ex. : QELghan imas idilar for qel -ma-ghan idilar. “ They had not 
been doing.” 
Tdakhir QELghu-lulc imas, (for qel -nia-ghu-lug dur) “delay is not 
to be made.” 
The impersonal verb bar or bar-dur, “ there is”, “ it is,” has its 
negative yog or yog-dur. 
THE INTERROGATIVE 
is expressed by adding mu (vulg. mci) after the verb. This syllable gener¬ 
ally follows the last of the affixes of the verb ; but in the Tenses of the 
Present and Future-Present Participle, the interrogative is often used in 
the middle of the word, in the shape of a mere letter m added to the Present 
Participle. 
Ex. : Qel ding mu “ didst thou do ?” [regular form]. 
Qel a-m'-san, “dost thou do ?” [Present-Part. form]. 
Qel mai-ni’-san “ dost thou not do ?” [do]. 
The particle mu repeated, stands for English “ whether. or .” 
E. g. medium bol-ma'i-dur kafir-mu Musulmdn-mu — “It is not known 
whether unbelievers or Musulmans.” 
With the common form ikan or ikin (Indef. Part., or 3rd pers. of In- 
def. Past Tense, of irmak “ to be”) the interrogative syllable is prefixed in¬ 
stead of being suffixed, thus m?ikin — “is (it) ?” “ may (it) be?” This 
compound is used, instead of the final interrogative mu, wherever ikan 
would be used in the positive. It expresses more of hesitancy between two 
opinions than the simple mu, owing to the peculiar indefiniteness of ikan : 
Ex. bu maning-ki m’ikin = “ may this be mine ?” ( bu maning-ki bar 
MU—would be simply “is this mine ?”). Ul kishi kela-dur mTk:i]V. # = 
“ will that person come (or will he not, I wonder) ?” Ul kishi kela -m’ 
dur would be simply “will that person come ?” 
See also “ Syntax” §§10 and 1G for other examples. 
* This however may he said to be merely the Interrogative form of the Comp. Fut. 
Pres. Indef. Tense. Thus Kela-dur-ikan = “ he may he about coming” ; Kela-dur-m'i- 
kan (like Qela-m’-san in form) = “may he he about to come” ? The effect is the same 
however. 
