472 TIIE KILIMANJARO EXPEDITION . 
It may be remarked that on the tonic vowel of the 
root, the vowel of the prefix -t- generally depends. 
The elements of construction in the verb may be 
briefly summarized. 
The present affirmative is simply the root with the 
personal prefixes added. The past affirmative is 
formed by prefixing -ta , -te, Mi, -to, or -tu, to the root, 
and affixing a, or by doing the latter only in the case 
of most derivative verbs commencing with i. 
It is possible that the - ta , &c., prefixed to the verb 
to form a past tense is related to the verb-root -ta , “to 
be, become, have.” The origin of the future tense has 
already been surmised. It is formed by prefixing -l 
( al , il, el) to the three persons in the singular of the 
present tense, and -jpo (Jdjou, epu) to the three persons 
in the plural. 
The imperative, it will have been remarked, re¬ 
sembles greatly the past tense in the affirmative. In 
those verbs which form their preterite without prefixing 
-t-, the imperative also lacks this particle, and resembles 
the past tense exactly in the 2nd pers. sing. In the 
2nd pers. plural, the e, en, em, end, placed before the 
verb, as in End as am, u love ye ;” Ende%, “ bind ye,” 
stands for Endai , “you.” 
The negative is generally formed by prefixing m or 
me- to the affirmative. This particle is derived from 
the adverb emme, “ no, not.” The exception to this 
rule lies in the negative past tense of indicative where 
itu , etu takes the place of m. I cannot obtain any 
clue to the origin of this prefix, unless it is related 
to -toa, “ died, ceased ” (Atoa, “I died.”) 
The passive is usually formed by adding i in the 
present, and Id in tlie past tenses to the form of the 
active voice. In some verbs, d is replaced by -Id or 
