Page:A Concise Grammar of the Malagasy Language.djvu/36

 as before (f only adding the idea of habit) another noun is often put before it, to limit its meaning; as, tràno-fivavà-hana, 'a house for prayer.'

N.B.—Do not use the habitual noun of the agent (which always begins with mp-) for an agent not necessarily habitual. Ex.: mpamòno, 'a man who often and habitually murders,' a regular assassin; mamòno, 'a man who perhaps only once murders.'

The abstract nouns in ha- and faha- are really habitual modal nouns derived from verbs in màha-; they are similar in meaning, and are seldom used without the suffix pronoun -ny.

The difference in meaning between these abstract nouns, according to Père Webber, is as follows:—

There are no declensions in the Malagasy language, so that where the case of a noun is not left to be found out from the context, one or other of the following case-indications are necessary:—