Page:A Concise Grammar of the Malagasy Language.djvu/49

 Firìna? (passive participle of mifìry)— divided into how many? telòina, divided into three; efàrina, divided into four, &c. They also have imperative moods:—telòy, divide it into three; èfaro, divide it into four, &c.

Mànindròa (manào indròa), to do (a thing) twice.

Mànintèlo, to do (a thing) thrice.

Indràosina, 'being done twice'; ìntelòina, 'being done thrice'. These are sometimes used as the passive participles of the corresponding verbs, mànindròa, mànintèlo, &c.

Number of days is expressed by turning the cardinals into abstract nouns in ha—ana; as, hàfirìana? 'how many days'? indrò-àndro, (indròa àndro), 'two days'; hàtelòana, 'three days'; hefàrana, 'four days', &c.

N.B.—The only known exception to this rule is in the use of indrò-àndro, instead of haròana, for 'two days'.

Another thing to be remembered is that, while an adjective generally follows its noun (as, tràno tsàra, 'a good house'), the numeral (i.e. the cardinal) is often placed before a noun; as, ròa làhy, 'two men'. 



The Definite Article.—There is only one definite article, nỳ, which is used before common nouns, and has the same defining power as our English article the. Its special uses are as follows.

a (when used):—

1. Like the Greek article, it is much used to turn other parts of speech into nouns; as, nỳ manòratra, 'the art of writing', or 'the people who write.' 