Page:A grammar of the Bohemian or Cech language.djvu/53

 ﻿the action, the completion of which is predicated, is a con- tinuous one, or (2) cases where it is repeated at various times. The first of these Miklosich calls ' durative perfective,' the second ' iterative perfective M.

The aspect of a verb can only be determined by a reference to one of the six conjugations to which the verb belongs, due regard being paid as to whether a preposition is prefixed or not. The scheme given on p. 34 will assist the student in the matter.

There are three moods in Čech: the infinitive, indicative, and imperative; and three tenses : the present, future, and past.

Each aspect is regularly conjugated according to its own moods and tenses.

The prepositional prefixes are very important, and the leading ones are therefore given here, for they have great influence upon the aspects of a verb, as the reader will see by looking at the scheme of verbs and their aspects on p. 34.

do implies the accomplishment of an action, the carrying of it out to the end, as dočetl sem knihu, I have read the book through.

na denotes action upon something, as namazali másla na chléb, to spread butter upon bread, na also frequently has the sense of doing a thing to satiety, as nemůžeme se mu nadivili, we cannot sufficiently wonder about him.

1 Corresponding examples may be found in other languages. The following example from the excellent Polish grammar of the late Professor Smith, of Copenhagen (Grammatik der polnischen Sprache, Berlin, 1845), W>H illustrate the aspects. Thus in Greek :—

Imperf. Tv"^x°-va> iTvyxavov (stem Tv-fxav~)-

Perf. Tcii£o//ai, trvxov (stem tvx-).

Imperf. yiyváiaiioi, lyiyváioicov (stem yiyvcuffrc-).

Perf. yvi/aoftat, iyvoiv (stem yvu-~). We thus see that the imperfective aspect furnishes to the Slavonic verb (1) the present, (2) the imperfect tenses; while the perfective aspect furnishes (3) the future in the simple form as opposed to the compounded and artificial future, (4) the aorist.