Page:A handbook of the Cornish language; Chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature.djvu/137

 n8 GRAMMAR to it, while it is itself an auxiliary to another verb, but this is only what is done in English with such expres- sions as "can be," "will be," "shall be," etc. The use of the various forms of the verb will be found more fully explained in the chapter on the construction of sentences. When the auxiliaries gwil and gaily are used to form a passive, it is sometimes the auxiliary that takes the passive form. Thus : Mar ny wrer y wythe, if he be not guarded (Res. Dom.j 341), mar keller y wythe, if he can be kept (Pass. Ckr., 3058). But in modern Cornish this would be more likely to be formed with a double auxiliary : Mar ni wrello bos gwithes. Mar callo bos gwithes. 2. THE TENSES OF THE INFLECTED VERB. The inflected verb is reducible to five tenses, vith an imperative, two participles, and a verbal noun or infinitive. These are all formed on the root by the addition of terminations, and sometimes by a modifica- tion of the root vowel (indicated below by ni). The tenses and their terminations are : I. Present or Future. Singular. Plural. 1. av or am on [earlier ^en. 2. eth or es. ough. 3. root alone. ons or am. II. Imperfect or Secondary Present. Singular. Plural. 1. en. en. 2. es. eugh, i. a. ens.