Page:A handbook of the Cornish language; Chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature.djvu/145

 126 GRAMMAR II. FIRST DIVISION. IMPERFECT TENSE, I was. Old form. Singular. 1. esen, y the sen, en. 2. eses, y theses, es. 3. esa, y theses. Late form. Singular. 1. erav, eram, erama, therav, theram. 2. eras, erasta, t her as. 3. era, thera. Plural. 1. esen, ythesen. 2. eseugh, ytheseugh. 3. esens, ythesens. Plural. 1. eron, theron. 2. erough, therough. 3. erons, t herons. The change from s to r in this tense, and the assimilation of the inflections to the present, does not occur in the written language until the middle of the seventeenth century. The personal pronouns were always used with this tense in its late form, and the final consonants of the personal inflections generally coalesced with the pronouns, and so were omitted in writing, thus therav vi, theron ny, therough why, were written, though incorrectly, thera vi, thera ny, thero why. An alternative third person singular is o. It is used with relatives as an equivalent of a o, who was, and with negatives as nynso = there was not. It is in fact the past equivalent of es, but it is often used in a simple assertion also. The simple interrogative is 'erama, was I ? the negative interrogative is nag erama, was I not ? and the simple negative nynseram, I was not. SECOND DIVISION. INFINITIVE, bos, to be, older form, used chiefly when an extra syllable was required for a verse, bones. I. FUTURE TENSE, I shall be. Singular. 1. bedhav (older bydhaf}. 2. bedheth (bydhith). 3. bedh (bydK). Plural. 1. bedhon. 2. bedhough. 3. bed/ions (bedhens}.