Page:Hand-book of Volapük (Sprauge, 1888).djvu/33

 = THE PASSIV VOICE =

All the tenses of the passiv voice commence with the letter p. Therefore the passiv tense-augments are,

In English, a present passiv is often really perfect in signification; as, "the house is finished," ,,dom pefinom." On the other hand we use what is, apparently, an activ form in a passiv sense, as, "the house is building," meaning "the house is being built," ,,dom pabumom." In all such cases we must consider the sense and not the sound. = EXERCISE 18 =

Fa, by.
Nelijap&uuml;k pap&uuml;kom in Nelij, Pebaltats, Kanad&auml;n, Talop e l&auml;ns votik. Volap&uuml;k potidom in juls valik. Volap&uuml;k p&auml;datuvom fa s&ouml;l Schleyer. Fluks poseloms delido ayelo; p&auml;seloms nedelido &auml;yelo. Dom gletik pabumom in s&uuml;t telsekilid.'''

Many children are educated in the schools or America; many have been educated and many will be educated. Books are sold by the merchant, whose store is in 42nd street. These books are not mine; they are sold. [Is this pat&uuml;p ?] What language is spoken in America ?

THE INFINITIV
The verbs given so far have been in the form which simply asserts, called the indicativ mood.

The infinitiv mood, or verb-noun, has the ending -&ouml;n. It is usually, though not always, preceded in English by to. In Volap&uuml;k it may be in various tenses: pat&uuml;p, pet&uuml;p, pot&uuml;p, or put&uuml;p.