Page:Hand-book of Volapük (Sprauge, 1888).djvu/67

 2. No äevom godi votik.

What is the verb ? äsevom, he did -- something; he knew ; no äsevom, he did not know. Votik must be an adjectiv from its ending; other, another.

The two replies of the old man can now be translated.

We have now had all the cases exemplified in the forms of om.

Om, he ; oma, his (or him); ome, to him; omi, him ; and we can complete the plural :

Oms, they; omas, their (of them); omes, to them ; omis, them.

The next sentence will now be easily understood upon ascertaining the meanings of the separate words.

The phrase ,,Ven at igolom,&quot; although it comes first, really modifies ävokom. The reason for placing it out of the usual order is to place it in the order of time, as will be seen. Ven is a conjunction, &quot;when.&quot; What is the verb ? Igolom, and it is in the pluperfect tense, third person, singular, masculin ; &quot;he had ,&quot; is the English formula. Golön, to go ; therefore igolom = he had gone. What is the subject ? At means this, and refers to bäledan, understood. In English it is not customary to use this without its noun (when masculin), hence we say &quot;the latter.&quot;

Observe that &quot;was gone&quot; is not a passiv, altho' it looks like one. The auxilliary &quot;am&quot; does not always denote the passiv voice, and the meaning must be followed, not the sound.

,,God ävokom Abrahami&quot; will be understood upon finding the meaning of vokön, to call; ed äsäkom ome, this is all familiar. Kiöp is the connecting word, an interrogativ adverb, where ?

ägesagom, he answered ; this is a synonym of ägepükom. Both are formed by prefixing the syllable ge-, which means