Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/241

 practically of rare occurrence at every period of the language, and especially later.

a. The inserted runs in the active through the whole series of persons; in the middle, it is allowed only in the 2d and 3d persons sing. and du. and the 2d pl., and is quotable only for the 2d and 3d sing. In the 2d sing. act., the precative form, by reason of the necessary loss of the added, is not distinguishable from the simple optative; in the 3d sing. act., the same is the case in the later language, which (compare 555 a) saves the personal ending instead of the precative-sign ; but the RV. usually, and the other Vedic texts to some extent, have the proper ending (for ). As to in the 2d pl. mid., see 226 c.

b. The accent is as in the simple optative.

568. The precative endings, then, accepted in the later language (including, in brackets, those which are identical with the simple optative), are as follows:

a. Respecting the precative, see further 921 ff.

b. As to the general uses of the optative, see below, 573 ff.

569. The imperative has no mode-sign; it is made by adding its own endings directly to the tense-stem, just as the other endings are added to form the indicative tenses.

a. Hence, in 2d and 3d du. and 2d pl., its forms are indistinguishable from those of the augment-preterit from the same stem with its augment omitted.

b. The rules as to the use of the different endings — especially in 2d sing., where the variety is considerable — will be given below, in connection with the various tense-systems. The ending, however, has so much that is peculiar in its use that it calls for a little explanation here.

570. The Imperative in. An imperative form, usually having the value of a 2d pers. sing., but sometimes also of other persons and numbers, is made by adding to a present tense-stem — in its weak form, if it have a distinction of strong and weak form.

a. Examples are: ;