Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/24

16 gamle Stol, the old chair; plural, de gamle Stole. When there is no adjective it is suffixed to the noun, after dropping the d; thus: Land-et, Stol-en, the country, the chair; but it is ne or ene in the plural, as Lande-ne. The indefinite article, derived from eet, een, a, one, is et, n, en; e.g.: et Land, a country, en Stol, a chair. The nominative, dative, and accusative cases cause no change in the noun; there is only the suffix s, es, for the genitive of both numbers. The plural is formed in three ways, viz.: by suffixing e, as Land-e; or by er, as Sag, thing, Sag-er, things; or by leaving it unchanged with the exception of the radical a and o, which assume the forms of æ and ø in many nouns of the three declensions, as Barn, child, Børn, children; Bog, book, Bög-er, books. Adjectives not preceded by the article or preceded by the indefinite article remain unchanged in fælleskjøn, and receive t in intetkjøn, singular, and e in the plural of both genders; but when they are preceded by the definite article they receive e in both genders and numbers; thus: god Dreng, good boy, en god Dreng, a good boy, gode Drenge, good boys, den gode Dreng, the good boy, de gode Drenge, the good boys; stor, large, stort Bord, a large table, store Borde, large tables. The comparative degree is formed by adding re or ere; the superlative by ste or este; e.g.: et lærdere Fruentimmer, a more learned woman; den hvideste Farve, the whitest color. Some of the irregulars are: ung, yngre, yngst, young, younger, youngest; lille, mindre, mindst, little, lesser, least; megen, mere, meest, much, more, most; mange, flere, fleest, many, more, most; god, bedre, bedst, good, &c.; ond or slem, varre, varst, evil or bad, worse, worst; gammel, ældre, ældst, old, &c.; nær, nærmere, nærmest, near, nearer, next; ydre, yderst, utter, utmost, &c. The numerals are: eet, een, 1; to, 2; tre, 3; fire, 4; fem, 5; sex, 6; syv, 7; otte, 8; ni, 9; ti, 10; elleve, tolv, tretten, fjorten, &c.; tyve, 20; en og tyve, 21; to og tyve, 22; tredive, 30; fyrgetyve, 40; but the following four decades are peculiar: halvtreds or halvtredsindstyve (half 60 and 20) for 50; treds or tredsindstyve (3 times 20), 60; halvfjerds or halvfjerdsindstyve (half 80 and 20, only equal to 60), used for 70; ﬁirs or ﬁirsindstyve (4 times 20), 80; halvfems or halvfemsindstyve, 90; hundrede, 100; tusende, 1,000. Treds, ﬁirs, and fems being taken for 60, 80, 100, supposing them to be doubled, the halvtreds, halvfjerds, and halvfems are taken for 50, 70, and 90, as the decades half way toward 60, 80, 100. The ordinals are: det, den første, the first; det andet, den anden, the other, or second; den tredie, the third; den fjerde, the fourth; den sjette, the sixth; the rest are formed by suffixing ende, or nde when the number ends in e, or de when it ends in en. Time (French fois) is Gang, as anden Gang, the second time, ni Gange, nine times, &c. The personal pronouns are: jeg, I; mig, me; du, thou; dig, thee; han, he; hun, she; hans, his; hendes, (of) her; ham, him; kende, her;

vi, we; vores, ours; os, us; I, you; eders (jer), yours; eder (jer), you; Dem, yourself; sig, himself, herself, themselves. The demonstratives de, deres, dem, are used for they, their, them. Selv, self, selves; but hanself, himself, means also master of the house, hunselv, herself, the house-lady, &c. The possessives are: mit, min, plural mine, my, mine; dit, din, dine, thy, thine; sit, sin, sine, its, his, her, their; vort, vor, vore, our, ours; jert, jer, jere, your, yours. The demonstratives are: det, den, genit. dets, dens; plural de, dem, genit. deres (also used in conversation with one or more persons, like the German Sie, Ihnen, Ihr, you, your); dette, denne, disse, this, these; hiint, hiin, hine, that, those; saadant, saadan, saadanne, and sligt, slig, slige, such. The relatives are: der, who; som, who, whom, that; and the interrogatives: hvo, who? hvad, what? hvilket, &c., which? Indefinite pronouns: der, it, there, also with passive verbs; man (also German, the French on), one, some one; noget, nogen, plural nogle, some, any; somme, some people; intet, ingen, nobody; alt, al, plural alle, all; hvert, hver, enhver, ethvert, every; hinanden, each other; hverandre, one another. The theme of the verb is the imperative; the conjugation comprehends two orders subdivided into three classes each, according to the form of the past tense.

Person and number are distinguished by pronouns or other words; the numbers of verbs are often alike, and are confounded in common speech, though distinguished in writing. The passive voice admits of no distinction of numbers or persons in the form of the verb, but merely of tenses and modes. The present and past tenses are formed by means of the suffix s or es; thus: Jeg elskes, I am loved; jeg elskedes, I was loved (from jeg elsker, I love; jeg elskede, I loved or have loved). The infinitive is sometimes denoted by at, to; thus: at elske, to love; the participle present by nde final. There are also deponent verbs, analogous to those of the Latin. The auxiliary or periphrastic verbs are: skal, plural skulle, shall; skulde, should, &c.; vil, plural ville, will; vilde, participle villet, would; har (from haver), have; passive haves, be possessed by; er, am; var, was; vær, be; faaer, get; maa, may, must; kan, can, may; tør, dare, need; lader, let, cause to, &c. Bliver, become, forms the passive sense; e.g.: bliver fundet, is found. Har and faaer with an infinitive also