With these two auxiliaries we are enabled to conjugate all the transitive verbs after the periphrastic method, e. g. The Auxiliary EDIN. Edin, 'can,' is nowadays the auxiliary of the moods; it can be inflected as a transitive as well as an intransitive verb: nadi, 'I can,' (like noa), and dadit, 'I can it' (like dakart). It is found sometimes, in the Biscaian dialect, as an independent, a non-auxiliary, verb; but it is chiefly in use as the auxiliary of the imperative, the subjunctive, and the potential of the intransitive verbs. Imperative. Hadi, 'can thou;' bedi, 'can he;' zaite, 'can you.' Nadi+n, that I can'=nadin: thus, joan nadin signifies 'that I can go,' or in English 'that I may go;' but never French que j'aille; and joan nendin, 'that I could (or might) go,' and never que j'allasse. The potential forms the potential of the intransitive verbs, and joan naiteke signifies 'I can go;' joan neinteke, 'I could go.' Every dialect varies; but the Labourdin, here given, is a fair specimen. The reader will see at once where the d has been dropped, and where are the supplementary plural forms. The Auxiliary IZAN, 'to be.' Imperative. Aizen, 'be thou;' biz, 'be he;' zaren, 'be you;' Izan is the only irregular verb; the first and second persons point to a root aiz, and can be explained; but da, and the three other persons, have another and unknown origin. The imperfect is regular, so are the other tenses. The termination te of the optative is a dialect variety for ke. The two original tenses not being sufficient, izan is inflected with itself to form the compound tenses: izan naiz, 'I have been,' (lit., I am been); izan ninzan, 'I had been,' (lit. I was been). The present and the imperfect of the optative are used for the future (I shall be), and the conditional (I should be); the future only in some FrenchBasque dialects. The imperative is obsolete; it has now a periphrastic form, with edin as an auxiliary: izan adi, 'be thou;' izan bedi, 'be he;' izan zaite (for zadite), 'be you;' izan bediz, 'be they.' We know that the subjunctive does not exist, that it is rendered by the indicative followed by n, 'that;' thus, naiz-n or naizen. But this form is no longer in use; the periphrasis izan nadin, 'that I may (lit. can) be,' has taken its place-izan nadin, izan adin, &c., and izan nendin, ' that I might be.' The Auxiliary EROAN or ERUAN. Eroan, to move' (a factitive verb, erazo-joan, 'to cause to go') is the auxiliary of the frequentative verbs; emon daroat signifies 'I am wont to give.' This special use is only in Biscaian; all the other dialects employ eroan in the more general sense of 'to have,' like iduki; but with this difference, that eroan is employed when object and dative are expressed, and iduki when the object alone is expressed; e. g. ematen darotak, 'thou givest it to me'd-aro-t-k. This darotak is found as drautak or dautak, or deitak or didak, all variations due to known euphonic influences. The conjugation with object and dative is as regular as any other, but it must be acknowledged that the violent euphonic alterations have sometimes rendered the flections difficult to analyze; but generally it is easy to discover, by comparison, how the flections have suffered. If we know that r is very often dropped, that there is a general dislike for medial k, that hiatus is as a rule prevented, then the following flections are all clear :-daroakat=darokat= draukat dakot=deyot=diot, 'I have (given) it to him.' = The moods and tenses of eroan are completed by the auxiliary ezan: eman iezadak, 'give them to me.' Iezadak from eza-t-h; final h (for hi) becomes k; t, 'me;' eza, the verb. The subjunctive, is formed also with ezan: eman diezadakan, that thou mayest give it to me,'-d-eza-t-k-n. It will be superfluous to repeat that diezadakan is the present of the indicative followed by n. It is not possible |