adjective prefixed to nouns (see page 48), whereas no oblique mood can end a sentence, or be prefixed to a noun. In fact the oblique moods are verbs pure and simple, whereas the tenses of the indicative mood are of the nature of participles. The gerund, like the oblique moods, is verbal only; and the name of past participle applied to it by some grammarians is a misnomer.

V. The Japanese use the present tense more commonly than we do. Not only do they employ it for general assertions, but they frequently denote by it past events, unless the fact of such events being past is the most noteworthy thing about them. Future events are also sometimes indicated by the present tense, if there is no doubt as to the certainty of their occurrence.

VI. The first past is the original and true past tense,* expressing, as it does, past time and nothing more. The other pasts, when analysed, are found to be compounds formed by means of auxiliary verbs, a trace of whose proper signification still survives. Thus yukitari is for yukite ari, lit. "is having gone." Yukitariki is the same as yukitari, with the sign of the first past tense added. Both these are generally best rendered by the English perfect, but sometimes by the present, thus: Chichi ni nitari, "He is like his father.".

Ignorant writers are apt to use the attributive for the conclusive form of this tense, e.g. yukishi at the end of a sentence, where correct grammar requires yukiki.

Do not confound it with the colloquial frequentative forms in tari, such as ittari kitari; or with tari, taru, tarela, etc., contractions of to ari, to aru, to areba, etc., suffixed to nouns. The most literal rendering of these latter forms is the verb "to be"; but they are often best omitted from an English translation. Thus: Gikai taran mono, "Those who may constitute (lit. be) the assembly," i.e. "The members in the future." Chichi chichi tarazu to iu to mo, ko motte ko tarazumba aru-bekarazu, "Even if a father does not act in a fatherly manner, his child must not fail to act in a filial manner."

Inu and inuru, the terminations of the fourth past, are themselves the present of an old verb signifying "to go away." The use of the fourth past therefore indicates that the action of the verb is completely finished and done with. Thus suginuru means "it has passed away." The only verbs of the fourth conjugation which possess the fourth past are kiru, "to wear"; niru, “to boil"; and niru, “to resemble." Some verbs form the fourth past by means of the terminations nu, nuru; others by means of tsu, tsuru, as will be seen by reference to the paradigms. A few verbs take either set of terminations indifferently, thus: homenuru or hometsuru, "[I] have praised.-Do not confound nu, the conclusive termination of the fourth past, with nu the attributive termination of the negative present. The one being conclusive and the other attributive, they can never occupy the same place in the sentence. In the first conjugation the two are further distinguished by the preceding vowel, which is i in the fourth past and a in the negative, thus: yukinu, "went away"; yukanu, do not go." The perfect, which exists only in verbs of the first conjugation and in the irregular verb suru, "to do," replaces the past, and sometimes the present, when the action mentioned is a specific one.

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VII. The so-called future indicates, not so much futurity, as uncertainty, and may therefore be used in speaking even of present or past events if they are doubtful, thus: Ju-hakku-nen mae no koto naran, “It must have been some eighteen or nineteen years ago.

VIII. The conditional and hypothetical, which are confounded together in the modern colloquial dialect of Tokyo, are sharply distinguished in the written language. Thus the conditional phrase Karada sukoyaka nareba, yō ni teki su-beshi means "As he is robust, he will do for the work "; whereas

the hypothetical Karada sukoyaka naraba, yo ni teki su-beshi means "If he is robust, he will do for the work." The hypothetical mood is sometimes emphasized by the use of the word moshi, "if perchance," placed at the beginning of the clause. The conditional followed by nari means "it is because." Thus: Awaremi aru mono wa saiwai nari: sono hito wa awaremi wo u-bekereba nari, "Blessed are the merciful: for (lit. it is because) they shall obtain mercy."

IX. The concessive mood is sometimes emphasized by the use of the word tatoi, "even though," at the beginning of the clause. Occasionally the concessive words to iedomo are used in the sense of "even if," "even in," thus: Bummeikoku to iedomo, imada sono gai wo manukaruru atawazu, "Even in civilized countries, [people] cannot escape its ravages."

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X. The potential and prohibitive forms commonly replace the future and the imperative. Thus: yuku-beshi, "I will go," rather than yukan; yuku-bekarazu, or yuku-maji, “you must not go," rather than yukazare, "go not."

XI. The desiderative forms are used in two slightly different ways. Thus, while yuki-taku means "I want to go," on ide nasaretaku means "I want you to go." When suffixed to an honorific verb, the termination taku always refers to the writer, while the verb itself refers to the person addressed. When suffixed to a humble verb, the entire compound refers to the writer. In other cases a glance at the context generally shows whether taku should be referred to the subject or to the object. Thus Go rairin kore aritaku machi-tatematsuri-sōrō, "I am waiting respectfully, wishing for your august approach," i.e. "I hope you will come." See also Chapter IX, Section 6.

XII. The illative tenses have been so designated because their distinctive termination keri was originally the perfect of

the irregular verb kuru, "to come." Such a word as mi-keri therefore literally signifies "I have come having seen" (je viens de voir), and corresponds exactly to the colloquial mite kimashita. The forms in keri may practically be considered to be equivalents of the first past, past conditional, and past concessive respectively.

XIII. Besides the more usual verbal forms given in the paradigms, there may sometimes be met with:

Archaic verbal forms in aku, which are used to introduce quotations. Thus: iwaku "[he] says" (sometimes better rendered by "namely "); ieraku, "[he] said," both from iu, "to say "; omoeraku, "[I] thought," from omou, “to think." Aku indicates the present, eraku the past.

Potential forms such as arinu-beski, ōkarinu-beshi derived from a fourth past, which is not itself in use. They do not differ in meaning from the ordinary potentials aru-beshi, "must be "; ōkaru-beshi, "must be numerous," etc.

Futures formed by adding ran to the attributive present, as aruran, "shall be "; miruran "shall see.”

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A sort of periphrastic future denoting intention or being on the point of performing an action, formed by suffixing the words to suru, to the future proper. Thus yukan to suru, "to make to go," "to be on the point of going," "to be about to go"; sen to suru, "to be about to do.” Suru, thus used, may be inflected through most of its tenses, as yukan to seshi, "was about to do," yukan to shite, "being about to do," etc. Occasionally this periphrastic future is corrupted into one word, and is then easily mistaken for a negative, thus: yukanzu or yukazu (for yukan to suru). Still more corrupt forms of the same are yukozu and yukōzuru. They occur only in the semi-colloquial style.

Forms indicating simultaneity, by means of tsutsu suffixed

to the indefinite form, as yukitsutsu, "while going"; mitsutsu, "while looking."

Frequentatives in mi, thus: nakimi waraimi, "Now crying, now laughing."

Forms in taran derived from the second past, and nearly corresponding to the English future past, thus: yukitaran, "will probably have gone."

Such compound expressions as yukan naredomo, for yuku mo, the hypothetical concessive.

Such negative potential expressions as yukazaru-beshi, for yuku-bekarazu. Yukazaru-beshi leans more to the sense of 'may not go" than to the other senses of the potential.

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Such expressions as yukazumba aru-bekarazu, “cannot but go," "must go," used to convey the sense of necessity.

SEC. 4. IRREGULAR VERBS.

I. Apparent irregularities are caused in large numbers of verbs by the inability of the Japanese to pronounce certain consonants before certain vowels, and by the euphonic changes resulting from this inability. Thus from the stem tat, "to stand," we have tatsu, tachi, instead of tatu, tati. For a list of these important euphonic changes, see page 6.

"to

II. Such verbs of the 2nd conjugation as kotayuru, answer "; otoroyuru, "to decay," mostly contract this attributive present into kotōru, otorōru, and the conclusive present into kotō, otorō.

III. Verbs of the 1st conjugation whose stem ends in s, such as nokosu, "to leave "; tsukawasu, “to send," are sometimes conjugated in certain tenses as if they were compounds of the irregular verb suru, to do." Thus we come across such forms as nokoseshi for nokoshishi.

IV. Colloquial contractions, such as atte for arite, "being";