Page:A grammar of the Bohemian or Cech language.djvu/55

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 v denotes motion into, as vejíti, to go in.

vy denotes motion from an object, out of, as vyřezati, to cut out.

vz denotes motion upwards, as vzrůsti, to grow up.

z gives an idea of thoroughness, as zhynouti, to perish utterly. s also is sometimes used in the same way, as spaliti, to burn entirely (comburere).

za implies going beyond the mark, zablouditi, to wander astray. Sometimes (probably from the idea of the incompletion of the action) it implies, to do a thing a little, as zaspívati, to sing a little.

We sometimes find a verb compounded with two and even three prepositions, as po-od-ložiti, to lay aside a little; na-pro-ná-sledovati, to follow a person till one is weary of it.

The following are the original personal suffixes of the verb:—

Singular. Plural.
1. -m -m
2. -te
3. -t -nt.

The -m of the first sing. pres. is found in verbs III, IV, and V (1), according to the ensuing paradigms[1]. The nasal of the third person plural has become -ou.

The connecting vowels are e and o; e.g. perf. part, passive pleten, woven. The verbs which we shall find afterwards in the class marked B have no connecting vowel in the present; as vi-m, I know ; dá-m, I give; ji-m, I eat; js-em, I am.

The conjugation of the Bohemian verb will be here arranged according to the system of Miklosich. Before, however, giving

  1. The Slovak language, already described in the preface, has -m throughout the verbs. It may here be stated that the oldest forms of Čech show a dual in the verbs, as also in the nouns. These venerable remains, as they may well be styled, are found also in the Upper and Lower Sorbish languages and Slovenish.