98. Secondly, the past tense is formed by replacing by n the m of the present formatives ma-, mar-, mi-, etc., which we became acquainted with in Section IV.
| Philippines, Bont.: | nalufug, Pres. malufug, “ to perish ”. |
| Intermediate islands, Talautese: | namali, Fut. mamali. “ to buy ”. |
| Madagascar, Hova: | natahutra, Pres. matahutra, “ to fear ”. |
99. Illustrations of the past formation of the preceding paragraph. Bont., from the Lumawig: “ Then all the people had perished ” = keceṅ nalufug amin nan taku. Hova, from the Fable of the Crocodile: “ Then replied the hedgehog ” = dia namali ni sukina.
100. Thirdly, the past tense is indicated by auxiliary words of form. Nearly all these words mean “ finished, completed ”. This linguistic phenomenon may therefore be characterized as Common IN, But the same identical word of form seldom runs through several languages: thus Bug. uses pura, while the closely related Mak. has leqbaq, Old Jav. huwus, Kupangese hidi, etc. — Illustrations of this type of past tense. Old Jav., from the Kuñjarakarna: “ Your words have entered into my bones ” = huwus the w. your penetrate come into the b. = huwus ika pawarah ta anusup tĕka i ṅ tahulan. Kupangese, from the Story of the Fool: “ We have now made the hole ” = We make “ hidi ” hole now = kit sukun hidi bolo son.
101. Words of form such as have been given in the preceding paragraph are not, as a general rule, used to indicate merely that the action took place in the past; there is nearly always an idea of completion or of the pluperfect bound up with them. When it is merely a matter of past time, these words of form are hardly ever used, the present, or rather the verbal form implying no particular time, then does duty as a past tense. — Illustrations, from Bug. letters: “ I have drunk the whole of the medicine (and now my motions are really not so painful as they were) ” = Completely “ pura ” I drink m.
