e (older form y), governing the second state.

This, altered to y, coalesces with a preposition ending in a vowel, forming a diphthong, which is written with an apostrophe between the two vowels.  It still governs the second state:—

e dâs, his father; dhô’y (pron. dhoy) dâs, to his father; ha’y dâs, and his father.

4.  Third Person Singular, feminine; English, her.

î, governing the third state, or when there is no third state, the first.  It coalesces with prepositions ending in a vowel and with ha in the same way as the masculine:—

î thâs, her father; î gwlas, her country; ha’i thâs, and her father.

In the earlier MSS. both these possessive pronouns were written y, the only distinction being in the initial mutation which followed.  In the later MSS. î is often written e.

5.  First Person Plural.  English, our.

agan, governing the first state:—

agan tâs, our father.

6.  Second Person Plural.  English, your.

agas, governing the first state:—

agas tâs, your father.

7.  Third Person Plural.  English, their.

aga, governing the third, or failing that, the first state:—

aga thâs, their father; aga gwlas, their country.

When preceded by a preposition ending in a vowel or by ha, the three plural possessive pronouns lose their initial a:—

dhô ’gas, ha ’gan, etc.

When a pronoun is the object of a verb in the infinitive or of a verb formed with the auxiliary verbs gwîl, to do, menny, to will, etc. and an infinitive, the pronoun-object is represented by the possessive pronoun preceding and governing (as to initial mutation) this infinitive:—

ev a wrîg ow tholla, he did deceive me.

mî a vedn e grejy, I will believe it.

mî a wrîg agas danvon, I did send you.

The reason of this is that in Cornish, as in the other Celtic languages, the infinitive is counted as a verbal noun, signifying the act of doing.  This conception of the infinitive explains many Celtic constructions.  The literal force of the above examples would be “he did (or made) the deceiving of me,” “I will the believing of it,” “I did the sending of you.”  Similarly, when the object is a noun, it really follows the infinitive as an appositional genitive.

Frequently the second form of the corresponding personal pronoun follows a noun preceded by a possessive pronoun.  This ought to be for emphasis, and, when it is so, the sound of the personal pronoun would be its full sound; but it is frequently merely redundant, and then it is enclitic, forming as it were an unaccented additional syllable tacked on to the noun:—

agan Tâs ny, Our Father (nearly ’gun Tázny).

dhô ’m brodar vî, to my brother.

agas levar why, your book.

herlya yu ’gan gwary ny, hurling is our sport.

Sometimes the personal pronoun as a genitive following the noun, with or without the preposition a, of, was used instead of a possessive pronoun, but in this case it was probably not enclitic.  Thus in a letter in verse by John Boson, in the Gwavas MS., dated 1710, we find:—

Ma goz screfa compaz, den fir o (for a) vî, your writing is correct, my wise man, or, wise man of me.

And in a song by John Tonkin of St. Just in the same MS., the probable date of which is about 1700, we find:—

An Prounter ni ez en Plew East, our parson who is in the parish of St. Just.

Or perhaps more correctly in a copy of one verse of this song in the Borlase MS.:—

Prounter nei (ez) en pleu Est,

for the article an before a noun followed by an appositional genitive seems incorrect, though one finds in the earliest known version of the Lord’s Prayer, given in John Davies’s Welsh translation of Robert Parsons’ Booke of Christian Exercise (1632), An Tas ni, though this may be a mistake for agan.  In the song quoted above one finds also:—

§ 3.  Pronominal Prepositions.

The prepositional form of the pronouns may be applied to almost any preposition, but there are a certain number of common cases in which the prepositions are modified by the composition, vowels being altered or letters being inserted between the preposition and this fragmentary pronoun, either for euphony or as survivals of archaic forms of the preposition or pronoun.  The most usual of these modified forms occur in the composition of the prepositions a, of or from, dre, through, gans, with, dhŏrt (earlier dheworth and adheworth, Welsh oddiwrth), from, orth (or worth), at, to, rag, for, dhô, to, war, upon, en or idn, in.

Other instances are:—

genev, dhortam, orthev, ragov, dhem, warnav.

genes, dhortas, orthes, ragos, dhes, warnas.

ganso, dhorto, orto, ragdho, dhôdho, warnodho.

gensi, dhorti, orti, ragdhi, dhedhi, warnedhi.

genen, dhorten, orthen, ragon, dhen, warnan.

genough, dhortough, orthough, ragough, dheugh, warnough.

and—

ennov or idnov or ettov.

ennos or idnos or ettos.

enno or idno or etto.

enni or idni or etti.

ennon or idnon or etton.

ennough or idnough or ettough.

ennans or idnans or ettans.

There are many various spellings of these words in the manuscripts, and especially there is great uncertainty as to the vowel which precedes the pronominal suffix.  As the accent is always on the preposition, the vowel of the pronoun is usually obscure, and there is not so very much difference of sound in the last syllables of dredhov, genev, and warnav, but still there is a slight difference, and there must have been even more in early days.

The older form of the third person plural ended in e or a, anedha, dredha, ganse, orte, ragdha, dhedhe, warnedhe, ynna; but this form became obsolete by the middle of the seventeenth century, and these pronominal prepositions were assimilated to the third person plural of verbs.  In this the Cornish began by resembling Breton and ended by approaching more nearly to Welsh.

The pronominal preposition form of dhô has variants for the first and second persons singular and first person plural, dhemmo, to me, dheso, dheso dî, to thee, and dhenny, to us.  These are formed by the addition of the personal pronoun in a fuller form.  In the cases of the other prepositions it is not uncommon to add the personal pronouns at the end of the pronominal compound, forming thereby a single word with the accent on the last syllable.  Thus:—

genough whŷ, with you, pronounced genowhŷ.

ragon nŷ, for us, pronounced ragonŷ.

In later Cornish these pronominal prepositions compounds were often neglected, and the prepositions were often used with the second form of the personal pronoun, but this was only a corrupt following of English, not to be imitated.

§ 4.  The Relative Pronoun.

1.  A simple relative, who or which, whether in the nominative or accusative, is represented most frequently by the particle a, governing the second state of the verb.  Thus:—

An Tâs a wrîg Nêv, the Father who made heaven.

An Nêv a wrîg an Tâs e, the Heaven which the Father made.

If the verb following the relative begins with a vowel, a is often omitted.  Thus:—

Ow thîs es genev, my people who are with me.

If the relative sentence is negative, ni, not, coalesces with a, producing na.  Thus:—

En le na vê dên bisqweth, in a place in which man never was.

When the relative is the object of the verb, or is preceded in English by a preposition, a redundant personal pronoun is added after the verb, with or without a combined preposition, but a preposition is never placed before the relative particle a itself.  Thus:—

An dên a dhanvonas Dew e, the man whom God sent (lit. whom God sent him).

An dên a vê an gêr cowses ganso, the man by whom the word was spoken (lit. whom the word was spoken by him).

Agan Tâs ny neb es en Nêv, Our Father who art in heaven, in one of the many extant versions of the Lord’s Prayer.

Another version is Agan Tâs ny leb es en Nêv.

Dhe [tî] nep yu ioy ow holon, thou who art the joy of my heart (Res. Dom., 456).

An dên neb na’n gwrîg, the man who did not do it.

Neb yu moyha, he who is greatest.

An dên neb Dew a wrîg e dhanvon, the man whom God did send.

An dên neb an gêr a rê cowses ganso, the man by whom the word was spoken.

Neb mî e wrîg ragdho, for whom I did it (lit. whom I did it for him).

But, unlike a, neb can have a preposition before it on occasions, with or without the redundant pronoun.  Thus:—

Chŷ en neb na vê dên vîth (enno), a house in which no man was.

§ 5.  The Demonstrative Pronouns.

1.  Absolute.  Hem, hebma (orig. hemma), this, masculine; hom, hobma (homma), feminine.

Hen, hedna (ong. henna), that, masculine; hon, hodna (honna), feminine.

An remma (=an re-ma) is used also for the plural these, an renna for those.

An—na, that, those, e.g. an dên-na, that man.

The noun is placed between an and ma or na, the latter being joined to it by a hyphen.  In some cases when the noun ends in a vowel the m of ma is doubled, and the noun and demonstrative are written as one word:—

an dremma, this town (for an dre-ma); an chymma, this house (for an chŷ-ma); alemma, hence (for a le-ma), from this place.

The same applies to the n of na.

When the noun is preceded by a preposition, an is omitted: war venedh-ma, on this mountain, not war an menedh-ma.

For emphasis, keth (same) is added after an: an keth dên-ma, this very man, this same man.

In very late Cornish, hebma, hobma, hedna, hodna were often corrupted into hebba, hobba, hedda, hodda.

In the Life of St. Meriasek, helma and holma are used for this, and it is easy to imagine helna and holna for that.  The explanation suggested in Dr. Whitley Stokes’s note is “helma=hen lemma, this in this place.”  Cf. “this here” and “that there” of vulgar English.

§ 6.  The Interrogative Pronouns.

Pyu or pyua (written also pu, piwa, pew), who?  A contraction of pe yu, who is? or, pe yu a, who is it who?

Pa, what?

Pandra (i.e. pa an dra, what the thing), what? e g. pandra vednough why gwîl, what will you do?

Panin (i.e. pa an in, which the one), whether of them?

Penîl (i.e. pa nîl, which of the two), which one?

Nep, neb, some or any.

Neppeth, somewhat (neb peth, some thing), anything.

Nebin (neb idn), some one.

Nebas, somewhat, a little, a few; also used to signify little, few, or hardly any.

Pyupennak (sometimes bennak), whoever.

Pa (or pandra) pennak, whatever.

Papennak ŏl, whatsoever.

Ketep, every.

Kenifer, each; kenifer ŏl, every one, as many as there are.  Lhuyd gives a very emphatic form, pebs kenifer ŏnen, which would mean “every single one.”

Pŭb or peb, all, every.  Placed before the noun.  Pŭb dên, every man.

Ŏl (or ŭl), all.  Placed before or after the noun.  When placed before the noun the latter is preceded by an: ŏl an dîs, all the people.

Bîth or vîth, any; travîth, anything; dên vîth, any man.  With negatives it signifies at all; ni wôr dên vîth, no man at all knoweth; nynsyw travîth, there is nothing at all.

Mens (earlier myns), all, whatever; ŏl mens o, all that there was; cowsens dên mens a vedn, let a man say all that he will.  It is generally used as a relative combined with the antecedent “all,” but is also used without an expressed verb to follow it, though in such case probably the verb substantive is understood.

Kemmes, kebmes, as many as, whosoever; kemmes a wrîg bodh ow Thas, as many as have done the will of my Father.

Voz [bes] an Frenkock feen parrez tho [dhó] cummeraz telhar wara niel [war an nîl] ha an sousenack nobla war e gilla, for the fine French seems to take place upon the one [i.e. on Breton] and the nobler English on the other [i.e. Cornish] (from Nebbaz Gerriau dro tho Carnoack, by John Boson, circ. 1700).

The same expression occurs in the early Dramas, e.g. an nyl a delle pymp cans, ha hanter cans y gyle, the one owed five hundred and half a hundred the other.

Aral, other, plural erel, is sometimes used for e gîla.  It is the usual word for other or another: dên aral, another man.

Another form occasionally used in Cornish for either gender, though in Breton it is only used for the regular feminine of e gîla (e gile) is eben, older form yben:—

Heys Crist a gemeras a’n neyll lêf bys yn yben (Poem of Passion, 178), the length of Christ they took from one hand to the other.

Ken is also used for another:—

Dhe ken pow, to another country; yn ken lyu, in another colour.

Nanîl, neither one, neither of two; it is nîl with the negative, and is sometimes written noniel.  Boson uses it in a peculiar way:—

Nanagu [na nag yu] an pobel coth tho bose skoothez, war noniel, nor are the old people to be depended upon neither.

Panîl, “which of two” (see above), is compounded with pa, which, and nîl.

Re, some (see § 5), “ones,” “things,” is used also as a noun: an re marow, the dead; an re bîan, the little ones; ma re a lavar, there are some who say.  Cf. Welsh rhai; Breton re.

Radn or ran, part, is also used in the sense of “some.”

Honan, self, is used with possessive pronouns as in English: ow honan, myself; dha honan, thyself, &c.

§ 1.  The nucleus of a Cornish verb is its root.  This is used without any variation or addition for the third person singular of the present tense, and for the second person singular of the imperative.

Other parts of the verb are formed on this root in three ways:—

1.  By the inflected form, that is to say by the addition of certain syllables indicating person, tense, etc., with or without a modification of the root vowel.  In older Cornish the word thus formed indicated person as well as tense without the addition of a pronoun, though if emphasis on the subject was intended the pronoun was used before or after it.  In later Cornish the pronoun was almost always added after the verb, and as the latter word often ended with the same consonant as the former began with, the final consonant of the verb was often, but incorrectly, omitted in writing, as it was in sound.  Thus:—

Root car, love; first pers. sing. pres., carav, I love, with pronoun, carav vî, pronounced and often written cara vî; plur., caron, we love, caron nŷ, often written caro nŷ.

2.  By the impersonal form, as the Breton grammarians call it.  This has inflections of tense but not of person, the latter being indicated by the personal pronouns, placed before the verb, which, being immediately preceded by the particle a, has its initial in the second state.  This verb is the third person singular of the required tense.  Thus:—

Root car, third pers. sing. past, caras.

Impersonal form.  Mî a garas, tî a garas, ev a garas, etc.

This form is frequently used in early and late Cornish for a direct affirmative sentence, beginning straight off with its nominative, or preceded only by and or but, etc.; but not so frequently in late Cornish, as the impersonal form of an auxiliary verb, with the infinitive of the main verb.

3.  By the auxiliary form, either inflected or impersonal, with the infinitive or a participle of the main verb.  The auxiliaries are:—

Gîl or gwîl (older forms gwrthil, gwithil, etc.), to do.

Menny, to wish, to will.

Gally, to be able.

Gŏthvos, to know.

Bos, to be.

(a).  Gwîl is used to form several tenses, and is used (1) in its impersonal form in principal affirmative sentences, (2) in its inflected form in negative, interrogative, or dependent sentences, with the infinitive of the main verb, more frequently than any other form, for the present, preterite, conditional, and imperative.  Its use is similar to that of do, in the Cornish manner of speaking English.  Thus:—

Mî a wra cara, I love, lit. I do love.

Tî a wrîg cara, thou didst love.

Mar qwressa an dên cara, if the man would love.

Gwra cara, love thou (do thou love); gwreugh why cara, love ye.

Gwrens e bos, let him be.

(b).  Menny is used as an auxiliary of the future and conditional.  In principal affirmative sentences it is usually in its impersonal form, in negative, interrogative, or dependent sentences always in its inflected form.  Thus:—

Mî a vedn môs, I will go.

Mî a venja môs, I would go.

A vednough why môs? will you go?

(c).  Gally is used, chiefly in the present and preterite, for “can” and “could,” but also for “may” and “might.”  Thus:—

Mî a el môs, I can (or may) go.

Mî a alja môs, I could (or might) go.

(d).  Gŏdhvos in the present is sometimes used for “can.”  Thus:—

Mî ôr mos, I can go (lit. I know [how] to go).

These follow the same rule as the others with regard to the use of their impersonal and inflected forms.

The use of the various forms of the verb will be found more fully explained in the chapter on the construction of sentences.

When the auxiliaries gwîl and gally are used to form a passive, it is sometimes the auxiliary that takes the passive form.  Thus:—

Mar ny wrer y wythe, if he be not guarded (Res. Dom., 341), mar keller y wythe, if he can be kept (Pass. Chr., 3058).

But in modern Cornish this would be more likely to be formed with a double auxiliary:—

Mar ni wrello bos gwithes.

Mar callo bos gwithes.

$ 2.  The Tenses Of The Inflected Verb.

The inflected verb is reducible to five tenses, with an imperative, two participles, and a verbal noun or infinitive.  These are all formed on the root by the addition of terminations, and sometimes by a modification of the root vowel (indicated below by m).

The tenses and their terminations are:—

I.  Present or Future.

II.  Imperfect or Secondary Present.

Another participial form, common in Breton and occasionally found in Cornish, has been already mentioned in Chap. III. § 2.  This is made by placing the preposition yn, en, in, and the indefinite article idn, un, before the infinitive or verbal noun.  Its use is chiefly adverbial.  Thus, in the Poem of the Passion we find, yn un scolchye, skulking; yn un garme, crying out; yn un fystyne, hurrying.

The Infinitive or Verbal Noun is formed by adding a, ya, y, as or es, al or el, to the root.  In some verbs the root itself, without any addition, is the verbal noun.

The Past or Passive Participle is formed by adding es to the root, with or without modification of the root vowel.

The Passive termination is er for the present and es for the preterite, but in Modern Cornish the Passive is almost always formed after the English model by the auxiliary verb bos, to be, with the past participle.

Pandra venta? what wilt thou?

A wresta? dost thou?  Mar menta, if thou wilt.

Pandra wrama? what shall I do?

There are some few differences between the inflected verb of the earlier MSS. and that of modern Cornish, and among other changes the lighter termination en or yn of the first person plural, and ens or yns of the third person plural, in some cases had changed by Lhuyd’s time to on or an, and ons or ans, but probably really the vowel is obscure.  There was also considerable uncertainty about the modification of the vowel.  Even in the early MSS. the change of vowel is rather vague, but the general rule seems to have been that when the termination has a thin vowel (e, i, or y), a broad root vowel (a, o, u) is changed to a thin vowel, usually in late Cornish to e (cf. the Gaelic rule of leathan le leathan agus caol le caol, broad with broad and thin with thin).  But this is by no means universal, and in some tenses, as in the imperfect and pluperfect, is not found at all.

There is some confusion in modern Cornish about the subjunctive or fifth tense.  Norris considers that Lhuyd’s subjunctive is really, except for the third person singular, the imperfect or second tense of the older MSS.  But it seems to be more like a form of the present indicative, except in the third person singular, which is the old subjunctive.  Lhuyd’s change of the first person singular to am instead of av is not uncommon in certain verbs of late Cornish, when this tense is used in a subjunctive clause.

A reflexive verb may be formed from any transitive verb by prefixing ŏm (older forms ym, as in Welsh, and em, as in Breton), changing the initial to the second state.

cregy, to hang; ŏmgregy, to hang oneself.

brêsy, to judge; ŏmvrêsy, to judge oneself.

disqwedhas, to show; ŏmdhisqwedhas, to show oneself.

gweras, to help; ŏmweras, to help oneself.

Sometimes the prefix gives a mutual rather than a reflexive sense.

ŏmsewa, to follow one another.

ŏmladha, to fight, contend (cf. French se battre).

§ 1.  Bos, to be.

The verb to be in Cornish, as in other Aryan languages, is made up of more than one verb.  In Cornish it may be divided in two parts.  The first of these consists of two tenses, a present and an imperfect, the second of the usual five tenses, the imperative and the infinitive.

The first division, by means of reduplications and additions, takes a variety of forms in the early literature, and there is a considerable uncertainty about the exact force of these forms.  Some of them evidently mean little more than elongations and contractions for the sake of metre.  The second division is formed with greater regularity on a root b, changing under certain conditions to v (often written f) and p.

I.  First Division. Present Tense, I am.

Thov vî, thos dî, yu ev (or ev yu), thon ny, though why, thens y (pronounced thenŷ).

Occasionally the impersonal form of this verb is used, mî yu, tî yu, ev yu, nŷ yu, whŷ yu, ŷ yu.  The negative is formed by adding nyns to the short form, nynsov or nynsoma, nynsos or nynsosta, nynsyu, etc.  Similarly this tense may be compounded with mar, if, ken, though, may, that, into marsov, kensov, maythov.  The s, which is sometimes altered to th, is probably the th of the verbal prefix.

There are two other forms of the third person present, ema (or ma), plural emons (or mons), and es (older us), or esy or ejy (older usy, ugy).

(a).  ema, ma, emons, mons must, according to Lhuyd, always be used narratively, never negatively, interrogatively (except after ple, where), or with relatives.  They must always precede their subject.  Thus:—

Ema ’n levar en ow chŷ, the book is in my house.

Ema levar en ow chŷ, there is a book in my house.

Nynsyw levar en ow chŷ, there is not a book in my house.

Ple yu ’n levar? / Ple ma ’n levar? } where is the book?

’Yu ’n levar ŭbma? is the book here?

Emons ŷ en ow chŷ, they are in my house.

Ema ’n levrow en ow chŷ, the books are in my house.

(c).  es, esy, ejy, are chiefly used with relatives or interrogatively in the sense of “is there,” “is there not.”

An levar es en ow chŷ, the book which is in my house (in this case es=a es, which is).

’Es levar en ow chŷ?  Is there a book in my house?

Nag es levar en ow chŷ?  Is there not a book in my house?

In the first of these two interrogations the interrogative particle a coalesces with es, in the second nag=ni ag, ag being the same interrogative particle, with a g added before a vowel.

The ordinary interrogative of this tense is merely the form ’oma, ’osta, ’yua, ’on nŷ, ’ough whŷ, ’ens ŷ (pron. enjŷ), which should be preceded by an apostrophe to show that the interrogative particle a is elided.  The negative interrogative is the same preceded by nag.

The difference between the use of ema, yu, and es is not quite so distinct in Cornish as between the corresponding y mae, yw, and oes in Welsh, but if there is any difference in meaning between ema and yu, it is that ema has more often the sense of there is, it is, and yu more commonly that of is only; also yu can be used interrogatively and negatively, while ema, except after ple, where, should not be used interrogatively, and is never used negatively at all.  Its negative and interrogative equivalent is es.

Old form.

Late form.

The change from s to r in this tense, and the assimilation of the inflections to the present, does not occur in the written language until the middle of the seventeenth century.  The personal pronouns were always used with this tense in its late form, and the final consonants of the personal inflections generally coalesced with the pronouns, and so were omitted in writing, thus therav vî, theron nŷ, therough whŷ, were written, though incorrectly, thera vî, thera nŷ, thero whŷ.

An alternative third person singular is o.  It is used with relatives as an equivalent of a o, who was, and with negatives as nynso=there was not.  It is in fact the past equivalent of es, but it is often used in a simple assertion also.  The simple interrogative is ’erama, was I? the negative interrogative is nag erama, was I not? and the simple negative nynseram, I was not.

Second Division.  Infinitive, bos, to be, older form, used chiefly when an extra syllable was required for a verse, bones.

I.  Future Tense, I shall be.

II.  Imperfect or Secondary Present, I was being.

This tense is used rather as a conditional, I should be, or a subjunctive after pan, when, mar, if, etc.

II.  Preterite, I was, I have been.

This tense is more frequently used in the impersonal, mî a vê, tî a vê, etc.

IV.  Pluperfect, I had been.

Lhuyd gives a pluperfect beazen, beazes, etc. corresponding with the Welsh buaswn, but it does not appear to be used.

V.  Subjunctive, I may be.

This and the second tense are not very clearly distinguished.

A common variant of the imperative is formed with the auxiliary gwîl, to do.

§ 2.  Gwîl (older guthil, gruthil, guil, gul), to do.

I.  Present or Future Tense, I do, or I shall do.

(a).  Inflected.

Gwrama, gwresta, in the second mutation wrama, wresta, are used in interrogative and negative sentences, and after mar, if, in the fourth mutation qwrama, qwresta.  The older form of gwresta was gwreta.  Occasionally in late Cornish a form of this present is found exactly like the imperfect of bos; therama, thera, etc.  This is probably wrama, wra, with the verbal particle ăth (yth) prefixed.  It occurs in cases where it cannot possibly be the imperfect of bos.  Lhuyd (pp. 246, 253) was rather puzzled by it, but with his usual clearness of sight was able to find out the real facts.

(b).  Impersonal.

Mî a wra, tî a wra, ev a wra, etc.

(a).  Inflected.

(b).  Impersonal.

Mî a wrella, tî a wrella, etc.

This tense is seldom used as an auxiliary, and is often confused with the subjunctive.

III.  The Perfect Tense, I did.

(a).  Inflected.

Old form.

Later form of old form.

Modern form.

(b).  Impersonal.

Mî a wrîg, tî a wrîg, etc.

IV.  The Pluperfect or Conditional Tense, I had or would have done.

(a).  Inflected.

(b).  Impersonal.

Mî a wressa, tî a wressa, etc.

(a).  Inflected.

There is rather a confusion of the subjunctive and imperfect, and the two are used rather indiscriminately.  The third person plural, gwrons, is borrowed from the imperative.

(b).  The Impersonal.

Mî a wrello, tî a wrello, etc.

Mî a wreffa, tî a wreffa, etc.

VI.  The Imperative.

Infinitive, gîl, gwîl, to do.

Present or Active Participle, ow kîl, doing.

Past or Passive Participle, gwrês, done.

When this verb is used otherwise than as an auxiliary, the future is mî a vedn gwîl, I will do, etc.  It means, as a principal verb, to do or to make, and tenses may be formed with its own tenses as auxiliaries to its infinitive.  Thus:—

Mî a wra gwîl, I do or I make.

Tî a wrîg gwîl, thou hast made.

Mar qwressa ’n den e wîl, if the man would make it.

I.  Present or Future, I can or I may.

(a).  Inflected.

(b).  Impersonal.

Mî a el or mî el, etc.

II.  Past (mixed preterite and pluperfect), I could or I might.

(a).  Inflected.

(b).  Impersonal.  Mî alja, etc.

III.  Subjunctive, I may be able.

(a).  Inflected.

’Ellough why clappya Kernûak?  Can you speak Cornish?

Mî ellam (not mî a el).  I can.

’Aljesta scrifa a Sowsnak?  Couldst thou write English?

Mî aljen.  I could.

’Allosta môs dhô’n chŷ?  Canst thou go to the house?

Mî ellam.  I can.

(a).  Inflected.

(b).  Impersonal.

Mî a venja, tî a venja, etc.

These are the only two tenses in common use as auxiliaries.  Lhuyd gives another of mixed imperfect and preterite, mennen, mennyz, mennaz, mennen, menneh, mennenz.