The following is a complete paradigm of a regular verb, showing the various forms.  Most tenses have at least two forms, the simple verb, whether in the inflected or impersonal conjugation, and the compound, or verb with auxiliaries.  In late Cornish the compound is by far the more usual in almost every tense.  The general principal on which the different forms are used is:—

Affirmative Sentences.  Simple Impersonal or Auxiliary Impersonal, generally the latter.

Negative, Interrogative, or Dependent Sentences.  Inflected Simple or Inflected Auxiliary, generally the latter, but the Simple Inflected is more common in these than the Simple Impersonal is in affirmative sentences.

Root.  Car, love.

Verbal Noun or Infinitive.  Cara, the act of loving, to love.

Present Participle.  Ow cara, loving.

Past or Passive Participle.  Keres, loved.

I.  Present, originally used also as future.

(a).  Inflected form.

(b).  Impersonal form.

Mî, tî, ev, nŷ, whŷ, ŷ (late form often anjŷ or jŷ) a gar.

(c).  Inflected Auxiliary.

Gwrav vî cara.

For the rest of the tense see the present of gwîl, to do.

(d).  Impersonal Auxiliary.

Mî, tî, ev, nŷ, whŷ, ŷ (or anjŷ or jŷ) a wra cara.

Mî, tî, ev, nŷ, whŷ, ŷ (or anjŷ or jŷ) a gerer.

Or the auxiliary form of the older passive:—

Mî, tî, etc., a wrer cara.

In this case wrer is for gwrer, the passive of gwîl, to do.

II.  The Imperfect, used also more or less as a Subjunctive.

(a).  Inflected form.

(b).  Impersonal form.

Mî, tî, etc., a gara.

(c).  Auxiliary form.

Therav vî ow cara.

The rest as the imperfect of bos, to be, with the present participle.

The negative form of this tense is either:—

nî garen, etc., or

nynseram ow cara, etc.

The interrogative is either:—

a garen? etc., or

’erama, etc., ow cara?

III.  The Preterite or Past Tense.

(a).  Inflected.

(b).  Impersonal.

Mî, tî, etc., a garas.

(c).  Inflected auxiliary.

Gwrîgav vî cara.

(d).  Impersonal auxiliary.

Mî, tî, etc., a wrîg cara.

Sometimes re is prefixed to this tense, as:—

mî re garas, mî re wrîg cara.

This turns it into a preterperfect, “I have loved,” but in late Cornish there is usually no distinction between preterite and perfect, except that the latter is seldom expressed by anything except the auxiliary form, while either may be used for the former.

The passive of this tense is either:—

mî, tî, etc., a gares, or

mî, tî, etc., a vê keres.

The latter is the more usual.

IV.  The Pluperfect, Secondary Perfect, or Conditional.

(a).  Inflected.

Pronounced and sometimes written carjen (or cargen with soft g in MSS.), etc.

(b).  Impersonal.

Mî, tî, etc., a garsa.

(c).  Inflected auxiliary.

Gwressen cara, etc., or menjam cara, etc.

The rest as the pluperfect of gwîl, or of menny, to will, with the infinitive.

(d).  Impersonal auxiliary.

Mî, tî, etc., a wressa cara, or a venja cara.

V.  The Subjunctive.

(a).  Inflected.

(b).  Impersonal form.

Mî, tî, etc., a garo.

(c).  Inflected auxiliary.

Gwrellev vî (or gwrellen) cara.

And the rest as the subjunctive or imperfect of gwîl with the infinitive.

(d).  Impersonal auxiliary.

Mî, tî, etc., a wrello (or wreffa) cara.

The passive of this tense is formed by the present tense of gally, to be able, followed by the infinitive bos, to be, and the past participle of the main verb:—

Mî, tî, etc., a el bos keres, I, thou, etc., may be loved.

This tense is not necessarily used after conjunctions which in other languages (Latin, for example) govern a subjunctive, but rather when uncertainty, expectation, or contingency is signified, in fact, when in English one would use may as an auxiliary.  There is a good deal of confusion between this tense and the imperfect.

Re prefixed to the inflected or inflected auxiliary form of this tense makes it an optative:—

Re wrellen cara, would that I might love, etc.

In older Cornish the present, whether in its inflected, impersonal, or auxiliary form, was commonly used to express a future, and sometimes the subjunctive was used as a future.  Some verbs have an extra tense which is a specially inflected future, resembling one form of the Breton conditional, as follows:—

The passive is formed by the present of menny, the infinitive of bos, and the past participle:—

Mî, tî, etc., a vedn bos keres.

VII.  The Imperative.

(a).  Inflected.

(b).  The auxiliary.

The irregular verbs are:—

môs (earlier mones), to go.

dôs (earlier dones), to come.

dôn, to bear or carry.

drŷ, to bring.

rŷ, to give.

gǒdhvos, to know.

Of these, môs and dôn are each made up of two different verbs.  The irregularities of dôs, drŷ, and rŷ are due to contractions, and those of gŏdhvas chiefly to its being compounded with bos, to be.

There are irregularities also in the auxiliary verbs gwîl, to do, and gally, to be able, but these have been already given in Chapter IX.

In earlier Cornish the inflected forms of the irregular verbs were freely used, but later these are comparatively rare, and the impersonal and auxiliary forms became so much commoner that the full inflected form can only be gathered from the early writings and from the rather imperfect paradigms given by Lhuyd.

It is not necessary to give anything more than the inflected verbs here, for the impersonal and auxiliary tenses can easily be worked out from these on the model of the regular verb.  These are given without pronouns, though of course pronouns are used, as with other verbs.

§ 1.  Môs, to go.

I.  Present or Future.

II.  Imperfect or Secondary Present.

III.  Preterite.

IV.  Pluperfect or Conditional (probable, but not found).

V.  Subjunctive.

Infinitive, môs.

Present Participle, ow môs.

Past Participle, gilles (supplied from gylly or gelly, to go).

In the impersonal form of the preterite, the verbal particle a often takes an s or j at the end of it, mî aj êth, I went, but generally in this form a is omitted, mî â, I go; mî eth, I went; mî ello, I may go, etc.  In the Ordinalia and other Dramas the forms reseth and regeth (rejeth) are found for the perfect.  This is the preterite êth with the particle re and s (j), for th, prefixed.

§ 2.  Dôs (earlier devonos, donos, devos), to come.

I.  Present.

II.  Imperfect.

III.  Preterite.

V.  Subjunctive.

Imperative.

Infinitive, dôs.

Participles.  Present, ow tôs; Past, devedhes.

“I am come” is devedhes ov.

The root vowels of this verb vary a good deal in the MSS.  The ue is evidently a single syllable according to the rhythm, and so is the ye or ya.

§ 3.  Dôn, to bear or carry (earlier also doen, doyn).

I.  Present.

II.  Imperfect, not found.

III.  Preterite.

V.  Subjunctive.

Imperative.

Infinitive, dôn, doga, or degy.

Participle.  Present, ow tôn or ow tegy; Past, deges.

§ 4.  Rŷ, to give.

I.  Present.

II.  Imperfect.

III.  Preterite.

IV.  Pluperfect.

Imperative.

Infinitive, rŷ.

Present Participle, ow rŷ.

Past Participle, reys.

§ 5.  Dry, to bring.

Except that the present is:—

the second person singular of the imperative is doro or dro, and the preterite third person singular is dres or dros, this verb is rŷ with a d prefixed.  The present participle is ow trŷ.

§ 6.  Gŏdhvos, or gŏdhvas, to know, compounded of godh or gŭdh=knowledge, and bos, to be.

I.  Present.

II.  Imperfect, used also as Perfect.

IV.  Pluperfect or Conditional.

V.  Subjunctive.

VI.  Future.

VII.  Optative.

Imperative.

Infinitive, gŏdhvos, gŏdhvas, gŏvos.

Present Participle, ow cŏdhvos.

Past Participle, gŏdhvedhes.

Inflected Passive, gŏdher.

In the impersonal form and elsewhere, when this verb has its initial in the second state, w is substituted for g.

The Optative re wŏffen, etc. seems to be formed on the imperfect mixed up with the subjunctive.

§ 1.  Prepositions are of two kinds, simple and compound.  Simple prepositions govern various states of the initial.  Compound prepositions, when, as is generally the case, they are made up of a simple preposition and a noun, govern the first state, for the noun which follows is really in the appositional genitive.  If a compound preposition govern a personal pronoun, the latter is often placed, in its possessive form, between the two component parts of the preposition, governing the initial of the noun-half of it.  Sometimes, however, the second part of a compound preposition is a simple preposition, and in that case the government is that of the last preposition of the compound.

Simple Prepositions.

a, of, from, governs second state.

avel, vel, like, as.

bis, up to, as far as (usque ad).

dadn or en dadn, under.

der, dre, by, through, governs second state.

dres, over, beyond, above.

dhô, to, governs second state.

adres, across, beyond.

adro dhô, drodho, about, concerning, govern second state.

abarth, abarh, beside, on the side of.

aberth, aberh, within, inside of.

adheller dhô, dheller dhô (originally a dhellergh), behind, governs second state.

a dhirag, dhirag, before, in the presence of.

adheworth, dheworth, dhŏrt, from.

ajŷ, ’jŷ, within (a+chy, house), generally followed by dhô, governing the second state.

a eugh, above, over.

a mes, a ves, mes, en mes, out of.

a mesk, mesk, en mesk, among.

a wos, because of, for the sake of.

entre, among.

erbidn or erbyn, warbidn, against.

herwedh, according to.

marnas, except, but.

rag carenja, for the sake of.

warlergh, after.

ogastî dhô, near to (ogastî ogas, near, tî=tew, side).

Of these abarth, a mesk or en mesk, erbidn, rag carenja, and warlergh, are separable when they govern pronouns.  Thus:—

a ’gan parth, beside us.

en agas mesk, among you.

er ow fyn, against me.

rag dha garenja, for thy sake.

war e lergh, after him.

§ 2.  Conjunctions.

ha, and.  Before a vowel, hag, except when followed by the article an, or by a pronoun beginning with a vowel, in which case the vowel of the second word is elided.

bes, mes, but.

saw, but, except.

ma, may, that, in order that.

dre, dro, that.

erna, until.

bis pan, until.

treba, tereba, until.

ken, though, although.

awos, although, notwithstanding.

pan, pa, pur, or pêr (=pa-êr) when, govern second state.

hedre, whilst.

spas, whilst.

perag, prag, fraga, why, wherefore.

po, or.  po—po—=either—or—

marnas (mar+na+es), unless.

ponî, ponag, unless.

aban, since, because.

dreven, since, because.

rag, for.

rag own, lest, for fear.

vel, than.

ages, es, than.

na, nor.

maga, so, as much as.

§ 3.  Adverbs.

Adverbs may be formed from adjectives by prefixing en, which generally changes the initial to the second state.  Thus glan, pure, en ’lan, purely.  There are some exceptions to this change, b and m sometimes change to f, not v, bras, great, en fras, greatly; mas, good, en fas, well; d sometimes changes to the fourth state, da, good, en ta, well; and t sometimes remains unchanged, tin, sharp, en tin, sharply.  But we find also en dhiugel, certainly, from diugel, secure.

Adverbs of Time.

en êrma, now (in this hour).

lemman, lebman, now.

en tor-ma, now (in this turn).

nam, nana, nanna, nans, now.

agensow, just now.

hedhew, to-day.

avorow, to-morrow.

trenzha, the day after to-morrow.

jedreva=dedreja=dedh trûja, the third day hence.

an journa-ma war seithan, this day week.

de, yesterday.

genzhete (kens de dedh), the day before yesterday.

ternos, the next day.

en kenzhoha / boregweth } in the morning.

dohajedh, in the afternoon.

gorthewer, in the evening.

zîlgweth, o’ Sundays.

fast, presently.

prest, scon / dewháns, eskes / defry, dhesempes } soon, quicky, immediately.

whath, still, yet.

kens, before (of time).

kensemman, ere now.

kensenna, ere that.

ŏja, wŏja, ŏj’ henna, wŏja hedna, afterwards.

nenna, nana, en êrna, then.

ŏj’ hemma, wŏja hebma, henceforth.

warlergh, afterwards.

esos, already.

avar, early.

dewedhes, late.

arta, again.

kettoth, kettoth ha, as soon as.

nevra, ever.

rag nevra, for ever.

benary, for ever.

biken, ever, bis viken, for ever.

besca, besqweth, ever.

benethy, dho venethy, for ever.

bepprês, always.

hedre, spas, whilst.

pols, a while.

ple, where (either interrogative or not).

a pele, a ble, whence (either interrogative or not).

ŭbma, ŭmma, here, hither.

enna, there.

lemma, lebma, here (in this place).

alemma, alebma, hence.

alenna, en mes alenna, thence.

aban, avan, up, above, on high.

aman, up, upwards.

awartha, above, over.

awollas, warwollas, below.

warban, on high, up above.

warnans, down below.

en hans, en nans, down.

lĕr, lŏr (luer), down.

aberth, aberh, within.

ajŷ, jŷ, within.

aves, ames, outside.

tre, at home.

adre, homewards.

ales, abroad (scattya ales, to “scat” abroad).

dhô ves, away.

kerh (formerly kerdh), away (môs kerh, to go away).

pel, far.

enogas, ogas, near, ogastî, near by.

a rag, in front.

en rag, forward.

dirag, forth, before (of place).

dheller (dellergh), behind.

war dheller, backwards.

adro, around.

adres, athwart.

a hes, along.

Adverbs of Quantity.

mêr, much.

îthek, hugely.

îthek tra, ever so much.

vîth mar, ever so.

nepeth, nebas, a little.

lour, lŭk lour, lŭk, enough.

re, too much.

kemmes, kebmes, as much.

vîth, at all.

hanter, half.

Adverbs of Comparison.

mar, so, as.

ky—mal / ky—vel } as—as (ky gwerdh velgwels, as green as grass).

del, as.

della, en della, en delna, so, in such manner.

cara, pocara, kepara, kepar del, like as, even as, likewise.

maga (governing fourth state), as: maga ta, as well, likewise.

keffres, kekeffres, likewise, also.

hagŏl, hagensŏl, also.

a wedh, enwedh, also.

gwell, better.

lakkah, worse.

moy, more.

leh, less.

kens vel, rather than.

cowal, cowl, quite.

namna, almost.

ken, else.

martesan, perhaps.

betegens, nevertheless.

moghya, mostly.

ketel, ketella, so.

pŭr (governing second state), very.

brâs / fest } (placed after an adjective), very.

ogastî, nearly, almost.

warbarth, warbarh, together.

Cornish is a disappointing language in respect of swearwords, for it is by no means rich in those “ornaments to conversation.”  Except for a few very distressing expressions, now better forgotten, which are put into the mouths of the evil characters in the Dramas, the swears are mostly quite harmless, and even pious.  It is not at all difficult or morally dangerous to learn to swear in Cornish.

Surprise is generally expressed by Re Varîa!  By Mary!  By Our Lady! shortened at times to Arîa! and Rîa!  This is used as an Englishman might say “By Jove!” or “By George!” or a Frenchman “Dame!”

If there is an element of annoyance mingled with the surprise, An Jowl! The Devil, may be mentioned with effect, perhaps by those to whom Re Varîa! savours too much of Popery; but Re Varîa! is in better taste.  An Jowl may be used, as in English, after words signifying where, what, why, when, to strengthen a question.

Re Yêst! By St. Just!  Re Gŏlom! By St. Columb!  Re Îa! By St. Ia [Ives].  Re Vihal! or Mîhal! By St. Michael.

A little stronger, for those whose principles will allow them to mention it, is Re’n Offeren! By the Mass! and some bold, bad persons have been known under great pressure to say Re Dhew!  In the Dramas, Re thu am ros (Re Dhew a’m ros), By God who made me! (or who gave me) is a more elaborate form of this swear.  One also finds Abarth Dew, On God’s part=In God’s name, and in the mouths of pagans, Abarth Malan (a Celtic goddess) and even Abarth Satnas.

Ill-temper is generally expressed by variations on mollath, pl. mollathow, curse.  A moderate amount of anger may be indicated by Mollath! or Mollathow! alone, or Mollathow dheugh! Curses to you! or Mollath warnough! A curse upon you!  A little more is expressed by specifying the number, generally large, of these curses, Mil mollath warnough! or even Cans mil mollath warnough!

The usual interjections, Oh! Ah! Alas! are borrowed from English.  Woe! is expressed by Trew!  Woe is me! is Govî!  Woe to him!  Goev! compounds of gew, woe, with pronouns.

Lo, Behold (the voila, voici of French) is expressed by otta (older forms awatta, awatte, wette, otte=perhaps a wel dî? dost thou see?).  This combines with pronouns, e.g. ottavî, “me voici,” ottadî, ottavê or ottensa, ottany, ottawhy, ottanjy.  These compounds are often followed by a participle, e.g. ottavî pares, behold me prepared.  The distinction of voila and voici is expressed by ottama and ottana.

§ 1. In later Cornish there was a strong tendency to assimilate the order of words and the construction of sentences to those of English, but nevertheless certain idioms persisted throughout.

In English the normal order of words in a simple sentence is:—

Subject—Verb—Complement of Predicate (Object, etc.).

This order is used in Cornish also when the impersonal form of the main verb or of the auxiliary is used, and the object is not a personal pronoun.  Thus:—

Dew a gar an bês, God loveth the world.

Dew a wra cara an bês, God doth love the world.

One of these two forms is the most usual in a direct affirmative principal sentence when the object is not a pronoun.

If the object is a pronoun, the order is:—

Subject—Particle—Object—Verb.

Thus:—

Dew a’th gar, God loveth thee.

Or:—

Subject—Particle—Auxiliary—Pronoun in the Possessive Form—Infinitive of Main Verb.

Thus:—

Dew a wra dha gara, God doth love thee.

Auxiliary Verb—Subject—Participle of Main Verb—Complement.

Thus:—

Thov vî ow môs dhô Loundres, I am going to London.

Therough why ow tôs adre, you were coming home.

But with the preterite tense the simple impersonal form is more usual.  Thus:—

Mî a vê gennes en Kernow, I was born in Cornwall.

The same applies to the present and imperfect of bos when it is not an auxiliary.  Thus:—

Thov vî lowen dhô ’gas gwelas, I am glad to see you.

§ 2.  Negative and Interrogative Sentences.

For a negative sentence it is never correct to use the impersonal, but always the inflected form of the verb or of the auxiliary, preceded by the negative particle ni (older, ny) or nyns.  The order is:—

1.  Negative Particle—Verb—Subject—Complement of Predicate.

Or:—

2.  Negative Particle—Auxiliary (inflected)—Subject—Infinitive of Main Verb—Complement.

If the object is a pronoun, in the first case it follows the negative particle in its third form, in the second case it precedes the infinitive in the possessive form.  Thus:—

1.  Ni welav vî an dên, I do not see the man.

Ni wôr dên vîth an êr, no man knoweth the hour.

2.  Ni wrígav vî gwelas an dên, I did not see the man.

1.  Ni’th welav vî, I do not see thee.

2.  Ni wrigav vî dha welas, I did not see thee.

In the case of the present and imperfect of bos, to be, the particle nyns is often used, and it is sometimes found with other words beginning with vowels, but its use is rare in late Cornish, and ni, or less correctly na (or nag before a vowel) is more usual.

It is allowable to use the inflected form with the subject-pronoun preceding the negative particle, but it should only be used for emphasis on the subject, and is better avoided.