Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/409

VERR 379 excepting very old persons and parents. In this matter the Coreans are much more particular than the Chinese. There are three Negatives in Corean^ all verbal, implying the verb "to be/' or incorporated in that verb. The Chinese negative mei is used at once as the negation of existence and of possession. The Corean cm is the negation of existence, and up of possession. The Chinese boo or puh, always connected with the future tense, has, as pointed out in my "Mandarin Primer," a double force according to its position relative to the verb ; in one position being the negation of ability to (= cannot), in the other, the n^ation of wUl (=vnU not). The Corean uses an for the latter, and mot for the former, ag. : — Dioti cmtcL — Good not = it is not good. Bumiin issv/mma upsumma? — ^Tigers are are-not?=are there tigers? Bumun upsowS, — ^Tigers not=there are no tigers. Bumv/n manta upaow^. — ^Tigers many not=:there are not many tigers. Bv/m/wn mania mUa, — ^Tigers many not=tigers are not numerous. DaUiji moihaghi. — Bide cannot=cannot ride (as horse is wild). Sa/ramd garni dervl tamti upsummunni, — Man dare him ride not=there is no man dare ride him. Muggushi. — ^Eat (Imperat). Mugdi ansupdi, — I shall not eat (Simple future). Mugdi mothiummwfii. — ^I will not eat (Implying inability). Mugdi amJcatdupdi. — I will not eat (Implying unwillingness). This brief sketoh of the main features of the verb must suffice, for it will be supplemented by the following complete sentences; which are written because it is now a philological axiom that the grammatical construction of a language, and not any number of mere verbal resemblances or differences, determines the character and philological position of that language. The few following sentences will present variety sufficient to show this construction : —