(5) The characteristic of the primary endings is final ‑i. The difference in the sg. between primary thematic and athematic forms may have arisen by phonetic change in the parent language; thus we should expect themat. sg. 2. ‑esi, but (though Skr. has bhár-asi) the Ar. form seems to have been ‑ēis; possibly by metath. and compensatory lengthening, but this is quite uncertain.
iv. Mood and Tense Stems.—(1) The present stem was rarely the simple root. In most cases it was either the reduplicated root, the root with thematic vowel, the root with stem‑forming suffix, or the root with the infix ‑n- or ‑ne‑.
The present stem with primary endings formed the pres. ind.; as *dí-dō-mi (Gk. δίδωμι) ‘I give’, √dō‑; *bhér-o‑nti (Gk. Dor. φέροντι) ‘they bear’, √bher‑.
The present stem with secondary endings, and with the augment before it, formed a past, as *é bher-o‑m (Gk. ἔφερον) ‘I bore’. This augmented past is called imperfect, because it is imperfect in meaning in Gk. In Skr. it is merely a past.
(2) The stem of the s‑aorist was formed with ‑s- (athematic); of the future with ‑e- or ‑se- (thematic); of the optative with ‑i̯ē- etc.; these formations are noticed below.
(3) The simple root with or without the thematic vowel formed aorist stems as follows, all the endings being secondary: firstly, R‑grade of √ + them. vowel, as *é liqu̯-o‑m (> Gk. ἔλιπον), √leiqu̯‑; this may be called the thematic aorist;—secondly, F‑grade of √ (at least in sg.), athematic, as *é bheid‑m̥ (> Skr. ábhedam), √bheid- ‘split’; this is called the root-aorist.
v. The Augment was a separable accented preverb denoting past time. It was lost entirely except in Gk., Armenian and Indo‑Iranian.
The augment is always followed by forms with secondary endings. These forms were also used without the augment; they are then called injunctive; thus Skr. Ved. bhárat ‘bore’, Gk. Hom. φέρω ‘bore’ < Ar. *bhere‑t beside impf. ábharat, ἔφερε < *é bhere‑t. Injunctive forms are either past or pres. in meaning; the augment makes them definitely past.
The Welsh Verb.
§ 179. Pres. Ind.—i. In Ar. the verb was unaccented when it followed a preverb such as a negative particle, or a preposition later compounded with it. This was undoubtedly the rule in Kelt. (despite deviations in Ir.), as it was in Italic. In the pres. ind. in Kelt. in the 3rd sg. the accented verb had the primary ending, that is, the regular present ending, but the unaccented verb had the secondary suffix, that is, the injunctive form. Thus the W. proverb Trenghit golut, ny threingk molut § 173 vi (1) represents Kelt. *traŋkī́-ti u̯ò…, né ttraŋkī‑t mò… It has been suggested that this reflects the original use of the Ar. primary and secondary endings; and it
