ugations of the verbs are four in number. All passives and
neuters end in _l_, and also a certain number of active verbs; these
form the first conjugation, while the remaining three are of active
verbs only. The time-forms of the verb are three, the present, the
aorist, and the future. Taking the verb _nacal_, to ascend, these forms
are _nacal_, _naci_, _nacac_. The present indicative is:--

Nacal in cah, I ascend.
Nacal a cah, thou ascendest.
Nacal u cah, he ascends.
Nacal c cah, we ascend.
Nacal a cah ex, you ascend.
Nacal u cah ob, they ascend.

When this form is analyzed, we discover that _in_, _a_, _u_, _c_,
_a-ex_, _u-ob_, are personal possessive pronouns, my, thy, his, our,
your, their; and that _nacal_ and _cah_ are in fact verbal nouns
standing in apposition. _Cah_, which is the sign of the present tense,
means the doing, making, being occupied or busy at something. Hence
_nacal in cah_, I ascend, is literally "the ascent, my being occupied
with." The imperfect tense is merely the present with the additional
verbal noun _cuchi_ added, as--

Nacal in cah cuchi, I was ascending.
Nacal a cah cuchi, Thou wast ascending.
etc.

_Cuchi_ means carrying on, bearing along, and the imperfect may thus be
rendered:--

"The ascent, my being occupied with, carrying on."

This is what has been called by Friedrich Mueller the "possessive
conjugation," the pronoun used being not in the nominative but in the
possessive form.

The aorist presents a different mode of formation:--

Nac-en, (i.e. Naci-en) I ascended.
Nac-ech, Thou ascended.
Naci, He ascended.
Nac-on, We ascended.
Nac-ex, You ascended.
Nac-ob, They ascended.

Here _en_, _ech_, _on_, _ex_, are apparently the simple personal
pronouns I, thou, we, you, and are used predicatively. The future is
also conjugated in this form by the use of the verbal _bin_, _binel_, to
go:

Bin nacac en, I am going to ascend.
Bin nacac ech, Thou art going to ascend.
etc.

The present of all the active verbs uses this predicative form, while
their aorists and futures employ possessive forms. Thus:--

Ten cambezic, I teach him.
Tech cambezic,