er
ill, indeed,' said Belle; 'I do not wish to begin with that.' 'No,' said
I, 'as we have come to the verbs, we will begin regularly; hramahyel is a
verb of the second conjugation. We will begin with the first.' 'First
of all tell me,' said Belle, 'what a verb is?' 'A part of speech,' said
I, 'which, according to the dictionary, signifies some action or
passion--for example, I command you, or I hate you.' 'I have given you
no cause to hate me,' said Belle, looking me sorrowfully in the face.

'I was merely giving two examples,' said I, 'and neither was directed at
you. In those examples, to command and hate are verbs. Belle, in
Armenian there are four conjugations of verbs; the first end in el, the
second in yel, the third in oul, and the fourth in il. Now, have you
understood me?'

'I am afraid, indeed, it will all end ill,' said Belle. 'Hold your
tongue,' said I, 'or you will make me lose my patience.' 'You have
already made me nearly lose mine,' said Belle. 'Let us have no
unprofitable interruptions,' said I. 'The conjugations of the Armenian
verbs are neither so numerous nor so difficult as the declensions of the
nouns; hear that, and rejoice. Come, we will begin with the verb hntal,
a verb of the first conjugation, which signifies to rejoice. Come along;
hntam, I rejoice; hntas, thou rejoicest: why don't you follow, Belle?'

'I am sure I don't rejoice, whatever you may do,' said Belle. 'The chief
difficulty, Belle,' said I, 'that I find in teaching you the Armenian
grammar, proceeds from your applying to yourself and me every example I
give. Rejoice, in this instance, is merely an example of an Armenian
verb of the first conjugation, and has no more to do with your rejoicing
than lal, which is also a verb of the first conjugation, and which
signifies to weep, would have to do with your weeping, provided I made
you conjugate it. Come along; hntam, I rejoice; hntas, thou rejoicest,
hnta, he rejoices; hntamk, we rejoice: now, repeat those words.'

'I can't,' said Belle, 'they sound more like the language of horses than
of human beings. Do you take me for--?' 'For what?' said I. Belle was
silent. 'Were you going to say mare?' said I. 'Mare! mare! by-the-by,
do you know, Belle, that mare in old English stands for woman; and that
when we call a female an evil mare, the strict meaning of the term is
merely bad woman. So if I were to call you mare, without prefixing bad,
you must not be offended.