Of these possessive pronouns some are used always before their substantives, viz. éoocoo, énne, mow, tow, mo, and now : as, éoocoo mánoo, my bird; enne fo'ha, his son, &c.

Two of them are only used after their substantives, viz. ow, thy; and ai'a, his; as gna'too ai'a, his gna'too; valca aow*, thy canoe.

All the rest, viz, alcoo, ho, a'na, and those beginning with gi may be used either before or after their substantives, with this difference, that the last mentioned, viz. those beginning with gi, if they are put after their substantives, the gi is changed into a: and if alcoo, ho, and a'na, are used after their substantives, a precedes them; thus,

A'coo fa'lle; my house, or houses.
Falle aa'coo; my house, or houses.
Ho booa'ca; thy hog.

Booa'ca aho'; thy hog.

A'na to'gi; his axe, or axes.
To'gi aa'na; his axe, or axes.
Gimo'wooa oo'fi; our yam, or yams.
Oo'fi amo'wooa; our yam, or yams.
Gito'wooa va'ca; our canoe, or canoes.
Va'ca ato'wooa; our canoe, or canoes.
Gimolooa acow; your club, or clubs.
Aco'w amolooa; your club, or clubs.
Gino'wooa goo'li; their dog.

Goo'li ano'wooa; their dog.

Those among the above phrases which have living beings for their subjects may be converted in plurals by the use of the word too'nga, (see nouns); this word coming immediately before the noun; as, thy hogs, ho too'nga booa'ca, or toon

* When the pronoun ow is attached to a noun, the letter a must precede it, and thus it is converted into aow. See the following rule.

ga booa'ca aho: their dogs, gino'wooa too'nga goo'li, or too'nga goolli ano'wooa. The particle cow cannot be used for the same purpose. Those which have inanimate subjects are either singular or plural, as they above stand: they may, however, admit a specific plural by the addition. of the numeral, but in no other way.

The possessive pronoun is sometimes used instead of the personal, particularly where the verbs, my and angi, are expressed; as, give it to him, angi ia ma alna, i. e. give it for his own: give it to me; my ia ma a'coo, i. e. give it for my own: I will give it to you, téoo a'too ia ma ow, i, e. I will give it for your own. The pronouns possessive of the dual and plural numbers may also be used in the same way. One more observation must, however, be made, respecting the singular number, that those placed first on their respective lines cannot be used according to this rule, viz. éoocoo, ho, and enne; unless some noun follows, and then these may, and not the others; as, give it for his dog, angi ia ma énne gooli; not alna gooʻli; and so of the other two.

Interrogative pronouns are the following, and are never used but as interrogatories.

When they form part of a sentence, he ha and ahai are always put at the end; the others are always put in the beginning, as,

Co hai na fy?

Who did it?

Coe ha te ger fili?

Coe ha te ger fy?

Which will you choose?
What will you do?

Co'e gooʻli herni ahal? Whose dog is this?

The English word what, when applied to mankind, is rendered by co ha'i, or ahai, as, co ha'i tanga'ta co héna, or, coe tangáta co-héna ahái? what man is that? But when brutes, or inanimate subjects, are implied, it must be rendered by coe-ha, or he-ha; as, coe togi co-éna he-ha? what axe is that?

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS.

These are co-héni and ahéni, this; co-héna and ahéna, that. Very little if any distinction is made between co-héni and ahéni; or between co-héna and ahena; it is rather more customary, however, to use those with the particle co before them.

VERBS.

The Tonga verb is exceedingly simple in construction, perhaps more so than is consistent with perfect clearness of speech; it does very well, however, for the common purposes of discourse. At most, there are only two different kinds of verbs; viz. verbs regular, and verbs defective, and the distinction between these is easily made, as there are but three of the latter class in the whole language, viz. my, altoo, and angi; these, from the way in which they are often used, may, perhaps, be considered verbs auxiliary; but more of this when we treat of them.

The sense of the verb substantive, I am, thou art, he is, &c., is mostly involved in the regular verb, with the sign of the tense and the pronoun, and is seldom used alone: those which are usually called verbs neuter, as, to sleep, to boast, to walk, &c. are constructed the same as the verb regular;

those which in other languages are called verbs passive are not known in the Tonga language; instead of saying, he was struck by a stone, they would say, a stone struck him; for the tree was shaken by the wind, the wind shook the tree.

The verb has but three tenses, present, past, and future, denoted by the signs goo'a, na, and te; and three moods, indicative, imperative, and potential: the indicative is denoted by the want of a modal sign; the imperative, or precative, by the deficiency both of a modal and temporal sign; and the subjunctive by the use of the modal sign ger. In respect to the order of construction in the indicative mood, first comes the sign of the tense, then the pronoun, and lastly the verb; except in the third person singular of each tense, where the pronoun is placed last. In the dual and plural numbers, the pronouns ending in oola and toloo are also expressed, and follow the verb.

THE INDICATIVE MOOD.

The PRESENT TENSE is denoted by the sign goola, which runs unchanged through all the persons, except the second person singular, where the a is dropped: the first personal pronoun is te. See Pronouns.

Plural.

Goola mow aloo gimowto'loo. We (three or more) go (net

you).

Goo'a tow a'loo gitowto'loo. Ye (three or more) go (I,

Goola mo a'loo gimoto/loo.

you, &c.).

Ye (three or more) go.

Goo'a now a'loo ginowto'loo. They (three or more) go.

The PAST TENSE is denoted by the sign na, which is prefixed to all the persons, except the first, where it is changed into ne, and is joined to the personal pronoun oo: in this tense, also, it must be remarked, that the third personal pronoun may either follow the verb as in the present tense, or it may be left out, and the sign changed into na'i.