The usual interjections, Oh! Ah! Alas! are borrowed from English. Woe! is expressed by _Trew_! Woe is me! is _Govî_! Woe to him! _Goev_! compounds of _gew_, woe, with pronouns.
Lo, Behold (the _voila_, _voici_ of French) is expressed by _otta_ (older forms _awatta_, _awatte_, _wette_, _otte_=perhaps _a wel dî_? dost thou see?). This combines with pronouns, e.g. _ottavî_, “me voici,” _ottadî_, _ottavê_ or _ottensa_, _ottany_, _ottawhy_, _ottanjy_. These compounds are often followed by a participle, e.g. _ottavî pares_, behold me prepared. The distinction of _voila_ and _voici_ is expressed by _ottama_ and _ottana_.
CHAPTER XIV—THE CONSTRUCTION OF SENTENCES, IDIOMS, ETC.
§ 1. In later Cornish there was a strong tendency to assimilate the order of words and the construction of sentences to those of English, but nevertheless certain idioms persisted throughout.
In English the normal order of words in a simple sentence is:—
Subject—Verb—Complement of Predicate (Object, etc.).
This order is used in Cornish also when the impersonal form of the main verb or of the auxiliary is used, and the object is not a personal pronoun. Thus:—
_Dew a gar an bês_, God loveth the world.
_Dew a wra cara an bês_, God doth love the world.
One of these two forms is the most usual in a direct affirmative principal sentence when the object is not a pronoun.
If the object is a pronoun, the order is:—
Subject—Particle—Auxiliary—Pronoun in the Possessive Form—Infinitive of Main Verb.
_Dew a wra dha gara_, God doth love thee.
If the auxiliary verb is _bos_, to be, it often happens that the inflected form of it is used in an affirmative sentence when the tense is the continuous present or imperfect. In these cases the order is:—
Auxiliary Verb—Subject—Participle of Main Verb—Complement.
_Thov vî ow môs dhô Loundres_, I am going to London.
_Therough why ow tôs adre_, you were coming home.
But with the preterite tense the simple impersonal form is more usual. Thus:—
_Mî a vê gennes en Kernow_, I was born in Cornwall.
The same applies to the present and imperfect of _bos_ when it is not an auxiliary. Thus:—
_Thov vî lowen dhô ’gas gwelas_, I am glad to see you.
The inflected form of the verb is rare in simple direct affirmative sentences, except when it is used as a Celtic substitute for “yes.” It may be used in verse, but it is rather affected in prose. In negative, interrogative, and dependent sentences it is the only form to use, but even then it is the inflected auxiliaries, parts of _gwîl_, to do, _menny_, to will, _gally_, to be able, etc., with the infinitive of the main verb that are more commonly used, rather than the inflected form of the main verb itself. In the third person singular it is of course only distinguishable from the impersonal form by the position of the subject, which in the inflected form would follow the verb. The inflectional form of the third person plural is only used when the pronoun “they” is the subject. When the subject is a plural noun the verb is always in the singular. The inflected form, either of the auxiliary _gwîl_ with the infinitive of the main verb, or of the main verb itself, is always used for the imperative. In late Cornish, except in the case of answers for “yes” and “no,” and of the peculiar forms of the first, second, and third persons singular in _ma_, _ta_, and _va_, the subject personal pronoun is almost always expressed, except, of course, when the subject is a noun.