I. FIRST DIVISION. PRESENT TENSE, _I am_.
Sing. 1. _ov_ (old form _of_), _âthov_, _thov_, _oma_, _ăthoma_, _thoma_.
2. _os_, _ăthos_, _thos_, _osta_, _ăthosta_, _thosta_.
3. _yu_, _ăthyu_, _thyu_, _yua_, _ăthyua_, _thyua_.
There is little or no difference of meaning in these forms. The lengthened form _ăthov_, or its apocopated _thov_, is generally found at the beginning of an assertion. _Oma_, _osta_, _yua_ and their lengthened forms are used interrogatively or after certain conjunctions. In the early literature the lengthened forms were written _ythof_, _assof_, _ossof_, _esof_, and even, with double lengthening, _ythesaf_, _ythesef_, _ythesof_. The first vowel is probably the obscure vowel (as _u_ in _until_), and the stress accent is on the syllable that follows the verbal prefix, so that even the consonant of the prefix is a little uncertain. Williams makes it _dh_, but _th_ seems more probable. In late Cornish the vowel of the prefix was usually dropped. The personal pronouns are generally added after this tense, so that it practically becomes:—
_Thov vî_, _thos dî_, _yu ev_ (or _ev yu_), _thon ny_, _though why_, _thens y_ (pronounced _thenŷ_).
Occasionally the impersonal form of this verb is used, _mî yu_, _tî yu_, _ev yu_, _nŷ yu_, _whŷ yu_, _ŷ yu_. The negative is formed by adding _nyns_ to the short form, _nynsov_ or _nynsoma_, _nynsos_ or _nynsosta_, _nynsyu_, etc. Similarly this tense may be compounded with _mar_, if, _ken_, though, _may_, that, into _marsov_, _kensov_, _maythov_. The _s_, which is sometimes altered to _th_, is probably the _th_ of the verbal prefix.
There are two other forms of the third person present, _ema_ (or _ma_), plural _emons_ (or _mons_), and _es_ (older _us_), or _esy_ or _ejy_ (older _usy_, _ugy_).
(a). _ema_, _ma_, _emons_, _mons_ must, according to Lhuyd, always be used narratively, never negatively, interrogatively (except after _ple_, where), or with relatives. They must always precede their subject. Thus:—
_Ema ’n levar en ow chŷ_, the book is in my house.
_Ema levar en ow chŷ_, there is a book in my house.
_Nynsyw levar en ow chŷ_, there is not a book in my house.
_Ple yu ’n levar_? / _Ple ma ’n levar_? } where is the book?
(b). _emons_ is only used when the pronoun _they_ is the subject. When a noun is the subject, whether singular or plural, a singular verb is used.