278

The Loom of Language

,r a

eCa aS
starf A-
alfretta-
k!a bet-
s starfs
VOskrif-
fcaritan

*a sef 5a
vinna

«i)ON i morgun FtJ
OstaCfest fregn fra Tokio
aS Japanir mum ekki

aftur a vald si*
fylkjum i Hopei-hera&
Smaskaeruhopar I-
hafa undanfarna manuSi
viS i nsesta nsgrenm hof u5b

Um 90 piisirnd tuniiur saltadar alls &
5ilu iandinu og i kvold er buistvi5ad
200 pus. mil verdi komin&land i bra&dslu

loki.

328

A

mann
245 r

F

AMI mokaflmn er enn^a
s\o ad segja £>rar olla
forSurlandi, eada hefsr ven3 a-

Verksmi8jan a Solbakk?
bum aS fa "
af V-

FIG 31 —CUTTING FROM ICELANDIC NEWSPAPER SHOWING THE TWO th SYMBOLS
]? (AS IN thru) A^ND 5 (AS IN them}

One outstanding oddity of the Scandinavian clan is the flexional
passive already mentioned on p 120 Any part of the verb can take a
passive meaning if we add -5 to the end of it or if it ends in -ry substitute
s for the latter^ e g in Swedish

att kalla to call

att kallas to be called

jag kallai jag kallade jag har kallat jag skall kalla jag skulk kalla
I call I called I have called I shall call I should call
jag kallas jag kallades jag har kallats jag shall kallas jag skulh kallas

1 am called
I was called
I have been called
I shall be called
I should be called

The rule is the same for all three dialects,, and it is the easiest way of
handling a passive construction In the spoken language it is more usual
to substitute a roundabout construction in which bhva (Swed )3 bhve
(Dan), bh (Norweg ) takes the place of our be* and vara or vaere (be)
replaces to have This passive auxiliary was originally equivalent to the
German bleiber (remain) Its present tense is bhr or llivw > its past tense
blev (Norweg Ue)> past participle bhvit, blevet, or bhtt The verb bhva
takes the adjective parnaple (p 277), not the form used with hava in an