— 270 —
Ex: 'mikka' pérum (=most persons); 'perutt'áḷukaḷ (=many
persons); 'ér̥iya' purusháram (= a great multitude of people);
'vaḷare' uṇṭu [=there is (so as) to be much]; 'ér̥a' par̥ańńu (=he
said much); 'tulóm' našichchu (=it was wholly destroyed).*
299. What verbs are used to qualify words in the sense
of fewness and mere indefiniteness?
For fewness, the infinitive 'kur̥aya' qualifies verbs.
Ex: 'kur̥é' anngóṭṭu chennu [=he went a little (lit. so as to be
a little) in that direction].
For mere indefiniteness, the adnounal participles 'kaṇṭa'
(=that one sees), 'valla' 'váchcha' (=some lit. that
increased) qualify nouns.
Ex: 'kaṇṭa' jananngaḷ (=a few people); 'valla' dwípántaranngaḷ
(=some foreign country or other); 'váchcha' vastu (=any thing).
300. Can indefinite pronominal nouns be formed from
these?
Some personal nouns formed from these are used in-
stead of indefinite pronominal nouns.
Ex: 'mikkavar' (= most persons), 'mikkatu' (= the most), 'kaṇ-
ṭavar' (= some people), 'vallavar' (= any one), 'váchchavar'
(= some people, any persons).
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE.
301. What is the active voice?
When the subject is the agent which performs the action,
and is in the nominative case, then the verb is said to
be in the active voice.
* Lit. 'The persons who are the majority', 'the persons who
are many', 'a multitude that was very great' etc. But in the trans-
lation the verb is dropped as not needed in English.
