the Latin verb. Perfect verbs express that an action
takes place a single time, and therefore is entirely completed and
past; from their very nature it results, that they have no imperfect
tense, and their conjugation must be in general incomplete. Imperfect
verbs express that the same action continues. Both have in most cases
the same radical syllable, and may be formed with a certain degree of
freedom; thus in Servian, _viknuti_, to cry once, _vikati_, to be
crying; _umriyeti_, to die, _umirati_, to be dying. There are however
others, which stand in the same relation to each other without issuing
from the same verbal stock; e.g. in Servian, _tchuti_ and _sluskati_,
to hear; _retji_ and _govoriti_, to speak, etc.

The Polish language, which is remarkably rich in every kind of
flexion, has a still simpler and more regular way of forming also a
frequentative out of almost every verb; e.g. _czytam_, I read,
_czytivam_, I read often; _biore_, take, _bieram_, I take often, etc.
In Bohemian, which in respect to grammar is by far the most cultivated
of the Slavic languages, there is a refinement in the tenses, of which
even the most perfect knowledge of the classical languages gives
hardly any idea, and the right use of which is seldom, if ever,
acquired by foreigners. Duration, decision, repetition, all the
different shades of time and purpose, which other languages have to
circumscribe in long phrases, the Bohemian expresses by a slight
alteration of one or two syllables.

Not less rich in these variations of the verb is the Russian. Besides
a vast treasure of original, genuine _indefinite_ verbs, as they call
all those, which have the general character of the verb of other
languages, without any allusion to the duration or continuance of the
action, they have verbs _simple, frequentative_ and _perfect_. A
single example will illustrate the fact:

Verb indefinite, _dvigat'_,[15] to move.

Verb simple, _dvinut'_, to move a single time.

Verb frequentative, _dvigivat'_, to move repeatedly.[16]

Verb perfect, _sdvigat'_, to move completely.

The reader may judge for himself, of what precision, compactness, and
energy, a language is capable, which has so little need of
circumlocution. It must be mentioned, however, that not all these
verbs are complete; as indeed it is obvious from their very nature,
that in many of them, various tenses must be wanting. It is probably
for this reason, that some of the most distinguished