"I was merely giving two examples," said I, "and neither was
directed at you. In those examples, to command and hate are verbs.
Belle, in Armenian there are four conjugations of verbs; the first
ends in al, the second in yel, the third in oul, and the fourth in
il. Now, have you understood me?"

"I am afraid, indeed, it will all end ill," said Belle.

"Hold your tongue," said I, "or you will make me lose my patience."
"You have already made me nearly lose mine," said Belle. "Let us
have no unprofitable interruptions," said I; "the conjugations of
the Armenian verbs are neither so numerous nor so difficult as the
declensions of the nouns; hear that, and rejoice. Come, we will
begin with the verb hntal, a verb of the first conjugation, which
signifies to rejoice. Come along; hntam, I rejoice; hntas, thou
rejoicest; why don't you follow, Belle?"

"I am sure I don't rejoice, whatever you may do," said Belle. "The
chief difficulty, Belle," said I, "that I find in teaching you the
Armenian grammar, proceeds from your applying to yourself and me
every example I give. Rejoice, in this instance, is merely an
example of an Armenian verb of the first conjugation, and has no
more to do with your rejoicing than lal, which is, also a verb of
the first conjugation, and which signifies to weep, would have to
do with your weeping, provided I made you conjugate it. Come
along; hntam, I rejoice; hntas, thou rejoicest; hnta, he rejoices;
hntamk we rejoice: now, repeat those words."

"I can't," said Belle, "they sound more like the language of horses