Lesson5: Participleand (more)NounPatterns

Part1:
Theparticiplesin Aramaichaveformsandinflectionssimilarto thoseof nounsand
adjectives.Theparticiplesfunctionasnounsor asverbs;asverbstheyindicate
continuousactionsthattakeplacein thepresentor in thetime frameof a given
passage. Thus,if a participleappearsin a storyaboutthepast,theparticipleshould
be translated with the Englishpasttense.To summarize,ln? (fromthe rootln:,
associated with writing) canbe franslated asa noun"the onewriting" or asa verb
(with a pronounlnJ Nln) "he is writing,"or if thecontextis thepast"he was
writing," or if the contextis the future"he will be writing".

Theinflectionof theparticiplecanbe exemplified

with therootfor writing:

singular masc. fem.

abs.: JI
" T
IJ I lJl
1:l
lJ

const.. " I
i t-t iJ

emph./det.: Ntn! T:T

NFrn?

plural masc. fem.

abs.: lJllJ
l:r
lrl
IT:T
lJ

const.: -rl
":t
lJ I iJt
T:T
tJ

emph./det.: N:ln! T_: T

Nntn!

NoticethattheG-stemactiveparticiplealwayshasa long-6vowelunderits first

consonant

Themostimportantformsto know arethe absoluteforms,sincethesewill oftenbe

usedasverbsin Aramaic.

Introductory Lessonsin Arqmaic by Eric D. Reymond 32

Exercise5a.
Fill out the following chart,which isolatesthe forms most importantfor the
participle.

root m.s.abs. f.s.abs. m. pl. abs. f. pl. abs.

.TlN ("to
oerish")
)NlD ("to ask
for or request")
p!) ("to go
out")
p)C ("to come
up")
13.U("to do,
make")

Vocabulary.
Nouns:
: N{f$) : land
JJ:$ (in theemph./det
fl (in theemph.ldet.: 'i'lI):
N]l , in thepluralabs. son
rl ill (ln tne Csff.llr ll;{): deCree
T.': '

'1'n! : "ready"

Participles:
-fD$ :
to say(Noticethatthe secondvowelis not but _ . Thisis dueto the
followingresh(1), whichtypicallycauseswhatwouldotherwisebe .. vowelsto
become_ ). (Thegutturalconsonants JJ, fl, andiJ havea similareffecton lel | . l
vowels.)

n?? : "to serve,""payreverence

to")
n?q: "to send"
JJ']] : "to know"

Notethatparticiples,whentheyareusedaspredicates, matchthe subjectnounin

genderandnumber,but NOT in their state.(Unlessbotharein the absolutestate;
normallythe subjectis in the emphatic/determined stateandthepredicative
participleis in the abolutestate.)Usuallyonly participlesthatareusedas
adjectives matchanothernounin theirstate.Thus,

Introductory Lessonsin Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond -)-)

 rl? *? ?B: "Thekingiswriting"
Nll? tt??D: "Thewritingking. . ."

Exercise5b.
Translate
theseEnslishsentences
into Aramaic:

Themenof the landarewriting to (use)! for "to") theking.

The goodking is not perishingat the gate.

winefromhis father(:'iltl:$
Theking'ssonis requesting ).

The decreeof the kins is old.

A son is sendingto a king the letter.

Thewisesonknows.

Introductory Lessonsin Arqmaic by Eric D. Reymond 34

Part2:
Thereare a variety of other noun patternsin Aramaic that can easilybe learned.
Many nouns are accentedon the first syllable, in contrastto the generalrule, but
-l!O
otherwisefollow the patternof FlQt and above.Thereare also somewith a
middleyodh, which effectsonly their constructstate.

singular strong root middle-weak

abs.: l-tD (horn)tr )n (dream)
I T IT
nli (house) Jl{ (ev.)

const.: l-]D
I i lf
tr)n nnl tr ft
| ),/
t"

emph./det.:
Nl-fP $n)n ttfll @ay!a') ltll! ('aynd')
(Note the silent shewafollowed by a soft
taw. The dipthonglayl is considereda
vowel.)

plural strong middle-weak

'trn fn I

abs.: |l ) t l ) : r -
*1r F=
I
I'T
tl-
!t,!i !t

x(Note the different baseform; the is still

,
pronouncedlike a long l-a/,althoughit is in an
unaccented, closedsyllable.)

const.: "t
ll2
:r_
'n)n t'tJ
i:r lt
'' : -

emph./det.:
N:llP N : D) N \tt
s\' t'liJ
Fq
T- T
tit tr !t
Y-: -

Somefemininenounshavean absoluteform like the word for kinsdom.:lf )b:

singular fem.
abs.: r:)D malku'

const.: nl:rn malkii\

emph./det.: Nnr:rn
l:-
malk[*ta

Introductory Lessonsin Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond .i)

plural fem.
abs.: ]]: )n malkewan

const.: lll:)B malkewdt

emph./det: N!]: )D malkewata

NB: The shewaunder the lamedhin this word indicatesthe absenceof a vowel,
though the kaph is pronounced"sofl." How would you be able to predict that this
shewaindicatesthe absenceof a vowel and not a murmuredvowel?

Exercise5c.
Fill out the chartbelow,accordingto thepatternof lllp

sing.abs. sing. cstr. slng. pl. abs. pl. cstr pl

emph./det. emoh./det.
:l-'l' ;'T_l
"illumination"
: Frft'ln
:-
"need"

nouns.Most
Youwill noticethat,like:l:rE, thewordslistedaboveareabstract
wordsthathavethis patternareabstractnouns.

Theword:l-l';1!is interestingbecause, theinitialshortvowelis notreduced.This

the followingi'T,is virtuallydoubled.[n otherwords,althoughthe il is
is because
not markedasdoubledby a dot,it actsasif it wereandthis preventsthe short/a/
vowelfrom reducins.

Introductory Lessonsin Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond 36

Exercise5d.
Manyothernounpatternsarefoundwith "weak"roots,but theseusuallyare
analogousto thepatternsof the "strong"rootsor to thepatternof theparticiple.
Basedon this assumption,andyourknowledgeof Aramaicvowelreduction,
completethe followingchart:

sins.ab. srng.cstr. sins.emoh. ol. abs. ol. cstr pl. emph.

:ll-] XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX
("greatness") not attested notattested not attested
r f]: XXXXXX XXXXXX XX)O(XX
not attested not attested not attested
("request")
The : d.
I I _l' ('-moon ) Nn-l'

l!C("scribe")
-a.
The :
l; l
('Judge")
The : d.
i:T?N("God") Nil)n
The,:a.
The i''Tis part
ofthe root and
is not replaced
by l'1- in the
cstr..etc.
lilJ ("priest")
The : a.

Somefemininenounshavea typicallyfeminineform in the singular,but pattern

nounin theplural:
like a masculine

singular fem.
abs.: n!n
const.: rr!n
emph./det.: |qnbb

Introductory Lessonsin Arqmqic by Eric D. Reymond

plural fem.
'?.bn
abs.: I

const.:
,\n

emph./det..

5e.
Exercise
Completethe following chartbasedon the paradigmof il?F.

("year")
i1),1/J $Ftq(?)

Vocabulary
?N : "God"m.
i-T
ilFN : "nation"f.
lJltl- (intheemph./det.:f{fl$) : landf.
tlJJl : "request"
f.
f! (intheemph./det.: N]l , in thepluralabs.l'!!): "son"m.
ill]l (inthecnstr.:nl]l) : "decree" f.
tr)n : "dream"m.
n !n : "word"f.
T.
'

l:)F : "kingdom"f.
-lI? : "scribe"m'
'l'n! : "readY"
;l?tD: "yeaf'f.

Participles:
-lD$ :
to sayfNoticethatthe secondvowelis not..but - . Thisis dueto the
followingresh(\),which typicallycauseswhatwouldotherwisebe .. vowelsto
become_ ). (Thegutturalconsonants I , lJ, andiJ havea similareffecton lel I I
vowels.)

38
Introductory Lessonsin Arqmaic by Eric D. Reymond
n ?? : "to serve,""payreverence
to")
n?P: "tosend"
9''lt : "to know"

Introductory Lessonsin Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond 39