https://nena.ames.cam.ac.

uk/audio/184/

‘Man is wolf to wolf’

The past habitual
Grammar 1:
past habitual • PRESENT • go Moṣul ʾiθ xa naša…
• PAST • go Moṣul ʾəθwa xa
naša…

• PRESENT • ʾaw naša gezəl l-šuqa

• PAST HABITUAL • ʾaw naša gezəlwa l-
• PAST (PERFECTIVE) šuqa
• ʾaw naša zəlle l-šuqa
Grammar in practice: habituals in opening of
story
ǝθwa xa beθa d-ʿayə̀šwa…|
babət beθa d-ʿayǝšwa mǝn ṣìwe.|
g-ezǝlwa go ṭùra,| k-qaṭewa ṣìwe.| g-meθèwa,|
darewa rəš xmara dìde.|
Grammar 2: Pronominal objects (him, her etc.)
• You already know the suffixes used for pronominal objects:
ʾət-li xa beθa (beθ-i)
ʾət-loxun bnone? (beθ-oxun)
'we have’
'he has’
The versatile possessive suffix (L-suffix) – where else have you seen it?
xzele, ʾudle
Marks possessor, prepositions, subject and…object
Compare Syriac ḥzā lēh ‚he saw him’
Other verbal forms in the story
• qam-maxze-le ʾurxa u-mpəqle.|
Exercise: Pronominal objects
Object k-xaze
ana k-xaze-li
axni k-xaze-lan
ahət k-xaze-lox
axtoxun k-xaze-loxun
aya k-xaze-la
ani k-xaze-lu
k-xaze-wa-lu
The series of forms based on the
former active participle (qaṭəl)

indicative k- sakn -a
‘She lives.’
NENA
IND live -3FS

future b(d)- sakn -an ‘I (f.) shall live.’

FUT live -1FS

jussive šud- sakn -i

‘Let them live!’
JUSS live -
3PL
transit. past qam- ʔaxl -ax -le
perfective PFV eat -1PL -3MS ’She ate it.’

past imperfective ʔaxal -wa

‘She used to eat.’
eat -IPFV
Verbal Morphology in Neo-Aramaic
The series of forms based on the
former active participle (qaṭəl)

NENA
indicative k- sakn -a ‘She lives.’ Jew. Bab Aram. ‫קאים > קא‬
IND live -3FS qā < qāʾēm
PROG < ‘standing’
Syriac kā ‘look, here’

future b(d)- sakn -an ‘I (f.) shall live.’ Jew. Bab. Aram. ‫ב < בעה‬
FUT live -1FS b(d)- < bā‘ē
šud- sakn -i FUT < ‘he wants that’
jussive ‘Let them live!’
JUSS live -3PL

transit. past qam- ʔaxl -ax -le (Jew. Bab.) Aram. ‫ קדם‬qðam ‘before’
perfective PFV eat -1PL -3MS
’She ate it.’

past imperfective ʔaxal -wa

‘She used to eat.’ Syr./Jew. Bab. həwā qāṭél ’He was killing > he
eat -IPFV
used to kill’
Verbal Morphology in Neo-Aramaic
 ‘Man is wolf to wolf’: a folktale shared
across northern Iraqi communities
• Jewish-Aramaic, Christian-Aramaic and Kurdish versions
• For all three stories, see the free book ‘Neo-Aramaic and Kurdish Folklore from Northern
Iraq:A Comparative Anthology with a Sample of Glossed Texts’, Volume 2
• Downloadable at https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0307

Jewish Aramaic: ‘16. A Man and a Wolf’, (pp. 149–160), Dorota Molin
Christian Aramaic: ‘14. A Man and a Lion’,(pp. 133–142), Dorota Molin
Northern Kurdish: ‘17. A Woman and a Leopard’, (pp. 161–178), Masoud Mohammadirad