Assyrian grammar, in plain language
A plain-language guide to the grammar of everyday spoken Assyrian (Sureth): pronunciation, pronouns, the verb system, nouns, numbers and how sentences fit together.
About this guide
Start here — what this is, who it's for, and how the spelling works.
- Overview
- Who this is for
- What "Assyrian (Sureth)" means here
- A note on dialect (read once, then forget about it)
- How the words are spelled
- Where this comes from, and what got left out
- How to use it
0 · Grammar words in plain English
Every grammar term used in the guide, in plain English.
1 · Pronunciation — how to say what you read
How to say what you read: the vowels, the throaty sounds, where the stress lands.
- Overview
- 1.0 The map — the sounds worth a second look
- 1.1 The vowels
- 1.2 The consonants that are basically English
- 1.3 The handful that differ from English
- 1.4 The "heavy" sound — Assyrian's signature feature
- 1.5 Stress — lean on the second-to-last syllable
- 1.6 Doubled consonants
- Pronunciation in action — a few words, fully decoded
- Skipped from Khan (Ch. 1)
2 · Pronouns
I, you, he, she — plus my/your endings, "this/that", and question words.
- Overview
- 2.1 The words for "I, you, he, she, we, they"
- 2.2 "this / that / these / those" (demonstratives)
- 2.3 "my, your, his…" — possessive endings (the highest-payoff item in the chapter)
- 2.4 "mine, yours" standing alone — the *diyy-* particle
- 2.5 "myself, yourself" — the reflexive *gan-*
- 2.6 "by myself, on my own" — *b-nosh-*
- 2.7 "each other" — *uydale*
- 2.8 Question words (who / what / which) — HIGH value
3 · The Copula — "am / is / are" (and "was / were")
The little am/is/are word, present and past, positive and negative.
- Overview
- 3.1 The present copula — "am / is / are"
- 3.2 The past copula — "was / were"
- 3.3 The "here it is / there it is" copulas (deictic)
- 3.4 Saying "is NOT / am NOT" (negative present)
- 3.5 Saying "was NOT" (negative past)
4 · Verbs — how the system works
Two stems, two sets of endings, the particles that set the tense — then the weak verbs, the irregulars, and objects on the verb.
- Overview
- 4.0 A map of the whole verb — what you'll be able to say
- 4.1 The big idea: two stems + two sets of endings
- 4.2 The three patterns (binyanim)
- The eight shapes every verb has
- 4.3 Present tense — present stem + S-endings
- 4.4 Little particles that set the tense/mood
- 4.5 Past tense — past stem + L-endings
- 4.6 Saying "he opened *it / me / them*" — object endings
- 4.7 Commands (imperative)
- 4.8 The participles (needed for perfect & progressive)
- The ten tenses, side by side
- 4.9 Making verbs negative
- 4.10–4.13 Weak verbs — when a root letter goes quiet
- 4.14 The irregular verbs you can't avoid
- 4.16–4.21 Objects on the verb, in full
- 4.23–4.24 "There is" and "to have" (very high value)
- 4.25 What the patterns actually mean
- 4.26 Phrasal verbs — the two-word verbs
- Verbs in the wild
4B · Verbs in use — which form when
The other half: which of those forms to reach for, and the two that carry meanings their names don't.
- Overview
- 4B.0 The map — one verb, several jobs each
- 4B.1 Bare *patekh* — the "maybe" form
- 4B.2 *ki-patekh* — the habit form, and how it really sounds
- 4B.3 *bet-patekh* — future, or intention?
- 4B.4 *ptekhle* — the past that reaches into the present
- 4B.5 *beptakhele* — much more than "is doing"
- 4B.6 *ptikhele* — the result, and the form for what you did not see
- 4B.7 The passive — *payesh* plus the resultative participle
- 4B.8 "Without ___ing" and "for ___ing"
- 4B.9 Which one when — the cheat sheet
5 · Nouns — naming things, and making them plural
Gender, the -a / -ta endings, plurals, and "the house of the king".
- Overview
- 5.0 The map — what's in this chapter
- 5.1 The two singular endings: **-a** and **-ta**
- 5.2 Gender — is it a "he" word or a "she" word?
- 5.3 What the feminine **-ta** actually does
- 5.4 Plurals — the big one
- 5.5 "The house **of** the king" — joining two nouns (annexation)
- 5.6 Compound nouns — frozen two-word names
- Skipped from Khan (with why)
6 · Adjectives — describing things
Describing words: they follow the noun and agree with it.
- Overview
- 6.0 The map — what's in this chapter
- 6.1 The core rule: adjectives **follow** the noun and **agree** with it
- 6.2 The three endings up close
- 6.3 Building adjectives from nouns: the **-ana** suffix
- 6.4 "Belonging to": the **-aya** suffix
- 6.5 *khina* "other" — one useful irregular
- 6.6 The easy ones: **invariable** adjectives (no agreement at all)
- 6.7 Compound adjectives: "owner of…" and "without…"
- 6.8 Comparing things: "bigger," "than," "the biggest"
- Skipped from Khan (with why)
7 · Numerals — counting, dates, "the second one"
Counting, ordinals, fractions, days, months and seasons.
- Overview
- 7.0 The map — what's in this chapter
- 7.1 The core numbers 1–10
- 7.2 The "-teens": 11–19
- 7.3 The tens: 20–90
- 7.4 Hundreds and thousands
- 7.5 Building bigger numbers
- 7.6 Ordinals — first, second, third
- 7.7 Fractions
- 7.8 Days of the week
- 7.9 Seasons
- 7.10 The months
- Skipped from Khan (Ch. 7)
8 · Particles — the little connecting words
The small connecting words: adverbs, prepositions, quantifiers.
- Overview
- 8.0 The map — what's in this chapter
- 8.1 What counts as a particle
- 8.2 Adverbs — where, when, how
- 8.3 Quantifiers — "all, every, much, a little, none"
- 8.4 Prepositions — the workhorses
- The five big prepositions, up close
- 8.5 Predicative particles — "enough," "what a pity"
- 8.6 Connectives, conjunctions & the little words
- 8.7 The one-screen takeaway
9 · Syntax — putting words in order
Word order, asking questions, the -et linker, and "if".
- Overview
- 9.0 The map — what's in this chapter
- 9.1 Word order — looser than English
- 9.2 Asking questions
- 9.3 The one little linker: *-et / kat / t-*
- 9.4 "If" — conditional sentences
- 9.5 "I'm cold, I'm sleepy, I like it" — saying how you feel
- 9.6 Naming the topic first
- 9.7 Leaving the "is" out
- Skipped from Khan (Chapters 9–14)
9B · Linking sentences — how one thing leads to the next
How one thing leads to the next: and, then, when, until, because, as if, he said that, if in full, and when to say "a".
- Overview
- 9B.0 The map
- 9B.1 "And", and why you usually don't say it
- 9B.2 *-da* and *-ze*: "too", "even", and "as for…"
- 9B.3 The story words: *ita*, *khina*, *up*, *ina*
- 9B.4 "When…"
- 9B.5 Before, after, until
- 9B.6 Because, so that, so … that
- 9B.7 "As", "as if", and "however much"
- 9B.8 What someone said, asked, or saw
- 9B.9 "If", in full
- 9B.10 "A", or nothing: when to say *kha*
- 9B.11 The one-screen takeaway
- Skipped from Khan (logged for completeness)
11 · If your family says it differently
For Iraqi-side families: the handful of sound swaps that turn this guide's Urmi into the Assyrian you grew up hearing.
- Overview
- 11.1 The short version
- 11.2 The two sounds Urmi dropped
- 11.3 The three that just moved
- 11.4 When it isn't a rule
- 11.5 So which town is this chapter about?
- Practice: read these aloud twice
- Where this comes from
12 · The Assyrians of Urmi: a background
Background on the Assyrians of Urmi specifically: where the community came from, and why the written language and the spoken one drifted apart.
- Overview
- 12.1 The place, and the name
- 12.2 How long they had been there
- 12.3 Before 1900: a village language
- 12.4 The missionaries, and why the language got written down
- 12.5 Russia, and the first people to leave
- 12.6 1914–1918
- 12.7 Why the dialect you are learning is a blend
- 12.8 Iran, 1923 to now
- 12.9 The Caucasus
- 12.10 America
- 12.11 The neighbours in the language
- Where this comes from