Learn Assyrian › Grammar

2.3 "my, your, his…" — possessive endings (the highest-payoff item in the chapter)

2 · Pronouns · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar

There is no separate word for "my / your / his." You attach an ending directly onto the noun. Learn this one pattern and you can suddenly say "my house, her car, your name, their village" — a huge jump in what you can express.

Start with beta ("house"), drop the final -a, and add:

That's the whole system — eight endings.

Two things worth flagging out loud:

1. "Your" splits by who you're addressing — -ukh to a man, -akh to a woman (and -okhun for plural or polite). This mirrors the at / akhtun split above: gender and formality live inside the ending.
2. "His" vs. "her" is one vowel — -u (his) vs. -o (her). Small sound, big difference; worth drilling so you hear it cleanly.

It works on (almost) any noun — how the endings attach

The ending replaces whatever vowel the noun ends in. A few patterns:

• Noun ends in -a → drop the -a, add the ending. This is the common case.
• ktava ("book") → ktavi (my book), ktavukh (your book), ktavu (his book)
• Noun ends in -e → same idea, drop and add.
• gare ("roof") → garu (his roof), garo (her roof), gare (their roof)
• Noun ends in -i → keep the -i and slip in a -yy- before the ending.
• kursi ("chair") → kursiyyu (his chair), kursiyyo (her chair)
• Noun ends in -u → the -u is replaced by a longer -unt- before the ending.
• katu ("cat") → katunti (my cat); kalu ("bride") → kalunti (my bride)

So the drill is always: find the noun's final vowel → swap in the possessive ending (with the small -yy- helper after -i).

Try it. Take any -a noun you know and run the eight endings: beta → beti, betukh, betakh, betokhun, betu, beto, betan, bete. Then do ktava. Once this is automatic, possession stops being something you translate and becomes something you just say.

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