4.6 Saying "he opened *it / me / them*" — object endings
4 · Verbs — how the system works · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar
To put an object pronoun onto a past-tense verb, Assyrian stacks a second ending on. Using ktel- ("kill") with "he _ " (the -le agent):
| Assyrian | English |
|---|---|
| ktelle | he killed him |
| ktilale | he killed her |
| ktilele | he killed them |
| ktiletle | he killed you (m.) |
| ktilenle | he killed me (m.) |
| ktilakhle | he killed us |
The pattern is worth saying out loud, because it is the reverse of English: [past stem] + [object S-ending] + [subject L-ending]. The little endings you learned as subject markers on the present tense mark the object here, and the -l endings carry the doer. That flip is the one genuinely strange thing about the Assyrian past, and Objects on the verb, in full unpacks it properly, along with "give it to me," "I told her," and what to do when both objects are pronouns.
In the northern dialects the kam- prefix (The tense particles) does the same job on the present stem: kam-patekhle "he opened it."
(Khan frames this with the technical apparatus of "extended ergative alignment" — the label is in *Objects on the verb, in full for completeness; the tables are what you actually use.)*
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