4.8 The participles (needed for perfect & progressive)
4 · Verbs — how the system works · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar
A participle is a verb turned into a describing word — English has the -ing kind ("a running tap") and the -ed kind ("an opened door"). Assyrian has matching ones, and it uses them (plus the copula) to build its richer tenses. Two of them matter here:
Resultative participle — the "-ed / done" describing word: "opened / in an opened state." It describes the result of the action, and it changes for masculine / feminine / plural:
- ptikha (m.), ptekhta (f.), ptikhe (pl.)
It doubles as an adjective: tarra ptikhele "the door is open," miyya rdikhena "the water is boiling." (This is the same resultative your verb book lists.)
Active participle — the "-er / one who does" word: "an opener / one who opens":
- patkhana (m.), patkhanta (f.), patkhane (pl.)
Perfect: "has / had opened" (resultative + copula)
The perfect is the "has done" tense — the action is finished and its result stands ("I have opened it"). You build it by gluing the copula (the "is/are" word from Chapter 3) onto the resultative participle. Add the past copula instead and you get the past perfect — the result standing as of some moment back then:
| present perfect ("has opened") | past perfect ("had opened") | |
|---|---|---|
| 3ms | ptikhele | ptikheva |
| 3fs | ptekhtela | ptekhteva |
| 3pl | ptikhena | ptikheva |
| 2ms | ptikhevet | ptikhetva |
| 1ms | ptikheven | ptikhenva |
| 1pl | ptikhevakh | ptikhekhva |
The "here it is" copulas work here too. Chapter 3 gave you dule "here he is" and vele "there he is" beside the plain enclitic copula; all three build a perfect, and the deictic ones put the spotlight on it:
| Assyrian | English |
|---|---|
| ptikhele | he has opened (plain) |
| dule ptikha | look — he has opened it |
| vele ptikha | there — he has opened it |
| dula ptekhta | she has opened it |
| duna ptikhe | they have opened it |
"May have opened" — the irrealis perfect
Put the "to be" verb ave in front of the participle instead of a copula, and you are guessing rather than reporting:
| Assyrian | English |
|---|---|
| ave ptikha | he may have opened |
| oya ptekhta | she may have opened |
| avi ptikhe | they may have opened |
| aven ptikha | I (m.) may have opened |
| aviva ptikha | he might have opened (with -va: further off, more doubtful) |
Progressive: "is / was opening" (progressive stem + copula)
The progressive is the "in the middle of doing it" tense — "I am opening," "she was cooking." Pattern I builds a special progressive stem with a be- on the front: beptakha ("in the act of opening"). Add the copula:
| present ("is opening") | past ("was opening") | |
|---|---|---|
| 3ms | beptakhele | beptakheva |
| 3fs | beptakhela | beptakheva |
| 3pl | beptakhena | beptakheva |
| 2ms | beptakhevet | beptakhetva |
| 1ms | beptakheven | beptakhenva |
Where the be- goes missing. In Patterns II, III and quadriliteral there is no be- at all — the progressive stem is just the infinitive: bashulele "he is cooking," shadurele "he is sending," madmukhele "he is putting to sleep," takhmunele "he is thinking," barbuzele "he is scattering," zaruzele "he is preparing." Even in Pattern I the be- is commonly dropped when the verb starts with a lip-sound: bshalele ~ bebshalele "he is maturing," mkhayele ~ bemkhayele "he is hitting."
And a few Pattern I verbs build the progressive off a different word entirely — a verbal noun, with no be-:
| Assyrian | English | instead of |
|---|---|---|
| pelkhanele | he is working | beplakhele |
| bekhyele | he is weeping | bebkhayele |
Both versions are said; you will meet the odd one first because these are common verbs.
You can double it up. Putting vayele — the progressive of "to be" — in front of another progressive is the everyday way to set a scene: vayele beptakha "he is (in the middle of) opening," vayela beptakha "she is," vayena beptakha "they are."
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