4B.8 "Without ___ing" and "for ___ing"
4B · Verbs in use — which form when · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar
Chapter 4 introduced the infinitive (ptakha "to open") and the verbal noun (ptakhta "an opening") and said they were different shapes. Here is what they are for — and there is a clean division of labour.
la + verbal noun = "without ___ing"
This is a whole subordinate clause in two words, and it is enormously useful:
| Assyrian | English |
|---|---|
| la khzetet bakhtu, kheshle | without seeing his wife, he went |
| la khaltet tamta, kheshle al-shula | without eating breakfast, he went to work |
| la ptakhtet tarra, kalo shmile | without opening the door, he heard her voice |
| la teta al-beta, zvenne | without coming to the house, he bought it |
The rule Khan gives: when the thing being done is named after the verb, it must be the verbal noun (with the -et linker of Chapter 5 joining them) — khzetet bakhtu, "a seeing-of his wife."
ka- + infinitive = "to _ / for ___ing"
For purpose, and for what something is for:
| Assyrian | English |
|---|---|
| kurkezle ka-khasha | he prepared to go |
| ana dun karbune ka-myata | I'm getting close to dying |
| ana nuyne etli ka-zabuna | I have fish to sell |
| bruni, hech-mendi letlan ka-khala | my son, we have nothing to eat |
That last one is worth memorising whole. Note ka-khala — the infinitive of akhel — and ka-khasha, the infinitive of azel, both from the suppletive stems in The irregular verbs (Chapter 4).
The verbal noun as a plain noun
It also just sits in an annexation like any other noun, which is how a lot of everyday vocabulary is formed:
| Assyrian | English |
|---|---|
| kenyanet khlava | dairy cattle (cattle of milking) |
| anvet khala | grapes for eating |
| an-julle guret dmakha | the bedding (the big cloth of sleeping) |
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