Learn Assyrian › Grammar

5.5 "The house **of** the king" — joining two nouns (annexation)

5 · Nouns — naming things, and making them plural · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar

Annexation is just the grammar word for gluing one noun to another to show possession or belonging — English does it with "of" or "'s" (the king's house). Assyrian does it with a single ending: -et on the first (owned) noun.

The rule: owned-thing + -et + owner.

`` beta "house" + malka "king" → betet malka "the house of the king" ``

The -et replaces the -a hat on the first noun (beta → betet). A few more:

• brat malka "the daughter of the king" (from bratet malka, often squeezed down)
• shemmet baba "father's name"
• urkhet mata "the road of the village"

Two ways to say it. You can also detach the particle as a standalone et- in front of the owner — same meaning, slightly looser feel, common when you pause:

`` beta et-malka = betet malka "the house of the king" ``

When the owner is a pronoun ("his," "my"…), you normally just use the possessive suffixes from Chapter 2 — beti "my house," betu "his house." But you can also spell it out with the genitive particle diyy- (Chapter 2), and then the head noun still takes -et: betet diyyu "his (very own) house," a bit more emphatic.

Everyday contractions. In fast speech, especially with family words, the -et melts away and the two words fuse:

Recognize the fused versions when you hear them; you can always fall back on the full -et form yourself.

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