6.4 "Belonging to": the **-aya** suffix
6 · Adjectives — describing things · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar
-aya makes an adjective of origin, kind, or belonging — the equivalent of English -ish, -ese, -ian, -ly. It's how you say where someone's from or what group a thing belongs to. (Feminine -eta, plural -aye.)
-aya in action:
- alaha "God" → alahaya "godly, pious"
- mshikha "Messiah" → mshikhaya "Christian"
- suraya "Assyrian (Christian)" — the word Assyrians use for themselves
- nukhraya "foreign, strange"
- kamaya "first," kharaya "last"
- ullaya "upper," takhtaya "lower"
Two of these earn their keep constantly: suraya "an Assyrian" (fs sureta, pl suraye) and mshikhaya "a Christian." A close cousin, -naya, makes "approximate" adjectives, mostly -ish colours: kuma "black" → kumnaya "blackish," smuka "red" → smuknaya "reddish," khvara "white" → khvarnaya "whitish."
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