6.7 Compound adjectives: "owner of…" and "without…"
6 · Adjectives — describing things · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar
Assyrian builds a lot of descriptions out of a little front-word plus a noun. Three are worth having ready:
maret + noun = literally "owner of _," i.e. "having _." The maret part is invariable — it doesn't agree, even though the noun after it can be anything:
- maret hona "intelligent" (owner of mind)
- maret shemma "famous" (owner of a name)
- maret shenne "old" (owner of years)
- maret gnaha "guilty" (owner of a fault)
And because maret never flexes: kha nasha maret hona "an intelligent man," kha bakhta maret hona "an intelligent woman" — same maret hona both times.
d-la + noun = "without _," a native way to say "-less":
- d-la hona "foolish" (without a mind)
- d-la gnaha "innocent" (without fault)
- d-la khela "weak" (without strength)
- d-la zuyze "penniless" (without money)
be- + noun = also "without _," borrowed from Kurdish and just as common:
- be-hona "senseless," be-rakhme "merciless," be-khela "powerless," be-chara "helpless"
d-la and be- overlap heavily — you'll hear both for the same idea (be-hona ≈ d-la hona). Either is fine.
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