9.4 "If" — conditional sentences
9 · Syntax — putting words in order · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar
A conditional has two halves: the protasis (the "if" part — the condition) and the apodosis (the "then" part — the result). Assyrian puts the "if" part first, introduced by en ("if"). (You may also hear the borrowed Persian agar, same meaning.)
Open / real conditions — something that may well happen. Use a plain present verb after en, and typically the future (bet-, The tense particles (Chapter 4)) in the result:
- en-ave khaya, palget malkuyti b-yavvenna katukh — "if he is alive, I will give you half my kingdom"
- en kal-gekhka shmilukh, khush — "if you hear the sound of laughter, go"
- en-msili, av bet-yavvella kati — "if I can (do it), he will give it to me"
"If … not" has its own tidy fused form, en-la:
- en-la muyyilukh esri dinare, gu-da beta la-oret — "if you don't bring back twenty dinars, you won't enter this house"
- en-let hammune, ku-ta-menni — "if you don't believe me, get up and come with me"
Unreal / hypothetical conditions — "if X were the case (but it isn't)." Here you add the past-converter -va (The tense particles (Chapter 4)) to the verbs on both sides — it's the Assyrian equivalent of English shifting into "if I had … I would have …":
- en bakretva, bet-yavvenvalukh zuyze — "if you had asked, I would have given you money" (…but you didn't)
- katu en-oyava khelta, adi viteva yakke — "if the cat had eaten, she would now be huge"
"If" in use. A few more, to hear the pattern settle:
- en-ayya tila, p-karmala kessat — "if she comes, she'll win the case"
- en edda avila, ki-edakhla — "if it has weeds, we weed it"
- en-masenva, bet-atenva — "if I could, I would come" (the -va pattern again, in four words)
For everyday talk, the two you truly need are the open pattern (en + present … future) and its negative en-la. The -va unreal conditional is worth recognizing now and using later.
Every other combination Khan recorded is in "If", in full (Chapter 9B), including the one English speakers miss: a past verb for "if it happens" (en kha-nasha bukerre mennakh… "if somebody asks you…").
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