9B.3 The story words: *ita*, *khina*, *up*, *ina*
9B · Linking sentences — how one thing leads to the next · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar
Four small words do the steering in any account of what happened. None of them changes the grammar of the sentence around it. They are signposts, and once you know them, spoken Assyrian gets much easier to follow.
| word | what it does | in English |
|---|---|---|
| ita | the next step, or the conclusion | "then"; "so"; and at the start of a new topic, "now…" |
| khina | adds a side comment, background, or what you'd expect | "you see", "anyway", "already" (literally "other") |
| up | adds one more thing, or sums up | "also"; "so" |
| ina | "look!": what was seen, or the unexpected | "but"; "and saw that…"; "now…" |
ita: "then" and "so":
| Assyrian | English | from |
|---|---|---|
| tamretli, ita azet | bury me, then go | A 2:34 |
| ita ki-kashyava, k-oyava takriban akh karra | then it thickened and became almost like butter | B 12:6 |
| ita ana len-bedda ayya muila | and so I don't know what that is | A 2:4 |
| ita deshtet Urmi khina raba shaperteva | now, the plain of Urmi was very beautiful | B 2:12 |
ina: "but", and "look!":
| Assyrian | English | from |
|---|---|---|
| bayyiva katlivale, ina ana la ktelli | they wanted to kill him, but I did not kill him | A 3:34 |
| bekhzayele Akhikar ina tama | he sees that Akhikar is there | A 3:51 |
khina is usually left untranslated: it marks a sentence as background or an aside. Hearing it, you know the story has paused to explain something:
| Assyrian | English | from |
|---|---|---|
| adiyya berka tiyyele khina | now electricity has come, you see | B 14:3 |
| charikhe beddayet muina khina? | you know what "sandals" are, right? | A 39:34 |
Go deeper
khina as "but": at the end of a run of effort, it can mark that the effort failed:
| Assyrian | English | from |
|---|---|---|
| kheshle rkhetle, rkhetle baro. la muchkhale khina | he went and ran and ran after her, but he did not find her | A 51:8 |
khina also turns up in "don't (go on)…" (khina la khush… zabennun "don't go and sell them", 9B.1), where it means "any more, from now on".
up, besides "also" (Chapter 8), can sum up or explain:
| Assyrian | English | from |
|---|---|---|
| up-betet tanuyra raba shakhina k-ave | so the oven house was very warm | B 14:2 |
| up ka-kenyane jammiva gella | also for their cattle they would gather grass | B 1:25 |
ita + "if" is how you hand someone a decision:
| Assyrian | English | from |
|---|---|---|
| ita bayyet katletle-da, ktulle | so, if you really want to kill him, kill him | A 3:50 |
ina after "he opened it", "he looked": what was seen comes after ina, often with no "is":
| Assyrian | English | from |
|---|---|---|
| ptakhule, ina mu? kha ensanla | he opens it and sees, what? It is a human being | A 43:6 |
| bekhzayele men-rekka ina kha-dana shra vela bellaya gu-kha-beta | he sees from afar a single lantern burning in a house | A 2:4 |
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