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9B.8 What someone said, asked, or saw

9B · Linking sentences — how one thing leads to the next · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar

Quoting. Assyrian storytellers mostly quote directly ("he says, 'Akhikar, you've grown old'"), with no "that" and no change to the words:

The linker kat can introduce the quote, like quotation marks you can hear. It is common after "send word" and "give an order":

Reporting (reported speech: giving the gist rather than the words) works the same way, with no "that":

Questions inside a sentence. An indirect question is a question that has become part of a statement: "I'll see what I can do", "tell me who you are". Assyrian keeps the question word and changes nothing else:

Whether. A yes/no question inside a sentence needs no "whether" or "if". Add yan-la "or not" for the "… or not" version:

I saw (that)… After "see", "notice" or "realize", the thing seen simply follows. Often there is no "is" at all:

Go deeper

"Know that", "heard that". "That" is optional after verbs of knowing, as Chapter 9 says. Both shapes are common:

"Wants someone to…" takes the plain "maybe" form, with no "to" and no "that":

A question word said twice, the second time with la, means "whatever on earth":

The person or thing often goes before the question word:

"Do you know what X is?" is a storyteller's habit, and a handy one for you as a learner:

"Suddenly he sees…" The deictic copula from Chapter 3 often appears in what is seen:

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