L3.6: Demonstrative Adjectives & Pronouns#

Demonstrative Adjective#

The most common adjective in Old Babylonian is annûm, wich can be tranlstated with ‘this, these’.

Example

  • kaspam anniam ina qātim ša maruštim amhur “I received this silver from the sick woman”.

It always follows the substantive and its adjectives

Example

  • šamnam ṭābam anniam aṣṣur “I protected this fine oil”.

Note

The fem. sing. annītum may also be used as aneuter demostrative pronoun, “this (thing, matter, etc)”.

Declination of the Demonstrative Adjective#

Number

Case

Masculine

Feminine

sg.

nom.

annûm

annītum

gen.

annîm

annītim

acc.

anniam

annītam

pl.

nom.

annûtum

anniātum

gen./acc.

annûtim

anniātim

Demonstrative Pronouns#

The most common form ‘that, those’ are the 3 masc. sing. of the independent personal pronouns. It is called anaphoric pronoun, since it refers to something already mentioned or known. Therefore it can be sometimes translated as ‘the aforementioned’, ‘said’ or even ‘this, these’.

When it is used attributely, the forms follow and agree with the noun they modify

Example

  • amtum šī aššatum ša wardim “That womanservant is t the wife of the manservant”.

Declination of the Demonstrative Pronoun#

Number

Case

Masculine

Feminine

sg.

nom.

šū

šī

gen.

šuāti, šuātu, šâti, šatû

šuāti, šâti, šiāti

acc.

šuāšim, šâšim, šâšum

šuāšim, šâšim, šiāšim

pl.

nom.

šunu

šina

gen./acc.

šunūti

šināti

dat.

šunūšim

[šināšim]

Note

  • There is a special dative case that is used after ana.

  • The variants in the list reflect dialectal variation within Old Babylonian.