Editing Syriac language (section)

=== Nouns ===
Most Syriac [[noun]]s are built from triliteral roots. Nouns carry [[grammatical gender]] (masculine or feminine), they can be either singular or plural in number (a very few can be dual) and can exist in one of three grammatical states. These states should not be confused with [[grammatical case]]s in other languages.

* The absolute state is the basic form of the noun – {{lang|syc|ܫܩ̈ܠܝܢ}}, {{transliteration|syc|šeqlin}}, "taxes".
* The emphatic state usually represents a definite noun – {{lang|syc|ܫܩ̈ܠܐ}}, {{transliteration|syc|šeqlē}}, "the taxes".
* The construct state marks a noun in relationship to another noun – {{lang|syc|ܫܩ̈ܠܝ}}, {{transliteration|syc|šeqlay}}, "taxes of...".

However, very quickly in the development of Classical Syriac, the emphatic state became the ordinary form of the noun, and the absolute and construct states were relegated to certain stock phrases (for example, {{lang|syc|ܒܪ ܐܢܫܐ/ܒܪܢܫܐ}}, {{transliteration|syc|bar nāšā}}, "man, person", literally "son of man").

In Old and early Classical Syriac, most [[genitive case|genitive]] noun relationships are built using the construct state, but contrary to the genitive case, it is the head-noun which is marked by the construct state. Thus, {{lang|syc|ܫܩ̈ܠܝ ܡܠܟܘܬܐ}}, {{transliteration|syc|šeqlay malkuṯā}}, means "the taxes of the kingdom". Quickly, the construct relationship was abandoned and replaced by the use of the relative particle {{lang|syc|ܕ}}, ''{{transliteration|syc|d-, da-}}''. Thus, the same [[noun phrase]] becomes {{lang|syc|ܫܩ̈ܠܐ ܕܡܠܟܘܬܐ}}, {{transliteration|syc|šeqlē d-malkuṯā}}, where both nouns are in the emphatic state. Very closely related nouns can be drawn into a closer grammatical relationship by the addition of a pronominal suffix. Thus, the phrase can be written as {{lang|syc|ܫܩ̈ܠܝܗ ܕܡܠܟܘܬܐ}}, {{transliteration|syc|šeqlêh d-malkuṯā}}. In this case, both nouns continue to be in the emphatic state, but the first has the suffix that makes it literally read "her taxes" ("kingdom" is feminine), and thus is "her taxes, [those] of the kingdom".

[[Adjective]]s always agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify. Adjectives are in the absolute state if they are [[predicative expression#Predicative (adjectival or nominal)|predicative]], but agree with the state of their noun if [[adjective#Attributive adjective|attributive]]. Thus, {{lang|syc|ܒܝܫܝ̈ܢ ܫܩ̈ܠܐ}}, ''{{transliteration|syc|bišin šeqlē}}'', means "the taxes are evil", whereas {{lang|syc|ܫܩ̈ܠܐ ܒܝ̈ܫܐ}}, ''{{transliteration|syc|šeqlē ḇišē}}'', means "evil taxes".