Editing Sumerian language (section)

==== General ====
The Sumerian [[finite verb]] distinguishes a number of [[grammatical mood|moods]] and [[agreement (grammar)|agrees]] (more or less consistently) with the subject and the object in person, number and gender. The verb chain may also incorporate pronominal references to the verb's other modifiers, which has also traditionally been described as "agreement", although, in fact, such a reference ''and'' the presence of an actual modifier in the clause need not co-occur: not only 𒂍𒂠𒌈𒌈𒅆𒁺𒌦 '''''e<sub>2</sub>-še<sub>3</sub>''' i'''b<sub>2</sub>-ši'''-du-un'' "I'm going to the house", but also 𒂍𒂠𒉌𒁺𒌦 '''''e<sub>2</sub>-še'''<sub>3</sub> i<sub>3</sub>-du-un'' "I'm going to the house" and simply 𒌈𒅆𒁺𒌦 ''i'''b<sub>2</sub>-ši'''-du-un'' "I'm going to it" are possible.<ref name="johnson"/><ref>Foxvog (2016: 69-70)</ref><ref>Jagersma (2010: 395)</ref> Hence, the term "cross-reference" instead of "agreement" has been proposed. This article will predominantly use the term "agreement".<ref>Jagersma (2010: 297-299)</ref><ref>Zólyomi (2017: 86-87)</ref>

The Sumerian verb also makes a binary distinction according to a category that some regard as tense (past vs present-future), others as [[grammatical aspect|aspect]] (perfective vs imperfective), and that will be designated as '''TA''' (tense/aspect) in the following. The two members of the opposition entail different conjugation patterns and, at least for many verbs, different stems; they are theory-neutrally referred to with the [[Akkadians|Akkadian]] grammatical terms for the two respective forms – ''ḫamṭu'' "quick" and ''marû'' "slow, fat".{{efn|The earliest attestation of these terms is from the Middle Babylonian period. The original Sumerian terms may have been 𒆸 ''lugud<sub>2</sub>'' "short" and 𒁍 ''gid<sub>2</sub>'' "long".<ref>Civil, Miguel. The Forerunners of ''Marû'' and ''Ḫamṭu'' in Old Babylonian. In: ''Riches Hidden in Secret Places. Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Memory of Thorkild Jacobsen'', T. Abusch (ed.). Eisenbrauns, 2002, pp. 63-71.</ref>}} Finally, opinions differ on whether the verb has a [[passive voice|passive]] or a [[middle voice]] and how it is expressed.

It is often pointed out that a Sumerian verb does not seem to be strictly limited to only [[Transitive verb|transitive]] or only [[Intransitive verb|intransitive]] usage: e.g. the verb 𒆭 ''kur<sub>9</sub>'' can mean both "enter" and "insert / bring in", and the verb 𒌣 ''de<sub>2</sub>'' can mean both "flow out" and "pour out". This depends simply on whether an ergative participant causing the event is explicitly mentioned (in the clause and in the agreement markers on the verb). Some have even concluded that instead of speaking about intransitive and transitive ''verbs'', it may be better to speak only of intransitive and transitive ''constructions'' in Sumerian.<ref>Sallaberger (2023: 54), Foxvog (2016: 60), cf. Edzard (2003: 36). Attinger (1993: 148) describes the logic of this reasoning, although he does not entirely agree with it.</ref>

The verbal root is almost always a monosyllable and, together with various [[affix]]es, forms a so-called verbal chain which is described as a sequence of about 15 slots, though the precise models differ.<ref>See e.g. Rubio 2007, Attinger 1993, Zólyomi 2005 ("Sumerisch". In: ''Sprachen des Alten Orients'', ed. M. Streck), [http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/ppcs/MorphologyTable.html PPCS Morphological model] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025205450/http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/ppcs/MorphologyTable.html |date=October 25, 2012 }}</ref> The [[finite verb]] has both [[prefix]]es and [[suffix]]es, while the [[non-finite verb]] may only have suffixes. Broadly, the prefixes have been divided in three groups that occur in the following order: ''modal prefixes'', "''conjugation prefixes''", and ''pronominal and dimensional'' prefixes.<ref>E.g. Attinger 1993, Rubio 2007</ref> The suffixes are a future or imperfective marker /-ed-/, pronominal suffixes, and an /-a/ ending that nominalizes the whole verb chain. The overall structure can be summarized as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" |slot
! rowspan="2" |[[Modality (linguistics)|modal]] prefix
! colspan="4" |"conjugation prefixes"
! rowspan="2" |pronominal prefix 1
! rowspan="2" |dimensional prefix
! rowspan="2" |pronominal prefix 2
! rowspan="2" |stem
! rowspan="2" |future/imperfective
! rowspan="2" |pronominal suffix
! rowspan="2" |nominalizer
|-
![[Finite verb|finite]] prefix
!coordinator prefix
![[Andative and venitive|ventive]] prefix
![[Voice (grammar)|middle]] prefix
|-
!common
morphemes
|/Ø/-,<br />/ḫa/-,<br />/u/-,<br />/ga/-,
/nu/-~/la/-
|''<br />''/i/~/e/-,
/a/-
| -/nga/-
|/mu/-,
-/m/-
| -/ba/-
| -/Ø/-,<br />-/e/~/r/-,<br />-/n(n)/-,<br />-/b/-
| -/a/-,
-/da/-,
-/ta/-,
-/ši/-,
-/i/-,
-/ni/-
| -/Ø/-,<br />-/e/~/r/-,<br />-/n(n)/-,<br />-/b/-
|
| -/e(d)/-
| -/en/<br />-/en/<br />-/Ø/, -/e/<br />
-/enden/<br />
-/enzen/<br />-/ene/, -/eš/<br />
| -/a/
|}
Examples using most of the above slots may be:

{{interlinear|ḫa- -mu- -nn- -a- -b- -šum- -ene|PREC -VEN- -3.SG.AN- -DAT- -3.INAN.O- -give- -3.PL.AN.A/S.IPFV|'Let them give it to him here!'
| top = 𒄩𒈬𒌦𒈾𒀊𒋧𒈬𒉈 <br />
<small>ḫa-mu-un-na-ab-šum<sub>2</sub>-mu-ne</small>
| indent = 4
| glossing = link
}}{{interlinear|nu- -i- -b- -ši- -e- -gi<sub>4</sub>-gi<sub>4</sub>- -e- -a|NEG- -FIN- -INAN- -TERM- -2.O- -return.IPFV- -3.A.IPFV- -NMLZ|'(one) who does not bring you back to it'
| top = 𒉡𒌒𒅆𒂊𒄄𒄄𒀀<br />
<small>nu-ub-ši-e-gi<sub>4</sub>-gi<sub>4</sub>-a</small>
| indent = 4
| glossing = link
}}

More than one dimensional prefix may occur within the verb chain. If so, the prefixes are placed in a specific order, which is shown the section [[#Dimensional prefixes|''Dimensional prefixes'']] below. The "conjugation prefixes" appear to be mutually exclusive to a great extent, since the "finite" prefixes /i/~/e/- and /a/- do not appear before [mu]-, /ba/- and the sequence -/b/-+-/i/-, nor does the realization [mu] appear before /ba-/ or /b-i/. However, it is commonly assumed that the spellings ''im-, im-ma-'' and ''im-mi-'' are equivalent to {i-} + {-mu-}, {i-} + {-mu-} + {-ba-} and {i-} + {-mu-} + {-bi-}, respectively. According to Jagersma, the reason for the restrictions is that the "finite" prefixes /i/~/e/- and /a/- have been elided prehistorically in open syllables, in front of prefixes of the shape CV (consonant-vowel). The exception is the position in front of the locative prefix -/ni/-, the second person dative 𒊏 /-r-a/ and the second person directive 𒊑 /-r-i/, where the dominant dialect of the Old Babylonian period retains them.<ref name="jagersma_i3"/>