Editing Sumerian language (section)

==== Subordinate clauses ====
There are various ways to express [[subordinate clause|subordination]]. Many of them include the nominalization of a finite verb with the suffix -/a/, which is also used to form participles, as shown above. Like the participles, this nominalized clause can either modify a noun, as adjectives do, or refer to the event itself, as nouns do. It usually functions as a [[relative clause]], corresponding to an English clause with "which ..." or "who ...", as in the following example:

{{interlinear|lu e i-n-řu-a|man house FIN-3.A-build-NMLZ|"the man who built the house"
| top = 𒇽𒂍𒅔𒆕𒀀<br />
<small>lu<sub>2</sub> e<sub>2</sub> in-řu<sub>2</sub>-a</small>
| indent = 4
| glossing = link
}}

Like the participles, the relative clauses can describe any participant involved in the action or state expressed by the verb, and the specific participant is determined by context: e.g. 𒈬𒌦𒈾𒀭𒋧𒈠 {mu-nna-n-šum-a} can be "which he gave to him", "who gave (something) to him", etc. The nominalized clause can also be a complement clause, corresponding to an English clause with "that ...", e.g. ''e<sub>2</sub> in-řu<sub>2</sub>-'''a''''' (''in-zu'') "(he knows) that he built the house". Like a noun, it can be followed by case morphemes:

* In the locative case (with added 𒀀 ''-a''), it means "when": ''e<sub>2</sub> in-řu<sub>2</sub>-a-'''a''''' "when he built the house" (more literally "''in'' his building of the house"), although this is more common in Old Sumerian. 
* In the ablative case (with added 𒋫 ''-ta''), it means "after" or "since": ''e<sub>2</sub> in-řu<sub>2</sub>-a-'''ta''''' "after he built the house"; the particle 𒊑 ''-ri'' may express the same meaning as 𒋫 ''-ta''.<ref>Edzard (2003: 160)</ref> 
* In the terminative case (with added 𒂠 -''še<sub>3</sub>''), it has a meaning close to "before" or "as to the fact that": ''e<sub>2</sub> nu-řu<sub>2</sub>-a-'''še<sub>3</sub>''''' "while he had not yet built the house".
* In the equative case (with added 𒁶 -''gen<sub>7</sub>''), it can mean "as (if)", "as (when)", "when" or "because": ''e<sub>2</sub> in-řu<sub>2</sub>-a-gen<sub>7</sub>'' "as he built the house".  
* It can also host the enclitics -/akanam/ and -/akeš/ "because": ''e<sub>2</sub> in-řu<sub>2</sub>-a-'''ka-nam''''' "because he built the house".
* More surprisingly, it can add both the genitive and the locative morpheme with a meaning close to "when", possibly "as soon as": (''e<sub>2</sub> in-řu<sub>2</sub>-a''-('''''a-''')'''ka''''') "as soon as he built the house".<ref name=":19">Jagersma (2010: 594-626)</ref>

The nominalized clause can directly modify a noun expressing time such as 𒌓 ''ud'' "day, time", 𒈬 ''mu'' "year" and 𒌗 ''itid'' "month", and this in turn can then stand in the locative and ablative in the same meanings as the clauses themselves: ''ud e<sub>2</sub> in-řu<sub>2</sub>-a-'''a/ta''''' "when/after he built the house".<ref>Edzard (2003: 152)</ref> In this case, the particle ''-bi'' sometimes precedes the case morpheme: ''ud e<sub>2</sub> in-řu<sub>2</sub>-a-'''b'''a''; the basic meaning is still of "when".<ref>Edzard (2003: 154)</ref>

The nominalized clause can also be included in the various "prepositional constructions" mentioned above:

* '''''bar''' e<sub>2</sub> in-řu<sub>2</sub>-a-k'''a''''' "because he built the house" (in Old Sumerian)
* '''''mu''' X-a-'''še<sub>3</sub>'''''  "because he built the house" (in Neo-Sumerian), 
* '''''egir''' e<sub>2</sub> in-řu<sub>2</sub>-a-k'''a''''' "after he built the house".<ref name=":19" />

The structure is shown more clearly in the following example:

{{interlinear|egir amaru ba-ur-a-ak-ta|back flood MID-sweep.over-NMLZ-GEN-ABL|"after the [[Great Flood|Flood]] had swept over"
| top = 𒂕𒀀𒈠𒊒𒁀𒃡𒊏𒋫<br /> 
<small>egir a-ma-ru ba-ur<sub>3</sub>-ra-ta</small>
| indent = 4
| glossing = link
}}

Several clauses can be nominalized by a single {-a} enclitic: {kaʾa ba-zaḫ engar-e nu-i-b-dab-'''a''' b-i-n-dug} "he said '''that''' the fox had escaped and the farmer had not caught it".<ref>Jagersma (2010: 590-591)</ref>

Participles can function in a very similar way to the nominalized clauses and be combined with the same kinds of adjuncts. One peculiarity is that, unlike nominalized clauses, they may also express the agent as a possessor, in the genitive case: 𒂍𒆕𒀀𒈗𒆷 ''e<sub>2</sub> řu<sub>2</sub>-a lugal-la'' "the house built by the king". However, when the head noun (''e<sub>2</sub>'') is specified as here, a more common construction uses the ergative: 𒂍𒈗𒂊𒆕𒀀 ''e<sub>2</sub> lugal-e řu<sub>2</sub>-a.''<ref>Jagersma (2010: 644-649)</ref>

A special subordinating construction with the temporal meaning of an English ''when''-clause is the so-called ''pronominal conjugation'', which contains a verb nominalized with -/a/ and following possessive pronominal markers referring to the subject (transitive or intransitive). In the 3rd person, the form appears to end in the possessive pronominal marker alone: 𒆭𒊏𒉌 ''kur<sub>9</sub>-r'''a'''-'''ni''''' "when he entered", lit. "his entering", etc. It has been suggested that these forms actually also contain a final directive marker ''-e''; in this example, the analysis would be {kur-a-ni-'''e'''}, "'''at''' his entering".<ref>Jagersma (2010: 672-674), Zólyomi (2017: 102), Foxvog (2016: 151-152)</ref> Similarly, in Old Babylonian Sumerian, one sometimes finds the locative or ablative markers after the possessive (''kur<sub>9</sub>-ra-n'''a''', kur<sub>9</sub>-ra-ni-'''ta''''').<ref>Zólyomi (2017: 102)</ref> In contrast, in the 1st and 2nd persons, the 1st and 2nd person pronouns are followed by the syllable 𒉈 ''-ne'':{{Efn|Especially in earlier scholarship, the sign 𒉈 was read in this context as ''de<sub>3</sub>''.<ref>Thomsen (2001: 264-265)</ref> The ''-ne'' has been variously interpreted as an obsolete locative ending, producing the interpretation of {zig-a-g̃u-ne} as 'at my rising'<ref>Jagersma (2010: 672-674), Zólyomi (2017: 102)</ref> or as identical to the demonstrative enclitic ''-ne'' "this".<ref>Sallaberger (2023: 85)</ref>}} 𒍣𒂵𒈬𒉈 ''zig<sub>3</sub>-ga-g̃u<sub>10</sub>-'''ne''''' "as I rose"). The verb itself may be in ''ḫamṭu'', as in the above examples, or in ''marû'' followed by the modal/imperfective suffix -/ed/-: 𒍣𒍣𒁕𒈬𒉈 ''zi-zi-'''d'''a''-''g̃u<sub>10</sub>-ne'' "when I rise".<ref>Jagersma (2009: 672–674)</ref> The same construction is used with the word 𒀸 ''dili'' "alone": 𒀸𒈬𒉈 ''dili-g̃u<sub>10</sub>-ne'' "I alone", etc.<ref>Zólyomi (2017: 104)</ref>

[[Subordinating conjunction]]s such as 𒌓𒁕 ''ud-da'' "when, if", 𒋗𒃻𒌉𒇲𒁉 ''tukum-bi'' "if" and 𒂗𒈾 ''en-na'' "until" also exist.<ref>Jagersma (2010: 301)</ref>