Person First

Summary

The first person form of a term refers to the person(s) writing or speaking.

Article

In English, the first person pronouns include: “I”, “me”, or “my”, for singular; and “we”, “us”, or “our,” for plural. In Biblical Aramaic, terms which are marked for first person do not change form according to gender (masculine and feminine), but they do change form according to number (singular or plural). In Biblical Aramaic, verbs, pronouns, and pronominal suffixes can all be marked for first person.

Form

In Biblical Aramaic, a term marked for first person can be recognized by a variety of changes to the form. These changes differ greatly from each other, so it is difficult to sum them up in a simple, helpful way. The paradigm below shows a sample of the kinds of changes that signal a first person form.

Paradigm

First Person Pe’al Stem Forms

Parsing	Aramaic	Transliteration	Gloss
first person common singular perfect	כִּתְבֵת		I wrote
first person common plural perfect	כְּתַבְנַא		we wrote
first person common singular imperfect	אֶכְתֻּב		I will write
first person common plural imperfect	נִכְתֻּב		we will write

First Person Independent Personal Pronoun Forms

Parsing	Aramaic	Transliteration	Gloss
first person common singular	אֲנָה	‘enah	I
first person common plural	אֲנַחְנָה	‘enachnah	we

Neither English nor Biblical Aramaic distinguish between the inclusive and the exclusive “we”. The context will determine which one is meant. See also translationAcademy and translationNotes for help if the context is not clear.

Examples

Finite verb marked for first person

A finite verb (and/or verbal participle) in first person form indicates that the subject of the verb is the writer/speaker of the verb.

Personal pronoun marked for first person

A first person indpendent personal pronoun refers either to the writer/speaker (for singular) or to an entire group to which the writer/speaker belongs (for plural).

Pronominal suffix marked for first person

A first person pronominal suffix usually functions either as a personal pronoun (for verbs and prepositions) or as a possessive adjective (for nouns).

As attached to a verb

As attached to a noun

As attached to a preposition