Person Third¶
Summary¶
The third person form of a term refers to a person(s) or thing(s) other than the writer/speaker and the person being addressed by the writer/speaker.
Article¶
In English, the third person pronouns include: “he”, “him”, “his”, “she”, or “her”, for singular; and “they”, “them”, or “their,” for plural. In Biblical Aramaic, terms which are marked for third person can change form according to both gender (masculine and feminine) and number (singular or plural). In Biblical Aramaic, verbs, pronouns, and pronominal suffixes can all be marked for third person.
Form¶
In Biblical Aramaic, a term marked for third 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 third person form.
Paradigm¶
Parsing |
Aramaic |
Transliteration |
Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
third person masculine singular perfect |
כְּתַב |
kethabh |
he wrote |
third person feminine singular perfect |
כִּתְבַת |
kithbhath |
she wrote |
third person masculine plural perfect |
כְּתַבוּ |
kethabhu |
they wrote |
third person feminine plural perfect |
כְּתַבָה |
kethabhah |
they wrote |
third person masculine singular imperfect |
יִכְתֻּב |
yikhtubh |
he will write |
third person feminine singular imperfect |
תִּכְתֻּב |
tikhtubh |
she will write |
third person masculine plural imperfect |
יִכְתְּבוּן |
yikhtebhun |
they will write |
third person feminine plural imperfect |
יִכְתְּבָן |
yikhtebhan |
they will write |
Examples¶
Finite verb marked for third person¶
A finite verb (and/or verbal participle) in third person form indicates that the subject of the verb is someone/something other than the writer/speaker or the person being addressed.
Personal pronoun marked for third person¶
A third person indpendent personal pronoun refers either to a person/thing (for singular) or group of persons/things (for plural) other than the writer/speaker and the person being addressed by the writer/speaker.
Pronominal suffix marked for third person¶
A third person pronominal suffix usually functions either as a personal pronoun (for verbs and prepositions) or as a possessive adjective (for nouns).