Syntax

A. Agreement

189) The adjective and the pronoun agree with the noun in gender, number and case.

a) Examples for the adjective and the participle : arranza halkis "washed grain", damain wātar "foul water", arahzenes utneantes humantes "all the neighboring countries", tarpallius wassandus "dressed idols".

b) Examples for the pronouns : apās-pat memias "also each word", tuzziyas-mis "my army", kūn MUNUS-an "this woman (Acc.)", kī ishiul "this obligation", hassatar-set "his power", kuēs auriyalus "which outposts", arēsmēs (i.e. ^*arēs-smēs) "your (Pl.) comrades", sarhuwandus-sus "her unborn children", kē arkuwarri ^HI.A "those prayers", kēdani pidi "at this place", apēz linkiyaz "from this oath", kardiyas-tas "of your (Sg.) heart".

190) However, Hittite often agrees according to the meaning, especially for the agreement of the number :

a) 1. A collective singular can be understood as a plural : KUR-eanza humanza URU^DIDLI.HI.A BÀD EĜIR-pa eppir "the whole country took (Pl.) the fortified cities".

2. Conversly, a plural can be understood as a collective singular : hēwēs kisa "the rains occur" (lit. "a period of rain occurs"), apāt ERIN₂^MEŠ ANŠU.KUR.RA^MEŠ "these foot-soldiers and chariot drivers", NAM.RA^MEŠ kuin uwater nas 1 LIM esta "the prisoners that they brought were (lit. was) 1000".

b) The point of view of Hittite can vary in the same sentence between singular and plural, or between the common and neutral gender : KARAŠ-za-kan kuēs tēpawēs isparter apāt-ma-kan hūman arha haspir-pat "of the few troops that escaped, they were all destroyed too", nan GIM-an KUR-eanza austa nat nahsarriyandari "and when the country saw him, they (i.e. the inhabitants) took fright".

c) 1. It should also be underlined that an ideogram can conceal several pronunciations and grammatical forms. Thus, KUR "country" can stand for the neuter utnē and the common utnēyant-.

2. Behind ideograms tagged as plural such as ERIN₂^MEŠ and NAM.RA^MEŠ, the plurals "soldiers" and "prisoners" or the singulars "army" and "crowd of prisoners" can be hidden. That is why one sometimes finds the plurals kuēs ERIN₂^MEŠ "these soldiers", NAM.RA^MEŠ kuēs "these prisoners", and sometimes the singulars kās 6 ME ERIN₂^MEŠ "this troop of 600 (men)", NAM.RA^MEŠ kuin "this crowd of prisoners".

191) True disagreements can be observed for gender :

a) For parts of body. Thus, the neuter genu "knee" sometimes agrees correctly with the neutral possessive pronoun : genu-ssit "his knee", sometimes with the common possessive pronoun : genus-sus "his knee". The two forms for "hand", kessera- (c.) and kessar (n.) seem to exhibit almost an inversion of the gender of the possessive : on one hand ŠU-as-set "his hand" (i.e. kesseras-set ; subst. comm. + poss. neut.), on the other hand kessar-sis "his hand" (subst. neut. + poss. comm.).

b) Occasionally elsewhere in poorly known cases : mān antuwahhas (comm.) suppi (n.) "if a man (is) pure". Next to the correct form MI-an hūmandan "the whole night", one finds several times MI-an hūman (adj. n.).

192) c) Some adjectives like mekki- "much", kurur- "hostile", taksul- "friendly" are only partially inflected ; kurur and taksul have no Nom. Plur. comm. Hence, for example kunanzassa mekki ^LÚappanzassa mekki "the killed as well as the prisoners (are) many" (literally "the killed as well as the prisoners (is) many" ; kunanzassa andappanzassa = kunanza andappanza + -a "and" ; §25b). apās DUMU-as ŠU.GI-eszi nu-za DUMU^MEŠ mekki iyazi "the mentioned boy becomes old and begets many children", zik-ma-mu-za kurur es "but you (Sg.), be friendly towards me", kuēs kurur esir "who were friendly", tūwaza-ma taksul-pat esir "but they were however faithful far away".

193) The Nom.-Acc. Plur. Neut. of the adjective is weak and the possessive pronoun does not use this inflection ; instead of the plural, the corresponding forms in the singular can or must be used :

a) Optional for the adjective : EZEN^HI.A SISKUR₂^HI.A ... parkui suppi piskanzi "they give celebrations (and) sacrifices as pure (and) saint", É^MEŠ DINGIR^MEŠ ... parku IŠTU KÙ.BABBAR GUŠKIN unuwanda "high temples, decorated with gold (and) silver", kuē kallar idālu uddār "which charming, nasty words".

b) Mandatory for the possessive pronoun : uddār-mit "my words", sakuwa-sset "his eyes". Cf. the paradigms at §108.

194) Substantives with a numeral can be in the singular or the plural : 2 huprushēs "2 huprushi -containers" next to 2 huprushin, karūila DUB.2.KAM^HI.A "2 old trays", 7 ^NA4passilan "7 flints", 7 ^DUGpurpuris ... suwan "7 filled purpuris-containers".

195) a) 1. In the present, it is common to build pure nominal sentences with a subject and an attributive substantive without verbal syntagm : attas assus "the father (is) good", ANA ^dUTU^ŠI-ma-as anniniyamis "but the Sun (is) a cousin", MU.KAM-za-wa-ta sēr tepawessanza "hence the year (is becoming) short for you (Sg.)".

2. The same construction is also possible in the imperative (e.g. with the prohibitive lē + Ind. Pres., §264. 280a) : nu-war-as ammuk ^LÚMUDĪYA "thus he (must be) my husband", 1-as 1-edani menahhanda lē idālus "the one (must not be) nasty towards the other".

Example of mixed construction : nu-wa-za damēdaza KUR-eza kurur es ammetaza-ma-wa-za-kan KUR-eza arha lē kurur "now be hostile towards another country, do not (be) hostile towards my country".

3. Very short nominal sentences can be made of the only attribute without subject : hurkēl "(it is) an abomination", BUBUTĀNUM ŠA NIM.LÀL "(it is) a famine of the bees", UL harātar "(it is) not a blow", warpuwanzi "(it is time) to bathe".

b) In the preterite, the verbal syntagm cannot be omitted : attas assus esta "the father was good", ABŪYA genzuwalas esta "my father was helpful", nu-za MU.KAM-za ser tepawessanza esta "and then the year became short".

Example of comparison present-preterite : dandukisnasa DUMU-as ukturi natta huiswanza "and the child (is) not alive for ever " next to māmman danduskinasa DUMU-as ukturi huiswanza esta "if the child was alive for ever".

196) When the subject of a sentence is a plural neuter, the predicate is in the singular :

a) This rule, the same as the Greek usage, is regular with a verbal syntagm : uidār ANA ŠAPAL MUL^HI.A seszi "the rations of water stay under the stars", apē-ya uddār QATAMMA lagāru "thus these words must bow as well", kuē 2 ALAM ... kitta "which 2 images ... find themselves".

b) Unlike the Greek usage, the attribute is generally in the singular too, even if it is not isolated : kē-ma tuppa ^HI.A ... aniyan esta "but those tablets ... were written", kururi ^HI.A meggaya nininkan esta "many enemy troops were mobilized". E.g. also : kē-ya-kan É DINGIR^LIM ... ukturi QATAMMA assu esdu "so these temples ... must be steady as well as good" with the variant kē-ya-wa É DINGIR^LIM QATAMMA pahhasnuwanda esdu nu-war-at-san ... ukturi esdu "so these temples must also be safe, and they must be steady".