L. Clauses

1. Final clause and purpose clause

322) Hittite has no specific forms for the final clause or the purpose clause. In order to build such clauses, Hittite only juxtaposes them with nu : nas UL tarnahhun nan-kan UL kuennir "and I did not let them, and they did not kill him" (= I did not allow that they kill him), takku LÚ-an nasma MUNUS-an ELLAM wal(a)hzi kuiski nas aki "if someone strikes a free man or a (free) woman and (in such a way that) he (she) dies", nu taskupāi nu URU-as dapiyanzi isdammaszi "cry now, and the whole city will hear (it)" (= in such a way that [or : in order that] the whole city can hear it).

2. Causal clause and dependant positive sentence

323) The conjunction introducing a causal clause is kuit "because". It never stands at the beginning of the clause. The clause introduced by kuit usually stands first : nu ABŪYA genzuwalas kuit esta nas ŠA MUNUS^TI memiyani kāri tiyat "because my father was lenient, he favorably received the case of the woman", annisan-ma kuit ANA ^mMahsuluwa IBILA NU.GÁL esta nu-za tuk ^mKupanta-^dKAL-an DUMU ŠEŠ-ŠU IBILA-anni sarā dān harta "but since at that time no descendant was born to M., then he had taken you, K., the son of his brother as descendant".

About the presence or not of nu in the causal clauses, cf. §311.

324) kuit can also mean "that" ; in this case, the clause introduced by kuit often stands after. Thus :

a) with kuit with the meaning "the fact that" : ammēl kās-pat 1-as dammeshas kiy-an 1-an dammeshanunun IŠTU É.GAL^LIM-pat-kan kuit katta uiyanun "this (is) my only sentence : thus I only condemned that I throw him away of the palace" ;

b) after a verb of perception : mahhan-ma LÚ^{MEŠ URU}Azzi auer URU^DIDLI.HI.A BÁD-kan kuit zahhiyaz katta daskiwan tehhun "but the people of Azzi saw that I started to subdue cities in fighting".

325) A nominalized participle or a noun can also depend on a verb of perception or of speech with the meaning "that" : ammuk-war-an akkantan IQBI "he announced him to me as dead" (i.e. he told me that he was dead), mahhan-ma KUR.KUR^{MEŠ LÚ}KÚR ^mArnuandan ŠEŠ-YA irman istamassir "but since the enemies heard my brother Arnuwanda ill" (i.e. since they heard that he was ill).

3. Temporal clause

326) The temporal clauses are introduced by :

a) mahhan "while, as, when" : mahhan-ma hameshanza kisat "but as it was spring", mahhan-ma ^UZUÌ zeyari "but while the fat is cooking" ;

b) mān "as, when" in Old-Hittite instead of mahhan : mān-san ^mTelepinus INA ^ĜIŠGU.ZA ABĪYA eshat "when I, Telepinu, sat on the throne of my father" ;

c) kuwapi "at the time" : nu-za ABŪYA kuwapi DINGIR^LIM-is DÙ-at "at the time when my father became a god" ;

d) kuitman = lat. dum, thus :

1. "as long as, while" : nu kuitman ABŪYA INA KUR ^URUMitanni esta "as long as my father was in the land Mitanni" ;

2. "until" (placed after the main clause) : nu É-ri-ssi anneskizzi kuitman-as SIG₅-attari "and he works in his house until he recovers" ;

3. Multiple clauses introduced by "until" are tied in asyndeton (§310g) : nu-wa-ssi kās ^LÚKARTAPPU pidi-si esaru kuitman-as uizzi kuitman-as apiya EĜIR-pa uizzi "and this stable master must stay at his place until he comes (and) until he goes back" ;

4. nāwi kuitman "not yet" also means "before" : nu ANA KUR ^LÚKÚR nāwi kuitman kuēdanikki pāun "before I leave against any enemy country".

e) kuit sometimes means "on the occasion of, when" : nu-za KUR ^URUArzawa kuit hūman tar(a)hhun nu-za ^dUTU^ŠI kuin NAM.RA INA É LUGAL uwatenun nas anda 1-etta 66.000 NAM.RA esta "the prisoners that I, the Sun, when I destroyed the whole land Arzawa, brought away to the royal palace, were altogether 66.000 prisoners".

4. Conditional clause

327) a) The real conditional clause is usually introduced by mān "if" : mān-kan ^LÚMUNABTUM IŠTU KUR-KA KUR ^URUHatti ^LÚpittiyantili uizzi nan-ta EĜIR-pa UL piyanzi "if a refugee comes into the country Hatti as a refugee, then he will not be expelled", mān-kan ŠÀ KUR^TI akkiskittari nat mān kururas kuiski DINGIR^LUM iyan harzi nu kissan iyami "if inside the country a great mortality occurs and if any god of the enemy caused it, then I act as follows".

b) The ancient word takku "if" is especially used in legal texts, more rarely in other kinds of texts : takku LÚ-an ELLUM sullannaza kuiski dasuwahhi 1 MA.NA KÙ.BABBAR pāi "if someone blinds a free man during a fight, he will give one mina of silver".

328) a) The conjunction is sometimes totally missing : INA ITI.12.KAM DUMU-as miyari apās DUMU-as ^LÚŠU.GI-eszi "(if) a boy is born at the 12th month, (then) this boy will grow old", wasdul kuēlqa autti ... nu-za pankun EĜIR-pa punuski "(if) you see a crime, ... then always ask to the community", NINDA-an-za wemiyanun nanza AHĪTĪYA natta kuwapikki edun "(if) I have found bread, then I did not eat it secretly".

b) 1. nasma mainly means "or if" : nasma ERIN₂^MEŠ ANŠU.KUR.RA^MEŠ ANA ^dUTU^ŠI wekti nu-tta nassu ^dUTU^ŠI ERIN₂^MEŠ ANŠU.KUR.RA^MEŠ uppahhi nasma-tta KUR-eas ZAG-as EN-as EĜIR-an uizzi "or if you want foot-soldiers (and) chariots from the Sun, either I, the Sun, will send you foot-soldiers and chariots, or the lord of the borders of the country will help you (lit. : will come behind you)".

2. But one also finds nasma mān : nasma mān KUR^TUM kuitki zahhiyaza LUGAL KUR ^URUHatti anda hatkisnuzzi "or if the king of the country Hatti attacks with a fight any country".

329) In the potential conditional clause, mān is found with the present, according to the only known evidence. By analogy with the unreal conditional clauses built in the same way, this mān should probably be understood as the unreal particle man with omission of the conjunction mān "if". Evidence : mān-wa-mu 1-an DUMU-KA paisti man-war-as-mu ^LÚMUTĪYA kisari "if you gave me one of your sons, he could become my husband".

330) a) 1. In the unreal conditional clause, one usually finds mān "if" and the unreal particle man (§265ff.) in the expression man mān with the preterite : man-kan mān ANA ^dUTU^ŠI kuwapi HUL-wanni kittat man-ta ^dUTU^ŠI arha pessiyanun "if this had been done with an evil intent towards the Sun, I, the Sun, could have driven you away", man-kan mān ANA ^mAttarsiya huiswetenn-a kastita-man akten "even if you were gone to A. alive, you would however have starved to death".

2. With the spelling mān instead of man : mān-kan mān ANA ^mPittaggatalli-pat warpa tehhun man-mu ^LÚauriyalus kuit ŠA ^mPittaggatalli auer mān-mu piran arha tarnas "since, if I had led the march (?) directly towards P., the guards of P. would have seen me, he would have left in front of me".

b) However, the conjunction can here again vanish, in such a way that the protasis only contains the particle man, eventually written mān : EĜIR-an-man kuwapi apēdas ANA NAM.RA^MEŠ tiyanun man ^dUTU^ŠI EĜIR-an tiyanun "if I had ever bothered about these prisoners, I, the Sun, would have looked after them (i.e. I would have looked after them personally)", ammuk-man-wa kuwapi DUMU-YA esta ammuk-man-wa ammēl RAMĀNĪYA ammēll-a KUR-eas tepnumar tamētani KUR-e hatrānun "would I have, (if) I already had a son, written to another country the humiliation of myself and of my country ?".

331) a) An unreal or potential protasis can sometimes be followed by a real apodosis : man-ma-za DAM-YA ANA MUNUS.LUGAL isiyahhiskattallas kisat nu idālu kuitki iyat "should my wife have become an investigator against the queen if she did something wrong ?".

b) The apodosis can sometimes be understood in curses and oaths : nasma-kan mān ^dUTU^ŠI kuēdani anda idālu istamasti nat-mu-kan mān sannatti nat-mu UL mematti apūnn-a-mu antuhsan UL tekkussanusi nan anda imma munnāsi "or if you hear evil from someone against the Sun, (then woe betide you) if you conceal it from me and you do not tell it to me, if you do not either show me these men and you hide them from me", mān-ma-wa ^ĜIŠKARA₂ iskallahhun nasma-wa ^NA4KIŠIB duwarnahhun nasma-wa-za dahhun kuitki "(I be cursed) if I cut the lace or if I broke the seal or if I took something for myself".

5. Concessive clause

332) a) The concessive clause is generally introduced by mān-a "although" : ^mUrhi-^dU-upas-ma-mu mān HUL-luss-a esta ammuk-ma UL karussiyanun "but although Urhi-Tessup was ill-disposed towards me, I did not stay quietly watching him", nu-za mān irmalanza-sa (§25b) esta ^dUTU^ŠI-ma-tta ANA AŠAR ABĪKA tittanunun-pat "and although you were ill, I nevertheless (§293e) installed you at the place of your father".

b) mān "if" alone can also be used as a concessive conjunction : zik-ma-za ^mKupanta-^dKAL-as ANA ^mPÍŠ.TUR-wa kuit DUMU-ŠU esta mān-za UL manga wasdulas esta man-ta-kkan É ABĪKA KUR-KA-ya UL arha dāir "since you, K., were however the son of Mashuiluwa, could not someone take from you, although you were absolutely not guilty, the house of your father and your country ?".

6. Indirect interrogative clause

333) The indirect interrogative clause which is not introduced by an interrogative pronoun (kuis "who ?", masiwant- "what size ?", etc...) or by an interrogative adverb (kuwapi "where ? when ?", kuwat "why ?", etc...) starts with mān "if" (also for the double interrogation mān - mān "if - or else") : nu ^mUrhi-^dU-upas kuit apiya nan punus mān kisan mān UL kisan "since Urhi-Tessub (is) there now, then ask him if it is like this (or) if it is not like this".

7. Relative clause

334) a) Hittite does not build the relative clause the same way as English does, e.g. "the man whom you have seen is my father", but instead "you have seen this man, this is my father". The relative clause also stands before the main clause in most cases. The relative pronoun is often, though not necessarily, at the second place in the clause it belongs to. Hittite pulls the noun that the relative clause depends on (that would stand in the main clause in English) into the relative clause, and usually mentions it again in the following main clause : nu-za ^dUTU^ŠI kuin NAM.RA INA É LUGAL uwatenun nas 15.500 NAM.RA esta "and the prisoners whom I, the Sun, drove to the royal palace, were 15,500 prisoners", nasma-tta ^URUKÙ.BABBAR-sas ZAG-as kuis BĒLU maninkuwan nu ERIN₂^MEŠ ANŠU.KUR.RA^MEŠ apēdani wekti "or the lord of the borders of Hattusa who (is) near you, (if) you ask him for foot-soldiers (and) chariots", pēdi-ma-kan kuē KUR.KUR^MEŠ daliyanun nu-smas ZAG^HI.A-us tehhun "but the countries that I left in place, I set their borders", nu kuis tān pēdas DUMU^RU nu LUGAL-us apās kisaru "the one who is a second-rank son, that one must become king", nu-mu arahzenas KUR.KUR ^LÚKÚR kuēs kururiyahhir nu ANA KUR ^LÚKÚR nāwi kuitman kuēdanikki pāun "these neighboring countries that had started to attack me, before I went into one of these countries".

b) Example of nested relative clauses : ^dU-as kuēdani UD-ti hatuga tethiskit ... ^TÚGNÍG.LÁM^MEŠ kuē apēdani UD-ti wassan harkun ANA ^ĜIŠGIGIR-ya-kan kuēdani apēdani UD-ti arhahat nu kē ^TÚGNÍG.LÁM^MEŠ ... ^ĜIŠGIGIR-ya tūriyan apātt-a dāir "that day when the storm-god had terribly thundered several times ... these clothes that I had worn that day, and the chariot I stood on that day, they have taken (for themselves) these clothes ... and this harnessed chariot".

c) Other examples of relative clauses : ÌR^MEŠ-YA-wa-za kuēs dās nu-war-as-kan kattanta pehutet nu-war-as-mu arha uppi "my subjects that you have taken and brought away, bring them back to me !", NAM.RA^HI.A kuēs ABŪYA arnut ammuqq-at arnunun nu-mu-kan mān apēl kuiski ŠA NAM.RA^MEŠ huwāizzi "these prisoners whom my father drove away and whom I drove away, if one of these prisoners runs away from me".