F. Pronoun syntax

1. Personal pronouns

235) For the forms of the emphatic and enclitic personal pronouns, cf. §§96 to 105. About the position of the enclitic personal pronouns in the sequence of the enclitic elements at the beginning of the sentence, cf §288.

236) The pronominal accusatives -an "eum, eam", -at "id", -us (-as) "eos, eas", -at "ea" (§102a) can be omitted in the legislative language : takku GUDHI.A A.ŠÀ-ni pānzi BĒL A.ŠÀ wemiyazi UD.1.KAM turiyazi "if oxen run across a field (and) the owner of the field finds (them), he can tie (them) up (for) one day".

237) a) The pronominal accusatives can also be omitted with ta "and" (§316) even out of the legislative context : SILA3.ŠU.DU8.A GAMAM LUGAL-i pāi ta harzi "the cup-bearer gives the chalice to the king and holds (him)", LUGAL-us ĜIŠBANŠUR-az NINDA-an dāi ta-sse pāi "the king takes bread on the table and gives (it) to him" (variant nan-si pāi "and gives it to him").

b) However, the pronouns above can also be attached to ta "and" in the same way as nu "and" : kuit kuit harakzi tat sarnikzi "all that decays, he replaces it" (cf. §103a).

238) The importance of the impersonal verbs in Hittite is still unclear. Next to impersonal verbs of disease (§200) and tethāi "it is thundering", duggari "it seems (good)" among others, the possibility that a deity could be considered as the subject should be envisaged. However, cf. also akkiskittari "(some) regularly die" (i.e. deaths always regularly occur), mān LUGAL-i assu "if it (seems) good to the king".

2. Reflexive pronouns

239) The enclitic personal pronouns can be used as reflexive pronouns : nu-nnas DUMU.NITAMEŠ DUMU.MUNUSMEŠ iyawen "and we conceived for ourselves sons (and) daughters", nu-smas DINGIRMEŠ-as ZI-ni mekki nahhantes estin "now, be (for yourselves) very cautious with the mentality of the gods" (ethical dative), warpanzi-ma-wa-smas UL "but they don't wash themselves" (lit. : they don't do a washing on themselves ; Dat.-Loc. Plur. !), lē-ta nāhi "don't fear (for yourself)" (§206).

240) However, the usual means to express the reflexive is the enclitic -za (-z) which position in the sequence of the enclitic elements at the beginning of the sentence is treated in §288 and which is used for all persons. Thus, next to the sentences quoted in §239 : nu-za DUMU.NITAMEŠ DUMU.MUNUSMEŠ DÙ-nun "and I have conceived for myself sons (and) daughters", nu-za DINGIRMEŠ-as ZI-ni mekki nahhantes estin (same translation as above), warpanzi-ma-wa-z UL (idem).

Further examples : nat-za-kan pidi-pat ÌR-ahta "and he submitted at the same place", nu-za-kan INA KUR URUHatti dUTU URUTÚL-na ŠUM-an daista "and in the land Hatti, you have added to yourself the name 'Sun-goddess of Arinna'", ta-z ŠUMEŠ arri "and he washes his hands" (cf. French il se lave les mains), nan-zan HADANU essesta "and he made himself as son-in-law" (-zan instead of -za according to §34. 42b2), nu-za-kan 2 EN SISKUR wātar INA SAĜ.DUMEŠ-ŠUNU sarā lahhuwanzi "and the two sacrificers pour water on their head".

241) Some verbs change slightly of meaning depending on whether they use -za or not. Meaning of :

242) Other verbs always or nearly always use -za without any particular meaning for -za, e.g. : ilaliya- "to wish", malāi- "to agree", markiya- "to disagree", dusk- "to rejoice", UL mema- "to refuse", arkuwar iya- (arkuwar essa-, arkuwar dāi-) "to pray". They can be considered as reflexive verbs (cf. English to rejoice = French se réjouir).

243) -za is also used in nominal sentences (§195a1), but irregularly ; the exact conditions are still unclear : nu-za ANA dUTUŠI warris ŠU.DIM4-ass-a sardiyas es "now, my Sun, be the helper and the support against violence" (next to katta-ma tuēl DUMUMEŠ-KA NARĀRU ŠU.DIM4-as sardiyas-a asandu "thus, your sons must be the helper and the support against violence").

244) The reciprocal relations are described like this : "they see each other" = "one sees the other" is expressed by means of ŠEŠ-as ŠEŠ-an auszi "the brother sees the brother" or aras aran auszi "the friend sees the friend" or 1-as 1-an auszi "one sees the other" or kās kūn auszi "this one sees this one".

3. Possessive pronouns

245) ammēl UKU3-as "my man" also means "one of my family".

246) a) The possessive pronoun of the 3. Pers. Sing. -sis "his" is sometimes incorrectly used instead of the 3. Pers. Plur. -smis "their" ; the Dat.-Loc. ishi-ssi "to his master" can also mean "to their master", ĜIŠTUKULHI.A-us-sus "their weapons".

b) In set phrases, the possessive meaning can completely vanish : pedi-ssi "at his place" simply means "on the spot".

247) The postpositions piran "in front of", appa(n) "behind", sēr "on", katta "under, next to" and istarna "amid" are built differently according to the form of the personal pronouns :

a) They are placed after the independant forms : ammuk piran "in front of me", duqqa katta "next to you (Sg.)".

b) Instead of enclitic personal pronouns, Hittite uses the Nom.-Acc. Neutr. of the possessive pronouns placed after piran, appa(n) and sēr : piran-tet "in front of you (Sg.)", piran-set (pirasset, §36a1) "in front of him", piran-semet "in front of them" (instead of *piran-smet, §22a. 26), appan-samet "after them" (instead of *appan-smet), sēr-set "on him, for him". The postpositions are thus built like the substantives "front, back, etc...".

c) In the second case, katta(n) and istarna are built like the substantives "underside" and "middle", but in the Dat.-Loc. Sing., the forms are katti and istarni ; thus katti-m(m)i "next to me", katti-t(t)i "next to you (Sg.)", katti-s(s)i "next to him, under him" ; istarni-smi (istarni-ssumi, §22a. 26) "among them".

d) The unclear word kitkar "on foot (?)" gives kitkar-si "him on foot (?)" (like katti-ssi), but kitkar-samet "them on foot (?)" (like appan-samet).

e) If in-between enclitics are inserted in a group postposition-pronoun, the possessive pronouns are replaced by enclitic personal pronouns : piran-ma-at-mu "in front of me (-mu) but (-ma) it (-at)", sēr-a-ssi-ssan "and (-a) on him (-ssi)". Especially instructive : sēr-sit-wa sarnikmi "I want to pay for him" against the variant sēr-wa-ssi sarnikmi.

248) About the use of the instrumental of the possessive pronouns with substantives in the ablative, cf. §218cα.

4. Demonstrative pronouns

249) kā-, apā-, eni- and asi- correspond to Latin hic, is, ille, iste. The corresponding adverbs are kissan and enissan (§§114c. 117b).

250) This is why one finds for instance kissan memista "he spoke as follows" with a following quotation, but enissan memista "he spoke thus" with a preceding quotation.

251) One also finds, in addition to the meaning following - preceding, kā- in relation with the 1st person, apā- in relation with the 2nd and 3rd persons. The expression kēz KUR-az - apiz KUR-az "from this country - from that country" is equivalent to "from my country - from your country". corresponds to "here with me", apiya to "there with you" (or "there with him").

252) One can even use kā- and kissan in relation with the 1st person and the preceding context : nu kī INA MU.1.KAM iyanun "Now, I achieved that (= my aforementioned deeds) in one year", nan punus mān kisan mān UL kisan "ask him whether it is like that or not like that (as I exactly said)".

5. Indefinite pronouns

253) One occasionally finds instead of kuiski "someone, anyone" the simpler form kuis :

a) UL kuis means "none, not the slightest" (cf. Latin non aliquis).

b) α) For "if someone", one usually finds mān kuiski, but sometimes also mān kuis (cf. Latin si quis).

β) mān kuwapikki and mān kuwapi mean "if ever".

c) kuis - kuis means "the one - the other" (cf. Italian chi - chi ; distributive, not reciprocal).