Answers to cuneiform exercises 3

Here are the answers to Cuneiform exercises 3, with some explanatory notes. You may also find it helpful to look again at the page on Verbs and adverbs for more explanations.

  1. ๐’€  ๐’ˆ  ๐’€œ

    al-ma-ad
    almad
    "I learned" or "I learn" (preterite)

    Note: the tense depends on the context.

  2. ๐’€€ ๐’†ท ๐’„  ๐’ˆ  ๐’€œ

    a-la-am-ma-ad
    alammad
    "I am learning" or "I was learning" or "I will learn" (present or durative)

  3. ๐’€  ๐’‹ซ ๐’ˆ  ๐’€œ

    al-ta-ma-ad
    altamad
    "I have learned" (perfect)

  4. ๐’‹ซ ๐’€  ๐’ˆ  ๐’€œ

    ta-al-ma-ad
    talmad
    "you learned" or "you learn" (singular, masculine or feminine)

  5. ๐’„ฟ ๐’Šญ ๐’…— ๐’€ญ

    i-ša-ka-an
    išakkan
    "he (or she) is putting" or "he (or she) was putting" or "he (or she) will put"

    Note: remember that doubled consonants are not always written explicitly (but conversely double writings always indicate double spellings).

  6. ๐’„ฟ ๐’Šญ ๐’…— ๐’‰ก

    i-ša-ka-nu
    išakkanลซ
    "they are/were putting" or "they will put" (masculine)

  7. ๐’€ธ ๐’†ช ๐’Œฆ

    aš-ku-un
    aškun "I put"

  8. ๐’‰Œ ๐’…– ๐’†ช ๐’Œฆ

    ni-iš-ku-un
    niškun
    "we put"

  9. ๐’ˆ— ๐’€€ ๐’ˆพ ๐’Œฆ ๐’‹— ๐’„ฟ ๐’• ๐’ ๐’Œ’

    LUGAL a-na UN-šu i-da-bu-ub
    šarrum ana nišฤซšu idabbub
    "The king is/was talking (or will talk) to his people."

  10. ๐’Šฉ ๐’€€ ๐’ˆพ ๐’Œ‰ ๐’Šฉ ๐’Šญ ๐’€‰ ๐’ ๐’Œ’

    MUNUS a-na DUMU.MUNUS-ša id-bu-ub
    sinništum ana mฤrtiša idbub
    "The woman talks/talked to her daughter."

  11. ๐’€ด ๐’ˆจ๐’Œ ๐’€‰ ๐’ ๐’

    ARAD-MEŠ id-bu-bu
    wardลซ idbubลซ
    "The slaves talk(ed)."

    Note: the masculine plural endings of nouns and verbs are conveniently identical.

  12. ๐’€€ ๐’ˆพ ๐’‚— ๐’…€ ๐’€œ ๐’‹ซ ๐’ ๐’Œ’

    a-na EN-ia ad-da-bu-ub
    ana bฤ“liya addabub
    "I have talked to my lord."

    Note: the voiced d of the root consonant and perfect-tense unvoiced t assimilate to voiced dd (as explained on the Sound rules page).

  13. ๐’Šฉ ๐’„ฟ ๐’Šญ ๐’…†

    MUNUS i-ša-lim
    sinništum išallim
    "The woman will get well."

    Note: for state (being) verbs, the durative usually describes future states.

  14. ๐’ˆ— ๐’Šญ ๐’…†

    LUGAL ša-lim
    šarrum šalim
    "The king was/is well."

    Note: for state (being) verbs, past and present states are usually described by the stative (see the page on Possession and existence).

  15. ๐’ˆ  ๐’€€ ๐’ฒ ๐’…– ๐’Šฉ ๐’ˆ  ๐’†ช

    ma-a-di-iš šal-ma-ku
    mฤdiš šalmฤku
    "I was/am very well."

  16. ๐’ฎ ๐’…— ๐’ŒŒ ๐’Šฉ ๐’ˆ  ๐’€œ

    DAM-ka ul šal-ma-at
    aššatka ul šalmat
    "Your wife was/is not well."

  17. ๐’€ต ๐’†ฌ ๐’Œ“ ๐’€‰ ๐’ฒ ๐’…”

    ARAD2 KUG.BABBAR id-di-in
    wardum kaspam iddin
    "The slave gave/gives the silver."

    Note: even when nouns are written logographically, word order (and common sense) usually tells us which is the subject and which the object of the sentence.
    The weak root consonant n and the stronger adjacent d assimilate to dd (as explained on the Sound rules page).

  18. ๐’€ด ๐’ˆจ๐’Œ ๐’†ฌ ๐’Œ“ ๐’ŒŒ ๐’€‰ ๐’ฒ ๐’‰ก

    ARAD-MEŠ KUG.BABBAR ul id-di-nu
    wardลซ kaspam ul iddinลซ
    "The slaves did/do not give the silver."

  19. ๐’‡ฝ ๐’†ฌ ๐’Œ“ ๐’€€ ๐’ˆพ ๐’ฎ ๐’‹— ๐’„ฟ ๐’ˆพ ๐’ฒ ๐’…”

    LU2 KUG.BABBAR a-na DAM-šu i-na-di-in
    awฤซlum kaspam ana aššatišu inaddin
    "The man will give the silver to his wife."

  20. ๐’€€ ๐’ˆพ ๐’†ช ๐’‹— ๐’ŒŒ ๐’ˆ  ๐’„  ๐’€€ ๐’ˆพ ๐’Œฆ ๐’€œ ๐’‹ซ ๐’ฒ ๐’…”

    a-na-ku šu-ul-ma-am a-na UN (or KALAM) at-ta-di-in
    anฤku šulmam ana nišฤซ (or mฤtim) attadin
    "I have given well-being to the people (or the land)."

    Note: The weak root consonant n and the stronger adjacent t assimilate to tt (as explained on the Sound rules page).

Content last modified on 07 Jul 2012.

Eleanor Robson

Eleanor Robson, 'Answers to cuneiform exercises 3', Knowledge and Power, Higher Education Academy, 2012 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/knpp/CuneiformRevealed/Learningsigns/Cuneiformexercises/Answers3/]

 
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