I and III weak verbs: verbs whose first or third consonant is ʾ (aleph)

So far we have been looking at strong verbs: verbs which only have strong root consonants. But the weak consonant ʾ (aleph, the glottal stop) can be a root consonant too. On this page we discuss the forms of verbs whose first or third root consonant is an aleph. Fortunately, we can use strong-verb paradigms to make sense of them. Verbs whose second consonant is weak operate under different rules, so we will consider them on a separate page, along with some other exceptional types of verb.

When you have read this page, you might like to test your understanding by trying Cuneiform exercise 7.

I weak ("first weak") verbs in the G stem and its derivatives

There is nothing particularly special about weak verbs. They mean the same sorts of things as strong verbs; they have the same tenses, tense vowels, and subject markers, and they exist in the same stems. All that differentiates them from strong verbs is that the aleph can affect the nearby vowels and consonants.

To understand how I weak verbs behave in the G stem, we need just three simple rules (also given on the Sound rules page):

1. At the start (or end) of a word, aleph just disappears. For example, amārum "to see" comes from *ʾamārum but the aleph is never written.
2. The sequence of aleph between two short vowels at the start of a verb is replaced by the first short vowel alone. For instance, immar, "he will see", comes from *iʾammar.
3. Between a short vowel and a single consonant, aleph is replaced by the long version of the vowel, which we write with a macron. For instance, īmur, "he saw", comes from *iʾmur.

Here then, is the paradigm for I weak verbs in the G, Gt, and Gtn stems. We will show just the four prefix-only persons, using the verb akālum, "to eat" (a/u). The Gt stem means "to eat each other" and the Gtn "to keep eating". For the persons that also take suffixes, just add those suffixes as usual; they are too far away from the aleph to be affected by it, e.g., immarū (*iʾammarū), "they will see". (But this will sometimes cause the class vowel to drop out, as short vowels between single consonants are suppressed in the middle of a word, e.g., ītamrū (*iʾtamarū), "they have seen". See the Sound rules page.)

Note (but do not worry) that Gt and Gtn infinitives don't quite follow the pattern of their strong counterparts. You are unlikely to meet them often outside Akkadian grammar books.

Many I weak verbs have e instead of a throughout, as explained on the Sound rules page. Apart from the fact that we need to remember to replace every a with e, we can treat them just like other I weak verbs. For example, the verb epēšum, "to do" (e/u), forms preterite īpuš, "he did", and ēpuš, "I did", and present ippeš, "he does", eppeš, "I do".

I weak verbs in the N, D, and Š stems

There is little to say about I weak verbs in the N, D, and Š either. The only extra sound rule we need is that:

4. Aleph is often assimilated to n when it is adjacent or near to n, especially in the N stem. For instance, N-stem preterite innamir, "it was seen", comes from *inʾamir.

And we should also draw attention to the fact that in the Š-stem present tense, I weak verbs do not follow the same pattern as strong verbs. The vowel preceding aleph shortens and the following consonant doubles, e.g., ušammar (*ušaʾmar) "he has (something) seen", instead of the expected *ušāmar.

As before, we will show just the four prefix-only persons, this time using abārum, "to embrace" (a/u), as the paradigm. Its N-stem and Š-stem meanings are straightforwardly "to be embraced" and "to have (someone) embraced, but the D-stem ubburum interestingly means "to denounce". For the persons that also take suffixes, just add those suffixes as usual; they are too far away from the aleph to be affected by it, e.g., ubbirū (*uʾabbirū), "they denounced". We have not bothered with the derived stems, as they are relatively uncommon, but any good Akkadian textbook will list them.

There are in fact several closely-related varieties of I weak verbs. We have introduced them as a single group, but all good Akkadian grammar books will give more nuance and detail than we have provided here.

III weak ("third weak") verbs

The rules governing III weak verbs are perhaps even simpler than those for I weak verbs. To construct paradigms for them in all tenses, we need only two rules (also given on the Sound rules page):

1. At the end of a word, aleph disappears, just as it does at the start of a word. For example, imaṭṭi, "it will shrink", comes from *imaṭṭiʾ but the aleph is never written.
2. The disappearance of aleph from between two vowels results in the lengthening of the second vowel (written with a circumflex). For example, the infinitive maṭûm, "to be small", comes from *maṭāʾum. (But, as we have seen, aleph behaves differently with verbal prefixes in I weak verbs.)

Whereas with I weak verbs we have to pay close attention to the form of the subject prefixes, with III weak verbs it is the subject suffixes that are affected (and the end of the infinitive). So in the following paradigm table we will just give the third-person forms of the verb in the four main stems. The -t(a)- and -tan- infixes of the derived stems are too far away from the aleph to be affected by it.

We have chosen the verb rabûm, "to be big" (i/i), as the paradigm. In the N stem it has an ingressive meaning, "to become enlarged". The D stem, literally "to make big", is often used to denote "bringing up" or "rearing" children, while the Š stem, literally "to have (something) be big", is frequently used in the sense of "promoting", "praising" (rather like the informal English expression "to big up" someone).

Notice that in the D and Š stems the tense vowels of forms with subject suffixes disappear, so that it is impossible to distinguish between the present and preterite tenses, except by context.

Suffixes on III weak verbs

We now have to think about what happens to that final, exposed vowel at the end of a III weak verb when a suffix is added to it. That includes accusative or dative suffixes, the sequential suffix -ma, and the subjunctive suffix -u. Verbal forms that already have person suffixes are unproblematic (e.g., urabbûšu, "they brought him up") and so are suffixes beginning with a vowel, e.g., mārum ša irabbû (*irabbiʾu), "the son that she raised". The difficulty arises where the verbal form ends in a single short vowel and the suffix starts with a consonant, e.g., urabbi "she raised" + -šu "him". How we treat such words depends on whether we think the aleph really has disappeared or not:

• If we think the aleph is still there, then it continues to follow the usual sound rules, causing the lengthening of the preceding vowel, e.g., urabbīšu (*urabbiʾšu), "she raised him". This phenomenon is called secondary lengthening because it lengthens an otherwise short vowel only in certain circumstances — such as the presence of suffixes starting with a consonant (as here).
• If we think the aleph has disappeared for good, then the length of the remaining vowel is unaffected by the suffix, e.g., urabbišu (*urabbiʾšu), "she raised him".

It does not matter very much whether you mark secondary length or not, as long as you are consistent in your choice. You will probably come across several slightly different length-marking systems in your reading, as there is not universal agreement about it. We have chosen not to mark secondary length on this website, but many Assyriologists do. This is beyond our scope here, but you will find more detailed discussion in good Akkadian grammars.

Content last modified on 12 Apr 2024.

Eleanor Robson

Eleanor Robson, 'I and III weak verbs: verbs whose first or third consonant is ʾ (aleph)', Knowledge and Power, Higher Education Academy, 2024 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/knpp/cuneiformrevealed/akkadianlanguage/iweakandiiiweakverbs/]