SumerianGrammar

THE VERB 93
It seems practical to arrange the dimensional indicators in numbered
grids and to refer to the numbers for reference. We will present a
grid each for “non-ventive” and “ventive” indicators. The grids have
a horizontal division by cases and a vertical division by person. Boxes
left blank reflect forms that the system did not allow, but have been
numbered for the sake of completeness.
Grid 1 (non-ventive) has no entries for the 1 st (sg. or pl.), because
st
1 person would automatically require ventive.
Dimensional indicators non-ventive
Dative-loc. Comitative Ablative Terminative Directive Locative 2
2 nd sg. era (1) eda (6) (11) (e)“i (16) (e)ri (21) –
3 rd sg.
person
na (2) nda (7) nta (12) n“i (17) ni (22) –
3 rd sg.
non-person
ba (3) bda (8) bta (13)
ra
b“i (18) bi (23) ni (26)
2 nd pl. (4) (9) (14) (19) (24) –
3 rd pl.
person
(e)nea (5) (e)neda (10) (15) (e)ne“i (20) (e)ne (25) –
Dimensional indicators: ventive
Dative-loc. Comitative Ablative Terminative Directive Locative 2
1 st sg. ma (27) muda (34) (41) mu“i (48) mu (55) –
2 nd sg. mura (28) mueda (35) (42) mue“i (49) muri (56) –
3 rd sg.
person
muna (29) munda (36) (43) mun“i (50) muni (57) –
3 rd sg.
non-person
mma (30) mda (37) mta (44)
mmara
m“i (51) mmi (58)
mmeri
mini (62)
mmini
1 st pl. mea (31) mueda (38) (45) (52) me (59) –
2 nd pl. (32) (39) (46) (53) *muri-. . .(60) –
-enzen
3 rd pl.
person
munea (33) muneda (40) (47) mune“i (54) mune (61) –
Note: Variants are not indicated; see the individual paragraphs (ns. 1–62) below.
In many cases where [i] is shown, [e] may be preferable. In view
of our general reluctance to propose a clear phonemic distinction
between Sumerian [e] and [i], we have left NI as ni and RI as ri
instead of né and re.