SUMERIAN

Verbal tense
The present-future tense is also signalled by the form of the verbal stem
with some of the verbs. In particular, Sumerian verbs can be grouped into four
classes according to their form in the present-future:
i) Verbs belonging to the REGULAR CLASS use the same stem both in the
present-future and preterite. The great majority of the verbs belongs to this
class.
ii) Verbs belonging to the REDUPLICATING CLASS use a reduplicated stem in
the present-future. If the stem ends with a consonant, then the consonant is
either omitted in the reduplicated form, e.g.: ŋar PT /ŋar/ : ŋa₂-ŋa₂ PF /ŋa~ŋa/
“to put”, naŋ PT /naŋ/ : na₈-na₈ PF /na~na/ “to drink”, kur₉ PT /kur/ : ku₄-ku₄
PF /ku~ku/ “to enter”; or it is preserved only in the first syllable: ḫal PT /ḫal/ :
ḫal-ḫa PF /ḫal~ḫa/ “to distribute”, te-en PT /ten/ : te-en-te PF /ten~te/ “to cool
off”. If the monosyllabic stem ends with a vowel, then the whole stem is
reduplicated, e.g.: gi₄ PT /gi/ : gi₄-gi₄ PF /gi~gi/ “to return”; mu 2 PT /mu/ : mu₂mu₂
PF /mu~mu/ “to grow”. Some bisyllabic verbs form their present-future
stem by a reduplication of the first syllable with an accompanying voicing of
the consonant: tuku PT /tuku/ : du₁₂-du₁₂ PF /du~du/ “to have”; taka₄ PT /taka/
: da₁₃-da₁₃ PF /da~da/ “to leave”.
iii) Verbs belonging to the EXTENDING CLASS use a stem extended with
a consonant in the present-future: e₃ PT /e/ : ed 2 PF /ed/ “to go out”, te PT /te/
or ti PT /ti/ : teŋ₃ PF /teŋ/ or tiŋ₃ PF /tiŋ/ “to approach”. The presence of the
stem-final consonant is shown by the orthography only if there is an affix after
the stem.
iv) Verbs belonging to THE SUPPLETIVE CLASS use an entirely different stem
in the present-future, e.g.: dug₄ PT /dug/ (sg.), e PT /e/ (pl.) : e PF /e/ (sg. and pl.)
“to speak”. See also Table 11.1 in Lesson 11 below for more verbs with
a suppletive stem; the form of these verbs also depends on the plurality of their
participant in the absolutive.
In the Sumerian texts we have at our disposal, preterite verbal forms out -
number present-future forms greatly. Only the preterite may be used with
stative verbs, and this is the most often used tense in texts narrating past
events.
In ex. (176) below the present-future is used to express an action that will
take place in the future, posterior relative to the present of the text. The
present-future is also used to express future events in the protasis part of curse
formulas see, e.g., ex. (60) in Lesson 5, and exx. (168) and (169) above.
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