The grammar of the Hittite language has a highly conservative verbal system and rich nominal declension. The language is attested in cuneiform, and is the earliest attested Indo-European language.
Hittite distinguishes between two genders, common (animate) and neuter (inanimate). The distinction between genders is fairly rudimentary since it is made only in the nominative and accusative case, and the same noun is sometimes attested in both genders. It is still debated whether or not this reflects a prehistoric merger of inherited PIE masculine and feminine into a single common/animate gender or an archaic system in which there was already a common gender.[1] Nouns referred to living beings (humans, animals and Gods) are usually found in the common/animate gender, but some inanimate objects actually have the common/animate gender. For instance, nouns in a-stem and t-stem are common/animate and, given how productive was the formation of words in the a-stem and t-stem, many words in Hittite indicating inanimate objects are actually in the common/animate gender in the nominative and accusative.[2] The other gender, the neuter/inanimate, is referred to objects, including parts of the body, and abstract concepts or collective nouns, e.g. "family, assembly, troops, humanity". Some common examples of neuter declension are the u-stem nouns and the nouns formed by the suffixes -ātar, -eššar and the suffix for collective nouns -a(i)-. Words derived by common/animate gender roots through neuter suffixes are neuter.[3]
The only reference to a female gender, which however does not erase the two-gender system "common-neuter gender", is the infix -(š)šara-, used to indicate female gender for humans and deities.
The nominal system consists of the following 9 cases: nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative-locative, ablative, ergative, allative, and instrumental. The dative-locative is used to mark the indirect object and the static position/location, while the allative (also known as "directive" and "terminative") is used to indicate the motion to/toward a place. By contrast, ablative is used to mark motion from a place. Hittite declension system also distinguishes between two numbers (singular and plural) and shows indirect traces of a dual number; due to syncretism, the ending of ablative and instrumental in the plural coincide.
Hittite language is based on split ergativity: when a common/animate noun is the subject of a transitive verb, e.g., "The child eats the apple", the subject is marked by the nominative case. By contrast, when a neuter noun is the subject of a transitive verb, e.g., "The spear kills the soldier", the subject of the sentence is marked by the ergative case; hence, only neuter nouns show the ergative case in their declension, which means that common/animate nouns show 8 cases, while neuter nouns show 9 cases. Inflected adjectives always have the ergative case in their declension, but this case is used only when an adjective is referred to a neuter noun in the ergative case, i.e., followed by a transitive verb; consequently, adjectival declension shows 9 cases. Personal pronouns as the subject are always in the nominative case; the subject of an intransitive verb always take the nominative ending as well.[4]
The basic scheme of suffixation is given in the table below, which is valid for almost all nouns and adjectives[5] . The sample word shown is antuḫšaš, "man", a-stem noun (common/animate gender, thus a name without the ergative case). The letter "š" is always pronounced as /s/, while "z" is always pronounced /ts/.
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | -aš | -eš; -a [n.] | |
| Ergative | -anz(a) [n] | -antēš [n] | |
| Vocative | -a | - - - | |
| Accusative | -(a)n; -∅ [n] | -uš [c.]; -a [n.] | |
| Genitive | -aš | -an > -aš [later]; -aš [n.] | |
| Dative-locative | -i; -ya | -aš | |
| Ablative | -az(a), -za | -az(a), -za | |
| Allative | -a | - - - | |
| Instrumental | -it, -et | -it, -et |
Neuter nouns in the accusative singular take -n only if the thematic vowel is -a-, e.g., yukan (plough). All the other neuter nouns take -a (sometimes indicated as the "zero-ending" -∅). As for the neuter accusative plural, names belonging to the common/animate gender take -uš, while names belonging to the neuter gender take -a. Only names in i-stem take the dative-locative in -ya. Vocative and allative case have no plural counterpart neither in Old Hittite (OH), nor in Middle Hittite (ME) and New Hittite (NE). As already stated, due to syncretism, the ending of ablative and instrumental in the plural coincide. The instrumental case has two possible endings (-it, -et) and, according to Hoffner (2008), -it is the oldest ending; it developed from an earlier ending -t through anaptyxis/ephentesis in environment of a preceding dental consonant. Some tracks of this presumed ending can be found in irregular instrumental endings, in names such as genu (knee) > genut, šākuwa (eye) > šākuwat.[6]
In MH, two more plural suffixes were created for the nominative and accusative (nom. -eš, -uš, -aš; acc. -uš, -eš, -aš). Then, the allative and instrumental cases both merged with dative-locative -az(a). The use of old allative -a and old instrumental -it in NH are archaisms. In NH, all the three plural suffixes for nouns of common gender in the two strong cases (nominative and accusative) collapsed into -uš, with only some exceptions.[7] In OH, the original suffix of the genitive plural is -an; then, a new suffix -aš was coined in Late OH and displaced -an in NH.[8]
Adjectives in a-stem share the same endings of noun declension; their gender depends from the gender of the noun they refer to (common/animate or neuter).
In the following examples, all forms not directly attested[9] [10] are put between brackets.
| Case | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | antuḫšaš, attaš, annaš, išḫāš, arunaš | antuḫšeš, attiēš, anniš (irr.), išḫeš | |
| Erg. | - - - | - - - | |
| Voc. | [*antūḫš'''a'''], atta, [*ann'''a'''], išḫā | - - - | |
| Acc. | antūḫšan, attan, annan, išḫān | antuḫšuš, attuš, ann(i)uš, išḫuš | |
| Gen. | antuḫšaš, attaš, annaš, išḫāš | antuḫšan, attan, [*ann'''an'''], išḫān > -aš | |
| Dat-loc. | antuḫši, atti, anni, išḫī | antuḫšaš, addaš, [*ann'''aš'''], išḫaš | |
| Abl. | antuḫšaz(a), attaz(a), annaz(a), [*išḫ'''āz(a)'''] | antuḫšaz(a), attaz(a), annaz(a), [*išḫ'''āz(a)'''] | |
| All. | antuḫša, atta, anna, išḫā | - - - | |
| Instr. | antuḫšit/et, [*att'''it/et''', *ann'''it/et''', *išḫ'''it/et'''] | antuḫšit/et, [*att'''it/et''', *ann'''it/et''', *išḫ'''it/et'''] |
| Case | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | yukan, pedan, ekan | [*yuk'''a''', *ped'''a''', *ek'''a'''] | |
| Erg. | [*yuk'''anz(a)''', *ped'''anz(a)''', *ek'''anz(a)'''] [n.] | [*yuk'''antēš''', *ped'''antēš''', *ek'''antēš'''] [n.] | |
| Voc. | [*yuk'''a''', *ped'''a''', *ek'''a'''] | - - - | |
| Acc. | [*yuk'''an''', *ped'''an''', *ek'''an'''] | [*yuk'''a''', *ped'''a''', *ek'''a'''] | |
| Gen. | yukaš, pedaš, ekaš | [*yuk'''aš'''], pedaš, [*ek'''aš'''] | |
| Dat-loc. | yuki, pedi, eki | [*yuk'''aš'''], pedaš, [*ek'''aš'''] | |
| Abl. | [*yuk'''az(a)'''], pedaz(a), [*ek'''az(a)'''] | [*yuk'''az(a)'''], pedaz(a), [*ek'''az(a)'''] | |
| All. | [*yuk'''a''', ped'''a''', ek'''a'''] | - - - | |
| Instr. | yukit/et, [*ped'''it/et''', *ek'''it/et'''] | yukit/et, [*ped'''it/et''', *ek'''it/et'''] |
The adjective chosen is araḫzenaš, araḫzenan ("external"), inflected for both genders[11] .
| Nom. | araḫzenaš, araḫzenan | araḫzeneš, araḫzena | |
| Erg. | - - -, [*araḫzen'''anz(a)'''] | - - -, [*araḫzen'''antēš'''] | |
| Voc. | [*araḫzen'''a'''] | - - - | |
| Acc. | araḫzenan | [*araḫzen'''uš''', *araḫzen'''a'''] | |
| Gen. | araḫzenaš | araḫzenaš | |
| Dat-loc. | araḫzeni | [*araḫzen'''aš'''] | |
| Abl. | araḫzenaz(a) | araḫzenaza | |
| All. | araḫzena | - - - | |
| Instr. | [*araḫzen'''it/et'''] | [*araḫzen'''it/et'''] |
When compared with other early-attested Indo-European languages, such as Ancient Greek and Sanskrit, the verb system in Hittite is morphologically relatively uncomplicated. There are two general verbal classes according to which verbs are inflected, the mi-conjugation and the ḫi-conjugation. The names are drawn by the ending of the first person singular in the present tense.
There are two voices (active and medio-passive), two moods (indicative and imperative), two aspects (perfective and imperfective), and two tenses (present for the present and future time and preterite for the past time); the difference between the present and the future can be disambiguated through an analytical construction. Modality (e.g. "could, would, should, must") in conveyed in Hittite through modal particles and adverbs instead of modal verbs[12] .
Additionally, the verbal system displays two infinitive forms, one verbal substantive, a supine and a participle. Rose (2006) lists 132 ḫi-verbs and interprets the ḫi-mi oppositions as vestiges of a system of grammatical voice ("centripetal voice" vs. "centrifugal voice").
The basic conjugational endings are as follows:[13]
| Active | Mediopassive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mi-conj. | ḫi-conj. | |||
| Indicative Present-Future | ||||
| Sg. 1 | -mi | -(ah)hi | -hahari (-hari, -ha) | |
| 2 | -si | -ti | -ta(ti) | |
| 3 | -zi | -i | -(t)a(ri) | |
| Pl. 1 | -weni | -wasta(ti) | ||
| 2 | -teni | -duma(ri) | ||
| 3 | -anzi | -anta(ri) | ||
| Indicative Preterite | ||||
| Sg. 1 | -(n)un | -hun | -(ha)hat(i) | |
| 2 | -s (-t, -ta) | -ta (-sta) | -at, -ta, -tat(i) | |
| 3 | -t(a) | -s (-ta, -sta) | -at(i), -ta, -tat(i) | |
| Pl. 1 | -wen | -wastat | ||
| 2 | -ten (-tin) | -dumat | ||
| 3 | -er (-ir) | -antat(i) | ||
| Imperative | ||||
| Sg. 1 | -(a)llu | -allu | -(ha)haru | |
| 2 | - (-i, -t) | - (-i) | -hut(i) | |
| 3 | -du | -u | -(t)aru | |
| Pl. 1 | -weni | -wastati | ||
| 2 | -ten (-tin) | -dumat(i) | ||
| 3 | -andu | -antaru | ||
| Set | Verbal substantive | Infinitive | Supine | Participle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ia | -war (gen. -was) | -wanzi | -wan | -ant- |
| Ib | -mar (gen. -mas) | -manzi | ||
| II | -ātar (gen. -annas) | -anna |
Personal pronouns are inflected according to their case. They have an enclitic version as well, which can be used as a direct or indirect object (acc-dat). The third person has only the enclitical version and distinguishes between common/animate gender and neuter gender. The following table contains the nominative cases of all pronouns and the enclitic form (acc-dat)[15] .
| I | ūk; -mu | |
| You | zik; zīk (rare); -ta | |
| He, she;it [comm/an.] | -aš [nom.] | |
| It [n.] | -at | |
| We | wēš; anzāš (later); -naš | |
| You (all) | šumeš; šumāš (later); -šmaš | |
| They | -e > -at (MH, NH) [nom.] |
Possessive pronouns have an earlier enclitic version and a later full/analytical version placed before the noun. Possessive pronouns are inflected according to cases and take the gender of the noun they refer to. The following table shows the nominative form:
| My | -miš [comm/an.]; -met [n.]; ammel [analytic, NH] | |
| Your/thy | -tiš; -tet; tuel, tue [later] | |
| His, her;its [comm/an.] | -šiš; apel | |
| Its [n.] | -šet; apel | |
| Our | -šummiš; -šummet; anzel | |
| Your | -šmiš; -šmet; šumel | |
| Their | -šmiš; -šmet; ? |
Demonstrative pronouns are put before the noun; the are inflected according to the case and the gender of the noun they refer to. Hittite has a three-way system to indicate position: near to the speaker, near to the listener and far from both ("here-there-yonder").
The pronouns "this, that" in the nominative singular are kāš and apāš; their plural is kē (later kūš) and apē (later apūš). Their neuter counterparts are kī and apāt, plural kē and apē. Adverbs "here, there" (kā, apiya) are derived from demonstrative pronouns as well as kinun and apiya ("now, then/in the past").[16]
Both ordinal and cardinal numbers in Hittite were often written with ciphers instead of syllables, which makes both the reconstruction of their pronunciation and their translation in context difficult. Hence, most number are indicated by the Arabic cipher and their ending, e.g. "one" in the nominative common/animate gender is known as "1-aš". Number "one" was reconstructed by Goedegebuure (2006) as *šia-. Numbers from one to four are declined in Hittite.[17]
| One |
| ḫantezzi(ya)- [declined] | |
| Two | 2-uš; 2-e | dān | |
| Three |
| teriyan, terin [synchopated] | |
| Four | mi-e-(ya-)wa-aš [c.] | 4-an, 4-in [synch.] | |
| Five | 5- | 5-an, 5-in [synch.] | |
| Six | 6- | ? | |
| Seven | 7- | ? | |
| Eight | 8- | ? | |
| Nine | 9- | ? | |
| Ten | 10- | ? |
Hittite is a head-final language, with it has subject-object-verb word order.
Hittite syntax shows one noteworthy feature that is typical of Anatolian languages: commonly, the beginning of a sentence or clause is composed of either a sentence-connecting particle or otherwise a fronted or topicalized form, and a "chain" of fixed-order clitics is then appended.