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Grammar

6 Short and Long i- and u-Stem Nouns

Nominal stems in short i and u take identical inflections in all cases of the masculine and feminine, and in the oblique cases of the neuter. Long ī- and ū-stems appear primarily in the feminine, with accusative singular raθī- 'chariot' and instrumental singular and plural and genitive singular hizū- 'tongue' attested in the masculine.

6.1 i- and u-Stem Nouns, Masculine

Singular:		gairi- 'mountain'		mainyu- 'spirit'
Nom.		gairiš		mainyuš
Acc.		gairim		mainyuš
Instr.		gairī		mainyū
Dat.		gairayāi		mainyavē, mainyavāi
Abl.		gairoīṯ		mainyoīṯ
Gen.		gairoiš		mainyə̄uš
Loc.		gairā		mainyāu
Voc.		gairiai		mainyō
Dual:
Nom.		gairī		mainyū
Acc.		gairī		mainyū
Instr/Dat/Abl.		gairibyā		mainyubya
Gen.		unattested		mainivāh
Loc.		unattested		mainivau
Plural:
Nom.		gairayah, agairayō		mainavah, mainavō
Acc.		gairiš		mainyuš
Instr.		aspāiš		unattested
Dat/Abl.		gairibyō		mainyubyah, mainyubyō
Gen.		gairinąm		mainyunąm
Loc.		unattested		mainyušu

6.2 ī- and ū-Stem Nouns, Feminine

Singular:		vahvī- 'good'		tanū- 'body'
		(from msc. vohu-)
Nom.		vaŋuhī		tanuš
Acc.		vaŋhīm		tanvə̄m
Instr.		vaŋhuyā		tanvā
Dat.		vaŋhuyāi		tanūvāi
Gen.		vaŋhuyå		tanuvah, tanuvō
Voc.		*vaŋhvī		unattested
Dual:
Nom.		*vaŋhvišī		unattested
Instr/Dat/Abl.		vaŋhubyā		unattested
Plural:
Nom.		*vaŋhvīš		tanuvah, tanuvō
Acc.		*vaŋhvīš		*tanuvah, *tanuvō
Dat.		*vaŋhubyō		*tanuubyō
Gen.		*vaŋhunąm		*tanuunąm
Loc.		unattested		tanušu

6.3 i- and u-Stem Nouns, Neuter

		buiri- 'richness'		vohu- 'good'
Nom.Acc.Voc. sg.pl.		buiri		vohu

7 Personal Pronouns

Pronominal forms abound in the Avestan language. The first and second person are unique, while the third person uses primarily the first of three third person pronominal stems. Both full and enclitic forms appear (on the use of clitics, cf. Section 15). The oblique cases of all personal pronouns form a suppletive system, i.e., they are based on a stem different than that of the nominative case.

7.1 First and Second Person Pronouns

The first and second person pronouns have no inherent gender, and no locative or vocative forms appear. Dual forms are rare. The azem- 'I' and tvə̄m- 'you' paradigms are given here, with enclitic forms in parentheses.

Singular:		First Person		Second Person
Nom.		azə̄m		tvə̄m, tūm4 (tū)
Acc.		(mā)		θąm (θvā)
Instr.		unattested		θvā4
Dat.		mabya, mabyah (mai)		tabya, tabyah (tai)
Abl.		mat		θat
Gen.		mana		tava (tai)
Plural:
Nom.		vayam		yūžam
Acc.		ahma		(vāh)
Instr.		unattested		šmā
Dat.		ahmabya (nah)		šmabhya, yušmabya (vah)
Abl.		ahmat		šmat, yušmat
Gen.		(nah)		(vah)

7.2 Third Person/Demonstrative Pronouns

The unique third person pronoun stems hi- and YAv. di- 'he, she, it' are found only as enclitic forms. The demonstrative pronoun ha- 'this', suppletive ta-, doubles as the standard third person pronoun 'he, she, it'.

Singular:		Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
Nom.		hō		tat		hā
Acc.		tə̄m, (hīm), YAv. (dim)		tat		tąm, tām
Instr.		tā		unattested		unattested
Dat/Gen.		OAv. (hoi), YAv.(he)		unattested		unattested
Dual:
Nom/Acc/Voc.		tā, (hī)		unattested		unattested
Plural:
Nom.		tōi, taē		unattested		unattested
Acc.		tə̄ng, OAv. (hīš)		tā		tå
Instr.		tāiš		unattested		unattested
Dat/Abl.		taēibyō

8 Athematic Presents and Ablaut

As noted in Lesson 1, verbs of the present system are based on various stems; thematic stems were discussed there. Five classes of athematic stems are attested, with grades that depend upon ablaut.

8.1 Athematic Classes

The root class stems add an ending directly to the verbal root, e.g. ahmi 'I am', first person singular present indicative active of ah 'be'. The root may appear in its strong or weak grade, depending on the verb's ablaut pattern, on which see Section 8.2 below.

The reduplicating class forms its stem by adding a reduplicated syllable to the beginning of a verbal root. For roots beginning in a consonant, the reduplication usually consists of that consonant plus a, a̱, i, or u. But if the initial consonant is velar, it is reduplicated with a corresponding palatal (cf. Lesson 1, Section 2 for lists of velars and palatals). For example, jigərəz- > gərəz. Further, when an original Proto-Indo-Iranian (PII) stop or s has changed in the Avestan, as e.g. *p > f and *s > h, the PII stop and the s are preserved in the root but changed in the reduplication. Thus, hišay- > ši, šay-.

The na̱- class and nu- class add a form of -na̱-/-na- or -nau-/-nu- to the root, according to ablaut pattern. A third nasal category, the infix class, has -na- inside the root.

Athematic Present Paradigms: ah 'be' and mrū 'speak, say'

Indicative		Active		Middle
1 sg.		ahmi		mruyai
2 sg.		ahi		*mrušai
3 sg.		asti5		mrūitai, mruyai
1 pl.		mahi		mrūmaide
2 pl.		stā		unattested
3 pl.		hənti		*mruvan̨te
Imperative
2 sg.		zdi		mrūidi
3 sg.		astu		mraotū
2 pl.		unattested		mraota
3 pl.		hantu		mravątu
Subjunctive
1 sg.		aŋhā, *anhāni		*mravāi, mravāne
3 sg.		aŋhaṯ		unattested
1 pl.		åŋhāmā		unattested
3 pl.		aŋhən		mravaire
Optative
2 sg.		hyə̄m		mruviša
3 sg.		hyāṯ		mruvītā

8.2 Vowel Gradation

The Avestan verbal system exhibits evidence of vowel gradation, or ablaut, which occurred earlier in Proto-Indo-European. The vowel in either the root or suffix of a verbal stem may change depending on whether or not that syllable was stressed. When the vowel was stressed, its grade is strong or full. This strong grade is formed by adding a short -a- to the vowel. For example, the third person singular middle imperative of mru is mraotū 'let him speak!', where u > o under the influence of added a. If the vowel was unstressed, the grade is weak and the vowel remains unchanged, as in the first person singular middle indicative mruyai 'I say', or it is reduced, as in the third person plural active frinənti 'they satisfy' from the stem frinā-. (Here, the final ā of the stem is reduced to ə before the ending is added.) Another example, from the nasal-infix class, may be even more clear: the third person singular active indicative vinasti 'he finds', from the root vid, vs. the third person singlar middle *vindatai 'they find.'

Verbs of the root class also fall into two sub-categories according to their ablaut pattern. Roots of this class having a static ablaut pattern always have the accent on the root, so the verb always appears with the root in the strong grade; roots having a changing, i.e., dynamic ablaut pattern appear in the strong grade in the singular indicative and injunctive active, in the active and middle subjunctive, and in the third person singular imperative active.

9 Causatives and Denominatives

A causative stem is formed by strengthening a root and adding the suffix -aya- to it. The endings of the present system are then added to complete the verb. As its name implies, the causative form changes a verb's meaning to convey the sense of causativity: e.g., vat, vatahi 'you understand' vs. vātayahi 'you cause to understand' = 'you explain'.

A denominative is a verbal stem formed by adding the suffix -ye- to a noun stem. Like the causative, it takes the endings of the present system: vāra- msc. 'rain' > vārayemi 'I rain down'.

10 Adverbs, Prepositions, and Preverbs

Avestan adverbs can be analyzed into two types: those that are clearly derivative from inflectional forms, and those that are not.

10.1 Derived Adverbial Forms

The derivation of adverbs from adjectives or other parts of speech was not systematic in Avestan. Some are frozen inflectional forms.

Adverbs based on a-stems, h-stems, and t-stems may be accusative; e.g., arəm 'correctly, properly', ākāh 'certainly' (?), and θaṯ 'then, again'.

Adverbs derived from a-stems and t-stems may be instrumental; e.g., tā 'thus, in this way, therefore' and yavatā 'insomuch as'.

Adverbs with ablative endings are based only on a-stems; e.g., asnāṯ 'nearby'.

There is one locative adverb, durai 'far', with the ablative durāṯ having similar meaning.

Derivative adverbs usually stand after the object of the verb that they modify; in a standard Subject-Object-Verb sentence, between the object and the main verb. This rule is not hard and fast, however.

10.2 Non-derivative Adverbs, including Prepositions and Preverbs

A number of adverbial forms do not appear to be derived from other parts of speech. These may be classed as to whether they function independently, or as prepositions and verbal prefixes.

Some examples of independent non-derivative adverbs include:

		āviš visible, manifest
		azdā certain
		kū where
		nū, nūrə̄m now

Some adverbs function as prepositions and verbal prefixes. The most common examples are as follows:

		Preposition or Verbal Prefix		Verbal Prefix		Preposition
		antar between		apa away		parā before
		api toward		ni down
		ava down		niš out
		ā near, back		fra forth, toward
		upa up to		vi apart
		pati toward, against		ham together
		pairi around
		parā away

Non-derivative adverbs follow the word order of their derivative counterparts. Those functioning as prepositions and preverbs usually precede the word they modify. Preverbs may commonly be used as postpositions.

Footnotes

1		'Butter and milk' is a metaphor for 'strength and prosperity' often employed by Zarathustra.
2		Insler renders this 'to these mortals' and Humbach 'to those present,' suggesting a request on behalf of all men or just Zarathustra's audience, respectively. I leave the pronoun's reference open.
3		Zarathustra.
4		Young Avestan form.
5		The PII /s/ > Av. /h/ in most environments, but not in consonant clusters. Note here that the /m/ in first person ahmi is considered a resonant -- i.e. a sound that functions as a consonant when in a vocalic environment or a vowel when in a consonantal environment.

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