Editing Urartian language (section)

==== Word Order ====
The word order is usually verb-final, and, more specifically, [[subject–object–verb|SOV]] (where S refers to the ergative agent), but the rule is not rigid and components are occasionally re-arranged for expressive purposes. For example, names of gods are often placed first, even though they are in oblique cases: ''Ḫaldi-ə ewri-ə inə E<sub>2</sub> Argište-šə Menuaḫini-šə šidišt-u-nə'' "For Ḫaldi the lord Argišti, son of Menua, built this temple." Verbs can be placed sentence-initially in vivid narratives: ''ušt-a-də Mana-idə ebanə at-u-bə'' "Forth I marched towards Mana, and I consumed the land."<ref>Wilhelm, Gernot. 2008. Hurrian. In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. P.120</ref> 

Nominal modifiers usually follow their heads (''erelə tarayə'' "great king"), but deictic pronouns such as ''inə'' precede them, and genitives may either precede or follow them. Urartian generally uses [[postposition]]s (e.g. ''ed(i)-i-nə'' "for", ''ed(i)-i-a'' - both originally case forms of ''edi'' "person, body" - ''pei'' "under", etc..) which govern certain cases (often ablative-instrumental). There is only one attested preposition, ''parə'' "to(wards)". Subordinate clauses are introduced by particles such as ''iu'' "when", ''ašə'' "when", ''alə'' "that which".