Editing Elamite language (section)

===Verbs===
[[File:Seal of Darius the Great British Museum.jpg|thumb|Seal of [[Darius the Great]] hunting in a chariot, reading "I am Darius, the Great King" in Old Persian ({{wikt-lang|peo|𐎠𐎭𐎶}}𐏐{{wikt-lang|peo|𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁𐎴}} {{wikt-lang|peo|𐏋}}, "''adam Dārayavaʰuš xšāyaθiya''"), as well as in [[Elamite]] and [[Akkadian language|Babylonian]]. The word 'great' only appears in Babylonian. [[British Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Darius Seal |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=282610&partId=1&people=92952&peoA=92952-3-18&page=1|access-date=24 January 2024 |website=British Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Darius' seal: photo – Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/pictures/a/iran/darius-seal-photo/}}</ref>]]
The verb base can be simple (''ta-'' “put”) or “[[reduplication|reduplicated]]” (''beti'' > ''bepti'' “rebel”). The pure verb base can function as a verbal noun, or “infinitive”.<ref name=":1">{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=81}}</ref>

The verb distinguishes three forms functioning as [[finite verb]]s, known as '''“conjugations”'''.<ref name=":2">{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=78}}</ref> Conjugation I is the only one with special endings characteristic of finite verbs as such, as shown below. Its use is mostly associated with active voice, transitivity (or verbs of motion), neutral aspect and past tense meaning. Conjugations II and III can be regarded as periphrastic constructions with participles; they are formed by the addition of the nominal personal class suffixes to a passive perfective participle in ''-k'' and to an active imperfective participle in ''-n'', respectively.<ref name=":1" /> Accordingly, conjugation II expresses a [[perfective aspect]], hence usually past tense, and an intransitive or passive voice, whereas conjugation III expresses an [[imperfective aspect|imperfective]] non-past action.

The Middle Elamite '''conjugation I''' is formed with the following suffixes:<ref name=":2" />

{| class="wikitable" 
|+ Conjugation I
|-
! 
! singular
! plural
|-
! 1st person
| -h
| -hu
|-
! 2nd person
| -t
| -h-t
|-
! 3rd person
| -š
| -h-š
|}

: Examples: ''kulla-h'' ”I prayed”, ''hap-t'' ”you heard”, ''hutta-š'' “he did”, ''kulla-hu'' “we prayed”, ''hutta-h-t'' “you (plur.) did”, ''hutta-h-š'' “they did”.

In Achaemenid Elamite, the loss of the /h/ reduces the transparency of the Conjugation I endings and leads to the merger of the singular and plural except in the first person; in addition, the first-person plural changes from ''-hu'' to ''-ut''.

The '''participles''' can be exemplified as follows: perfective participle ''hutta-k'' “done”, ''kulla-k'' “something prayed”, i.e. “a prayer”; imperfective participle ''hutta-n'' “doing” or “who will do”, also serving as a non-past infinitive. The corresponding conjugations ('''conjugation II and III''') are:

{| class="wikitable" 
|-
! colspan="2" |
! perfective<br>(= conj. II)
! imperfective<br>(= conj. III)
|-
! 1st person
! singular
| hutta-k-k
| hutta-n-k
|-
! 2nd person
! singular
| hutta-k-t
| hutta-n-t
|-
! rowspan="2" | 3rd person
! singular
| hutta-k-r
| hutta-n-r
|-
! plural
| hutta-k-p
| hutta-n-p
|}

In Achaemenid Elamite, the Conjugation 2 endings are somewhat changed:<ref>{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=79}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" 
|+ Conjugation II
|-
! 1st person
! singular
| hutta-k-ut
|-
! 2nd person
! singular
| hutta-k-t
|-
! rowspan="2" | 3rd person
! singular
| hutta-k (hardly ever attested in predicative use)
|-
! plural
| hutta-p
|}

There is also a '''periphrastic construction''' with an [[auxiliary verb]] ''ma-'' following either Conjugation II and III stems (i.e. the perfective and imperfective participles), or ''nomina agentis'' in ''-r'', or a verb base directly. In Achaemenid Elamite, only the third option exists. There is no consensus on the exact meaning of the periphrastic forms with ''ma-'', but durative, intensive or volitional interpretations have been suggested.<ref name=":3">{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=80}}</ref>

The '''optative''' is expressed by the addition of the suffix ''-ni'' to Conjugations I and II.<ref name=":3" />

The '''imperative''' is identical to the second person of Conjugation I in Middle Elamite. In Achaemenid Elamite, it is the third person that coincides with the imperative.<ref name=":1" />

The '''prohibitative''' is formed by the particle ''anu/ani'' preceding Conjugation III.<ref name=":1" />

Verbal forms can be converted into the heads of subordinate clauses through the addition of the '''nominalising suffix''' ''-a'', much as in [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]]: ''siyan in-me kuši-hš(i)-me-a'' “the temple which they did not build”. ''-ti''/''-ta'' can be suffixed to verbs, chiefly of conjugation I, expressing possibly a meaning of anteriority (perfect and pluperfect tense).<ref>{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=82}}</ref>

The '''negative particle''' is ''in-''; it takes nominal class suffixes that agree with the subject of attention (which may or may not coincide with the grammatical subject): first-person singular ''in-ki'', third-person singular animate ''in-ri'', third-person singular inanimate ''in-ni''/''in-me''. In Achaemenid Elamite, the inanimate form ''in-ni'' has been generalized to all persons, and concord has been lost.