The noun in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic

JBA keeps the inherited categories — two genders, singular and plural, three states — but the states no longer mean what they meant. The determined form in ־ָא has become the ordinary form of the noun, definite or not; the absolute is left for predicates, numbers and fixed phrases; the construct survives in compounds and is otherwise replaced by ד־. The masculine plural has a new ending ־ֵי. Compare The noun in Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Aramaic.

References: Margolis 1910 (the noun, §§ 19–23); Epstein 1960; Bar-Asher Siegal 2013 (ch. on nominal morphology); Sokoloff 2002a (headwords and plurals). Counts are unpointed tokens of the Wikisource Bavli (CC BY-SA, measurement only), 2026-10-17; they include any homographs.

1. The states

The loss of definiteness is shown by sentences where a ־ָא noun is clearly indefinite:

Aramaic:   חַזְיֵיהּ לְהַהוּא גַּבְרָא דַּהֲוָה נָטַע חָרוּבָא
Translit.: ḥazyēh lə-hahū gaḇrā də-hăwā nāṭaʿ ḥārūḇā (reconstr.)
Gloss:     see.PEAL.PF.3MS-3MS to-that man REL-be.PF.3MS plant.PEAL.PTCP.ACT.MS carob
English:   He saw a certain man who was planting a carob tree
Source:    b. Taanit 23a (Wikisource Bavli, CC BY-SA; written חזייה לההוא גברא דהוה נטע חרובא)

גַּבְרָא needs the demonstrative הַהוּא "that, a certain" to be identified; חָרוּבָא "a carob tree" is indefinite though it has the ־ָא ending. In Biblical Aramaic the same form would mean "the carob".

Definiteness is therefore marked, when it is marked at all, by demonstratives (הַאי "this", הַהוּא "that, a certain"), suffixes, the ד־ genitive, and context (Pronouns in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic §5). For a model this means: the ־ָא ending is not a definiteness feature in tmr (unlike arc, arc-x-targum): in UD terms, Definite should not be set from the ending alone (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic in Mova: what it would need §4).

2. Endings

Checked 2026-10-18: Margolis 1910 §19, Tab. VI, p. 28 (consonants): determined ־א, ־תא, m. pl. ־י (archaic ־יא), f. pl. ־תא; in the absolute and construct he marks all endings as archaic except the shortened masculine plural ־י, which is used with adjectives and participles; the common language uses the old determined form for the absolute and periphrasis with ד־ for the construct (§§ 43b, 44e). Second pass 2026-10-18: Levias 1900 §§985–990, pp. 227–228, pointed: m. pl. absolute ־ִין (rarely ־ִי), construct ־ֵי, determined ־ַיָּא and ־ֵי (זוּזֵי, Sanh. 29b); f. pl. absolute ־ָן, construct ־ָת, determined ־ָתָא; the absolute and construct are rare and the determined state "has largely lost its determining force" (§987). All cells of the table agree. In the incantation bowls the masculine plural is written ־י and ־ין without distinction (Montgomery 1913, p. 30).

The plural ־ֵי (from -ayyā > -ē) is the main mark of the JBA noun:

Checked 2026-10-18 (second pass): Levias 1900 §989b, p. 228 (the singular determined ending kept before the plural ending, the type of קְרָאֵי, תַּנָּאֵי, אָמוֹרָאֵי), §989a (זוּזֵי) and §992, p. 230 (מִילֵּי, plural of מִילְּתָא). The plurals גַּבְרֵי, אִינָשֵׁי, יוֹמֵי and the targum column were not compared (unchecked).

אִינָשֵׁי appears in the frequent formula אָמְרֵי אִינָשֵׁי "people say" (a proverb follows; 141 + 120 with ד־, The technical language of the sugya).

Hebrew plurals in ־ִים / ־וֹת occur in the Bavli in Hebrew passages and in Hebrew words used in Aramaic (שְׁנִים "years" 1 468×, mostly Hebrew contexts), against Aramaic שְׁנִין (109×) and שְׁנֵי (which is also the Hebrew construct "years of"). Plural endings are one of the cues for the Hebrew/Aramaic split (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic in Mova: what it would need §2).

3. The construct and the genitive

The construct chain is alive only in compounds and a few nouns:

Everywhere else JBA uses ד־, very often with an anticipatory suffix on the first noun (the construction already seen in Biblical Aramaic, The noun in Biblical Aramaic §5):

בְּרֵיהּ "his son" (1 401× as a written token בריה) shows how frequent the pattern is.

Aramaic:   בְּרֵיהּ דְּחוֹנִי הַמְעַגֵּל מִי קַיָּים
Translit.: bərēh də-ḥōnī ha-mʿaggēl mī qayyām (reconstr.)
Gloss:     son-3MS REL-Honi the-circle.drawer Q alive
English:   Is the son of Honi the circle-drawer alive?
Source:    b. Taanit 23a (Wikisource Bavli, CC BY-SA)

Note: הַמְעַגֵּל is a Hebrew participle with the Hebrew article (a name), and מִי here is the Hebrew-like interrogative particle "is …?" used in JBA questions.

4. Adjectives

Adjectives follow their noun and agree in gender and number; the "determined" ending is used as the ordinary attributive form, the absolute as the predicate:

Two adjectives are especially frequent as predicates in the argument: פְּשִׁיטָא "it is obvious!" (914×, a passive participle of פשט; The technical language of the sugya) and קַשְׁיָא "it is difficult" (1 899×).

5. Numerals

Checked 2026-10-18: Margolis 1910 §23, pp. 32–33 (consonants): חד / חדא; תרי, f. תרתי (archaic תרין, תרתין); תלתא / תלת; ארבעה / ארבע; שבעה / שב (archaic שבע); עשרה / עשר; תלתין, שבעין, מאה, ארבע מאה. Corrected: the common form of 7 with feminine nouns is שַׁב. Second pass 2026-10-18: Levias 1900 §136, p. 41 (pointed): חַד / חֲדָא; תְּרֵין, תְּרֵי / תַּרְתֵּין, תַּרְתֵּי; תְּלָתָא / תְּלָת; אַרְבְּעָא / אַרְבַּע; שִׁבְעָא / שַׁב (or שֵׁב), שְׁבַע; עַשְׂרָא / עֲשַׂר; תְּלָתִין (also תּוּלְתִּין), שַׁבְעִין, מְאָה; §137, p. 42: the masculines of 3–10 end frequently also in ־ה, which covers the table's ־ָה spellings. Corrected: the feminine 10 is עֲשַׂר with שׂ in both Margolis and Levias; ס appears only in the teens (תְּרֵיסַר, אַרְבֵּיסַר). The masculine spelling עַסְרָה is in neither grammar (unchecked).

תְּרֵי (not תְּרֵין) shows the loss of final n (Phonology and orthography of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic §2.2). Numbers are often written with letters (ד' "4", ק' "100").

6. Noun formation

JBA builds nouns as other Aramaic does (The noun in Biblical Aramaic §3), with some patterns especially productive in the language of argument:

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