Pronouns in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic

JBA has the richest pronoun system of the Jewish Aramaic varieties: independent pronouns in two forms (plain and emphatic), enclitic subject pronouns that fuse with participles, copular pronouns (נִיהוּ, נִינְהוּ), a full set of independent possessives (דִּידִי …), and demonstratives built on הָ־. Compare Pronouns in Biblical Aramaic.

References: Margolis 1910 §§ 8–11; Epstein 1960; Bar-Asher Siegal 2013 (pronouns); Wikipedia, "Jewish Babylonian Aramaic" (tables; retrieved 2026-10-17); Jastrow 1903 s.vv. Counts: Wikisource Bavli (CC BY-SA, measurement only), unpointed tokens, 2026-10-17.

Checked 2026-10-18 against Margolis 1910 (§§ 8–11, pp. 16–18; Tab. II, VII, VIII), read from the page images (the OCR has no Hebrew script). Margolis prints JBA unvocalised, so only the consonants are compared; he marks forms of the earlier language (targumic quotations, old formulas) with †, which this file writes as "archaic".

1. Independent pronouns

Forms and copulas after Wikipedia "Jewish Babylonian Aramaic" (2026-10-17) and Jastrow s.vv. אִיהוּ, נִיהוּ. Counts: נִיהוּ 182×, נִינְהוּ 760×.

Checked 2026-10-18: Margolis 1910 §8b, Tab. II, p. 16: אנא, אנן (archaic אנחנא), את (archaic אנת, f. אנתי), אתו(ן) (archaic א(נ)תון), איהו / ניהו, איהי / ניהי, אינהו / נינהו, אינהי / נינהי; enclitic ־נא, ־נן, ־ת, ־תו(ן). Disagreement: Margolis marks הוּא, הִיא and אִינּוּן as archaic and gives אִיהוּ, אִיהִי as the ordinary independent forms, not as emphatic ones; the Bavli text still has הוא 9 198× (with Hebrew), איהו 314×, אינון 28× against אינהו 158× (counted 2026-10-18).

Second pass 2026-10-18 (vowels): Levias 1900 §94, p. 30, pointed: אֲנָא; אַתְּ (rarely אַנְתְּ); אִיהוּ, הוּא; אִיהִי, הִיא; אֲנַן (rarely אֲנַחְנָא); אַתּוּן (rarely אַתּוּ, אַנְתּוּ); אִינְהוּ (rarely אִינּוּן); f. אִינְהִי. The plain forms and vowels of the table agree. Levias §97, p. 31, adds that הוּא, הִיא are used mostly as the copula, which supports Margolis against the "plain / emphatic" labels of the table. Copulas: Levias §123, p. 37, נִיהוּ, נִיהִי, נִינְהוּ, נִינְהִי (agree). Enclitics: Levias §98, p. 31, ־נָא, ־תְּ, ־נַן, ־תּוּן / ־תּוּ (agree). The incantation bowls keep the older set: Montgomery 1913, p. 306 (list of pronominal forms), has אנא, אנחנא, אנתון / אתון, 3 pl. הינון / אינון, and no אינהו.

Notes:

• אֲנַן "we" replaces אֲנַחְנָא. אִינְהוּ "they" comes from ʾinnūn + hū (Bar-Asher Siegal 2013); the ending ־הוּ reappears in the suffixes (־הוּ "their").
• אִיהוּ is an emphatic "he (himself)"; in the Zohar it becomes the general copula (The grammar of Zoharic Aramaic).
• The copula נִיהוּ / נִינְהוּ stands at the end of a nominal clause: אֲנָא נִיהוּ "I am he" (Taanit 23a); מַאן נִינְהוּ "who are they?". Jastrow s.v. נִיהוּ: it is אִיהוּ "mostly after an open syllable to avoid a hiatus, or after ן".

Aramaic:   אָמַר לְהוּ אֲנָא נִיהוּ לָא הֵימְנוּהוּ
Translit.: ʾāmar ləhū ʾănā nīhū lā hēmnūhū (reconstr.)
Gloss:     say.PEAL.PF.3MS to-3MPL I COP.3MS NEG believe.APH.PF.3MPL-3MS
English:   He said to them, "I am he." They did not believe him.
Source:    b. Taanit 23a (Wikisource Bavli, CC BY-SA; written אמר להו אנא ניהו לא הימנוהו)

2. Enclitic subject pronouns

The 1st and 2nd person pronouns attach to an active or passive participle (and to some adjectives) to form the present tense (Margolis 1910 §8a; Bar-Asher Siegal 2013):

These are the most "Babylonian" forms of all; in unpointed text they look like perfects or nouns (אמינא, ידענא) and must be analysed as participle + pronoun (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic in Mova: what it would need §3).

3. Suffixes

On nouns (forms after Wikipedia and Margolis; examples from the Bavli):

Checked 2026-10-18: Margolis 1910 §8b (Tab. II, p. 16) and §22 (Tab. VII, p. 31): 1 sg. ־י, after a vowel ־אי (שמאי, דעתאי); 1 pl. ־ן (archaic ־נא: אבונא); 2 m. pl. ־כו (archaic ־כון); 3 m. sg. ־יה (archaic ־הי); 3 f. sg. ־ה (archaic ־הא); 3 m. pl. ־הו (archaic ־הון), on plurals ־יהו (רגליהון archaic, מתיהו). Margolis also gives a 2 f. pl. ־כי and a 3 f. pl. ־הי. Second pass 2026-10-18: Levias 1900 §107, p. 33, pointed: on singular nouns ־ִי, ־ָךְ, ־ֵיהּ, ־ַהּ, ־ַן, ־ְכוּ, ־ְהוּ; on plural nouns ־ַי (־ַאי), ־ָךְ, ־ֵיהּ (־וֹהִי only among his rare forms), ־ַהּ, ־ַן, ־ַיְכוּ, ־ַיְהוּ. Corrected: on a singular noun the 2 m. pl. is ־ְכוּ and the 3 m. pl. ־ְהוּ (Levias; Margolis ־כו, ־הו); ־ַיְכוּ, ־ַיְהוּ belong to plural nouns. The vowels now follow Levias, who says his pointing is an aid, not a restored original (preface, p. vi).

On prepositions (the most frequent pronoun forms in the Bavli):

Checked 2026-10-18: Margolis 1910 §25, Tab. VIII, p. 35: לי, מינ(א)י, לן (archaic לנא), לך, לכו, מינייכו (archaic לכון), ליה, מיניה, לה, מינה, להו, בהו, מינייהו (archaic להון, מינהון), 3 f. pl. להי. Disagreement on "on": Margolis gives only the forms on עִילָוֵי־ (עילואי, עילוון, עילו(י)ך, עילויה, עילוה, עילוייהו); the Bavli text has both (עילויה 154×, עלויה 45×; the short עלי, עליה, עלה are frequent but mostly Hebrew homographs; counted 2026-10-18). The ל־ before suffixes may also appear as ניהל־ (ניהליה, Margolis §25c).

On verbs (object suffixes; forms with ־יה, ־ינהו are very frequent):

Second pass 2026-10-18: Levias 1900 §112, p. 35 (object suffixes, pointed): 3 m. sg. ־ֵיהּ, 3 m. pl. ־ִינְהוּ (also ־ִנְהוּ), 1 sg. ־ַן and ־ִין among the forms: these rows agree. The row ־וּהוּ was not found in his table (unchecked).

4. Independent possessives

Built on דִּיד־ "of" (from dī + l-, with assimilation):

Checked 2026-10-18 (second pass): Levias 1900 §128b–c, p. 39: דִּידִי, דִּידָךְ, דִּידֵיהּ, דִּידַהּ, דִּידַן, דִּידְכוּ, דִּידְהוּ are the frequent forms; the older ־דִּיל־ (דִּילִי, דִּילָךְ) occurs seldom, mostly in legal style. All six rows agree.

5. Demonstratives

(Forms after Wikipedia and Jastrow; counts 2026-10-17, הָאיךְ and הָךְ 2026-10-18.)

Checked 2026-10-18: Margolis 1910 §9, pp. 17–18: near הַאי, הָא, הָנֵי (early דין, דא, אילין and הדין, הדא, הלין); far ההוא, ההיא, הנהו and האיך, f. הך, pl. הנך. Corrected: הַךְ is the feminine; the masculine of this series is הָאיךְ. Second pass 2026-10-18: Levias 1900 §§116–117, p. 35: near m. הַאי, f. הָא, f. pl. הָנֵי; far m. הָהוּא (rarer הָאִיךְ), f. הָהִיא, הָךְ, pl. הָנָךְ, אִינָךְ, common אִידָךְ "the other". Corrected: the feminine is pointed הָךְ (qameṣ) in Levias, so the table's הַךְ is changed. Disagreements: Levias points the far forms with qameṣ (הָהוּא, הָהִיא) where the table has pataḥ; and he lists הָנְהוּ among the near masculine plurals (§116), while Margolis has it as far (both given; the table keeps Margolis).

Uses:

• הַאי precedes its noun: הַאי גַּבְרָא "this man"; הַאי קְרָא "this verse". It also stands alone: הַאי מַאי "what is this?". It is used for feminine nouns too in later texts (Margolis 1910 §9: "used incorrectly as f.").
• הַהוּא "that; a certain" introduces new participants in stories: הַהוּא גַּבְרָא "a certain man" (Taanit 23a; 1 382× in all), הַהִיא אִיתְּתָא "a certain woman". It works like an indefinite article in narrative.
• הָא … הָא "this … that" divides cases: הָא בְּ־X הָא בְּ־Y "this one refers to X, that one to Y" — the standard way of resolving a contradiction (לָא קַשְׁיָא, הָא … הָא, The technical language of the sugya).
• Adverbs from demonstratives: הָכָא "here, in this case" (3 063×), הָתָם "there, in that case" (2 411×), הָכִי "thus" (4 285×), הַשְׁתָּא "now", הָאִידָּנָא "now, nowadays".

6. Interrogatives

Checked 2026-10-18 (second pass): Levias 1900 §129, p. 39 (מַאן, מַאי, הֵי) and §§162–163, p. 49 (כַּמָּה, אֵימַת, הֵיכָא, הֵיכִי, אַמַּאי). The rows מִי and מִידֵּי were not compared.

7. Indefinites and reflexives

The Elamur team

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/tmr/pronouns/