לָא־אִיתַי אֲנָשׁ · אִיתַי גְּבַר · דִּי לֵהּ־הִיא
ORIGINALBA-011
Biblical Aramaic · Existence, Negation, and Small Words
Existence / possession constructions
BA-011Biblical AramaicAramaic of Daniel and Ezra
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE FIRST
לָא־אִיתַי אֲנָשׁ · אִיתַי גְּבַר · דִּי לֵהּ־הִיא
Pedagogical transliterationla itay enash · itay gevar · di leh hi
Plain meaningthere is no person · there is a man · which belongs to him
Pointing follows Miqra according to the Masorah (MAM). Cantillation is omitted on the lesson card for visual focus; the underlying evidence retains the complete source reading. Transliterations are pedagogical aids, not replacements for the source.WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT
Existence / possession constructions
Biblical Aramaic directly attests אִיתַי. With לָא, it yields ‘there is no’: לָא־אִיתַי אֲנָשׁ. Without negation, אִיתַי גְּבַר means ‘there is a man.’ Possession may be expressed with a preposition and suffix, as in דִּי לֵהּ הִיא, literally ‘which to him it is,’ naturally ‘which belongs to him.’ This lesson therefore does not borrow later לֵית into Biblical Aramaic.
HEAR THIS LESSONListen to the full public explanation.Teacher narration is separate from original-language pronunciation.
Audio settings
SEE HOW IT WORKS
Keep the form, reading, and meaning together.
la itay enash · itay gevar · di leh hi
READINGPedagogical reading guide
there is no person · there is a man · which belongs to him
MEANINGBiblical Aramaic
לָא + אִיתַי + noun → negative existence · אִיתַי + noun → positive existence · ל + pronominal suffix + copular pronoun → possession-like relation
EXAMPLES
Examples supplied by the approved curriculum.
Daniel 2:10 — לָא־אִיתַי אֲנָשׁ עַל־יַבֶּשְׁתָּא — ‘there is no person on dry land’ · Daniel 5:11 — אִיתַי גְּבַר בְּמַלְכוּתָךְ — ‘there is a man in your kingdom’ · Daniel 2:20 — דִּי לֵהּ־הִיא — ‘which belongs to him’
SOURCE REFERENCE
Daniel 2:10; 2:20; 5:11
APPROVED STUDY LAYERS
Source-specific guidance from the curriculum.
Learning objective
Read positive and negative existential clauses and recognize a possession-like ל + suffix construction.
Morphology and syntax
OSHB marks אִיתַי as the existential particle (ATa), לָא as negation (ATn), and לֵהּ as ל plus 3ms suffix.
Dialect boundary
Biblical Aramaic of Daniel and Ezra. Later Targumic, Jewish Babylonian, and Zoharic forms are not imported into this lesson.
Practice
Translate the three constructions literally, then idiomatically. Which word supplies negation? Which element marks the possessor?
Answer key
לָא supplies negation. אִיתַי asserts existence. In דִּי לֵהּ הִיא, the suffixed preposition לֵהּ marks the possessor (‘to him’), while הִיא completes the clause.
Source notes
All three constructions are directly attested in Daniel and independently tagged in OSHB.
REMEMBER