Robinson's Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar

T. H. Robinson's Paradigms and exercises in Syriac Grammar was first published in 1915 to meet the need for "something of an elementary nature which should be of value to the student who takes up Syriac for the first time." Since then, the book has met this need for generations of students. The fifth edition of 2002 remains the grammar of choice for many teachers of Syriac classes as well as for students learning by themselves. The present revision, drawing on ten more years of university teaching experience and students' comments, clarifies some of the grammatical explanations and exercises. Improvements to the fonts and a larger format make for easier reading. As before, the West Syriac script and grammatical tradition are followed in the body of the lessons, and appendices introduce reading in the other (estrangela and Eastern) scripts. The book remains a plain and friendly introduction to this important language.

Prior to his retirement in 2006, J. F. Coakley was an affiliated lecturer at Cambridge University, where he taught Syriac in the Faculty of Divinity. He was previously Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University and at Harvard University. His research interests include various areas of Syriac studies including biblical exegesis, modern church history, and Syriac letter-forms in manuscript and print.

1. Introduction
2. The script
3. Pronunciation
4. Pronouns. Particles. Simple sentences
5. Nouns and adjectives: gender, number, state
6. Pronominal suffixes
7. Prepositions
8. Verbs. The perfect tense
9. Nouns and adjectives with variable vowels
10. Participles
11. More nouns with variable vowels
12. Miscellaneous and irregular nouns
13. The imperfect tense
14. The imperative and infinitive.
15. The ethpeʿel
16. The paʿel and ethpaʿal
17. The aphʿel and ettaphʿal. Other conjugations
18. Objective pronominal suffixes, 1: attached to the perfect
19. Objective pronominal suffixes, 2: attached to other forms of the verb
20. Weak verbs. Pe-nun verbs
21. Pe-alaph verbs
22. Pe-yod verbs
23. ʿE-alaph verbs
24. Hollow verbs
25. Geminate verbs
26. Lamad-yod verbs, 1: the peʿal
27. Lamad-yod verbs, 2: other conjugations
28. Pronominal suffixes attached to lamad-yod verbs
29. Numbers
Appendices
A. A. Pronunciation of the bgdkpt letters
B. B. The estrangela script. Diacritical points
C. C. East Syriac writing and phonology
D. D. Dates
Syriac-English glossary
English-Syriac glossary