# ܗܘ
## Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
### Pronunciation

* ܗܲܘ:
** (Standard) IPA: [ʔawaː]
** (Nineveh Plains) IPA: [ʔaːw]
    (Bakhdede) IPA: [ʔaːhu]
* ܗܵܘ:
** (Standard) IPA: [haːw]
** (Nineveh Plains) IPA: [ʔoː]

### Etymology 1

Likely a univerbation of ܗܵܐ (hā, “behold”) +‎ Aramaic הוּא (hū, “he”), from Proto-Semitic *šuʔa; compare Arabic هُوَ (huwa), Hebrew הוּא (hu) and Akkadian 𒋗𒌑 (šū).

#### Pronoun

ܗ̇ܘ or ܗܲܘ • (awa) m sg (feminine ܗ̇ܝ (aya), masculine plural ܗܸܢܘܿܢ (hinōn), feminine plural ܗܸܢܹܝܢ (hinnēn))
* (personal) he, it
* (intensive) he himself, it itself
* (dialectal, demonstrative) that

##### Usage notes

* Assyrian Neo-Aramaic does not have a neuter gender. The sense of “it” comes when translating Assyrian inanimate nouns that are grammatically masculine into English inanimate nouns that are usually neuter.
* As an intensive pronoun, ܗ̇ܘ (awa) must come before the noun it describes.

##### Derived terms=

* ܗܵܘܗܵܐ (hāwhā, “that”)

##### See also
### Etymology 2

Inherited from Aramaic הָו (hāw).

#### Pronoun

ܗܵܘ • (hāw) m sg (feminine ܗܵܝ (hāy), masculine plural ܗܵܢܘܿܢ (hānōn), feminine plural ܗܵܢܹܝܢ (hānēn))
* (demonstrative) that; that thing, that one (not physically present)

## Classical Syriac
### Etymology 1

From Proto-Semitic *šuʔa.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [hu]

#### Pronoun

ܗܘ • (hū) m (plural ܗܢܘܢ, feminine singular ܗܝ, feminine plural ܗܢܝܢ)
* (personal) he, it
* (intensive) he himself, it itself
* sometimes used somewhat like a definite article; the

##### Usage notes

* Syriac does not have a neuter gender. The sense of "it" comes when translating Syriac inanimate nouns that are grammatically masculine into English inanimate nouns that are usually neuter.
* As an intensive pronoun, ܗܘ (hū) must come before the noun it describes.

### Etymology 2

Modified from above, with the initial consonant quiescing.

#### Alternative forms

* -ܘ (-w)

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [-(ʔ)u] (after a word ending in a consonant)
* IPA: [-w] (after a word ending in a vowel, forming a diphthong)

#### Pronoun

ܗܘ • ([h]ū, -w) m (plural ܐܢܘܢ, feminine singular ܗܝ, feminine plural ܐܢܝܢ)
* an enclitic used as a copula for a third-person singular masculine subject; he is, it is
* (with a preceding first- or second-person singular pronoun) an enclitic used as a copula for a singular masculine subject; (I) am, (you) are

##### Usage notes

* Usually, the form ܗܘ ([h]ū) is written separately from the word it follows while the alternative form -ܘ (-w) is written together with the word it follows.

##### See also

* ܐܝܬܘܗܝ

### Etymology 3
#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [hɑw], [haw]

#### Adjective

ܗܘ • (hāw) m (plural ܗܢܘܢ, singular feminine counterpart ܗܝ, plural feminine counterpart ܗܢܝܢ)
* (demonstrative) that

##### Usage notes

* As an attributive adjective, ܗܘ (hāw) can come either before or after the noun it describes without any change in meaning.

#### Pronoun

ܗܘ • (hāw) m (plural ܗܢܘܢ, feminine singular ܗܝ, feminine plural ܗܢܝܢ)
* (demonstrative) that thing, that one
* used somewhat like a definite article; the

##### Usage notes

* The sense of the definite article "the" is used especially when translating Ancient Greek texts, being the equivalent of the Ancient Greek masculine singular definite article ὁ (ho).

### References

* “hw”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–, retrieved 2011-06-16
* Costaz, Louis (2002) Dictionnaire syriaque-français ∙ Syriac–English Dictionary ∙ قاموس سرياني-عربي, 3rd edition, Beirut: Dar El-Machreq, pages 74a–b
* Payne Smith, Jessie (1903) A Compendious Syriac Dictionary Founded Upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith, D.D., Oxford: Clarendon Press, pages 100b–101a
* Sokoloff, Michael (2009) A Syriac Lexicon: A Translation from the Latin, Correction, Expansion, and Update of C. Brockelmann's Lexicon Syriacum, Winona Lake, Indiana, Piscataway, New Jersey: Eisenbrauns; Gorgias Press, page 333a