Verb Parts in Akkadian and Hebrew: A Seminar

As part of the academic activities of Department of Ancient Iraqi Languages for the 2025-2026 academic year, a seminar entitled “Verb Parts in Akkadian and Hebrew” was held on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. The seminar was presented by Professor Dr. Amin Abdul-Nafi Amin and Master’s student Aisha Wael. It addressed the parts of speech in Semitic languages, which, like Arabic, are divided into nouns, verbs, and particles. The verb is considered one of the most important parts of speech due to its pivotal role in sentence structure and in expressing events, time, and mood. This study, therefore, examines the parts of speech in Akkadian and Hebrew, two of the oldest documented Semitic languages and among the most influential in historical and comparative linguistic studies. This research aims to study the verb in terms of its derivation, that is, its root and original letters, distinguishing between sound and weak (or defective) letters. It also analyzes its forms and patterns, its tenses and forms, its meanings and conjugations. Furthermore, the research examines the classification of verbs based on the strength or weakness of their letters and their functional meaning, dividing verbs into intransitive and transitive, verbs of state, and verbs of action, in a manner similar to that found in Arabic. The study employs a descriptive-analytical methodology based on the inductive reasoning of linguistic evidence. Its importance lies in revealing the similarities and differences between the verb systems in Akkadian and Hebrew, thus contributing to a deeper comparative understanding of verb structure in Semitic languages.