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Eli,Eli lema  sabakhtani Eloi,Eloi  lema  sabakhtani These two phrases both mean God why have you forsaken me?They can be found in Matthew's and Mark's Gospel.This is what Jesus-being on the cross- cryied out to God. Matthew 27:46 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” Mark 15:34 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Elohi, Elohi, lema sabachthani?” vocabulary Eli or Elohi or Eloi=God,Gr.ηλί,ελοϊ lama or lema or even lemana (Syriac) =why ,Gr.λαμά,λιμά sabachthani or sabachtani=root shbq meaning to forgive,to allow,to leave,Gr.σαβαχθανί

 The unconnected form of the letter has the following form. First the line on right is written from top to bottom .Then circle in a clockwise direction. The letter He is connected from the right only. He is pronounced like and English h. Exercise Read and copy on paper.

  The unconnected form of the letter looks like that above. For example gamal connected with the letter alaph (below). Gamal can be connected from the right as well as from the left ,like beth does also.  Gamal connected from right. Gamal connected from left. Gamal connected from both sides. Gamal is pronounced as g after a vowel. In this case s dot is used over it called kushaya. On the other hand gamal is pronounced like a French r when it follows a consonant. So a dot is used underneath the letter (rukakha). Exercise Read and write.Try to the letters as they appear in the image below. The small letters above or below the letters are Syriac diacritics for vowels. Review Syriac vowels below. Syriac vowels. Other letters in Syriac Serto Alap Beth , Dalath , He

 The unconnected Dalat is written like this below. Dalat is only connected from the right just like alaph. Here is the connected form of the letter. Notice that the connected form of Dalat is smaller than the unconnected form. The letter Dalat represents two consonants: [d] at the beginning of the word and after consonants [th] as in 'this' after vowels. The qushshaya for [d] and ruqqakha for [th] dots are used to distinguish between the two.   [th]         [d]    Read about more letters Dalat

This phrase was said to Christ by the brigand crucified next to him.  Luke 23:42  ܘܶܐܡܰܪ ܠܝܶܫܽܘܥ ܐܶܬ݁ܕ݁ܰܟ݂ܪܰܝܢܝ ܡܳܪܝ ܡܳܐ ܕ݁ܳܐܬ݂ܶܐ ܐܰܢ݈ܬ݁ ܒ݁ܡܰܠܟ݁ܽܘܬ݂ܳܟ݂ ܀   ᵓāmar lēh yešūᶜ ᵓamīn ᵓāmar nā lāḵ dəyawmānā ᶜam tehwe bəpardaysā Και στον Ιησού έλεγε: «Θυμήσου με, Κύριε, όταν έρθεις στη βασιλεία σου».  And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom

 The letter beth in Syriac can be connected from the right as well as from the left unlike the alaph . The Syriac beth represents the occlusive [b] and the spirant [v].  It is pronounced as [b] at the beginning of the word or the middle after a consonant (post-consonantal position). In this case the occulative pronunciation can be denoted with a dot above the beth (kusshaya). Beth is pronounced as [v] after a vowel. In this case a ruqqakha is used ,a dot under the letter. It should be taken into account that in many texts the kushaya and ruqakha dots are omitted which does not make clear how the beth is pronounced.  In these cases one should pay close attention to the letter that precedes beth . The letter beth is never silenced like many other consonants in the Syriac language.  Also beth is never softened after the [i] vowel retaining its hard pronunciation. Read and rewrite

אנא מוד Ána móde I'm thankful. Thank you. When a man is speaking. אנא מודיא Ána módia I'm thankful. Thank you. When a woman is speaking. אנחנא מודן AnáHna módan We are thankful. When men are speaking. אנחנא מודין AnàHna módian We are thankful. When women are speaking. ‌ לך LaH to you when speaking to a man. ‌ ליך LeH When speaking to a woman. לכון LeHon To you When speaking to men. לחינן léHen To you  When speaking to women. For example when a man wants to say thank to a woman would say: אנא מוד ליך Ána móde leH. I'm thankful to you. I thank you. Thank you. Or when a woman wants to thank women would say אנא מודיא לחינן ána módia léHen I (a woman) thank you (women). Back to short Aramaic lessons.