In my Grammatical Texts (1914), as well as in my Grundziige der sumerischen Grammatik (1923), I have contended-on the basis of the inscriptional material as it had been grammatically analyzed at that time-that the passive-intransitive voice of the Sumerian verb, exactly as the transitive, forms both a preterit and a present-future. A different opinion, however, has been advanced by A. Falkenstein in his article "Zum sumerischen Tempussystem" in OLZ, XXXIV (1931), 791-94. He contends that the intransitive voice of the Sumerian verb forms only one single tense, or, to use his own term, only one single "Zeitstufe," which he designates as "permansive." Those intransitive forms which would seem to prove the existence of an intransitive present-future in addition to the preterit are subjected by him to an interpretation which would make them fit into the "permansive" theme assumed by him. The subject-the system of tenses-is naturally one of great importance for Sumerian grammar, and for this reason alone it will certainly be justifiable to subject the views and explanations offered by Falkenstein to a critical examination. The main-indeed the exclusive-aim