consist of a reduplicated biconsonantal root and stems with a geminated final consonant. From the basic stems, an active participle was formed on the pattern CāCiC, the passive one on the patterns CaCīC and CaCūC. From the derived stems, the participles were formed by means of the prefix *mu-, while the vocalisation of the active ones was a-i and that of the passive ones was a-a (on this pattern, for example, the Arabic name muḥammad is formed from the root ḥmd ‘to praise’.) The imperative mood was formed only for the second person, and the form for the singular masculine was the pure stem: Conjunctions Three conjunctions are reconstructed for Proto-Semitic: *wa ’and’; *’aw ’or’; *šimmā ’if’. Syntax The Proto-Semitic language was a language of nominative-accusative alignment, which is preserved in most of its descendant languages. The basic word order of Proto-Semitic was VSO (verb — subject — direct object), and the modifier usually followed its head. Lexis Reconstruction of the Proto-Semitic lexis provides more information about the life of Proto-Semites and helps in the search for their Urheimat. Thus, it is possible to reconstruct religious terms ( ‘deity’, ‘to perform a sacrifice’, ‘to anoint’, ‘be holy’, ‘to forbid, excommunicate’ *ṣalm- ‘idol’), agricultural terms (*ḥaḳl- ‘field’, *ḥrṯ ‘to plough’, *ḏrʻ ‘to sow’, *ʻṣ́d ‘to harvest’, *dyš ‘to thresh’, *ḏrw ‘to winnow’, *gurn- ‘threshing-floor’, *ḥinṭ- ‘wheat’, *kunāṯ- ‘emmer’, *duḫn- ‘millet’), animal husbandry terms (*’immar- ‘ram’, *raḫil- ‘ewe’, *‘inz- ‘goat’, *śaw- ‘a flock of sheep’, *ṣ́a’n- ‘a herd of sheep and goats’, ‘to shear sheep’, *r‘y ‘to graze (animals)’, *šḳy ‘to guide to a watering place’, *’alp- ‘bull’, *ṯawr- ‘buffalo’, *ḫzr-/*ḫnzr- ‘pig’, *kalb- ‘dog’, *ḥimār- ‘donkey’, *’atān- ‘she-donkey’, *ḥalab- ‘milk’, *lašad- ‘cream’, *ḫim’at- ‘butter’), terms of daily life (*bayt- ‘house’, *dalt- ‘door’, *kussi’- ‘chair’, *‘arś- ‘bed’, *kry ‘to dig’, *bi’r- ‘well’, *śrp ‘to kindle, *’iš- ‘fire’, *ḳly ‘to roast’, *laḥm- ‘food’), technological terms (*ṣrp ‘to smelt’, *paḥḥam- ‘coal’, *kasp- ‘silver’, *kupr- ‘bitumen’, *kuḥl- ‘antimony’, *napṭ- ‘petrol’, *ḥabl- ‘rope’, *ḳašt- ‘bow’, *ḥaṱw- ‘arrow’). Many words are useful for the identification of the Semitic Urheimat (*ti’n- ‘fig’, *ṯūm- ‘garlic’, *baṣal- ‘onion’, ‘palm tree’, *dibš- ‘date honey’, *buṭn- ‘pistachio’, *ṯaḳid- ‘almond’, *kammūn- ‘cumin’). The words ‘buffalo’ and ‘horn’ are suspected to be borrowings from Proto-Indo-European or vice versa (for and certain other words). Besides, Sergei Starostin adduces several dozens of Semito-Indo-European correspondences, which he considers to be borrowings into Proto-Semitic from Proto-Anatolian or a disappeared