Summary: The compound verbal forms, which allow to express different connotations of action or state, belong to the most remarkable characteristics of post-Achaemenid and Middle Aramaic. Two specificities of the Syrian periphrastic verbs deserve special attention: a) the use of the verb ܚܟܫ škḥ / ܝܨܡ mṣy “find” as an auxiliary which expresses modality and marks aspect and tense in the periphrastic modal constructions; b) diversity of combinations of different forms of ܚܟܫ /ܝܨܡ with infinitive, imperfect or participle as the main verb forms. The verb with the seme “find” in the modal function is discussed in this article as an important characteristic of the Syrian verbal morphosyntax. The differences in semantic connotations and syntactic functions of the numerous modal compounds with škḥ/mṣy-auxiliary (in total – 11 types of the constructions) are defined by analysis of their use in Peshitta (through comparison with their Hebrew and Greek counterparts) as well as in the original Syrian literature. In connection with this research some morphosyntactic shifts in the Aramaic verbal syntax are discussed, in particular, interchangeability of the participle and the imperfect as markers of imperfectiveness.