The Imperative

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The imperative is the form of the verb which commands (or requests) action, e.g. “Speak to him” or “Go to Thebes”.

Although spoken Middle Egyptian may have had multiple imperative forms, with different inflection depending on if the person being commanded was masculine or feminine, and depending on if it was one or more person, the written form of the language generally has just one form, which for most verb classes is the verb root:

𓆓𓂧 ḏd
“speak!”

π“Žπ“ˆ– jn
“bring!”

However, occasionally an imperative directed at more than one person will be written with plural strokes: π“Žπ“ˆ–π“₯ jn “(all of you) bring!” And in the plural imperative of a final-weak verb, a -y ending is sometimes written: π“‚§π“ŽΌπ“‡Œπ“Ή dgy “(all of you) look!”

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