Lesson 17: “A B” sentences

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In the previous lesson, we looked at nominal sentences with the special pronoun pw, including the “A pw B” variety. We said that “A pw B” is usually only used if both A and B are nouns. But there are a few special cases in which the “A B” structure is used with two nouns, and it is the normal structure when one of A or B is a pronoun.

When A and B are both nouns

There are only a few situations where the “A B” sentence is used if both are nouns (or noun phrases), as follows.

Same noun in two phrases

“A B” is used if the same noun is used in two different phrases. The well-known Spanish sentence mi casa es su casa would be a perfect example of this type. These are called balanced sentences. Unlike in an “A pw B” sentence, B is the predicate in a balanced sentence.

π“‰π“°π“€π“€€π“‰π“°π“€π“Ž‘ pr.j pr.k
“my house is your house”

π“…“π“‚π“°π“Ž‘π“π“°π“›π“°π“π“…“π“‚π“°π“Ž‘π“π“°π“›π“‚‹π“°π“‚π“‡³π“€­ mkt.t mkt r꜀
“Your protection is the protection of the sun.” (MuK vo 4, 7)

rn “name” or words of kinship

The “A B” structure can be used with two nouns if one of them is π“‚‹π“°π“ˆ– rn “name” or a term of kinship like 𓅐𓏏𓁐 mjwt “mother”:

π“‚‹π“°π“ˆ–π“ˆ–π“π“°π“†‘π“‹΄π“‡Œπ“…±π“‡‹π“„Ώπ“€€ rn n (j)t.s ywj꜒
“The name of her father is Yuya.” (Urk. IV, 1741, 12, G)

π“…π“π“π“€­π“Œπ“±π“π“°π“‡―π“†— mjwt.j nwt
“My mother is Nut” (BD 69 Ca, 8)

In a kinship sentence, usually A contains the kinship term and is the subject, and B tells us about that kin: “her mother is Nut”, “his brother is a scribe”, etc. In a name sentence, although rn is usually in A, whichever of A or B has rn is the subject, and the actual name is the predicate.

When A is an independent pronoun

It is very common for an independent pronoun to stand first in an “A B” sentence, and its meaning is simple:

π“Œπ“°π“Ž‘π“€€π“žπ“€€π“‡‹π“ˆŽπ“°π“‚‹π“œ jnk zαΊ–κœ’w jqr
“I am an excellent scribe.”

There is one “gotcha” with the second and third person independent pronouns, but we will discuss it in the next lesson when we talk about the sometimes “invisible” word nj at the start of a sentence. For the rest of this lesson (and its exercises), this “gotcha” will not occur.

If the independent pronoun is third-person, A is the predicate, because “B pw” was an option. Consider the sentence ntf nswt “He is the king”. There is another valid way to say that, if it’s obvious who the “he” is, and that is with the “A pw” form, just with the “B” from our “A B” sentence: nswt pw. Therefore, if you use the independent pronoun sentence instead, you are emphasizing the pronoun: ntf nswt “The king is he” (or “is him”, if you prefer).

But if the independent pronoun is first or second person, subject and predicate depend on context. That’s because pw can only act as a third-person entity. If someone asks the king himself either “Who’s the king?” or “Who are you?”, the answer to both is phrased jnk nswt. He can’t say nswt pw if he wants to emphasize “the king”, because pw is not for first-person situations. Infrequently, pw might be added to the sentence to emphasize the pronoun, making it an “A pw B” sentence: jnk pw nswt. But usually, the subject and predicate have to be determined by, you guessed it, context.

First-person adjectival sentences

You may recall that when making an adjectival sentence with a pronoun, you use the dependent pronoun: π“ˆ–π“°π“†±π“π“°π“π“€œπ“Ώπ“°π“ˆ– nαΈ«t αΉ―n β€œyou (fem.) are strong”. But we said in that lesson that this is only done for second and third person, not for first person. For first person adjectival sentences, you actually use a nominal “A B” sentence with an independent pronoun, effectively making the adjective a noun:

π“Œπ“°π“Ž‘π“€€π“ˆ–π“°π“†±π“π“°π“π“€œ jnk nαΈ«t
“I am strong” (lit. “I am a strong one”)

π“‡‹π“€π“ˆ–π“°π“ˆ–π“°π“₯π“‚§π“°π“ˆ™π“°π“‚‹π“…Ÿπ“ͺ jnn dΕ‘rw
“We are red” (lit. “We are red ones”)

Note that for first-person plural, the adjective is also plural, since it has become a noun. This is not the case with “true” adjectival sentences, where the adjective, being the predicate and not a modifier or a noun, is always in the masculine singular form.

When B is an demonstrative pronoun

The neutral demonstrative pronouns (nn, nf꜒, etc.) can be the “B” half of an “A B” sentence, but the sentence works exactly like an “A pw” sentence would, just replacing pw with the neutral demonstrative: the demonstrative moves as close to the beginning of the sentence as possible, and A is the predicate; that is, the neutral demonstrative follows the predicate.

Here are “This is the taste of death” as used in Sinuhe, with a direct genitive, and a variation where it uses an indirect genitive. Note how nn moves in front of the genitival adjective in the latter.

𓂧𓐰π“Šͺ𓐱𓏏𓄓𓀁𓅓𓏏𓐰𓏱𓇒 dpt mwt nn
“This is the taste of death.” (Sin. B 23)

𓂧𓐰π“Šͺπ“±π“π“„“π“€π“‡’π“ˆ–π“°π“π“…“π“π“°π“± dpt nn nt mwt
“This is the taste of death.”
(lit. “A taste this is, one of death.”)

The similarity in the behavior of the neutral demonstratives to that of pw is why Allen (2014, p. 93) says that an “A pw” sentence really is just a particular case of the “A B” sentence.

We presented “A pw” first, since locating only pw is easier than having to look for a variety of pronouns, but once you have understood it with pw, using the neutral demonstratives instead should not be too difficult.

Summary: “A B” sentences

  1. The “A B” structure can be used in a balanced sentence, when the same noun is used in two different phrases: pr.j pr.k “my house is your house”. A is the subject.
  2. “A B” can be used when one side, usually A, contains a kinship term like “mother” or “brother”. A is the subject.
  3. “A B” can be used when one side contains the noun rn “name”. The subject is the rn half; the predicate is the half giving the actual name.
  4. “A B” is used when A is an independent pronoun: jnk zαΊ–κœ’w “I am a scribe”.
  5. When A is a third person independent pronoun, A is the predicate, because “B pw” could have been said to make B the predicate instead. Otherwise, subject and predicate must be decided by context.
  6. “A B” is used with A as an independent pronoun to express the meaning that one would get from a first-person adjectival sentence, by nominalizing the adjective: jnk nfr “I am (a) good (one)”, jnn nfrw “we are good (ones)”.
  7. Any of the neutral demonstrative pronouns can be used as the “B” in an “A B”, but really the sentence works like “A pw” with the neutral demonstrative instead of pw, with the demonstrative floating towards the beginning of the sentence as pw would: t꜒ nn n ꜒pdw “this is the land of birds” (lit. “a land this is, one of birds”).

Vocabulary

  • π“‡‹π“Œ³π“„ͺ𓐰𓐍𓇋𓇋 jm꜒ḫy “revered one”, var. π“‡‹π“Œ³π“„ͺ𓐰𓐍𓅱 jm꜒ḫw
    • Usually an epithet for the deceased; sometimes, for the aged.
  • 𓅓𓐰𓂋𓀀 jmj-r β€œoverseer”
    • lit. β€œone with a mouth in them”
  • π“‡‹π“Šƒπ“°π“†‘π“π“°π“…ͺ jzft “evil, wrong, chaos”; the opposite of Maat
  • 𓅓𓏏𓐰𓀐 mwt (masc.) “death”, var. 𓅓𓏏𓐰𓏱
  • π“ π“°π“Œπ“±π“Œπ“±π“Œ mn.w “monument(s)”
  • π“…“π“‚π“°π“Ž‘π“π“°π“› mkwt (mkt) “protection”
  • π“…˜π“Ž›π“Ž›π“‡³ nαΈ₯αΈ₯ “eternity” (in cyclical time) var. π“…˜π“Ž›π“‡³π“Ž›, often π“Ž›π“‡³π“Ž›
  • 𓄂𓐰𓂝𓀀 αΈ₯꜒tj-κœ₯ “high official” (mayor, nomarch, etc.)
    • lit. “one whose arm is in front”
  • 𓍛𓏀𓅆 αΈ₯m “incarnation, Majesty” var. 𓍛𓏀
    • This used to be translated “Majesty” because of expressions like αΈ₯m.f being used for the king (thought to be “his Majesty”), but now is interpreted as “person, incarnation”; an individual pharaoh being an incarnation of kingship. Be careful about context: both this word and αΈ₯m meaning “servant” can be written simply as 𓍛𓏀.
  • π“‚§π“„Ώπ“π“°π“Š– dw꜒t “underworld, netherworld” var. 𓇼𓏏𓐰𓉐
  • 𓂧𓐰π“Šͺ𓐱𓏏𓄓𓀁 dpt “taste” (noun)
  • 𓆓𓐳𓐷𓏏𓐰𓇾𓐸 ḏt “forever” (in linear time)

Exercises

(forthcoming)

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