An adverbial sentence is a sentence which gives adverbial information about its subject; information expressed by an adverb, usually a location, such as “here” or “there”, or by a prepositional phrase such as “at home” or “next to the tree”. (Recall that prepositional phrases themselves function as adverbs in sentences.)
However, as you will learn later, Egyptian uses adverbial sentences for a lot more, notably things that would normally be considered verbal sentences.
Simple form
Although it is not the most common way to form an adverbial sentence in Middle Egyptian, the simplest way is to simply follow the subject with a prepositional phrase:
๐๐
ญ๐ด๐๐๐ก๐
๐ก๐๐๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ฐ๐ค z๊ฃt-nswt.k m ky pr-nswt
“Your princess is in another castle.”
The prepositional phrase is occasionally put before the subject, most often if the predicate begins with the preposition n “for”. We will see why this is so, in the next lesson.
๐๐๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฐ๐๐๐ฐ๐ค๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ n nswt jz pn jqr
“For the king is this excellent tomb.”
Now for the first thing that a nominal or adjectival sentence cannot do: An adverbial sentence can express a wish or a command, not just a fact. As Allen notes (2014, p. 140), English can do this too: “A plague o’ both your houses!” has no verb. Here is an example from Ptahhotep:
๐ท๐ฐ๐ค๐ก๐
๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ แธฅr.k m แบrw
“Let your face be down!” (Ptahhotep 128 L2)
(lit. “your face in what-is-downward”)
Particles
Usually, however, adverbial sentences begin with a word known as a particle, which introduce the sentence and provide some shades of meaning. There are a few particles which can be used at the start of an adverbial sentence, each with its own meaning and rules.
๐๐ ฑ jw
One of the simplest to use is ๐๐ ฑ jw. When it introduces an adverbial sentence, jw is followed by the subject, which can be a noun, a demonstrative pronoun, or a suffix pronoun:
๐๐
ฑ๐๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐
๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ jw t.f m pr.j
“His bread is in my house.”
๐๐
ฑ๐๐
๐น๐๐๐ฐ๐ jw.j m แธฅwt-nแนฏr
“I am in the temple.”
Unfortunately, as simple as it is to use, jw appears in such a variety of situations in Egyptian that Egyptologists still aren’t quite sure how to translate it. There is agreement that it indicates the statement being made is currently true, as opposed to a sentence that is more inherently true. A mortal human being in the temple is generally a temporary state of affairs, and so jw works for the sentence “I am in the temple.” For saying that an inscription is in the temple, however, it may not be quite as correct.
Another use for jw is before an adjectival sentence, in which it highlights the “current situation” quality of the sentence, just as it does when it begins an adverbial sentence:
๐๐
ฑ๐ค๐๐ฐ๐๐๐
ฑ๐๐
ฎ๐๐ฐ๐๐
ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐๐ฐ๐๐ฐ๐๐ณ
jw nfr sw m p๊ฃ hrw r sf
“He is better today than yesterday” (TTS III, pl. 26, 15)
(lit. “he is good in this day with respect to yesterday”)
A particle, not a verb
jw is not considered a verb by recent scholarship (Hoch 1997; Allen 2014), although older works (Gardiner 1957, ยง29) refer to it as “an old verb”, some newer sources (Collier & Manley 1998) refer to it as an “auxiliary”, and at least one online lecture course targeted at beginners refers to it as the verb “to be”.
By now you should understand that Egyptian does not have the verb “to be”. There are ways in which jw does “act” a bit like a verb which will be apparent when we look at verbal sentences, but it is not one. It is a sentence particle which helps in constructing adverbial sentences, and in conveying meanings in other types of sentences. We will see much more of jw in later lessons.
The other sentence particles discussed below, likewise, should not be confused with verbs. They are just that: particles, “small words” which give an overall nuance or emphasis for the sentence.
๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ก m.k
m.k (or mj.k) is another sentence particle. It always has a 2nd person suffix pronoun, representing the listener, so it can also be found as m.แนฏ (m.t) for a feminine listener, or m.แนฏn (m.tn) for plural listeners. This word is used to point something out or make the listener aware of it. It might be translated as “behold”, “hey”, “see”, “look you”, “check it out”, or other such phrases as necessary.
As noted, the suffix pronoun of m.k matches the listener, not the subject of the statement, in contrast with jw, for which a suffix pronoun is the subject. The subject of m.k, if it is a pronoun, is the appropriate dependent pronoun. If I were posting to social media and therefore expected multiple listeners, I might say:
๐
๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐
ฑ๐๐
๐๐
๐๐ m.แนฏn wj m kmt
“See, I’m in Egypt!”
๐
๐๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ต๐ฐ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ป๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ m.k jmn-แธฅtp ๊ฅ๊ฃ
“Notice, Amenhotep is here.”
๐๐ฐ๐ nn
nn is another particle; this one negates an adverbial sentence. This is the first time we’ve really negated one of our sentences. nn comes before the subject but can have m.k or another particle before it. But it can come before a “simple form” sentence to negate it too.
๐๐ฐ๐๐
๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ก nn mjwt.k แธฅn๊ฅ.k
“Your mother is not with you.” (MuK. vo 2, 3)
๐๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ก๐ฐ๐ nแธฅmn
nแธฅmn is more emphatic than m.k (and does not take a suffix pronoun for the listener as that does); it means something like “really” or “surely”, emphasizing the sentence’s truth.
๐๐ฐ๐๐
๐ก๐ฐ๐๐
ฑ๐๐๐๐ nแธฅmn wj mj k๊ฃ
“I really am like a bull.” (Sinuhe B 117โ118)
๐๐ฟ๐ แธฅ๊ฃ
แธฅ๊ฃ (and its variants ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฟ แธฅ๊ฃ ๊ฃ, ๐๐ ฑ๐ญ๐๐ฟ แธฅwj ๊ฃ) expresses a wish that is not certain to come true, or is counterfactual.
๐๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ต๐ฐ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ป๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ แธฅ๊ฃ jmn-แธฅtp ๊ฅ๊ฃ
“If only Amenhotep were here.”
Summary: Adverbial Sentences I
Vocabulary
- ๐๐ ฑ jw (part.) Used in various ways to form sentences.
- ๐๐ฟ๐ ๊ฅ๊ฃ “here”
- ๐๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ฐ๐ค pr-nswt “king’s house, palace”
- ๐
๐๐ฐ๐ก m.k (part.) “behold, see, look”
- Takes the t or tn suffix pronouns instead of k if the listener is feminine or plural.
- ๐๐ฐ๐ nn (part.) Negates adverbial sentences.
- ๐๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ก๐ฐ๐ nแธฅmn (part.) “really, surely”
- ๐๐ฟ๐ แธฅ๊ฃ (part.) “if only”
- ๐๐ ญ๐ด๐๐ z๊ฃ.t-nswt “princess”, “daughter of the king”
- ๐๐ธ๐ k๊ฃ “bull”
Exercises
(forthcoming)