It’s time we took the plunge and started to look more formally at verbs. As in most languages, verbs are probably the most complicated part of Egyptian, but don’t let that trouble you. The basics are simple enough to get the hang of, and we’ll build from there.
Roots
The root of an Egyptian verb consists of a set of consonants, which are referred to as radicals, much as they are in Egyptian’s cousins, Hebrew and Arabic. Many typical Egyptian verbs have three radicals, but some have only two, and there are classes of verbs that have as many as six. Here are a few important Egyptian verbs, with their lists of radicals. We will use these as examples as we explain forms below.
𓏠𓈖𓏜 mn “remain; be set, established” (m, n)𓁹 jrj “do, make” (j, r, j)𓋹𓈖𓐍 ꜥnḫ “live” (ꜥ, n, ḫ)𓉔𓄿𓂻 hꜣj “descend, fall” (h, ꜣ, j)
𓌃𓂧𓅱𓀁 mdwj “speak” (m, d, w, j)
The root traditionally used by Egyptologists as the paradigm, that is, the example to show verb forms, is 𓄔𓅓 sḏm “hear”, which has three radicals (s, ḏ, m). In Egyptian, this means it mainly serves as a shorthand for naming various forms. You will encounter a form called the “sḏm.f”, and the “sḏmtj.fj”, and others. For example, the “sḏm.f form” of mdwj would be mdwj.f.
Weak radicals
As we have previously learned, the consonants j and w are considered weak as they frequently are left unwritten, especially at the end of a word. When the last radical of a verb is a weak consonant, that usually means the verb behaves a bit differently than verbs whose final radical is not weak, even if they have the same number of radicals.
Base stem
From a verb’s root, we derive one or more stems. The simplest and most essential for using the verb correctly is called the base stem. Every verb has a base stem, although it may not have the other kinds.
For most verbs, the base stem is the same as the root. However, if the root ends in a weak radical, the base stem of the verb (with a very few exceptions) is what remains of the root when that final radical is dropped. For example, the base stems of the five example verbs above are: mn, jr, ꜥnḫ, hꜣ, and mdw. Note that jrj, hꜣj, and mdwj lost their final -j to form their base stems. But also note, mdwj only lost its final -j; it does not then also lose the -w, even though that is also a weak consonant.
The base stem carries the basic “dictionary” meaning of the verb. mdwj means “speak, say”, and that’s what its base stem mdw conveys. We care about the base stem because there are verb forms which build on the base stem rather than the root.
Geminated stem
The astrological sign of Gemini, “the twins”, is the mnemonic for the next stem, since the term comes from the same Latin root. If you double the last radical of the base stem, you get the geminated stem. For our four example verbs, you would expect these to be mnn, jrr, ꜥnḫḫ, hꜣꜣ, and mdww. That is correct for mnn, jrr, ꜥnḫḫ, and hꜣꜣ.
But it turns out that not every verb can form a geminated stem. mdwj, with base stem mdw, is one that does not. Although you would predict it to be mdww, no form that would use that stem exists. In fact, when you see the full list of verbs categories, there are more which cannot form geminated stems than there are which can.
The geminated stem expresses the idea of doing the action continually, repetitively, normatively, or the like. For example, the geminated stem of mrj “want, desire” is mrr, since the third radical of mrj is weak and dropped before geminating. mrr typically means a more lasting “love”, because it is a desire that continues.
Geminated stems of geminated roots
Suppose we have a verb with wnn for a root. Its geminated stem, in theory, would therefore be wnnn.
Now, you may recall the the “two consonants together” rule: in hieroglyphs, if two instances of the same consonant happen together with no vowel between them, they were only written as one copy of the consonant.
So let’s imagine possible ways this verb could have been pronounced, depending on where the vowels fell between the two (with the base stem) or three (with the geminated stem) “n”s.
| Imagined pronunciations1 | Form built on which stem? | Would be written | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| “wanna” | Base (wnn) | wn | No vowel separates the two “n”s, so they are written as one. |
| “wanan”, “awnan” | Base (wnn) | wnn | The “n”s are separated by a vowel, so they are both written. |
| “wananna” or “wannana” | Geminated (wnnn) | wnn | Two of the “m”s are not separated, so they are written as one, but the third is separate, so it is written as another. |
| “wananan” | Geminated (wnnn) | wnnn | The three “n”s are separated by vowels, so they are all written. |
Now as it turns out, a form actually written wnnn does not appear, so there probably wasn’t a form pronounced something like “wananan”. Instead, when there are three “n”s because of the geminated stem wnnn, it seems like either the first and second, or the second and third, had no vowel between them.
So the only forms we see in writing are wn, which can only be from the base stem, and wnn, which could be from the base or geminated stem, and that is something we must keep in mind.
Causative stem
The causative stem conveys the meaning of causing the action of the verb: the causative of “live” means “bring to life, revive”.
The causative is formed simply by adding a prefix s- to the front of the root, not the base stem. This is true even for roots with weak final radicals. You would therefore expect the causative stems of our four examples to be smn, sjrj, sꜥnḫ, shꜣj, and smdwj. However, sjrj and smdwj do not exist; as we said, not every verb has a causative stem. sm, sꜥnḫ, and shꜣj do indeed exist.
All causatives begin with s, but not every verb beginning with s is a causative; sḏm is an example of a non-causative verb that begins with s.
Dictionaries usually list causative stems as being separate roots entirely, although they are formed in a predictable way. So generally a dictionary would list sꜥnḫ as a separate entry from ꜥnḫ. This is not the case with geminated stems, however; ꜥnḫḫ would be considered a form of ꜥnḫ.
Irregular Verbs
Some verbs behave differently from other verbs of their class in one or another form, but there are three which are particularly irregular.
| Verb | Base | Geminated |
|---|---|---|
| 𓂋𓏙 rdj “cause, give, put” | Can be written with the mouth 𓂋 r followed by either of the biliterals for dj: 𓂋𓏙 or 𓂋𓂞, or infrequently just followed by the arm 𓂋𓂝. Irregularly, it has a second base stem which means the same thing: dj, spelled like rdj without the r (𓏙, 𓂞, 𓂝) | dd, spelled as one of the glyphs for the base stem dj twice. (𓏙𓏙, 𓂞𓂞, 𓂝𓂝) |
| 𓇍 jjj “come, return” | Has two different stems, jjj and jwj. The former is spelled with the walking reed 𓇍 and sometimes a phonetic complement 𓇋 or 𓏭 and the “legs” determinative; the latter with the legs 𓂻 and usually a phonetic complement w, but the final j is rarely written. | The geminated stem is 𓂻𓅱 jw, rarely jww, apparently derived from the jwj stem rather than jjj. |
| 𓇋𓅓𓂜 jmj “not to be, not to do” | This verb is “defective”; it only appears in two forms. It appears in the sḏm.f form (the basic conjugated verb form) to negate wishes or commands (“you should not”, “it should not”) or as its own imperative m to negate imperatives. |
Names of the verb classes
Egyptian verb classes are traditionally labeled using abbreviations of Latin phrases describing the number and nature of their radicals.
- The suffix -gem (“geminatae”) indicates that the verb root is geminated (whether it can form a geminated stem or not). Note that the prefix does not indicate the total number of radicals in the root, but which one is geminated: 2ae-gem. (“secundae geminatae”, second-geminate) means that the root has a first radical “A” and a second radical “B”, which is geminated, so the root is of the pattern “ABB”. Similarly, a 3ae-gem. would have the pattern “ABCC”.
- The class suffix -inf (“infirmae”) indicates that the final radical of the root is weak (“infirm”). Here, the prefix does indicate the total number of radicals, because it identifies which one is weak: a 3ae-inf. has three radicals, either in the pattern “ABj” or “ABw“.
- If the verb is not geminate or infirm, then its class has the suffix -lit, preceded by the number of radicals; thus, 2-lit. means a verb with pattern “AB”, 3-lit. means “ABC”, and so on for 4-lit. and 5-lit. (In some sources, notably TLA, the suffix -rad, for “radicals”, is used.)
- The prefix caus. means that the verb is a causative of another verb, and the rest of the name indicates what the source verb is. For example, caus. 3ae-gem. is the causative of a third-geminate, so it has the pattern “sABCC”.
It is worth remembering that in the “-gem” classes, the root has geminated consonants; the question is, which of those verbs form a “geminated” stem that is even further geminated from that.
Summary of verb classes
| Class | Pattern | Notes | Can form geminated stem? | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-lit. (biliteral) | AB | If the second radical is j, the verb is sometimes considered to be in a separate class “2ae-inf.”, but except for gemination, those usually behave much like other 2-lit. | Yes (except for 2ae-inf. verbs) | ḏd “say” |
| 2ae-gem. (second geminate) | ABB | The base stem may be written “AB” or “ABB” depending on the (unknown) vowels; the geminated stem will only be written “ABB”. | Yes | tmm “close” |
| 3-lit. (triliteral) | ABC | Rarely end in j or w; most three-radical verbs ending in those are 3ae-inf. below. | Yes (unless 3rd is weak) | sḏm “hear” |
| 3ae-inf. (third weak) | ABj, ABw | A few three-radical verbs ending in j or w behave like other three-radical verbs and are classed as 3-lit. | Yes (with some exceptions) | šnj “encircle” |
| 3ae-gem. (third geminate) | ABCC | These have geminated roots, but they do not form geminated stems. | No | špss “be noble, ennoble” |
| 4-lit. (quadriliteral) | ABCD, ABAB, or AjAj | Those with pattern “AjAj” are usually written “AAj“.1 | No | hbhb “knead” |
| 4ae-inf. (fourth weak) | ABCj | Most of these cannot geminate, but those that can also behave slightly differently in other ways too; it’s almost like two different classes. | A few yes; most no | wdfj “be late, delay” |
| 5-lit. (quinquiliteral) | ABCBC, ABjBj | All of these are reduplicated from three-radical verbs. They mostly convey a more intense or prolonged version of the three-radical verb: nhm “yell”, nhmhm “yell very forcefully”. | No | ꜣḫfḫf “blaze, be fiery” (of the eyes) |
| caus. 2-lit. | sAB | Causatives of biliterals. | No | sḏd “cause to be said, recount” |
| caus. 2ae-gem. | sABB | Causatives of second geminates. Like those, their final radical may or may not appear in a given instance, depending on the unknown vowels. | No | sgnn “cause to be soft, soften” |
| caus. 3-lit. | sABC | Causatives of triliterals. | No | smnḫ “cause to be effective” |
| caus. 3ae-inf. | sABj, sABw | Causatives of third weaks. | A few yes; most no | sḏwj “slander” |
| caus. 4-lit. | sABAB | Causatives of quadriliterals. Only “ABAB” 4-lit verbs form causatives; none of “ABCD” do. | No | smnmn “cause to quake” |
| caus. 4ae-inf. | sABCj | Causatives of fourth weaks. | No | smꜣwj “renew” |
| caus. 5-lit. | sABCBC | Causatives of quinquiliterals. | No | snšmšm “sharpen” |
- No Egyptian verb is actually of the pattern “AA” or “AAj“, so if you see one written “AAj“, it is actually a 4-lit. “AjAj” with the first j omitted.