Lesson 8: Adjectives and suffix pronouns

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More biliterals

𓇓 sw
Sedge plant		π“„‹ wp
Horns		π“ˆž or π“ˆŸ αΈ₯m
Well with water
𓆄 Ε‘w
Feather		π“ŠΆ kp
Narrow censer		π“…  gm
Black ibis
π“ˆ‹ ḏw
Two hills		𓐝 jm (or m)
Unknown		𓆛 jn
Nile tilapia
𓍋 ꜒b or mr
Chisel		π“Œ° nm
Butcher knife		𓏠 mn
Game board with pieces

𓍋 can stand for both ꜒b and mr, as we saw with π“„‘ for αΈ₯w and bαΈ₯ in the previous lesson.

Adjectives

As in English, adjectives are words which describe nouns. An adjective follows its noun in Egyptian, as we saw with the demonstratives pn/tn: π“Šƒπ“°π“€€π“±π“€π“„€π“†‘π“°π“‚‹ z nfr “good man”, π“‰π“°π“€π“ˆ–π“°π“†“π“‹΄π“…ͺ pr nḏs “small house”.

When most adjectives modify feminine nouns, they agree with the noun by adding -t to the adjective’s default (masculine) form: π“Šƒπ“°π“π“π“„€π“†‘π“°π“‚‹π“ zt nfrt “good woman”, π“Š–π“°π“π“±π“€π“ŽŸπ“°π“ njwt nbt “every town”. There is a category of adjectives which derive their feminine form slightly differently; we will learn about those in a later lesson, but until we do, the adjectives we see will all form their feminine by adding the -t.

The demonstratives we’ve learned, π“Šͺπ“°π“ˆ– pn and π“π“°π“ˆ– tn, are not really adjectives, but a type of pronoun, and thus their masculine/feminine forms are the ones we have already seen.

Suffix pronouns

Egyptian has several different sets of personal pronouns, which each have their own list of grammatical uses. The first ones we will look at are the suffix pronouns:

PersonSingularPlural
1stπ“€€.jπ“ˆ–π“°π“₯.n
2nd masc.π“Ž‘.kπ“Ώπ“°π“ˆ–π“°π“₯.αΉ―n
2nd fem.𓍿.αΉ―
3rd masc.𓆑.fπ“‹΄π“ˆ–π“°π“₯ .sn
3rd fem.π“‹΄.s

In transliteration we usually link a suffix pronoun to the word it follows with a dot: hrw.sn, ḏd.f, etc. Some Egyptologists use an equals sign (ḏd=f, r=j) or even a “double oblique hyphen” βΈ— (ḏdβΈ—f, rβΈ—j).

The suffix pronouns have a number of important uses. Let’s look at them in turn.

As possessives

If a suffix pronoun is attached to a noun, the suffix pronoun indicates the possessor of the noun: 𓂧𓐰π“Šͺπ“±π“π“Š›π“Ž‘ dpt.k “your boat” (for a masculine “you”); π“‚‹π“°π“ˆ™π“…±π“΄π“π“‚‰π“°π“₯π“‹΄π“ˆ–π“°π“₯ rΕ‘wt.sn “their joy”.

The suffix pronouns play nicely with demonstratives in a way that isn’t quite as smooth in English:

𓂧𓐰π“Šͺπ“±π“π“Š›π“Ž‘π“π“°π“ˆ– dpt.k tn
“your boat, this one”, or “this, your boat”, or “this boat of yours”

As objects of prepositions

If a suffix pronoun is attached to a preposition, it is the object of that preposition: π“‚‹π“€€ r.j “regarding me”, π“‡‹π“…“π“‹΄π“ˆ–π“°π“₯ jm.sn “from them”, π“Ž›π“ˆ–π“°π“‚π“ˆ–π“°π“₯ αΈ₯n꜀.n “with us”. Note that some prepositions have a different writing before a suffix pronoun than a noun, like m before nouns but jm before pronouns.

As a subject with jw and with verbs

When constructing an adverbial sentence with jw, if the subject is a pronoun rather than a noun, the suffix pronouns are used, attached to jw:

π“π“Ž›π“€­π“…“π“ƒ€π“…±π“Šͺπ“°π“ˆ–π“‡‹π“…±π“‹΄π“ˆ–π“°π“₯π“…“π“‚‹π“°π“ˆ™π“…±π“΄π“π“‚‰π“œ
ptαΈ₯ m bw pn jw.sn m rΕ‘wt
β€œWhen Ptah (is) in this place, they (are) in joy.”

𓇋𓅱𓀀𓅓𓉐𓐰𓏀𓆑π“Šͺπ“°π“ˆ– jw.j m pr.f pn
“I am in this house of his.”

The suffix pronouns also express the subject of a verb, when attached to it:

π“Œ΄π“°π“Ήπ“„Ώπ“„Ώπ“†‘ m꜒꜒.f
“He sees.” (lit. “Sees he.”)

π“†“π“³π“‚§π“‹΄π“ˆ–π“°π“₯ ḏd.sn
“They speak.” (lit. “Speak they.”)

Gender of pronouns

In Egyptian, not only the third person has gender (“he”, “she”), but the second person does too, so the form of “you” depends on the gender of the person addressed. This is only true in the singular; in plural, neither second nor third person specifies gender.

There are are no “neuter” suffix pronouns for third person singular, so the Egyptians referred to objects as “he” or “she” according to the gender of the relevant noun. For example, when talking about the sun, since r꜀ is a masculine noun, its suffix pronoun is is .f; saying “its light” would literally be “his light”. On the other hand since pt is feminine, if we said of the sky that “it is full of stars”, it would literally be “she is full of stars.” Unless you’re being very poetic, you’d still translate those as “it” in English.

Remember that the gender of a suffix pronoun is that of the possessor, not the noun to which it is attached; “her” possessing a masculine noun is .s, while “his” possessing a feminine noun is .f.

Summary: Adjectives and suffix pronouns

  1. Adjectives follow their nouns in Egyptian. When modifying feminine nouns, they have the suffix -t.
  2. Egyptian has several different sets of pronouns, including the suffix pronouns.
  3. The suffix pronouns can be used as possessors of nouns, as objects of prepositions, as subjects of the particle jw, and as subjects of verbs.
  4. Certain prepositions are written differently when their object is a suffix pronoun, rather than a noun.
  5. In Egyptian, the second-person singular pronouns mark for gender, just as the third-person singular ones do.

Vocabulary

  • 𓇋𓅓 jm “in” (form of m before suffix pronouns)
  • π“‡‹π“ˆŽπ“°π“‚‹π“œ jqr “successful, excellent”
  • π“‰»π“°π“‚π“„Ώπ“œ ꜀꜒ “great, large, senior”
  • π“†ˆπ“„Ώπ“›π“°π“₯ ꜀ő꜒ “many”
  • π“ŒΆπ“‚π“°π“π“œ m꜒꜀t “truth, justice, the right order of things”
  • 𓏇𓇋 mj “like, as, according to, as well as”
  • π“ŽŸ nb “all, every, any”
  • 𓄀𓆑𓐰𓂋 nfr “good, beautiful, perfect”
  • π“ˆ–π“°π“†“π“‹΄π“…ͺ nḏs “(be) small”
  • 𓁷𓐰𓏀 αΈ₯r “upon”, “concerning”, “because of”
    • Usually written 𓁷𓐰𓂋 with the suffix pronouns.
  • π“Š΅π“°π“π“±π“Šͺ αΈ₯tp “be contented, at peace” (verb); “peace” (noun)
  • π“ˆπ“°π“‚ ḫ꜀ (ḫ꜀j) “appear, shine”
    • Used about the sun, gods, or the pharaoh.

Exercises

Click here to do the exercises for Lesson 8.

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