The sḏm.n.f form

• Spelling
• Word order
• Topicalized or unwritten subjects
• With the stative
• With adjective verbs
• sḏm.n.f as past tense
• rḫ “know”
• Counterfactuals
• Impersonal subject and passive
• Negation
• Questions

The sḏm.n.f verb form shows the perfective aspect, but it is not a tense. This means it talks about an action that is completed, but it does not indicate when: it could have just been completed, or completed in the past, or even will be completed in the future.

The sḏm.n.f is one of the suffix conjugations, so it has a fairly simple form, and it’s right there in the name: the verb stem plus the suffix -n plus the suffix pronouns (if the subject is a pronoun). The stem used, with a few exceptions, is the base stem.

𓉐𓂋‌𓂻𓈖𓋴‌𓈖𓏥 pr.n.sn
“They have emerged”

𓆑‌𓄿𓀋𓂡𓈖𓀀 fꜣ.n.j
“I have carried”

Note that if the subject is a noun rather than a pronoun, the verb is simply followed by the suffix -n and the subject is put at the appropriate place in the clause (see word order below). Do not get confused by the form being called “sḏm.n.f”.

Spelling

The n is written after the verb’s determinative (if any), but sometimes before, especially if the verb stem ends in -n already: ḏn.n.f “he has threshed grain” could be spelled 𓆓𓈖𓀜𓈖𓆑‌ or 𓆓𓈖𓈖𓀜𓆑‌.

𓏎𓈖 jnj “bring, get, fetch” has no determinative but in the sḏm.n.f form, it is usually written with two n signs: 𓏎‌𓈖𓈖‌𓀀 jn.n.j “I have brought”, but sometimes only one is written. If jnj has a 1st person singular pronoun that is omitted in writing and goes straight into the dative (like “I have brought for her”), only two n signs are written in all: only one for the verb and its sḏm.n.f suffix, and one for the dative preposition n: 𓏎‌𓈖𓈖𓊃 jn.n.s “I have brought for her”. Allen 2014 says (p. 247) that three n ripples together usually are reserved for the word 𓈗 mw “water”.

Word order

The sḏm.n.f uses the standard VsdoSOA word order rule that applies to verbal clauses. Compare, for example:

𓂋𓂞𓈖𓀀𓎛𓎡𓈖𓏌𓅱𓀁𓈖𓏠𓈖𓍿𓀭 rdj.n.j ḥknw n mnṯw
“I have given praise to Montu” (VsOA)

𓂋𓂞𓈖𓀀𓈖𓆑‌𓎛𓎡𓈖𓏌𓅱𓀁 rdj.n.j n.f ḥknw
“I have given praise to him” (VsdO)

𓂋𓂞𓈖𓇓𓅱𓏠𓈖𓍿𓀭𓈖𓅃𓀭 rdj.n sw mnṯw n ḥrw
“Montu has given it to Horus” (VoSA)

Topicalized or unwritten subjects

Like with most verbal clauses, the sḏm.n.f can have topicalized or unwritten subjects (again, see the verbal clause word order page for details if you wish).

With the stative

As said above, the sḏm.n.f describes completed action. Compare this with the stative, which describes the state that results from an action, rather the action itself, so these often act as complements to each other in a narration. Intransitive verbs use the stative, and transitive verbs use the sḏm.n.f.

𓏃𓈖𓏏𓏭𓊛𓎡𓅱‌𓊪‌𓎛‌𓄖𓂻𓈖𓀀𓍋𓃀𓃰𓅱𓎶𓈉 ḫnt.kw pḥ.n.j ꜣbw
“I have sailed upstream and reached Elephantine”

Note how “sail upstream”, which is intransitive, is in the stative, meaning something like “I am in the state of ‘having sailed upstream'”, while “reach”, which has a direct object (Elephantine) and thus is transitive, is in the sḏm.n.f form, meaning “I have completed reaching Elephantine.”

This rule is not hard and fast, but it is the usual preference: for the perfective aspect (completed action), transitive gets sḏm.n.f, intransitive gets stative.

With adjective verbs

Adjective verbs are always intransitive. A flamingo “is red”; the heart of a happy man “is good”. In the sḏm.n.f, an adjective verb means the subject has “become” the thing or “gained” the quality described, not that it has previously had it. 𓊵𓏏𓊪𓈖𓆑‌ ḥtp.n.f means “he has become contented”, not “he has been contented”.

Since an adjective verb is intransitive, if one is describing the subject as “being” the quality instead of “becoming” it, the stative would be used instead (see the previous section).

sḏm.n.f as past tense

Despite it not being inherently a past tense, the sḏm.n.f can act as one. Usually, when it’s being marked as past, it’s introduced by a particle. Sometimes this is jw, but more often it is 𓊢‌𓂝𓈖 ꜥḥꜥ.n, which was used for narratives with the pseudo-verbal construction too.

𓇋𓅱‌𓊪‌𓎛‌𓄖𓂻𓈖𓀀𓍋𓃀𓃰𓅱𓎶𓈉 jw pḥ.n.j ꜣbw
“I reached Elephantine” (as opposed to the usual “I have reached Elephantine”)

𓊢‌𓂝𓈖𓊪‌𓎛‌𓄖𓂻𓈖𓀀𓍋𓃀𓃰𓅱𓎶𓈉 ꜥḥꜥ.n pḥ.n.j ꜣbw
“Then I reached Elephantine”
(perhaps lit. something like “‘I have reached Elephantine’ stood up”)

The other narrative word seen with the pseudo-verbal construction, 𓃹𓈖𓇋𓈖 wn.jn, can be used in this role with the sḏm.n.f but it’s rare.

rḫ “know”

The stative of rḫ “experience, learn” was used to show that one was in the state of having learned something: in other words, one knows it. This is done with the sḏm.n.f of that verb as well:

𓂋𓐍𓏜𓈖𓀀𓂋𓈖𓏪𓍿𓈖 rḫ.n.j rnw.ṯn
“I have learned your names”

Both the stative and sḏm.n.f then boil down to knowing the information because of having learned it. The distinction is probably that the stative emphasizes the state of knowing, while the sḏm.n.f emphasizes the process of learning it.

Counterfactuals

In a few cases, the sḏm.n.f is preceded by a particle like ḥꜣ “if only” to express something that did not happen in the past. English does a similar thing with its past perfect tense, as you can see in the translation:

𓇉𓄿𓀁𓊪‌𓎛‌𓄖𓂻𓈖𓀀𓍋𓃀𓃰𓅱𓎶𓈉 ḥꜣ pḥ.n.j ꜣbw
“If only I had reached Elephantine”
(lit. “if only I completed reaching Elephantine”)

Impersonal subject and passive

As with the pseudo-participle construction, the impersonal pronoun tw can be used as the subject, either to express an impersonal subject like “one” in English, or to create a passive form when used with the preposition jn to indicate the verb’s agent, as we saw with infinitives.

𓊃𓈙𓏞𓈖𓏏𓅱𓌃‌𓂧‌𓅱𓀁 zẖꜣ.n.tw mdw
“One wrote the words” or “The words were written”

𓊃𓈙𓏞𓈖𓏏𓅱𓌃‌𓂧‌𓅱𓀁𓇋𓈖𓍛𓏤𓆑 zẖꜣ.n.tw mdw jn ḥm.f
“The words were written by His Incarnation”

Since jn expresses the agent, the second example must be translated with the passive voice; “one wrote the words by His Incarnation” wouldn’t make sense in English.

If the passive voice is being created with tw, and the subject is a personal pronoun, then it is written as a suffix pronoun attached to tw itself:

𓅠𓅓𓈖𓏏𓅱𓀀 gm.n.tw.j
“I have been found”

𓋴‌𓋹‌𓈖𓐍‌𓈖𓏏𓅱𓋴‌𓈖𓏥 sꜥnḫ.n.tw.sn
“They have been caused-to-live”

Negation

The sḏm.n.f can be negated with 𓂜 nj. Since it means an action has not been completed, it usually is a present tense, describing the fact that the action is not complete. It can also mean that the thing cannot be done.

𓂜𓄔‌𓅓𓈖𓎡 nj sḏm.n.k
“you can’t hear” or “you don’t hear”
(lit. “you have not heard”)

The sḏm.n.f can also be negated with 𓂜𓈖 nn, but this is uncommon. It seems to describe something that cannot happen in the future:

𓂜𓈖𓄔‌𓅓𓈖𓎡 nn sḏm.n.k
“you won’t be able to hear”

Questions

Broadly, a verbal predicate can be questioned in two ways. One way is to ask if the verb happened; the other is to ask about some other details, such as who did the verb, or to whom was it done, or when, etc. These can be distinguished (per Allen 2014, p. 259) as predicate versus adjunct questions. The verb itself is the predicate; the adjuncts are other parts of the sentence that add to the meaning. In short, a predicate question is usually “yes/no”; an adjunct question is “who/what/where/when/why/how.”

For a predicate question, the sḏm.n.f is preceded by jn jw (or sometimes just jn):

𓇋‌𓈖‌𓇋𓅱‌𓄔‌𓅓𓈖𓎡 jn jw sḏm.n.k
“Have you heard?”

The negated version can also be used in a predicate question, with jn before the negative particle (which seems to fill in for jw in this case).

𓇋‌𓈖‌𓂜𓄔‌𓅓𓈖𓎡 jn nj sḏm.n.k
“Haven’t you heard?”

But in an adjunct question, the sḏm.n.f heads the sentence by itself, with the appropriate interrogative word included in the appropriate place.

𓇍𓈖‌𓍿𓈖𓏥𓍿𓈖𓌙𓅯𓈐 j.n.ṯn ṯnj
“Where have you come from?” (lit. “You have come where?”)