Although not every clause involves a verb (for example, nominal sentences, relative clauses, adverbial clauses), it’s useful to know the order of components in verbal clauses.
In English, the only difference between “The man eats the donut” and “The donut eats the man” is word order, but it makes a big difference for the meaning. Likewise for Egyptian.
Basic rule
The basic rule is VsdoSOA. Allen (2014, p. 185) suggests the mnemonic “Very small dogs often Sniff Other Animals.” Lower-case letters stand for components which are pronominal in nature; upper-case are not.
V: The verb.
s: The subject, if it’s a pronoun.
d: The dative, if pronominal.
o: The object, if it’s a pronoun.
S: The subject, if it’s a noun.
O: The object, if it’s a noun.
A: Adverbs, which includes prepositional phrases, which in turn includes the dative if it’s a noun.
To demonstrate the possibilities, consider the sentence: “Amenhotep gives gold to Nephthys in Thebes.”
- The verb is dj “give”.
- The subject, “Amenhotep”, is jmn-ḥtp as a noun, or .f as a suffix pronoun.
- The object, “gold”, is nbw as a noun, or st as a dependent pronoun.
- The dative, “to Nephthys”, is n nbt-ḥwt if nominal, or n.s if pronominal.
- “in Thebes” (m wꜣst) is adverbial.
The following table shows all the possibilities for assembling this sentence.
| V | s | d | o | S | O | A | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dj | .f | n.s | st | m wꜣst | “He gives it to her in Thebes.” | ||
| dj | .f | n.s | nbw | m wꜣst | “He gives gold to her in Thebes.” | ||
| dj | .f | st | n nbt-ḥwt m wꜣst | “He gives it to Nephthys in Thebes.” | |||
| dj | .f | nbw | n nbt-ḥwt m wꜣst | “He gives gold to Nephthys in Thebes.” | |||
| dj | n.s | st | jmn-ḥtp | m wꜣst | “Amenhotep gives it to her in Thebes.” | ||
| dj | n.s | jmn-ḥtp | nbw | m wꜣst | “Amenhotep gives gold to her in Thebes.” | ||
| dj | st | jmn-ḥtp | n nbt-ḥwt m wꜣst | “Amenhotep gives it to Nephthys in Thebes.” | |||
| dj | jmn-ḥtp | nbw | n nbt-ḥwt m wꜣst | “Amenhotep gives gold to Nephthys in Thebes.” |
Topicalization
Sometimes, a portion of the clause is put at the beginning of the clause (and then repeated by a pronoun in the appropriate place within the clause). This is something that can be done in English as well as in Egyptian; the translations will show that.
There are two main reasons for doing this:
- if the subject is a complicated phrase that might make a confusing sentence if it were embedded as-is;
- if the speaker wants to firmly establish that the subject is not just the “doer” of the verb but is the real topic of the sentence. Hence this is called topicalization.
Here are examples of both:
𓎡𓄿𓇌𓀁𓋴𓃀𓇋𓅱𓌙𓀐𓏥𓋴𓐍𓂋𓀒𓈖𓋴𓈖𓏥𓂋𓏤𓋴𓈖𓏥𓈖𓅾𓀁𓏪𓆑
kꜣy(w) sbjw sḫr.n.sn rꜥw.sn n snḏw.f
“Those who plotted rebellion, they have lowered their voices in fear of him”
(lit. “they have caused their mouths to fall to fears of him”)
𓄤𓆑𓂋𓏲𓏏𓏪𓎡𓉔𓃀𓃩𓀜𓋴𓈖𓏥𓍿𓅱𓂋𓍿𓈖𓏌𓅱𓌙𓅯𓊃𓊪𓊗
nfrwt khb.sn ṯw r ṯnw zp
“The beautiful ones, they hurt you every time”
In both examples, since the subject is plural, the suffix pronoun .sn “they” is used in the clause, to replace the subject which was pulled out to be topicalized.
Unwritten subjects
It’s believed that the pronunciation of the first-person singular suffix pronoun, which we transliterate as .j, was simply -i. So if the usual form sḏm.n.f was pronounced *saḏamnaf (and remember, that’s only reconstructed by Egyptologists, not certain), then the first person form sḏm.n.j was *saḏamni.
Now remember that the weak consonants (j, w) often disappear in writing if they’re at the end of words. Therefore you may find sentences in which the subject is first-person singular, but is not written.
𓊢𓂝𓈖𓂋𓂝𓈖𓅱𓀀𓁷𓏤𓄡𓏏𓏤𓀀 ꜥḥꜥ.n rdj.n(.j) wj ḥr ẖt.j
“Then (I) put myself on my belly”, lit. “Then (…) gave me on my belly”
Note that the object of the verb is 𓅱𓀀 wj “me, myself” and that is written, but we would also expect the seated man 𓀀 to be present between 𓂋𓂝𓈖 rdj.n and 𓅱𓀀 wj, as the subject. This situation in particular, when the sentence becomes “I (verb) myself”, is one where the 𓀀 may be omitted.
Any other subject (not first-person singular) can be omitted, if context makes it clear; for example, if the previous clause had (and expressed) the same subject:
𓊢𓂝𓈖𓂻𓅱𓈖𓀀𓌴𓁹𓄿𓄿𓈖𓎁𓀜𓈖 ꜥḥꜥ.n jn.n.j mꜣꜣ.n jtj.n
“Then I came, (and I) saw, (and I) conquered.”