Egyptian Hieroglyphs – Lesson 9

Nouns

The Basics

Verbs are words that describe actions.

There are two kinds of verbs:

1. Transitive – These types of verbs can take a direct object.

  • ex. Sally dropped the box. In this case, the direct object of the transitive verb dropped is the box. Without the direct object, the meaning is lost–what did Sally drop?

2. Intransitive – These types of verbs cannot take a direct object.

  • ex. The sun shines in the sky. If we were to place a direct object into this sentence it would not make much sense–the sun shines the clouds in the sky.

Four Features of Verbs

1. Tense

Tense expresses the time at which the action of a verb occurs.

Past

The past tense indicates that the action has occurred previously, before the present moment.

ex. The dog barked at the mailman yesterday.

Present

The present tense indicates that the action is occurring at the present time.

ex. Randy spots a cat.

Future

The future tense indicates that the action will occur in the future, after the present moment.

ex. The dog will bark at the mailman.

2. Voice

Voice describes the relationship between a verb and its subject.

Active

Active voice is used when the subject performs the action, while the direct object receives the action.

ex. Charlie drew the boat. (The subject “Charlie” performs the action “drew,” while the direct object “the boat” receives the action.)

Passive

Active voices is used when that the subject receives the action. The performer of the action, if it is present, is introduced by the preposition “by” and is referred to as the agent.

ex. The boat was drawn by Charlie. (The subject boat receives the action of “was drawn,” while the performer of the action “Charlie” is introduced by the preposition “by.”

3. Mood

Mood reflects the attitude of the speaker toward what he or she is doing/saying.

Indicative

The indicative mood is used when the action of the verb is a statement of fact–the most common mood.

ex. I walked in the rain.

Imperative

The imperative mood is used when the action of the verb is a command.

ex. Come to me.

Subjunctive

This mood expresses that the action of the verb is not actually occurring, but may occur–a wish of sorts.

ex. I would walk the dog, if it wasn’t raining.

4. Aspect

Aspect refers to the type of action the verb indicates.

Complete or Incomplete Action

 

I walked the dog – Completed action.

I am walking the dog – Incomplete action.

Repeated Action 

I used to ride my bike to school – Reference to a repeated action.

Verb Root Classes

Egyptian verbs are divided into groups, depending on the number of consonants in the root. The root is the foundation of the verb. This is the form that you will find in dictionaries. For example, the root of finding and finder is “find.” The number of consonants that can be found in a root ranges from 2-6. The weak consonants are and w.

Below is a chart of the root classes which show their basic format and an example.

Root Class Description Example
2-lit 2 consonants. 𓆓𓂧
2ae-inf. (Second weak)
2 consonants, the final weak.
𓊄
2ae-gem. (Second geminating)
3 consonants, the second and third are the same.
𓌴𓁹𓄿𓄿
3-lit. 3 consonants. 𓊢𓂝𓂻
3ae-inf. (Third weak)
3 consonants, the final weak.
𓄋𓊪𓏴
3ae-gem. (Third geminating)
4 consonants, the second and third are the same.
𓈖𓈟𓅓𓅓
4-lit. 4 consonants. 𓊪𓏏𓊪𓏏𓂻
4ae-inf. (Fourth weak)
4 consonants, the final weak.
𓈞𓊃𓀀
5-lit. 5 consonants. 𓈖𓆑𓏏𓆑𓏏𓂻

Causatives and Anomalous Verbs

Causatives are formed by taking one of the root classes above and adding an s before the root. For instance, the word wsḫ 𓅱𓋴𓐍𓎺𓏛 “widen” can be written as the causative swsḫ 𓋴𓅱𓋴𓐍𓎺𓏛 “cause to widen.” Since the causative is formed by adding a s to the 3-lit verb wsḫ, swsḫ is considered a caus. 3-lit verb. Causatives are sometimes difficult to identify, because not all words that begin with s are causatives. The easiest way to identify causatives is to remove the s and see if the remaining root is an actual verb. If it is not a verb after removing the s, then it is not a causative. Anomalous verbs are irregular verbs that do not follow the same patterns of the verbs in their same class. There are three anomalous verbs: rdi 𓂋 𓏙 *** 𓂋𓂞 ******𓂋𓂝, iw 𓂻𓅱 **𓂻𓏲 ****𓂻, and ii 𓇍𓇋𓂻*** 𓇍𓏭𓂻*** 𓇍𓇋𓏭𓂻. You will become better acquainted with these forms in the coming lessons.

Memorization

Vocabulary

𓇍𓇋𓏭𓂻iiCome, return
𓂻𓅱iwCome, return
𓁹iriDo, make
𓃹𓈖𓈖wnnExist
𓎗𓅱𓏜wḏCommand
𓌴𓁹𓄿𓄿m33See
𓄟𓋴𓁒msiGive birth, bear
𓂋𓂞rdiGive, put, cause
𓉔𓄿𓃀𓂻h3bSend
𓆣𓂋ḫpr
Evolve, happen, occur
𓄔𓅓sḏmHear
𓆓𓂧ḏdSpeak, say

Biliterals

𓎿
𓆞
𓄚 𓂙
ḥsẖ3ẖn
𓌨
𓐖
𓎝
ẖrqnsk
𓊨 𓄝
𓋫
𓍢 𓍱
stsṯšn

Exercises

Exercise 1.

Identify the root class.

1.

𓄟𓋴𓁒

3ae-inf.

2.

𓆓𓂧

2-lit.

3.

𓆣𓂋

3-lit.

4.

𓃹𓈖𓈖

2ae-gem.

5.

𓂻𓅱

Anom.

6.

𓋴𓆣𓂋

caus. 3-lit.

7.

𓁹

3ae-inf.

8.

𓋴𓊢𓂝𓂻

caus. 3-lit.

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