You can now build noun phrases and prepositional phrases. Put them together and you have your first Egyptian sentences, with no verb at all. Egyptian has three kinds of sentences without verbs; the first, and the most common, says where or how something is. It uses the prepositions of The Simple Prepositions and the adjectives and nouns of Adjectives.
Key idea
| Subject | Predicate (where, how) | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| z the man | m pr in the house | The man is in the house. |
| nṯr the god | m pt in the sky | The god is in the sky. |
| zꜣ=f his son | ḥnꜥ=j with me | His son is with me. |
| ḥm=f His Majesty | m njwt in the town | His Majesty is in the town. |
The predicate (what is said about the subject) is adverbial: a preposition with its noun, or an adverb such as jm “there”. Its tense comes from context. ḥm=f m njwt can be “His Majesty is in the town” or, in a story set in the past, “His Majesty was in the town”.
With and without an introduction
In this bare form the sentence is common in clauses that continue a story or describe circumstances. At the start of an independent statement, Middle Egyptian usually puts a word in front of it, most often jw or mk. That is the next lesson, jw and mk. The structure of the sentence stays the same.
Why it works
Common mistake
Worked example: Translate
- Subject: nṯr “the god”.
- Predicate: m pt “in the sky”.
Answer: “The god is in the sky.”
Worked example: Write it
- Subject: sš.
- Where: m njwt.
Answer: sš m njwt
Worked example: Phrase or sentence?
- Two nouns side by side with no preposition: a direct genitive.
Answer: No: “the house of the king”