Prepositions are the small words that say where, when, to whom and how: “in the house”, “to the god”, “like Ra”. Several of them are single signs you know from the alphabet (The Alphabet V: t ṯ d ḏ). They are among the most frequent words in any text.
Key idea
| Preposition | Written | Main meanings | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| m | 𓅓 | in, at; from (after verbs of leaving); as, being | m pr “in the house” |
| n | 𓈖 | to, for (a person); also the genitive “of” | n nṯr “to the god” |
| r | 𓂋 | to, toward; against; more than | r njwt “to the town” |
| ḥr | 𓁷 | on, upon; because of | ḥr tꜣ “on earth” |
| ḫr | 𓐍𓂋 | with, near (a person); under (a king) | ḫr nsw “with the king” |
| ḥnꜥ | 𓎛𓈖𓂝 | together with, and | ḥnꜥ zꜣ=f “with his son” |
| jn | 𓇋𓈖 | by (the doer of an action) | jn nsw “by the king” |
| mj | like, as | mj rꜥ “like Ra” |
One preposition, many senses
m is the busiest. With a place it means “in” or “at” (m njwt “in the town”). After a verb of going out it means “from” (prj m pr “go out from the house”). Before a noun of role or kind it means “as, being”: jw=f m sš “he is a scribe”, literally “he is as a scribe”. Gardiner calls this the m of predication. The other prepositions also have a range of senses, which a dictionary lists with examples.
r has a useful special use: after an adjective it means “than”. wr r is “greater than”, so a text can say a king is wr r nṯrw “greater than the gods”.
Why it works
Common mistake
Worked example: Place
- m with a place: “in”.
- pt “sky”.
Answer: “in the sky”
Worked example: Write it
- Preposition first: r.
- Then the noun: njwt.
Answer: r njwt
Worked example: Which sense?
- The noun sš names a role.
Answer: as “as, being” (the m of predication)