You know the forms from Suffix Pronouns. Now look at what they do. The same suffix means different things depending on the word it is attached to.
Key idea
| Attached to | Example | Meaning | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| a noun | zꜣ=f | his son | my, your, his, her… |
| a noun | njwt=sn | their town | |
| a preposition | n=f | to him, for him | me, you, him, her… |
| a preposition | ḥnꜥ=s | with her | |
| a preposition | r=k | toward you | |
| jw (a particle) | jw=f m pr | he is in the house | I, you, he, she… |
With a noun, the suffix always comes right after the noun, before any adjective: zꜣ=f nfr is “his good son” (more literally, “his son, the good one”). With a feminine noun, the t stays: njwt=f “his town”, zꜣt=s “her daughter”.
A phrase you will read often
ḥm=f “His Majesty” is a noun with a suffix. The noun ḥm, translated “majesty”, is used with every pronoun: ḥm=k “Your Majesty”, ḥm=s “Her Majesty” (of a queen like Hatshepsut). Stories and annals say jw ḥm=f m ... “His Majesty was in ...” to set the scene.
Why it works
Common mistake
The suffix is also how Egyptian says “mine, yours” and builds many set phrases. nb=j “my lord” is the polite way to address a superior; bꜣk=k “your servant” is the humble way to refer to oneself in a letter, much as English letters once said “your humble servant”. When you see a suffix on a title or a kinship word, translate it with the matching possessive and think about who is speaking to whom.
Worked example: Preposition
- The preposition n “to”.
- Suffix =s.
Answer: n=s
Worked example: Noun
- rn “name” + =k “your” (to a man).
Answer: “your name”
Worked example: Majesty
- ḥm “majesty” + =k “your”.
Answer: “Your Majesty”