Every verb has a noun form, the infinitive. English has two: "to hear" and "hearing". Egyptian has one, and its shape depends on the verb's class (Verb Classes).
Key idea
Strong verbs show no ending in the infinitive: sḏm "to hear, hearing". Third-weak verbs drop their j and add -t: mrj → mrt "to love", jrj → jrt "to do". rdj also adds -t: rdjt (often written djt). Doubled verbs keep both consonants: mꜣꜣ "to see".
Why it works
The infinitive is a noun, and nouns in Egyptian are masculine or feminine (Masculine and Feminine). The infinitives of strong verbs are masculine, with no ending. Those of the weak verbs are feminine and carry the -t, perhaps because a weak consonant at the end of the root was hard to keep: the -t gave the word a firm end.
| Verb | Class | Infinitive |
|---|---|---|
| sḏm "hear" | strong | sḏm |
| ḏd "say" | strong | ḏd |
| jrj "do" | third-weak | jrt |
| mrj "love" | third-weak | mrt (some books write mrjt) |
| gmj "find" | third-weak | gmt |
| msj "give birth" | third-weak | mst |
| mꜣꜣ "see" | second-geminate | mꜣꜣ |
| rdj "give" | irregular | rdjt, djt |
| jj "come" | irregular | jjt or jwt |
| jnj "bring" | irregular | jnt |
Worked example: A strong verb
Give the infinitive of ḏd "say".
- ḏd is strong: both consonants are firm.
- Strong verbs show no ending in the infinitive.
Answer: ḏd
Worked example: A weak verb
Give the infinitive of gmj "find".
- gmj ends in a weak j: it is third-weak.
- Drop the j and add -t.
Answer: gmt
Worked example: Read it in a phrase
In r jrt mꜣꜥt "in order to do what is right", what is jrt?
- It stands after the preposition r, where a noun goes.
- Its stem jr belongs to jrj "do"; the -t is the infinitive ending.
Answer: The infinitive of jrj.
Common mistake
Reading the -t of jrt as a feminine noun "a doing" made from some other word, or as the eye jrt. The -t here is the regular infinitive ending of a third-weak verb. Check the context: after a preposition, or as the object of a verb, a verb stem with -t is almost always an infinitive.
The noun jrt "eye" is spelled with the same eye sign and t. Context separates them, and so does the stroke or determinative that "eye" usually takes. Egyptian writing is full of such look-alikes; reading the sentence, not the word alone, settles them.