The endings of verbs are always;
- “y” for the singular personal verbs (“I”)
- “k” for second person singular male verbs (you)
- “T” (tj) for second person singular female verbs (you)
- “f” for third person singular masculine verbs (he)
- “s” for third person singular verbs
- “n” for first person plural verbs (we)
- “Tn” (tjn) for second person plural verbs
- “sn” for third person plural verbs
Present tense
The present tense uses the standard stem of each class of verb (see verb stems) with the endings listed above. For example, the present tense of the verb sdjm (to hear) is as follows;
sdm.y – I hear
sdjm.k – You (m) hear
sdjm.tj – You (f) hear
sdjm.f – He (it) hears
sdjm.s – She (it) hears
sdjm.n (We hear)
sdjm.tjn – You (pl) hear
sdjm.sn – They hear
Past Tense
The past tense is often known as the “sdjm.n(=f)” (or “sedjemenef”) tense as this is the form used to write the first person singular (i.e. “he”) of the standard strong verb (“sdjm” – “to hear”). The “n” is separated from the verb stem by a dot to show that it is the verbal ending and not part of the stem.
The stem of strong, weak and extra weak verbs remains unchanged, but the last consonant of doubling verbs is sometimes omitted.
Strong verbs
sDm.n=(f) he heard
Weak verbs
mr.n=(f) – he loved
Doubled verbs
mah.n=(f) – he saw
Extra weak verbs
rdi.n=(f) – he gave, he placed
The “sdjm.n=f” form is often preceded by an auxilliary word such as “iw”. This term is not translated as there is no equivalent in English. The term is most often found in recorded speech as it implies an involvement in the events being described.
iw
iw khbs.n=i khay – I clothed the naked
Hieroglyphs Resources
- Gardiner’s sign list
- Single consonant signs
- Phonograms, Logograms and Determinatives
- Nouns and Prepositions
- Relative Forms
- Pronouns
- Word Order
- Verbs forms
- Past and Present tense
Copyright J Hill 2010