Definitions

Lessons 7 and 10 introduced us to three kinds of Egyptian sentence: those in which the predicate is adjectival, nominal, or adverbial. In each of these sentence-types the predicate is not a verb, although English forces us to translate them with one, usually a form of the verb be. Because of this common feature Egyptologists group the three kinds of sentence together under the heading of “nonverbal sentences,” which is short for the more accurate designation “sentences with a nonverbal predicate” (see § 7.1). In this lesson we will look at the three kinds of nonverbal sentences together, and at some further features of them.

Basic patterns and meanings

As we have seen, each of the three kinds of nonverbal sentence can have many different forms, depending on what is used as the subject and predicate. In general, however, each type has a basic pattern and meaning:

Adjectival sentences have the normal pattern predicate–subject, where the predicate is an adjective (always masculine singular or masculine dual). They express a quality of their subject: for example, nfr sdm “Listening is good,” where the predicate nfr describes a quality of the subject, sdm “listening” (infinitive)—namely, that it is “good.”

Nominal sentences have two basic patterns: A B and A pw B, where either A or B can be the subject or predicate. They express the identity of their subject: rʿ pw “He is Re” (where the predicate rʿ tells who the subject, pw “he,” is); phrt pw ʿnh “Life is a cycle” (where the predicate phrt “a cycle” explains what the subject, ʿnh “life,” is).