16.1 Definition and basic meaning

The stative is a verb form used to express a state of being in which its subject is, was, or will be. Usually, this is the result of a completed action. In that respect, the stative is similar to the English past participle. In the sentence The table is set, for example, the past participle set describes both a state in which its subject (the table) is and the result of a prior action (in this case, of someone setting the table). Because of this similarity, the stative is sometimes called the “pseudo-participle,” and because of the completed action it generally implies, it is also known as the “old perfective.”

English translations of the stative regularly use the past participle. That verb form is active for intransitive verbs and passive for transitive ones: for example, The sun has risen and The table is set. This makes it seem as if the same was true for the stative: for example, wbn.tj “risen” (from 3-lit. wbn “rise”) but smn.tj “set” (from caus. 2-lit. smn “set”). It is important to remember, however, that this is a peculiarity of English, not Egyptian. The stative is neither active nor passive: it simply expresses state. Also, the English past participle of most intransitive verbs can only be used to express action, not a state of being: for example, The sun has appeared (completed action) but not * The sun is appeared (state).