Leaning to Read Hieroglyphs

I'm going to go through the book, "Egyptian Grammar" by A.H. Gardiner, and try to learn Middle Egyptian hieroglyphs. In this column, I will attempt to share what I learn as I go along!

Biliteral Signs

Here are biliteral signs with y as the second consonant:

my
my¹
ty

¹ Sometimes used to accompany or replace a simple m when used as a grammatical affirmative.

With ` as the second consonant:

w`
kh`

With w as the second consonant:

aw
nw (rarely also for yn)
hw (rare)
shw
yw
nw
khw
djw (later dw)
mw
rw
sw (old shw)

with b as the second consonant:

ab
nb

Triliteral Signs

The triliteral signs respondent combinations of three consonants and have a far more restricted use than the biliteral signs. These need only be learned when the occasion calls for them.

As with the biliteral signs, these are normally accompanied by phonetic complements. Two arrangements are frequently used:

1. adding the third consonant only:
   `h` 'stand up, arise'
   khpr 'become'
   sdjm 'hear'

2. adding the second and third consonants:
   nfr 'good, happy, beautiful'
   `nkh 'live'
   htp 'rest, become at peace'

Dependent Personal Pronouns

Dependent pronouns are less closely attached to a preceding word than the suffix pronouns, but can never stand as a first word of a sentence.

Sing. 1		wy	I, me	Or Varr. as in the corresponding suffix: , , , , etc
Sing. 2, masc		thw	Thou, thee	Later also
Sing. 2, fem		thn	Thou, thee	Later also
Sing. 3, masc		sw	He, him, it	Originally shw
Sing. 3, fem		sy	She, her, it	Early ; later also or ; Originally shy
Sing. 3, fem		st	See Reflexive Use of the Dependant Pronouns	Later writings , Originally sht
Plural 1		n	We, us	Rarely
Plural 2 *		thn	You	Or , later also or
Plural 3 *		sn	They, them	Or , later also written as or Originally shn

* Also used as suffixes

Among the chief uses of the dependent pronouns are the following:

1. As an object of any form of the verb, except the infinitive:

   habk wy 'thou sendest me'
   djanf sw 'he ferried him over'

2. After a number of particles like ysth 'lo', mk 'behold', nn 'not', ntt 'that', as well as the relative adjective nty 'which', the pronoun frequently serves as subject when an adverbial predicate follows:

   mk wy m-bahk 'behold, I am before thee'
   mk thw m baky 'behold thou art my servant' (lit. 'as my servant')

3. As the subject after adjectival predicate:

   nfr tw hn`y 'thou art happy with me'
   (Note: tw here is for thw, and is to be carefully distinguished from the indefinite pronoun.)

Reflexive Use of the Dependent Pronouns

As with the suffix, the dependent pronouns are used reflexively:

rdyn(y) wy hr chty 'I place myself on my belly'

The pronoun st appears to be an old form of the dependent pronoun third singular fem, which has been specialised for certain particular uses, mainly as third plural 'they', 'them' or the neuter form of 'it'.

1. As the object of the verb:

   `nnsn st 'they turned themselves about'
   (Note the reflexive meaning).

2. After the particles mentioned above, in Dependent Personal Pronouns:

   mk st khft hrk 'behold, they (my gifts to thee) are before thee'

3. As the subject after adjectival predicate:

   nfr st r kht nbt 'it is more beautiful than anything'

Can you have a look at my Egyptology Column for more Hieroglyph Lessons, Egyptian gods and goddess articles and more!

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© Caroline Seawright 2001