The stative: states and results
Your goal: distinguish stative endings from ordinary suffix pronouns.
The stative presents a subject in a condition or resulting state. It is also called the old perfective or pseudo-participle. Its English translation may be present, past or future according to context; the name “old perfective” is not an instruction to translate every occurrence with an English past tense.
A small recognition set
| Ending | Recognition value |
|---|---|
| .kwj | First person singular |
| .tj | Second person singular or third person feminine singular |
| .w | Third person masculine singular; often not written |
This is a selected recognition table, not the complete paradigm.
A teaching example
jw.j nfr.kwj
“I am well.” The .j in jw.j identifies the subject in the introductory expression; .kwj marks the first-person stative of nfr. These are two different grammatical devices, not two separate people.
With verbs of motion the stative can present the state resulting from movement. With many transitive verbs it has a passive sense, but there are exceptions. Check the verb’s usage instead of assigning one English pattern to every stative.
Put it into practice
Explain why nfr.kwj should not be analysed as nfr + the ordinary suffix pronoun .j. What extra information would you need to resolve an isolated stative ending in .tj?
Reveal the model answer
.kwj is a stative ending as a whole. It is not the ordinary possessive or verbal subject suffix .j. For .tj, identify the subject from the clause and surrounding discourse: the ending alone does not distinguish second-person singular from third-person feminine singular.
Study sources
Continue exploring with the dictionary or return to the hieroglyphic studio.