A first approach to verbs

Verbs express actions, events and states. Egyptian verb forms can convey distinctions involving time, completion, possibility and the relationship between clauses. A familiar spelling may represent more than one grammatical form. ^{19, 20}

Finding the participants

Grammars often use sḏm, “hear”, as a model verb. In the notation sḏm.f, .f is an attached subject pronoun. The notation by itself does not guarantee one English tense. Its construction and context determine the interpretation.

In many verb-initial clauses with noun participants, the verb precedes the subject and object. Pronouns have their own positioning rules. A useful first task is to identify the action, its subject and any object, before deciding on a natural English sentence. ¹⁹

Recognising completed action

The form conventionally called sḏm.n.f contains .n between the stem and subject suffix. In a suitable independent statement, jw sḏm.n.f can be rendered “He has heard” or “He heard”. The .n is part of the verb form; it is not the separate preposition n, “to” or “for”.

This form is commonly associated with completed action. Its interpretation is not identical to adding English “-ed”: completion is an aspect, and its time reference depends on context. ²⁰

A useful ongoing action pattern

A construction with ḥr followed by an infinitive can express an ongoing action. In jw.f ḥr sḏm, “He is listening”, the infinitive sḏm follows ḥr. Translating ḥr as “on” in isolation will not explain the whole construction. ²¹

What to learn next

The stative, participles, relative forms, passive constructions and negation deserve their own lessons. The stative commonly presents a state or result, while a participle can describe someone through an action, such as “one who hears”. Do not try to translate every verbal-looking form as a simple English tense. ²²