Hieroglyphs tutorial; Verbs, part one

Translating verbs can be a little tricky. It is necessary to distinguish the stem of the verb and then check the ending to find out whether the verb is; past, present or future tense; masculine or feminine; and singular or plural.

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Verb classes Infinitives Present tense

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Verb classes

There are four classes of verb; strong verbs, doubled or doubling verbs, weak verbs and extra weak verbs.

Strong verbs

sDm hear

Strong verbs are named as such because the stem of the verb often remains unchanged for different tenses. This can make them rather hard to translate correctly.

Doubled verbs

mAA see

Although doubled verbs classically end with two idential consonants. In some tenses only one of these consonants is used, which can help with translation.

Weak verbs

mr(i) love

Weak verbs end in a "weak consonant" ("i" or "w") vary more noticably in each form, making translation easier. However, the last sign (the weak consonant) of the stem was not always written and so is generally not transliterated or is written in brackets.

Extra weak verbs

rd(i) give, place

Extra weak verbs also end in a weak consonant and vary noticbly in different forms. Again, the last sign (the weak consonant) of the stem was not always written and so is generally not transliterated or is written in brackets. Extra weak verbs can also be depicted with the first consonant missing. For example, the stem of the verb "to give" can be written as "rd(i)" or "d(i)".

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Infinitives

The infinitive is usually translated as "to ..." or "...ing" (ie "to walk", "singing"). The strong verb stem is unchanged, doubling verbs include the both final consonants and both types of weak verb stem have the added ending "t". Extra weak verbs are sometimes depicted without the first consonant.

Strong verbs	sDm to hear, hearing
Doubled verbs	mAA to see, seeing
Weak verbs	mrt to love, loving
Extra weak verbs	rdit to give, giving, to place, placing
	dit to give, giving, to place, placing

Infinitives often appear in captions beside pictures which depict the action being described in the text. As a result, infinitives sometime appear without the determinative of the verb because the context makes the meaning clear. In the highlighted section of text below, the determinative (the two joined legs) has been retained.

shp r pr Hd conveying to the white storehouse

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Present tense

The endings of verbs are always;

• "y" for the singular personal verbs ("I")
• "k" for second person singular male verbs (you)
• "T" (tj) for second person singular male verbs (you)
• "f" for third person singular masculine verbs (he)
• "s" for third person singular verbs
• "n" for first person plural verbs (we)
• "Tn" (tjn) for second person plural verbs
• "sn" for third person plural verbs

So, the present tense of the verb sDm (to hear) is as follows;

	sDm.y I hear
	sDm.k You (masc) hear
	sDm.T You (fem) hear
	sDm.f He (it) hears
	sDm.s She (it) hears
	sDm.n We hear
	sDm.Tn You hear
	sDm.sn They hear

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Hieroglyphs tutorial; Verbs, part two Hieroglyphs main page

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Resources

Gardiner´s sign list Pronunciation guide Single consonant signs, page one Single consonant signs, page two Buy books on Hieroglyphs from Amazon.co.uk