Editing Egyptian language (section)

==Morphology==
Egyptian is fairly typical for an Afroasiatic language in that most of its vocabulary is built around a root of three consonants, though there are sometimes only two consonants in the root: {{Wikt-lang|egy|rꜥ|rꜥ(w)}} ({{IPA|sem|riːʕa|}}, "sun"—the {{IPA|[ʕ]}} is thought to have been something like a voiced pharyngeal fricative). Larger roots are also common and can have up to five consonants: {{Wikt-lang|egy|sḫdḫd}} ("be upside-down").

Vowels and other consonants are added to the root to derive different meanings, as Arabic, Hebrew, and other Afroasiatic languages still do. However, because vowels and sometimes glides are not written in any Egyptian script except Coptic, reconstructing the actual forms of words can be difficult. Thus, orthographic {{Wikt-lang|egy|stp}} ("to choose"), for example, can represent the [[stative]] (whose endings can be left unexpressed), the [[imperfective]] forms or even a [[verbal noun]] ("a choosing").

===Nouns===
Egyptian [[noun]]s can be masculine or feminine (the latter is indicated, as with other Afroasiatic languages, by adding a {{Wikt-lang|egy|-t}}) and singular or plural ({{Wikt-lang|egy|-w}} / {{Wikt-lang|egy|-wt}}), or dual ({{Wikt-lang|egy|-wj}} / {{Wikt-lang|egy|-tj}}).

[[Article (grammar)|Article]]s, both definite and indefinite, do not occur until Late Egyptian but are used widely thereafter.

===Pronouns===
Egyptian has three different types of [[personal pronoun]]s: suffix, [[clitic|enclitic]] (called "dependent" by Egyptologists) and independent pronouns. A number of verbal endings can also be added to the [[infinitive]] to form the stative and are regarded by some linguists{{sfn|Loprieno|1995|p=65}} as a "fourth" set of personal pronouns. They bear close resemblance to their Semitic counterparts. The three main sets of personal pronouns are as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Personal pronouns
! colspan="3" |
! Suffix
! Dependent
! Independent
|-
! rowspan="2" | 1st<br>person
! colspan="2" | singular
| {{wikt-lang|egy|.j}} or {{Transliteration|egy|.ı͗}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|wj}} or {{Transliteration|egy|wı͗}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|jnk}} or {{Transliteration|egy|ı͗nk}}
|-
! colspan="2" | plural
| {{wikt-lang|egy|.n}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|n}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|jnn}} or {{Transliteration|egy|ı͗nn}}
|-
! rowspan="3" | 2nd<br>person
! rowspan="2" | singular
! masc.
| {{wikt-lang|egy|.k}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|ṯw}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|ntk}}
|-
! fem.
| {{wikt-lang|egy|.ṯ}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|ṯn}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|ntṯ}}
|-
! colspan="2" | plural
| {{wikt-lang|egy|.ṯn}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|ṯn}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|ntṯn}}
|-
! rowspan="3" | 3rd<br>person
! rowspan="2" | singular
! masc.
| {{wikt-lang|egy|.f}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|sw}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|ntf}}
|-
! fem.
| {{wikt-lang|egy|.s}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|sj}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|nts}}
|-
! colspan="2" | plural
| {{wikt-lang|egy|.sn}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|sn}}
| {{wikt-lang|egy|ntsn}}
|}

Demonstrative pronouns have separate masculine and feminine singular forms and common plural forms for both genders:

{| class="wikitable Unicode"
|+ Demonstrative pronouns
! colspan="2" | Singular
! rowspan="2" | Plural
! rowspan="2" | Meaning
|-
! Masc.
! Fem.
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|pn}}
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|tn}}
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|nn}}
|this, that, these, those
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|pf}}
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|tf}}
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|nf}}
|that, those
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|pw}}
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|tw}}
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|nw}}
|this, that, these, those (archaic)
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|pꜣ}}
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|tꜣ}}
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|nꜣ}}
|this, that, these, those (colloquial [earlier] & Late Egyptian)
|}

Finally, interrogative pronouns bear a close resemblance to their Semitic and [[Berber language|Berber]] counterparts:

{| class="wikitable Unicode"
|+ Interrogative pronouns
!Pronoun
!Meaning
!Dependency
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|mj}} or {{Transliteration|egy|mı͗}}
|who / what
|Dependent
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|ptr}}
|who / what
|Independent
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|jḫ}}
|what
|Dependent
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|jšst}} or {{Transliteration|egy|ı͗šst}}
|what
|Independent
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|zy}}
|which
|Independent & Dependent
|}

===Verbs===
Egyptian verbs have finite and non-finite forms.

Finite verbs convey [[Grammatical person|person]], [[Grammatical tense|tense]]/[[Grammatical aspect|aspect]], [[Grammatical mood|mood]] and [[Grammatical voice|voice]]. Each is indicated by a set of [[affix]]al morphemes attached to the verb: For example, the basic conjugation is {{Wikt-lang|egy|sḏm}} ("to hear") is {{Transliteration|egy|sḏm.f}} ("he hears").

Non-finite verbs occur without a subject and are the infinitive, the [[participle]]s and the negative infinitive, which ''[[Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs]]'' calls "negatival complement". There are two main tenses/aspects in Egyptian: [[past tense|past]] and temporally-unmarked [[imperfective aspect|imperfective]] and [[aorist]] forms. The latter are determined from their [[syntax|syntactic]] context.

===Adjectives===
[[Adjective]]s agree in [[Grammatical gender|gender]] and number with the nouns they modify:

{{columns-start}}
{{interlinear |lang=egy |indent=2
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|z}} {{Wikt-lang|egy|nfr}}
|man good.MASC
|"[the] good man"
}}
{{column}}
{{interlinear |lang=egy |indent=2
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|zt}} {{Wikt-lang|egy|nfrt}}
|woman good.FEM
|"[the] good woman"
}}
{{columns-end}}

Attributive adjectives in phrases are after the nouns they modify: {{Wikt-lang|egy|nṯr}} {{Wikt-lang|egy|ꜥꜣ}} ("[the] great god").

However, when they are used independently as a [[predicate (grammar)|predicate]] in an [[adjectival phrase]], as {{Wikt-lang|egy|ꜥꜣ}} {{Wikt-lang|egy|nṯr}} ("[the] god [is] great", {{lit}} "great [is the] god"), adjectives precede the nouns they modify.

===Prepositions===
Egyptian makes use of [[preposition]]s.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|{{wikt-lang|egy|m}}
|"in, as, with, from"
|-
|{{wikt-lang|egy|n}}
|"to, for"
|-
|{{wikt-lang|egy|r}}
|"to, at"
|-
|{{wikt-lang|egy|jn}} or {{Transliteration|egy|ı͗n}}
|"by"
|-
|{{wikt-lang|egy|ḥnꜥ}}
|"with"
|-
|{{wikt-lang|egy|mj#Etymology_3|mj}} or {{Transliteration|egy|mı͗}}
|"like"
|-
|{{wikt-lang|egy|ḥr}}
|"on, upon"
|-
|{{wikt-lang|egy|ḥꜣ}}
|"behind, around"
|-
|{{wikt-lang|egy|ẖr}}
|"under"
|-
|{{wikt-lang|egy|tp}}
|"atop"
|-
|{{wikt-lang|egy|ḏr}}
|"since"
|}

===Adverbs===
Adverbs, in Egyptian, may appear at the end of a sentence. For example:

{{interlinear |lang=egy |indent=2
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|zj|zı͗.n}} {{Wikt-lang|egy|nṯr}} '''{{Wikt-lang|egy|jm|ı͗m}}'''
|went god '''there'''
|"[the] god went there"
}}

Adverbs may also modify prepositions, in which case they precede the preposition they modify:{{sfn | Allen | 2014 | p=118}}

{{interlinear |lang=egy |indent=2
|'''{{lang|egy|ḥrw}}''' {{Wikt-lang|egy|r}}
|'''apart''' regarding
|"apart from"
}}

Adverbs may also appear after adjectives to modify them:{{sfn | Allen | 2014 | p=118}}

{{interlinear |lang=egy |indent=2
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|jqr|ı͗qr}} '''{{Wikt-lang|egy|wrt}}'''
|excellent '''very'''
|"very excellent"
}}

Here are some common Egyptian adverbs:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|jm}} or {{Transliteration|egy|ı͗m}}
|"there"
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|ꜥꜣ}}
|"here"
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|ṯnj}} or {{Transliteration|egy|ṯnı͗}}
|"where"
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|zy_nw|zy-nw}}
|"when" ({{lit}} "which moment")
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|mj_jḫ|mj-jḫ}} or {{Transliteration|egy|mı͗-ı͗ḫ}}
|"how" ({{lit}} "like-what")
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|r_mj|r-mj}} or {{Transliteration|egy|r-mı͗}}
|"why" ({{lit}} "for what")
|-
|{{Wikt-lang|egy|ḫnt}}
|"before"
|}