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Pannous edited this page Aug 18, 2022 · 106 revisions

Middle Egyptian is an astonishingly simple language, one might even say primitive. Whether this is mostly due to its age, or whether its original simplicity was a devised feature of the written language.

Negative ๐“‚œ n no, ๐“‚œ๐“ˆ–non, nein, ๐“‚œ๐“ not anti- un- ๐“…ฑ-
Negation ๐“‚œ manu-(keltic) ma- mo-(greek) ๐“…ฑ- ๐“…“- donโ€™t ๐“๐“ƒ
Feminine suffix ๐“ -t โ‹ -tha โ‹ -ฯƒฮฑ -ss ๐‰โ‹๐“ฒ prince => princessa brewerโ‡จbrewster ๐“‡“๐“ˆž๐“ โฒŸโฒฉโฒฃโฒฑ shariลก
Verb suffixes ๐“ -tu -do ๐“‚ป -ir ๐“‰๐“๐“‚ป partir (to part)
Prepositions ๐“ˆ– in, an, on, ina ๐’€ธ ๐“ ๐“…“ im, miโ‹mit=with, ๐“‚‹ r:ร , re-, ๐“ to, at โ€ฆ
Comparatives via suffix ๐“‚‹ -r hard โ€”> harder -๐”–ฑ -๐”–ฒ -r better ๐“‚‹ ๐Œท๐Œฐ๐‚๐Œณ๐Œน๐Œถ๐Œฐ hard.osa ๐“‚‹ -๐‰๐Œถ๐Œฐ grรถรŸer
Adjectives via suffix -y ู€ููŠู‘ -iyy -๐“‡‹๐“‡‹ -๐“ฎ fun => funny -ial -ly -ful -voll -faire ๐“…ซ๐“…ช๐“…ฉ
Adjectives via suffix -ty ๐“๐“ฎ -๐“๐“” -๋‹ค high => haughty -tive rime => primitive
Adjectives via suffix -tig -๐“˜๐“ค ั‚าฏะณ tรผg tek ั‚าฏาฏ tig tique < Tiegel ๐“˜
Adjectives via suffix -tโ€ฆ -๐“œ -de -็š„ pregnant = ๐“ƒ€ ๐“‚“ ๐“‘ ๐“œ -tฤซ -tia*

Verbs conjugation past+passive ๐“…ฑ -w ๐“ˆ– -n : see-saw-seen
Verbs conjugation past+passive ๐“ -t -ed : walk-walked ๐“ฟ cover-covered ๐“Ž›๐“ƒ€๐“‹ณ๐“ฟ
Past / passive markers -ed -en ๐“ ๐“ˆ– ๐’ฒ ๐’…” : ๐’‹ซ ๐’€œ ๐’‹ซ ๐’ฒ ๐’…” ta-at-ta-di-in donated ใŸ -ta
Nouns and Determinants ๐“›
Quantors ๐“Žก๐“ŽŸkAlle ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ– โˆƒn/ein ๐“ƒนsan ๐“‚œnon/null/not ๐“†ˆ๐“ฅexa many๐“ 
Numbers ๐“ˆ‹dual -di ๐“ฎ = ๐“˜๐“‡‹ twi๐“ˆ‡ 3. ๐“๐“ cird 4. ๐“†‘๐“‚ง๐“…ฑั‡ะตั‚๊™‘ั€ 6 ๐“‹ด๐“‡‹๐“‹ด sis 7 ๐“‹ด๐“†‘๐“Ž›๐“…ฑ sevhen โ€ฆ
Pronouns singular ante* ๐“‡‹=I ๐“Žก=kyou ๐“†‘=ฯ†he ๐“‹ดshe/es
Pronouns plural ๐“ˆ–๐“ชnลs ๐“ฟ๐“ˆ–๐“ชthine ๐“‹ด๐“ˆ–๐“ค๐“ค๐“คthem
Interrogatives / Reflexive questions ๐“Šช๐“ขwho/one ๐“Šช๐“๐“‚‹๐“†ต whether โ€ฆ
Imperative / Subjunctive ๐“…–๐“ˆ™๐“‚ป ๐“‹ด marche-she! She (should/may/...) go!
Conjunction implicit ๐“…“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“… ๐“‡‹๐“๐“†‘๐“€€ Muta ๐“‡‹atav : Mother (and) Father
Conjunction explicit ๐“…“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“… ๐“Ž›๐“ˆ–๐“‚ ๐“‡‹๐“๐“†‘๐“€€ โ€ฆ Muta แธซand Fatav Mother and/con Father โ€ฆ
Gerund prefix ๐“…“ am Tanzen / im Tanze โ€”> dancing ฯซโฒ“โฒ›- present participle
Particles and Interjections ๐“„ฟ ah! ๐“Ž› ๐“„ฟ ha! ...
Plural ๐“…ฑ โ€˜wโ€™ wษ™ โ‹ ษ™n marche=>marchonsโ‹marchษ™ โ‹ Sonneโ‡จSonnen
Plural ๐“ฒ/๐“ข โ€ขwr/wn

Todo suffixes ๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ช -ness -mes -tum -tion -ter ๐“›

Some authors, notoriously James P. Allen, project 'a few' more grammatical categories on the very limited set of suffixes, but the set given above covers approximately 95% of all texts.

To get a feeling for the grammatical flow try an excerp of the [Tale of the shipwrecked Sailor](Tale of the shipwrecked Sailor)

Is important to remember that alignments between ancient Egyptian and Semitic languages do not contradict alignments between ancient Egyptian and European languages, since both may share common roots.

Even James Allen, the master of projecting plethorae of modern linguistic concepts onto literary a handful of word endings, often remarks its similarity with English.

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