Egyptian Hieroglyphs Lesson 5

Adjectives
The Basics
Adjectives are descriptive words that modify nouns, noun phrases, and
pronouns. They describe the qualities of the word(s) they qualify. In the
Enlish e!ample, "the gold headdress,# the adjective "old# modifies the noun
"headdress,# describin the quality of the headdress. The primary uses of
adjectives in $iddle Eyptian is as modifiers or as a nouns (yes, adjectives
can also become nouns%). &elow is a chart listin the adjective endins as
well as an e!ample.
In this e!ample, the adjective nfr, "ood, beautiful, perfect,# is used in every
possible combination of number and ender. 'nly the endin chanes(the
base word nfr remains consistent.
It is important to note that the plural stro)es, in the feminine plural form, are
not always written. Instead the form may resemble the feminine sinular
adjective, even thouh the intended form is feminine and plural. The absence
may be caused by any number of reasons, includin lac) of space or scribal
preference. In these circumstances, it is important to consider the conte!t in
which the adjective is found in order to determine the best translation.
Adjectives as Modifiers
*hen adjectives are used as a modifier, the adjective will always follow the
noun, pronoun, or noun phrase it modifies and they will share the same
ender and number.
The adjective nb, "every, all,# is often confused with the noun for "lord,
owner,# nb, as they appear identical. +owever, we can distinuish the
adjective nb from its nominal (noun) counterpart by followin the simple rule
above, an adjectives follows the word it modifies. -ets loo) at a few e!amples,

As you can see, when adjective nb is used to modify a noun, it follows the
noun it modifies and arees in number and ender. In the first
e!ample, nb follows n r and arees in number and ender (sinular,
masculine), so the adjective nb is bein used. This is the case for n rw nfrw as
well. The adjective nfrw follows the noun it modifies (n r ) and arees with its
number and ender (plural, masculine).
In the second e!ample, nb precedes n rw , so it is the noun nb that is used.
This construction is )nown as the direct enitive, which was touched on
in -esson .. If you recall, the direct enitive does not require the two nouns to
share the same ender or number, unli)e the noun / adjective construction.
Adjectives as Nouns
Adjectives may also be used as nouns0 however, identifyin this use is usually
problematic for beinners. Than)fully, when adjectives are used as nouns,
they use the same endins as other nouns. In some cases, a determinative
will follow the adjective1noun, in order to specify to whom or what the
adjective is referrin. -ets loo) at an e!ample.

n s, "poor man#
In this e!ample, the adjective ns, "poor, small# is followed by the seated man
determinative. *ith the addition of this determinative, we should more
precisely translate this as "poor man.# If the seated woman determinative
followed the word, "poor woman# would be more appropriate.
A very common use of the adjective as a noun uses the feminine, sinular
ender and number. This use describes a "thin# as containin a certain
quality. 'ne often cited e!ample is nfrt, "a ood thin.# The boo) roll is
commonly found as a determinative under these circumstances, but that is not
always the case.
2ow, because adjectives can function as nouns, we find these adjective1
nouns constructions similar to those where we find nouns, such as direct
enitives or in noun phrases. 'ne such construction has been termed
the nfr r construction by Eyptoloists. In this construction, the adjective
assumes the form of a noun and forms a noun phrase with the noun is
precedes. 3or e!ample, lets loo) at two words this construction is named
after, nfr and r . +ere, nfr is used as a noun "a ood one# and
precedes the noun r "face.# 4o, a literal translation could be "a ood one of
face.# A more refined Enlish translation would be "ood of face# This type of
construction is commonly found after a od, )in, or person, in order to qualify
the type of person they are or a specific s)ill set they possess.

Adjectives and Degrees of o!parison
Adjectives are also be used to show derees of comparisons between to
nouns (ood, better, best). *e have already seen the first deree, which is
simply the adjective used as a modifier (good man).
In the comparative form (better, easier), the second deree of comparison, the
preposition r of comparison, "with respect to# or "compared to,# is used to
compare two nouns. The preposition is placed after the adjective and follows
this basic format noun / adjective / r / noun. -ets loo) at an e!ample,


3 3 r 3 nb
a donkey greater tan every donkey, or a great donkey in comparison to
every donkey.
The superlative form of the adjective (best, easiest), the final deree of
comparison, uses either the direct or indirect enitive. A common e!ample
showin the superlative form is wr wrw, "reat one of reat
ones,# or "the reatest of all.# In this e!ample, the direct enitive is used, with
the adjectives wr and wrw bein used as nouns0 however, the same notion is
e!pressed when the enitive n is placed in between wrand wrw.

"elative Adjectives
The relative adjective is rarer early on in the study of Eyptian hierolyphs,
but it is still useful to be familiar with it. The followin chart lists the different
forms of the relative adjective.
These types of adjectives can be used as either a noun or a modifier. *hen it
modifies somethin, the adjective will follow the word it modifies and will share
the same number and ender. A bare bones translation would be "(modified
word) who5which5that is 6.# -ets loo) at an e!ample,

s nty im
"the man who is there#
The noun s is masculine and sinular, so it is followed by nty the masculine,
sinular relative adjective. 2ow, if we were to remove s, the result would
be nty im . In this case, nty would function as a noun and the resultin
translation would be "the one who is there.#

Lesson 5 #oca$ulary and E%ercises



E%ercises& transliterate and translate
'(
wsir n r 7 nty m 7b w "'siris, reat od who is in Abydos
)(
bit bnr w b ntt m pr nsw "4weet and pure honey which is in the )in8s house.#
*(
nt) n r 7 iqr n t7wy "9ou are a benificial and e!cellent od of the two lands.# 1
+(
h,f*- .*/-0 nty- r1gs st tn 2Many serpents -hich are $eside
this place