Discovering Writing: Learning Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Learning Egyptian Hieroglyphs - Lesson 3 (Part III)

Meaning of the sdjmf Form

Details of this topic will be discussed later, but it should be noted that the ear determinative sdjmf form excludes the meaning of hardly any English tense or mood (see the previous lesson, Dependence, Tense and Mood.) Because it is a past tense, it is replaced by another form, the sdjmnf form, which will be described later.

At the moment, render the ear determinative f form as the English present tense. Here are three common uses of the form:

1. It is often used without any introductory particle in rendering the equivalent of and English clause of purpose:

walking determinative scribe determinative man determinative djd chr book determinative habk ssh, djdf schrk 'Thou sendest the scribe that he may say thy plan'

2. It may be used to express a wish:

walking determinative scribe determinative man determinative habk ssh 'Mayest thou send the scribe/Send thou the scribe'

3. Preceeded by the particle book determinative ykh the fundamental meaning of which seems to be 'then' or 'therefore', it expresses a consequence:

book determinative djd official determinative man determinative ych djd sr 'Then the official will say...'

book determinative djd bird determinative stroke determinative ych djdk n sak 'Then shalt thou say to thy son...'

Vocabulary

	maa	see
	dja	cross, ferry across
	rsh	rejoice, be glad
	hab	send
	sa	son
	sat	daughter
(var )	yt1	father
	bak	man-servant
	bakt	maid-servant
(var )	wat	road, way, side
	cha	office, hall
	kat	construction, work, device
	thaty	vizier
	`a	donkey, ass
	sshta	secret
	ytrw	river
	msh	crocodile
	r	mouth, utterance
	hr	face, sight
	hr	upon, concerning, because of; before suffixes written
	m	in, with (of instrument), from as; before suffixes