pꜣw

Egyptian

Pronunciation

• (modern Egyptological)IPA^(key):/pɑuː/
  • Conventional anglicization:pau

Verb

3ae inf.

1. (catenative,with a verb in the infinitive)to have done in the past, to have once done

Usage notes

This verb is often negated withnjto mean “not once” or “never yet (has it happened that...)”.

Inflection

Conjugation ofpꜣw(third weak / 3ae inf. / III. inf.) — base stem:pꜣ,geminated stem:pꜣꜣ

infinitival forms			imperative
infinitive	negatival complement	complementary infinitive1	singular	plural
pꜣt,pꜣj	pꜣw,pꜣ	pꜣt,pꜣwt,pꜣyt	pꜣ	pꜣ,pꜣy

‘pseudoverbal’ forms
stativestem	periphrastic imperfective2		periphrastic prospective2
pꜣ8,pꜣꜣ8	ḥr pꜣt,ḥr pꜣj	m pꜣt,m pꜣj	r pꜣt,r pꜣj

suffix conjugation
aspect / mood	active	passive	contingent
			aspect / mood	active	passive
perfect	pꜣ.n	pꜣw,pꜣ,pꜣy	consecutive	pꜣ.jn	active+.tj1,.tw2
		active+.tj1,.tw2
terminative	pꜣt,pꜣyt
perfective3	pꜣ	active+.tj1,.tw2	obligative1	pꜣ.ḫr	active+.tj1,.tw2
imperfective	pꜣ,pꜣy	active+.tj1,.tw2
prospective3	pꜣw,pꜣ,pꜣy	pꜣw,pꜣ,pꜣy	potentialis1	pꜣ.kꜣ	active+.tj1,.tw2
		active+.tj1,.tw2
subjunctive	pꜣ,pꜣy	active+.tj1,.tw2

verbal adjectives
aspect / mood	relative (incl. nominal / emphatic) forms		participles
	active	passive	active	passive
perfect	pꜣ.n	active+.tj1,.tw2	—	—
perfective	pꜣw1,pꜣy,pꜣ	active+.tj1,.tw2	pꜣ	pꜣy,pꜣ
imperfective	pꜣꜣ,pꜣꜣy,pꜣꜣw5	active+.tj1,.tw2	pꜣꜣ,pꜣꜣj6,pꜣꜣy6	pꜣꜣ,pꜣꜣw5
prospective	pꜣw1,pꜣy,pꜣ,pꜣtj7	—	pꜣwtj1 4,pꜣtj4,pꜣt4
Used in Old Egyptian; archaic by Middle Egyptian. Used mostly since Middle Egyptian. Archaic or greatly restricted in usage by Middle Egyptian. The perfect has mostly taken over the functions of the perfective, and the subjunctive and periphrastic prospective have mostly replaced the prospective. Declines using third-person suffix pronouns instead of adjectival endings: masculine.f/.fj,feminine.s/.sj,dual.sn/.snj,plural.sn. Only in the masculine singular. Only in the masculine. Only in the feminine. Third-person masculine statives of this class often have a final-yinstead of the expected stative ending.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings ofpꜣw

pꜣw	pꜣw	pꜣw
		[chiefly Old Kingdom]

Pronoun

demonstrative pronoun

1. (Late Egyptian)this,that,these,those

Usage notes

This demonstrative is unmarked for gender and number, and can either be used independently or to introduce a relative clause.

Inflection

Old Egyptian demonstratives

	determiners						pronouns1	adverbs
number	singular		dual		plural		unmarked
gender	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	unmarked
proximal to speaker	pn	tn	*jpnj	jptnj,jptntj	jpn	jptn	nn	—
distal	pf	tf	*jpfj	*jptfj,*jptftj	jpf	jptf	nf	—
proximal to spoken of	pj,pw,p	tj,tw	jpwj	jptwj,jptwtj	jpw	jptw,jptwt	nw	—
vocative	pꜣ	tꜣ	—	—	—	—	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ
Unmarked for number and gender, but treated syntactically as masculine plurals when used with participles and relative forms, and as feminine singulars when referred to by resumptive pronouns.

Middle Egyptian demonstratives

	determiners and pronouns			adverbs
number	singular		plural1
gender	masculine	feminine	unmarked
proximal	pn	tn	nn	ꜥn
distal	pf,pfꜣ	tf,tfꜣ	nf,nfꜣ	ꜥf
‘copula’ and vocative	pw,pwy	tw,twy	nw	—
anaphoric	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ
Joined byn(j)to nouns they modify.

Late Egyptian demonstratives and articles

	masculine	feminine	plural		adverb
pronoun	pꜣw				dj
determiners and pronouns	pꜣj	tꜣj	nꜣj
possessive determiners1	pꜣy	tꜣy	nꜣy
relational pronouns (‘possessive prefixes’)	p-n,pꜣ	t-nt,tꜣ	nꜣyw,nꜣ
definite articles	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ2
indefinite articles	wꜥ2		nhꜣy2
Used with suffix pronouns. Originally joined byn(j)to nouns they modify; later without it.

References

• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver(1962)A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian,Oxford: Griffith Institute,→ISBN,page87
• James P[eter] Allen(2010)Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs,2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,→ISBN,page270.
• Erman, Adolf,Grapow, Hermann(1926)Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache‎^[1],volume 1, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag,→ISBN,page494.18
• Junge, Friedrich (2005)Late Egyptian Grammar: An Introduction,second English edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, page53