tfꜣ

Egyptian

Pronunciation

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /tɛfɑ/
- Conventional anglicization: tefa

Determiner

f sg distal demonstrative determiner

that

Usage notes

This demonstrative was originally a determiner but could later be used alone, like a pronoun. When used as a determiner it follows or precedes the noun it describes.

It forms a contrastive pair with the demonstrative tn, in which tfꜣ is distal.

There is a more formal variant: tf.

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, jtn	jpnj	jptnj	jpn	jptn	nn	—
distal	pf	tf	jpfj	jptfj	jpf	jptf	nf	—
proximal to spoken of	pj, pw, py, p	tj, tw, jtw	jpwj	jptwj	jpw	jptw	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’; vocative	pw, pwy	tw, twy	nw	—
anaphoric	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ	ꜥꜣ
Joined by n(j) to nouns they modify.

Late Egyptian demonstratives and articles

	masculine	feminine	plural	adverb
pronoun	pꜣw			dj
determiners and pronouns	pꜣj	tꜣj	nꜣj
possessive determiners (used with suffix pronouns)	pꜣy	tꜣy	nꜣy
relational pronouns (‘possessive prefixes’)	p-n, pꜣ	t-nt, tꜣ	nꜣyw, nꜣ
definite articles	pꜣ	tꜣ	nꜣ¹
indefinite articles	wꜥ¹		nhꜣy¹
Originally joined by n(j) to nouns they modify; later without it.

References

James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN.
Faulkner, Raymond (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN

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