nj

Usage notes

This genitival adjective can be used to express the indirect genitive. In this case, it indicates that the noun preceding it, with which it agrees in gender and number, is possessed by the noun which follows it.

Inflection

Declension of nj (nisba adjective)

	masculine	feminine
singular	, nj, n	nt
dual	njwj, nwj	ntj
plural	, njw, nw	nwt1, nt2
Archaic in Middle Egyptian when modifying a noun. From Middle Egyptian, this feminine singular form was generally used for the plural. In Late Egyptian, the masculine singular form was used with all nouns.

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of nj  

n

Derived terms

• nt-ꜥ

Alternative forms

Alternative hieroglyphic writings of nj  

n

Derived terms

• jmjtw-nj

Usage notes

• When used alone, nj negates the individual word following it.

• When negating (nonverbal) nominal sentences, adjectival sentences of possession (which start with the genitival adjective n(j) ), and rhemes of emphatic clauses, this particle is typically followed by the first element of the negated clause and then the negative particle js. In Middle Egyptian it cannot negate adjectival sentences which do not indicate possession, nor adverbial sentences, which are instead negated by nn. It also cannot negate verbal sentences that are not emphatic, so the presence of a verb between nj and js always indicates an emphatic clause.

• nj combines with a number of other words to form negative particles with more specialised meanings, for which see the next section.

Derived terms