Grammar - Lesson 01

1. A bare noun is a base word without any form of determination (definiteness), which often takes the form of prefixes.

2. A determined (definite) noun is provided with a determiner, frequently in the form of a prefix.

Coptic distinguishes two genders, masculine m and feminine f, and two numbers, singular s and plural p. This information is often coded in the determiner prefix rather than in the bare noun itself. See the next section on Determiner Selection for the first practical application.

These significant letters keep recurring throughout Coptic grammar and often form the basis of Coptic pattern grammar. The next section on determiners already offers a first practical application of them.

Example words: Ⲥⲟⲛ “brother” / Ⲥⲱⲛⲓ “sister” / Ⲥⲱⲛⲓ “sisters”

Coptic is a highly determined language. Often (90% of the time), nouns are provided with a determiner (prefix). However, zero-determination remains one of the important exceptions where nouns can appear without a determiner. This occurs, for example, with the quantifier ⲛⲓⲃⲉⲛ “every/each”.

There are three nexus pronouns in Coptic. They only appear after the first word (or the first phrase) of the sentence. We call these words postpositive (placed after) or enclitic (leaning on the preceding word), which means that in writing they can also be attached as a single unit to the preceding word. We mark these with the symbol ‘≡’.

• ≡ⲡⲉ m “he, it”^[5]

• ≡ⲧⲉ f “she, it”

• ≡ⲛⲉ p “they”

By convention, we usually leave a space before them, even though they may also be written together with the previous word. So ⲟⲩⲓⲱⲧ ⲡⲉ and ⲟⲩⲓⲱⲧⲡⲉ mean the same thing.

Besides the nexus pronouns, there are also independent personal pronouns. In a bipartite nominal sentence, using the nexus pronouns is the standard (mandatory) rule. To emphasize such nominal sentences, one can also incorporate the independent personal pronouns. These are prepositive (placed before):

• Ⲛ̀ⲑⲟϥ m “he, it”

• Ⲛ̀ⲑⲟⲥ f “she, it”

• Ⲛ̀ⲑⲱⲟⲩ p “they”

In Coptic literature, several common abbreviations are used, mostly to indicate holy names (nomina sacra). The conventional way to represent abbreviations in Coptic is by placing a horizontal line above the abbreviated word.

In a liturgical context, word abbreviations can also sometimes refer to common phrases:

• ⲕ̅ⲉ̅ = ⲕⲩⲣⲓⲉ̀ ⲉⲗⲏⲥⲟⲛ “Lord have mercy”

• ⲭ︦ⲉ︦ = ⲭⲉⲣⲉ ⲛⲉ Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ “Hail Mary”

• ⲛ︦ⲧ︦ⲉ︦ϥ︦ = ⲛ̀ⲧⲉϥⲭⲁ ⲛⲉⲛⲛⲟⲃⲓ ⲛⲁⲛ ⲉ̀ⲃⲟⲗ “to forgive us our sins”

• ⲧ︦ⲱ︦ⲃ︦ = ⲧⲱⲃϩ ⲙ̀Ⲡ̀ϭⲱⲓⲥ ⲉ̀ϩ̀ⲣⲏⲓ ⲉ̀ϫⲱⲛ “pray to the Lord for us”