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Lesson 6: Nominal Bipartite Sentences

Nominal Sentences

A nominal sentence is a sentence that consists of a subject and a complement without a linking verb. In English, this would look something like: "Very interesting, those books!" The verb is implied to be "be" (i.e. "Those books 'are' very interesting."). The nominal sentences we will form in this section look very similar where in English they would use the verb "be." However, in Coptic, in place of a conjugated verb, there is a copula.

A copula is a connecting word, in particular a form of the verb "be" connecting a subject and a complement. In English, an example would be "You smell nice." Instead of "Your smell is nice" which uses the "is" conjugation of the verb "be," "smell" acts as a copula.

In Coptic, there are three copular verbs.

Masculine (am/is) Feminine (am/is) Plural (are)
ⲡⲉ ⲧⲉ ⲛⲉ

In this section, we will study a couple forms of a tripartite sentence. In a future lesson, we will look at bipartite sentences. Tripartite sentences have three components:

  • Subject
  • Copula
  • Predicate

It can take on several forms depending on whether the predicate is definite or indefinite. In all cases, if the subject and predicate agree in gender and number, the appropriate copula is used. If the subject and predicate do not agree, then the copula follows the noun that precedes it.

In a sentence, the subject is who or what the sentence is about (and more specifically, the noun or pronoun that performs the verb in the sentence); the predicate gives more information about the subject. For example, in English:

  • "The man is a teacher" - the subject is "the man" and the verb here is "is" so the (indefinite) predicate is "a teacher."
  • "The teacher is a man" - the subject is "the teacher" and the (indefinite) predicate is "a man."
  • "The teacher is the man" - the subject is "the teacher" and the (definite) predicate is "the man."
  • "This man is a teacher" - the subject is "This man", the verb is "is" and the (indefinite) predicate is "a teacher."
  • "This man is my teacher" - the subject is "This man", the verb is "is" and the (definite) predicate is "my teacher."
Indefinite Predicate

When the predicate is indefinite, the sentence takes the following form:

<subject> + <indefinite predicate> + <copula>

<subject> + <copula> + <indefinite predicate>

̀ⲛⲑⲟϥ ⲟⲩⲁⲗⲟⲩ ⲡⲉ He is a child
̀ⲛⲑⲟⲥ ⲟⲩⲁⲗⲟⲩ ⲧⲉ She is a child
̀ⲛⲑⲟ ⲟⲩ̀ϣⲫⲉⲣⲓ ⲧⲉ You (f.) are a friend (f.)












Definite Subject and Predicate

When the predicate is definite, the sentence can take one of the following forms:

<subject> + <copula> + <definite predicate>

<definite predicate> + <copula> + <subject>

̀ⲛⲑⲟ ⲧⲉ ϯϣⲟⲩⲣⲏ You (f.) are the censer
ⲁⲛⲟⲕ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲓⲣⲱⲙⲓ I am the man

ⲁⲛⲟⲕ ⲧⲉ ϯ̀ⲥϩⲓⲙⲓ

 I am the woman
ⲁⲛⲟⲛ ⲛⲉ ⲛⲓⲣⲱⲙⲓ We are the men
̀ⲛⲑⲟⲥ ⲧⲉ ϯⲟⲩⲣⲱ She is the queen
̀ⲛⲑⲟⲕ ⲡⲉ ⲟⲩϧⲉⲗⲗⲟ

You (m.) are an elder (m.)
̀ⲛⲑⲟ ⲧⲉ ⲟⲩϧⲉⲗⲗⲱ

You (f.) are an elder (f.)
̀ⲛⲑⲟⲕ ⲡⲉ ̀ⲫⲛⲟⲩϯ

You (m.) are God


̀ⲧⲫⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲁ̀ⲑⲣⲟⲛⲟⲥ

heaven is the throne

(mismatched gender - ̀ⲧⲫⲉ is feminine but ⲡⲓ̀ⲑⲣⲟⲛⲟⲥ is masculine. So the copula used can be ⲧⲉ, matching the noun preceding it, or ⲡⲉ as the general copula. In this case, the Bohairic Isaiah 66:1 uses ⲡⲉ).

Application

Application 1: 

This is an excerpt from <>. 

Exercises

Exercise 1: Translate to Coptic

Translate the following into Coptic:


Exercise 2: Translate to English

Translate the following phrases into English:

Resources

"A Study in Bohairic Coptic" by Nabil Matar; p162

See Moawad Daoud Lesson 2

See Sameh Younan page 59 in the PDF

ACTS 2990 Introduction to the Coptic Language (Bohairic) with Hany Takla Lesson 3A

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