Lesson 2: Possessive Articles
Possessive Articles
When assigning a possessive article to a noun, several things are taken into account:
- The perspective, gender, and number of the subject (i.e. the possessor)
- The gender and number of the object (i.e. the possessed)
| Masculine Object | Feminine Object | Plural Object | English | Person | Number |
| My | 1st | Singular | |||
| Our | 1st | Plural | |||
| Your (m.) | 2nd | Singular | |||
| Your (f.) | 2nd | Singular | |||
| Your (pl.) | 2nd | Plural | |||
| His | 3rd | Singular | |||
| Her | 3rd | Singular | |||
| Their | 3rd | Plural |
The first letter of the possessive article is based on the gender and number of the object and are identical to the first letter of the definite article:
- ⲡ for a masculine object
- ⲧ for a feminine object
- ⲛ for a plural object
The rest of the article is based on the perspective, gender and number of the subject:
- -ⲁ for 1st Person Singular (i.e. My)
- -ⲉⲛ for 1st Person Plural (i.e. Our)
- -ⲉⲕ for 2nd Person Masculine (i.e. the masculine Your)
- -ⲉ for 2nd Person Feminine (i.e. the feminine Your)
- -ⲉⲧⲉⲛ for 2nd Person Plural (i.e. the plural Your)
- -ⲉϥ for 3rd Person Masculine (i.e. His)
- -ⲉⲥ for 3rd Person Feminine (i.e. Her)
- -ⲟⲩ for 3rd Person Plural (i.e. Their)
We will continue to see both of these patterns (i.e. ⲡ for masculine, ⲧ for feminine, ⲛ for plural; and ⲁ for 1st Person Singular, ⲉⲕ for 2nd Person Masculine, ⲉ for 2nd Person Feminine, etc.) throughout the Coptic language.
Examples
| ⲡⲁⲓⲱⲧ | my father | ⲧⲁⲙⲁⲩ | my mother | ⲛⲁⲓⲟϯ | my fathers |
| ⲡⲉⲕⲓⲱⲧ | your (m.) father | ⲧⲉⲕⲙⲁⲩ | your (m.) mother | ⲛⲉⲕⲓⲟϯ | your (m.) fathers |
| ⲡⲉⲓⲱⲧ | your (f.) father | ⲧⲉⲙⲁⲩ | your (f.) mother | ⲛⲉⲓⲟϯ | your (f.) fathers |
| ⲡⲉϥⲓⲱⲧ | his father | ⲧⲉϥⲙⲁⲩ | his mother | ⲛⲉϥⲓⲟϯ | his fathers |
| ⲡⲉⲥⲓⲱⲧ | her father | ⲧⲉⲥⲙⲁⲩ | her mother | ⲛⲉⲥⲓⲟϯ | her fathers |
| ⲡⲉⲛⲓⲱⲧ | our father | ⲧⲉⲛⲙⲁⲩ | our mother | ⲛⲉⲛⲓⲟϯ | our fathers |
| ⲡⲉⲧⲉⲛⲓⲱⲧ | your (pl.) father | ⲧⲉⲧⲉⲛⲙⲁⲩ | your (pl.) mother | ⲛⲉⲧⲉⲛⲓⲟϯ | your (pl.) fathers |
| ⲡⲟⲩⲓⲱⲧ | their father | ⲧⲟⲩⲙⲁⲩ | their mother | ⲛⲟⲩⲓⲟϯ | their fathers |
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
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Page 44 of the Sameh Younan PDF
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Lesson 4 of Moawad Daoud
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Page 132 of Nabil Matar