Nouns can describe both tangible (book, man, Amun) and intangible things (love, desire, justice). In Middle Egyptian, there are two terms that we use to describe nouns: gender and number. A noun’s gender can be either feminine or masculine, and its number can be singular, plural, or dual.

The best method to determine whether a noun is feminine or masculine is to look for the t hieroglyph 𓏏. When a 𓏏is at the end of a word it (usually) signals that the gender of the word is feminine. There are exceptions, however, are few and far between. The following chart lists the masculine and feminine endings for nouns.

Now, lets look at a few examples to see these endings in action. The hieroglyph for “brother” is sn 𓌢𓈖𓀀. There is no ending attached to the noun, so we can identify it as singular and masculine. Now, as we now know that sn is a masculine noun, we can attach a different ending to it in order to change its number. If we add a w 𓌢𓈖𓀀, it becomes the plural, “brothers.” If we add the ending wy 𓌢𓈖𓏲𓏭𓀀𓀀, it becomes the dual, “the two brothers.” Sometimes, in place of the w in the plural, three plural strokes may be used instead 𓌢𓈖𓀀𓏫.

In some cases, the plural and dual endings may not be written. Instead, the repetition is used to show its number. The word t3 𓇾, “land,” is a great example of this. If we were to add a second land hieroglyph below the first, it would become t3wy 𓇾𓇾,”the Two Lands,” referring to Upper and Lower Egypt. If we were to add a third land hieroglyph below the second, it would become t3w 𓇾𓇾𓇾 “lands.” This type of repetition to show number is common enough you should commit it to memory along with the more common endings.