13.1 Definitions

When they are used in actual phrases, clauses, or sentences, verbs must appear in a particular form, just as nouns must be singular, plural, or dual, and adjectives must be singular or plural and masculine or feminine. In both Egyptian and English, verb forms are of two different kinds. Most verb forms are finite: that is, they indicate an action that is limited to a particular tense, aspect, mood, or voice (or combination of these features). In the English sentence Jack was being summoned, for example, the verb form was being summoned is past (tense), imperfect (aspect), indicative (mood), and passive (voice). Middle Egyptian also has finite verb forms, as we will see in subsequent lessons.

Verb forms that describe action just as action, without being limited to a specific tense, mood, aspect, or voice, are called non-finite or infinitival. They belong to a special class of words, known as verbal nouns In English, two such forms are the infinitive (for example, to learn) and the gerund (for example, learning). English also has verbal nouns such as involvement(the action of being involved), condescension(the action of being condescending), and taxation(the action of taxing), which are made from the verb root plus different suffixes, and words such as fear, love, and hate(the actions of fearing, loving, and hating), which are made just from the verb root itself.