This book provides a thorough introduction to the writing system of ancient Egypt and the language of hieroglyphic texts. It is designed as a textbook for university and college classes, and is also suitable for individuals learning ancient Egyptian on their own. It contains 26 lessons, exercises (with answers), a list of hieroglyphic signs, and a dictionary. It also includes a series of 25 essays on the most important aspects of ancient Egyptian history, society, religion and literature. The combination of grammar lessons and cultural essays allows users not only to read hieroglyphic texts but also to understand them. The book gives readers the foundation they need to understand the texts on monuments and to read the great works of ancient Egyptian literature in the original. It can also serve as a complete grammatical description of the classical language of ancient Egypt for specialists in linguistics and other related fields.

 A thorough and up-to-date introduction to the ancient Egyptian writing system and language  Accessible to non-specialists, it can be used by university students, interested amateurs, and by scholars in other fields  Essays accompanying the lessons introduce the many unfamiliar terms and concepts of ancient Egyptian civilisation, providing an introduction to its culture as well as its language

Contents
1. Language and writing: Ancient Egyptian history; 2. The sounds of Middle Egyptian: Ancient Egyptian geography; 3. Multiliteral signs: Ancient Egyptian society; 4. Nouns: the gods; 5. Pronouns: the gods on earth; 6. Adjectives: the kings` names; 7. Adjectival and nominal sentences: human nature; 8. Prepositions and adverbs: death and the afterlife; 9. Numbers: Egyptian chronology; 10. Adverbial sentences: Maat; 11. Nonverbal sentences: the world before creation; 12. Nonverbal clauses: the creation of the world; 13. Verbs: the creative word; 14. The infinitival forms: the Memphite theology; 15. The pseudoverbal construction: the creator; 16. The imperative and particles: heresy; 17. The stative: phonology and writing; 18. The perfect: Egyptian literature; 19. The subjunctive: Middle Egyptian wisdom literature; 20. The perfective and imperfective: Middle Egyptian stories; 21. The prospective and passive: historical texts; 22. Other forms of the suffix conjugation: religious texts; 23. The participles: hymns and poetry; 24. The relative forms: nonliterary texts; 25. Special uses of the relative forms: letters; 26. Middle Egyptian grammar; References; Sign list; Dictionary; Answers to the exercises.