These
Coptic Lessons are courtesy of Raymond Wadie from St Mina Fleming Church
in Alexandria.
Significant Additions were also made, based on the book
Ten acpi ` Nsoumenritc by Drs Kamal Farid Issac and Bassem Habib
Guirguis.
They are mainly designed as self-taught Lessons for beginners who would
like to learn Coptic.
If you cannot view the Coptic letters, please download Coptic Fonts: 
The Font used on this page is Cs New Athanasius.
Lesson
1: Definite and Indefinite Articles
Lesson 2: Demonstrative Pronouns
Lesson 3: Personal Pronouns and verb to
be
Lesson 4: Possessive Pronouns
Lesson 5: The pronoun Of
Lesson 6: Adjectives
Lesson 7: The pronouns With and In
Lesson 8: The present tense
Lesson 9: The past tense
Lesson 10: The future tense
Lesson
11: Relative Pronouns
Lesson 12: The Object
Lesson 13: Conjugating verbs
Lesson 6:
Adjectives
.
The letters `n... and `m...
are used to design adjectives, under the following rule:
1. `m is used before labial
letters (b, m,
p, v,
')
2. `n is used before all other
letters
.
Adjectives and the nouns they describe are interchangeable, ie: the noun can
come before or after the adjective. In both cases, the letters `n...
and `m...seperate
between the noun and the adjective.
.
The definite or the indefinite article is attached to whichever comes first,
be it the noun or the adjective.
.
Just like in English, the Coptic adjectives do NOT change according to the
gender or number of their nouns.
Examples:
| Oujwm `mberi |
A
new book |
Pijwm `mberi |
The
new book |
Oujwm `n`apac |
An
old book |
| Pijwm
`n`apac |
The
old book |
Ounis]
`mbaki |
A
great city |
}nis]
`mbaki |
The
great city |
Oukouji `n`alou |
A
little boy |
Pikouji
`n`alou |
The
little boy |
Pihouit
`nrwmi |
The
first man |
Piqa`e
`n`ehoou |
The
last day |
Lesson 7: The pronouns With and In
7.1 The pronoun With
| nem |
With |
nemyi |
With
me |
nemak |
With
you (masculine) |
| neme |
With
you (feminine) |
nemaf |
With
him |
nemac |
With
her |
neman |
With
us |
nemwten |
With
you (plural) |
nemwou |
With
them |
7.2 The pronoun In
| qen |
In |
`nqyt |
In
me |
`nqytk |
In
you (masculine) |
| `nqy] |
In
you (feminine) |
`nqytf |
In
him |
`nqytc |
In
her |
`nqyten |
In
us |
qen ;ynou |
In
you (plural) |
`nqytou |
In
them |
Examples:
| Anok pe nemwten |
I
am with you (plural) |
Anok pe
qen ` Viwt |
I
am in the Father |
` Viwt `nqyt |
The
Father is in me |
| `
N;oten ne nem netenmau |
You
are with your mothers |
Anon
ne nem nen`cnyou |
We
are with our brothers |
`
N;oc te nem necsyri |
She
is with her sons |
` N;wou ne nemac |
They
are with her |
Pi =p=n=a (Greek) =e=;=u qen ;ynou |
The
Holy Spirit is in you (plural) |
Lesson 8: The present simple tense
8.1 The present simple tense gives information about a current action.
Affirmative |
Negative |
|
I |
]... |
]...
an |
You
(masculine) |
`k...
or ``,... |
`k...
an or ``,... an |
You
(feminine) |
te... |
te...
an
|
|
He |
`f... |
`f...
an
|
She |
`c... |
`c...
an
|
We |
ten... |
ten...
an
|
You
(plural) |
teten... |
teten...
an
|
They |
ce... |
ce...
an
|
. `, is used before (b, l, n, r, o, m)
Examples:
| }caji qen ]acpi `nrem`nkymi |
I
speak the Egyptian language |
Te`slyl |
You
(fem.) pray |
` Cmenre
Kymi |
She
loves Egypt |
Tetenqoci |
You
(pl.) are tired |
| Cemosi qen pimwit |
They
are walking in the road |
}caji an
nem pacon |
I
do not speak with my brother |
Tencaji
nemaf |
We
speak with him |
| Tencaji
an nemaf |
We
do not speak with him |
`
Fcaji nemyi |
He
speaks with me |
`
Fcaji an nemyi |
He
does not speak with me |
Lesson
9: The
past simple tense
The
past tense comes with expressions that express a notion similar to yesterday
( = `ncof)
Affirmative |
Negative |
|
I |
ai... |
`mpi... |
You
(masculine) |
ak... |
`mpek... |
You
(feminine) |
are... |
`mpe... |
| He |
af... |
`mpef... |
She |
ac... |
`mpec... |
We |
an... |
`mpen...
|
You
(plural) |
areten... |
`mpeten... |
They |
au... |
`mpou... |
Examples:
| Aicaji nem pacon |
I
spoke with my brother |
` Mpicaji
nem pacon |
I
did not speak with my brother |
Ancaji nemaf
|
We
spoke with him |
| `
Mpencaji an nemaf |
We
did not speak with him |
Afcaji
nemyi |
He
spoke with me |
`
Mpefcaji an nemyi |
He
did not speak with me |
| Aimosi qen pamwit |
I
walked in my way |
Akws qen
pijwm e;ouab |
You
(masc.) read in the Holy Book |
Arehemci
nem peniwt |
You
(fem.) sat with our father |
Ancaji nem
nenjaji |
We
spoke with our enemies |
Aretenmei
`mmon |
You
(plural) loved us |
Ause
e`psemmo erako] |
They
traveled to Alexandria |
Lesson
10: The
future tense
The
past tense comes with expressions that express a notion similar to tomorrow
( = `nfac])
Affirmative |
Negative |
|
I |
]na... |
]na...
an |
You
(masculine) |
`,na... |
`kna...
an
|
|
You
(feminine) |
tena...
(tera...
can be used for glorification, especially with the Most Holy Theotokos) |
tena...
an
|
| He |
`fna... |
`fna...
an
|
She |
`cna... |
`cna...
an
|
We |
tenna... |
tenna...
an
|
You
(plural) |
tetenna... |
tetenna...
an
|
They |
cena... |
cena...
an
|
Examples:
| }inou ]caji nem pacon |
Now
I speak with my brother |
` Ncof aicaji
nemaf |
Yesterday
I spoke with him |
` Nrac]
]nacaji nemaf |
Tomorrow
I will speak with him |
| }nou
]caji an nem pacon |
Now
I do not speak with my brother |
`
Ncof `mpicaji nemaf |
Yesterday
I did not speak with him |
`
Nrac] ]nacaji an nemaf |
Tomorrow
I will not speak with him |
Some Important Verbs:
| Caji |
to
speak |
` Cqai |
to
write |
Ouwm |
to
eat |
| Cw |
to
drink |
Hemci |
to
sit |
Ws |
to
read |
Hwc |
to
praise |
`
Cmou |
to
bless |
`
Areh |
to
keep, to store |
Cwtem |
to
hear, to listen |
Lessons
1 through 5
Lessons
11 through 15
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