jšst

jḫ (“what”) +‎ st (“common third person dependent pronoun”).

• (modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /iʃɛsɛt/
  • Conventional anglicization: isheset

 interrogative stressed (‘independent’) pronoun

1. what?

In Middle Egyptian, this pronoun can only be used of animals and inanimate objects.

Unlike the suffix pronouns and dependent pronouns, the independent pronouns are not tied to any other element of the sentence. Nevertheless, the meaning of an independent pronoun depends on context:

• After an infinitive, it is the subject of the verb.
• Before a noun, its meaning can be ambiguous:
  • In the first and second person, it could be the subject of a noun phrase.
  • Alternatively, in all persons, it can be the predicate of a noun phrase.
  • If the noun is a participle, then in all persons it could be either the subject or the predicate of a noun phrase.
  • If the demonstrative pronoun pw is placed between the pronoun and the noun, the pronoun is definitely the predicate.
• Before an adjective, in the first person only, it is the subject of an adjectival phrase.

When the independent pronoun is the subject it may, but does not always, indicate an emphasised subject.

• ḥr zj jšst

• James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 57, 457 etc..
• Faulkner, Raymond Oliver (1962) A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford: Griffith Institute, →ISBN