Preposition Dr + sDm.t=f translated with “before” meaning instead of the usual “since.” Note that there are three verb clauses all independent syntactically but which must be coordinated with respect to meaning. The furst two verbs are just run together; he “goes down and washes.” The last verb is the aq.t=j after prep. Dr. Although all three verbs refer to future, the last verb is slated to happen after the rst two do. The rst two verbs are subjunctive mood, but the last verb is dependent on prior occurrence of the rst two. At least in the English rendition. If Dr is considered a preposition, then aq.t=f is a noun clause. But if Dr is a conjunction, then the latter is basically an independent sentence. This bit of grammar arcana expressed Allen style leaves me somewhat suspicious. (Allen himself doesn’t seem to care for the “schools of grammar,” either.) It is the timing of the acts that is important to know. However, Egyptologists have clearly established that sDm.t=f is a grammatically distinct form.

Preposition Dr + sDm.t=f translated with “before” meaning instead of the usual “since.” In Cofn Text 404, Zonhoven and Allen disagree about the meaning of Dr xnd.t=k. Again note the .t marker comes before the leg determinative. Allen thinks the blessed dead has been walking around and therefore has already stepped on the ground by the time that it speaks. Zonhoven says the ground threatens before being stepped on. This is a major semantic shift. They also differ on whether Dr should be classed as preposition or conjunction. I don’t see a necessary logic in Zonhoven’s assertion that the ground’s threat to block the gate it guards without being given the password must precede it’s having been stepped on, lest the threat be redundant. People often warn against doing something after the fact. Perhaps the deceased is not standing on ground after all, at the time of speaking. Or, the ground behind the gate is a distinct entity and it’s not talking about the other ground outside.