Are these Coptic phrases correct for asking someone, "What is your price?" I mean the price of someone's services. Addressing a man: Ⲟⲩⲏⲣ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲃⲉⲭⲉ? war pe pek-be-ke Addressing a woman: Ⲟⲩⲏⲣ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲃⲉⲭⲉ? war pe pe-be-ke
By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-08
Yes, this is grammatically correct and exactly the right choice of words for asking someone their fee, wage, or rate for services.
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1. Vocabulary Analysis
- ⲃⲉⲭⲉ (ve-khe): This is a native Coptic word (derived from ancient Egyptian, related to work and service) meaning wage, hire, payment for labor, or fee.
- In the Coptic New Testament, this exact word is used for a worker's pay (e.g., in Luke 10:7: «ⲡⲓⲉⲣⲅⲁⲧⲏⲥ ⲅⲁⲣ ⲉⲙⲡϣⲁ ⲙⲡⲉϥⲃⲉⲭⲉ» — "For the laborer is worthy of his hire/wages").
- By contrast, if you were asking the price of an item or merchandise in a market, the word would be ⲁⲥⲟⲩ (asou, "price/cost"). Because you specifically mean the price of a person's services or labor, ⲃⲉⲭⲉ is the precise and correct term.
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2. Grammar Breakdown (Bohairic Dialect)
- Ⲟⲩⲏⲣ (Ou-eer): Interrogative pronoun meaning "How much?" or "How many?"
- ⲡⲉ (pe): The masculine singular copula ("is"), agreeing with the masculine noun that follows.
- ⲡⲉⲕ- (pek-): Possessive article, 2nd person masculine singular ("your" when addressing a man).
- ⲡⲉ- (pe-): Possessive article, 2nd person feminine singular ("your" when addressing a woman).
Both phrases are structured correctly:
- Addressing a man: Ⲟⲩⲏⲣ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲃⲉⲭⲉ? ("How much is your wage/fee?")
- Addressing a woman: Ⲟⲩⲏⲣ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲃⲉⲭⲉ? ("How much is your wage/fee?")
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3. Note on Pronunciation
A couple of phonetic corrections to your transliteration:
- Ⲟⲩⲏⲣ is pronounced "Ou-eer" (or Ou-yēr), not "war". The letter Ⲟⲩ makes an "oo" sound, and ⲏ is an elongated "ee/ay" sound.
- In Bohairic pronunciation:
- ⲃ (Bita) before a vowel is pronounced as "v".
- ⲭ (Khi) in native Coptic words is pronounced as the hard guttural "kh" (like the ch in Scottish loch or the Arabic letter خ), rather than a hard English "k".
Therefore, the phonetics are:
- Masculine: Ou-eer pe pek-ve-khe?
- Feminine: Ou-eer pe pe-ve-khe?