[5] Innovations in grammar and phonology and the influx of Greek loanwords distinguish Coptic from earlier periods of the Egyptian language.

Sahidic Coptic was spoken between the cities of Asyut and Oxyrhynchus[7] and flourished as a literary language across Egypt in the period c. 325 – c. 800 AD.

For example, both Sahidic and Bohairic use the word ebenos, which was taken directly from Greek ἔβενος ("ebony"), originally from Egyptian hbnj.

Coptic, therefore, is a reference to both the most recent stage of Egyptian after Demotic and the new writing system that was adapted from the Greek alphabet.

In time, the growth of these communities generated the need to write Christian Greek instructions in the Egyptian language.

At the turn of the eighth century, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan decreed[13] that Arabic replace Koine Greek as the sole administrative language.

Literary Coptic gradually declined, and within a few hundred years, Egyptian bishop Severus ibn al-Muqaffa found it necessary to write his History of the Patriarchs in Arabic.

The Coptic language massively declined under the hands of Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, as part of his campaigns of religious persecution.

He issued strict orders completely prohibiting the use of Coptic anywhere, whether in schools, public streets, and even homes, including mothers speaking to their children.

He personally walked the streets of Cairo and eavesdropped on Coptic-speaking homes to find out if any family was speaking Coptic.

[18] In the second half of the 20th century, Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria started a national Church-sponsored movement to revive Coptic.

[citation needed] Coptic uses a writing system almost wholly derived from the Greek alphabet, with the addition of a number of letters that have their origins in Demotic Egyptian.

What invariably attracts the attention of the reader of a Coptic text, especially if it is written in the Sa'idic dialect, is the very liberal use which is made of Greek loan words, of which so few, indeed, are to be found in the Ancient Egyptian language.

There Greek loan words occur everywhere in Coptic literature, be it Biblical, liturgical, theological, or non-literary, i.e. legal documents and personal letters.

[23] There are also traces of some archaic grammatical features, such as residues of the Demotic relative clause, lack of an indefinite article and possessive use of suffixes.

Thus, the transition from the old traditions to the new Christian religion also contributed to the adoption of Greek words into the Coptic religious lexicon.

It is safe to assume that the everyday speech of the native population retained, to a greater extent, its indigenous Egyptian character, which is sometimes reflected in Coptic nonecclesiastical documents such as letters and contracts.

Beside being found in Greek loanwords, the letters ⟨φ, θ, χ⟩ were used in native words for a sequence of /p, t, k/ plus /h/, as in ⲑⲉ = ⲧ-ϩⲉ "the-way" (f.sg.)

Apart from the liquid consonants, this pattern may indicate a sound change in Later Egyptian, leading to a neutralisation of voiced alveolar and velar plosives.

Though there is no clear evidence that Coptic had a glottal stop, different orthographic means have been posited for indicating one by those who believe that it did: with ⲁ word-initially, with ⲓ word-finally in monosyllabic words in northern dialects and ⲉ in monosyllabic words in Akhmimic and Assiutic, by reduplication of a vowel's grapheme but mostly unwritten.

Each form lists the morphology found with a nonpronominal subject (Marked with an underscore in Coptic) and a third person singular masculine pronominal subject ('he'): An approximate range of use for most of the tense/aspect/mood categories is shown in the following table: An unusual feature of Coptic is the extensive use of a set of "second tenses", which are required in certain syntactic contexts.

[34] Compare: ⲉ̀ⲡ̀ϫⲟⲓe-p-joito-DEF:SG:M-shipⲉ̀ⲡ̀ϫⲟⲓe-p-joito-DEF:SG:M-ship'to the ship'ⲉⲣⲟϥerofon-3MSGⲉⲣⲟϥerofon-3MSG'to him'Coptic typically shows subject–verb–object (SVO) word order, as in the following examples:[35][31] ⲁAaPFVⲧⲉϭⲁⲙⲁⲩⲗⲉtecamaulete-camauleDEF:F:SG-camelⲙⲓⲥⲉmisemisedeliver.ABSⲛ̀ⲟⲩϣⲏⲣⲉənoušēreən-ou-šērePREP-INDEF:SG-girlⲛ̀ϣⲓⲙⲉənšimeən-šimelink-womanⲁ ⲧⲉϭⲁⲙⲁⲩⲗⲉ ⲙⲓⲥⲉ ⲛ̀ⲟⲩϣⲏⲣⲉ ⲛ̀ϣⲓⲙⲉA tecamaule mise ənoušēre ənšimea te-camaule mise ən-ou-šēre ən-šimePFV DEF:F:SG-camel deliver.ABS PREP-INDEF:SG-girl link-woman'The she-camel delivered a daughter.

'ⲡⲉϫⲟⲉⲓⲥPejoeispe-joeisDEF:M:SG-lordⲛⲁⲕⲣⲓⲛⲉnakrinena-krineFUT-judgeⲛ̀ⲛⲉⲗⲁⲟⲥənnelaosən-ne-laosPREP-DEF:PL-peopleⲡⲉϫⲟⲉⲓⲥ ⲛⲁⲕⲣⲓⲛⲉ ⲛ̀ⲛⲉⲗⲁⲟⲥPejoeis nakrine ənnelaospe-joeis na-krine ən-ne-laosDEF:M:SG-lord FUT-judge PREP-DEF:PL-people'The Lord will judge the people.

Later Egyptian is more representative of the dialects spoken in Upper Egypt, especially around the area of Thebes as it became the cultural and religious center of the New Kingdom.

Coptic more obviously displays a number of regional dialects that were in use from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt, south into Nubia, and in the western oases.

Bohairic is the dialect used today as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church, replacing Sahidic some time in the eleventh century.

Fayyumic (also known as Crocodilopolic; in older works it is often called Bashmuric) was spoken primarily in the Faiyum west of the Nile Valley.

Ashmuninic (also known as Hermopolic or Dialect H) was spoken around the city of Shmun and shares South Fayyumic features like vowel gemination and absence of lambdacism.

[citation needed] Oxyrhynchite (also known as Mesokemic or, confusingly, Middle Egyptian) is the dialect of Oxyrhynchus and surrounding areas.

It is very close to Akhmimic, and sometimes considered a sub-dialect, although, what makes it different is that "ϩ" is written before pronouns, for example in normal Coptic it is said Afso, which means drank, but in the Aswanic dialect it is said Hafso.