This form of pronoun is an enclitic that must directly follow the word it modifies. Its meaning depends on its context:
When it follows a verb, it indicates the object of the verb.
In the second and third person when it follows an adjective, it forms the subject of an adjectival sentence.
When it follows a relative adjective, such as ntj, ntt, or jsṯ, it indicates the subject of the relative clause (usually only in the first person singular and third person common).
When it follows an imperative, it indicates the subjector the object of the verb.
When it follows a particle like m.k, it indicates the subject of the clause.
When attached to a preposition, it indicates the object of the preposition.
This pronoun can also optionally be varied to indicate the identity of the antecedent — a distinction which would not have been indicated in speech, e.g.:
Alternative hieroglyphic writings of wj
male human
female human
god
god or king
king
king
dead human
In Late Egyptian, this pronoun is occasionally simply omitted from writing, much like the corresponding suffix pronoun .j.
James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 51, 122.
Junge, Friedrich (2005) Late Egyptian Grammar: An Introduction, second English edition, Oxford: Griffith Institute, pages 77–78