Egyptian Arabic Grammar

Pronouns

Pronouns are short words that are used to replace nouns in spoken English and Arabic. They are used when both the speaker and listener know what noun they represent, for example if the noun has already been used in an earlier sentence. This makes our speech clearer and more concise. In this example, Ahmed and dog are the nouns and He and it are pronouns:

Ahmed has a dog. He walks with it every day
'ahmad Aanduh kalb wa huwwa biyitmashsha maAauh kul yoom
أحمـَد عـَند ُه كـَلب و َ هـُوّ َ بـِيـِتمـَشّى مـَعـَ ُه كـُل يوم

There are four main groups of pronoun:

Personal pronouns

In English, there are four versions of the personal pronoun (he, him, his, himself): in Egyptian, there is an additional version (to him).

EnglishEgyptianForm
I, hehuwwa
هـُوَّsubject
me, him-uh
ــُهobject
to me, to him-luh
ـلـُهindirect object
minemilk-i
مـِلكـيposessive
myself, himselfnafsuh
نـَفسـُهreflexive

In Egyptian, there are separate forms of you for masculine, feminine and plural, but there is no neuter (it): instead, it is necessary to use the he or she form, depending on the gender of the noun.

Subject pronouns

A subject is the noun that appears before the verb- the person or thing that is doing something.

I like to read
'ana baahib 'aktib
أنا َ با َحـِب أكتـِب

The subject pronouns are:

EnglishEgyptian
I'ana
أناَ
we'ihna
إحناَ
you(m)'inta
إنتَ
you(f)'inti
إنتِ
you(pl)'intu
إنتوا
he/it(m)huwwa
هـُوَّ
she/it(f)hiya
هـِيَ
theyhumma
هـُمَّ

Personal pronouns are not needed with perfect and x-imperfect verbs, as it is clear from the verb, but it is common to use them, especially for emphasis. They are often used with participles to make it clearer who is the subject.

Pronoun suffixes

You can attach a pronoun as a suffix to a verb, preposition or conjunction. It is normally an object pronoun (me, him) when attached to a verb and a subject pronoun (I, he) when attached to a preposition or conjunction.

ElementEnglish Egyptian
verb
object
I love her'ana baahibbaha
أنا َ با َحـِبّ َهـَ
preposition
subject
Do you have a lighter?maAakwalaeAa?
مـَع َكو َلا َعـَة؟
conjunction
subject
I think that you are wrong'ana 'aftikir 'innak Galtan
أنا َ أفتـِكـِر إنّ َك غـَلتاً

The pronoun suffixes are:

English Suffix
me -i
ـِ
us -na
ـنَ
You(m) -ak
ــَك
You(f) -ik
ــِك
You(pl) -kum
ـكـُم
Him/it(m)-u
ـُ
Her/it(f)-ha
ـهاَ
Them -hum
ـهـُم

Possessive pronoun

Words like mine and hers are possessive pronouns: they are used on their own to represent something that you own. They are similar to possessive determiners, which are used together with the noun they represent, for example my book. In Egyptian arabic, the equivalent of a possessive pronoun is formed by adding a possessive suffix to the owning-word milk مـِلك.

that house is mine
ilbiyt dah milki
ا ِلبـِيت د َه مـِلكي

Reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, himself)

Reflexive pronouns can be used after a noun or a verb. They are formed by adding a possessive suffix to the self-word nafs نـَفس.

EnglishEgyptian
I can look after myselfhaaKud baali min nafsi
ها َخـُد با َلي مـِن نـَفسي
The man himselfilraagil nafsuh
ا ِلرا َجـِل نـَفسـُه
He did it by himselfhuwwa Aaamalha binafsuh
هـُوّ َ عا َمـَله َ بـِنـَفسـُه

Demonstrative pronouns

These are the words that you use when you want to point at something.

EnglishEgyptian
this (man)dah
د َه
this (woman, thing)di
دي
those (men)dool
دول
those (women,things)deeh
ديه

If you want to use one of these together with a noun, rather than to replace the noun, for example this book, you would use a demonstrative determiner in English and a demonstrative adjective in Egyptian.

ElementEnglishEgyptian
nounhow much is the book?bikaam ilkitaab?
بـِكا َم ا ِلكـِتا َب؟
pronounhow much is this?bikaam dah?
بـِكا َم د َه؟
adjectivehow much is this book?bikaam ilkitaab dah
بـِكا َم ا ِلكـِتا َب د َه

Indefinite pronouns

These are words like anybody, something etc. In Egyptian, these are made up of two words, but they are used in exactly the same way as in English.

EnglishEgyptian
somebodyhadd
حـَدّ
anybody'ai hadd
أي حـَدّ
nobodywala hadd
و َلا َ حـَدّ
somethinghaaga
حا َجـَة
anything'ai haaga
أي حا َجـَة
nothingwala haaga
و َلا َ حا َجـَة
somewheremakaan
مـَكا َن
anywhere'ai makaan
أي مـَكا َن
nowherewala makaan
و َلا َ مـَكا َن

Relative pronoun

A relative pronoun forms a relative clause, which describes a noun in the main clause. The relative pronoun represents that noun within the relative clause. In this example, the who-clause describes man in the first clause and who replaces he in the second clause:

I know a man - main clause
he sells flowers - relative clause
I know a man who sells flowers

In English, there are three different relative pronouns, some of which have subject, object and possessive forms:

SubjectObjectPossessive
whowhomwhose
whichwhichwhose
thatthat

The relative pronoun illi ا ِلّي is used to represent that, who and which

take the right turn that is coming (ie the next left)
Kushsh ilyimeen illi gayi
خـُشّ ا ِليـِمين ا ِلّي جـَيي

I know the man who lives here
'ana Aaerif ilraagil illi saakin hina
أنا َ عا َر ِف ا ِلرا َجـِل ا ِلّي سا َكـِن هـِناَ

I know a man whose house is enormous
Aaarif raagil illi huwwa biytuh kibeer
عا َر ِف را َجـِل ا ِلّي هـُوّ َ بـِيتـُه كـِبير

Note that illi ا ِلّي is not used for whom:

I know a man whom you can trust
'ana Aaarif raagil yimkin tuthu'' feeh
أنا َ عا َر ِف را َجـِل يـِمكـِن تـُثـُقّ فيه

Note that, in English, that can also be a demonstrative pronoun, a demonstrative determiner or a conjunction.


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