Egyptian Arabic Grammar

Verbs

A verb tells you what is happening- for example, reading, walking etc. In Egyptian, the general meaning of a word is defined by the consonants, and several related words may contain this set of letters. For example, the letters ktb are used to make the words write, type, book, writer, written, writing, office and desk. The exact meaning is affected by the vowels, prefixes and suffixes (extra bits at the beginning and the end). Here are some of the ways the exact meaning can change for verbs:

Most of the examples in this chapter use the verb katab كـَتـَب, which means write: about 30% of verbs follow this pattern.

The web site www.lisaanmasry.org and the apps that you can download from the web site all provide full details for the majority of verbs.

Pronouns

There are three main types of pronouns that can be used with verbs:

In Egyptian, the subject pronoun is a separate word before the verb: the object and indirect object pronouns are attached to the end of the verb. Here are a some examples:

PronounEnglishEgyptian
SubjectI know Ahmed'ana Aaarif 'ahmad
أنا َ عا َر ِف أحمـَد
Subject, objectI know him'ana Aarfuh
أنا َ عا َر ِف ُه
ObjectAhmed saw her yesterday'ahmad shafha 'imbaarih
أحمـَد شا َفها َ إمبا َر ِح
ObjectSarah knows himsaara Aarfah
سا َر َة عا َر ِف َه
Object, Indirectgive it to me!iddeehooli
ا ِدّيهولي

Subject pronoun

The subject pronoun appears before the verb or participle.

English Egyptian
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
they humma
هـُمَّ

Object pronoun

You can attach an object pronoun (for example me or him) to the end of an imperative, verb or participle. See pronouns for more information.

Ahmed envies me
'ahmad biyihsadni
أحمـَد بـِيـِحسـَدني

English Suffix
me -ni
ـني
us -na
ـناَ
you(m) -ak
ــَك
you(f) -ik
ــِك
you(pl) -kum
ـكـُم
him/it(m) -uh
ــُه
her/it(f) -ha
ـهاَ
them -hum
ـهـُم

If there is an -i- ــِ before the last consonant and the suffix starts with a vowel, the -i- ــِ is dropped. If the verb requires a preposition (to, from etc) the object goes on the preposition.

Here are some examples:

English Egyptian
show me! warreeni
و َرّيني
nobody helped us mahaddish saaAidna
مـَحـَدّ ِش سا َعـِدنا َ
I saw you(m) 'ana shuftak
أنا َ شـُفت َك
I love you(f) 'ana bahibbik
أنا َ بـَحـِبّ ِك
I know him 'ana Aarfuh
أنا َ عا َر ِف ُه
I told them 'ana 'ultilhum
أنا َ قـُلتـِلهـُم

Indirect object

Some verbs require two objects- for example:

give it(f) to me
iddeehaali
ا ِدّيها َلي

It is the direct object and to me is the indirect object. The indirect object suffixes are as follows:

English Suffix
to me -li
ـلي
to us -lina
ـلـِناَ
to you(m) -lak
ـلـَك
to you(f) -lik
ـلـِك
to you(pl)-luku
ـلـُكُ
to him/it(m) -lu
ـلُ
to her/it(f) -laha
ـلـَهاَ
to them -luhum
ـلـُهـُم

Tenses

In both English and Egyptian, a verb has different tenses to indicate when something happens- in the past, now or in the future. The usage of each tense will be explained in more detail later. Here are some examples using katab كـَتـَب:

Form Example Meaning No of
cases
perfect katab
كـَتـَب he wrote 8 (i/we/you, etc)
simple imperfect yiktib
يـِكتـِب used with modals - eg he must write
and kaan كا َن - he used to write
8 (i/we/you, etc)
bi-imperfect biyiktib
بـِيـِكتـِب he is writing
he writes
he knows how to write used with kaan كا َن
conditionals: if I had a pen, I would write
8 (i/we/you, etc)
ha-imperfect hayiktib
هـَيـِكتـِب he will write
used with kaan كا َن
8 (i/we/you, etc)
active participle kaatab
كا َتـَب (he is) writing 3 (m/f/pl)
passive participle maktoob
مـَكتوب (it is) written 3 (m/f/pl)
imperative iktib
ا ِكتـِب write! 3 (m/f/pl)
polite request miktib
مـِكتـِب will you please write
verbal noun kitaaba
كـِتا َبـَة (the box is covered with) writing2 (s/pl)
place maktab
مـَكتـَب writing place (desk or office)2 (s/pl)

Case

The two main tenses of a verb are the perfect and the simple imperfect: the bi-and ha- imperfect just have prefixes added to the simple imperfect. The usage of these tenses will be explained in more detail in the section on time. Here is the he case of each tense:

TenseEnglish Egyptian
perfecthe wrote huwwa katab
هـُوّ َ كـَتـَب
simple imperfecthe must write huwwa laazim yiktib
هـُوّ َ لا َز ِم يـِكتـِب
bi-imperfecthe writes huwwa biyiktib
هـُوّ َ بـِيـِكتـِب
ha-imperfecthe will write huwwa hayiktib
هـُوّ َ هـَيـِكتـِب

There are eight possible cases for each tense, corresponding to the eight pronoun forms (I/we/you/he, etc). Remember that the three imperfect forms are very similar.

Perfect

Here is an example of the perfect, which is used for things that occurred in the past.

Perfect
English Pronoun Verb
I wrote 'ana
أناَ katabt
كـَتـَبت
we wrote 'ihna
إحناَ katabna
كـَتـَبنا َ
you(m) wrote 'inta
إنتَ katabt
كـَتـَبت
you(f) wrote 'inti
إنتِ katabti
كـَتـَبتي
you(pl) wrote 'intu
إنتوا katabtu
كـَتـَبتو ا
he/it(m) wrote huwwa
هـُوَّ katab
كـَتـَب
she/it(f) wrote hiya
هـِيَ katabit
كـَتـَب ِت
they wrote humma
هـُمّاَ katabu
كـَتـَبو ا

Simple imperfect

The imperfect has no meaning on its own, but is used with other verbal forms in five ways:

Here is an example with laazim لا َز ِم, which means must.

Simple Imperfect
English Pronoun modal Verb
I must write 'ana
أناَ laazim
لا َز ِم 'aktib
أكتـِب
we must write 'ihna
إحناَ laazim
لا َز ِم niktib
نـِكتـِب
you(m) must write 'inta
إنتَ laazim
لا َز ِم tiktib
تـِكتـِب
you(f) must write 'inti
إنتِ laazim
لا َز ِم tiktibi
تـِكتـِبي
you(pl) must write 'intu
إنتوا laazim
لا َز ِم tiktibu
تـِكتـِبو ا
he/it(m) must write huwwa
هـُوَّ laazim
لا َز ِم yiktib
يـِكتـِب
she/it(f) must write hiya
هـِيَ laazim
لا َز ِم tiktib
تـِكتـِب
they must write humma
هـُمّاَ laazim
لا َز ِم yiktibu
يـِكتـِبو ا

The English words must and might and the equivalent Egyptian words laazim لا َز ِم and yimkin يـِمكـِن are proper modals: they are the same for all cases. Later on, you will see how to use participles and verbs in the same way as modals, and you will see that they do change to match the case.

bi-imperfect

For the majority of verbs, the bi-imperfect is used to describe things happening now, and for habitual actions. See active participles for the exceptions

It is the same as the simple imperfect, with a bi- بـِ in front. Note that the vowels in the the beginning of the imperfect may change in some verbs when the prefix is added.

bi-imperfect
English Pronoun Verb
I write 'ana
أناَ baktib
بـَكتـِب
we write 'ihna
إحناَ biniktib
بـِنـِكتـِب
you(m) write 'inta
إنتَ bitiktib
بـِتـِكتـِب
you(f) write 'inti
إنتِ bitiktibi
بـِتـِكتـِبي
you(pl) write 'intu
إنتوا bitiktibu
بـِتـِكتـِبو ا
he/it(m) writes huwwa
هـُوَّ biyiktib
بـِيـِكتـِب
she/it(f) writes hiya
هـِيَ bitiktib
بـِتـِكتـِب
they write humma
هـُمّاَ biyiktibu
بـِيـِكتـِبو ا

ha-imperfect

The ha-imperfect is used for things that will happen at some time in the future.

It is the same as the simple imperfect, with ha- هـَ in front. Egyptian spelling is somewhat whimsical: some people use ha- حـَ instead. Note that the vowels in the the beginning of the imperfect may change in some verbs when the prefix is added.

ha-imperfect
English Pronoun Verb
I will write 'ana
أناَ haktib
هـَكتـِب
we will write 'ihna
إحناَ haniktib
هـَنـِكتـِب
you(m) will write 'inta
إنتَ hatiktib
هـَتـِكتـِب
you(f) will write 'inti
إنتِ hatiktibi
هـَتـِكتـِبي
you(pl) will write 'intu
إنتوا hatiktibu
هـَتـِكتـِبو ا
he/it(m) will write huwwa
هـُوَّ hayiktib
هـَيـِكتـِب
she/it(f) will write hiya
هـِيَ hatiktib
هـَتـِكتـِب
they will write humma
هـُمّاَ hayiktibu
هـَيـِكتـِبو ا

is/was/will be

As mentioned earlier, there is no word for is in Egyptian. There are, however, words for was - kaan كا َن and will be - haykoon هـَيكون.

kaan

kaan كا َن can be used on its own to talk about some situation in the past, or it can be used with the imperfect and bi-imperfect to move the meaning of the verb into the past and also for conditionals, and with the ha-imperfect to indicate something that almost or nearly happened.

kaan
EnglishPronounVerb
I was aana
ا َناَ kunt
كـُنت
we were ihna
ا ِحناَ kunna
كـُنّاَ
you(m) were 'inta
إنتَ kunt
كـُنت
you(f) were 'inti
إنتِ kunti
كـُنتي
you(pl) were 'intu
إنتواkuntu
كـُنتوا
he/it(m) was huwa
هـُوَ kaan
كا َن
she/it(f) was hiya
هـِيَ kaanit
كا َنـِت
they were humma
هـُمّاَ kanu
كا َنوا

Here are some examples:

English Egyptian
he was here kaan hina
كا َن هـِناَ
I was too tired kunt taAbaan 'awi
كـُنت تـَعبا َن قـَوي
the party was good ilhafla kaanit kuwayisa
ا ِلحـَفلـَة كا َنـِت كـُو َيـِسـَة
prepositionthere was water, but it's finished kaan fi mayaah wa KilSit
كا َن في مـَيا َه و َ خـِلصـِت
prepositionwe had a house kaan Aandina biyt
كا َن عـَند ِنا َ بـِيت
bi-imperfecthe was smoking a cigarette kaan biyishrab seegaara
كا َن بـِيـِشر َب سيجا َر َة
bi-imperfecthe used to smoke cigarettes kaan biyishrab sigaayar
كا َن بـِيـِشر َب سـِجا َيـَر
ha-imperfectI almost ran him over kunt hadoosuh
كـُنت هـَدوسـُه

Note that, for prepositional sentences, kaan كا َن does not change with the subject of the sentence - it is always kaan كا َن - it was.

haykwn

haykoon هـَيكون simply means will be. Here are some examples:

haykwn
EnglishPronounverb
I will be aana
ا َناَ hakoon
هـَكون
we will be ihna
ا ِحناَ hankoon
هـَنكون
you(m) will be 'inta
إنتَ hatkoon
هـَتكون
you(f) will be 'inti
إنتِ hatkooni
هـَتكوني
you(pl) will be 'intu
إنتوا hatkoonu
هـَتكونوا
he/it(m) will be huwa
هـُوَ haykoon
هـَيكون
she/it will be(f) hiya
هـِيَ hatkoon
هـَتكون
they will be humma
هـُمّاَ haykoonu
هـَيكونوا

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