Egyptian Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Egyptian grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns. To hear the pronunciation, just click on the sound icon.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Egyptian and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Egyptian and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Egyptian.

Prepositions - Egyptian - Pronunciation
and وَ [we]
above فوق [fu']
under تحت [that]
before قبل [abl]
after بعد [ba'd]
in front of قدام [uddam]
behind ورا [wara]
far from بعيد عن [be'eed 'an]
near قريب [areeb]
in في [fe]
inside جوه [guwa]
outside برة [barra]
with مع [ma'a]
without من غير [men gheer]
about عن [an]
between بين [been]
but بس [bas]
for ل [le]
from من [men]
to ل [le]

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Egyptian + Pronunciation
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] أنا باكُل مِن غير سِكِّينَة [ana bakul men gheer sekeena]
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] هِيَّا ساكنَة جَنْب الكِنِيسَة [hiya sakna gamb el kaneesa]
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] هُوَّا أطَّول مِنها [huwa atwal menha]
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] هُوَّا جَة مَع الكَلّب الصُغَيَّر بِتاعُة [huwa ga ma'al kalb essughayar beta'u]
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] تِقدَر تِيجي مَعايا؟ [te'dar tegi ma'aya?]

Negation in Egyptian

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Egyptian + Pronunciation
I understand you [affirmative form] أنا فاهمَك [ana fahmak]
I don't understand you [negation + verb] أنا مِش فاهمَك [ana mesh fahmak]
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] دي مِش هِيا الكِلمَة الصَحيحَة [de mesh hiya elkelma essahiha]
don't leave me [imperative negation] مَتسِبنيش [matsebneesh]
no problem [negation + noun] مَفيش مُشكِلَة [mafeesh mushkila]

Negative Sentences - Egyptian + Pronunciation
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] أنا مَبَتكَلِمش فَرَنساوي [ana mabatkalemsh faransawi]
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] هِيَّا مازارِتش ألمانيا [hiya mabaretsh almania]
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] هُوَّا مَيقدَرش يشُوفنا [huwa maye'darsh yeshufna]
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] هِيَّا مَتقدَرش تِلعَب شَطَرَنج؟ [hiya mate'darsh tel'ab shatrang]
we will not come late [negation + future tense] إحنا مِش حَنِيِجي مِتأخَّر [ehna mesh hanegi metakhar]

Questions in Egyptian

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Egyptian - Pronunciation
how? إزّاي؟ [ezay?]
what? إيه؟ [eeh?]
who? مِين؟ [meen?]
why? ليه؟ [leeh?]
where? فين؟ [feen?]

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Egyptian + Pronunciation
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] إنتَ ساكِن فِين؟ [enta saken feen?]
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] هِيَّا بِتِتكَلِّم صيني؟ [hiya btetkalem seeni?]
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] بِكام دا؟ [bekam da?]
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] أقدَر أَساعدَك؟ [a'dar asa'dak?]
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] إسمَك إيه؟ [esmak eeh?]

Adverbs in Egyptian

It's time to learn the adverbs in Egyptian. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Egyptian - Pronunciation
now دِلْوقـْتِي [delwa'ti]
yesterday إمْبارِح [embareh]
today انــَّهارْدَة [enaharda]
tonight انــَّهارْدَة باليل [enaharda belleel]
tomorrow بـُكْرة [bukra]
soon قريب [areeb]
quickly بسُرعة [besur'a]
slowly بالرَّاحة [bereha]
together سوا [sawa]
very جداَ [gedan]
almost تقريبا [ta'reeban]
always دايماً [dayman]
usually عادًة [adatan]
sometimes أحيانـًا [ahyanan]
rarely نادرًا [naderan]
never أبدًا [abadan]

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Egyptian + Pronunciation
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] إنتَ فاهِمني دِلوقتي؟ [enta fahemni delwa'ti?]
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] أنا مِحتاج مُساعدة حالا [ana mehtaag musa'da halan]
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] هِيَّا ذَكِيَّة جِدَّا [hiya zakia gedan]
I will always love you [verb + adverb] أنا حَحِبِك دايمًا [ana hahebak daiman]
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] مُمكِن نِتعَلِّم ألماني سَوا؟ [mumken net'alem almani sawa?]

Pronouns in Egyptian

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Egyptian. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Egyptian - Pronunciation
I أنا [ana]
you إنتَ, إنتِ [enta, enti]
he هُوَّا [huwa]
she هِيَّا [hiya]
we اِحْنا [ehna]
they هُمَّا [humma]

Object Pronouns - Egyptian - Pronunciation
me ــــي [
you ــــَك [
him ــــُه [
her ــــها [
us ــــنا [
them ــــهم [

Possessive Pronouns - Egyptian - Pronunciation
my ــــي [
your ــــَك [
his ــــُه [
her ــــها [
our ــــنا [
their ــــهم [

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Egyptian + Pronunciation
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] أنا صَديقَك [ana sade'ak]
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] إنتَ بِتِتكَلِّم بِسُرعَة جِدا [enta btetkalem besur'a gedan]
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] هُوَّا عَندُه تَلات كِلاب [huwa 'andu talat kelab]
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] هِيَّا تِقدَر تِتكَلِّم ألماني [hiya 'andu talat kelab]
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] إحنا مِش حَنيجي مِتأخَّر [ehna mesh hanegi met'akhar]
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] هُمَّا جابوا لَبَن وعيش [huma gabu laban we 'eesh]

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Egyptian + Pronunciation
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] تِقدَر تِقوللي إسمَك؟ [te'dar te'ulli esmak?]
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] أنا حادِّيلك فِلوس [ana haddelak felus]
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] هِيَّا كَتَبِت لُه جَواب [hiya katabet luh gawab]
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] هُمَّا زاروها إمبارِح [humma zaruha embareh]
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] هِيَّا تِقدَر تِساعِدنا؟ [heya te'dar tesa'edna?]
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] هوا إدَّاهُم أكل [huwa eddahum akl]

Possessive Pronouns - Egyptian + Pronunciation
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] إسمي مايا [esmi maya]
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] أَخوك ساكِن هِنا [akhuk saken hena]
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] والدِتها بِتِطُبخ لِنا [waldet-ha btetbukh lena]
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] هوايتُه قِراية الكُتُب [hewaytuh erayet elkutub]
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] حِلمِنا إنِنا نِزور باريس [helmena enena nezur baris]
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] بِيتهُم مِش بِعيد [bethum mesh be'eed]

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Egyptian - Pronunciation
this is my house دا بِيتي [da bete]
that restaurant is far المَطعَم اللي هِناك بِعيد [elmat'am elli henak be'ed]
these apples are delicious التُفاح دا لَذيذ [ettufah da leziz]
those stars are shiny النُجوم اللي هِناك دي بِتِلمع [ennugum elli henak de betelma']

I hope you learned a lot about the Egyptian grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!