Helpful Notes
These notes complement the information in the preface of the Best Egyptian Arabic Dictionary by Nour Balasa
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Letters that we write as numbers
2 2amal-sha22a-bada2
3 3aamil-ma3muul-yinfa3
3′ 3’areeb-yi3’sil-yosbo3′
7 7aami- ma7muud-lammaa7
7′ 7’aalid-me7’allil-mo7’7′
………………………………………………………
Printed (Capital) letters
If the letter is written in printed (capital) letters, we need to pronounce it strongly:
Examples using “d-D” and “s-S”
………………………………………………………
Adj. endings
Masculine: ……………….(-)
Feminine: ………………..a
Plural: ……………………..een
………………………………………………………
Conjugation for verbs in Present tense
If you need to use verbs in “present simple tense” you can pick the verb from the dictionary in imperative form and conjugate it as you see in the examples:
ruu7, ruu7i, ruu7u go!(m) – go!(f)- go!(p)
ana baruu7 I go
inta betruu7 You(masculine) go
inti betruu7i You(feminine) go
huwwa byruu7 He goes
hiyya betruu7 She goes
i7na benruu7 We go
intu betruu7u You(plural) go
humma byruu7u They go
………………………………………………………
Conjugation for verbs in future tense
If you need to use verbs in “future tense” you can pick the verb from the dictionary in imperative form and conjugate it as you see in the examples:
ruu7, ruu7i, ruu7u go!(m) – go!(f)- go!(p)
ana 7aruu7 I will go
inta 7atruu7 You(m) will go
inti 7atruu7i You(f) will go
huwwa 7ayruu7 He will go
hiyya 7atruu7 She will go
i7na 7anruu7 We will go
intu 7atruu7u You(p) will go
humma 7ayruu7u They will go
………………………………………………………
* When we use “ba” or “7a” as conjugation for ana, we drop the first vowel of any verb that starts with a vowel.
Ex. ishRaB = ana bashRaB – ana 7ashRaB
……………………………………………………….
Conjugation for verbs in Past tense
If you need to use verbs in “past simple tense” you can pick the verb from the dictionary in past form and conjugate it as you see in the examples:
3amal made
ana 3amalt I went
inta 3amalt You(m) made
inti 3amalti You(f) made
huwwa 3amal_ He made
hiyya 3amalit She made
i7na 3amalna We made
intu 3amaltu You(p) went
humma 3amalu They went
………………………………………………………..
The meaning of (i,ak,ik,…….)
These kind of endings mean the suffixes for the pronouns.
After → → | Vowel | Consonant | Two consonants |
my – me | ya | i | i |
your – you (m) | k | ak | ak |
your – you (f) | ki | ik | ik |
his – him | h | u | u |
her -her | ha | ha | aha |
our – us | na | na | ina |
your- you (p) | ku | ku | uku |
their – them | hum | hum | uhum |