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′

 

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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”

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Adj. endings 

Masculine: ……………….(-)

Feminine: ………………..a

Plural: ……………………..een

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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

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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

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   * 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

 

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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

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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