CORNELL 
 
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 WiLLARD FiSKE 
 
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PJ 6779.W7I" ""'""•"y Library 
 ..SROken Arabic of Egypt ■ 
 
 3 19P4 026 887 152 
 
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THE SPOKEN 
 ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
THE SPOKEN ARABIC 
 OE EGYPT 
 
 JiY- 
 
 J. SELDEN WILLMOEE, M.A. 
 
 ONE Of THE JUDGES OP THE NATIVE COURT OF 
 APPEAL AT CAIRO 
 
 LONDON 
 DAVID NUTT, 57-59 LONG ACRE 
 
?3 
 W13 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 Printed by Ballantynb, Hanson &> Co. 
 At the Ballantyne Press 
 
 CX/vW^ 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Professor Sheldon Amos once remarked to me that Egyptian 
 Arabic had been a hopeless puzzle to him, which he despaired 
 of ever being able to master, until he fell across Spitta Bey's 
 grammar of the language. Then all became clear at once. 
 Spitta's work was indeed a model of the way in which a spoken 
 living language should be scientifically studied. But it was 
 necessarily the work of a pioneer. It opened the way which 
 others should follow and complete. 
 
 The work that was begun by Spitta seems to me to have 
 been finished by Mr. Willmore. The present volume contains 
 an exhaustive account of the Cairene dialect of Egyptian 
 Arabic as it is spoken to-day. On the practical side it will 
 be welcomed by those who live in Egypt and wish to understand 
 and be understood by the natives. But it will be qiiite as 
 much welcomed by the student of scientific philology. It tells 
 him what he wants to know — how a living Semitic language 
 pronounces its words and forms its grammar. For language 
 consists of sounds, not of written symbols, and its grammar is 
 that of ordinary conversation. What has been termed anti- 
 quarian, philology is doubtless important to the historian or the 
 literary scholar ; for linguistic science it is of little use. The 
 living organism alone can yield scientific results ; the spellings 
 of a past age or the grammatical forms which exist only in 
 books are a hindrance rather than a help to scientific research. 
 It is, of course, essential that the living organism should be 
 represented as accurately and exactly as possible. In other 
 words, we must have a notation which shall reproduce the 
 pronunciation of a language with approximate accuracy. The 
 defective Arabic alphabet, with its diacritical marks and poverty 
 
vi INTKODUCTION 
 
 of vocalic symbols, is out of the question. It belongs to a pre- 
 scientific age and people, and is wholly unfitted to represent 
 the living sounds of a modern Arabic language. For this we 
 must have recourse to some modification of the Latin alphabet. 
 What this modification shall be will depend on the immediate 
 object in view. If the object is purely scientific, we may make 
 our choice between the alphabets of Lepsius, Alexander J. Elli.s, 
 or Sweet ; if, on the other hand, it is mainly practical, there is 
 nothing better than the alphabet adopted in the " Sacred Books 
 of the East,'' or that adaptation of Spitta Bey's alphabet which 
 is to be found in the present work. This latter reproduces 
 the pronunciation of the Cairene dialect with all the accuracy 
 needed by the practical student. It sets before us a Semitic 
 language as it really exists, not an artificial jargon such as has 
 been imagined by grammarians of the old school or the compilers 
 of newspaper articles. 
 
 A. H. SAYCE. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 A TBEATISE on tbe Arabic language as spoken in Egypt, and 
 particularly at the capital, was published by Wilhelm Spitta 
 in the year 1880 under the title of Grammatik cles Arabischen 
 Vulgdrdialectes von ^Egypten. To the scholarship and careful 
 researches of this writer orientalists are indebted for the first and, 
 perhaps, only serious attempt to sketch the distinguishing features 
 of the literary and vernacular dialects. In the grammars of 
 " vulgar " Arabic which already existed, as in others which 
 have since appeared, we find a confusion between two spoken 
 dialects, such as Egyptian 'and Syrian, or a hopeless mixture 
 of forms and expressions used only in conversation with those 
 which are peculiar to the written language. In some of these 
 grammars the Arabic words are written in Roman characters 
 without any method ; in others the Arabic letters are employed. 
 In the latter case the short vowels are omitted altogether ; a 
 single character (iv) is used for u, 6, and au, another (y) for t, 
 e, and ay, and a double consonant is printed single ; so that it 
 is impossible in almost every case to pronounce correctly a word 
 with which we are not already orally acquainted.^ Signs for such 
 short vowels as occur in the literary language, in the form of 
 accents above and below the consonants, are employed in copies 
 of the Koran and occasionally in other books, as a guide to 
 pronunciation ; but new ones would have to be invented to 
 express sounds peculiar to the spoken language if, in adopting 
 the Arabic character, we "pointed" the words. To do so with 
 any approach to completeness, we should have to employ a system 
 of vowel-points and accents akin to that in use for Hebrew ; 
 
 1 Thus both katab he wrote, and kutib it loan written, are re- 
 presented by the letters Idb ; malak he possessed, malik Mng, and 
 milk property, by 7nUc, and the letters miot will be read according 
 to the context mawt or m6t death, mauwit he killed, or mauwitt / 
 killed. 
 
viii PKEFACE 
 
 but no Arabic type would admit of this. Natives would, no 
 doubt, learn to read in the Arabic character without vowel 
 points the language which they speak, as they are already tamiiiar 
 with the words ; but the language of the books is naturally in 
 the keeping of the learned, who still regard with much jealousy 
 the introduction of "vulgar" grammatical forms or even of 
 words which do not figure in the Qamus. Hence the proportion 
 of people who are able to read and write in Axabic-speaking 
 countries is exceedingly small ; for the working-man, having no 
 time to study a strange idiom, and nothing to gain by learning 
 the letters, remains, and will ever remain under the present 
 system, illiterate. No doubt there is a certain benefit in having 
 a common written language for the whole of the Arab world, so 
 that a man of education brought up in Algeria can read a book 
 published in Egypt or Syria ; but it is a benefit enjoyed at the 
 expense of the lower classes. 
 
 The foreigner who seeks a practical knowledge of the language 
 is at another disadvantage. Whether he engage a professor or 
 study from the books, he generally acquires a vocabulary of 
 words only understood by the educated, and in the latter case 
 he is confronted with the difiiculties resulting from the absence 
 of the vowels. 
 
 The dialect of Cairo presents many forms of very high 
 antiquity. Its precise place in the Semitic family could be 
 more easily determined if the influence which the Koreish 
 dialect has had upon it could be removed. There can be .no 
 doubt that it is more closely allied, in structure at least, to 
 the Hebraic and Aramaic branches of the family than is the 
 language of the Koran and subsequent Arabic literature. Hebrew 
 and Syriao, for instance, have, like Oairene and other spoken 
 dialects, no final vowel in the 3rd person singular of the verb, 
 making katab and ktab respectively (lit. Arab, kataba^) in 
 the past tense, nor in any person of the aorist except in the 
 3rd person plural. The vowel of the preformative syllable is 
 in Hebrew i, in Syriac e, but a in the primitive form of the 
 literary Arabic verb. The dual is wanting in the verb and 
 pronoun,2 and the nouns have no case-endings. In Hebrew we 
 may note the following further points of resemblance : h has 
 no consonantal power at the end of words, though it may take 
 
 1 Literary Arabic drops the final short vowels in the iussive 
 only. 
 
 2 It is wholly absent in Syriac, and appears only in a few 
 nouns in Hebrew. 
 
PKEFACE ix 
 
 the place of an accent, thus malka queen, z6 this ; ^ ay becomes 
 e and au o in certain cases, as beth house (lit. Arab, bayt), 16 if ; 
 a full vowel disappears under circumstances similar to those 
 described in § 33 of the grammar, as melek, malka, gevM 
 boundary, ligvM ; ^ y in the early stages of the language stands 
 for qat'a in such words as 'arbhiyim (later, but rarely, 'arbhi'im) 
 Arabs, or the qat'a falls out, as r§m for re'm (cf. r&s, &c.) ; the 
 vowel of the first syllable in certain cases is thrown out and 
 prefixed to the first radical, as in ezro' (for zer6') arm, ezba' 
 finger (cf. grammar, § 15) ; the e and ^-sounds frequently replace 
 the a, as in the verbs (above), or as in melek, chad ^ (lit. Arab, 
 malik, ahad), ve (but also va) and; there are traces of both 
 itfa'al and itfa"al ; the letter dh of the literary Arabic is 
 unknown, being replaced by 2; ; * ve and is softened to -d before 
 a labial and before a consonant moved only by a sheva ; the 
 pronoun of the 1st person is hemma (lit. Arab, huma, Oair. 
 humma), the interrogative mi (lit. Arab, man, Oair. min) ; ani 
 is sometimes used for the 1st person, as in Oairene ; the 3rd 
 person hu often accompanies the noun pleonastically (cf. § 375 
 of grammar), as ha ish hu the man hefi 
 
 In Syriac the verb system offers some very striking points 
 of resemblance to Egyptian in addition to those already men- 
 tioned. The passive of the simple verb does not exist," though 
 we have neuters of the ^ form p'el (fi'il), with corresponding 
 actives of the form p'al (fa'al), the vowel of the 2nd radical of 
 the aorist being generally a in the first case, e in the second (see 
 § 141 (3) of the grammar) ; in place of it we have the derived 
 form ethp'el^ ( = itfa'al, unknown even as tafa'al in literary 
 Arabic) ; in the first derived form we have both pa"al and 
 pa"el ( = fa"al, fa"il), with ethpa"al (itfa"al, lit. tafa"al) for 
 
 1 Syriac bitt6 his daughter. 
 
 2 80 also in Ethiopic. 
 ^ Aramaic had. 
 
 * Generally d in Oairene, but z in Nahwy. In Aramaic we 
 have talmld, as sometimes in Oairene. The fact that even the 
 educated have great difficulty in pronouncing dh, and that all 
 classes can pronounce v (the Hebrew equivalent of w) is very 
 significant. 
 
 5 Such expressions, unknown to literary Arabic, are com- 
 moner in Aramaic even than in Hebrew. 
 
 " It is hardly traceable either in Hebrew. 
 
 ■^ Hebr. hithpahel = itfa"al, a form known to literary Arabic 
 otily in its later stage. 
 
X PEEFACE 
 
 its passive. Further we have the forms ^^'f'^^^^^^'^ 
 (given as quadrihterals m the grammar). The term 
 is possibly not «. modern form, but the equivalent ot tne arcnaic 
 Syriac un. Lastly, the Hebrew and Syriac syntax affords 
 strong evidence ot their close affinity to Cairene and other 
 living dialects. On the other hand, there is a very important 
 point which literary Arabic has in common with the spoken 
 dialects, namely, the use of broken plurals, a form which seems 
 to be preferred in Cairene Arabic to the " perfect" plural in at 
 (Hebrew 6th) ; ^ and further, the use of the dual, even in nouns, 
 is hardly known to the other branches of the Semitic family. 
 
 It results, from the above considerations, that the so-called 
 Arabic dialects of the present day present a combination of the 
 peculiarities of several branches of the Semitic family. The 
 development which some of them display in common with 
 Hebrew is evidence of their great antiquity, while the fact 
 that in most cases the stronger forms have been retained by 
 the Koreish dialect indicate that this latter separated at a com- 
 paratively late period from the common parent. Allowance 
 must, of course, be made for the circumstance of its growth 
 having been arrested when it became the sacred language ot 
 Islam, but the thinning ot the vowels and other signs of advance 
 had begun, as we have seen, in almost prehistoric times in 
 other branches ot the family.^ 
 
 In the following pages the everyday speech of the people 
 is presented to the student, and care has been taken to avoid 
 words which are not familiar to all classes. It is generally 
 called the vulgar dialect of the country, but it is vulgar only in 
 the sense that it is popular and universal.^ Men of all condi- 
 tions employ it in conversation, though naturally many words 
 are used by the higher classes, especially as technical terms, 
 which are not understood by the uneducated. A discussion of 
 the reasons tor the existence of one dialect for literature and 
 
 1 Ethiopic is the only other member of the family which 
 admits of broken plurals. 
 
 ^ 111 Assyrian the vowel of the preformative syllable of the 
 aorist was i in the 3rd person. Syriac has the weak vowel 
 even in the 1st person. The final a of the perfect appears in 
 Ethiopic (a language which has more in common with classical 
 Arabic, except for the absence of the dual, than either Hebrew 
 or Aramaic), and is retained in Amharic. 
 
 3 " 'H KOLvrj SiaAeKTos." The term " vulgar " is often ap- 
 plied contemptuously to spoken Arabic. 
 
PREFACE si 
 
 another for conversation would be out of place here.i There 
 can be no doubt that the progress of the nation is thereby 
 impeded, and great advantages would be gained if one only 
 were used for both purposes. The written language is re- 
 garded by the educated as ^pire ('arabi nadtf), the spoken as 
 unclean or hi-oken ('arabi maksur),^ while the lower classes term 
 the spoken 'arabt and the written nahwi.^ To us it seems 
 strange that it should be necessary to write of hrecul and toater 
 as khubz and ma', while we speak of them as 'esh and moiya,* or 
 to read from a document yaktub or yaktubu,^ while we regularly 
 hear yiktib in conversation. If we were to speak English 
 and write Dutch our literature would be understood, by the 
 educated at least, over a wide area ; but it would not appeal 
 to our senses. The force of words consists in the associations 
 which they recall — in the subtle reminiscences they awake of 
 bygone days. No word or expression which we meet only in 
 books will enter into our life like those which have become 
 
 1 See the preface to Dozy's Supplement aux Didionnaires 
 A7'abes. He points out that the early dictionaries composed by 
 the followers of the Prophet excluded all words not considered 
 classic or " sacred," and, as modern compilations have added 
 but little to the store by independent research, no collection of 
 words in general use in any way approaching to completeness 
 has as yet been made. 
 
 2 Apparently from the notion that the spoken dialect is 
 nothing but a corruption of the Koranic. 
 
 ^ , Nahwi means literally grammatical, and is commonly ajp- 
 plied to the mongrel language employed in official correspond- 
 ence. It is the " classical " language artificially adapted to 
 modern wants. The Koi-anic forms are mostly retained, but 
 foreign and in particular French idioms are largely introduced, 
 and words are given meanings which they do not bear in the 
 classical language. It is used in speeches and in pleadings at 
 the courts (intermingled often in the same sentence with the 
 vernacular), or in the discussion of technical subjects, and 
 pedantically even in ordinary conversation. A brief sketch of 
 its accidence is given in an appendix to the Accidence. 
 
 * Khubz is colloquial in the dialect of Syria. . 
 
 ^ As the vowels are not printed, yaktub and yaktubu will 
 be written with the same letters as yiktib. In the reading of 
 correspondence and official documents the final short vowels are 
 often not pronounced, the clerks not being sufficiently versed in 
 the classical language to insert them. 
 
xii PEEFACE 
 
 familiar to us through our intercourse with our fe ow- 
 beings.i , ■ •, 
 
 To resume, the spoken language of Cairo represents in its 
 structure the distinguishing features of at least three branches 
 of the Semitic family. It has borrowed some words from boptic, 
 which it has thoroughly assimilated, as timsah crocodile, libsh 
 (Copt, lebsh bush, reed), whence we have the verb labbish, (fee, 
 and others from the languages of Europe, including Turkish. 
 Further, a great many expressions belonging in reality to the 
 written language have, owing to the influence of the Koran, 
 become familiar even to the lowest classes, some of them in 
 a slightly altered form, others without any change. But the 
 importations from abroad are by no means numerous, and on 
 the whole Oairene has preserved, unlike some other Semitic 
 idioms, as Maltese and the modern dialects of Abyssinia, an 
 essentially pure character. Such is the language which the 
 people have evolved for themselves, and history warns us that 
 all attempts to " educate them up" to express themselves in an 
 idiom not of their choosing will meet with failure. The wiser 
 course would be to throw aside all prejudice ^ and accept it, at 
 least for secular purposes, as the only language of the country. 
 There is reason to fear that, unless this be done and a simpler 
 system of writing be adopted, both the colloquial and literary 
 dialects will be gradually ousted, as the intercourse with Euro- 
 pean nations increases, by a foreign tongue. 
 
 And let it not be supposed that the Oairene or any other 
 spoken dialect is unworthy of a literature. They are many 
 of them richer in their phraseology than any of the European 
 languages, and with the introduction from the Nahwy voca- 
 bulary of the necessary technical terms would be capable of 
 expressing every idea of modern times, and this in a living 
 form. A movement in favour of the vernacular would best he 
 
 1 Dozy says of the early "purists " : " Meconnaissant la nature 
 des choses, ne comprenant pas et ne voulant pas comprendre 
 que tout dans ce monde est sujet a varier, que les lan<^ues se 
 modifient a mesure des modifications de la pensee, qu'elles 
 subissent la d6pendance de la societe qui les parl'e et des 
 (icrivains qui s'en servent, ils voulaient rendre immuable et 
 perpetuer oelle du livre de Dieu et n'avaient que du dedain et 
 du mepris pour les innovations plus ou moins involontaires de 
 leurs contemporains." 
 
 ^ '' O'est ainsi qu'en France au X« si6cle on n'avait pas I'idde 
 lidiome vulgaire filt susceptible d'etre 6crit." Renan 
 
 2 
 
 que 
 
PREFACE xiii 
 
 started by the press,i but it would need to be strongly supported 
 by men of influence. Should it succeed, a short time of com- 
 pulsory education, say two years, would be sufficient to spread a 
 knowledge of reading and writing throughout the country. 
 
 The system of transliterationv employed in the gi'ammar will, 
 it is hoped, recommend itself to the English student. There is 
 some inconvenience in representing a single Arabic letter by 
 two in the Roman character, as also in the use of dots below 
 the letters ; and should the Oriental system ever be superseded 
 by a European one for general use it will no doubt be found 
 more suitable to invent a separate character for all those Arabic 
 letters which have no equivalent in the Latin alphabet. 
 
 I venture to believe that Arabic scholars,^ as well as those 
 who seek a practical knowledge of the language, will find matter 
 of interest in the following pages. They have been written at 
 odd moments, chiefly in vacation time, in railway trains and 
 steamboats — a circumstance which I must urge as a plea for 
 any impeifections which may be detected in the work. 
 
 I must not conclude without expressing my indebtedness to 
 the heads of some of the Departments of the Egyptian Govern- 
 ment and others for subscriloing for a number of copies of the 
 book, and thereby enabling me to carry it through the press, 
 and also to Professor Sayce for his patience in reading through 
 the manuscript in the midst of his manifold preoccupations. The 
 notes marked with the letter S. are contributed by him. 
 
 J. S. WILLMORE. 
 
 Note. — Since writing the above, an essay on the Egyptian 
 alphabet by an American philologist, who takes a deep interest 
 in the welfare of the Egyptian people, has come to my notice. 
 I quote the following passages from it to illustrate the coinci- 
 
 1 Some half-hearted attempts have already been made. 
 
 A Cairene of the lower class known to me spent several 
 years at school when he was a boy. He there learned the 
 letters and part of the Koran by heart. Of the latter he re- 
 members but little, but he still makes use of the letters for his 
 correspondence, which he writes phonetically in the colloquial 
 language, with here and there a nahwy phrase. Asked why 
 he did not read- the papers, he replied that he could not throw 
 away his piastres on a literature which he did not understand. 
 
 2 Though not all. It was startling to learn from a professor 
 of Semitic languages at one of the English universities that he 
 excluded the living Arabic dialects from his studies. 
 
xiv- PKEFACE 
 
 dence of both his and Spitta's views with my own convictions. 
 Not having referred to Spitta's work for many years previously 
 to the completion of my own, I was unaware that he himself 
 desired to see the vernacular adopted for literary purposes. 
 
 " No one who has read the deeply-interesting preface to 
 the Grammatik can doubt the warmth of the hope which he 
 [Spitta] entertained that the work — as his biographer expresses 
 it — ' might contribute to the elevation of the spoken dialect into 
 a written language, thereby bridging over that deep chasm be- 
 tween the idiom of the people and the idiom of literature, which 
 is the greatest obstruction in the path of Egyptian progress.' 
 
 " The striking and forcible paragraph which closes the preface 
 has been frequently cited, but a translation of it here can hardly 
 be out of place : ' Finally, I will venture to give utterance to a 
 hope which, during the compilation of this work, I have con- 
 stantly cherished ; it is a hope which concerns Egypt itself , and 
 touches a matter which, for it and its people, is almost a question 
 of life or death. Every one who has lived for a considerable 
 period in an Arabic-speaking land knows how seriously all its 
 activities are affected by the wide divei-gence of the written 
 language from the spoken. Under such cii-oumstances there can 
 be no thought of popular culture ; for how is it possible, in the 
 brief period of primary instruction, to acquire even a half-way 
 knowledge of so difficult a tongue as the literary Arabic, when, 
 in the secondary schools, youths undergo the torture of its study 
 during several years without arriving at other than the most 
 unsatisfying results ? Of course the unfortunate graphic medium 
 — the complex alphabet — is in great part to blame for all this ; 
 yet how much easier would the matter become if the student 
 had merely to write the tongue which he speaks, instead of being 
 forced to write a language which is as strange to the present 
 generation of Egyptians as the Latin is to the people of Italy, 
 
 or the Old-Greek to the inhabitants of Greece a language 
 
 which, without being the popular speech, is no longer eve'n the 
 classical Arabic ! A real literature cannot be thus developed ; 
 for only the limited cultivated class knows how to use a book ; 
 to the mass of the people a book is really a thing unknown! 
 If he have need to write a letter, or execute a document the 
 ordinary man of the people must put himself blindly into the 
 hands of a professional scribe ; he must trustingly si<jn the most 
 important papers with a seal which he cannot read," and which 
 may be and is easily imitated. Why can this lamentable con 
 dition of things not be changed for the better? Simply because 
 
PREFACE XV' 
 
 there is a fear, if the language of the Koran be wholly given 
 up, of incurring the charge of trespassing upon the domain of 
 religion. But the Koranic language is now nowhere written ; 
 for wherever you find a written Arabic it is the Middle- Arabic 
 of the offices. Even the dubious unity of the Islamitic peoples 
 would not be disturbed by the adoption of the spoken vernacvilar, 
 since the language of prayer and of the ritual would still remain 
 everywhere the same. It is also asserted that the New- Arabic 
 is wholly unfit to become the language of the pen because it 
 obeys no fixed laws, and flows on without any syntactic restric- 
 tions. I venture to believe that the present publication proves 
 that the speech of the people is not so completely incapable of 
 discipline ; that, on the contrary, it possesses an abundance of 
 grammatical niceties ; and that it is precisely the simplicity of its 
 syntax, the plasticity of its verbal construction, which will make 
 it a most serviceable instrument. Did the Italian seem any more 
 promising when Dante wrote his Divine Comedy? And would 
 a commission of the most learned and most expert men of Egypt 
 not be able to do infinitely better that which it has not appeared 
 to me, a foreigner, too difficult to undertake ? '" . 
 
 " Careful study of its details — especially if supplemented 
 by a short period of use - can hardly fail to coHvince the in- 
 . vestigator that it would be difficult, to say the least, to create an 
 alphabet better adapted to its purpose than that of Spitta.i . . . 
 Its general application to the national dialect of Egypt would 
 forthwith immensely facilitate the extension of knowledge, and 
 inestimably lessen the task of the teacher throughout all the 
 Nilotic lands ; and this may well be brought about without, in 
 any measure, affecting the position of the Old-Arabic alphabet 
 as the medium of the venerated classical literature. Nor would 
 such a step detract from the sanctified character of that alpha- 
 bet, with which the sacred Koranic scriptures are written. The 
 Bible of the Russians is printed by means of the Cyrillic alphabet,^ 
 
 1 The system of transliteration adopted in the present work 
 differs very considerably from Spitta's. In a book written for 
 English students, English tastes had to be consulted, and I am 
 sure that they would, for example, have been puzzled by the use 
 of j to represent the y sound, though philologically it may be 
 the right letter to employ. 
 
 It is strange that Spitta should not have recognised the 
 existence of the thick z (z) in the vernacular. 
 
 2 The old Slavonic Bible of Cyrilhis is still the authorised 
 version wherever a Slavonic language is spoken. 
 
xvi PREFACE 
 
 notably differing from that made use of in the modern Russian. 
 Our own English Bible, in its existing version, has many, verses 
 and phrases which can hardly be pronounced to be strictly 
 modern English. The Catholic Church regards only the Latin 
 Vulgate scriptures as authoritative, but the Catholic nations all 
 have secular literatures in their own vernacular. The Copts 
 daily use the Old- Arabic alphabet and the ' chancery ' Arabic 
 in their correspondence, while speaking the Egyptian idiom, 
 although their holy books are in the ancient Coptic, having its 
 own alphabet. There are other instances, even in the East, of 
 similar alphabetical and literary evolutions and revolutions ; 
 and there seems no good reason why these examples should not 
 be followed to advantage by nationalities of whatever race or 
 creed. Religion in no wise suffers thereby, while the progress 
 of the people is immeasurably accelerated. . . . 
 
 " There is little need of waiting for the new Dante, whose 
 advent Spitta, in "the closing phrases of the preface to his 
 Grammaiik, seems to hint at. Other efficient forces are 
 already at hand. Hundreds of young men are now constantly 
 receiving an excellent training in the higher schools of the 
 Egyptian cities — schools which are yearl}' growing better. These 
 sons of Egypt*are both intelligent and patriotic. Let all these 
 youth of the newer generation put their shoulders to the wheel. 
 Let them give their influence — great, if properly applied — to 
 the development of the popular tongue, and there will soon 
 follow the unapproachable blessing of universal education, with 
 its inevitable result of a broad literature ' for the people, of the 
 people, and by the people.' The present Government of Egypt 
 
 might well lend its aid — as it is at last in a position to do • 
 
 to such an effort. An American writer has characterised the 
 marvellous financial, commercial, agricultural, and moral trans- 
 formation of Egypt, effected in these later years, as ' the most 
 splendid Anglo-Saxon achievement of the century.' Why can- 
 not the men who have been the potent factor in bringing about 
 this beneficent material revolution, now open the gate, as well, 
 to the spiritual development of the people they rule so ably and 
 so honestly ? There is but one path that passes through that 
 gate, and that path can be traversed only by a nation educated 
 in the language it understands. That language is already the 
 daily speech of social intercourse, of the family, the shop" und 
 the farm. Why should it not become the medium of an educa- 
 tion, destined not only to elevate the nation which has its home 
 under the palms of the Nile, but perhaps to revive under a 
 noble form, the ancient glory of the whole Saracenic world ? " 
 
ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA 
 
 Page 12, line 6, /or tushUt rearf tusMt. 
 
 40, ,, 4, for match-maJcer read watchmaker. 
 
 40, „ 7, after kutubl add (or kutbt). 
 
 45, ,, 16,/or husari reacZ husart. 
 
 58, ,, 2, /or imMr^h reacZ imb&rih. 
 
 86, ,, 38, fm- qunsul read qunsul. 
 
 106, „ 32, /or akhilkh rearf akhftk. 
 
 123, ,, 31, for yiklas read yikhlas. 
 
 135, ,, 33, for biyinbarrik read binebarrik. 
 
 135, ,, 34, /or biyitbarrikii reaii bitebarrikii. 
 
 144, ,, 7, /or itrikib r«a(i itrakab. 
 
 156, ,, 2, /or yitkallimntsh reac^ yikallimnisb. 
 
 222, „ 23,/or 'adal reac? 'adl. 
 
 226, ,, 11, for akhukh read akhuk. 
 
 238, ,, 1, /or objective reacZ adjective. 
 
 265, ,, 31, for sMa read suda. 
 
 317, ,, 24, /or qasab reat^ qasab. 
 
 320, ,, '2, for yeruh read teruh. 
 
 321, ,, 30, /or tiftahu rmd tiftahu. 
 331, ,, 3, for raylen read raglSn. 
 349, „ 12, /or lireac^bi. 
 366, ,, 37, /or yedakbkhaniihureaiiyedaklikhanuh. 
 
 Arabic Grammar. 
 
THE SPOKEN 
 ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 ACCIDENCE 
 
 THE ALPHABET 
 
 § 1. The alphabet of Oaii-ene Arabic consists of" the following 
 thirty letters : — 
 
 VOWELS. NAMK. ] VOWELS. NAME. 
 
 a £i, or nasba 1 o b or rof'a 
 
 e e or khefda I u fl or ruf'a 
 
 i i or khifda 
 
 CONSONANTS. 
 
 NAME. 
 
 CONSONANTS. 
 
 NAME 
 
 b 
 
 b§ 
 
 s 
 
 sad 
 
 t 
 
 tg 
 
 shi 
 
 shin 
 
 t 
 
 ta 
 
 i 
 
 'en 
 
 g 
 
 glm 
 
 f 
 
 fe 
 
 ghl 
 
 ghen 
 
 q 
 
 qaf 
 
 h 
 
 hi 
 
 k 
 
 kaf 
 
 h 
 
 ha 
 
 khi 
 
 kha 
 
 d 
 
 (iai 
 
 1 
 
 lam 
 
 d 
 
 dad 
 
 m 
 
 mim 
 
 r 
 
 re 
 
 n 
 
 nfm 
 
 z 
 
 zen 
 
 w 
 
 wau 
 
 z 
 
 za 
 
 y 
 
 ye 
 
 s 
 
 sin 
 
 
 
 In addition to the above there are three diphthongs : ai, au, 
 and oi, and the hiatus ('), colloquially called qat'a. The circum- 
 flex is used to lengthen the vowels. 
 
 1 In the few cases where g, s, k are followed by h without 
 forming one letter with it, they will in the following pages be 
 separated from it by a hyphen, as in the words ag-har, yis-ha, 
 dik-ha. 
 
2 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Remark a.-Nasba, khifda, and ruf'a are by the learned 
 termed respectively fatha, kasra, and damma. e ana p are re- 
 garded as mere corruptions of the a and u sounds peculiar to the 
 spoken dialects, so that it has been necessary to invent names for 
 them, e no doubt results from the thinning {%mala) ot a, but 
 as its sound approaches more nearly that of khifda, the name 
 adopted seems suitable. 
 
 Remark 5.— The following is, in outline, the system of spelling 
 in use in Egypt : — 
 
 The syllable ba is pronounced banasab or banasab ; 
 bi ,, ,, bikhifad or bikhifad : 
 
 bu ,, ,, bfirufa' or burufa' ; 
 
 ta ,, ,, tanasab ; ^ 
 
 ti ,, ,, tikhifad;! 
 
 ^ tu „ „ turufa' ; ^ 
 
 similarly kanasab,i ktkhifad,! kurufa',i and so on throughout. 
 Or, a and u being in the Arabic character written above the con- 
 sonant which they follow, and i below, we may speU ba, be 
 foqha 2 nasba ; bi, be tahtiha,^ khifda ; bu, be foqha ruf'a. 
 When a word begins with a short vowel, that is, strictly speak- 
 ing, gaJ'a followed by a vowel, that vowel will be pronounced — 
 if a, a qat'a u * nasba ; if «', 1 qat'a u khifda ; if !(, li qat'a u 
 ruf'a. Ba is spelt b&nasab alif wasl ; bi, bikhifad ye wasl ; and 
 bft, burufa' wau wasl. 
 
 Consonants not followed by a vowel are called : abbigazam (?;), 
 attigazam {t), akkigazam (/i), &c., or be foqha gazma, kc. 
 
 Thus the name Ibrahim may be spelt — i qat'a u khifda abbi- 
 gazam rfinasab alif wasl hikhifad ye wasl ammigazam ; or alif 
 tahtiha qat'a u khifda we be foqha gazma we re foqha nasba 
 we alif wasl (la ffiqha wala tahtiha) we he tahtiha khifda we 
 alif wasl we mlm foqha gazma. 
 
 PRONUNCIATION OF THE VOWELS 
 
 § 2. a is strictly the English a of the words and, pat, as in 
 alf thousand, katab lie wrote, but the following modifications of 
 its sound must be noted : — 
 
 (a) After ' it is practically lengthened to <?, and this even 
 before two consonants, as in the words 'ala on, yig'al he makef, 
 gum'a week, 'ammu his uncle. 
 
 1 Or tanasab, &c. ^ ^Jo;,^ ^ (pronounced also fuqba). 
 
 8 Below it. •• Or we {and). 
 
PRONUNCIATION OF THE VOWELS 3 
 
 (b) It becomes of necessity broadened when in proximity to 
 the consonants t, d, s, and z.^ 
 
 (c) It usually has, when surrounded by weak consonants, 
 the obscure sound of a in the words against, final, or the un- 
 written vowel of didn't, as in nazzil bring down, laban milk, or 
 the second_ syllable of 'abdalla, -pr. n., and' 'arbagl driver. 
 
 (d) It is thinned to a or e, as balad village, ginene garden (for 
 gin^na), masriye an Egyptian or Cairene woman (for masrlya). 
 After y this modification is not uncommon, but in other cases 
 it is seldom heard from the lips of true Cairenes.^ 
 
 § 3. Long a (d) retains its original pure sound (as in father) 
 when preceded or followed by r or h, and when preceded by Icli 
 or ^',_ as in rfib it curdled, n^r fire, rSh Tie loent, 'ad he returned, 
 khfilis entirely ; but its usual value is that of a lengthened a, 
 such as is heard in the Italian word padre ; e.g. bib door, haga 
 thirig. The Fellaheen and others weaken it to short a, but a 
 Cairene will never say riggala mm, though he pronounces the a 
 in that word much less broadly than in nar. A sound approach- 
 ing to that of « is, however, sometimes heard before qat'a or 
 y replacing qat'a,^ and q, as in ba'in (blyin) apipearing, sh^'if 
 (shayif) seeing, zaba'in customers, baql remaining, teliqi you will 
 find. Under the influence of the emphatic consonants t, d, s, z, 
 d becomes so much broadened that an inexperienced ear might 
 confound it with the sound heard in the English word watej' ; 
 e.g. tab he recovered, daf he added, s&m he fasted, z^lim oppressor, 
 bat armpit. 
 
 § 4. e sounds as e in men. It occurs mostly in unaccented 
 open syllables, and is then hardly distinguishable from short i, 
 as in yesh-flf (or yishuf) he sees.'^ 
 
 1 See remarks on these lettei'S (§ 1 9). 
 
 ^ Most of the numerous examples given by Spitta of imdla 
 or thinning of the a-vowels are illustrations of foreign (fellah, 
 bedawi, or berberi) pronunciation. Such forms as keMm, 
 lainde, do not occur in the dialect of Cairo as spoken by 
 natives. 
 
 2 As in the pres. particip. of verbs whose middle radical is 
 10 or y. See §§19 and 27, under the letter y. 
 
 * e is used for i throughout the grammar in the preformative 
 syllables of the aorist and participles of some of the forms of 
 the verb whenever these syllables are pronounced with great 
 rapidity. Practically it makes but little difference whether 
 i or e is written in this position, provided that no stress is laid 
 on them, e is particularly preferred, as in Hebrew, in the 
 
4: THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 g has the value of English a in lane or ai in Icdn, as 'esh 
 hread. It is thickened in syllables containing h, t, d, s, or z, as 
 in heta a wall, bed eggs, sgf summer. After '^ it sounds much 
 as ai in aisle, as 'in far'gn two branches, and before w as the 
 French eu, as in 'ilewi high. 
 
 Remark.— e often stands for ai {ay), as der monastery, tor 
 dayr, sheyal, or shaiyal ( = shayyal) porter.^ 
 
 % 5. i as in did ; e.g. bint qirl, misik he seized. When followed 
 by ' it has the value of the French eu, as in li'b game ; and when 
 X^reoeded by that consonant it approaches very closely to the 
 sound of e, or even that of the diphthong ai, as in san'itu his 
 profession, ma sim'itsh she did not hear, and this even in an 
 unaccented syllable, as in sham'idan candlestick. The emphatic 
 consonants give it a pure u sound, as in didd against, while w 
 following it converts it to the French ii, as in yistiwl it gets ripe. 
 After, and, to a less degree, before the gutturals, it approaches 
 the sound of e (though /) exerts but very little influence upon it), 
 as hinna 7; eraraa'' (nearly henna), khidewi Khedive, hina liere (with 
 a slight tendency only to e), yikhtaf he snatches (i slightly 
 darkened). Yeghdar lie is able, is regularly heard for yighdar. 
 Before r it is occasionally pronounced as t, though as a rule it is 
 short, as irmi throw, for irml. 
 
 The conjunction wi and, is often pronounced weu when there 
 is a pause between it and the next word. 
 
 i sounds as long i in French and Italian, as in dlb tool/, 
 hiya she. It is more liable than the other vowels to become 
 shortened at the end of a word (§ 13). As in the case of i, its 
 sound resembles that of e or ai after 'en, as in tal'in going out 
 (pi.), tisma'ish thou (f.) dost not hear, tis'ln ninety (practically 
 tal'gn, &c.), 'iyal children (pron. 'aiyal). Before h it becomes a 
 rounded S, as in rih spirit. It has a sound between a and eu 
 after t, d, s, z, as in yedifli they add, and sometimes in the 
 Turkish termination bdshi, as in yuzbashl captain, in imitation 
 of the Turkish pronunciation. 
 
 participles. Uniformity of spelling will be to some extent 
 sacrificed in the following pages to the desire to represent 
 as far as possible the exact pronunciation of each word in its 
 varied surroundings. There is perhaps in no case so clear a 
 distinction between i and e as there is in English an inter- 
 mediate sound being heard in many words, as in imshi go and 
 in the article il. ' 
 
 1 So Hebr. beth for bayth, &c. 
 
CONNECTING OR HELPING VOWELS 5 
 
 Remark. — The ' in arbe'in forty, and Ismft'in, in-, n., is too 
 slightly pronounced to influence the final syllable. 
 
 ■ § 6. and 6 are the rounded continental short and long o, but 
 they are not quite so closed as in French ; e.g. ah6 there he is I 
 h6n mortar, y6m day.^ In foreign words long o is retained, 
 while short o usually gives place to u, as bantalon trowsers, but 
 qunsul consul. 
 
 § 7. M as in full, 4 as in fool ; e.g. shuft thou sawest, darabu 
 he struck him, ffil beans. In juxtaposition to the emphatic con- 
 sonants and the gutturals their sound approaches that of broad 
 o and 6, as in usbur have patience (almost osbur), qutta cat 
 (nearly qotta), burqu' veil, 'umr life, 'usman, pr. n. (pron. almost 
 burqo', 'omr, 'osman).^ In the word 'uzt I wanted, u is some- 
 times given the sound of u in cup. 
 
 THE DIPHTHONGS 
 
 § 8. ai (originally ay) is pronounced as ai in aisle; e.g. shuwaiya 
 a little (for shuwayya), ithaiyar he was perplexed.^ 
 
 Au as in German or as ou in house ; e.g. auwil first, bauwaz 
 he squandered. 
 
 Oi is very rarely heard. It is less open than oy in hoy, and 
 its true sound seems to lie between that and the diphthong ai ; 
 e.g. moiya loater, istughummoiya a game of the nature of hide- 
 and-seek, 'oiyfi,q (for 'lyaq), plur. of '8,yiq/op, larkspur. 
 
 Remark. — Maiya and ummaiya are occasionally heard for 
 moiya, but they belong to the provinces. 
 
 CONNECTING OR HELPING VOWELS 
 
 § 9. As the Arabs of Cairo are unable to pronounce three con- 
 sonants in quick succession, it becomes necessary, when they 
 occur together, to insert a short vowel between the second and 
 
 1 So yom, m6th, d6r in Hebrew = literary Arab, yawm, 
 mawt death, dawr turn. Note that d6r means age in Hebr. as 
 in colloquial Arabic. 
 
 2 Or rather '6sm4n, the u being doubly broadened by the 
 com^bined influence of ' and s. 
 
 3 When the y is not doubled it retains its value as a con- 
 sonant, and no diphthong is formed, as in nay raw. Even when 
 it is doubled, the transformation into a diphthong often seems 
 incomplete. 
 
6 THE SPOKEN AKABIO OF EGYPT 
 
 the third.i This vowel, it will be understood, plays no partin 
 the structure of the words themselves, and is merely requisi- 
 tioned by the speaker to break up a combination of consonants. 
 Nouns, verbs, prepositions, and conjunctions are, under these 
 circumstances, linked to the pronominal suffixes by the vowels 
 i or M, their choice being regulated by the laws of euphony. 
 Thus u is the connecting vowel when the suffix is ku, kum you, 
 your, or hum iliey, their, while i is employed in most other 
 cases. Thus we say darabtuhum / struck them (for darabthum) ; 
 while from shuft / saw, and ha her, is formed shuftiha 1 saw 
 her; so umm mother, ummiha her mother, ummukti your mother.^ 
 When the second vowel is not so closely attached to the first as 
 to form one with it, the connecting vowel will be e, or (if the 
 least stress is laid on it) i ; ^ e.g. shuft / saw, ragil a man, shufte 
 r^gil / saio a man, darabte walad you struck a boy, shiribte ketir, 
 but shiribti ktir or shiribti ketir you drank much (a slight pause 
 being, made in the latter case between the two words to assist 
 the emphasis falling on ketir), il h4qqe lik or il haqqi lak you are 
 right, il binte dl or il binti dl this girl. 
 
 Remark a. — e is sometimes heard after the negative suffix sh, 
 although neither preceded nor followed by another consonant, as 
 ma ftshe there is not, ma yisw&she it is not worth ; but possibly 
 it here represents the long e of sh@ thing, from which the 
 negative form is abbreviated. 
 
 Remark b. — When there is a pause between the second and 
 third consonant, the helping vowel is usually dispensed with, as 
 it has no purpose to serve. This occurs not infrequently when 
 stress is laid on the first word, as in the expression ikhs 'allh ! 
 shame upon him ! 
 
 Remark c. — The connecting vowels, though as a rule pro- 
 nounced with the greatest rapidity, have often the same value as 
 those which are used in the structure of the words themselves, 
 and may be subject to the same changes. They may be length- 
 ened under the influence of the accent (§ 1 2), and, by the prin- 
 ciples of contraction, may even oust an original vowel ; thus 
 from ukht sister, and nislbl my brother-in-lau-, is formed ukhti 
 nslbt my brother-in-laio's sister; from sahn dish, and nahSs 
 copper, sahni nhas. 
 
 Remark d. — As, strictly speaking, no syllable begins with a 
 
 1 Of. the use of sh'^va and of segol in Hebrew. 
 
 2 e is occasionally used for i, as ummeha for ummiha; and 
 ummaha, &c., will be heard, especially in the midina or " city." 
 
 s Note that it becomes t when lengthened, as in waqttha. 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE VOWELS 7 
 
 vowel (§ 21), the insertion of e in such combinations as ibne asl 
 a man of a good stock, qumte ana / got up, is in accordance with 
 the rule. 
 
 § 10. A helping vowel is also inserted in foreign words between 
 two consonants which an Egyptian is unable or loath to pro- 
 nounce consecutively, or the vowel is placed before the first so as 
 to form a separate syllable with it, as sibinsa or ishinsa, pantry 
 (Ital. dispensa), iksibiriss express} 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE VOWELS 
 
 § 11. A long vowel followed by two consonants, whether in 
 the same word or in two pronounced together without a pause, 
 becomes shortened,^ g and 6 being generally changed to i and u 
 respectively,^ as : — 
 
 qam 
 
 he rose 
 
 ret! 
 
 would that 1 
 
 qam qal 
 
 he rose and said 
 
 ya ritna ! 
 
 would tJiat toe / 
 
 qlma 
 
 value 
 
 b^t 
 
 house 
 
 qimtu 
 
 its value 
 
 bitna (or 
 
 our house 
 
 qdra 
 
 forehead 
 
 betna) 
 
 
 qurtu 
 
 his forehead 
 
 ,g62 
 
 husband 
 
 tin min dih ? 
 
 lohose land is 
 
 guzha 
 
 her husband 
 
 (for tin 
 
 this? 
 
 
 
 mtn dih) 
 
 
 
 
 When one of the two consonants is a liquid or li, the vowel 
 
 occasionally. 
 
 and in some cases optionally, remains long, though 
 
 not quite full and pure. Examples : — 
 
 
 hathum 
 
 bring them 
 
 ishabna 
 
 our friends 
 
 yegib li (ye- 
 
 he brings to me 
 
 mafihsh (or 
 
 there is not 
 
 gib 11) 
 
 
 ma flhsh) 
 
 
 gSzha, betna 
 
 &C.4 
 
 
 1 Or siksibriss. See § 22 for the combinations of consonants 
 which an Egyptian is able to pronounce. 
 
 ^ The syllable containing the originally long vowel does not, 
 however, lose its accent by reason of the vowel being shortened ; 
 thus we say yeqtim yequl, not yiqum yeqfll. It is very im- 
 portant to keep this fact constantly in mind, as the vowels will 
 henceforth be marked long only when they are so pronounced. 
 
 ^ The e is sometimes maintained, as in kefkum as you lilte, 
 ma getsh I did not come, ma 'aleksh, riot on you. 
 
 ■* Most of the words cited by Spitta in illustration of this 
 exception are pronounced with a short vowel. 
 
8 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 12. Short vowels may become lengthened : — 
 
 (a) By the accent being thrown upon them, as^by an enclytic, 
 as is Sana the year, is sana-dt this year ; bi 1 kefiya-di in this 
 way, qablt dih (also qabli dih) before this, from qabl and dih, 
 the i being a helping vowel. 
 
 (6) By a stress being laid on the syllable in which they occur, 
 as ytgt (for yigi) he'll come, fi ant giha (for giha) 1 in what direc- 
 tion ? waqttha at that moment, mahllkti gently {you), w AIMM 
 hy God (for w AUahi). 
 
 Remark. — ^The vowels are often lengthened without apparent 
 reason in the words ba'dlna, ba'dikil, ba'dihum some of us, of 
 you, of them, tauwlna as soon as we, btk in or with you. They 
 are, however, more frequently pronounced short. 
 
 § 13. A long vowel may become shortened : — 
 
 (a) By two following consonants (§ 11). 
 
 (&) In continuous discourse, the vowel being hastily pronounced 
 in ordfer that the speaker may pass on at once to a final syllable 
 or the following word, as : — 
 
 iyam (for iyam) days 
 
 ideh (for Ideh) Ms hands 
 
 yeshufuhum (for ye- they see them 
 shufuhum) 
 
 mudiriya i province 
 
 tani marra (for tani) another tivie 
 
 manish 'Arif (for mantsh / don't know 
 
 'Srif) 
 
 ma raliitsh (for rahitsh) she did not go 
 
 qam ir ragil qal lu (for thereupon the man said to 
 qam) Mm 
 
 yeqidu n nar (for yeqidu) they light the fire 
 The preposition fi in is almost invariably pronounced fi in con- 
 junction with its substantive, as fi masr in Cairo. The negative 
 particle ma becomes ma ; ya, the sign of the vocative, ya ; illi, 
 the relative pronoun, illi ; tani, tani ; and sometimes it is only the 
 last long vowel in a sentence which is able to retain its value, 
 as ahlu illi matii lu (for illi matil lu) Ms people who have died, 
 wala hish masalan rahit (for wala hish, &c.) nor indeed has 
 she gone.^ 
 
 1 And thence mudriya. 
 
 2 Experience will show how thoroughly this principle per- 
 vades the spoken language. MS, not is frequently written in the 
 Arabic character by the lower classes as mim only, affixed to the 
 verb, and ya similarly as ye sometimes even in the books. The 
 
GENBKAL REMARKS ON THE VOWELS 9 
 
 (c) When in a final open and therefore unaccented syllable, as : 
 
 hati 
 intu 
 
 bring (f.) 
 you 
 
 sufragi 
 mishi 
 
 tahle-ivaitei 
 he went 
 
 tlgl 
 irmi ! 
 berberi 
 katabu 
 
 you come 
 throio ! 
 
 native of Berber 
 they tcrote 
 
 giri 
 
 ghani 
 
 qara 
 
 he ran 
 rich 
 he read 
 
 (for hatl, intti, &c.). 
 
 § 14. In certain positions, or under certain influences described 
 below, the vowels e, i, u, and occasionally a, sink to the rank of 
 semi-vowels, and are pronounced with great rapidity. 
 
 (a) When unaccented and playing the part of helping vowels, 
 as gibte kursi / brought a chair, 'andiha witJi her, inniha that 
 she (for the more usual 'andiha, inniha). 
 
 {b) When the preposition li, le, lu to forms, together with 
 the pronominal suffixes, the indirect object of a verb and remains 
 unaccented, as qal luhum (for the more usual qal liihum) he said 
 to them. 
 
 (c) In the first syllable of the participles and verbal nouns of 
 the second and third forms of the verb, as meshaiya' sending, 
 medammis baked, Mehammad, jpr. ??,., iae\&.c^ finding.'^ 
 
 (d) In the first syllable of the aorist of verbs whose second 
 and third radical letters are identical, or whose middle radical is 
 10 or y (§ 182), as yi'idd (or ye'idd) he counts, tequl thou sayest, 
 yeshilu they carry away. 
 
 (e) Where they do not disappear altogether according to the 
 rules of contraction, as mi'akhiza (for mi'akhza) blaming. 
 
 if) Where H is followed by its homogeneous consonant w, as 
 shuwaiya a little, kuwaiyis pretty (practically shwaiya, kwaiyis). 
 
 (g) In a few other words and syllables whose meaning or 
 position naturally calls for a hurried pronunciation, as we huwa 
 and he, li'a y& wad ! look out, boy! (pron. u'ay wad), ketir much 
 (the final syllable being much emphasised). 
 
 suffixes ni and % were sometimes written nl and % in the classical 
 language. A native uneducated, but acquainted with the letters 
 and writing phonetically, will omit the alif in such words as 
 shafni he saio me. In such nouns as babur steamer, engine, 
 kanun stove, written in the literary language with alif, the a can 
 hardly be said to be pronounced long unless the whole word is 
 emphasized, and is generally written in this work without the 
 circumflex. 
 
 1 This syllable is sometimes pronounced mii after the literary 
 dialect. 
 
10 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 15. The vowel i, when unaccented and long neither by nature 
 nor by position, is seldom very distinctly heard when the word 
 in which it occurs ends in a long closed and consequently ac- 
 cented syllable, as in biram earthen bowl, dirts dry clover (drts), 
 siyQ-f swords. 
 
 It occurs more frequently than any other vowel except, 
 perhaps, a in the colloquial language, and is in many situations 
 hardly distinguishable from the helping vowel e. In the pre- 
 f ormative syllables of the aorist and in some f orfiis of plurals it 
 replaces the Koranic a, as yiktib Tie wi'ites, yiqul (or yeqiil) he 
 sags, ignas lands (Kor. yaktubu, yaqftlu, agnasun). 
 
 Even before two consonants at the beginning of a word it 
 has sometimes only a minimum value, or it may fall away alto- 
 gether and reappear between them as a helping vowel ; e.g. 
 (i)ddlnl give me, (i)tfaddal ! pray ! diri'tl my arms (for idri'ti), 
 zirira buttons (for izrira, the accent still remaining on the second 
 syllable), sinftn teeth (for isnan), imrat or mirat vjife, ibrlq or 
 biriq jug} Ibrahim or Birahim,^ Isma'in or Sima'in. Yice 
 versa, Isleman is used for Sileman when it is desired to 
 lengthen or emphasize the word, as when calling one of that 
 name for the second or third time ; similarly Imbarka for 
 Mebarka (Mebarika). 
 
 Remark. — Short initial u more rarely changes places with 
 the consonant, but instances are not wanting, as Luqsdr (i.e. 
 il uqsur = il qusflr) the castles, Luxor, usba' (for saha,') finger.^ 
 
 § 16. The vowels are one and all thicker and more rounded in 
 Arabic than they are in our language,* a fact which should never 
 be forgotten by those who wish to speak without an English 
 accent. But they will never receive their true colouring unless 
 the consonants surrounding them are correctly pronounced. 
 " Take care of the consonants and the vowels will take care of 
 themselves, "^is an excellent piece of advice if properly understood; 
 and it will be found that the thickness or compai-ative thinness 
 of a vowel depends to some extent not only on the consonant 
 
 1 Of. Hebr. z'^ro' and ezro' arm. Lee (Hebr. gram.) cites 
 stahlisli and establish, )(6i^ and ky(dk's. 
 
 2 In Birahlm the i is not always pronounced very rapidly, 
 and sometimes Barahim is heard. 
 
 5 Hebr. ezba'. 
 
 * Vowels are in English pronounced more in the front of 
 the mouth, in Oairene Arabic more in the upper part of the 
 throat.— (S.) 
 
 5 This is the substance of Spitta's remark. 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE VOWELS 
 
 11 
 
 immediately preceding or following it, but npon the whole 
 weight or measure of the word, resulting from the conflicting 
 influences of the consonants which it contains. Thus the vowels 
 of a word, or even of a phrase, in which one or more of the 
 letters t, d, s, z occur, will be pronounced heavily throughout 
 unless the weaker consonants exert a contrary influence ; and 
 this they will only be able to do if not in immediate proximity 
 to the stronger ones. In the word samlila nut {screiu), the first 
 a is thick, the A slightly so, while the final a scarcely feels the 
 influence of the s at all ; in balta axe, both a's are thick, the 
 first in spite of the 6 and I, because by pronouncing it thick we 
 can get the tongue more quickly into the position required for 
 the pronunciation of the t. The consonants which tend to 
 resist the thick shading of the vowels are h, t, h, d, z, s, /, 
 Z, m, n, y. 
 
 § 17. The following words spelt in Arabic dictionaries with 
 the dentals t, d, or the sibilants s, z,i are pronounced in the 
 dialect of Cairo with t, d, s, or z, and are cited here in view of 
 the effect which these consonants have upon the vowels, as 
 explained above. In some instances (marked with an asterisk) 
 the value of the t and d is nearer that of the English dentals 
 than the Arabic palatals. It will be observed that an emphatic 
 consonant, by acting on a whole word or phrase, is able to 
 assimilate a dental or sibilant to its own class ; also that the 
 letter r, especially when preceded by a long vowel, and the 
 vowel a attract the emphatic consonants ; and lastly, that t is 
 never immediately preceded by s, nor (on the other hand) d by s. 
 
 t for i.-— 
 
 
 
 
 ihtar ^ 
 
 be bewildered 
 
 taratan 
 
 sometimes 
 
 ikhtar ^ 
 
 choose 
 
 taza 
 
 fresh 
 
 istanat * 
 
 listen 
 
 tarablza (or 
 
 table 
 
 *intazar ^ 
 
 wait 
 
 tarabSza) 
 
 
 bastun 
 
 sticlc 
 
 turab (or 
 
 dust 
 
 t^r 
 
 vengeance 
 
 turab) " 
 
 
 tftr 
 
 sort of drum 
 
 tamar 
 
 hear fruit 
 
 1 s includes the Koranic th, and z the Koranic dh, pronounced 
 respectively z and s in Nahwy. 
 ^ So partic. mihtar, &c. 
 
 ^ So mukhtar chosen, and ikhtiydr choice, old man. 
 * So qata' is sant keep quiet. 
 5 So partic. *muntazar, but mintizir. 
 So tarrab to cover with dust, and pass, ittarab, &c. The 
 
12 
 
 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 tamr (or 
 
 dates 
 
 taiy&r 
 
 current 
 
 tamr) 
 
 
 tor (but pi. 
 
 ox 
 
 tumbak (or 
 
 Persiantobacco 
 
 tiran)2 
 
 
 tumbak) 
 
 
 tatura 
 
 thorn apple 
 
 tandif 
 
 cleaning 
 
 tisht (and pi. 
 
 basin 
 
 *tanftd 1 
 
 dusting 
 
 tusbiit) 
 
 
 *turumbeta 
 
 tambourine 
 
 za'tar 
 
 thyme 
 
 it taurat 
 
 the pentateuch 
 
 santi 
 
 centimetre 
 
 tftnis (and 
 
 sakieh rope 
 
 sots 
 
 voice 
 
 pi. tawanis) 
 
 sit* 
 
 repute 
 
 tawa (and de- 
 
 fold 
 
 natar (or 
 
 throw 
 
 rivatives) 
 
 
 *natar) 5 
 
 
 The t used in the formation of the dual of f eminines is par- 
 tially assimilated to a palatal when the i falls, out, as *udten (for 
 oditen) two rooms, *futtln tioo toivels (for futiten) ; also in the 
 first and second person singular and second person plural, and 
 even in the third person fern, singular of the past tense of 
 verbs whose final radical is t or d, as *ghulutt / made a mistake, 
 *'aiyatit she wept. Indeed it would hardly be possible to pronounce 
 it otherwise without a pause between the two syllables. In 
 " heavy " words forming their plurals in at the final t is neces- 
 sarily pronounced thick, and in tasat cups, its conversion to the 
 palatal is complete. 
 
 verbs are more conveniently translated by the infinitive, though 
 they are quoted in the third person singular of the past tense. 
 Where the aorist is not mentioned it also, as a rule, has the 
 thick consonant. 
 
 1 The d being at the end of the word does not exert so strong 
 an influence on the initial t as it does in tandif. Note that s 
 and 2 do not affect the dei^tal in the same degree as t and d ; 
 thus we say tanslr (not tansir) baptism; nor does t usually 
 influence s and z unless in close proximity to them. 
 
 2 The effect of the r being counteracted by the long final 
 syllable and the short i of the first. 
 
 8 So sauwat shout, &c. 
 
 * So saiylt, missaiyat reputed. 
 
 5 So mantfir angry. We say nataru 'ala tul dira'u he thrust 
 it an arm's length off, but *nataru fi 1 ard he threio it on the 
 ground. 
 
GENEKAL KEMARKS ON THE VOWELS 13 
 
 d for d : — 
 
 
 
 
 bSriidi 
 
 gunpowder 
 
 didd (or 
 
 against 
 
 bardu ^ 
 
 also 
 
 didd)6 
 
 
 badara ^ 
 
 young hens 
 
 dufda' " 
 
 frogs 
 
 ghaddar* 
 
 treacherous 
 
 dalirag 
 
 to roll 
 
 hidashar (or 
 
 eleven 
 
 dar,dauwar^ 
 
 to turn 
 
 hidfi,sliar) 
 
 
 i-adi' 
 
 bad 
 
 darb (and 
 
 street 
 
 radawa 
 
 badness 
 
 pl.durflb) 
 
 
 saiyad, 
 
 fisherman 
 
 dabbvlr (also 
 
 hornet 
 
 seyM 
 
 
 dabbflr) 
 
 
 sadar 
 
 proceed 
 
 darfa (or 
 
 leaf of shutter 
 
 'aslda (or 
 
 soup of flour 
 
 darfa) 
 
 or door 
 
 'aslda) 
 
 
 darra 
 
 udder 
 
 qus^d 
 
 opposite 
 
 dura 
 
 maize 
 
 mabrad 
 
 file 
 
 durra (or 
 
 parrot 
 
 namrud (but 
 
 tyrant 
 
 durra) 
 
 
 pi. na- 
 
 
 dastiir 
 
 by your leave 
 
 marda) 
 
 
 In sudaf to chance, the dal is very thick, and in the aorist 
 yisdaf practically d, the s being changed to s in conformity with 
 the rule stated above. 
 
 London becomes Lundura or Lundura (or Lundra). 
 
 s for s .■ — 
 
 busat (and carpet 
 
 pi. ibsita) 
 
 burnus (pi. cloak 
 
 baranls) 
 
 basta step 
 
 Bulus Paul 
 
 astabl 
 
 stable 
 
 atlas 
 
 satin 
 
 assar 
 
 impress 
 
 ismarr >* 
 
 get brown 
 
 usta 
 
 master 
 
 basat 8 
 
 spread out 
 
 ^ So barMa gun (but also baruda). 
 
 ^ But more generally bardu. 
 
 ^ But singular bidrlya. 
 
 * So maghdiir deceived, but generally ghadar he deceived. 
 
 ^ So diddiyat animosities, though diddlya in the singular on 
 account of the thin a after y. 
 
 In the dictionaries dufda'. 
 
 '' So dor turn. Dar, &c., are often pronounced with d; we 
 say in nar dfirit the fire spread, id darbe d&r blows fell thick, 
 
 though dar when it stands alone. 
 
 s So asmar brown, &c., but mismirr getting brown, brownish. 
 
 ^ And derivatives inbasat be pleased, inbisit pleasure, &c., 
 but baslt simple. These words are all also pronounced with s. 
 
14 
 
 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 bastawlya 
 
 bast 
 
 bastarma 
 
 busta 
 
 btiqsumat 
 
 (usually) 
 bults 
 tS,sa 
 tasa 
 
 ghutus (and 
 deriva- 
 tives) 
 
 haras ^ 
 
 hasra " 
 
 husum (fre- 
 quently 
 aiso hu- 
 sum) ^ 
 
 ras(pl. rus)* 
 
 rafas (and 
 deriva- 
 tives) 
 
 satur 
 
 sakhat ^ 
 
 sarr ^ 
 
 sarab ' 
 
 saraya 
 
 sarba' 
 
 roll of stuff 
 reed pen 
 dried meat 
 pout 
 biscuits 
 
 police 
 howl 
 to cheat 
 to strike 
 to dive 
 
 to guard 
 
 pity 
 
 hot days 
 month 
 Baitna 
 
 head 
 JdcJc 
 
 chopper 
 revile 
 to cheer 
 fasces 
 palace 
 to hurry 
 
 m 
 of 
 
 sahran ^ 
 
 issarmah ' 
 
 sara (but 
 aor. yisri) 
 
 sagar, sagara 
 
 issattah i" 
 
 sattar ^^ 
 
 satarang 
 
 satal 
 
 satl 
 
 sata (and de- 
 rivatives) 
 
 sallat, &c. 
 
 saltah 
 
 issaltan, cfeo^^ 
 
 salata (or 
 salata 
 
 samat, &c. 
 
 sandara 
 
 sandarus 
 
 santil 
 
 sammar (us- 
 ually) is 
 
 samfar, (fee. 
 
 sant 
 
 sitting up at 
 
 night 
 to live fast 
 lie in force 
 
 trees, a tree 
 to lie flat 
 to rule lines 
 
 intoxicate 
 bucket 
 to attack 
 
 incite 
 
 to smooth 
 
 be overweening, 
 
 Sfc. 
 salad 
 
 to scald 
 loft 
 
 varnish 
 sort of harp 
 to nail down 
 
 smooth with 
 
 sandpaper 
 acacia nilotica 
 
 1 So haris guardian, il Mahrlisa Cairo, &c. 
 
 2 So ithassar regret, &c. 
 
 s Though double pi. form husumat. 
 * But rismal capital, itrasmil acquire capital, &c. 
 ^ So maskhiit turned into stone, &c. 
 ^ So surnv joys, m.a.srt.r Joyoits, but masirrat Joys. 
 "^ And sarabatl scavenger. 
 8 And sometimes sihir, &c., to sit up. 
 8 So sarmaha debauchery/, but sirmah debauchee. 
 1" So sittha lying flat, sath sutlih roof. 
 
 11 So satr line, mastara i-uler, <fec. 
 
 1^ But perhaps more usually issaltan, sultan, &c. 
 
 12 So musmar or mismar nail. 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE VOWELS 
 
 15 
 
 simsar (or 
 
 hroker 
 
 fassar 
 
 explain 
 
 simsSr) 
 
 
 fitis (and de- 
 
 be Jdlled 
 
 sinnira. 
 
 fish-hook 
 
 rivatives) 
 
 
 s6t 
 
 lash 
 
 fintas 
 
 cistern 
 
 s6gar 1 
 
 insure 
 
 qarnas 
 
 be chilled 
 
 slira 
 
 chapter of 
 
 qassat, &c. 
 
 divide 
 
 
 Koran 
 
 qist 
 
 pitcher 
 
 sufra (or 
 
 
 kharasan 
 
 stones broken 
 
 sufra),&c. 
 
 table 
 
 
 small 
 
 sukkar (or 
 
 sugar 
 
 khalbas ^ 
 
 to lie 
 
 sukkar), 
 
 
 khurus 8 
 
 he dumb 
 
 &c. 
 
 
 khuaur ^ 
 
 be spoilt 
 
 sultanlya(or 
 
 basin 
 
 lauwas ^ 
 
 bespatter 
 
 sultanlya 
 
 
 masura ' 
 
 pipe 
 
 suqut 2 
 
 to fall 
 
 maskhara i" 
 
 buffoonery 
 
 'asalla 
 
 may be 
 
 n^gli6s (pi. 
 
 large bell 
 
 'arusa ^ 
 
 bride 
 
 nawaghls) 
 
 
 'itis, &c, 
 
 to sneeze 
 
 numriist (or 
 
 dealer in cMna, 
 
 'usman 
 
 Osman 
 
 numriist ^^ 
 
 lamps, 4'c- 
 
 faras * 
 
 mare 
 
 wast, wusti^ 
 
 middle 
 
 z for z : — 
 
 
 
 
 almaz 
 
 diamond 
 
 bazabart 
 
 passport 
 
 az'ar 
 
 tailless 
 
 bazramit 
 
 mongrel 
 
 izzantar 
 
 get morose 
 
 tSza 
 
 fresh 
 
 it'antaz 
 
 be arrogant 
 
 tarabSza (or 
 
 table 
 
 izzaflat 
 
 to slip 
 
 tarab^za) 
 
 
 izzarbin 
 
 storm at 
 
 tuzzina 
 
 dozen 
 
 1 But sukurtah insurance. 
 
 2 So saqt miscarriage, suqqftta door-latch, &c. 
 
 3 But 'arls bridegroom. 
 
 4 • But f aris horseman. 
 
 5 So khalbiis liar. 
 
 6 So ikhras, khurs dumb, cfec, but occa-sionally we hear 
 khurus, &c. 
 
 7 And derivatives khasr^n sp)oilt, khusara loss, pity, &c. 
 s Literary lauwatha. 
 
 9 So dual masurten, but pi. mawaslr. 
 1" With verb itmaskhar, <fcc. 
 11 P). uamarsa. 
 1- So itwassat intervene, wuatant middle, &o. 
 
16 
 
 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 tuzze fishsh 
 
 nonsense 
 
 zallat, &c. 
 
 strip 
 
 tlz" 
 
 buttocAs 
 
 zalat 
 
 stone pave- 
 
 garaz (garaz) 
 
 bell 
 
 
 ment 
 
 gazar ^ 
 
 to butcher 
 
 zambalita 
 
 braid 
 
 gazar 
 
 carrots 
 
 zammar, ifec. 
 
 play on a 
 
 gambaz 
 
 deal in horses 
 
 
 reed 
 
 gumbaz 
 
 gymnastics 
 
 zammat 
 
 tighten 
 
 ganzar 
 
 be rusty 
 
 zahr, zuhur^ 
 
 flowers 
 
 ginzara - 
 
 kind of eye- 
 
 zaura i° 
 
 a choking 
 
 
 lotion 
 
 zor 
 
 throat 
 
 hazziira ^ 
 
 story, riddle 
 
 ziir 
 
 force 
 
 zauwai' * 
 
 forge, tell lies 
 
 'ariza 
 
 petition 
 
 zaf ar ^ 
 
 fat, gi'ease 
 
 fazar, &c. 
 
 burst 
 
 zar " 
 
 to visit 
 
 fantaz ii 
 
 make display 
 
 zaf 
 
 make merry 
 
 faruzi, farozt 
 
 of turquoise 
 
 zabat 
 
 mud 
 
 kbarazan (or 
 
 cane 
 
 za'biit 
 
 looollen cloak 
 
 khazar&n) 
 
 
 za'tar 
 
 thyme 
 
 lazhar 
 
 college of El 
 
 za'faran 
 
 saffron 
 
 
 Azhar 
 
 zagar 
 
 glare at 
 
 lazlaz 
 
 plump 
 
 zaghrat ^ 
 
 shriek from joy 
 
 ma'zur i- 
 
 excused, excus 
 
 zagat 
 
 sioallow 
 
 
 able 
 
 zaqtat 
 
 he in high 
 
 mazmur 
 
 tight 
 
 
 spirits 
 
 mazyara ^^ 
 
 stand fof zir 
 
 and a few others. 
 
 Remaek. — It will be observed that a final long syllable, 
 bearing as it were most of the weight of the word, tends to check 
 the thickening of the consonants of the other syllables. 
 
 1 So gazzar butcher and other derivatives, but we frequently 
 hear gazar, &c., and always yingizir, (fee. 
 
 2 But ginzarl nile-blue. 
 
 ^ But hazzar or hazzar to guess. Children say hazzlira. 
 
 * So zur false, but tazwlr forging. 
 
 ^ So zaffar, &c., but zifir greasy. 
 
 '' And most derivatives, but ziyara or ziyara a visit. 
 
 " So zeta noife. 
 
 And substantive zaghruta, ifec. 
 
 But double pi. zuhurat, and zuhrlya a flower vase. 
 
 So yizwar he chokes, but ziwir he choked, and zauran choking. 
 
 So fantaziya parade. 
 
 But 'uzr excuse. 
 
 Although zlr {an earthen filter) is itself ijronounced with z. 
 
 s 
 
 9 
 10 
 11 
 12 
 IS 
 
GENEEAL REMAEKS ON THE VOWELS 
 
 17 
 
 § 18. On the other hand, a few words written in the literary 
 language with a palatal or hard sibilant are pronounced with 
 the cori'esponding softer consonant : — 
 
 t for t:— 
 tangara 
 tarram 
 tarraz 
 
 saucepan 
 break the teeth^ 
 etntroider 
 
 tuzluk (pi. 
 tiz&lik) 
 turnata ^ 
 
 gaiter 
 
 ton 
 
 In mabsftt content, the t is sometimes pronounced as a 
 dental, and in taiyib good, it resembles the English t. 
 
 d for d : — 
 
 
 
 
 daqS 
 dirs (pi. 
 dirus) 
 dihik, &c. 
 
 he narroiv 
 molar tooth 
 
 laugh 
 
 dufda' 
 madagh, na- 
 dagh 
 
 frogs 
 masticate, chew 
 
 8 for s .■ — 
 
 
 
 
 sabagh * 
 saqal, &c. 
 samgh, &c. 
 sakk 
 
 dye 
 polish 
 gum 
 strike 
 
 sanduq 
 sagh^ 
 saghs 
 sidr" 
 
 box 
 
 work in gold 
 
 sound 
 
 ]yi-east 
 
 sadaq '" 
 
 sar (usually) 
 
 speah true 
 hecome 
 
 siqala (Ital.) 
 simakh 
 
 scaffolding 
 orifice {of ear) 
 
 sidgh 
 sifr 
 siqi" 
 sahra 
 
 cheek 
 
 cipher, hlow 
 he cold 
 desert 
 
 sinebar (or 
 
 sinebar) 
 . sol (Turkish) 
 misfirr i" 
 
 fir 
 
 ivarrant-qfficer 
 turned yellow 
 
 saqqaf 
 
 clap the hands 
 
 
 
 z for z : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 qaz^ra (also c 
 
 azara) filth 
 
 
 1 Of a serpent. 
 " But more usually turnata. 
 8 And derivatives daiyaq narrow, &c. 
 * So sabbagh dyer, &c. 
 5 So sadlq tr'ue, &c. 
 ^ So saq'a frost, saq'an frosty. 
 ^ So sigha, masagh, jeioellery. 
 
 8 As in sS,gh sallm safe and sound, qirshe sagh a tarif piasti 
 ^ So sidert waistcoat. 
 1° Though asfar yellow. 
 
18 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 PRONUNCIATION OF THE CONSONANTS 
 
 S 19. h is pronounced a little thicker than in English; e.g. 
 bon' between, gab he brought ; nb at the end of a word approaches 
 the sound of np, as in zanb fault. 
 
 t and d are more dental than they are in our language, being 
 akin to, if not identical with, the Italian, Spanish, and Celtic 
 dentals. The tongue should be brought well against the front 
 teeth and quickly withdrawn ; e.g. tarak to leave, birid grow 
 cold, t occasionally sounds as d at the end of a syllable, as 
 kadbu loriting it (for katbu, contracted from kfttibu), kilnid it 
 was (for kanit), yidba'. he follows (for yitba'), il bid da this 
 house (for il bet da, il bit da), hadrid iz zabit Ms honour the 
 officer. On the other hand, d sounds as i in the aorist of many 
 verbs whose past tense begins with d, especially when the 
 middle consonant is /, as dihik laugh, dafa' pay, dafan bury, 
 aor., yidhak, yidfa', yidfin (pronounce yithak, &c.) ; shuhhad 
 witnesses, generally sounds shuhhat. 
 
 f is a strong palatal. The tongue is made convex and 
 brought sharply against the palate, towards the middle ; e.g. 
 tab become well, sot voice ; as a final it sometimes sounds as i, 
 as yidbukh he cooks (for yitbukh). 
 
 g sounds very much as the hard g in the English word get. 
 The tongue should strike high about the upper row of teeth ; 
 e.g. gum they come, glr livie, m6g waves. 
 
 gh is perhaps identical with the Northumbrian r, and is 
 nearly equivalent to the Provenjal r grasseye. The uvula lies 
 along the back part of the tongue, the tip of which touches the 
 bottom of the lower row of the front teeth, while the centre is 
 arched ; e.g. ghab to be absent, balagh lo reach. 
 
 h is the English /;, but is more distinctly pronounced, the 
 lips being well opened. It is always sounded whatever its posi- 
 tion in the word, as in huwa he, afham I understand, nadah to 
 call , though between two vowels it is sometimes rather slovenly 
 pronounced, as shehadtu his evidence (almost shadtu). 
 
 A is a smooth but very strong guttural aspirate (see remarks 
 under '). A portion of the breath is forced with some violence 
 through the nostrils i ; e.g. haga thing, balah dcdes. 
 
 1 Spitta says that a short a (of the nature of a furtive 
 pathakh ?) is inserted between t or il and h (thus — rl^h, ru*li), 
 but this appears to be the case only when the syllable is em- 
 phasized and drawn out. RJh and rflh can both be pronounced 
 purely. 
 
PEONUNCIATION OF THE CONSONANTS 19 
 
 d is, like t, a strong palatal. The tongue is placed high 
 above the upper low of front teeth, the tip curfed upwards 
 against the palate. Its peculiarly strong explosive sound, so 
 difiScult to acquire, is less marked in Cairo than among the 
 Arabs of the desert; e.g. daf lie added, hadir readij, 'add to 
 bite. 
 
 r is pronounced more strongly and more forward in the 
 mouth than in English, and only very slightly trilled, if at all. 
 It is always sounded distinctly and with its full value, wherever 
 its position ; e.g. rigl foot, darar damage. 
 
 z as in the word '/.eal ; e.g. zina ornament, ghaz petroleum. 
 In yizkur lie mentions, speaks well of, and a few other words, it 
 sounds as s. z is a very strong z, partaking of the nature of a 
 palatal. It is pronounced at the back of the mouth, and the 
 breath is expelled with considerable force ; e.g. z^lim oppressor. 
 
 s as in seal, but rather more forward in the mouth ; e.g. siis 
 weevil. At the end of a syllable it is often sounded as z, as in 
 the words isma' ! hear ! masdud blocked, maskun inhabited, hisba 
 account (pronounced optionally izma', &c.). 
 
 sh as in English ; e.g. shabb youth, shash muslin. It gener- 
 ally represents the Turkish tch in words borrowed from that 
 language. In the foreign words shakk cheque, shaketta jacket 
 (also pronounced zaketta and gaketta), and occasionally in the 
 word mush not, it is not, it has the sound of zh or English sh in 
 pleasure. 
 
 s is a very strong sibilant pronounced well back in the mouth. 
 The tongue should be held tight, so to speak, and the tip pressed 
 Mgainst the lower front teeth. It often sounds as z, as in 
 qasd intention, usbur ! loait ! sugaiyar small (pronounce optionally 
 qazd, (fee). 
 
 ' is a strong guttural of the same nature as h, and peculiar to 
 the Semitic languages, but is not quite so strongly articulated 
 in Cairene as in some other Arabic dialects ; ^ e.g. 'en eye, 
 
 1 Its exact sound in conjunction witii the different vowels 
 can only be acquired by practice. The following description of 
 ' and h is given by Max Miiller from Czermak. " If the glottis 
 is narrowed and the vocal chords brought near together, not, 
 however, in a straight parallel position, but distinctly notched 
 in the middle, while at the same time the epiglottis is pressed 
 down, then the stream of breath in passing assumes the char- 
 acter of the Arabic hha (A), as distinguished from /(, the spiritus 
 asper. If this hha is made sonant it becomes 'ain. Starting 
 from the configuration as described for hha, all that takes place 
 
20 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 ba' to sell. Sometimes it is barely audible, as in the numeral 
 'ishrin twenty, or in the expression, 'abal ma yigi until he comes; 
 and it has fallen out altogether from the numerals between 10 
 and 20, and from a few other words, as lissa ^ still (for li s sa'a), 
 bid 'annak/cH- le it from you (for bi'id). 
 
 / as in English, except before d, z, z, s, sh, and s, when it 
 approaches very near to the sound of v, as in yifdah he disgraces, 
 yifdal he remains, khifda the voicel i, yifza' he fric/htens, mehafza 
 i/overnment, lafz word, yifshakh he cuts in two, yifsah he explains 
 (pronounce yivdali, ifcc). 
 
 q. The deep guttural Zc-sound of this letter is often heard 
 even in conversation, especially where the words in which it 
 occurs are technical terms, or denote religious objects, or are as 
 a rule confined to the literary language. There are still, perhaps, 
 a few of the higher and learned class who admit no other pro- 
 nunciation, and the foreigner who adopts it will pass with the 
 mass for a man of great erudition. In the words Qur'ftn Koran, 
 qamus dictionary, qat'a ^ (where equivalent to hemza), all classes 
 give it the guttural sound ; but its usual value, whatever its 
 position in the word, is a strong hiatus, such as is generally 
 heard before words beginning with a vowel in German, or in 
 the French word haut. The " educated " q is the English q 
 without its u , and if, while the muscles of the throat are still 
 compressed preparatory to its vocalisation, a simple vowel sound 
 only is allowed to escape, the value of the spiritus q, as heard at 
 the beginning of a syllable, will be obtained. When it occurs at 
 the end of a syllable the muscles are placed in position for the 
 fall q sound, bvit almost immediately released ; e.g. qal to say, 
 faq to awalte. It may of course be doubled like any other 
 consonant. Between two vowels it is liable to be slovenly 
 pronounced and reduced to the value of a weak qat'a, as in 
 faqat only, daqa'iq minutes, laqet / found, baqet I remained, 
 yeqilm he gets up. Bi qadde Sh ? &y how much ? becomes 
 
 in ordei' to change it into 'ain is that the rims of the apertures 
 left open for hha are brought close together, so that the stream 
 of air striking against them causes a vibration on the fissura 
 larangea, and not, as for other sonant letters, in the real 
 glottis." 
 
 1 Of. fisa ( = fi is sa'a) at once, in Algerian. 
 
 2 Qamus, however, is also pronounced with the aspirate; 
 qurTin very rarely. The word qat'a is only known to those who 
 have been to school, where of course only the guttural sound is 
 admitted at lessons. 
 
PKONUNCIATION OF THE CONSONANTS 21 
 
 practically badde eh, and haqqlqatan truhj, liayAtan.i iq before 
 a consonant sometimes sounds almost as g, as in itkhaniqt / 
 quarrelled. 
 
 Remark. — The hard gr-sound of this letter, sometimes heard 
 in Cairo, is peculiar to natives of Upper Egypt and some other 
 parts of the country, and must not be imitated.^ 
 
 k is perhaps slightly aspirated. The tongue should touch 
 the roof of the mouth and not be too hastily withdrawn ; e.g. 
 kan he wai, lik to thee. Before b and d, and sometimes at the 
 end of a syllable, its sound approaches that of ij, as in shuwaiya 
 kblr somewhat large, yikdib he Ups. 
 
 l(h as ch in Scotch loch. The vocal chords are compressed 
 and the back part of the tongue arched ; e.g. khad he tool,-, 
 akhkh bi'other. 
 
 I sounds much as in German, more liquid, trilled, and emphatic 
 than in English; e.g. lei nig/it, kalb dog. The double I in 
 Allah God, is very strongly pronounced. 
 
 m as in English, but usually more emphatic at the beginning 
 of a syllable ; e.g. moiya water, Maryam Mary. 
 
 n as in English ; e.g. n6m sleep, khan inn, bazaar. Before 
 6, and generally before /, it sounds as m, as in ganbu his side, 
 min ba'd after, manfftkh Mown (pronounce gambu, &c.).* 
 When ng occur together, they are pronounced as in English 
 rinff, as in yingah he recovers, gets out of a difficulty, sifinga 
 sponge. 
 
 w as in English, except that its character as a semi-vowel is 
 more apparent. It is pronounced almost as u at the end of a 
 word, as dilw bucket (pronounce almost dilii).* With- a it forms 
 the diphthong au, as in battauten (for battawten contracted from 
 batt&witen) two loaves of coarse bread, daudih (for da we dih) 
 this and that, yaullya (yawllya for ya willy a) lady/ It is 
 from its nature frequently interchanged with u. 
 
 y slightly weaker than in English. Its true value seems to 
 
 1 The word is contracted to haqqatan, then to ha'atan, and 
 the qat'a converted to y. 
 
 ^ It is a very old pronunciation ; the Babylonian dialect was 
 distinguished froim the Assyrian as far back as B.C. 2500 by 
 pronouncing q as g. — (S.) 
 
 ^ Some words seem to be more easily pronounced when n 
 retains its value before / than when it has that of m, as manf us 
 (not mamtils) jealous, angry. 
 
 * It bears the same relation to u that y does to i or to qat'a 
 in such a word as tiy&tro (ti'&tro) theatre. 
 
22 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 lie halfway between y and qat'a ; i e.g. yi'mil he makes, izzgyak 
 how are you ? bahayim cattle, gay coming. _ 
 
 § 20. Care must be taken to " finish " the consonants, that is, 
 to give each of them its full value. Occasionally the first of two 
 consecutive consonants is dropped before it is quite completed ; 
 but the habit of hurrying from one letter to another, to which 
 we are accustomed, is quite strange to an Oriental language. 
 Until he realises this, the foreigner will have difficulty in making 
 himself understood, however good his pronunciation may be in 
 other respects. 
 
 THE HIATUS (qat'a) 
 
 § 21. The Arabs consider, and no doubt rightly, that no syllable 
 can begin with a vowel ; but the hiatus (or spiritus lenia), which 
 they say precedes it, only becomes perceptible before a vowel 
 immediately following a closed syllable, or after an open syllable. 
 It is called qat'a a piece cut off, or (less commonly), hamza com- 
 pression, and in the above-mentioned positions is not easily dis- 
 tinguished from the Oairene pronunciation of q. That it has 
 the value of a consonant is shown by the fact that, when following 
 a closed syllable in the same word, it throws the accent on the 
 vowel which it introduces (§ 39, b.), as in the word mas'Ala 
 question, and that the helping vowel e may stand between the 
 last two consonants of one word and the (apparently) initial 
 vowel of the next, as in qumte ana / got up ; that it is weaker 
 than q follows from the circumstance that ib is constantly elided, 
 as qumt ana (pronounce qum-tana), w ana and I (for we ana), 
 &c., besides having wholly disappeared from many words. It 
 sometimes closes a syllable or even follows a consonant, in both 
 of which cases it has the value of a weak '«i, as in isti'naf 
 appeal, guz' part. It is often pronounced with the least possible 
 exertion, and there is a tendency to drop it altogether at the end 
 of a syllable. - 
 
 DOUBLE CONSONANTS 
 
 § 22. The Arabs are said to be unable to pronounce two con- 
 sonants at the beginning of a syllable without the help of a 
 vowel, and therefore, where they occui' together in foreign words, 
 they detach them by placing a short i or e either before or after 
 
 ' With which it is often interchanged. 
 
 2 Qat'a is not, as a rule, printed in this work before the vowels 
 "■ut its presence must not be forgotten. 
 
DOUBLE CONSONANTS 23 
 
 the first, as Ifransa, or Firansa i (or Pgransa) France, ifrank (or 
 ferank) frank, he^vimo first (Jtal. primo), sifing {is&ag) sponges ; 
 but the natives of Cairo often pronounce br, gr, fr, Icr, and gl, as 
 in krumb callage, ingliz English, as nearly as we can do our- 
 selves without the intervention of a helping vowel.2 
 
 § 23. When a word not followed immediately by another ends 
 in two consonants which cannot be pronounced consecutively, a 
 scarcely audible vowel sound appears between the two, or after 
 the second, as in tib^n ^ (or less frequently tibn^) straw, duh^r 
 dawn. ' in this position causes the preceding consonant to be 
 sounded very sharply, while it has but little value itself,* as in 
 rub' a fourth. 
 
 § 24. The doubling of a particular consonant is called by 
 the Arabs tashdld {strengthening), and may be either necessarij, 
 as being required by the structure of the word itself, as in 
 fahhim to cause to understand (from fihim to understand), fakk 
 to untie , or euphonic, as being due to assimilation of one letter to 
 another, as ish shams the snn (for il shams). 
 
 Remark a. — Observe that the final consonant of the words 
 abb^ father, akhkh Irother, fumm month, and yadd" hand, is 
 single in the literary language and doubled in the colloquial. 
 In the construct form the two former are, however, abfi, akhft, 
 not abbii, akhkhft (§121). Thus we say abbe mln 1 lohose father ? 
 , il akhkhe dih this brother, but abfih his father, akhnhum tJieir 
 Irother. 
 
 Remark I. — The doubled consonants must be distinctly pro- 
 nounced twice over, though when g, h, r, sh, ', /, q, kh, and y 
 are doubled, the first is not quite so fully sounded as the second.'' 
 
 1 The i here is of the nature of that described above (§ 15). 
 
 2 We generally hear itnen ifi'ank, talata (or tAlata) frank. 
 '' I always hear kurumb, as in ' umb-S-rella.' " — (S.) 
 
 5 There is a vast distinction between this sound and the tilin 
 of Upper Egypt or of the inattentive foreign resident. The half 
 vowel inserted is equivalent to the Hebrew sh^va, and the fifth 
 order of the Ethiopic vowels. 
 ■* Spitta. 
 
 ^ Of. Syr. and Chald. abba, whence Lat. albas, Eng. allot. 
 
 '^ Yadd is used for Id in the spoken language, bu^ only in 
 certain expressions borrowed from the literary dialect. So in 
 Syriac we have both yad and idd, Chaldee ayda. 
 
 '■ The double Z of walla or, is not always distinctly pro- 
 nounced in hurried talk, as wala tnen or two (for walla tnen, i.e. 
 walla itnen). 
 
24 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 But when there is a pause after them, either the first only will 
 be heard, while the stress laid upon it causes a slight aspu'ate to 
 be heard ; or, as is the case with two different consonants not 
 pronounceable together, a helping vowel is placed after the 
 second, as Ta.g^ (or ragg«) he shook. Occasionally the second is 
 dropped even where there is no pause, as khash 'al6h (for khashshe 
 'aleh) he loent into his presence. 
 
 § 25. Euphonic tashdid may take place : — 
 
 (a) When the Z of the article il is assimilated to the first letter 
 of the noun to which it is attached, that letter being one of the 
 following : t, t, g, d, d, r, a, z, s, sh, s, k, n ; e.g. it tibn the straw, 
 id darba the hloio, is sSf, the sword, is s§f the summer, in nar the 
 fire (for il tibn, il darba, &c.). 
 
 Remark. — The I not uncommonly remains unchanged before 
 the letters g and k, as il gazzar (or ig gazzar) the butcher, il gum'a 
 (or ig gum'a) tJie week; il kursl the chair, is preferred to ik 
 kurst, while i'g glran the neighbour, is more used than il giran. 
 It is purely a matter of euphony, such harsh combinations as 
 ik kull the whole, being mostly avoided, g appears to assimilate 
 more easily than k. The article occasionally remains intact 
 before the other letters when the word is emphasized. 
 
 (b) When the t of the fourth, fifth, and sixth derived forms 
 of the verb is assimilated to the radical, being one of the above- 
 mentioned letters, with the exception of r and n, or when the 
 sign of the second pers. sing, or third fem. sing, of the aorist is 
 assimilated to t, d, or d / e.g. ittallaqit she was divorced, iggannin 
 he loent mad, ishsharmat it was torn, ikkabb it was poured (for 
 ittallaqit, itgannin, &c.), biddauwar or biddauwar (for bitdauwar) 
 she turns. 
 
 Remark. — Here again g and k often exert no influence, as 
 itgad'an (or iggad'an)i to behave bravely. The imperative itkallim 
 speak is more emphatic than ikkallim. 
 
 (c) When, in the first or second pers. sing, or the second 
 pers. pi. of the past tense of the verb, d is assimilated to ^ or < 
 to t, as khattu (for khadtu) / took it, rabattii (for rabattu) you 
 bound. As a rule, however, onlj' a partial assimilation takes 
 place here, khadtu more often than not sounding as it is written, 
 and the second t of rabattu being less palatal than the first. 
 
 {d) Where the third consonant of the third pers. sing, of the 
 past tense of the triliteral verb is a sibilant, and assimilates the 
 negative sign sh, or is itself assimilated to it, as ma yin'iss (or 
 yin'ishsh) he does not doze, ma yikhlass (or yikhlashsh) he does not 
 
 1 Also idgad'an. (See § 19.) 
 
INTERCHANGE OF CONSONANTS 26 
 
 finish, ma yihbishsh (from yihbis) he does nwt imprison, ma 
 yikhbishsh he does not hake (from yikhbiz). The negative of 
 yiggauwiz he will marry, is ma yiggauwizz, ma yiggauwiss, or 
 ma yiggauwishsh. 
 
 (e) Where one liquid is assimilated to another, as kal lu 
 (for kan lu) there loas to him, i.e. he had ; so yekul lu he has, 
 il la (for in la) if not, lazmil lu (for lazmin lu) necessary (pi.) 
 to him, bal It (for ban 11) it appeared to me, mil litnen (for min 
 litnen) from the two, sakhkhal lu (for sakhkhan lu) he healed 
 for him., mir rigleh (for min rigleh) from his feet, khulkhar 
 rigleha (for khulkhal) the anklets on her feet, khanna (for khalna) 
 our uncle, qunna (for qulna) loe said, ishtiri nna (for ishtiri 
 Ina, i.e. ishtiri Una) iny for us, ana minni r ruhl (for minni 1 
 ruht, i.e. minni li r<\hi) / of myself, ir ra'adit (for in ra'adit) 
 if it thunders, il laqSt (for in laqlt) if I find, kam masik (for 
 kan mSsik) he was holding. 
 
 Remake. — The / of the preposition fi is sometimes assimi- 
 lated to a & following it (the i dropping out), as qa'adu b Bariz 
 they stayed in Paris ; and sh of mush not, to another sibilant, 
 as muz zanbl it is not my fault, mus sahth. it is not true. 
 Kunt / VMS, thou wast, is very frequently pronounced kutt, as 
 kutte fin ? where were you 1 and bint daughter, girl, bitt.'- 
 
 INTERCHANGE OF CONSONANTS 
 
 § 26. The Koranic th is regularly pronounced s in nahwy, 
 while it is represented in the colloquial language by t, and 
 occasionally by s ; thus, Kor. thaqll heavy, thalatha three, 
 nahw. saqll, salasa ; colloq. talata, tiqll, ittaqil, or (less usually) 
 issiquil 'ala to be hm-sh. 
 
 The Koranic dh (dhal) is z in nahwy, d, and occasionally z in 
 Cairene ; thus Kor. akhadha he took, nahw. akhaz ; Cair. akhud, 
 but (from the same root) akhiz Mams , Kor. dhimma conscience, 
 nahw. zimma ; Cair. djmma. 
 
 §27.6 interchanges with m, as mantaldn (or bantalon) trousers, 
 minadim (for bin adam) son of Adam, rubatizm rheumatism. It 
 regularly represents the p, and occasionally the v of foreign 
 languages, ' as bslba papa, batatis potatoes, balt6 palettt, bflra 
 para (a small Turkish coin), babur train, steamboat (Ital. 
 vapori). 
 
 g with h, as bagiir for babiir ; with foreign j-sound, as 
 ginninSr general. 
 
 1 Hebrew and Syriac batt daughter. 
 
26 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 gh with q, as yighdar lie is able (for yiqdar) ; witti Jrh,^ as 
 khishi (for ghishi) 'aleh (aor. yikhsha) to faint, yil^l (more 
 usual than yighsil, though the past tense ghasal is more usual 
 than khasal) he washes, khafar (or ghafar) to watch, ikhtalas 
 (for ightalas) to embezzle. 
 
 h with ' very commonly, in fact whenever the surrounding 
 letters are such as to render it easier to pronounce ; ^ e.g. betahtu 
 Ids, for beta'tu (less usual), biht (for bi't) I sold, rauwah go 
 away, but rauwa' 'ala betak go away home, ihtaraf to confess, 
 'afaq (or liafaq) to seize. 
 
 d with I) (or p) in lamda (pi. lumad) or lamba lamp. 
 
 r with V, as dundurma^ (or durdurma) ice-cream, Bonte Sa'id 
 (or Burte Sa'id) Port Said ; with I, as rakhar the other also (for 
 lakhar, i.e. il akhar), rastabl the stable (for lastabl). Revolver 
 becomes lifurfur. 
 
 z and z with s and s, as izbitalya hospital, bazabort pass- 
 port. (See also under pronunciation.) 
 
 sh with s and s in a few words, as sams (or shams) sun, 
 sakhsh (or shakhs) person, satrang (or shatrang) cliess, sagara 
 {nahwy shagara) tree ;* with z in ingliz English. 
 
 f represents v in lifurfur and a few other words ; but the 
 Arabs are able to pronounce v, and revulver is often heard. 
 (See § 19.) 
 
 q with k in a few Turkish words, as kalfa or (less usually) 
 qalfa chief female servant in a harem. ^ Eau gazeuse is called 
 gazzusa or kazzftza. The nahunj tilqa'i nafsu of his oitm accord,v, 
 pronounced tilka nafsu in the spoken language ; with kh in 
 baqshlsh'' largess, present, from Pers. bakhshish (through Turkish) ; 
 with g (see above). 
 
 1 'e«, when = (//((%, is represented by kli in Assyrian. — (S.) 
 
 - The Hebr. 'ayn is said to have been pronounced very much 
 as h at one time. 
 
 'a The Turkish form. 
 
 * sh is preferred in all these words by the higher class, who 
 regard the other forms as corruptions, though they are perhaps 
 in reality of a higher antiquity. 
 
 5 A few are pi-onounced with k only in Arabic, though 
 written with q in Turkish, as karakon (Turkish qaraqol), there 
 being very little difference between the two letters in that 
 language ; both qarnabit and karnabit cauliflower, are said. 
 
 " This form is universal, not "children's talk," as Spitta 
 says. 
 
INTERCHANGE OF CONSONANTS 27 
 
 k with kh in a tew foreign words, as khartlish cartouch, 
 kharrfib carrob. 
 
 I witli n, as 'ilwto or (less usually) 'inwan address, super- 
 scription, inbarih (pronounce imbarih) for il b&rili yesterday, 
 Isma'ln Ishmael, in fingSn (sometimes) for il fingan i the cup, 
 kabsLlna cajjsule, malifatura manufacture, armall (Turk, ermeni) 
 Armenian, barakat warsal (Turk, berekat versin) thank you, 
 tantana (or tantilla) lace (Ital.), 'ala tubbil ghafil (for tubbin) 
 unexpectedly. (See also under pronunciation.) 
 
 m with li (see above) ; with n, as natarit and matarit it 
 rained, madagh and nadagh cheio tobacco, Fatma and Fatna, 
 pr. 11., malln m.illieme, shindi (Turk, shimdl) at once. (See under 
 this letter, § 19.) 
 
 w with the v of foreign languages, as wabur (though more 
 often babur) vapnre, warsin or warsal (above) ; with y in some 
 parts of weak verbs and verbal nouns, and in the expression ya 
 buwa (sometimes) for ya buya ! my father ! 
 
 y with w (see above) ; with qat'a, as qayil (for q&'il) saying, 
 tiyatro theatre (Ital. teatro) ; ^ conversely in'al ! curse ! (for 
 yin'al) (§ 140). 
 
 TRANSPOSITION OF LETTERS 
 
 § 28. It is not an uncommon thing in Arabic for a word to 
 have two alternative forms with the letters in different positions, 
 as in the following examples ; hafar (or fahar) to dig, lakhbat (or 
 khalbat) confuse, aranib or (rarely) anarib hares, na'al to curse, 
 and yin'al he curses (or la'an and yil'an), iggauwiz to marry, and 
 {naliwy) izzauwig, goz husband, g6za 'wife, and (nahwy) zog 
 and z6ga, bartaman and martaban earthen pot ; so gamadana 
 demijohn, ginninar genercd (w = 1). 
 
 CONTRACTION 
 1. Elision 
 
 § 29. When two vowels meet in different words, one of them 
 generally gives way, together with the qat'a, and falls out, unless, 
 
 1 Assimilation of course plays a part here ; I and n are, 
 owing to their natural affinity, interchanged whenever euphony 
 seems to demand it. 
 
 2 Cf. literary bi'r with Cairene bir ( = biyr), a well. 
 
28 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 of course, there is a pause between the words ; i and the weakei 
 usually yields to the stronger. E.g. : — 
 
 da na (for da 'ana) it is I 
 
 w ana (for we ana) and I 
 
 bidd albis (for biddi albis) I loant to dress 
 
 ya hmad (for ya Ahmad) Ahmed ! 
 
 ya lit (for ya illi) fhou lolio I 
 
 w ummu (for we ummu) and his mother 
 
 lagl (for li agl) for, in order that 
 
 ill atwal minnt (for illi atwal) he luho is taller than I 
 
 da na mmak or da n ummak it is I, your mother 
 
 (for da ana ummak) 
 
 fi 1 bet (for fi il bet) in the house 
 
 ya akh ana bahazzar waiyak lamonlyjoMngioithyoii, 
 
 (for ya akhi ana, (fee.) my friend 
 
 but ya akhi ana 'auzak my friend, I want you.^ 
 
 Remark a. — The i throws out the a sometimes, as in bi smi 
 llah (for bi ismi Allah) in the name of God, bi zni llah by Ood't 
 permission. We may say either inta smak eh 1 or int ismak eh i 
 what is your name ? 
 
 Remark h. — Elision is by no means obligatory upon the 
 speaker, and experience alone will enable the foreigner to make 
 a proper use of it. Euphony and emphasis both play an im- 
 portant part, and it must be remembered that in Arabic, as ir 
 other languages, it is important to lay a little stress upon, or tc 
 
 ' A pause is often useful for the purpose of emphasizing thf 
 word that follows, as ana we abuya keman I and my father too. 
 
 ^ Vowels elided are not printed in the grammar, in order thai 
 the exact pronunciation of the words in a sentence may be olearli 
 represented. It must be remembered that where the initia 
 vowel of a word disappears, the first syllable of that word will ii 
 pronunciation form one with the last sjdlable of the preceding 
 word, and when the final vowel of a word is thrown out, the las 
 consonant of that word will belong to the first syllable of thi 
 following word ; thvis da bne min ? (for da ibne min V) lohose sm 
 is that 1 will be pronounced dab-ne min ; int ismak eh, in-tismal 
 rh. This system has the disadvantage of presenting the word 
 wherever elision takes place in a truncated form ; but as they ar 
 all given in full in the vocabularies, no confusion will arise. Th 
 only alternatives would be to enclose the missing vowels in ever; 
 case in brackets, or indicate their omission by an apostrophe, th 
 sign universally adopted to represent the hiatus qat^a. 
 
CONTEACTION 29 
 
 pause slightly after, one of the words comprising a sentence, 
 though none of them be particularly emphatic, in order to give 
 the listener time, as it were, to look around him. Thus it may 
 be preferable at one time to say, lamma ruhte ana luheii I went, 
 'ande ukhtu at Ms sister's house, at another, lamma ruht ana (pro- 
 nounce ruh tana), or 'and ukhtu (pronounce 'an dukhtu). 
 
 Remark c. — The vowel of the definite article is almost invari- 
 ably elided ; that of the prepositions bi, li, is occasionally retained 
 and pronounced very rapidly, as li (or le) ummu (or 1 ummu) to 
 7iis mother. It never coalesces with the i of the conjunction 
 inn. 
 
 2. Omission, or Falling Out of a Letter 
 
 § 30. Qat'a may be dropped, not only when its vowel coalesces 
 with a preceding one, but after a consonant or vowel, whatever 
 its position in the syllable ; e.g. mi-nen (for min on) whence, kt 
 seh? (for Ids eh?) what purse? r^s head (nahwy ra's), in sha Uah 
 (or in sha Allah) // God loill (both qat'as disappearing). 
 
 Remark. — When a verb in the third person plural is followed 
 immediately by the de'Knite article, the qat'a, which falls away 
 from the vowel of the latter to allow of the elision, is not infre- 
 quently thrown back behind the u of the verb by way of com- 
 pensation, so that we may hear wagad ur ragil (for wagadu r ragil) 
 they fotmd the man. 
 
 § 31. The letter h will often disappear at the end of a word, as 
 Alia (for Allah) God, luh (or lu) to him, buh (or bu) in, hi/, him ; fiqi 
 (literary fiqlh) reciter of the Koran (but plural fuqaha), fl (or fih) 
 there in. 
 
 § 32. ' has fallen out from a few words (see § 19). In umma' 
 li Aly's mother (name also of a plant), it has changed places 
 with the a. 
 
 § 33. The short vowels may disappear : — 
 
 (a) From an open penultimate syllable, where the vowel of 
 the antepenult (if the word is of more than two syllables) is not 
 one long by position ; or from a final syllable if the penultimate 
 is long and open, and a word beginning with a vowel follows ; ^ 
 e.g. lazma (for l&zima) necessary (fem.), khatru (for khatiru) his 
 desire, qimtu (for qimitu) its value, kifaytu (for kifayitu) its 
 
 1 Comp. i-tis in English for it is. 
 
 2 For the shortening of the long vowels see § 13 seq., and comp. 
 Hebr. melek Icing, malka quean, &c., and Ethiopic for the dis- 
 appearance of the vowel. The principle is not unknown to other 
 languages. Thus in Bulgarian we have malcik small, f . malka, &c. 
 
30 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 sufficiencij, wirmit (for wirimit) H swdled (fern.), khadtu (for 
 khaditu) she took it, itkhanqu (for itkhaniqu) they quarrelled, 
 walditu his mother, sahb il bet (for sahib il bet) the owner of the 
 house, 'lyisha and 'esba are both in use as distinct names. 
 
 Remark a. — A very short i or e is sometimes heard in such 
 words as mu'akhlza blaming, laztma necessary, ya BSshir ! 
 Beshir / instead of the contracted form, the vowel of the ante- 
 penult being pronounced half long. "We hear 'alimin as the 
 plural of 'alim learned, because it hardly belongs to the col- 
 loquial language, but 'alma (for 'alima) a female singer.'^ 
 
 Remark h. — a, being the strongest of the vowels, generally 
 retains its place, especialh" when surrounded by strong con- 
 sonants, as baladu his village, darabit she struck, batahu they 
 wounded ; but katabu (or katbu) they wrote, katabitu (or katbitu) 
 she wrote it, wi hyatak ! (for wi hayatak !) hy your life J ma Iqltilsh 
 (for ma laqetush) / did not find it, taratan (or tartan) sometimes, 
 sahni nhas a copper dish, and even talata nsara (for talata nasara) 
 three Christians. 
 
 Remark c. — The short vowel rarely falls out from the penult 
 of adverbs in -an (the accusative ending in the literary dialect), as 
 ghaliban prohahly, saniyan secondly, such words being retained, as 
 strangers, in their borrowed form ; but tartan (above) for taratan. 
 
 Remark d. — When the vowel of the antepenult is iX standing 
 for iw, or t followed by y, the vowel of the penult does not, as a 
 rule, fall out, as yulidu (for yiwlidu) they give birth, subhiyitu 
 ( = subhiyyitu) its morning , it does, however^ sometimes in the 
 latter case, as baqiyt (or baqit) il f uliis (for baqiyit - il fulus) the 
 rest of the money. 
 
 (h) From the prepositions hi, li (bu, lu), and from most of 
 the syllables described in § 14, and other unaccented short 
 syllables at the beginning or in the middle of a word, as darabu 
 bha (for darabu biha) they struck with it (fem.), qulti Ihum (for 
 quite luhum) / said to them, naharak sa'id wi mbftrak (for mu- 
 bdrak, rnebarak) good morning ! fi kmanu (for kumanu) in hu 
 sleeves, bitq^il (for bitequl) slie says, yalla bna, imshi bna (for 
 yalla bina, &,o.)^ let us be going ; ma Iqu Ihumshe Mga (for ma 
 laqu luhumshe) they found nothing for them, moiya ndlfa (for 
 
 1 This word is the Hebr. 'alma a maid. Rules might pos- 
 sibly be laid down as to the cases where the vowel disappears 
 altogether, and where it has an almost imperceptible value, as the 
 Hebrew sh'va. 
 
 - The y here sounds as a weak qat'a. 
 
 3 The fuller forms are very frequently used. 
 
OMISSION OF MOEE THAN ONE LETTER 31 
 
 nidlfa) dean ivater, mit gineh wi ksilr (for we kusur) £100 odd, ma 
 msikfrash (for ma misiktiish) / did not seine it, huwa mn On 1 (for 
 min gn?) lahence is Tie? hlya nkhti mn abuya (for ukhtl min 
 abuya) she is my sister hy my father. 
 
 (c)_ From a few final syllables, including those of some dis- 
 syllabic participles in constant use, though in this- case the vowel 
 does not completely disappear when a word beginning with a 
 consonant follows, and two or three monosyllables ; e.g. 'auz (for 
 'ftwiz) and 'ayz (for 'ayiz) wanting, says (for sayis) grooming, groom, 
 rayh (for rayih) going, ittaub i (for ittawib) yawn, illau (for ilia we) 
 except, only that, 'al (for 'ala) on, adln, adin (for adinl) (though the 
 final i is originally long) when immediately followed by another 
 word, as adin get see I have come, u f waqtina (for fi waqtina) and 
 in our time, ana f fikrt haga I have something in my mind. 
 
 Eemaek. — The negative sign sh doubtlessly stands for she 
 thing. 
 
 § 34. The vowel of the article is sometimes dropped, as lahsan 
 the best, litn§n the tioo, lazhar the university of El Azhar, listam- 
 blilt the man from Stamboul, lakhar or (more usually) rakhar 2 the 
 other, lihmEtl the burdens, liswid the War?,-, lahmar the red,^ 
 Luqsftr (for il uqsi\r = il qustr),* as litnen gum both came, il 
 waraq labyad the white paper, imrat lefendi the gentleman's wife. 
 
 Remark. — The article here forms one word with the noun, as 
 in Maltese, in which dialect it universally drops the vowel when 
 followed by a word beginning with another vowel. 
 
 ABBREVIATION OR OMISSION OF MORE 
 THAN ONE LETTER 
 
 § 35. The semi-consonant y, when both preceded and followed 
 by i or e, may coalesce with them before a single consonant, and 
 form the long vowel i, as biqill * ( = biyqiil) for biyiqul (or 
 biyequl) he is saying. 
 
 Remark a. — Similarly uwi and ^iwu may form u, but in this 
 
 ^ Here aho the contraction will not take place when a word 
 beginning with a consonant follows. 
 
 2 See § 27. 
 
 ^ The vowel is very commonly omitted when the noun is one 
 of those described in § 61. 
 
 * See § 15, Remark. 
 
 5 The i of btqul is not pronounced very long in hurried con- 
 versation. The iy often remains unchanged, as in miyten two 
 hundred. 
 
32 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 case the union is not so complete, as iiliftu (for u wiliftu) and 
 his companion (f.), bi wugudhum (almost Mgudhum) in their 
 presence. 
 
 Remark h. — The iyi of the continued present of the perfect 
 verb occasionally contracts to i, as biktibu (for biyiktibu) they 
 write. 
 
 § 36. The final syllable of 'ala on, and the in of mm from, 
 often fall out before the definite article, as 'al husan (for 'ala 1 
 husan) on tlie horse, 'ag gimal (for 'ala g gimal) ore tlie camels, 'ash 
 shibbak (for 'ala sh shibbak) on the ivindow, mir riglen (for min ir 
 riglen)/i-o?» the feet, mir riggala (for min ir riggala)/rom the men.^ 
 The la of 'ala has also disappeared in the words 'ashan (for 'ala 
 shan) for, in order that, and 'abal (for 'ala bal in the conjunction 
 'abal ma) until. 
 
 § 37. The article itself sometimes falls out after the relative 
 pronoun illi, as il akl, illi nsan yaklu (for illi il insan) tlie food 
 ichich man eats. 
 
 § 38. The following are examples of other forms of abbrevia- 
 tion : hayatan ^ (or haiyatan) truly, sa'atak or sa'tak (for sa'adi- 
 tak) 2 your Excellency, sid * or si (for saiyid) lord, master, lissa 
 (for His &k'&)yet, still, mahiish, mvlsh, mush, mish (for mahuwash) 
 he, it, is not, not, ma hish (for ma hiyash) she is not, wala hish 
 nor is she, wad (for walad) buy, ta'a (for ta'ala ! ) come ./ u m ba'd 
 (for t min ba'd) and after, kur rismalu (for kulle rismalu) all Ids 
 capital, kulle shin kan (for kulle shg in kan) whatever it be, min- 
 admtn (for beni adamiyin) sons of Adam, mortals, sal kher or misa 
 1 kher ( = yimassik bi 1 kher) good evening, hamdilla for (il) 
 hamdu li llah praise be to God. 
 
 Remark. — Corruptions from foreign languages, as warsha 
 workshop, sibinsa (Ital. dispensa) pantry, kishk (or kushk) almaz 
 (Turk, qush qunmd::) asparagus, occur in Arabic as in other 
 languages. * 
 
 ' We cannot say 'atibn on straw, 'ashibbak ore a windoio, 
 nor can at tibn, 'ash shibbak stand for 'ala tibn, 'ala shibbak, as 
 tSpitta. 
 
 - See § 19, note. 
 
 8 Sa'adtak is also in use, us indeed are all the full forms of 
 the examples except li s sfi'a. 
 
 ' Whence Spanish Cid. 
 
 '" The last example is an instance of "popular etymology," 
 the Turkish words having been changed into others of similar 
 ■sound but different meaning. Comp. Rotten Row from Route dtt 
 Roi. 
 
ACCENT 33 
 
 ACCENT 
 
 § 39. The accentuation of the syllable is more than usually 
 marked in Egyptian Arabic, and is a distinguishing feature of 
 the dialect. It is important, therefore, to master the rules by 
 •which it is governed. They are as follows : — 
 
 (a) The accent is on the last syllable : — 
 
 1. When it contains a long closed vowel or a short vowel 
 
 closed by two consonants; e.g. harden cold, bii'idt / 
 became cold. 
 
 2. In the following words when standing alone : anhu, anhi, 
 
 anh^, anhiim, minhii, minh^, minhilm which, who, ^c; 
 ah6, ah^, ahiim there he, she is, they are ; ikhkhi ! pugh 1 
 adi see here I iyl ! (pronounce iyi-i-h !) how now ! ikhsM ! 
 for shame t iffl ! fie I ^ 
 
 3. Exceptionally, by way of emphasis, the other syllables 
 
 being also, but not to an equal degree, accented, as 
 abad^n never ! hasib looh out ! tannu qa'id henak 
 lammSl . . . dar abuh u gih he remained sitting there till 
 at last his father came (or right on till, ^c). 
 
 4. In a few foreign words, as rab6 ^ (Fr. rabot) plane, 
 
 sukurta - insurance. 
 Remark. — Da, dih, dt this, lu to him, lak to you, &c., bu in 
 him, bak in you, (fcc, and even liha to her, biha in her, luhum to 
 .them, buhum in them, may be used as enclitics, and throw their 
 accent back to the last syllable of the word preceding them,^ 
 .as ir ragil da this man, il binti dl this girl, 'al4 da on this, da wi 
 ■dih this and that, makhtub^ * lu betrothed to him. 
 
 1 A slight aspirate is heard at the end of all these words, so 
 that they might perhaps be classed under 1. 
 
 ^ Sometimes a consonant is added in foreign words so that 
 the accent shall not fall on a final open syllable, as hantur 
 •■(Turk, hinto, Hungar. hintff) carriage, victoria. Eab6, sukurta, 
 ■ifec, may also be written with a final h. 
 
 8 As ze in Ethiopic and za in literary Arabic, in the 
 ■expressions liza, minza. 
 
 * For the lengthening of the vowel see § 1 2. Li and .bi with 
 the pronominal suffixes, when attached in sense to a preceding 
 word, always, unless emphasized, throw back their accent to the 
 final syllable of that word ; thus we pronounce iddlhiim lu give 
 Mm them, but iddlhum luh give them to him, with emphasis 
 -on Mm. 
 
 c 
 
34 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 (b) It falls on the penult : — 
 
 1. In words of two syllables, when the last syllable does 
 
 not contain a long closed vowel or a short vowel closed 
 by two consonants. 
 
 2. In polysyllabic words, when the penult contains a long 
 
 vowel or one closed by two consonants, or when it 
 contains a short vowel and the antepenult contains a 
 vowel closed by two consonants ; or, in a word of more 
 than three syllables, when the antepenult is short and 
 open ; provided that, in each of these cases, the last 
 syllable do not contain a long closed vowel or a short 
 one closed by two consonants. Ji.g^ b&'id cold, hiridtu 
 you (plur.) took cold, shafitui she saw him, 'askdri 
 soldier, wagaditu she found him, sagariti ^ my tree. 
 
 3. For emphasis, as da'iman always (for dA'iman). 
 Remark a. — In the words khaditu she took it, kalitu she eat 
 
 it, the accent is sometimes on the antepenult, but more often on 
 the penult, as in the longer forms, akhadltu, akalitu. 
 
 Eemaek b. — When the accent would be on the penult, but. 
 for a long final syllable, it is generally divided between the 
 two, the former sometimes receiving the greater stress, while 
 the vowel of the latter is slightly shortened ; e.g. arbe'in forty, 
 mewalld'm lighting (plur.), Ism4'in,^)\ n., Ibi'Ahim,^r. n. 
 
 Remark c. — When the antepenultimate is long, but followed 
 by a short helping vowel " connecting it with the suffix, the 
 accent, though usually on the penult, may fall either entirely 
 on the antepenult or partially on the antepenult and partially 
 on the penult, as in kulluhum all of them, biddukum you want, 
 tanniha she went on, agranniha inasmuch as she, zeyukum as 
 you, keinniha as if she, which may be pronounced kiilluhum, 
 kulluhum, or kuUiihum, &c., according to where the speaker 
 desires to lay the stress. Kiillilhum is, of course, more emphatic 
 than either kiilluhum or kulliihum. 
 
 Remark d. — In a few adverbs ending in an, derived from the 
 literary language, the accent, though generally on the ante- 
 penultimate, occasionally falls on the penultimate syllable, as 
 t^ratan (or tarAtan) sometimes. 
 
 Remark e. — The first syllable of the construct form of the 
 numerals talatt, khamast, and tamant is accented, because in pro- 
 nunciation the t passes on to the next word, as kh^mas tuwad five 
 
 1 Sometimes pronounced shSifitu or contracted to shaftu. 
 
 2 Substantives of this form are usually contracted, as sagarti^ 
 baqartu his cow, while verbs as a rule remain vmchanged. 
 
EXEKCISE IN PRONUNCIATION 35 
 
 rooms, taman tunfus eight persons (for khamast uwad, tamant 
 unfus). 
 
 (c) It falls on the antepenult in words of three syllables when 
 the penult and antepenult are both open and the vowel of the 
 former is short ; and in words of more than three syllables, when 
 the antepenult is long and open and the penult short and open, 
 provided in both cases that the final syllable do not contain a 
 long closed vowel, or a vowel closed by two consonants ; e.g. 
 dArabu they struck, bdladu Ms village, me'^khiza ^ reproach, 
 sSigaru he insured it. 
 
 Eemabk. — Where the vowel of the antepenult is ■& stand- 
 ing for iw or uw, the accent will be on the penult, as yCilldu the]/ 
 give birth. 
 
 (d) It is never placed farther back than the antepenult, and 
 sometimes in hurried speech does not fall on any particular 
 syllable, as in the word tani in tani inarra ma ti'milshe kede 1 
 don't do so again 1 
 
 Monosyllabic words ending in a short vowel, as wi, we and, 
 bi, li, (fee, are generally unaccented, but sometimes a following 
 word is emphasized by a stress being laid on them, as ana qulti 
 lak marra wi t tanya wi t talta 1 have told you once arid tivice 
 and thrice, inta tli'te kaddab bi kalamak nafsu i/ou have proved 
 to be a liar by your own statement. The prepositions bi, li, with 
 the pronominal suffixes and the demonstrative da, di, become 
 enclitics when not emphatic, and are regarded as part of the 
 preceding ^ word. Even dau (for da we) throws back its accent, 
 as in kulle md dau. 
 
 EXERCISE IN PRONUNCIATION AND 
 ACCENTUATION ^ 
 
 Hikayit il har^mi 1 mazlum. 
 
 Kan fi har^ml r^h y6m min dol yisraq bet wSthid tiugir. Qam 
 tili' 'ala 1 hSta we misik fi sh shibb^k. Tili' ish shibbak fi idu, 
 wiqi' 'ala 1 ard, inkAsarit riglu. Khad b4'du we rah yi'rug 'and 
 il q^di ; qal lu : " Ana kiinte rayh dsraq b§t it t%ir il fuHnt ; 
 till'te 'ala 1 h^ta we misikte fi sh shibbak ; qam ish shibbak till' 
 fi Ml ; wiqi't, inkdsarit rigll." Qam il qadi dmar wahid 'askdrl 
 yerdh * yeglb sahb il bgt. Rah g^bu we gih quddam il q^dl. 
 
 1 But words of this form are generally contracted. 
 
 2 Though they are not so printed in this work, to prevent 
 confusion. 
 
 3 The words contained in the following story will be found in 
 the vocabularies. 
 
 * See§ II, note. 
 
36 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 S&'alu 1 qadt : " Izz%, yk r^gil, shibbakak mush mesAmmar talyib? 
 ahu 1 liaraml da 1 masktn kan rayih yisraq betak; till' 'ala 1 
 Mta ; misik fi sh shibbak ; qkm ish shibbak tili' fi Idu ; wiqi', 
 inkasarit riglu; bAqa 1 haqqS 'alek dilwAqt." Qal lu satb il bet; 
 " W ana m^ It, j&, sMl? hiiwa ana illt rakkibt ish shibbak? da 
 shughl in naggar illi '4malu." Qal il qadt : " Hatu n naggar ! " 
 Rahu gahdh ; qal lu 1 qadl : " Izzey inta ma rakklbtish ish 
 shibbak da zeyi n nas 1 Sho bi sAbabak il harami da Hi kan rayih 
 yisraq bet ir ragil da wiqi', inkasarit riglu." Qal lu : " W Ana 
 mS 11, ya sldi ? da mush shughlt : da shughl il binna illi rakkib 
 ish shibbak da fi 1 heta." Qal il qadl : " Taiyib, hatu 1 banna." 
 Rahu gabuh. S4'alu 1 qadl : " LSh ma rakkibtish ish shibbak 
 da taiyib ? " Qal lu : "WalMht, ya sldl, da w ana bdbni 1 bet da 
 kanit binte hflwa f 4yta 'al^ya Ubsa gallablya masbtfgha sAbgha 
 kuwaiyisa. Basset liha, qumt itlahSt 'an shugll we ma 'iriftish 
 arakkib ish shibbak zeyi n nas." Qal luhum il qadl : " Rtihu 
 hatu 1 bint illi kanit labsa g gallablya k kuwaiyisa dJ." Qamu 
 rahu, gabuha lu. Qal liha 1 qadl : " Leh kuntl labsa g galla- 
 blya 1 masbugha 1 " Qalit lu : " W ana ma 11? da 1 haqqe 'ala 
 s sabbitgh illi sAbagh il gallablya Hi kunte labsaha." Amar il 
 qadl yegibu s sabbagh. Rahu g^buh ; lakin ma 'irifshe yequl 
 li§,ga. Q&m il qadl qal luhum : " Khudiih, ishnuqiSfh 'ala bah 
 dukk^nu." Khadlih yishnuqtfh, laqi![h tawil we bab id dukk^n 
 w^tl. Rahu qalfl 11 1 qadl : " Da r ragil tawll qawi we bab id 
 dukk^n sughaiyar ; rayhln nishniiqu zzey ? " Q41 luhum il q&dl : 
 "R(jM shufii Ikum wahid qusaiyar, ishnuquh." Rahum dauwAru 
 'ala wahid qusaiyar, khadtfh, shanaqtfh. 
 
 THE ARTICLE 
 
 § 40. There are two articles in Egyptian Arabic — the definite 
 article il ^ the, which is indeclinable, and the indefinite wahid, 
 which agrees in gender and number with its noun, whether ex- 
 pressed or understood, as il bab the door, il mara the woman, ir 
 riggala ^ the men, wahid ragil a man, wahda marra a woman, 
 waljda gat a {woman) came. 
 
 Remark a. — The adjective follows its substantive, and when 
 
 1 Not el, as it is generally written, though the very liquid 
 and semi-vowel nature of the Arabic I tends to give the i a 
 slight e-colouring. The full value of the vowel returns in 
 euphonic tashdld. It is written il in Maltese. It often has an 
 obscure, neuter sound. 
 
 ^ For the assimilation of the I, see § 25. 
 
THE ARTICLE 
 
 37 
 
 the latter is definito the article is repeated with the adjective, as 
 il b§,b il kibir the hicj door. 
 
 Remark h. — The indefinite article is very commonly omitted, 
 or its place is supplied by a noun of unity (§ 42). 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 umm 
 
 mother 
 
 darab 
 
 he struclc, fired 
 
 abuh 
 
 his father 
 
 darabu 
 
 they struclc 
 
 bgt 
 
 house 
 
 wiqi' 
 
 he fell 
 
 walad (pi. 
 
 hoij 
 
 kan 
 
 he was 
 
 wilad) 
 
 
 rah 
 
 he loent 
 
 bint (pi. 
 
 girl, daughter 
 
 'add 
 
 he hit 
 
 banat) 
 
 
 yigi 
 
 he will covie 
 
 kitab 
 
 look 
 
 shidld 
 
 strong, violent 
 
 qalam 
 
 pen 
 
 kuwaiyis 
 
 pretty 
 
 hawa 
 
 wind 
 
 'aguz 
 
 old 
 
 husan 
 
 horse 
 
 taza 
 
 fresh 
 
 kaib 
 
 dog 
 
 taiyib 
 
 good 
 
 babtir 
 
 steamboat, 
 
 iswid 
 
 Mack 
 
 
 train 
 
 kibtr (f. 
 
 big, old 
 
 kurst 
 
 chair 
 
 kibira) 
 
 
 ras (f.) 
 
 head 
 
 sughaiyar 
 
 small, little 
 
 Id' 
 
 hand 
 
 Isattal 
 
 bad 
 
 qutta 
 
 cat 
 
 gi'an, ga'an 
 
 hungry 
 
 sufra, sufra 
 
 dining-table 
 
 huwa, huwa 
 
 he, it 
 
 gih 
 
 he came, has 
 
 hina 
 
 here 
 
 
 come 
 
 bukra 
 
 to-morrow 
 
 iddinl 
 
 give me 
 
 -ui 
 
 his, him, it 
 
 shuft 
 
 I saw 
 
 -hai 
 
 her, its, it 
 
 katabna 
 
 ice lorote 
 
 
 
 Note. — The present tense of the substantive verb is not 
 generally expressed in Arabic in positive sentences. 
 
 EXERCISE 1 
 
 Umml gat. Iddini qalam. Shufte husan iswid. Ir riggala 
 hina. Katabna 1 kitab. II banat darabu umml. II walad 
 wiqi'. II husan kuwaiyis. Ir ragil 'agtiz. II hawa kan shidid. 
 Huwa rah. II kalbe 'add il bint. II babur yigt bukra. II 
 kursi iswid. II 'fish taza. Wahda mara gat. Abfih ragil taiyib. 
 Kalbu ga'an. Qalamha battal. 
 
 1 Attached as inseparable sufiixes to verbs, nouns, prepo- 
 sitions, and conjunctions. 
 
38 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 EXERCISE 2 
 
 The steamboat is small. The horse is hungry. The house 
 has fallen. A big dining-table. A little boy has come. Give 
 me (a) good pen. The men struck the boy. A large steamboat- 
 came. The horse bit the dog. A big boy came (and) struck the 
 girls. Her head is large. 
 
 THE NOUN 
 THE NOUN SUBSTANTIVE 
 
 § 41. The noun in Arabic may be either primitive, as bab door, 
 or derivative, as merkib ship (from rakab he rode). Of the 
 latter the majority are derived from verbs,i but a large number 
 are denominative, i.e. derived from other nouns, as merakbl 
 boatman (from merkib), bauwab doorkeeper (from bab), and a few 
 from other parts of speech, as ma'tya court, suite, from the 
 preposition ma' with. 
 
 § 42. Denominatives include : — 
 
 (a) Nouns of unity, denoting the individual of a class. 
 These are formed by the addition of a to the primitive noun, 
 or ya where the noun ends in a vowel ; e.g. : — 
 
 baqar 
 
 ghanam 
 
 gamus 
 
 samak 
 
 sagar, shagar 
 
 fi\l 
 
 batatis 
 
 sillim 
 tub 
 
 baskawit 
 shughl 
 
 kine 
 
 sheep 
 
 buffaloes 
 
 fish 
 
 trees 
 
 beans 
 
 potatoes 
 
 steps, ladder 
 bricks 
 biscuits 
 work 
 
 a kind of cu- 
 cumber 
 pears 
 mandarin 
 oranges 
 bunti (or bultl) a kind of fish 
 
 baqara 
 ghanama 
 gamusa 
 samaka 
 
 a cow 
 a sheep 
 a buffalo 
 a fish 
 
 sagara, shagara a tree 
 
 fftla 
 
 batatsa (for 
 
 batatisa) 
 sillima 
 tuba 
 
 baskawita 
 shughla ^ 
 
 a bean 
 a potato 
 
 a step 
 a brick 
 
 qatta 
 
 kvTmmitra 
 yusf ef endl ' 
 
 qattaya * 
 
 kummitraya 
 yusfefendiya 
 
 bultiya 
 
 a i 
 
 a job, some- 
 thing to do 
 a cucumber 
 
 a pear 
 
 a mandarin 
 
 1 For the formation of these nouns see under the verb 
 (§§ 228-39). _ 2 For yHsif EfendL 
 
 ^ Shughlana is used in the same way. 
 * The a is lengthened by the accent falling on it. 
 
THE NOUN 
 
 39 
 
 Remark a. — The primitive foims baqar, §agar, &c., are 
 collective nouns, denoting the whole class, not, strictly speaking, 
 plurals.i They generally themselves admit of a plural form as 
 well as the nouns of unity. They are used more frequently of 
 nattiral than artificial objects, and in the case of animals the 
 same form denotes both the male and female individual. 
 
 Remark 6. — From bunduq guns, is formed bunduqlya a gun ; 
 khara dung, makes kharya. 
 
 Remark c. — The foreign word fuluka means both sldffs and 
 a sldff, g§,n and ginn genii and genius (but the adjective ginnt 
 and its fem. ginnlya are also used of the individual). On the 
 other hand, qamar and qamara moon, sikktn and sikklna a 
 knife, shum and shflma a thick stick, and some others are used 
 indiiferently of the single object only.^ 
 
 Remark cl. — The noun of unity sometimes denotes a portion 
 of the whole, as qamh wheat, qamha a field or a small quantity 
 of icheat, bedingan the egg-plant, bedingana a field of egg-plants 
 (or a single egg-plant), maqat cucumbers, maqata a bed of cucimi- 
 bers. From qamha is formed qamhaya a handful of wheat (or 
 a grain of wheat) ; so qashsh straw, qashsha a little straw, 
 qashshaya a very little straw (or a blade of straw). 
 
 Not a few words denoting nationalities form their nouns of 
 unity by adding the adjectival termination I, as : — 
 
 lingltz 
 
 the English 
 
 ingllzt 
 
 an Englishman 
 
 il 'agam 
 
 the Persians 
 
 'agaml 
 
 a Persian 
 
 il 'arab 
 
 the Arabs 
 
 'arabi 
 
 an Arab 
 
 ir rum 
 
 the Greeks 
 
 rumt 
 
 a Greek 
 
 ish sharkas 
 
 the Circassians 
 
 sharkasl 
 
 a Circassian 
 
 il arna'ut 
 
 the Albanians 
 
 arna'utt 
 
 an Albanian 
 
 il ifrang 
 
 the Europeans 
 
 ifrangt 
 
 a European 
 
 il malak^n 
 
 the Americans 
 
 malakanl 
 
 an American 
 
 ish shilikht 
 
 the Bohemians 
 
 shilikhtl 
 
 a Bohemian 
 
 1 We may compare pea, peas, pease ; fish, fishes, fish, in 
 English. But the English collective nouns have no plural. It 
 is strange that the plural of the Arabic collectives should 
 denote the individual. There is very little difference in mean- 
 ing between the plural of the noun of unity and that of the 
 collective. 
 
 2 We say bi 1 lei by night, fi 1 lei in the night, lei u 
 nahar night and day, but lela a night, il lela to-night. The 
 higher classes use qamara only in the sense of moonlight, if 
 at all. 
 
40 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Relative adjectives used as substantives and denoting a pro- 
 fession, trade, or quality are formed by the vowel t or tbe Turkish 
 termination gi being added to the plural, and occasionally to the 
 singular of the primitive noun ; e.g. sa.' atim^atch-maker (from 'W/ 
 sa'at, pi. of sa'a loateli), barad'l maker of donkey-saddles (from / 
 baradi', pi. of barda'a a donkey-saddle), masha'li (for masha'ill) 
 torch-hearer (from masha'il torohes), kutubln&oo7<seZ?er (from kutub ^ 
 hooks), tashrlfatgt master of ceremonies (from tashrifat, pi. of 
 tashrlfa), baramilgl cooper (from baramll, pi. of barmll barrel), 
 gazmagi shoemaker (from gazma a pair of shoes). 
 
 Remark. — The termination gi becomes shi in a few words, 
 as tumbakshl a seller of tumhak {Persian tohaeco), gumrukshl 
 a custoin-house officer, ashsht a cook.^ 
 
 The primitive noun, whether in the plural or singular, often 
 undergoes some change when receiving the termination ; e.g. 
 dakaknt a shopkeeper (from dakakln, pi. of dukkan shop) — the t 
 falling out,2 iarairgi poulterer (irom fararlg, pi. of farrug), turshagi 
 seller of pickles (irom txn-shi pickles), burugi bugler (from biiri bugle), 
 tazkargi ticket-collector (from tazkara ticket) — the a falling out ; so 
 'arbagt coachman (from 'araba ^ carriage), husarl mat-maker (from 
 husr mats). In turabi grave-digger (from turab earth), and khudari 
 greengrocer (from khudar greens), the a is shortened. In sanadgl 
 trunk-maker (from sanadiq, pi. of sanduq box), the consonant as 
 well as the vowel has fallen out. 
 
 Some nouns of this class are formed from fictitious or unused 
 plurals ; e.g. barasml vendor of clover, dakhakhni tohacconift, fatatri 
 pastry-cook (from supposed plurals barasim, dakhakhln, faUtir), 
 gizamati shoemaker, from an unused plural of gizam (itself the 
 plural of gazma). 
 
 A few take the termination Can, and others are quite irregular 
 in their formation ; e.g. fasakhani seller of fasikh {salted fish), 
 halawant (or halwagi) confectioner (from halawa sweets), fakahant 
 ^2MYe?-er, from fakha ( for fakiha)/Vi«y , nashashqi seZ/er 0/ swm/ (from 
 nishiiq), buzatl, buzawati, or buzwagl keeper of a beershop (Mza), 
 a drunkard, suramati cobbler (from sarma a kind of shoe), qurad^tt 
 a keeper of monkeys (qurtid), khamurgl innkeeper (from khamamlr, 
 pi. of khammara), ma'addawi ferryman (from ma'addiya ferry) ; 
 'utuqi cobbler, seems to be formed from the adjective 'attq ancient ; 
 
 1 These words are borrowed direct from Turkish, in which 
 language g is pronounced soft. 
 
 - It is retained, however, in sakaklnl cutler, and some others. 
 •^ A Turkish word for which 'arablya is used in Arabic. 
 
THE NOUN 41 
 
 'azabangi bachelor, is a lengthened form of '4zib ;^'so falasangl 
 bankrupt (from faiis). 
 
 (6) The abstract idea of the primitive noun. 
 
 Substantives of this class end in iya, and are often identical 
 with the feminine singular of the relative adjective or of a sup- 
 posed relative ending in t ; e.g. insaniya humanity (from insftni 
 human), ittifaqiya agreement (from ittifaqt), bashawiya pashaship, 
 bShawtya' beyship, shitwlya pointer season, maghribiya time of 
 sunset, subhlya morning,'^ 'asriya ^ afternoon, safartya (or sifarlya) 
 time spent in travelling, irip,^ himarlya donkeyishness, 'umadlya 
 the office of ^umda {headman of a village), mashghMya a being 
 busy (from partic. mashghUl), mafhiimlya comprehension, maq- 
 sftdlya purposing, nutii'lya (adj. nat') uncouthness, 'uziibtya 
 celibacy (adj. 'azib), gumiidlya hardness, khushftnlya rough- 
 ness. 
 
 The same form sometimes denotes concrete objects ; e.g. 
 namtislya mosquito curtain, raqabiya collar, sukkartya sugar basin, 
 'ishrlntya a piece of 20 piastres, mashrablya luindoio in a wooden 
 screen or the screen itself. 
 
 Remark a. — In some cases a feminine adjective is used 
 absolutely, its substantive being understood (§§ 331, 332), as il 
 liarblya tlie toar-office, for (nazart) il umiir il harbtya. 
 
 Remark b. — Sometimes there is no noun in use, to which the 
 substantive can be referred for its origin, as fisqtya fountain, 
 hanaftya tap, battanlya blanket. 
 
 (c) The diminutive of the original noun. This class is more 
 limited in Cairene Arabic than the literary dialect. The forms 
 it takes will appear from the following examples : binaiya a little 
 daughter, girl (from bint), shuwaiya a little (from she thing), 
 wilaiyid small boy (from walad), Ruhaiyim,* ^r. n. (from rahlm 
 merciful), bihera lake (from bahr sea), qutet kitten (from qutt 
 cat), kuleb puppy (from kalb dog), shuwesha a little tuft of hair 
 (from shiisha), 'ubed little slave (in pr. n. 'ubed Alia), suweqa ^ 
 a little marlcet-plaee (from s"flq), hinent small loaf (from hanlim), 
 sattuta (or sattilt) young lady (from sitt), fasfusa small abscess, 
 qarqiisha small biscuits, dalWa spoilt child (no primitive noun), 
 .FatHma and Fatvlm little Fatma, 'aiyflsha little Aisha, Zanuba 
 
 1 Matinee, as distinguished from subh matin. 
 
 2 As distinguished from asr. 
 8 Safar a voyage, journey. 
 
 * A bedawi name. 
 
 5 Not much used in Cairo. 
 
42 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 little Zenah, bahraya pond (from bahr), gabalaya i hilloch, grotto 
 (from gabal mountain), sagaraya sliruh, moiya (for muyya, for 
 mawaya) loater, from ma' (not used). 
 
 {d) A collection or multitude of things, as maqat a bed of 
 cucumbers (from qatta).^ 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 hat 
 
 Irring 
 
 IJ 
 
 
 to me 
 
 idda 
 
 he gave 
 
 fen? 
 
 
 where ? 
 
 gab 
 
 he brought 
 
 foq 
 
 
 on, up, ovei 
 
 yegtb 
 
 he will bring 
 
 qawi 
 
 
 very 
 
 fatah 
 
 he opened 
 
 min 
 
 
 from 
 
 Efendt 
 
 gentleman, sir 
 
 'ala 
 
 
 on 
 
 kabrit 
 
 matches 
 
 EXER( 
 
 min ' 
 
 3ISE 3 
 
 ala 
 
 from off 
 
 Is sukkariya 'as sufi-a. U 'arablya battala qawt. Is sa'att 
 yeglb is sa'a bukra. Shuft il kalb fi 1 maqat. Lef endi wiqi' min 
 'ala husanu. II kuleb 'add il qutta. II gazmagi gab il gazma. 
 Ir ragil idda 1 husan berslm. Gih hina ragil 'aguz qawl.^ II 
 'azabangt rah il bet (home). 
 
 EXERCISE 4 
 
 The boy will bring the book. The doorkeeper opened the 
 door. The gentleman is very hungry. The pastry-cook gave 
 the boy a biscuit. The dog saw the kitten up the tree. The 
 cows are very small. Give me (some) water. The pickles are 
 on the table. The fountain is very large (f.). He gave me a 
 little. Bring me a watch. 
 
 THE NOUN ADJECTIVE 
 
 § 43. The derivative adjectives, like the substantives, may he 
 either verbal or denominative. 
 
 § 44. Relative adjectives are formed by the addition of the 
 
 1 Compare those of the same form mentioned above (a. 
 Rem. d.). They may also be regarded as diminutives. 
 
 2 The only instance, perhaps, in the spoken language. The 
 literary form is maqtha'at, from qiththat ( = qatta). 
 
 8 The adverb follows the adjective it qualifies. 
 

 THE 
 
 NOUN 
 
 
 terminations i, 
 e.g. :— 
 
 turki 
 
 ivt, awt, dwt, dni 
 
 dt%, or It to the 
 
 Drimitive nc 
 
 Turlcisli 
 
 from turk 
 
 
 'arabt 
 
 Arabic 
 
 „ 'arab 
 
 
 sukkari 
 
 sugary 
 
 „ sukkar 
 
 sugar 
 
 shahii 
 
 monthly 
 
 ,, shahr 
 
 
 rigali 
 
 belonging to 
 
 „ rigal (pi. 
 
 
 
 men 
 
 of rEigil) 
 
 
 sanawi 
 
 yearly 
 
 „ Sana 
 
 year 
 
 ghalab^wi 
 
 chattering, 
 talkative 
 
 ,, ghalaba 
 
 chatter 
 
 auwiMni 
 
 first 
 
 , , auwil 
 
 
 tarfani 
 
 at the end, last 
 
 „ tarf 
 
 end, point 
 
 ySmati 
 
 daily 
 
 I! ydra. 
 
 day 
 
 lelati 
 
 nightly 
 
 „ lei 
 
 night 
 
 bughdadlt 
 
 of Bagdad 
 
 
 
 Remark a.- 
 
 —Many adjectives in dwi are used only as 
 
 stantives, as ; — 
 
 
 
 
 gabalft-vvi 
 
 a mountaineer 
 
 tantlwl 
 
 a native 
 
 simmawl 
 
 magician (irora 
 
 
 Tanta 
 
 
 sixauipoison) 
 
 dungulawt 
 
 a native 
 
 masr&wl 
 
 an Egyptian 
 
 
 Dongola 
 
 turkawl (or 
 
 a Turk 
 
 
 
 tirkawi) 
 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 sub- 
 
 of 
 
 o.f 
 
 Remakk 6. — Foqanl tipper, is formed from the preposition f6q, 
 tahtanl lower, from taht beneath, qablanl from qabl. 
 
 Kemark c. — As in the case of substantives, a letter is some- 
 times added to the primitive noun, as khulaqi quick-tempered 
 (from khulq temper^. Most substantives in a form their relative 
 adjectives by changing that vowel into %, as khilqa nature, 
 khilqi natural, shitwa winter, shitwl. Damm Mood, makes 
 damawl, akhkh brother, akhawi ; sharaq drought lengthens the 
 a of the final syllable and makes sharaql ; sharqawi, though 
 formed from sharq east, is the relative adjective of sharqtya, the 
 province of that name ,; so gharbawi native of Gharbiya, bahrawi 
 (from bahr) native of Bdiera. A few in % are formed like sub- 
 stantives denoting trades, &c., from plurals (some unused or 
 fictitious), as qabaqlbl belonging to the shoe called qabqab (pi. 
 qabqtb),! farayhl (for farayihl) relating to a wedding (from farah), 
 fasaflsi whimsical (from fasfisa). 
 
 Remark d. — The termination li is borrowed from the Turkish, 
 and but sparingly used. 
 
 1 MusmSr qabaqlbi is used of small nails, tin tacks. 
 
44 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 45. Diminutive forms of adjectives are restricted to a few 
 words, which are, however, themselves in constant use ; e.g. :— 
 
 qulaiyil 
 
 very little from qaltl 
 
 qusaiyar i 
 
 short 
 
 sughaiyar ^ (or 
 
 small 
 
 znghaiyar) 
 
 
 khuf aiyif - 
 
 thinnish from khafif thin 
 
 kuwaiyis ^ 
 
 pi-etty, neat 
 
 hilewa 
 
 dainty, sweet from hilw. 
 
 Zughannan, sughattat, zughattat, zughannun tiny, are doubly 
 
 diminutive. 
 
 
 COMPOUND NOUNS 
 
 § 46. It is contrary to the genius of Arabic to form a new 
 noun by the union of two primitive ones ; but a few words of this 
 construction have crept into the language, chiefly through the 
 influence of Turkish ; e.g. : — 
 
 'ardahal 
 ma ward 
 'anbarshay 
 rismal (for ras 
 
 mal) 
 q^yimmaqam 
 
 bashkatib 
 
 (Turk, bash 
 
 and Arab. 
 
 katib) 5 
 agzakh&na 
 
 (Arab, agza 
 
 Kemask. — A 
 words placed one 
 them, as bahrl g. 
 shutters. 
 
 petition 
 rose-water 
 amber-tea ^ 
 capital 
 
 lieutenant- 
 colonel 
 head clerk 
 
 pharmacy 
 
 I 
 
 drugs, and 
 Turk, kh&na) 
 
 kitabkhana 
 
 'arbakhana 
 
 antikhana (for 
 antikakhana) 
 
 tahsildar 
 (Arab, with 
 Persian ter- 
 mination) 
 
 yuzbashi 
 
 sirdar ^ (Pers.) 
 
 library 
 coach-house 
 
 tax-collec- 
 tor 
 
 captain 
 commander- 
 in-chief 
 
 compound is sometimes formed in sense by two 
 after the other without a conjunction to connect 
 harbt noHh-west, shamasi sud zarq bluish black 
 
 1 From the rarely used forms qasir, saghir. 
 
 2 Rarely used. 
 
 3 From a supposed form, kawls. 
 
 * I.e. tea like amber (a street cry). 
 
 5 So bashmuhandiz, bashshawlsh (often pronounced bit- 
 shawlsh), bashmufattish, etc. 
 
 8 Pronounced sidredar by the uneducated. 
 
COMPARISON OP ADJECTIVES 
 
 45 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 wishsh 
 gawab 
 Masr 
 
 face 
 letter 
 Cairo 
 
 laqet 
 illt 
 
 I found, have 
 
 found 
 who, which 
 
 qalam rusas 
 
 lead-pencil 
 
 inbftrih 
 
 yesterday 
 
 waraq 
 shibbak 
 
 paper 
 window 
 
 ft 
 
 wi, we, 11 
 
 in 
 and 
 
 kitf 
 
 shoulder 
 
 keman, ka- 
 
 too, also, still 
 
 sikka 
 
 street 
 
 man 
 
 
 tawll 
 
 long, tall 
 
 lakin 
 
 but 
 
 'ali 
 
 high, loud 
 
 li, le, lu 
 
 to 
 
 shatir 
 
 clever 
 
 bi, be, bu 
 
 in, with 
 
 sallah 
 rahil 
 
 he repaired 
 they went 
 
 ewa, aywa 
 
 yes 
 
 
 EXER 
 
 OISE 5 
 
 
 Ir ragil gab il bunduqtya min il bet we darabha fi wishshu. 
 H&t il kitab illi foq is sufra. It taslirlfatgt katab gawab tawtl 
 li ummu. Shuft abiih, lakin fen ukhtu 1 II husart gih inbarih 
 we g&b il husr wi s sanadqt yigl bukra bi s sanadtq. II hala- 
 w&nt wi 1 fakah§,nt raM 'ala betha we gabu 1 baskawit wi 1 
 kummitra. Is sa'^tt sallah is sa'a ; huwa ragil shatir qawt. 
 
 EXERCISE 6 
 
 The lady and her daughters went to Cairo yesterday. I have 
 found a short pencil on the dining-table. Bring it here and 
 bring a pen and some paper too. He is very tall, his shoulder 
 comes above the window. Will he come here to-morrow ? Yes, 
 and he will bring his father and his mother too. The window is 
 very small, but the house is big. The custom-house officer came 
 and opened the door. I saw a tiny dog in the street. An old 
 coachman brought me to the war-office. He gave the girl a pear. 
 The man is very ill-tempered ; he has struck the little boy and 
 the girl too. 
 
 COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES 
 
 § 47. The comparative is expressed : — 
 
 (a) By the positive followed in construction by the pre- 
 position 'an, or (less usually) min than. 
 
 (jb) By a new form derived from the positive, and followed 
 in construction by the preposition min, or (less usually) 'an. 
 
46 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 48. The superlative is identical in form with the derived 
 comparative, of which the following are instances : — 
 
 from kiblr 
 „ sughaiyar (saghtr) 
 „ kitlr (much) 
 ,, rikhts 
 „ nidlf' 
 ,, kuwaiyis 
 „ hasan (unused except 
 
 as a pr. n.) 
 „ qalil 
 „ khaflf 
 „ ghall 
 ,, wihish 
 ,, mal'un 
 „ muhimm 
 with no corresponding 
 positive in use 
 
 I words are of uniform construc- 
 tion, with the exception of those which end in a double consonant ; 
 aqall is for aqlal, ahamm for ahmam. Shidid strong, has the two 
 forms ashdad and ashadd. 
 
 akbar 
 
 greater 
 
 asghar 
 
 smaller 
 
 aktar 
 
 more 
 
 arkhas 
 andaf 
 
 cheaper 
 cleaner 
 
 akwas 
 
 prettier 
 
 ahsan 
 
 better 
 
 aqall 
 
 akhaff 
 
 aghla 
 
 less 
 
 light&r 
 
 dearer 
 
 auhash 
 
 uglier 
 
 al'an 
 
 more accursed 
 
 ahamm 
 adna 
 
 more important 
 least 
 
 Remakk- 
 
 -Observe that these 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 tiff ah 
 
 barquq 
 
 blra 
 
 nibit 
 
 tarabeza 
 
 ginena 
 
 gineh 
 
 abuya 
 
 apples 
 plums 
 beer 
 wine 
 table 
 garden 
 £ sterling 
 my father 
 
 qamis 
 
 shirt 
 
 moz 
 
 bananas 
 
 taman 
 
 price 
 
 tiqil, teqil 
 
 heavy 
 
 shal 
 
 he carried 
 
 ishtara 
 
 he bought 
 
 -hum 1 
 
 them, theii 
 
 -nai 
 
 us, our 
 
 EXERCISE 7 
 
 Huwa shtara sufra we kursl rikhis we gabhum 'ala 1 bet. 
 II kurst ghall 'an is sufra. Iddlnl qalam rusas tawll. II bab 
 akwas mish shibbak. Is sanduq tiqtl, lakin akhafiFe min il barmil 
 II binte atwal min ummi, wi 1 walad qusaiyar 'an abuya. II blra 
 arkhas min in nibit wi 1 moiya arkhas w ahsan mil litnen. 
 II walad ishtara qamls atwal min battantya. Huwa lasghar 
 wi 1 akwas. 
 
 Inseparable suffixes 
 
NOUNS SUBSTANTIVE AND ADJECTIVE 47 
 
 EXERCISE 8 
 
 The barrels (are) cheaper than the boxes. The shoemaker, 
 who was in the garden yesterday, is taller than the fruiterer 
 who brought the apples and the pears to the house. The native- 
 of-the-province-of-Sharqiya is stronger than the cobbler ; he 
 carried a sheep in a heavy box on his shoulder. The chair is 
 very large, but the table is still larger. The price is less than a 
 pound ; it is very cheap. The pear is bigger and dearer than the 
 apple. Give me (some) good bananas and bring an apple and a 
 plum from the garden. His dog is the largest and the best. 
 
 THE GENDER OP NOUNS SUBSTANTIVE AND 
 ADJECTIVE 
 
 § 49. There are two genders only in Arabic, the masculine 
 and the feminine. 
 
 § 50. A noun may be feminine by signification, form, or 
 usage. 
 
 § 51. By signification are feminine : — 
 
 (a) Nouns and proper names which denote females,^ as 
 umm mother, bint girl, faras mare, Zenab, pr. n. 
 
 (6) The names of countries, towns, villages, (fee, as :■■ — 
 
 ish Sham 
 
 Syria 
 
 Bughdad 
 
 Bagdad 
 
 Masr 
 
 Cairo 
 
 IstambM 
 
 Constantinople 
 
 Bartz 
 
 Paris 
 
 
 
 (r) The letters of the alphabet, words, and syllables, as il 
 mim, il mu, mantuqa qawi the mtm, the (syllable) mu is strongly 
 pronounced. 
 
 § 52. By form are feminine : — 
 
 (a) Nouns ending in a (or e),^ whether Arabic or of foreign 
 origin, unless masculine by signification, as : — 
 
 ginena 
 
 garden 
 
 da'wa 
 
 claim 
 
 dunya (or 
 
 world 
 
 gazma 
 
 pair of shoes 
 
 dinya) ^ 
 
 
 oda 
 
 room 
 
 Sana 
 
 year 
 
 bulittka 
 
 politics, craft 
 
 kitaba 
 
 writing 
 
 warsha 
 
 workshop 
 
 1 A woman is often addressed in poetry (in the colloquial as 
 in the literary dialect) in the masculine, and impertinently in 
 conversation by such terms as ya sidna, ya akhtna. 
 
 2 See § 2 (rf). 
 
 ^ A few words, which are pronounced in two different ways. 
 
48 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 (&) The following ending in d :- 
 
 imda 
 
 signature 
 
 sala 
 
 prayer 
 
 giza 
 
 punishment 
 
 shita 
 
 winter 
 
 ghinS 
 
 riches 
 
 ma'na 
 
 meaning 
 
 himma, 
 
 fever 
 
 mihma 
 
 bath-heatei 
 
 humma 
 
 
 mirsa 
 
 anchor 
 
 dura 
 
 maize 
 
 wafa 
 
 decease 
 
 sama 
 
 sky, heaven 
 
 
 
 Remark a. — When the final a is long, as in the above words, 
 it represents one of the radical letters of the word. It is, how- 
 ever, generally pronounced short in conversation. 
 
 Remark b. — Shita is sometimes masculine ; lugha language, 
 dialect, is sometimes feminine. We hear lughahum tikhin, but 
 lughathum tikhtna (§ 67). 
 
 § 53. By usage the following words are feminine : — 
 
 ard 
 
 earth 
 
 ras 
 
 head 
 
 id (and yadd 
 
 hand 
 
 rig] 
 
 foot 
 
 batn 
 
 telly 
 
 ruh 
 
 spirit; barrel 
 
 balad 
 
 toion, village 
 
 
 of gun 
 
 Mr 
 
 well . 
 
 sikkin 
 
 knife 
 
 t6b 
 
 dress, robe 
 
 shams, sams 
 
 sun 
 
 tiz 
 
 buttocks 
 
 fas 
 
 mattock 
 
 ghet 
 
 field 
 
 furn 
 
 oven 
 
 dar 
 
 fellah's hut 
 
 maghrib 
 
 sunset 
 
 daqn 
 
 beard 
 
 merkib 
 
 ship 
 
 dimagh 
 
 brain, head 
 
 nar 
 
 fire 
 
 dukkan 
 
 shop 
 
 nafs, nifs 
 
 soul, self; spite 
 
 Remark a. — Tob, ghet, furn,i and maghrib are generally 
 regarded as masculine by the upper classes ; blr is occasionally 
 masculine ; sikkin knife, is sometimes masculine, as it has a 
 duplicate form in a (sikkina) ; het wall, is occasionally feminine ; 
 sibanikh spinach, masc. or fem. Lahw diversion, and hamm looiry, 
 are feminine only in the expressions gatak lahw, gatak il hamm 
 the plague take you ! dalir ^ is fem. in one of its meanings. 
 
 are, in order that the student may become accustomed to both, 
 spelt differently in different places of the grammai-. One man 
 will say Rabbina our Lord, another Rabbuna, or both may be 
 used at different times by the same person. 
 
 1 A fem. form, furna, also exists. 
 
 2 Masc. when meaning back. 
 
NOUNS SUBSTANTIVE AND ADJECTIVE 
 
 49 
 
 Remark b. — Man^khlr nose, fulus money, nks people, sutuh 
 roof, terrace are in reality " broken plurals," ^ although the 
 singular of the last only exists, and are construed either with a 
 feminine singular or a plural adjective or verb. ImS,n (or emi,n) 
 oath (from the little used sing, yemln) is generally construed 
 with a feminine singular, never with a plural. 
 
 § 54. All other nouns are of the masculine gender, as walad 
 bo]/, bet house, Khaltfa Caliph, 'aiya illness. 
 
 § 55. The feminine is formed from masculine nouns by the 
 addition of the vowel a, as : — 
 
 kibtr 
 
 great 
 
 fem. kibtra 
 
 
 farhan 
 
 happy 
 
 ,, farhftna 
 
 
 hilw 
 
 sweet 
 
 ,, hilwa 
 
 
 Wahid 
 
 one 
 
 ,, wahda 
 
 
 malik 
 
 Icing 
 
 malika 
 
 queen 
 
 g&z 
 
 husband 
 
 g6za 
 
 loife 
 
 ghassai 
 
 washerman 
 
 ghassMa 
 
 washerwoman 
 
 humar 
 
 ass 
 
 humara 
 
 she-ass 
 
 Rbmahk. — In the literary language the feminine termina- 
 tion is at, and the t is retained in a few Turkish proper names, 
 borrowed from Arabic words expressive of virtuous qualities, as 
 ^izzet (or 'izzit, for 'izzat). The final t is found also in bint (from 
 ibn, bin son) and in ukht sister (from akh, akhkh brother). 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 tabbakh 
 
 cook 
 
 
 k&nit 
 
 she ivas 
 
 kiira, kora 
 
 ball 
 
 
 sMl 
 
 carry, take 
 
 bM 
 
 eggs 
 
 
 
 away 
 
 - f ftta 
 
 towel 
 
 
 hutt 
 
 put 
 
 siggada 
 
 carpet 
 
 
 rama 
 
 he threw, threw 
 
 kubbaya 
 
 glass 
 
 
 
 away 
 
 luiskln 
 
 poor, wi 
 
 •etched 
 
 talla'it 
 
 she took out 
 
 wisikh 
 
 dirty 
 
 
 shufna 
 
 we saw 
 
 har 
 
 hot 
 
 
 bass 
 
 only 
 
 gidld 
 
 new 
 
 
 la' 
 
 no 
 
 qadlm 
 
 old 
 
 
 giiwa 
 
 in, inside 
 
 bi'td 
 
 far 
 
 
 barra 
 
 out, outside 
 
 metallim. 
 
 blunt 
 
 
 zey 
 
 like 
 
 mitallim 
 
 
 
 lissa 
 
 still 
 
 ana 
 
 I 
 
 
 min 
 
 from 
 
 hlya 
 
 she, it 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 See 
 
 §76. 
 
 
50 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 EXERCISE 9 
 
 Ana laqet is sanadqt fi 1 warsha. II merakbt gab fuluka 
 kibira. Tl furn. illi f betu sughaiyara qawi, lakin hiya akbar min 
 furnina. Shufna kalbe gi'an we qutta misktna 'ala s sutuh. 
 II gazmagl ishtara bunduqlya min il 'utuql, we shalha 'ala kitfu. 
 Ilmalikgihi. La', il malika gat. Fenilkura? Kanit qadlma, 
 wi r ragil ramaha fi 1 f asqtya. Ish shitwa gat, 'lakin ish shamse 
 lissa hara. Binte hilwa zey il qamara. II walad rama 1 qutta fi 
 1 blr, lakin wahda mara taiyiba talla'itha minha. Tabbakt 
 ahsan min tabbakha. Is sikkin metallima. 
 
 EXERCISE 10 
 
 The boy has thrown a dii'ty old pair of shoes into the room ; 
 take them out. Bring a large bottle and a clean glass. The 
 carpet was very old ; he has brought a new (one). His beard is 
 long and dirty. Her shop is very far from here. The boy struck 
 the poor little girl in the eye.^ Put a clean towel in the room 
 and take away the dirty (one). He has thrown the ball from the 
 window ; bring it in. The woman who brought the eggs to cm- 
 house is very tall, but her husband is taller. The sun was very 
 hot yesterday. Her dress is very pretty. 
 
 § 56. The feminine of living beings is som.etim.es, as in other 
 languages, indicated by a distinct word. E.g. : — 
 
 ragil man 
 
 walad 2 boy 
 
 abb father 
 
 husan Jiorse 
 
 tor bull baqara cow 
 
 dakar male nitaya female 
 
 § 57. On the contrary, many form their feminine regularly, 
 where a difllerent word is used in English, as : — 
 
 mara 
 
 woman 
 
 bint' 
 
 girl 
 
 umm 
 
 . mother 
 
 faras 
 
 mare 
 
 goz_ 
 walid 8 
 'amm 
 khal 
 kalb 
 
 husband goza 
 
 father walda ^ 
 
 paternal uncle 'amma 
 
 maternal wide khala 
 
 dog kalba 
 
 1 Translate her eye. 
 
 2 The plur. wilad is used of children- 
 8 Lit. parent. 
 
 wife 
 mother 
 
 paternal aunt 
 maternal aunt 
 bitch 
 
 -boys or girls. 
 
NOUNS SUBSTANTIVE AND ADJECTIVE 51 
 
 § 58. Some inanimate objects form a feminine without any 
 change in the meaning, as : — 
 
 qamar 
 sikkln 
 
 or 
 or 
 
 - qamara 
 sikktna 
 
 moon 
 knife 
 
 Gaban a coward is used without change of a man or a 
 woman. 
 
 § 59. Verbal nouns ending in i form their feminines by 
 shortening the long vowel and adding the syllable ya, as :— 
 
 tani second tanya (for taniya) 
 
 'alt high 'alya 
 
 § 60. Denominatives add that syllable without shortening 
 the vowel, as : — 
 
 tamargt 
 
 bahrl 
 
 barrS.nt 
 
 TalySni 
 
 a hospital attendant 
 
 coachman 
 
 naval 
 
 outer 
 
 Italian 
 
 tamarglya 
 
 'arbaglya 
 
 bahrlya 
 
 barranlya 
 
 Talyanlya 
 
 Remakk. — Gahil ignorant, and the participle mistihaqq deserv- 
 ing, have the forms gahllya, mistihaqqiya, as though from gahll, 
 mistihaqqi.i 
 
 § 61. A few adjectives denoting colours, and some others 
 denoting mostly a personal defect, form their feminine by trans- 
 posing the first two and again the last two letters ; e.g. : 
 
 ahmar 
 
 akhdar 
 
 asfar 
 
 abyad 
 
 a'rag 
 
 akhras 
 
 ahtam 
 
 red 
 
 green 
 
 yellow 
 
 white 
 
 lame 
 
 dumb 
 
 toothless 
 
 hamra 
 
 khadra 
 
 safra 
 
 beda (for bayda) 
 
 'arga 
 
 kharsa 
 
 hatma. 
 
 Remabk a. — The masculines of these adjectives are all of 
 the same form, with thfe exception of iswid blacJc .(for aswad). 
 
 Remark b. — A'wag crooked makes '6ga (for 'awga), azraq blue 
 zirqa (for zarqa). 
 
 In the literary language akhar other makes ukhra, and this 
 
 1 Mistihaqqa is also used, especially by the educated, and 
 gahla (pi. guhala) occasionally. 
 
52 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 form is used in the spoken language preceded by the definite 
 article ; thus maso. lakhar (or r&khar),i fern, rukhra. 
 
 Auwil first makes ula ; but this form is only used in a few 
 connections, as daraga \\i2i, first class, auwilaniya and occasionally 
 auwila taking its place. 
 
 § 62. Some adjectives have no separate form for the feminine. 
 They include :- 
 
 (a) The 
 
 comparatives,^ as 
 
 il binte atw 
 
 a,l, il kummitra 
 
 arkhas. 
 
 
 
 
 (6) Those which abeady end 
 
 in a, as : — 
 
 
 bamba 
 
 pink 
 
 hilewa 
 
 sioeet 
 
 sitiha 
 
 lying on the 
 hack 
 
 sada 
 
 plain, pure 
 
 (c) Foreign words (with the exception of most of those 
 
 ending in i) 
 
 , as : — 
 
 
 
 ftnu 
 
 fine 
 
 dughri 
 
 straight 
 
 falsu 
 
 false, had 
 
 werdinari 
 
 ordinary 
 
 berimu 
 
 first 
 
 sftgh 
 
 sound 
 
 sukundu 
 
 second 
 
 
 
 {d) The 
 
 following : — 
 
 
 
 tamam 
 
 complete 
 
 shamurt 
 
 young 
 
 hah 8 
 
 little 
 
 'al 
 
 excellent 
 
 haf 
 
 plain, hy itself 
 
 khabls 5 
 
 imprisoned 
 
 dun 
 
 low, vulgar 
 
 khalas 
 
 finished, ready 
 
 daiyan ■* 
 
 sound 
 
 kham 
 
 raw 
 
 sughar 
 
 small 
 
 khumm " 
 
 lethargic 
 
 shemal 
 
 left 
 
 yemln 
 
 right 
 
 1 See § 27, p. 26 ; lukhra is not used. 
 
 ■^ The literary feminine form of comparatives is hardly, if 
 ever, heard in conversation. It occurs, however, in the name of 
 the village II Kubra (from akbar greater). 
 
 ■* Used also substantively. 
 
 ^ Used generally with sagh, as qirshe sagh daiyan a tariff 
 piastre. 
 
 5 In the expression 6da khabis, i.e. a room without windows. 
 Adjectives of this form do not generally take the feminine 
 termination in the literary language. 
 
 '' In khumm in n6m. 
 
DECLENSION 53 
 
 DECLENSION 
 
 § 63. In the literary language most nouns have three case 
 endings — u or un for the nominative ; i or in for the genitive, 
 dative, and ablative; and a or an for the accusative, according 
 as they are defined i or undefined. 
 
 These terminations, with the following exceptions, do not 
 exist in the spoken language : — 
 
 (a) The nominative ending u is sometimes heard in the word 
 Allah Ood, and a few others, mostly in expressions of a religious 
 character, as : — 
 
 AlMhu akbar God is very great 
 
 shakkar AlUhu fadlak Ood reward your kindness 
 
 il hamdu li Mh praise te to Ood 
 
 is salamu 'al^kum ^ peace be on you 
 
 (6) The genitive and dative ending i and the accusative end- 
 ing a are used in oaths and religious formulas — 
 
 as w AlMhi (or w AUahi !) by Ood 
 
 bi smi llah {i.e. bi ismi in the name of God 
 
 Allah) 
 
 fi amani llah God pi-eserve you ! 
 
 bi zni llah (bi izni Allah) D. V. 
 
 la haula wala quwwata ilia there is no power nor strength 
 
 bi llah but in God 
 
 (a) The case ending in is heard : — 
 
 (1) After the indefinite pronoun ey,^ and occasionally after 
 kull all, as : — 
 
 gy insanin kan whatever man it may be 
 
 min eye gihitin kanit from whatever direction it be 
 
 kulle shin (contracted from whatever it may be, everything 
 
 shg'in) kan 
 kulle nafsin every soul 
 
 1 I.e. preceded by the definite article, or followed by a noun 
 in the genitive, or having a pronominal sufiix. The stem of 
 fern, nouns in a to which these terminations are added is 
 
 2 But more usually is salam (or salam) 'alekum— a form of 
 salutation used only by one Mussulman to another. 
 
 8 But the in is here sometimes pronounced separately, as being 
 equivalent to ma. (See §§ 264, 434.) 
 
54 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 (2) In a few nouns us ed adverbially i or with a preposition, 
 as : — 
 
 ghasbin 'annu (more tisaally in spite of himself 
 
 gasbe 'annu) 
 halin immediately 
 
 enta wakllin 'annl you are as my agent 
 
 ga' 'ala tubbin ghftfil he came unexpectedly 
 
 mehabbitu abbin 'an giddin the love for him. is from grand- 
 father to father (i.e. he is 
 beloved of all the members 
 of his family) 
 'amin auwil (contracted to last year 
 'amnauwil) 
 
 (d) The ending an is heard in a few words used as adverbs, and 
 occasionally as an accusative of limitation, as : — 
 
 halan at once 
 
 dawaman for eve)' 
 
 da'iman always 
 
 mar&ran time after time 
 
 ma 'rafush la zatan wala I know him neither personally 
 isman nor by name 
 
 Remark. — The above expressions do not in reality belong 
 to the dialect of Cairo, but are borrowed from the written 
 language. 
 
 THE GENITIVE 
 
 § 64. A noun limiting the meaning of another is placed 
 immediately after it, and thus by its position performs the 
 various functions of the genitive, although undergoing no change 
 of form ; but when the first of the two nouns ends in a, whether 
 as a singular or plural termination, it weakens the a to i and 
 ■adds th« letter tfl E.g. : — 
 
 1 But in most of these the in is a thinning of the literary 
 an, the sign of the objective case. 
 
 2 Strictly speaking, it recovers the t from an older form at, 
 a form preserved to this day in some words in Amharic. This 
 in its weakened form is still the stem to which the pronominal 
 suffixes as well as the dual and the case endings, when they 
 exist, are appended. 
 
THE GENITIVE 
 
 55 
 
 bet ragil 
 bab il bet 
 
 babbetukht 
 ir rtigil 
 
 qalain rusas 
 
 kubb§,yit 
 nibtt 
 
 a man's house 
 the gate of the 
 
 hoiise 
 the {/ate of the 
 
 house of the 
 
 man's sister 
 a pencil of lead, 
 
 a lead-pencil 
 a glass of loine 
 
 'arablyit is 
 
 sitt 
 Khalifit (or 
 
 K.halift)il 
 
 Islam 
 rigg§,lit (or 
 
 riggalt) il 
 
 balad 
 
 the lady's car- 
 riage 
 
 the Caliph of 
 Islam 
 
 the men of the 
 village 
 
 Remark. — An adjective as well as a substantive may assume 
 this form, as 'aiyan ill, fern, 'aiyana ; 'aiyanit eb ? how can she he 
 
 ill? {%^-m). 
 
 § 65. A few words ending in a add t without shortening the 
 vowel.i as : — 
 
 sala 
 haya 
 
 thus : — 
 
 salat il 
 maghrib 
 
 prayer 
 life 
 
 the prayer at 
 sunset 
 
 zaka^ 
 wafa 
 
 purity, charity 
 death 
 
 wi hyat (for by the life of 
 wi hay at) the Prophet 
 in nabl 
 
 Ma'na meaning may make ma'nat or ma'nit, or remain unchanged ; 
 mirsa anchor, ghuwa jugglers,^ shuraka partners, zumal^ comrades, 
 make mirs&t or mirsit, shurakat or shurakit, &c. Ru'a shepherds 
 and su'a messengers occasionally make ru'atj su'at, but generally 
 remain as they are. Mugaza punishment generally makes 
 mugazit, but is sometimes left unchanged. Imda signature, 
 himma/eyer, mihma bath-heater, and a'da member's, make imdit, 
 himmitj mihmit, a'dit only. 
 
 § 66. Plurals of the form of shuraka and zumala, with the 
 exception of these two words, regularly change a into it, as 
 fuqarS poor people, fuqaha schoolmasters ; fuqarit, fuqahit Masr 
 the poor, the schoolmasters of Cairo. 
 
 § 67. All other words ending in a undergo no change. 
 E.g. :— 
 
 1 As in the written language. 
 
 2 Zika is in more common use than zaka. 
 8 Ghuwa may also remain unchanged. 
 
56 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 'aiyaha 
 
 her illness 
 
 istibda 1 
 
 the beginning of 
 
 dawana 
 
 our medicine 
 
 mas'ala 
 
 the matter 
 
 ghatai s 
 
 the cover of the 
 
 shifa 1 mara 
 
 the woman's re- 
 
 sanduq ' 
 
 hox 
 
 
 covery 
 
 ikhfa 1 Jiaga 
 
 the hiding of 
 
 ishtiha 1 
 
 the father's long- 
 
 
 the thing 
 
 walid 
 
 ing 
 
 lugha2 1 
 
 the language of 
 
 ghada, 'asha 
 
 the boy's lunch, 
 
 ingllz 
 
 the English 
 
 1 walad 
 
 dinner 
 
 lida r ragil 
 
 the man's can- 
 sent 
 
 
 
 Remaek a. — As the final a is usually pronounced short in 
 all these words, a knowledge of the structure of the word is the 
 only guide in determining the form of a noun ending in a or 
 (original) a standing before another in the genitive. 
 
 Remark h. — The a is sometimes, but rarely, retained before 
 the t instead of being changed to i, as sanat alf the year 1000, 
 sifatu his guaUfication (for sanit, sifit) ; ^ so maraten tioo women, 
 marratgn tioice. 
 
 § 68. Abb father, and occasionally akhkh hrothe?; add u when 
 preceded by a genitive retaining only a single consonant, as :— 
 abu Fatma Fatma's father 
 
 akhkhe (or akhu) Sileman Solyman's brother * 
 
 § 69. Other ways of expressing the genitive will be noticed 
 in the syntax ; but it is necessary to introduce the learner at 
 this stage to the use of the word beta',^ originally a substantive 
 meaning property. It is inserted pleonastically between a noun 
 and its genitive, and in opposition to the former, as il bet beta' 
 ir ragil the house the property of the man, i.e. the man's house. It 
 has, however, the feminine termination a when the preceding 
 substantive is feminine, and so is best regarded as an adjective 
 meaning of or belonging to. When the feminine form is in con- 
 struction with another noun it becomes beta'it by the rule 
 stated above, or, if followed by a vowel, beta't or betaht (§ 19), 
 as il 'ars.btya betaht is sitt the lady's carriage. 
 
 1 The a is shortened according to rule before two consonants. 
 
 2 Contrary to the literary form. Lugha also exists ; but 
 neither of them are in common use, laghwa having taken their 
 place and meaning both as language and dialect. 
 
 3 Sifit is perhaps never heard. 
 
 * For the changes which nouns undergo in connection with 
 the possessive sufiixes, see § 121. 
 
 ^ Said to be philologically connected with the literary mata'. 
 It has dwindled to ta in Maltese. 
 
THE GENITIVE 
 
 5T 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 Madrasa 
 
 school 
 
 kulera 
 
 cholera 
 
 talagraf 
 
 telegram, tele- 
 
 salub 
 
 master, oioner. 
 
 
 graph office 
 
 
 friend 
 
 LundHra 
 
 London 
 
 taqrlbi 
 
 approximative 
 
 (Lundra) 
 
 
 nims&wt 
 
 Austrian 
 
 16n 
 
 colour 
 
 mln ? 
 
 loho 1 
 
 makhzan 
 
 cellar, store- 
 
 dol 
 
 these 
 
 
 room 
 
 yeruli 
 
 he goes, will go 
 
 makhzan 
 
 luggage-van 
 
 safir 
 
 he travelled. 
 
 fransawi 
 
 
 
 left 
 
 'afsh 
 
 luggage 
 
 iqta' 
 
 cut, take (a 
 
 diwan 
 
 compartment, 
 
 
 ticket, &c.) 
 
 
 ministry. 
 
 saraq 
 
 he stole 
 
 
 office 
 
 kasar 
 
 he broke 
 
 busta 
 
 post 
 
 suqut 
 
 it fell, has 
 
 burneta 
 
 hat 
 
 
 fallen 
 
 farkha 
 
 fowl 
 
 warrinl 
 
 show me 
 
 laban 
 
 milk 
 
 shirib 
 
 he drank 
 
 dirk' 
 
 arm 
 
 shaiya' 
 
 he sent, send 
 
 khawaga 
 
 merchant, 
 
 
 (impera- 
 
 
 gentleman 
 
 
 tive) 
 
 ggsh 
 
 army 
 
 ya sidl 
 
 sir 
 
 bahr 
 
 sea, river 
 
 tanl 
 
 hack, again 
 
 in Nil, bahr 
 
 the Nile river 
 
 quddam 
 
 before, in front 
 
 in Ml 
 
 
 
 of, near 
 
 says (sftyis) 
 
 groom 
 
 flh 
 
 in it (masc.) 
 
 Note that the demonsti'ative pronoun as a rule follows the 
 noun, which is preceded by the definite article ; also that the 
 first of two nouns, of which the second is in the genitive, does not 
 take the article even when it is definite in sense. Thus we say 
 b§t ir ragil, not il b^t ir rSgil. 
 
 EXERCISE 11 
 
 Fen ir ragil illi kin fi 1 oda 1 barr&nlya betaht il makhzan ? 
 Ibn il kutubl yeruh il madrasa 1 nimsawiya. Ana laqet sa'a fi 
 1 ard quddam il bab il barrant betl' betak ; hlya beta'it mln ? 
 Moiyit bahr in Nil liilwa. Taman it talagraf itnen gineh. 
 Warrtnl siggada wardinSrl, u wahda flnu keman. Iqta' li 
 tazkara daraga ftla u wahda sugundu keman. Lon il husan beta' 
 Mehammad iswid. Hutt il 'afshe beta' il efendl fi 1 babilr — il 
 kibir fil makhzan il fransawi, wi s sughaiyar fi d diwan. II 
 
58 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 busta n nimsavviya tigl bukra. Hawa 1 yomen dol kan shidld. 
 II bablir linglizl safir imbareh w abiiya safir fth. II walad illl 
 shirib il moiya 1 wiskha bet&'it bahr in Nil 'aiyan bi 1 kulera. 
 Ibn il merakbt gih bi 1 meikib betaht abuh, lakin kull il 'afshe 
 beta' il efendl illt kan ftha wiqi' fi 1 bahr. Hat li kummitra 
 tanya hah kede sughaiyara, asghar min il auwilantya. 
 
 EXERCISE 12 
 
 Bring the gentleman's hat from the downstairs room. He 
 came in his father's carriage. The city of London is much finer 
 and bigger than Cairo. The book which was on the chair in the 
 dining-room has fallen on the ground. The cook's little dbg has 
 stolen a fowl from the poulterer's shop. The greengrocer's son 
 struck the poor Italian (woman), and broke her arm. The dining- 
 table of his house is higher than the other.i The watchmaker 
 repaired the old watch and brought it back to its owner's house. 
 The grocer's daughter is very pretty, and she is taller than his 
 son. Throw away the raw fruit ; it is very bad. She is a \(m, 
 bad woman. The boy's dog has drunk the cat's milk. The 
 commander-in-chief 2 of the Egyptian army is an Englishman. 
 Is the cai'pet finished ? Yes, sir ! Good ! ^ Send it to the 
 house at once ! I found the little boy's book on a chair in the 
 upstairs room. A European woman cook, not** an Arab man 
 cook. The barrel of the man's gun was crooked. 
 
 THE NUMBERS OP NOUNS 
 
 § 70. There are three numbers — singular, dual, and plural. 
 
 The dual, which is used to denote two objects, is formed by 
 the syllable en being added to the singular, as kitab a booJt, 
 kitaben two books ; r&gil a man, raglen (for ragilen) two men , il 
 Mehammiden the two Mohammeds. 
 
 Remark. — The use of the dual is confined to substantives, 
 adjectives qualifying them being placed in the plural. 
 
 § 71. The t added to feminines ending in a, when in con- 
 struction with another noun, appears also in the dual, the a 
 again being weakened to i,^ which is liable to fall out in accord- 
 ance with the rules laid down in § 33 ; e.g. : — 
 
 quttitin two cats I futtgn (from two towels 
 
 sagartSn two frees \ fftta) 
 
 1 tant. 2 g 4g_ 3 taiyib ! * mush. 
 
 5 The a is occasionally retained, as in maraten ttoo women, 
 sifaten two qualities. 
 
THE NUMBERS OP NOUNS 59 
 
 § 72. The long vowels d and t are changed respectively to 
 ay or aw and iy, as : — 
 
 ghat^ a cover ghatayen 
 
 sama heaven samawen 
 
 kursi kursiyen 
 
 while 6 becomes uw or iy, as : — 
 
 mango ^ mango manguwen 
 
 balt6 overcoat baltuwen (or 
 
 baltiygn) 
 
 Remark a. — Where final 6 is accented, the aspirate h is in- 
 serted,2 as in baro^ chest of drawers, rabo' jack plane (dual 
 barShgn, rab6hgn) ; ^ abb father makes abb^n, but the nahwy 
 abuwen is sometimes used. 
 
 Remark h. — Some nouns ending in d, having no dual them- 
 selves, borrow that of a kindred form, as : — 
 
 shita 
 
 winter 
 
 shitwiten two winters (from shitwa) 
 
 ghada 
 
 lunch 
 
 ghadwiten two lunches (from ghadwa) 
 
 'asha 
 
 dinner 
 
 'ashwiten two dinners 
 
 saM 
 
 prayer 
 
 salwiten 
 
 lugha 
 
 
 laghwitSn * 
 
 Remark c. — Ukht sister makes regularly ukhten, but occa- 
 sionally ikhwaten is heard. ^ 
 
 Remark d. — The plural form with the numeral itnen two is 
 generally used instead of the dual where more euphonious, espe- 
 cially if the word is of foreign oi'igin, as itnen yauriya two aides- 
 de-camp (for yauriygn). Such forms as kuntratuwen two contracts 
 (from kuntratu), karruwen two carts,^ bashawen two pashas, can 
 hardly be said to exist. 
 
 § 73. A few nouns are used in the dual only, signifying 
 the union of two objects which individually have no existence, 
 as kalbiten forceps, pincers. Their own dual would be goz 
 kalbiten, a pa%r of pincers, (fee. Widn ear has no dual form. 
 
 1 Often called manga. 
 3 Oomp. § 39 a, note. 
 
 8 We might even write bar6h, raboh (as gineh, from Eng. 
 guinea). Baro is from Fr. bureau, rab6 from rabot. 
 * § 67, note. 
 
 ^ It savours of Syrianism. 
 •> We say 'arabiyiten karro or itnen 'arabtyat karro. 
 
60 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 the plural being used instead, as widani (or widani litnen) 
 my ears^ 
 
 § 74. The duals of dira' arm, rigl foot, 'en eye, Id hand, and 
 (optionally) that of walid, when meaning parents, drop their 
 final n before a possessive suffix, as : — 
 
 dira'eya ^ my arms 
 
 riglgk your feet 
 
 'eneh ^ Ms eyes 
 
 idehum their hands 
 
 For tulten tioo thirds, tultay is sometimes used, but only by the 
 more educated classes. 
 
 § 75. The dual form occurs in the prepositions benen (in the 
 expression ben il benen) and hawalen around, and is added to 
 the interjection uff ! and occasionally to other words as an in- 
 tensive particle, as mush alisan ? ahsanen, mush ahsan wahid 
 isn't it, loouldn't it he better ? not only better, but doubly, ever so 
 much better.* Hawalen generally loses its n like 'enen, &c., under 
 the influence of the pronominal suffixes, as hawaleya around me ; 
 but hawalenl, &c., are also heard. 
 
 THE PLURAL 
 
 § 76. Plurals are of two kinds : — 
 
 (ffl) The Perfect Plural, so called because the singular form 
 remains unaltered but for the addition of certain terminations, 
 and 
 
 (&) The Broken Plural, in the formation of which the singular 
 undergoes a radical change. In both cases there is only one 
 form for the masculine and the feminine. 
 
 § 77. The perfect plural is formed by the addition of in, dt, 
 ya (or iya), or a to the singular. 
 
 § 78. The following nouns form their plural in in : — 
 
 (a) Most verbal adjectives (including participles) which form 
 their feminine by adding a to the masculine ; e.g. : — 
 
 ^ There is no such form as widneya, as asserted by Spitta. 
 He is mistaken also in giving abbahen, ummahen, as the duals 
 of abb and umm, instead of the regular forms abben and ummen. 
 
 ^ Pronounce dirft'aiya (see § 4) ; diri'tt litnen is also said. 
 
 ^ Sometimes pronounced 'aneh. 
 
 * The name Mehammaden is given in Upper Egypt to chil- 
 dren, in the hope, apparently, that they will be doubly blessed 
 as bearing the name of the prophet twofold. A few other dual 
 names are in use. 
 
gahiz readij 
 
 taiyib 
 
 battal 
 
 THE PLUEAL 61 
 
 k^tib writing 
 
 maktflb written 
 
 (pi. gahzln, maktftbln, &c.). 
 
 Eemakk. — The termination % is changed to iy, and u to uw, 
 as in the formation of the feminine ; e.g. : — 
 
 pi. 'alyin (for 'aliytn) 
 ,, mistanniyln 
 ,, 'aduwtn 
 
 (6) Many nouns of the form barrak,i mostly substantives 
 denoting a profession or trade. They were originally of the 
 nature of intensive adjectives, and were thus applied to persons 
 who performed a particular act repeatedly ; e.g. : — 
 
 'ail 
 
 high 
 
 mistannl 
 
 waiting 
 
 'adil 
 
 enemy 
 
 fallah 
 
 a cultivator 
 
 battM 
 
 
 naggar 
 labban 
 kaddab 2 
 
 a carpenter 
 
 milkman 
 
 liar 
 
 gabber. 
 
 tyrannical, 
 tyrant 
 
 (pi. fallahln, naggarln, &c.). Substantives of this form ending 
 in d change that vowel into ay, as saqq^ ivater-carrier, banna 
 builder (pi. saqqayln, &c.). 
 
 1 The word fa'al (literary fa'ala) is used by the grammarians 
 of the written language as the paradigm or model of all others 
 which consist of a similar combination of radical consonants and 
 vowels, as darab, balad. By doubling the consonants, changing 
 the vowels, or shifting the position of either or both, new para- 
 digms (but always with the same consonants, /, ', I) are formed. 
 Thus kaddab liar, misik he seized, imsik seize, a,re said to be of 
 the forms fa"dl, ji'il, and if HI respectively. The convenience 
 and necessity even of such a system in treating of a flexible 
 language like the Arabic will be readily perceived. The letters 
 b, r, k (which, with the vowel i placed after each of the first two 
 consonants, form the woi'd birik he kneeled) are used throughout 
 this work in preference to /, ', I, as offering no difficulties of 
 pronunciation. For words containing four radical letters, the 
 word lakhbat confuse is substituted for the fa'lal of the 
 grammarians. 
 
 ^ Applied in " classical " Arabic only to an habitual (" pro- 
 iessional ") liar. 
 
62 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 (c) Most relative adjectives in i. These insert a y between 
 the vowel and the plural termination, as : — 
 
 guwani inner i wustani central 
 
 fransawi French 
 
 (plur. guwaniytn, &c.). 
 
 Gahil ignorant makes gahliyln (gahiliyln). 
 
 rakhar the other rukhrin 
 
 mistihaqq deserving mistihaqqiytn. 
 
 § 79. The following take the termination at : — 
 
 (a) A large number of substantives ending in a (including 
 
 nearly all those in iya),'^ masculine and feminine, of Arabic and 
 
 foreign origin ; e.g. : — 
 
 sagara, 
 
 
 Khalifa 
 
 Caliph 
 
 gamusa, 
 
 
 merasla 
 
 messenger 
 
 hukiima 
 
 government 
 
 yaqa 
 
 collar 
 
 darba 
 
 a Mow 
 
 lamba (or 
 
 lamp 
 
 miiaya 
 
 sheet 
 
 lamda) 
 
 
 'awaga 
 
 cripple 1 
 
 barrima 
 
 corJcserew 
 
 'arabiya 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 'ishrlniya 
 
 a twenty piastre 
 piece 
 
 
 
 (plur. sagarat, gamvlsat, 'arabiyat, lambat,^ &c.). 
 
 (b) Proper names, both masculine and feminine : — 
 Mehammad, Hasan, Zenab, Taha (man's name), Fatma (plur. 
 
 iiehammadat, Hasanat, Fa.tniat, &c.). 
 
 (c) Nouns ending in d, and most of those which end in u, o,* 
 or 6. The former change the a into aw, while the latter (con- 
 sisting entirely of foreign words) either lose the vowel or convert 
 it into uw, and occasionally into iy ; e.g. : — 
 
 sama sky • qaf a nape of necJc 
 
 baba papa, pope sala prayer 
 
 basha'* I khala deseii 
 
 usta master \ 
 
 (plur. samawat, babawat, &c.). 
 
 1 Exceptions are gallablya a robe, which has the broken 
 plural galalib, though gallabiyat is also in use, sultaniya badn 
 (plur. salatln). 
 
 2 But more usually lumad. 
 
 2 Most of these may be pronounced optionally with u or o. 
 * Also, but less commonly, bashat. 
 
THE 
 
 PLUEAL 
 
 tiyatru theatre 
 kuntratvi contract 
 
 
 fitro (-u) filter 
 
 (plur. tiyatrat,! &c.). 
 
 
 
 s4ku overcoat 
 
 j 
 
 mango (-u) mango 
 
 (plur. SEikuwat, &c.). 
 
 
 
 bintu 2 a napoleon 
 sugundu an under-servant 
 ballo (-u) hall, dance 
 
 bintiylt 
 
 sugundiyat 
 
 balliyat (or balluw^t) 
 
 63 
 
 Remaek. — When the 6 of the singular is accented, h is in- 
 serted, as bar6, rabS, bar6hat, &c., but these words are perhaps 
 better written baroh, &c., in the singular (see § 39) ; so also in 
 the case of accented e, as kanabS sofa (plur. kanabeh&t). 
 
 {d) A few nouns in i. These again insert y ; e.g. : — ■ 
 
 sidert 
 baladt 
 
 waistcoat 
 countryman 
 small pony 
 
 bantufll 
 guwanti ^ 
 efendt 
 
 slippers 
 pair of gloves 
 
 and Turkish words with the termination bashj, as : — 
 
 bimbSshl 
 
 colonel 
 
 \ yuzbSsht capta 
 
 (plur. sideriyat, baladiy&t, guwantiyat, bimb^shiyat, &c.). 
 
 (e) The names of the letters and syllables. They insert an h 
 when ending in a vowel ; e.g., behat, nunat, mahat, the letters 
 h, n, the syllable ma. 
 
 (/) The names of the months, as ramadanat Ramadans. * 
 (g) Nouns which admit of a double plural, or the plural of a 
 dual form, as ulufS,t and alafat (plur. of ulM and alaf, them- 
 selves plurs. of alf) thousands ; similarly : — 
 
 kushMat 
 
 lists 
 
 qad§,y&t 
 
 cases, matters 
 
 gurilh&t 
 
 wounds 
 
 qutiirat 
 
 railway trains 
 
 'uturat 
 
 perfumes 
 
 kubarat 
 
 grandees 
 
 quyiidat 
 
 shackles 
 
 'ishrinat 
 
 twenties 
 
 wisiilat 
 
 receipts 
 
 talattndt 
 
 thirties 
 
 ashyat 
 
 things 
 
 qirshlnat 
 
 pieces of two 
 
 kutubat 
 
 hooks 
 
 
 piastres 
 
 1 A confused form tiyatrutat is sometimes heard. 
 
 2 From Ital. venti. A more common plural is banati. 
 ^ Ital. guanti. 
 
■64 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Qi) A few passive participles used as substantives, as : — 
 mashrubat drinks melauwinat things of 
 
 masruqat i stolen goods various col 
 
 {i) A large number of verbal substantives, including all 
 those of the form bardJt and all those which are constructed 
 from the derived forms of the verb ; e.g. : — 
 
 talab 
 
 demand 
 
 mahill 
 
 place 
 
 badan 
 
 body of a 
 
 ta's'li- 
 
 mark 
 
 
 garment 
 
 tafsil 
 
 detail 
 
 kitab 
 
 book 
 
 ikram 
 
 bounty 
 
 su'al 
 
 question 
 
 tahammil 
 
 bearing malice 
 
 hiwan 
 
 animal 
 
 imtihan 
 
 examination 
 
 gadar 
 
 foundation 
 
 istihsan 
 
 approval 
 
 gawab 
 
 letter 
 
 
 
 {plur. talabat. 
 
 badanat, hiwanat, 
 
 ikr^mat, &c.). 
 
 
 (j) Many 
 
 substantives of fo: 
 
 ■eign origin, as : 
 
 — 
 
 astabl 
 
 stable 
 
 faraman 
 
 firman 
 
 bakkon 
 
 balcony 
 
 qazan 
 
 caldron 
 
 buks 
 
 horse-box 
 
 sharab 
 
 stocking 
 
 bahlawan 
 
 wrestler 
 
 alay 
 
 regiment 
 
 qayimmaqam lieutenant 
 
 brins 
 
 pi'ince 
 
 gurnal 
 
 journal 
 
 babur 
 
 
 dukkar 
 
 dog-cart 
 
 frank 
 
 frank 
 
 gine (or 
 
 
 shilin 
 
 shilling 
 
 gineh) 
 
 
 riyal 
 
 dollar 
 
 »han 
 
 inn 
 
 
 
 {plur. astablat, buksat, dukkarat, brinsS,t, &c.). 
 
 Remake. — Gurnal more frequently makes garantn (u for I) ; 
 dukkar has also dakakir. 
 
 (/i) A few nouns not derived from verbs, though of Arabic 
 
 origin, as :— 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 bat 
 
 armpit 
 
 sitt 
 
 lady 
 
 gifir 
 
 shield 
 
 'eyar 
 
 kind of basket 
 
 khawal 
 
 dancing-man 
 
 gaban 
 
 eoioard (m. 
 
 nahar 
 
 day 
 
 
 or f.) 
 
 garaz 
 
 bell 
 
 
 
 (plur. batat, 
 
 sittat, &c.y 
 
 
 
 1 Not in use among the lower classes. 
 
 2 The plural of 'amm paternal uncle and khal maternal unde 
 is i'main, ikhwal, not (at least in Cairo) 'ammat, khalat, as stated 
 by Spitta. 
 
THE PLURAL 
 
 65 
 
 § 80. The following pluiuls in 
 irregularly : — 
 
 are formed somewhat 
 
 be (or beh) 
 
 hey 
 
 Sana 
 
 year 
 
 ab (abb) 
 
 father 
 
 umm 
 
 motheff 
 
 zat 
 
 person 
 
 lurd (or lord) 
 
 lord 
 
 akh (akhkh) 
 
 brother 
 
 ukht 
 
 sister 
 
 bint 
 
 girl 
 
 gamtl 
 
 beautiful 
 
 qalil 
 
 few 
 
 behawat (or b§hl,t or bah^t) 
 
 sanawat 
 
 abahit or (though rarely) abbat ^ 
 
 ummahS,t 
 
 zawat 
 
 lurdawat (or lurdcit, lordat) 
 
 ikhwat 
 
 ikhwat 
 
 banat 
 
 gamallt (or gumaldt) 
 
 qulalat 
 
 Remark a. — Umm makes ummat when meaning having, pos- 
 sessed of (see § 261), as nisw&n ummat hidlim bid loomen with 
 white clothes. Akhkh has also ikhwan in the sense of brethrert, 
 associates. Ikhwa is another form of plural of both akh and 
 ukht. To prevent confusion, we may add the words dukiir males 
 and banat, as liya ikhwa banat wi dkur I have sisters and brothers. 
 Sana has a duplicate plural, sinln. 
 
 Remark 6. — 
 
 shits, lointer \ 'asr afternoon 
 
 subh morning \ 'isha evening 
 
 have no plural of their own, but borrow that of kindred nouns 
 in iya, expressing the whole period or season, as talat shitwlyat 
 three lointers or winter seasons. Ghada and 'asha use the forms 
 ghadwSt, 'ashwat (from ghadwa, 'ashwa). 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 nas 
 
 people 
 
 ^^AZTkc 
 
 butcher 
 
 tashrlf 
 
 reception 
 
 me'allim 
 
 teacher 
 
 gam 'Iya 
 
 society, as- 
 
 'asSya 
 
 sticic 
 
 
 sembly 
 
 tasUh 
 
 repairing, im- 
 
 tumn 
 
 district police- 
 
 
 provement 
 
 
 station 
 
 ballon 
 
 balloon 
 
 dunya 
 
 world, weather 
 
 tasa 
 
 bowl 
 
 tar&wa 
 
 freshness 
 
 mahatta 
 
 station 
 
 sigara 
 
 cigarette 
 
 kitabkhana 
 
 library 
 
 wust 
 
 centre, middle 
 
 Urubba 
 
 Europe 
 
 silq 
 
 marhet 
 
 bilad it Turk 
 
 Turkey 
 
 The nahwy abawat is sometimes heard. 
 
66 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Fransa 
 
 France 
 
 tayir (ta'ir) 
 
 flying. 
 
 Nimsa 
 
 Austria, G&i-- j 
 
 naqi? 
 
 misdng, want- 
 
 
 many 
 
 
 ing 
 
 diyuf 
 
 guests 
 
 haddar 
 
 bring, get 
 
 biyut 
 
 houses 
 
 
 ready, pre- 
 
 gay 
 
 coming 
 
 
 pare (im- 
 
 mesafir 
 
 travelling, 
 
 
 perative) 
 
 
 leaving 
 
 mauwit 
 
 he killed 
 
 Masri 
 
 Egyptian 
 
 waddii 
 
 they conducted 
 
 mabsut 
 
 contented, 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 pleased 
 
 'auz 
 
 I want, you 
 
 gamid 
 
 strong, firm 
 
 
 want, he 
 
 khayii 
 
 good, beneficent 
 
 
 wants 
 
 Mdir 
 
 ready 
 
 yehibbft 
 
 tliey love 
 
 mabni 
 
 built 
 
 'amal 
 
 he did, made 
 
 kull 
 
 all 
 
 kan fib 
 
 there was, were 
 
 mistakhdim 
 
 employed, 
 
 'ala shan, 
 
 for, on account 
 
 
 employe 
 
 'ashan 
 
 of, in order 
 
 mashghul 
 
 busy 
 
 
 that, because 
 
 masbut 
 
 fixed, correct, 
 
 bidal 
 
 instead of 
 
 (mazbut) 
 
 right 
 
 in nahar da 
 
 to-day 
 
 raqid 
 
 lying, lying 
 
 il Ilia 
 
 to-night 
 
 
 ill 
 
 tamalli 
 
 always 
 
 barid 
 
 cold 
 
 inn {con- 
 
 that 
 
 sukhn 
 
 hot 
 
 junct.) 
 
 
 ghali 
 
 dear 
 
 
 
 
 EXERC 
 
 nSE 13 
 
 
 Hat il lamb^t we haddar il 6da, 'ashan fih nas diyuf gayin 
 il lela. Is saqqayin illi gabu 1 moiya inbarih battHltn qawi; 
 humma miskii ban^t kslnu i mashyin fi s sikka we darabuhum 
 we ramiihum fi 1 ard, we saraqu fulushum minhum. Ana shuft 
 fi 1 gurnalat inn il bashawat il masriyin illl rahu stambul mab- 
 suttn min tashrifat is sultln. Ana shtaret (ishtaret) barohat mis 
 siiq, wahid minhum '^li 'an it tanyln. Wahid ragil gabbar darab 
 il qutta 1 miskina illi kanit fi makhzan Mehammad Efendi talat 
 darbat gamdtn bi fas kanit ^ f idvi we mauwitha ; lakin riggalt 
 il gam'iya 1 khayriya betaht il ingliz, illi kanu hadrin waddfth it 
 tumn. Sahb (sahib) il bet 'amal it taslihat il lazmtn fi gninti 
 (ginenitt). II busta gat inbarih, we gabit It gawabat min il 
 
 Supply illi. 
 
 2 For illi k^nit. 
 
THE PLUKAL 67 
 
 banat ikWfitl illi fi blad lingllz. Id dunya ahsan in naliar da ; 
 fih tariwa kuwaiyisa. II milslyat wiskhin wi 1 battantyat ausakh 
 keman. Guztu r&hit is suq we gSbit lu bidten (bediten) we 
 bittit lahma t&za. It talagrafat betd' in nabar da abamme min 
 betil' inbarib. Biyiit qunsulatat Fransa we Nimsa mabniyln fi 
 wust il balad. II wilad is sugbaiyaiin gum. Fen il kitabat 
 betu' ab-Clya 1 Laqet il waraqat 'ala t tarabezfi,t. II bantufliyat 
 fi 1 6da betabt il farsb. Is sandiiqen betu' abuk gamdtn. 
 Sbaiyah 11 qalamen. 'auz il kitaben wi 1 waraq illi f Idak. Is 
 sa'tin illi f udtak masbutln litnen ? ana shribte (sbiribte) sigavten 
 bass in nabar da. Sbuft id dukkaren fi dukkami ; litnen kuwai- 
 yistn qawl. Banatu 'aiyanin kullubum, raqdin fi 1 bet. Is 
 sagarten illi fi gnint abuya 'alyln 'an betil'ak. 
 
 EXERCISE 14 
 
 Bring tbe lamps and put them on tbe tables in my room. 
 Take tbe twenty-piastre-pieces and give me (some) two-piastre- 
 pieces instead of tbem. Tbe employes of tbe Egyptian Govern- 
 ment are always busy. My feet are cold, but my bands are 
 warm. Tbe butchers of London are dearer than those of Cairo. 
 There is a school for French ^ boys and another for German 
 boys, and there are English masters at ^ both. Put two towels 
 in the room and take away the dirty (ones). I wrote three letters 
 to my brothers to-day. Your books are on a chair in tbe dining- 
 room. The boys and girls came around me and seized my hands. 
 The gentleman took the receipts for^ the books. The messengers 
 brought the papers from the War Oifice. The balconies of our 
 two houses are built over the two gardens. The boys love theii' 
 fathers and their mothers. The Egyptian army has beaten the 
 Soudanese. He struck him two blows on tbe head * with a stick 
 (which) was in his hand. Your eyes are smaller than mine. 
 There were three balls in the town in one night. I saw three 
 balloons flying in the air. Two collars and three waistcoats are 
 missing. They caught the animals in the gardens, and brought 
 them to the house. All of them are liars. The ladies are 
 leaving to-day; send their luggage to the station. There are 
 colonels and captains of the English army in the Egyptian army. 
 The boundary walls of my garden are very low. The milkman 
 has brought only two bowls (of) milk. Tbe Arabic language is 
 richer than those of ^ Europe. The Beys have brought (some) 
 
 1 Trans, the French, the German. 
 
 2 fi. 3 betu'. 
 * Trans. Ms head. ^ betu', 
 
38 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 wrestlers from Turkey. How many books are there in your 
 brother's library ? Thousands. 
 
 § 81. The plural termination ya or iya is assumed by a 
 aumber of substantives and a few adjectives ending in i, gi, 
 bdshi, dr, or, er, and a few others. The majority (with the ex- 
 ception of those ending in i) are of foreign origin, and denote 
 trades or professions ; e.g. : — 
 
 askafi 
 
 tarzt 1 
 
 harami 
 
 Efendl 
 
 shukall 
 
 khimiqi 
 
 Sudani 
 
 kawalingi - 
 
 'arbagi 
 
 unbasht 
 
 hekimdar 
 
 cobbler 
 
 tailor 
 
 rohber 
 
 khizindar 
 
 paymaster 
 
 ginninar 
 
 general 
 
 ikhtiyar 
 
 old 
 
 imberator 
 
 emperor 
 
 bankiyer (or 
 
 banker 
 
 bankier, 
 
 
 banker) 
 
 
 afukatu 
 
 advocate 
 
 (abukatu) 
 
 
 qunsulatu 
 
 consulate 
 
 shawlsh 
 
 constable 
 
 yawir 
 
 aide-de-camp 
 
 a, kawalinglya, ikhtiyarlya, 
 
 quarrelsome 
 quick-tempered 
 Soudanese 
 locksmith 
 coachman 
 corporal 
 commandant of 
 police 
 Plur. tarziya, haramlya, khimiqtya, 
 afukatiya, yaurlya (for yawiriya), ifec. 
 
 Remabk a. — Efendi, qunsulatu, bankier, and nouns ending in 
 bashi have also plurals in at. (See above.) Bitshawish chief con- 
 stable has a duplicate form, bitshawlshiyat. 
 
 Remabk b. — It will be observed that the plural and feminine 
 singular of many of these nouns are identical ; thus khulaqtya 
 may mean quick-tempered men or a quick-tempered woman, tamar- 
 gij-a men nurses or a woman nurse. 
 
 § 82. The following take the termination a: — 
 (a) Many nouns of the form barrdk, as :- 
 
 bannan 
 
 tabban 
 
 gallab 
 
 hattab 
 
 sarraf 
 
 gammal 
 
 hammar ^ 
 
 a dealer in 
 
 coffee 
 dealer in straw 
 slave-dealer 
 wood-cutter 
 money-change?- 
 camel-driver 
 donkey-boy 
 
 (plur. bannana, tabbana, hamm&'a, 
 
 zaiyat (or 
 zeyat) 
 
 saggan 
 
 ghassal 
 
 sammak 
 
 shaiyal (or 
 sheyal) 
 
 khauwaf 
 
 rafffis 
 
 etc.). 
 
 oil-merchant 
 
 turnkey 
 washerman 
 fisherman 
 porter 
 
 timid 
 
 kicker (horse) 
 
 1 Tui-kish. - More usually kawalinl. 
 
 i* Hammai'in is sometimes used, but apparently only in the 
 
 belief that it sounds " educated." 
 
THE PLUEAL 
 
 69 
 
 Remark a. — The great majority, if not the whole, of these 
 may also make their plural in in. But on the other hand^ a 
 great many nouns of this form make their plural in in only. 
 Where the noun admits of a feminine form, as ghassala waslier- 
 woman, it is better to use the plural in in to prevent confusion. 
 
 (6) A few adjectives of the form barrik, as : — 
 
 sarrlf 
 
 money-changer 
 
 akktl 
 
 gluttonous 
 
 khauwlf 
 
 timid 
 
 
 
 Remaek.- 
 
 —Sarrlf is more common, perhaps, than sarraf. 
 
 pecially in 
 
 the plural. 
 
 
 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 
 lamiin 
 
 lemons 
 
 ilbis 
 
 put on 
 
 burtuqan 
 
 oranges 
 
 shaifi 
 
 they carried, 
 
 hidftm 
 
 clothes 
 
 
 carriedaway 
 
 wiraq (uraq) papers 
 
 mishyii 
 
 they walked, 
 
 raf'a 
 
 pity 
 
 
 walked away 
 
 farsh 
 
 bedding 
 
 yikkallimii 
 
 they speak 
 
 sign 
 
 prison 
 
 (or yitkal- 
 
 
 bantal6n 
 
 trousers 
 
 limH) 
 
 
 ugra 
 
 hire, wages 
 
 katabt 
 
 I wrote 
 
 nahwt 
 
 Chancery lan- 
 
 kasarfi 
 
 they broke 
 
 
 guage 
 
 seyib 
 
 he let go 
 
 masgitn 
 
 imprisoned 
 
 sallah(i 
 
 they repaired 
 
 baql 
 
 remaining, rest 
 
 sahhi\ 
 
 they woke 
 
 lazim 
 
 necessary 
 
 khailasti 
 
 they rescued 
 
 qadir 
 
 powerful 
 
 miskft 
 
 they seized. 
 
 nayim 
 
 sleeping 
 
 
 caught 
 
 talat 
 
 three 
 
 kam? 
 
 how many ? ^ 
 
 kulluhum 
 
 all of them 
 
 
 hoio mtich ? 
 
 khad 
 
 he took 
 
 ketir (kitlr) 
 
 much, very 
 
 shaiya'ii 
 
 they sent 
 
 min gher 
 
 without 
 
 dakhalu 
 
 they entered 
 
 hatta 
 
 even, in fact 
 
 yilbisii 
 
 they put on, 
 wear 
 
 .12 
 
 my 
 
 EXERCISE 15 
 
 In nas il kubarat yilbisu kuwaiyis we yikkallimii naliwi, wi 
 n nSs il baqytn yilbisii gallablyat we yikkallimii 'arabi; lakin 
 lef endiyat keman we hatta 1 bashawSt yikkallimii 'arabl fi biyu- 
 thum. II har^miya dakhalu bet in naggarln wi saraqu kalbitgn 
 
 1 With noun in the singular. 
 
 2 Suffixed to nouns. 
 
'0 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 ve talat rabShat. Ish sheyaltn illi shalu 1 'afshe beta' il beli 
 nin il babiir kasaru kulle baga illl flh, we ba'den talabu 1 ugra 
 seta'ithum. Is saggana fatahu bab is sign, kbadu qirshSn min 
 I masgunin we sgyibiihum. II gamm&la darabu 1 hammara we 
 challasfihum il battaba. II abukattya kkallimii kettr. II 
 thaiyata shtaru talat lamftn&t we burtuqanten we fak-ba tanya 
 jeman, we hattuhum fi 'eyarat wi sb sheyaltn gabuhum 'ala 
 oethum. II bekimdartya mabsutin min il bitsbawishiyat, wi 1 
 bitshawisbiya mabsutin min ish shawisbiya. Ishtari nna^ san- 
 iuqen mis sanadqtya betu' is siiq we hatbum qawam. In naggarln 
 jabu 1 khasbabat we mistanniyin f ulusbum ; wi sb shaiyala kem§,n 
 ■auzin ugritbum. It tamargtya wi t tamargiyat nas taiyibln. 
 
 EXERCISE 16 
 
 The lock-smitbs came and repaired both the locks of the door 
 of my house. The washerwoman has brought the clothes, but 
 where are the collars and the socks ? Give me two piastres for 
 the fishermen who are waiting at ^ the door. The emperors of 
 Europe are very powerful. The tailors have sent the waistcoats ; 
 bhey are very good. The generals are old but strong. The 
 ehildren are very timid. Give them an orange ; they are also 
 7ery gluttonous. The sun is hot ; put on your hat and sit under 
 the trees. The camel-drivers were lying asleep on the ground, 
 but the slave-dealers awoke them and they all ^ went on. The 
 Bey's stables are very dirty. 
 
 THE BROKEN PLURAL 
 
 § 83. Broken plurals are constructed in various ways. The 
 
 following is a list of the forms which they assume, together with 
 
 uhe principal singular forms from which they are severally derived. 
 
 1. Plur. form, birak, from singulars of the forms barka. 
 
 Dirk, birka, birlk, birlka, burk ; e.g. : — 
 
 gazma pair of shoes gizam 
 
 kbema (for khayma) tent khiyam 
 
 md the two foreign words — 
 
 tanda awning tinad 
 
 warsha workshop wirash ; 
 
 dibb hear dibab 
 
 qibt * Copts qibat ; 
 
 ibra * needle ibar 
 
 1 For ishtiri lina. 2 f } or 'and. 
 
 3 kulluhum after the verb. * Collective noun. * I.e. 'ibra. 
 
THE BKOKEN PLURAL 
 
 71 
 
 gitta 
 
 
 body 
 
 gitat 
 
 birka 
 
 
 pond 
 
 birak 
 
 'itta 
 
 
 moth 
 
 'itat 
 
 hila (for 
 
 hiyla) 
 
 wile 
 
 hiyal 
 
 slra 
 
 
 story 
 
 siyar ; 
 
 . gidW 
 
 
 old small coin 
 
 gidad ; 
 
 midina 
 
 
 city 
 
 midan ; 
 
 shull 1 
 
 
 horse-cloth 
 
 shilal 
 
 2. Buiak, 
 e.g. :— 
 balta 
 
 from sing. 
 
 forms barka, 
 
 barlk, birtk, burka ; 
 
 
 axe 
 
 bulat 
 
 takhta i 
 
 
 bench 
 
 tukhat 
 
 lamda 
 
 
 lamp 
 
 lumad 
 
 harba 
 
 
 lance 
 
 burab 
 
 6dai (foi 
 
 r awda) 
 
 room 
 
 awad 
 
 gidtd (gadtd) 
 
 new 
 
 gudad ; 
 
 hufra 
 
 
 hole 
 
 hufar 
 
 bulgha (also balgha) 
 
 hind of shoe 
 
 bulagh 
 
 iikra 
 
 
 door-handle 
 
 tikar 
 
 sfira 
 
 
 picture 
 
 §uwar 
 
 ortai 
 
 
 hattalion 
 
 orat 
 
 bflza (for 
 
 buwza) 
 
 beer-shop 
 
 buwaz 
 
 3. Burk or (rarely) birk, from sing. 
 
 forms barftka, biraka. 
 
 barlk, bartka, 
 
 abi'ak,^ and 
 
 (in one case) ibrik ; e.g. : — 
 
 'asttya 
 
 
 stick 
 
 'usy 
 
 'aMya 
 
 
 cloak 
 
 'iby; 
 
 nitaya 
 
 
 female 
 
 nity; 
 
 ghashim 
 
 
 simple 
 
 ghusbm 
 
 qadim 
 
 
 old 
 
 qudm 
 
 'abtt 
 
 
 simplHon 
 
 'ubt;B 
 
 haslra 
 
 
 mat 
 
 husr ; 
 
 akhras 
 
 
 dumb 
 
 kburs 
 
 ahwal 
 
 
 squinting 
 
 Ml (for huwl) 
 
 a 'wag 
 
 
 crooked 
 
 'fig (for 'uwg) 
 
 ahmar 
 
 
 red 
 
 humr 
 
 asmar 
 
 
 brown 
 
 sumr 
 
 abyad 
 
 
 white 
 
 bid (for buyd) 
 
 iswid 
 
 
 black 
 
 Slid (for suwd) 
 
 a'ma 
 
 
 blind 
 
 'imy * 
 
 1 Turkish. 
 
 2 Expressing colours and bodily infirmities. 
 
 3 Also 'ibt and 'ubata. 
 
 * A few of these words have also the plur. form burka,n, birkan. 
 
72 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 4. Buruk, from sing, forms barlk, baruk, birak, birika, burka ; 
 e.g. :— 
 
 tariq road turuq ; 
 
 rasul" messenger, apostle rusul ; 
 
 kitab 
 
 midina 
 
 burda 
 
 5. Birak, burak, from sing, forms bark, barka, barak, barik, 
 barlk (and its diminutive, buraiyik), barrik, birk, birka, birtk,^ 
 burk ; e.g. : — 
 
 hook 
 
 kutub ; 1 
 
 city 
 
 mudun ; ^ 
 
 a kind of coat 
 
 burud 
 
 bagbl 
 
 mule 
 
 bighal ; 
 
 marra 
 
 time 
 
 mirar 
 
 farkha 
 
 fowl 
 
 firakh 
 
 balad 
 
 tOlBll 
 
 bilad 
 
 walad 
 
 hoy 
 
 wilad* 
 
 waraq 
 
 paper 
 
 wir^q" 
 
 gabal 
 
 mountain 
 
 gibal 
 
 gamal 
 
 camel 
 
 gimal 
 
 garya (for gariya) 
 
 negress, slave-girl 
 
 guwar ; 
 
 tagir 
 
 merchant 
 
 tugar; 
 
 da'if 
 
 loeak 
 
 du'af 
 
 ghawit 
 
 deep 
 
 gbuw^t 
 
 tawil 
 
 tall 
 
 tuwal 
 
 qasir (and the more 
 
 small, sho'ii 
 
 qusar 
 
 usual form 
 
 
 
 qusaiyar) ^ 
 
 
 
 qadim 
 
 old 
 
 qudam 
 
 gamil 
 
 ieaiitiful 
 
 gumal 
 
 salitb 
 
 true, wJwle 
 
 subah 
 
 ghanl (for ghanjy) 
 
 rich 
 
 ghunay 
 
 shaqt (for shaqiy) 
 
 wicked, felcm 
 
 shuqay 
 
 tari 
 
 fresh 
 
 txu^ay ; 
 
 'aiyil 
 
 child 
 
 'iyal ; 
 
 ^ The perfect plur. kitabat is more commonly used by the 
 ess educated. The double plur. kutubat will also be heard. 
 
 - A rare form. Midan and (less commonly) mida'in are 
 hose in use. 
 
 ^ A weakened form of barik, the i occurring mostly between 
 ?eak consonants. 
 
 * Ulad, flraq are often used by the educated, as also aulad, 
 uraq. 
 
 5 Qusaiyar has also the perfect plur. qusaiyarln. 
 
THE BKOKEN PLURAL 73 
 
 "^i<^n ear widto 
 
 sinn teeth sinan ; 
 
 lj}f na /lancZ/M? hif an ; 
 
 gidld TCSM gudad 
 
 kibir gr^a^ k^laar ; 
 
 burg ifozt'er birSg 
 
 Remark. — NisS, tvomen has no corresponding singular form. 
 
 6. Birk, from sing, form baraka ; e.g. : — 
 daw^ya inkpot diwy 
 
 7. Birilk (or buriik, the u being often assimilated), from sing, 
 forms bark, barik, b^rik, barki, birk, burk ; e.g. : — 
 
 batn 
 
 gahsh 
 
 dab' 
 
 sab' 
 
 naqz 
 
 barr 
 
 tall 
 
 alf 
 
 bet (for bayt) 
 
 raff 
 
 daqn 
 
 asl 
 
 sif (for sayf) 
 
 malik 
 
 shahid 
 
 sarghl 
 
 gidr 
 
 hind 
 
 gidd 
 
 dik (for diyk) 
 
 burg 
 
 belly 
 
 foal of donkey 
 
 hycena 
 
 lion 
 
 leafless hranch 
 
 sliore 
 
 hill 
 
 thousand 
 
 house 
 
 shelf 
 
 heard 
 
 root 
 
 sword 
 
 army 
 
 king 
 
 witness 
 delivery-hook 
 root 
 
 Indians 
 grandfather 
 cock 
 
 pigeon-cot on roof 
 of toioer 
 
 8. Birak, from sing, form barik ; e.g. 
 
 says (for sa'is, sayis) groom 
 '^yiq dandy 
 
 butun 
 
 guhiish 
 
 dubft' 
 
 subfi' 
 
 nuquz 
 
 buriir 
 
 tilfll 
 
 uMf 
 
 biyut (or 
 
 buyHt) 
 ruftf 
 diqfln 
 us^l 
 siyM 
 giyiish ; 
 muluk (or 
 
 milftk) ; 
 shuht\d ; i 
 sirUg 
 gidur 
 hinlid 
 gidud 
 diyvlk ; 
 
 burfig 
 
 slyas 
 'Jyftq 
 
 . 1 More usually shuhhad. 
 
r4 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 9. Burrak, from sing, form barik; e.g.: — 
 
 qasir minor qussar 
 
 10. Burrak (or birr^k), from sing, form barik ; e.g. : — 
 
 tagir merchant tuggar 
 
 Mgib chamherlain, usher huggab 
 
 rakib passenger rukk^b 
 
 baris guardian burras 
 
 shlhid witness sbubhad 
 
 z&bit officer. zubbat 
 
 kafir infidel kuff^r 
 
 hagig pilgrim biggag 
 
 Mkim judge, ruler bukkam 
 
 sh^tir clever, cunning shuttari 
 
 11. Buraka,2 from sing, forms bar&k, barlk, barika, barik, 
 birtk ; ^ e.g. : — 
 
 amir 
 
 chieftain 
 
 umara 
 
 'ablt 
 
 imbecile 
 
 'ubata 
 
 qadtm 
 
 ancient 
 
 qudama * 
 
 baktm 
 
 physician 
 
 hukama 
 
 kballfa 
 
 Caliph 
 
 Khulafa ; 
 
 bawl 
 
 juggler 
 
 hiwa^ (for 
 hiwaya) ; 
 
 qadt 
 
 judge 
 
 quda^ (for 
 qudaya) ; 
 
 bikhtl 
 
 greedy 
 
 bukhala 
 
 sbirik 
 
 partner 
 
 sburaka 
 
 12. Bartk and (weakened form) birik, from sing, forms 
 bark, birk, birak (burak) ; e.g. : — 
 
 'abd slave 'abld ; 
 
 mi'z goats mj'iz ; 
 
 bimar (or humar) donkey liimtr 
 
 1 These words were all originally present participles. Shatir 
 has sometimes the perfect plur. shatrin. 
 
 2 Representing both buraka and burak& of the classical. The 
 a is sounded somewhat long in a few cases. 
 
 8 Weakened form of barlk. 
 
 * This form is only used as a substantive. 
 
 " Or hiwa, quda (pronounce hiwah, qud^h). 
 
THE BEOKEN PLUKAL 
 13. Ibruk, from sing, forms bark, birak ; e.g. 
 
 75 
 
 farkh 
 
 
 sheet of paper 
 
 ifrukh 
 
 daqn 
 
 
 heard 
 
 idqun 
 
 raff 
 
 
 shelf 
 
 irfuf 
 
 nafs 
 
 
 soul 
 
 infus 
 
 dal' 
 
 
 rih 
 
 idlu' 
 
 sahn 
 
 
 dish 
 
 ishun 
 
 dira' 
 
 
 arm 
 
 idru' 
 
 14. Ibrak and (stronger and rarely used 
 
 form) abrak, from 
 
 sing, forms bark, barak. 
 
 barik, birk, burk ; e.g 
 
 . : — 
 
 ganb 
 
 
 side 
 
 ingab 
 
 dal' 
 
 
 rib 
 
 idla' 
 
 'amm 
 
 
 paternal uncle 
 
 i'mam 
 
 goz (for 
 
 gawz) 
 
 pair, husband 
 
 igwSz 
 
 k6m (for kawm) 
 
 heap 
 
 ikwam 
 
 dgr (for 
 
 dayr) 
 
 convent 
 
 idy^r 
 
 sh§' (for 
 
 shay') 
 
 thing 
 
 ashya' (for 
 ashya') ; ^ 
 
 qafas 
 
 
 cage 
 
 iqfas 
 
 khai (for kbawal) 
 
 inaternal uncle 
 
 ikhwal 
 
 bab (for 
 
 bawab) 
 
 door 
 
 ibwab 
 
 nab (foi 
 
 nayab) 
 
 canine tooth 
 
 inyab ; ^ 
 
 s^hib 
 
 
 owner, friend 
 
 ashab ; 
 
 gins 
 
 
 kind 
 
 ignas 
 
 'ibb 
 
 
 hreast-pochet 
 
 i'bab 
 
 gidd 
 
 
 grandfather 
 
 igdad 
 
 dinn 
 
 
 wine-vat 
 
 idnan 
 
 bizz 
 
 
 breast 
 
 ibzaz 2 
 
 sinn 
 
 
 teeth 
 
 isnan ^ 
 
 gii 
 
 
 century 
 
 igyal 
 
 tin 
 
 
 land, soil 
 
 atyan 
 
 waqt 
 
 
 time 
 
 auqat * 
 
 bir (for 
 
 bi'r) 
 
 well 
 
 ibyar 
 
 zlr 
 
 
 water-jar 
 
 izyar ^ 
 
 dilw 
 
 
 bucket 
 
 idlaw 
 
 1 But commonly pronounced ashya. The mixed plural ashyat 
 is in more general use. 
 
 2 Pronounced also niyab (see § 15). 
 2 Or bizS,z, sinan. 
 
 * As ma yef fttush wala waqt il auqit, he will never leave it for 
 a moment. 
 ^ Or ziyfi,r. 
 
76 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OP EGYPT 
 
 'id 
 
 
 
 festival 
 
 
 
 i'yad 
 
 sld 
 
 
 
 lord 
 
 
 
 isyad ; i 
 
 tuql 
 
 
 
 weight 
 
 
 
 itqal 
 
 gurn 
 
 
 
 iarn 
 
 
 
 igrani 
 
 guz' 
 
 
 
 part 
 
 
 
 igza' 
 
 sur (for 
 
 3U"wr) 
 
 
 wall 
 
 
 
 iswar 
 
 stiq 
 
 
 
 marlcet 
 
 
 
 iswaq 
 
 bi\q 
 
 
 
 trumpet 
 
 
 
 ibwaq 
 
 ruh 
 
 
 
 spirit 
 
 
 
 irwah 
 
 Eemabk.- 
 
 — Alf thousand makes alaf (as in 
 
 literary Arabic) or 
 
 aMf ; raiy (or 
 
 ra'y) opinion 
 
 ara ( = ar'a 
 
 of the classical) ; ism name 
 
 asma (classic. 
 
 asma'). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15. Ibrika^ and 
 
 (rarely) abrika, 
 
 from . 
 
 ring 
 
 . forms barak, 
 
 barik, birak, 
 
 aur^k, birik ; 
 
 e.g. :— 
 
 
 
 
 banak 
 
 
 
 mouth 
 
 
 
 ihnika ; 
 
 kanif 
 
 
 
 closet 
 
 
 
 iknif a ; 
 
 girab 
 
 
 
 scabbard 
 
 
 
 igriba 
 
 bigag;; 
 
 
 
 amulet 
 
 
 
 ihgiba 
 
 hiram 
 
 
 
 woollen cloak 
 
 
 ihrima 
 
 biram 
 
 
 
 earthen saucepan 
 
 
 ibrima 
 
 lisan 
 
 
 
 tongue 
 
 
 
 ilsina 
 
 zirar (itself plur. 
 
 of 
 
 buttons 
 
 
 
 izrira ; 
 
 zirr) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 busat 
 
 
 
 carpet 
 
 
 
 ibsita 
 
 husan 
 
 
 
 horse 
 
 
 
 ihsina 
 
 ghurab 
 
 
 
 crow 
 
 
 
 ighriba ; 
 
 righif 
 
 
 
 loaf 
 
 
 
 irghifa 
 
 Sibil 
 
 
 
 fountain 
 
 
 
 isbila 
 
 Remark. - 
 
 -Tabib 
 
 pliys' 
 
 'dan makes atibba 
 
 (for atbiba). 
 
 16. Abrika and 
 e.g. :— 
 
 dawa (for dawa'' 
 
 ibrtka, from sing, foi 
 
 ms 
 
 barak, barik; 
 
 
 medicine 
 
 
 
 idwiya ^ (or 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 adwiya) ; 
 
 ghani (f( 
 
 Dr ghaniy) 
 
 rich 
 
 
 
 agnlya 
 
 shaqi 
 
 
 
 rebellious 
 
 , villain 
 
 
 ashqiya * 
 
 1 Or siyad, giran. 
 
 2 Including ibrika of the classical. Many words of this form 
 are pronounced birlka (see § 15). 
 
 ' The qat'a changing to y. 
 
 * These, in classical Arabic, belong to the preceding form. 
 They are not much used by the lower classes. 
 
THE BROKEN PLURAL 
 
 77 
 
 17. Bawarik, from sing, forms barka (contracted from 
 barika), birik, burk, barlka ; e.g. : — 
 
 hadsa ocewTence haw&dis 
 
 fak-ha fruit fawakih 
 
 nadra incident nawadir 
 
 madna minaret mawadin ; 
 
 liafir hoof hawafir 
 
 kh^tim signet-ring khawatim ; 
 
 dufr finger-nail dawifir ; 
 
 sanlya tray sawanl 
 
 Remark. — Suba' finger makes sawabi', from an unused sing, 
 sibi'. 
 
 18. Barayik (barl'ik), i from sing, forms barlk, barlka, baruk, 
 bariika, birka, birik,^ birtka,^ bireka, burka, buriik ; e.g. : — 
 
 tablb 
 
 garlma 
 
 'agHz 
 
 'azuma 
 
 'arusa 
 
 shiffa 
 
 silfa 
 
 bihtm 
 
 gidlla 
 
 midina 
 
 ginlna 
 
 durra 
 
 zubUn 
 
 Remark. — It wiU be noticed that, with the exception of birka 
 and burka, the second syllable of these singulars is long. 
 
 19. Birk§,n, burkan, from sing, forms bark, barka, barak, 
 baraka, barak, barlk, barik, burk, burftk, abrak; e.g. : — 
 shabb youth shubban 
 
 far (for f a'r) moiise f Iran * (for 
 
 fi'ran) 
 t^r tambourine tMn * (for 
 
 tiyran) 
 tor (for tawr) bull tiran 
 
 ■ 1 For the pronunciation of these words, see § 19. 
 - Weak forms of barlk, barlka. 
 ^ In their relationship to one another, co-epouse. 
 * Generally pronounced firan, tiran, (fee. (§ 15). 
 
 friend 
 
 habayib ; 
 
 crime 
 
 garayim ; 
 
 old 
 
 'agayiz ; 
 
 banquet 
 
 'azayim 
 
 bride 
 
 'arayis ; 
 
 lip 
 
 shafslyif 
 
 husband's brother's 
 
 saMyif ; 
 
 wife 
 
 
 cattle 
 
 bah&yim ; 
 
 lock of hair 
 
 gadayil 
 
 city 
 
 madSyin ; 
 
 garden 
 
 ganayin ; 
 
 one of two or more 
 
 darayir ; 
 
 wives ^ 
 
 
 customer 
 
 zabayin 
 
78 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 bosh 
 
 bod 
 
 kom 
 
 gbet (for gbayt) 
 
 taqa 
 
 gada' 
 
 gbalaq 
 
 'arab 
 
 bab (for bawab) 
 
 kbalaqa 
 
 ghazal 
 
 ghata 
 
 'aris 
 
 'arisb 
 
 qadib 
 
 shagi' 
 
 sabi 
 
 rahib 
 
 bet (for ba'it) 
 
 ku' 
 
 kuz 
 
 gbtil 
 
 sbuga' 
 
 gburab 
 
 a'ma 
 
 Kemahk a. — The form abiak is peculiar to a few adjectives 
 denoting colours and personal defects, which have the duplicate 
 form burk or (in the case of a'ma) birk. 
 
 Remaek b. — The word niswan is used as the plural of mara 
 zcoman. 
 
 20. Bai-aka, from sing, forms barka (including barika), barik, 
 
 enclosure for cattle 
 
 hishan 
 
 tank, basin 
 
 hldan 
 
 heap 
 
 klman 
 
 field 
 loindmo 
 
 ghitan ; 
 tiqan ; 
 
 youth, fine fellow 
 
 gid'an 
 
 pannier 
 Arab, Bedouin 
 
 ghulqan 
 'urban 
 
 door 
 
 biban ; 
 
 old garment 
 gazelle 
 cove); lid 
 bridegroom 
 
 khulqan ; 
 ghuzlan 
 ghutyan ; 
 'irsan 
 
 pole of carriage 
 
 'irshan 
 
 rod 
 brave 
 
 qudban 
 shug'an 
 
 lad, apprentice 
 monk 
 
 subyan ; 
 ruhban 
 
 wall 
 
 hitan ; 
 
 elbcnc 
 
 ki'an 
 
 mug 
 
 kizan 
 
 ogre 
 
 ghllan ; 
 
 brave 
 
 shug'an 
 
 crow 
 blind 
 
 ghirban ; 
 'imvan 
 
 barkan, birka, 
 
 birkan, 
 
 bii-ika, barkanl, burkani ; 
 
 e.g. :— 
 
 halwa 
 
 
 sweetmeat 
 
 halawa 
 
 zauya (zawiya) 
 
 yatim 
 
 hibla 
 
 'iryan 
 
 tildya 
 
 ghalban 
 
 angle, chapel 
 
 orphan 
 
 pregnant 
 
 naked 
 
 Moslem monastery 
 
 wretched 
 
 zawaj'a ; 
 yatama ; 
 habala ; 
 'araya ; ^ 
 takaya ; 
 ghalaba ; 
 
 nasr§,ni 
 
 
 Christian 
 
 nasara ; 
 
 wustani 
 
 
 {Nazarene) 
 central 
 
 was§,ta 
 
 1 The perfect plur. 'iryaniu is much more common. 
 
THE BKOKEN PLURAL 
 21. Buruka, from sing, form barrtk ; e.g. :- 
 qassls priest- 
 
 ly 
 
 qususa 
 
 22. Baraki (for bar^kiy), from sing, forms bark, barka, 
 barkiya, barakklya, birka, birki, birktya, birkaya, burkt ; 
 e.g. :— 
 
 ard 
 
 earth 
 
 aradi 
 
 abi 
 
 family 
 
 abaii 
 
 sakw 
 
 overcoat 
 
 sakawi ; 
 
 da'wa 
 
 claim 
 
 da'awi 
 
 lela (for layla) 
 
 night 
 
 layali 
 
 qahwa 
 
 coffee, coffee-house 
 
 qahawi 
 
 shakwa 
 
 complaint 
 
 sbaktiwi 
 
 hara 
 
 quarter {of a town) 
 
 hawari ; 
 
 shamsiya 
 
 umbrella, shutter 
 
 shamasi 
 
 fasqtya 
 
 fountain 
 
 f asaqi ; 
 
 ma'addlya 
 
 ferry 
 
 ma'adi ; 
 
 birba 
 
 ancient temple 
 
 barabi 
 
 migra 
 
 stream 
 
 magari 
 
 kilwa 
 
 Jddney 
 
 kalawi 
 
 mikhla 
 
 nose-hag 
 
 makbali 
 
 mirsa 
 
 anchor 
 
 marasi ; 
 
 birri 
 
 wild 
 
 barari waste 
 lands 
 
 sisl 
 
 pony 
 
 sayasi ; 
 
 bittiya 
 
 cash 
 
 batati ; 
 
 biddaya 
 
 kite 
 
 hadftdi 
 
 mikbbaya 
 
 hiding-place 
 
 makhabi ; 
 
 burgM 
 
 screw 
 
 baraghl 
 
 kursi 
 
 chair 
 
 karasi 
 
 kubrii 
 
 bridge 
 
 kabari 
 
 Ebmark. — Dura maize, baltu overcoat, and bintu (or binti) 
 napoleon, bave plurals of this form, namely, dar^wl fields of maize, 
 baMti, ban&ti. 
 
 23. Buraka. Sing, forms, bark, barak ; e.g. : — 
 
 hagar 
 da'if 
 
 stone hugara ; 
 loeali du'afa ^ 
 
 1 Turkish. 
 
 2 Du'af is more common. 
 
80 
 
 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 24. Biruka, buruka, from sing, forms bark, barak, birk ; e.g. : — 
 baqf ninny buqufa 
 
 nat' uncouth nutu'a 
 
 sab' lion subii'a 
 
 dab' hycena dubii'a 
 
 saqf ceiling suqMa 
 
 naqz leafless branch nuquza 
 
 bank hank, hench binuka; 
 
 dakar male dukura ; 
 
 nimr tiger numura 
 
 Ebmark. — Nouns which make buruka generally admit also 
 the form buruk. 
 
 25. Birraka, from sing, form barik ; e.g. : — 
 
 ragil man riggala 
 
 26. Bawtoik,^ from sing, forms barak, b^rlk, baruk, bariika, 
 barriika, blrak ; e.g. : — 
 
 ma 'ad time, period 
 
 tartkh date (time) 
 
 'amud column 
 
 satur cliopper 
 
 basur hmmorrhoid 
 
 gamAs buffalo 
 
 ta'us peacock 
 
 tahuna mill 
 
 haddiita tale, gossip 
 
 hazzura riddle 
 
 dlwan office 
 
 27. Bayarik, from sing, form barr&k ; e.g. 
 sarraf money-changer 
 
 28. Lakhabit, from sing, forms lakhbat, lakhbata, lakhbati, 
 lakhbit, lakhbita, likhbit, likhbita, lukhbit, lukhbut ; e.g. : — 
 
 mabrad file mabarid 
 
 magma' assembly magami' 
 
 mafrash table-cloth mafarish 
 
 rafraf splashboard (of car- rafarif 
 
 riage 
 
 barbakh culvert barabikh 
 
 mawa'id ; 
 
 taw&rikh ; 
 
 'aw^mtd 
 
 sawatir 
 
 bawasir 
 
 gawamls 
 
 tawa'is ; 
 
 tawahtn ^ 
 
 hawadtt 
 
 hawazlr ; 
 
 dawawin 
 
 sayarif 
 
 1 Usually pronounced bawarikh, with a very slight accent on 
 the second a (see § 13). 
 
 2 Samula rivet sometimes makes samawll (for sawamil). 
 
THE BKOKEN PLURAL 
 
 81 
 
 d6raq (dawraq) 
 
 IdnS, of bottle 
 
 dawariq ; 
 
 mabkhara 
 
 censer 
 
 mabakhir 
 
 mahkama 
 
 court 
 
 mahakim 
 
 barda'a 
 
 donkey's saddle 
 
 baradi' 
 
 shabraqa 
 
 treat 
 
 shabariq ; 
 
 'antart 
 
 chemise 
 
 'anatir ; 
 
 biillsa (bawltsa) 
 
 invoice 
 
 bawalis ; 
 
 gilgil 
 
 small bell 
 
 gaiagil ; 
 
 gimgima 
 
 skull 
 
 gamftgim ; 
 
 burqu' 
 
 veil 
 
 bardqi' 
 
 gumruk i 
 
 custom-house 
 
 gamarik 
 
 dungul 
 
 axle {of carriage) 
 
 danagil 
 
 Remabk. — Mebar (for 
 
 maybar) packing needle makes mawabir. 
 
 29. Lakhabit,2 from 
 
 sing, forms lakhbat, 
 
 lakhbata, lakh- 
 
 batl, lakhbatlya, lakhbit, 
 
 lakhblta, lakhWit, 'lakhbuta, likhbat, 
 
 likhbata, likhblt, likhbiyat, lukhbat, lukhbata, 
 
 lukhbatlya, lukh- 
 
 bet, lukhbeta ; e.;/. :— 
 
 
 
 d&labi 
 
 cupboard 
 
 dawallb 
 
 ballas (or ballasi) 
 
 kind of jar 
 
 balalls ; 
 
 salihfi,ra 
 
 trunk, box 
 
 sahali'tf ; 
 
 gallabiya 
 
 govtn 
 
 gaialib ; 
 
 tafstl 
 
 detail 
 
 tafaall 
 
 mazzika 
 
 music, band 
 
 mazaztk 
 
 barrlma 
 
 corlcscrew 
 
 bararlm ; ^ 
 
 bargMt 
 
 fleas 
 
 baraghtt 
 
 katkut 
 
 chicken 
 
 kataklt 
 
 zarbun 
 
 low, vulgar 
 
 zarabin 
 
 ma'zum 
 
 invited, guest 
 
 ma'azim 
 
 masgftn 
 
 prisoner 
 
 masagtn 
 
 mazlftm 
 
 oppressed 
 
 mazallm 
 
 ma'miir 
 
 a Government re- 
 presentative 
 
 ma'amir ; 
 
 tannura 
 
 skirt 
 
 tananlr ; 
 
 birwaz 
 
 picture-frame 
 
 barawtz 
 
 shibbak 
 
 window 
 
 shababik; 
 
 sikkln 
 
 knife 
 
 sakakin ; 
 
 shintiyan 
 
 trousers wornby women shanatin ; 
 
 muftah 
 
 key 
 
 maf atih ; 
 
 sultaniya 
 
 boiol, basin 
 
 salatln ; 
 
 qustek 
 
 kind of watch-chain 
 
 qas&tlk 
 
 burneta 
 
 hat 
 
 baranit 
 
 1 Turkish. ^ The second a is practical 
 
 ly short, as above. 
 
 Better barrtmat. 
 
82 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 sharkas 
 
 samkart 
 
 berbert 
 
 gabbar 
 
 masrawl 
 
 turkawi 
 
 hindawi 
 
 talmlz 
 
 maiyidl (or meyidi) 
 
 dakrurt 
 
 targumin 
 
 fara'un 
 
 diktor 
 
 dungulawl 
 
 sharaksa ; 
 samakra 
 barabra ; 
 gababra ; 
 masarwa 
 tarakwa 
 binadwa ; 
 talamza i 
 
 mayayda ; 
 dakarna ; 
 taragma 
 fara'na ; 
 dakatra ; 
 danagla 
 
 30. Lakbabta (lakh&bita), from sing, forms lakhbat, lakhbati, 
 lakhbat, lakhbati, lakbbtt, lakhbiti, lakhbuti, lakhbutan, lakhabut, 
 likhbut, lukhbvitawt ; e.g. : — 
 
 OircassiatK 
 
 tinJcer 
 
 native of Berher 
 
 tyrant 
 
 Egyptian 
 
 Turk 
 
 Indian 
 
 scholar 
 
 an ancient small 
 coin 
 
 native of Dakritr 
 
 interpreter 
 
 Pharaoh, tyrant 
 
 doctor 
 
 native of Dongola 
 
 Remaek. — Fayumi native of the Fayoum (fayayma) may be 
 included in this list. 
 
 The quinquiliteral kustiban thimble makes kasatbtn ; ^ ardabb 
 a dry measure, aradibb and aradib. 
 
 § 84. The following nouns, in addition to those already noticed 
 (as akhkh, ukht, dura), form their plurals quite irregularly : — 
 
 shekh old man, sheikh masha'ikh 
 
 (mashayikh) 
 ras 
 yom 
 
 qadl 
 
 sa'i 
 
 ra'i 
 
 (ma')* 
 
 miya 
 
 Khel horses, niswan (or nisa) women, nas people are represented 
 in the singular by liusan, mara, and insan respectively. 
 
 head 
 
 rus^ 
 
 daij 
 
 eyam, lyam. 
 
 
 iyam, yam. 
 
 
 yam 
 
 judge 
 
 qudah 
 
 messenger 
 
 su'ah 
 
 shepherd 
 
 ru'ah 
 
 water 
 
 mi'ah 
 
 hmidred 
 
 miyah^* 
 
 1 But generally talSmlz. 
 
 ^ But more usually kustibanat. 
 
 ^ Nahwy ra's, ru'us 
 
 * The diminutive moiya is the only sing, in use. 
 
THE BEOKEN PLURAL 83 
 
 The plural of dira' arm is usually idru', but in construc- 
 tion it takes the form diri't (idri't), as diri'tt litnen my two 
 arms. 
 
 § 85. A few plurals, as fuMs money, manakhlr nose (literally 
 nostrils), usul principle, are used as singulars, the forms from 
 which they are derived not being in use or bearing a different 
 meaning; but some of them are regarded as pliu-als for the 
 purposes of concord. Sutlih roof and its singular sath are both 
 in use, but the former is the more common. 
 
 § 86. Comparatives and superlatives have no plural form, with 
 the exception of akbar greatest (in the expression ak^bir in nas 
 grandees). Many collective nouns also, and in particular those 
 denoting small animals, have no plural, as dftd woi'ms, naml ants. 
 Lastly, the adjectives enumerated in § 62 as having no separate 
 form for the feminine remain unchanged in the plural. 
 
 § 87. Id hand, rigl foot, and 'en eye use the dual form for the 
 plural, as arbaht tdSn four hands, riglSn il husftn the horse's 
 feety 
 
 § 88. It will be observed that foreign words, though generally 
 making their plural in -at, are also susceptible of broken forms. 
 On the whole, there is a tendency to prefer the broken plural 
 when the foreign word lends itself to such a formation. 
 
 § 89. As is shown by the above lists, many words have more 
 than one form for the plural ; thus dal' rib makes idla', idlu', or 
 dulu'a. Experience alone will prove which of these is in common 
 use, or whether, as is the case with some of them, one form is 
 heard as often as another. 
 
 § 90. Ulfif , plur. of alf thousand, and its double plur. ulufat, 
 are expressive of an indefinite number. Thus we say talatt al^f 
 three thousand, but uluf (or ulufat) thousands! or (adverbially) iy 
 thousands. 
 
 § 91. The learner must not be discouraged by the long list of 
 broken plurals. A careful study of the singular forms from 
 which they may in each case be derived, and a comparison of 
 the different plurals which may be constructed from the same 
 singular form, will convince him that the system is not without 
 order. The following plural forms ^ are those which are most 
 commonly heard : — 
 
 1 'iyun eyes is, however, sometimes heard, as in AlMh yihmik 
 min 'iyun in nas God protect you from the eyes of men (i.e. from 
 the evil eye). 
 
 2 As to the singulars, those that are rare are indicated by the 
 small number of examples accompanying them. 
 
8i 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 (1) birak, (2) burak, (3) burk, (4) bui'uk, (5) birak, (7) biruk, 
 burilk, (10) burrilk, (11) buraka, (14) ibrak, (15) ibrika, (17) 
 bawarik, (18) barayik, (19) birkan, burkan, (26) bawarlk, (28) 
 lakhabit, (29) lakhabtt, (30) lakhabta. Of these (1), (2), (5), (14), 
 (18), (28), (29), and (30) occur more frequently than the others. 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 kura (1) 
 li* 
 'umda (2) 
 
 qutta (2) 
 sikka (l) 
 haram 
 magtira (26) 
 sa'ld (or si'id) 
 gammas (-a) 
 Muskl 
 sauwah 
 gSmi' (17) 
 lukanda 
 shanta 
 
 sitira (18) 
 
 dahr 
 
 'utuql 
 
 tikhtn (5) 
 
 talib 
 
 mahtut 
 
 r&kib 
 
 labis 
 
 ma'kfll 
 
 rikhis (5) 
 
 tari 
 
 bardan 
 
 maksvlr 
 
 ball 
 
 game 
 
 notable, head- 
 man 
 
 cat 
 
 street 
 
 pyramids 
 
 pipe 
 
 Upper Egypt 
 
 buffalo-drover 
 
 a street in Cairo 
 
 tourist 
 
 mosque 
 
 hotel 
 
 hag, portman- 
 teau 
 
 windoio-blind 
 
 baclc 
 
 cobbler 
 
 thick 
 
 asking 
 
 placed 
 
 riding 
 
 loearing 
 
 eaten 
 
 cheap 
 
 fresh 
 
 cold (of per- 
 sons) 
 
 broken 
 
 matnl 
 
 yishtaghalu 
 yeshllti 
 
 yebl'ii 
 
 yimshii 
 
 yelimmii 
 
 yekhafil min 
 
 rikbu. 
 
 ishtarii 
 
 saraft 
 
 yeshMu 
 
 qa'adH 
 
 yuq'udl 
 
 waddS 
 
 ramii 
 
 gabii 
 
 yisallahu 
 
 nazzil 
 
 sim'u 
 shirbii 
 hutt 
 yiljkumu 
 
 khamas 
 
 minhum 
 
 walla 
 
 doubled, 
 warped 
 
 they work 
 
 they carry 
 
 they come 
 
 they sell 
 
 they walk 
 
 they pick up 
 
 they fear 
 
 they rode 
 
 they bought 
 
 I spent 
 
 they see 
 
 they sat 
 
 they sit 
 
 he brought, led, 
 
 they threw 
 
 they brought 
 
 they mend, re- 
 pair 
 
 bring down, 
 draw dovm 
 
 they heard 
 
 they drank 
 
 put 
 
 they judge, give 
 decisions 
 
 five 
 
 some of them 
 
 or 
 
 Note. — The numbers refer to the plural forms. The adjec- 
 tives to which no number is attached form their plural in hi 
 (except, of course, those which have been mentioned as having 
 a different formation). Where a participle admits of both a 
 
THE BEOKEN PLURAL 85 
 
 perfect and a broken form the latter will be employed only 
 when the participle is used as a substantive ; thus we say humma 
 ma'ztimln they are invited, but il ma'aztm (or il ma'zilmin) gum 
 the guests have come, il katbln (kfitibin) those loho are writing (or 
 have written), but il kutaba the derJfs. 
 
 EXERCISE 17 
 
 Ir riggala lit yishtaghalu fi wirash in naggarln betCi' Masr 
 minhum shuttar u minhum ghushm. Ik kuwar betu' li'b it 
 tanis bid wi kb^r (kubftr), we betu' il iskoshrakit humr we 
 sughaiyarln. _ Fi ^gnint ig Giza fih clubi\< wi sbu' kubftr wi 
 nmura we hiwanat sughaiyarin kaman. II hurras betu' ghitto 
 ilfallahlnyeshllu 'usye kubSr tukhan,we lammayigu 1 haramiya 
 yidrabilhum. Idyar il qibat minhum qudam qawt. 11 agzagl 
 shaiya' ladwtya wi 1 'uturtit. II 'arbagtya mabsutln mini 
 zabayinhum. Yebi'u 1 khirfan fi 1 iswaq. Zubbat il gesh il 
 masrt minhum ingliz u minhum wilM 'arab. II mashayikh wi 
 
 I 'umad yihkumil fi 1 bilad. Lighriba (il ighriba) yimshii fi 1 
 ganayin we yelimmH hitat 'gsh we hagat tanyln min il aradl. 
 
 II firan yekhafu min il qutat, wi 1 qutat yekhaffl min il kilaib. 
 Shtl il hugara min is sikak. 11 'urban betii' il haram yikkallimu 
 inglizt ahsan min il hammara betd' Masr. II 'irshan betu' it 
 talat dakaklr kanu maksurin ; min sallahhum ? Subyan il 
 kawaiinglya gum we talbln il ugar betfl' me'alliminhum. II 
 fayayma rikbCi himlrhum we r^hu ishtariL talatt irghifa min il 
 farran. Ana sarafte khamas ginehat we talat banatl f arbaht 
 iyam. II khel betu' ikhwatu shuqay. II kitabat ill{ fi kitSb- 
 khantu kuUuhum gudad. II husre mahtuttn quddam ibwab il 
 uwad. Ikhwati khurs w umml w abuya hul. Is sayasl betu' 
 ikhwfttak sumre walla sud? Fih kiMb ghalaba naymln fi r 
 rastabl ; tallahhum barra. Ikhwanna gum we 'ayzin yeshufu 
 
 I biyfit. II moiya tigt fi 1 ganSyin min il mawaslr betu' kum- 
 baniyit il ml'ah.^ In nas gum rakbln khel wi bghal wi hmtr. 
 
 II 'irsan khadu 1 'arayis 'ala biyuthum. Flh qahawl kub^r fi 
 Masr. Shuft il barabl betu' il qudama fi s sa'id ? II gammasa 
 darabu 1 gawamis betuhhum 'ala rushum. In niswan il 'aga'iz 
 rahu 'ala billidhum. II har&mtya kanlji labsin 'ibye wi hrima. 
 II qudah qa'adii fi 1 mah^kim we seyibu 1 masSgtn. LibwElb il 
 wasS,ta matniytn mish shams. 
 
 With. ^ The water-company. 
 
86 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 EXERCISE 18 
 
 The mounds of Oairo are very ancient. The children are 
 very hungry ; their mouths are always open. The carpets are 
 moth-eaten. 1 The sisters took^ the blind (men) by ^ their hands 
 and led them to their houses. The Bedouins threw their lances 
 at* the young men. There are camels, bulls, buffaloes, and 
 goats in the enclosures. The Beys bought (some) ready-made 
 trousers from the tailors in the Mouski. The cobblers mend old 
 pairs of shoes. The merchants bought (some) cheap, dirty old 
 carpets, repaired them, and sold them dear to the toiuists. The 
 minarets of the mosque are new. The jugglers sit on the 
 balconies of the hotels. Put the books and papers on the shelves. 
 The lakes are very deep. The carpenters have brought their 
 hammers, their files, and their planes. The sheikhs' beards are 
 very long. The officers' portmanteaux are in the train. The 
 air is fresh, but the sun is hot ; draw down the blinds and 
 open the windows. Bring three handfuls of clover for the 
 horses. Put the lids on the jars. The walls of my brother's 
 house are old but strong. The judges heard the women's com- 
 plaints. The orphans are minors. Women are weaker than 
 men. There are emperors and kings in Europe. The horses are 
 cold ; put the cloths on them.^ His nails are always long and 
 dirty. The handles of the doors are broken. The porters are 
 clumsy ignorant people. The peasants work in the fields. We 
 saw the pretty tails of the peacocks in the gardens. The cattle 
 drank water from the tanks. The donkey's ears are very long, 
 much longer than those of the horse. The messengers have 
 brought the invoices. His paternal and maternal uncles are 
 partners. There are fountains in the streets. I saw (some) beau- 
 tiful women in the villages. The ladies' veils were thick. 
 
 VOOABULAEY 
 
 Darwish(29) 
 
 dervish 
 
 kammasha 
 
 2xdr of tong. 
 
 famls (26) 
 
 lantern 
 
 
 pincers 
 
 sarg (7) 
 
 saddle 
 
 musmar (29) 
 
 nail 
 
 sigara (18) 
 
 cigar, cigarette 
 
 zanbtl (29) 
 
 basket, hampe 
 
 tarbiish (29) 
 
 fez 
 
 sillim (28) 
 
 ladder 
 
 ma'laqa (28) 
 
 spoon 
 
 masyada(28) 
 
 trap 
 
 sh6ka (2) 
 
 fork 
 
 qunsul (28) 
 
 consul 
 
 1 Trans, eaten by (min) the moths. 
 
 ^ misik, 
 
 min. 
 
 Trans, put on them (hutti Ihum) the clotJis. 
 
THE BEOKEN PLUEAL 
 
 87 
 
 'asiur (29) 
 
 small bird, 
 
 mistana' 
 
 forged 
 
 
 sparroio 
 
 qafil 
 
 shutting, shut 
 
 kharbasha 
 
 scratch 
 
 harabti 
 
 they fled 
 
 (-at or 29) 
 
 
 khabatu fi 
 
 they knocked 
 
 'afrit (29) 
 
 spirit, devil 
 
 
 against 
 
 martaba(28) 
 
 mattress 
 
 wiq'um 
 
 they fell 
 
 shabaka 
 
 net 
 
 ghirqum 
 
 they ivere 
 
 khurm (7) 
 
 hole 
 
 
 drowned 
 
 shaqq (7) 
 
 fissure, crevice 
 
 fsaraqii 
 
 tJiey stole 
 
 ibriq (29) 
 
 jug, jar 
 
 itfaddal 
 
 pray 1 
 
 ibrlq beta' 
 
 tea-pot 
 
 uq'ud 
 
 sit, be seated 
 
 ish shay 
 
 
 khud 
 
 take 
 
 dukkan (29) 
 
 shop 
 
 til'u 
 
 they went up 
 
 sirir (18) 
 
 bedstead 
 
 safru 
 
 they travelled 
 
 siggada (29) 
 
 carpet 
 
 yishbiki 
 
 they entangle 
 
 katib(ll) 
 
 clerk 
 
 ii'a (6'a) ! 
 
 look out 1 be- 
 
 daftar (28) 
 
 ledger, loriting- 
 
 
 ware of ! 
 
 
 iooh 
 
 me'ashshis 
 
 nesting 
 
 tir'a (1) 
 
 canal 
 
 mistini' 
 
 forged 
 
 gardal (28) 
 
 bucket 
 
 gibt 
 
 I brought 
 
 ti'ban (29) 
 
 snake 
 
 yimlu 
 
 they fill 
 
 sirsar (29) 
 
 cockroaches 
 
 ba'A 
 
 they sold 
 
 muhandiz 
 
 engineer 
 
 laq1l 
 
 they found 
 
 fa'il(ll) 
 
 workman 
 
 'allaq 
 
 hang up 
 
 shankal (28) 
 
 hook 
 
 banvl 
 
 they built 
 
 shaketa 
 
 jacket 
 
 iftab 
 
 open 
 
 rubbawl (or 
 
 European 
 
 yitla'um 
 
 they go up 
 
 urubbawi) 
 
 
 iqfil 
 
 shid 
 
 'askart (28) 
 
 soldier 
 
 gii, gum 
 
 they came 
 
 muslim 
 
 Mussulman 
 
 hattet? 
 
 did you put ? 
 
 malyan 
 
 full, loaded 
 
 bilad barra 
 
 abroad 
 
 maskun 
 
 inhabited. 
 
 is subh 
 
 this morning 
 
 
 haunted 
 
 ketir 
 
 much,too much 
 
 me'allaq 
 
 hanging, hung 
 
 bashqa i 
 
 one thing, an- 
 
 
 up 
 
 
 other thing 
 
 'arid (5) 
 
 broad 
 
 min gher 
 
 without 
 
 EXEEOISE 19 
 
 II barabra harabCi min id darawish. II banatir betu' il basha- 
 wat khabatu f dakaklr iz zubbat we kasaru rafarifhum we fawa- 
 nishum. Gum nas ulufat we sim'u 1 mazazik fi 1 ganayin. Flh 
 
 Turkish. 
 
88 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 tramwayat fi sikkit id dawawln we fi kull is sikak il kubfir beta' 
 Masr. Is surUg betu' il khSl basbqa wi 1 baradi' betii' il himir 
 basbqa. Is sufraglya ill! yishtaghalu fi byut ir rubbawiyln minhum 
 barabra u minbum danagla, u minbum sbuttar u minhum tanabla. 
 II merakbiya wiq'um min il marakib we ghirqum fi 1 bahr. II 
 liaramlya saraqu burad wi hrima we galalib min dawaltb giranhuin. 
 Ishtirinna talat sanadlq sagayir min 'and id dakhakhniya. Le- 
 f endiyat il muslimin yilbisu tarabisb, wi n nasara minbum yilbisii 
 tarablsb, we minhum yilbisu baranit. Shufte nas masarwa fi 
 blad barra labsin baranit sud tuwal. Ish shuwak wi 1 ma'aliq 
 wi s sakakin mahtuttn 'as sufra ; itfaddal uq'ud. Pen il mafatlh 
 betu' ibwab il balakonat? Khud kammashat we qawadim we 
 talla' il masamlr min iz zan^bil. It taragma betu' il lukandat wi 
 1 khamamtr ya'raf u 'arabi wi nglf zt wi fransawl we laghwat tanyln 
 kaman. Is salalim betu' bitna 'alyln. Shufte wilad 'ui'ge maslkin 
 mashyin bi 1 'akaktz. Misikna f ran (firan) fi 1 masayid. It talamza 
 mabsfitln min il madaris wi 1 me'allimin. Qanasil Fransa wi 1 
 miskof safru fi babur wahid. II 'asafir me'ashsbisin fi sh shamasi 
 betu' shababikna. Fib galagil me'allaqin min raqabiyit quttitna. 
 Is sif ariya kanit i akwas min gher il gamarik. 
 
 EXERCISE 20 
 
 Beware of the guns ! They (are) loaded. The letters came 
 by the French boat and the newspapers by the Italian. I saw 
 (some) scratches on^ your fingers. Yes, they (are) from the 
 nails in ^ the lids of the boxes which came this morning. The 
 frames of your pictures are very pretty, but too large. The 
 house is haunted by spirits.-* Put the mattresses on ^ the bed- 
 steads. The carpets in ^ the upstairs rooms are longer and wider 
 than the mats in ^ the dining-room. The cockroaches come out 
 of holes and cracks. I brought the cups from England, but 
 bought the teapot and the trays in the shops in the" bazaars. 
 The women fill the jars from the canals and carry them on'' 
 then' heads to the villages. The young men raise the water 
 from the wells in buckets. The donkey-boys sold some scarabs 
 to the tourists in Upper Egypt, but they were all ^ forged. The 
 customs-officers seized the boxes, opened them, (and) found them 
 full (of) snakes. The public offices are closed to-day. They 
 
 1 Would be. 2 fj_ 3 Trans, which (are) in. 
 
 * Trans, by (min) the spirits. ^ 'ala. 
 
 " betfi'. 7 fsq. s kulluhum. 
 
THE NUMEEALS 89 
 
 brought ladders and went up on i the roof. The engineers have 
 built bridges over i the large canals. The workmen wear large 
 wide hats on-account-of 2 the sun. The Soudanese ^ soldiers are 
 very brave. Open all the windows and close the shutters. Did 
 you put the sticks and the umbrellas in the train? Hang the 
 overcoats on the hooks, and put the jackets, waistcoats, and 
 trousers in the cupboards. 
 
 THE NUMERALS 
 
 § 92. The cardinal numbers from 1 to 10 are : — 
 
 1 . wahid (f . wahda) 7. sab'a, saba' 
 
 2. itnen 8. tamanya (for tamaniya), 
 
 3. talata,* talat taman 
 
 4. arba'a, arba' 9. tis'a, tisa' 
 
 5. khamsa, khamas 10. 'ashara, 'ashar 
 
 6. sitta, sitt 
 
 § 93. No very definite rules can be laid down for the use of 
 the two forms from 3 to 10, but the following remarks will help 
 the speaker to make a correct choice. 
 
 (a) Talata, arba'a, &c. , are used . — 
 
 1. When standing alone, as humma taMta, 'auzin 
 tamanya, or expressing the day of the month, as talata 
 mayu Srd May. 
 
 2. Generally speaking, with nouns denoting human 
 beings, unless the plural ends in -at, as talata riggfi,la, 
 sab'a madriibtn, tamanya nas, tis'a khurs, the noun in 
 this case being in reality in apposition to the numeral 
 or the word persons understood. We hear, however, such 
 expressions as talat niswan 'agayiz, though talata is 
 preferable. 
 
 3. With monosyllables, as talata khel (here generally 
 pronounced tdlata). 
 
 4. Usually with collective nouns, as talata harim, qamus, 
 naml. 
 
 5. With pieces of money, when used in the singular 
 (§ 350), as talata (or talata) franc, khamsa gineh aSS, 
 arba'a riy&l (but arba' riyM&t). 
 
 6. Generally with words belonging more properly to the 
 
 1 foq. ^ 'ashto. ^ sftdanlya. 
 
 * Sometimes talata, if followed by a noun. 
 
90 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 written than the spoken language, as taUta kutub and 
 even talata ihsina three horses (in spite of the vowel), i 
 
 7. When the numeral is emphatic ; thus we might say 
 
 hat 11 talat karasl, and, on repeating the order, talata 
 
 karast. 
 
 (h) Talat (and talatt),i &c,, are used in all other oases in 
 
 preference to talata, kc, and in particular with plurals in -at, as 
 
 talat harimat, taman kitabat, talat suhun. 
 
 § 94. When followed by a noun beginning with a vowel, the 
 second form, talat, ifec, appears as follows : — 
 
 3. talatt I 7. saba't (or sabaht) 
 
 4. arba't (or arbaht) i 8. tamant 
 
 5. khamast • 9. tisa't (or tisaht) 
 
 6. sitt |- 10. 'ashart 
 
 Example : — 
 
 talatt ishun fhree dishes tamant eight persons 
 
 unfus 
 
 Remark a. — Talat, (fee, are occasionally, when the final 
 syllable of the noun is accented, heard before a vowel, as talat 
 Ingllz, khamas aradibb jive ardebhs, as also (though still more 
 rarely) the uncontracted forms taMtit, khamsit, tamanyit (for 
 talatt, khamast, tamant). 
 
 Remark &. — Wahid, when used as a numeral, follows its noun, 
 while it precedes it when playing the part of an indefinite 
 article. 
 
 § 95. The cardinal numbers from 11 to 19, whatever their 
 position, are as follows : — 
 
 11. hidashar (or ihdashar) 2 16. sittashar 
 
 12. itnashar 17. saba'tashar (sabahtfts- 
 
 13. talattashar har) 
 
 14. arba'tashar (or arbah- 18. tamantashar 
 
 tashar) I 19. tisa'tashar (tisahtashar) 
 
 15. khamastftshar 
 
 Remark. — It will be observed that the above are composed 
 of 'ashar ten and the units, but the former has dropped its ' and 
 lengthened the a of the first syllable by way of compensation. 
 The units of hidashar and itnashar appear also in a truncated 
 form. Note that the d of wahid becomes (according at least to 
 the usual pronunciation) d in hidashar (§ 17). 
 
 1 See below. ^ Or hidashar, ihd^shar (see § 15). 
 
THE NUMEKALS 
 § 96. The cardinals from 20 to 99 are :- 
 
 91 
 
 20. 'ishrln 
 
 2 1 . Wahid u (or we, wi) 'ishrln 
 
 22. itngn u „ ,, 'ishrin 
 25. khamsa u „ „ 'ishrta 
 
 29. tis'a u „ ,, 'ishrin 
 
 30. talatin 
 
 40. arbe'lni 
 
 50. khamsin 
 
 GO. sittln 
 
 70. sab 'in (sab 'en )i 
 
 80. tam&nin 
 
 90. tis'in (tis'gn) ' 
 
 Remark. — The unit invariably precedes the ten ; thus we say 
 khamsa u talatin _yii;e and thirty, not talatin u khamsa. 
 § 97. The remaining are as follows : — 
 
 100. mtya (in construction 
 
 mlt) 
 
 101. miya u wahid 
 
 102. mlya wi tnen 
 121. miya wahid u 'ishrin 
 
 199. mtya tis'a u tis'in 
 
 200. miytgn (miten) 
 300. tultemlya 
 400. rub'emlya 
 500. khumsemlya 
 600. suttemiya 
 700. sub'emiya 
 800. tumnemiya 
 900. tus'emlya 
 
 1000. alf 
 
 1001. alf u wahid 
 1021. alf, wahid u 'ishrin 
 1199. alf, u miya, tis'a u tis'in 
 1314. alf, tultemlya w arbah- 
 
 tSshar 
 
 5,246,817 khamaa malayln, miytSn sitta w arbe'in alf, tum- 
 nemiya u sabahtashar. 
 
 Remark a. — When used with the tens, wahid does not take 
 the feminine form, as wahid u 'ishrin mara. With the hundreds 
 it may, but sometimes remains unchanged. 
 
 Remark h. — The conjunction we, u, is always employed to 
 connect the units and the tens, and generally the thousands 
 and hundreds, but otherwise is heard only before the -last 
 numeral. 
 
 2000. 
 
 alf en 
 
 3000. 
 
 talatt alaf 
 
 4000. 
 
 arbaht alaf (arba't 
 
 
 aiaf) 
 
 5000. 
 
 khamast alaf 
 
 6000. 
 
 sitt aiaf 
 
 7000, 
 
 sabaht filaf (saba't 
 
 
 aiaf) 
 
 8000. 
 
 tamant alaf 
 
 9000. 
 
 tisaht alaf (tisa't 
 
 
 alaf) 
 
 10.000. 
 
 'ashart alaf 
 
 11,000. 
 
 hidashar alf 
 
 100,000. 
 
 mit alf 
 
 1,000,000. 
 
 malyiln 
 
 2,000,000. 
 
 malyflnen (or itnen 
 
 
 malyim) 
 
 3,000,000. 
 
 talat maMyin 
 
 1 For the pronunciation of these words, see §§39 6 and 5. 
 
92 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Eemark c. — The cardinals from 3 to 10 inclusive must (with 
 a few exceptions) be followed by a noun in the plural, the re- 
 mainder by a singular. 
 
 Remark d. — ^ Wahid (with feminine wahda)is often used with 
 the numerals above 10, and occasionally with the units, to em- 
 phasize the number, as kan f ih kam ragil 1 alf wahid how manij 
 men luere there 1 a thousand! With numbers under 11, the feni. 
 plur. wahdat must be used, whatever the gender of the noun 
 understood, there being no other plural form of the unit. Wah- 
 ditSn or itnen wahdat cannot be said. 
 
 Remark e. — The numerals from 200 to 900 (with the excep- 
 tion of 600) are formed by the union of the fractional numbers 
 with mtya, when standing alone, and with its construct form mlt 
 when followed by a noun, whether beginning with a vowel or 
 a consonant. 
 
 Remark/. — When a unit forms part of a number above 99, 
 the noun, if expressed, is generally placed between the larger 
 number and the unit ; or when the unit is two the dual of the 
 noun may be substituted for it, as mlt kitab u wahid 101 lioolcs, 
 mit kitab wi tnen (or mit kitab we kitaben) 102 books. If the 
 whole number precedes, the noun is usually in the plural, being 
 influenced by the unit immediately before it, as mtya u khamsa 
 kitabat. Miya u khamsa kitab is admissible, but slovenly. 
 Mtya u wahid kitabat is occasionally heard for mtya u wahid 
 kitab. 
 
 Remark g. — The following expressions should be noted : 
 itnen talata two or three ; kitaben talata two or three hooks ; 'ashar 
 itnashar kitib ; ihna litnen both of us ; humma t talata all three of 
 them. 
 
 § 98. The ordinal numbers from first to tenth are : — 
 
 1st. auwil, auwilanl (f. 
 
 illa,i auwilanlya) 
 2nd. tant (f. tanya) 
 3rd. talit (f. talta) 
 4th. rabi' (f. rab'a) 
 5th. khamis (f. khamsa) 
 
 6th. satit (f . satta) ^ 
 
 7th. sabi' (f. sab'a) 
 
 8th. tS,min (f. tamna) 
 
 9th. tasi' (f. tas'a) 
 
 10th. 'ashir (f. 'ashra) 
 
 § 99. The remaining ordinals are identical with the cardinals, 
 as ir ragil is sittashar tJie 16th man. 
 
 ^ Ula savours of nahioy, and, as an adjective, is rarely heard. 
 It is used, as is also the regular fem. auwila, of the first prayer at 
 noon on Friday. 
 
 2 Nahwy sadis, sadisa. 
 
THE NUMERALS 93 
 
 § 100. The ordinals below 10, except the form auwilant, may 
 stand before a noun definite in sense without varying their 
 gender, neither taking the article ; or noun and ordinal may agree 
 in gender, the ordinal following the noun, and both taking the 
 article, as talit ragil, talit mara, or ii- r&gil it talit, il mara t 
 talta the 3rd man, the Srd woman. The former construction is 
 the more idiomatic. Tanl ySm signifies the next day or the day 
 following, as tant y6m il 'id the day following the festival or the 
 2nd day of the festival. Last is expressed by the word akhir, 
 which may also precede the noun, or by akhirani, which fol- 
 lows it. 
 
 § 101. The Turkish ordinals from 1 to 9 are also in use, but 
 they are almost entirely restricted to military matters. They 
 are as follows : — 
 
 1st. biringi 
 2nd. Ikingl 
 Srd. utshingii 
 4th. durtingt 
 5th. beshingi 
 
 6th. altingi 
 7th. yedingl 
 8th. sekizingl 
 9th. dukuzingl 
 
 § 102. The Italian words bgrimu, sukundu (or sugundu), 
 tersu are used for 1st, 2nd and Srd class on the railways, 
 &c. 
 
 § 103. The numeral adverbs once, twice, ^c, are expressed 
 mostly by the help of the word marra time, as marra wahda, 
 marratSn, talat marrSt, &c., or by the use of a verbal noun of the 
 same signification, and generally of the same root, as an accom- 
 panying verb, as darabtu darbiten, talat darbat / struck him 
 twice, thrice. (See § 554 d?) 
 
 Remark. — Notice the expressions darabtu auwil marra wi t 
 tanya once and again, darabtu marraten wi talata ; kulle y6m wi t 
 tanl, or kulle yomgn or kulle tanl y6m everxj other day; auwil b 
 auwil. /??-s^ of all ; auwil wahid Al ; talithum or it talit flhijlm (or 
 minhum) the third one of them ; itnen fi talata twice three ; darab 
 tal&ta f ai'ba'a to midtiply three hy four. 
 
 § 104. Multiplicative adverbs are rendered by the word taq 
 
 fold with the article followed by the cardinal numerals, as 
 
 huwa ghanl 'annl it t£lq itnin, it taq talata he is twice, three 
 
 times, as rich as I am, zeyi t taq arba'a 'an qabla about four 
 
 . times as much as before. 
 
 1 Turk, utohunju. 
 
 2 Siikundu is also used of an under servant. 
 
94 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 105. The following multiplicative adjectives are in use : — 
 
 mesabba' seven-fold 
 
 (mes6ba') 
 metammin eight-fold 
 
 (metomin) 
 metassa' nine-fold 
 
 (met6sa') 
 me'asbshar ten-fold 
 
 (me'osbar) i 
 
 § 106. Distributive adjectives are expressed by the cardinal 
 numerals, as follows : — 
 
 mufrid 
 
 single, simple 
 
 migwiz, 
 
 two-fold, 
 
 metanni 
 
 double 
 
 metallit 
 
 three-fold, cube 
 
 merabba' 
 
 four-fold. 
 
 
 square 
 
 mekhammis 
 
 five-fold 
 
 mesattit 
 
 six-fold 
 
 (mesaddis) 
 
 
 waliid wahid one by one 
 wahid ba'de one after the 
 wahid other 
 
 or we may repeat the noun, as : 
 
 khatwa step by step 
 
 khatwa 
 
 sitta sitta by sixes ; 
 
 ragil ragil, 
 kitab 
 kitab 
 
 one man, bool-, 
 at a time ; 
 
 or the notion is gathered without any repetition, as nizil is 
 salalim sallimten he came downstairs two steps at a time. 
 
 Remark. — Wahda wahda is used adverbially in the sense of 
 sloioly, cautiously, wahda kede u wahda kede = fea^/ and half. 
 Tura is used of things that are sold in fours, as 'ishrin turit 
 lamiln ; dasta of a packet of a dozen or thereabout ; 'ishrinlya of a 
 score of piastres ( = riyal). ^ 
 
 § 107. Numeral adjectives of the form buraki^ express the 
 number of parts of which the substantive with which they agree 
 is composed, as maglis sulast, khumasi an assembly composed of 
 three, five, persons. 
 
 1 The forms mesoba', &c., are used mostly in the sense of 
 possessed of seven, ^c, as dik me'oshar a cock with ten claws. In 
 other cases abu, umm, &c., are used with 'the cardinal, as umm 
 arba'a w arbe'tn mother of 44 {f^^)i i-©- the centipede. (See § 261.) 
 
 - For goz a pair, see § 313. 
 
 5 These words belong to the Chancery language, and perhaps 
 sulast is the only one in general use. 
 
THE NUMERALS 
 
 95 
 
 § 108. The fractions are as follows 
 J nuss i khums 
 
 4 tilt I sutsi 
 
 ■J- rub' i sub' 
 
 i tumn 
 i tus' 
 ■Jg- 'ushr 
 
 § 109. Those less than ^-^ are expressed by periphrases, as 
 il guz' il 'ishiin minnu the 20th part of it, suts il 'ushr (or 'ushr 
 is suts) -^^ hitta min talatln -^j^, guz'gn min ilidashar ^, 
 tamantashar min sab'a u sab'Sn 18 parts out of 77 (y|)- About 
 20 of 20 odd is expressed by 'ishrln wi ksur (wi kusur). 
 
 Remark a. — The plural of the fractions from ^ to 
 formed after model (14). 
 
 Remark 6. — The noun in Arabic must come between the 
 whole number and the fraction, as khamast irghifa u nuss (not 
 khamast u nuss irghifa) three loaves and a half. 
 
 § 110. The following examples, with those given in the 
 exercises, will illustrate the various ways of expressing the time 
 of day, the year, the days of the month and week, and the age 
 of a person : — 
 
 1 
 
 id duhr 
 
 noon 
 
 is Sana dt alf 
 
 the present 
 
 qabl, ba'd. 
 
 A.M., P.il. 
 
 u tultemlya 
 
 year, Arabic 
 
 id duhr 
 
 
 u khamas- 
 
 i<tyle,islS15 
 
 nuss il lei 
 
 midnight 
 
 tashar 
 
 
 kam is sa'a ? 
 
 lohat time is it 1 
 
 'arabi, or is 
 
 
 (or is sa'a 
 
 
 Sana dl 
 
 
 kam?) 
 
 
 'arabl (or 
 
 
 is sS,'a 
 
 it is one, two, 
 
 ■arablya) alf 
 
 
 wahda. 
 
 o'clock 
 
 u tultemlya 
 
 
 itnen 
 
 
 u khamas- 
 
 
 ta'ala'fis 
 
 come at eight 
 
 tashar 
 
 
 s&'a tamanya 
 
 o'clock 
 
 afrangl (or 
 
 A.D. 
 
 arba'a u rub' 
 
 a quarter past 
 
 afrangiya) 
 
 
 
 four 
 
 or miladl 
 
 
 talata u tilt 
 
 S.20 
 
 (miiadtya) 
 
 
 khamsa u nuss 
 
 half-past five 
 
 fi sanat alf 
 
 in the year 
 
 sab'a u 
 
 jive minutes 
 
 
 loo'o 
 
 khamsa. 
 
 past, to, seven 
 
 in nahar da 
 
 it is the 25th 
 
 ilia khamsa 
 
 
 khamsa we 
 
 of the month 
 
 'ashara ilia 
 
 twenty minutes 
 
 'ishrin jS. 
 
 to-day 
 
 tilt 
 
 to ten 
 
 sh shahr, or 
 
 
 sab'a u nuss 
 
 7.27, 7.3S 
 
 ish shahr 
 
 
 ilia, u, talata 
 
 
 khamsa we 
 
 
 darabit (or 
 
 it struck nine 
 
 'ishrln in 
 
 
 daqqit) tis'a 
 
 
 nahar da 
 
 
 1 The literary suds is sometimes heard. 
 
96 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 auwil, 
 
 khamsa 
 
 yan§,yir 
 kam fi sh shahr 
 
 in nahar da 
 
 nahar (or yom) 
 litnm, or 
 
 the Id, the 5th 
 of January 
 
 lohat's the day 
 of the month 
 -to-day 1 
 
 Monday 
 
 lelt il khamls 
 
 'umrak kam (or 
 
 kam Sana)? 
 'umrt 'ishrln 
 ibne khamsa, 
 talattn 
 
 Wednssday 
 
 night i 
 how old are 
 
 you? 
 I am twenty 
 a hoy of five, a 
 
 man of 
 
 thirty 
 
 simply litnen 
 
 Remark. — The Mohammedan lunar months have been super- 
 seded by the Latin in Government oifices, though the latter are 
 only familiar to those who are in contact with Europeans. The 
 Coptic are universally known, bvit they are agricultural months, 
 and not in general use. 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 ugra (2) 
 
 pay, hire 
 
 nahar il 
 
 Thursday 
 
 bulls 
 
 police 
 
 khamis 
 
 
 nafar (14) 
 
 person 
 
 nahar ig 
 
 Friday 
 
 bilad ish 
 
 Syria 
 
 gum'a 
 
 
 Sham 
 
 
 nahar is sabt 
 
 Saturday 
 
 harlqa 
 
 fire 
 
 yanayir 
 
 January 
 
 shahr (13) 
 
 month 
 
 fibrayir 
 
 February 
 
 sinn 
 
 age 
 
 mars 
 
 March 
 
 shakk - 
 
 cheque 
 
 abrll 
 
 April 
 
 fadda 
 
 silver 
 
 mayu 
 
 May 
 
 diqiqa (18) 
 
 minute 
 
 yunya 
 
 June 
 
 sala 
 
 draioing-room 
 
 yulya 
 
 July 
 
 safE (7) 
 
 row, line, file 
 
 aghustus 
 
 August 
 
 nahar (or 
 
 Sunday 
 
 sibtimbai' 
 
 September 
 
 yom) il 
 
 
 uktubar 
 
 October 
 
 hadd 3 
 
 
 nufambar 
 
 November 
 
 nahar it 
 
 Tuesday 
 
 disambar 
 
 December 
 
 talat 
 
 
 gum'a 
 
 week 
 
 nahar il 
 
 Wednesday 
 
 mistagrab li 
 
 approaching, 
 
 arba'a (or 
 
 
 
 near to 
 
 lai'ba'a) 
 
 
 tabbii 
 
 they fell upon 
 
 1 The Arabs consider that the night belongs to the following 
 day. 
 
 2 See § 19. 
 
 3 Nahar and y6m may be omitted in each case. Yom is 
 more generally used by those who wish to speak " correctly." 
 
THE NUMEKALS 
 
 97 
 
 hasal 
 
 mauwitfi 
 
 yisrif 
 
 yerflhu 
 
 yisallimfi 'ala 
 
 yequm 
 
 kunt 
 
 ruht 
 
 tibqa (f.) 
 
 fatit 
 fatum 
 
 wafit,tammit 
 tihassal 
 
 yitla' 
 
 matii 
 
 rigi' 
 
 itwalad 
 
 happened 
 
 j qasam 'ala 
 
 he divided by 
 
 they killed 
 
 talla', qata', 
 
 he deducted 
 
 he spends 
 
 istanzil 
 
 from 
 
 they go 
 
 min 
 
 
 they greet 
 
 qam 
 
 he arose 
 
 he, it, starts 
 
 'amnauwil 
 
 last year 
 
 Twos, you ivere 
 
 luh 
 
 to him, he has 
 
 I, you, went (to) 
 
 tamam 
 
 complete, ex- 
 
 remains, he- 
 
 
 actly, just 
 
 comes, malces 
 
 dl 
 
 this (f.) 
 
 he passed 
 
 ihna 
 
 loe 
 
 she passed 
 
 dilwaqti 
 
 now 
 
 they passed 
 
 anl? 
 
 which 1 
 
 it {i.) completed 
 
 gh&liban 
 
 prohahly, gene- 
 
 she, it, reaches. 
 
 
 rally 
 
 comes up to 
 
 ba'd 
 
 after 
 
 he goes up. 
 
 ba'd id duhr 
 
 P.M. 
 
 reaches 
 
 'and! 
 
 with me, I have 
 
 they died 
 
 'andak 
 
 with you, you 
 
 he returned 
 
 
 have 
 
 he was horn 
 
 6h? 
 
 'what ? 
 
 he slept, loent 
 
 lamma 
 
 when 
 
 to hed 
 
 zey 
 
 like, about 
 
 EXERC 
 
 )ISE 21 
 
 
 II fu'ala 'auzln ugrit talatt iyam. Abuya gih nahSr il 
 khamis we gab ikbwatl larba'a. II liaramiya saraqfi sitte sa'at 
 we khamast ibsita wi Mashar battanlya min b@t giranna. II 
 bulls misik il khamastfishar shaql illl tabbH 'amnauwil 'at i talat 
 bilad betu' is sa'td we mauwitu wahid we 'ishrln nafar. Gabu 
 tisa' gim^l u rub'emit liusfin u wahid min bilad isli sham. Fih 
 kam berbeii fi bladak? Khamastalaf, miyten u 'ashara tamam. 
 Yisrif kuUe sana ziyada 'an alfen u khumsemit gineh. Auwil 
 yom il 'Id yeruhu 1 muslimin we yisallimu 'ala ashabhum. 
 Nazzil il kitabat min satit u sabi' raff we khalli Hi fi 1 
 khamis wi r rabi'. In nahar da wahid u talatln fi sh shahr. 
 Hasal hartqa kbira fi Lundura fi sanat alf u suttemiya sitta 
 u sittin. Is Sana di alf u tumnemiya tis'a u tis'en afrangi. 
 Git min bilad barra fi lelit taMta sibtimbar. Ihna dilwaqti fi 
 khamastashar uktubar. II qamar yeqUm rub'e sa'a ba'de nuss 
 
 1 §36. 
 
98 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 il 1^1. Fi ani sa'a yeqftm il babiir? Ghaliban yequm is s^'a 
 Mdashar ilia khamsa ba'd id duhr ; taiyib, haddar il 'afsh ; f^n 
 isb sbanta t talta ? Enta kunte fen ? ana ruhte betak khamas 
 marr^t. Khapasa fi sab'a tibqa kbamsa u talatln. 'Ishrln min 
 tam&nin tibqa sittin. Fi arbe'tn i kam 'ashara u kam tamanya ? 
 Huwa bne wahid w arbS'ln sana. AbAya r^gil kibtr qawi fi s 
 sinn ; 'umru ziyada 'an mtt sana. 'AndakkSm? FI eh ? is si'a ? 
 La', fi sinnak. Mehammad akbar min Hasan bi santen. Khud 
 isb shakk we bat It sab'a we 'ishiln gin^h min il bank, itnen 
 fadda w arba'a nsfi,s ^ wi 1 baqyln suhah. Tiltln u kbamast insas 
 tibqa tallta u suts. Bukra nahar il badd we hiiwa Skhir y6m 
 ish sbahr. Enta safirt f auwil aghustus walla fi akhir yulya? 
 Qasam 'ashara 'ala khamsa. Qata' tamantashar min sitta u 
 sittin ? Lamma safirt ana kan khamsa fi sh shahr. Is sa'a kam 
 'andak ? Sa'tak kam ? Daqqit k^m ? Darabit tamanya u nuss. 
 Mistaqraba li tnishar. Wafit hid^shar. Tammit itnashar u 
 rub'. Naqsa diqiqten li larba'a. 'umrak kam sana? 'andt_ 
 talatln fatum. Htya thassal itnashar. Yitla' fi s sinn zeye 
 khamsin sana. 'umri yitla' 'ishrln tamam. Huwa mistaqrab 
 li t tam&nln. Yigt arba'a u nuss.' 
 
 EXERCISE 22 
 
 There are 320 books on the shelves in the drawing-room. 
 2417 men were killed* in the battle. The wine-merchants^ 
 sold 15,201 bottles in five months. The tourists bought more 
 than 8000 carpets in the bazaars. There are 640 sheep, 93 
 bufEaloes, 5 cows, and 3 goats in the enclosures. There are 29 
 days in February this year. There are 12 months, 52 weeks, 
 and 365^ days in the year. Eight times thirty are 240. I 
 came to Egypt in (the) beginning '' of (the) year 1887. He left 
 in the second week of January and returned at ^ the end * of the 
 month. My father is older than my mother ; he is fifty-six.^ 
 The books are the sixth and seventh on the fourth shelf. He 
 was the twenty-first man in the file. December is the last 
 month of the year. I have been ten times in Paris and fifteen i" 
 in London. "We returned " to Egypt on the 28th of November. 
 
 1 Or fi 1 arbe'in. 
 
 2 I.e. £4: in half sovereigns ; four half sovereigns would be 
 arbalit insas. ^ Understand fi s sa'a. 
 
 iTra,ns. died. ^ 'Yva,ns. merchants of the wine. 
 
 6 auwil. ^ fi- * akhir. 
 
 ^ Trans, his age is fifty-six. i" Repeat times. ^^ 'ala. 
 
THE PEONOUN 99 
 
 Twelve from twenty-six leaves fourteen. There are more than 
 four and a half million people in London. 19 is the quarter of 
 76. Half of two and a half is one and a quarter. It i (is) three 
 o'clock. He will come at ^ 5-30. It wants three minutes to 
 six. 2'39 P.M. The boy was born twenty minutes after mid- 
 night. He went to bed at ^ a quarter to ten, and got up at 
 twenty minutes to nine. 
 
 THE PRONOUN 
 
 THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS 
 § 111. These are: — 
 
 
 Singular 
 
 
 
 MASC. 
 
 FBM. 
 
 1st pers. 
 
 ana 
 
 ana 
 
 2nd pers. 
 
 inta, enta 
 
 intt 
 
 3rd pers. 
 
 huwa, hua, hiiwa ^ (huwwa) 
 
 hlya 
 
 Plukal fob both Gbndees 
 
 1st pers. ihna 
 2nd pers. intii (or intum) 
 
 3rd pers. humma, hum 
 
 § 112. Huwa is sometimes contracted to hu, ho, hu, or ho 
 when preceded by the conjunction wa (always so pronounced in 
 this connection), the particles ma, da, the preposition fgn where ? 
 the interrogative pronouns mln, man, the inseparable interroga- 
 tive particle an, en, and the interjections ha, a, a. The length of 
 the first vowel depends on the emphasis thrown on it. Similarly, 
 hlya becomies hiya, hi, he (occasionally also ha), while humma is 
 shortened to hum ; thus w^hu gih and he came ; wahya, w4hl, 
 w^hg and she; ya m^hu latif ! how agreeable he is ! d4h6 that's 
 he ! minhu ? who is he 1 fenhu ? where is he ? ahe there she is ! 
 
 Remahk a. — Ho is used as an interjection, without distinction 
 of gender, in the expressions hinah6 ! here you are I kede h6 ! so ! 
 look ! 
 
 Remark h. — With the negative particles ma and sh, ana 
 becomes manish ; huwa miish, miish, or mish, and hiya mahish ; 
 but the fuller forms mahuwash or mahiish and mahiyash, 
 mahyash are also in use.* 
 
 1 is sa'a. 2 g g g^'g,. s when emphatic. 
 
 * The longer forms, of course, give more emphasis to the 
 negative. 
 
100 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 113. As verbal suffixes expressing the accusative, the 
 personal pronouns take the following forms : — 
 
 1st pers. 
 2nd pers. 
 3rd pers. 
 
 MASC. 
 
 nl 
 
 ak, k 
 u, u, h 
 
 SiNGDLAE 
 
 FEM. 
 
 nt 
 
 ik, ki 
 
 ha 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 
 1st pers. na 
 2nd pers. ku, kum i 
 3rd pers. hum 
 
 § 114. ak, ik and u are used after consonants; k, M and h 
 after vowels ; e.g. : — 
 
 darabni 
 
 darabnak 
 
 darabik 
 
 khallakt 
 
 darabha 
 
 he struck me 
 we struck thee 
 he struck thee 
 
 (f-) 
 he left thee 
 
 he struck her 
 
 darabukii 
 
 iddihnl 2 
 ma darab- 
 nahsh 
 
 they struck you 
 
 (plur.) 
 give it to me 
 we did not 
 
 strike him 
 
 ma darabuhsh they did not 
 strilce him 
 
 § 115. The vowel ii becomes it when placed immediately be- 
 tween the verb and the sh of the negative, as ma darabiish he did 
 not strike himfi Ma darabnash is occasionally heard for ma 
 darabnahsh, and ma darabilsh for ma darabuhsh.^ 
 
 § 116. The a of a feminine adjective or participle is length- 
 ened when taking a verbal suffix, as hlya 'auzak she wants (is 
 loantivg) you, hiya mestanniyahum she is awaiting them. 
 
 § 117. The personal pronouns are also appended to preposi- 
 tions and other indeclinable parts of speech in truncated forms, 
 which will be best illustrated by a few examples ; it will be 
 observed that the prepositions themselves sometimes undergo a 
 change. 
 
 1 Kii and kum are used optionally in most cases. The latter 
 is, however, more " educated," as being the only form used in 
 writing. 
 
 2 An instance of two suffixes attached to the same verb. 
 
 ^ Ma darabilsh may thus mean either he did not strike Mm, 
 or they did not strike, or even they did not strike him. 
 
THE PEONOUN 101 
 
 1. Bi 6y, with, to: — 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASO. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. blya, bl blya, bl hy me 
 
 2nd pers. bak, bik, bile i bik, bikl, bikt hy thee 
 
 3rd pers. buh, boh, bu biha, blha % Mm, her 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. bina 
 
 2nd pers. bikum, btkum, bukum 
 3rd pers. bihum, blhum, buhum 
 
 2. JAto :— 
 
 
 Singular 
 
 
 
 masc. 
 
 EM. 
 
 1st pers. 
 2nd pers. 
 
 It, llya 
 lak, lik 
 
 11, llya 
 lik, likt 
 
 3rd pers. 
 
 kill 2 loh, lu 
 
 laha, liba 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 
 1st pers. lina, lana 
 2nd pers. likum, lukum 
 
 3rd pers. luhum 
 
 Remark. — When standing alone, or with the negative termi- 
 nation sh, the 2nd pers. sing, is generally bik, lik for the 
 masc, and bikl (blkl), likl for the fem. ; but bak, lak for the 
 masc, and bik, lik for the fem. when appended to a verb or 
 other word. E.g.: — 
 
 idda lak he gave you 
 
 (m.) 
 idda lik he gave you 
 
 ma lak ? what is the 
 
 matter with 
 you 1 (m.) 
 
 lik sa'a ? have you (m.) a 
 
 watch ? 
 likt g6z ? have you a hus- 
 
 band ? 
 ma likshe have you not a 
 
 sa'a ? luatch ? 
 
 malklsh(for have you not a 
 ma liklsh) husband ? 
 g6z? 
 
 Remark. — The forms blya and llya are used when standing 
 alone, bl and 11 when appended to other words, including gene- 
 
 1 The Koranic form bika is used in the expression a'lizu bika 
 min I fly to Thee {i.e. God) for protection from. 
 
 2 The h of buh, luh is always dropped unless they are ac- 
 cented. 
 
102 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 rally the negative particles, and occasionally by themselves. The 
 vowel of lu is lengthened with the negative when the h is dropped, 
 as ma luhsi (or ma lush) he has not.'^ With the first person we 
 have ma lish or (less usually) ma liyash. 
 
 3. Ma', mi' iinth : — 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. mi'i, ma'aya ; neg. ma mi'ish mi'i, ma'aya with 
 
 me, &c. 
 2nd pers. ma'ak, ma'ak ; neg. ma ma'aksh ma'aki ; neg. ma 
 
 ma'aktsh 
 3rd pers. ma'ah, mi'u ; neg. ma mi'ftsh ma'aha,mihha; neg. 
 
 ma ma'ahash 
 
 Plubal for both Genders 
 
 1st pers. ma'&na, mi'na, mihna 
 2nd pers. ma'aku, ma'akum, mihkiun 
 
 4. Yiin:— 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. fiya ; neg. ma fiyash ffya 
 
 2nd pers. fik flkt 
 
 3rd pers. flh ; neg. ma fihsh, ma fish, ma fi'ush ^ flha 
 Plural fina, &c. 
 
 Remark. — Fih often signifies simply there is as well as there 
 is in it, ma fihsh there is not ; and the h, when they are used in this 
 way, is often dropped, especially in the negative, as ma fish 
 hadde hina there is nobody here. 
 
 5. Wara behind: — 
 
 MASC. 
 
 FEM. 
 
 1st pers. waraya 
 2nd pers. warak 
 
 waraya 
 waraki 
 
 3rd pers. warah 
 
 waraha 
 
 Plural warana, &c. 
 
 
 § 118. Similarly, other prepositions ending in a vowel; but 
 note that 'ala on changes a to e, thus 'aleya, 'alek, &c., and in 
 
 1 Ma Ihiish (for ma lihflsh) is also said, but the above are the 
 more usual contractions. 
 
 2 Or, by assimilation, ma fu'ush. 
 
THE PRONOUN 103 
 
 the third pers. sing, may, like fl, drop its h with the negative, 
 making ma'alesh for ma'alehsh.i Hawalen around generally 
 drops its n, and so belongs to this class. (See § 75.) 
 Min from : — 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASO. FBM. 
 
 1st pers. minnl minnl 
 
 2nd pers. minnak minnik 
 
 3rd pers. minnu minha and (rarely) minniha ^ 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. minna (or minnina) 
 2nd pers. minkH, minkum (rarely minnukft) 
 3rd pers. minhum (rarely minnuhum) 
 
 'An from, than similarly doubles the n, but has no duplicate 
 forms. 
 
 § 119. Other prepositions ending in a consonant present no 
 irregularities, so that a single example will suffice ; — 
 
 'And imth, at : — 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. 'andi 'andt 
 
 2nd pers. 'andak 'andik 
 
 3rd pers. 'andu ('anduh) ^ ; neg. ma 'andfish 'andiha 
 ('anduhsh) 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. 'andina 
 2nd pers. 'anduku (kum) 
 3rd pers. 'anduhum 
 
 Remark a. — h is sometimes heard at the end of the 3rd 
 pers. sing., and before the sh of the negative. Note that the u 
 is lengthened in the negative form. 
 
 § 120. The suffixes are appended to the conjunctions inn 
 that, izzay, izzey how, tauw until, and a few others, and to the 
 negatives md and la. With the conjunctions they have the 
 
 1 In prepositions ending in a, the h should be maintained, 
 though warash is sometimes heard. 
 
 ^ Never minnah, as Spitta. 
 
 2 Tahtlh under Mm is sometimes used for tahtu, as more em- 
 phatic, so tahtik, &c. Similarly qabllh before him, and a few 
 others. 
 
104 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 same forms as when attached to the prepositions ; with the 
 negatives those which they assume as objects of a verb ; e.g. 
 inni, inniha tliai I, that she, izzayak (or izzeyak) ? how are you 1 
 manish fahim / don't understand. Lana is sometimes heard for 
 l&ni. With the particle ha we have hahu, hahe, hahum. The 
 1st pers. retains its full form, thus ha ana.i 
 
 Remark a. — The negatives md, Id are never used with the 
 suffixes of the 2nd pers. sing, and plui'. 
 
 BiEMAHK b. — The sign of the 2nd pers. sing, appears in a few 
 adverbs, or words used adverbially, as qawamak, lyak, &c." Bard 
 becomes bardiya, with the suffix of the 1st pers. sing. 
 
 POSSESSIVE PKONOUNS 
 
 § 121. When appended to novins, the same suffixes serve to 
 express the genitive case of the personal pronouns, as baladl the 
 village of me, i.e. my village. They take the forms appended 
 above to the prepositions 'and and wara, according as they end 
 in a consonant or a vowel, except that in the case of feminine 
 singulars and plurals ending in a the suffix is attached to their 
 construct form ; e.g. : — 
 
 betl 
 
 kitabak 
 
 bintu 
 
 idha 
 
 babna 
 
 qalamhum 
 
 ibnuhum 
 
 sahnina 
 
 riglik 
 
 sufriti 
 
 my house 
 
 thy book 
 
 his daughter 
 
 her hand 
 
 our door 
 
 their pen 
 
 their son 
 our dish 
 thy {D foot 
 my dining-table 
 
 siggadtak 
 (for sig- 
 gaditak) 
 
 raqabtik(ra- 
 qabitik) 
 
 waraqitna 
 
 khulafithum 
 
 ghataya 
 
 kursiki 
 
 thy cariK 
 
 thy (f.) neck 
 
 our paper 
 their caliphs 
 my cover 
 thy (f.) cliair 
 
 Eemark «.— Abb (ab) father adds the suffixes to its construct 
 form abil, thus abflya my father, abilki, abuhum, &c. Akhkh 
 (akh) makes akhCiya, akhilk, akhfikl, akhtna, akhiku, akhihum. 
 In the vocative ya khi {i.e. ya akhi) is used as well as ya khuya, 
 and occasionally ya khay, when the speaker wishes to convey a 
 reproach, as ikhtishi ya khay. Ya ba my father and ya mma 
 viy mother are heard for ya abfiya and ya ummi.^ 
 
 1 Ha is not used with the second person. 
 
 ^ See § 570, under li, note. 
 
 ^ In Upper Egypt ya mmaya is used. 
 
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS 105 
 
 Remark b. — Plurals of the form buraka, and some others, are 
 treated as nouns terminating in long a, as in classical Arabic, or 
 the a is lengthened and the t added as well, as ruyas^ya (or 
 ruyasati) my chiefs, khulafatna our caliphs, shawlshiyathum their 
 constables. The same is the case with a few feminine singulars 
 in a, as lughahum their language, dur&tl my maize?- Ikhwa brother, 
 sister, makes ikhwatt. 
 
 Remark c. — Some nouns in % take y only in the first person, 
 as baladiy my countryman (for baladiya). Verbal nouns, as magi 
 coming, usually insert y, and are thus treated as ending in a 
 consonant throughout, as magiyu (or magih) his coming, magtyak 
 (better than mag!k) your coming, magiyina (magiyna) our 
 coming? 
 
 Nouns ending in long accented 6 or e insert h between the 
 vowel and sufiix, as burohi my chest of drawers? Others in 6, o 
 (or u) change the final vowel into i, as baltiya (or baltly) my over- 
 coat, baltlyak (or baltik) your overcoat, balllna our ball. Saku 
 (sakw) overcoat makes sakwl. 
 
 Remark d. — The possessive adjective beta', with the suifixes, 
 is used where it would be clumsy to append them to the noun 
 itself. Feminine plurals in At are many of them not considered 
 susceptible of the suffixes ; thus we say it tasat betii't my bowls, 
 not t§,sS,tt. 
 
 Remark e. — For the disappearance of the final n with the 
 suffixes in the dual of Id, rigl, and dira', see § 74. 
 
 Remark /. — The full form of the pronoun may in all cases 
 follow a word which already has the suffix, as bett ana or (by 
 contraction) bet ana, 'alehum humma, darabna hna he struck us, 
 &c. (See §370.) 
 
 Remark g. — The Turkish suffix m ( = Arabic i) occurs in the 
 word Ef endim,* my sir, sir. Monsieur, and t { = Arabic m) in a few 
 other words borrowed from that language.^ 
 
 Remark h. — For other ways of expressing possession see 
 Syntax, §§ 261, 393-96. 
 
 1 See § 65. 
 
 2 Both forms, magi and magiy, exist in the literary language. 
 8 See § 39. 
 
 * From the Greek AvOevTr)^. 
 
 ^ Expressing military grades, as unbasht, &c. 
 
106 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 shabah 
 
 likeness 
 
 gibt 
 
 /, you brought, 
 
 khalaqa 
 
 hit of old cloth- 
 
 
 have brought 
 
 
 ing, rag 
 
 talla' 
 
 take out 
 
 makhdum 
 
 master (of ser- 
 
 safrit 
 
 travelled (f. 
 
 
 vant) 
 
 
 sing.) 
 
 liurmji 
 
 woman, lady 
 
 sallim 
 
 deliver 
 
 gumla, gimla 
 
 total, quantity, 
 
 bi't, biht 
 
 you sold 
 
 
 number 
 
 zara'na, 
 
 
 maktab 
 
 writing-room 
 
 zarahna 
 
 we sowed 
 
 geb 
 
 pocket 
 
 nisit 
 
 I, you, forgot. 
 
 isfalt, asfalt 
 
 asphalt 
 
 
 have for- 
 
 'agala 
 
 wheel, bicycle 
 
 
 gotten 
 
 raqaba 
 
 neck, collar 
 
 ti'raf , ta'raf 
 
 xjou know 
 
 ham^t 
 
 mother-in-law 
 
 tuq'ud 
 
 you sit 
 
 bizr 
 
 seeds 
 
 uqaf 
 
 stop (imperat.) 
 
 sM'ir (11) 
 
 poet 
 
 miggauwiz 
 
 marrying. 
 
 bass 
 
 he loolced, 
 
 
 married to 
 
 
 peered 
 
 medauwar 
 
 looking round 
 
 ta'alft 
 
 come (pi.) 
 
 'ala 
 
 f<y^- 
 
 tallaq 
 
 he divorced 
 
 mashMr 
 
 renowned 
 
 ya'nl 
 
 that is to say 
 
 leinn 
 
 that, in order 
 
 akubb 
 
 I will pour 
 
 
 tJiat 
 
 rabatu 
 
 they fastened. 
 
 ganb 
 
 by tJie side of. 
 
 
 bound 
 
 
 near 
 
 rafasii 
 
 they kicked 
 
 EXERO 
 
 ISE23 
 
 
 TJmmiha qa'da 'ala kursflia we liawaleba wiladha. Abuya 
 basse fi wishshiba we qal liha : " Ya binti intl shabab ummik 
 tamam." Fen is sagayir betu'ak ? Hnmma 'andl fi gebl. Ta'alii 
 ya gid'an, ana mistannikii. Ir ragil giiant qawt w ana mabsvlt, 
 ya ukbti, le innik miggauwizab. Ma liisb akhkbe maugud. 
 Guzha tallaqha, wahya khadit kbalaqitba we raliit 'ala bet abilha. 
 Huwa darab akbiikh? La', darabnt ana; w ana w akhuya 
 darabnah darba kuwaiyisa. II qalam ill! 'andak beta' akhuya ; 
 la', huwa beta't ana ; akhlna (i)ddah li. Hiya maxa battala we 
 guzha zOyiha tamam. Ir ragil illl ganbtha goz ukhtiha wi lit 
 warSya na (waraya ana) ibne 'ammiha. Hlya gat mihha. It 
 tabtkh illi ma fi'ilsb malh mush kuwaiyis. Shufte baltiy ? la', ana 
 kaman medauwar 'aleh. Is sitte 'auzMd fi s sala. Imratu darabit 
 bint(t) ana. Humma ddtih 1 abflk (li abuk)? la', liya. Hiya 
 
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS 107 
 
 (Idatil lak walla Itya ? lik. U walad ill! qviddamik ibnik ? Liki 
 wiiad ya hurma? la', ma lish. RftL. udt in nom bet§,'l we talla' 
 is sagagid illl ftha 'ala s sutfth, u naffadhiwn taiyib. II liaramiya 
 gum 'andina ^ fi 1 lei, we saraqA minna f ulusna. Inta nsit baltik 
 fi bitna. Shu'arana mashMrtn 'an shu'arit biladkum.^ 'Arbagiyit 
 Masr ahsan min lLamm3,ritha. Is sitte gat mi't we kan abftha 
 kaman ma'ana. Humma baladiyatl, ya'nl kullina min balad 
 wahda. Ya khi ana qultilak innt 'aiyan. Fen baraqihha ? ana 
 ddithum ^ liha auwil inbarih. Ghasalte ideya fi 1 f asqtya betahtak. 
 Darabu 1 walad gumlit darbS,t 'ala rigleh. Wahda min 'en§k 
 asghar min it tanya. Inta khadt id daftar beta't, w ana 'auzu 
 bukra. Shaiya'ii li 1 lela. 
 
 EXERCISE 24 
 
 Have you seen my inkhorn ? Look around f oi' it ; it was on 
 the table in the writing-room yesterday. He fell off his horse 
 and broke both his arms. Her aunt is the daughter of a cele- 
 brated brigand. Open your hands, and I will pour the water 
 over them. They tied my arms behind my back, threw me on 
 the ground, and kicked me * on my head and shoulders.* I 
 have brought an apple for your little girl and two or three pears 
 for her brother ; give them to them (in) the morning. Have 
 you brought your pen with you ? The lady who travelled with 
 him is his inother-in-law. Have you seen my stick ? Yes, I saw 
 it in the corner behind your umbrella. Where did you put my 
 portfolio ? I put it on your writing-table with ^ the papers that 
 were in it. A small boy put his hand in her pocket and took 
 her purse out of '' it, but she seized him by '' his collar and handed 
 him to the police. Have you any land? No, I sold it to my 
 brother. We have sown the seeds in oui' garden. I have brought 
 some clover for your horses. Good! give it to them. Stop at^ 
 the house in front ' of you. My bicycle is newer than yours. I 
 have forgotten her name. The servant is like his master. The 
 sun is very hot ; why are you sitting in it ? Where is my chair ? 
 A lady i" is sitting on it. The gentleman who (is) with her gave 
 it to me. 
 
 .1 To our house. ^ Your country. ^ i for 
 
 * Trans, struck me icith (bi) their feet. 
 
 5 Trans, my shoulders. 
 
 6 bi. '' min. ^ 'and. 
 9 Trans, which (is) in front of you. 
 
 10 The indefinite article should be expressed. 
 
108 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 REFLEXIVE AND RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS 
 
 § 122. There is no distinct form for the reflexive pronoun in 
 Arabic. Its place is supplied by the personal pronoun, with or 
 without a preposition, or by one of the words nafs self, ruh soul, 
 spirit, shakhs (or sakhs), zat person, with the possessive suffixes, 
 or by the word ba'd, with or without the suffixes ; e.g. :— 
 
 khalllk hadir 
 
 shuf lak 
 
 'arabtya 
 mauwit nafsu 
 
 Tieep yourself 
 
 ready 
 get yourself a 
 
 carriage 
 lie killed 
 
 himself 
 
 iltaqit ruhlia 
 guwa bet 
 
 gih huwa 
 
 shakhsu 
 ana zatt 
 khadu ba'd or 
 
 ba'duhum 
 
 she found herr- 
 self inside a 
 house 
 
 he came in 
 person 
 
 i myself 
 
 they took them- 
 selves off 
 
 § 123. Till length is sometimes used in the same way, as lamme 
 tulu he packed himself off ; ^ and in the case of mental operations 
 the words bal mind, 'aql intelligence, as ana shawirte 'aqli (or 
 nafsi) / took counsel with myself, qal fi. balu he said within, to, 
 himself. Zat and nafs, as also 'aql and bal, may be used together, 
 the second word only taking the suffix, as hftwa zat nafsu (or 
 hflwa bi zat nafsu) he his very self, qal fi 'aqle balu. HaMti and 
 halatak ^ (literally m,y, your, condition) have the force of reflexive 
 pronouns in such expressions as ragil zeye halati a man such as 
 myself. Ba'd also expresses the idea of reciprocity or mutuality 
 (generally without, but often with, the suffix), as darabna ba'd ?ce 
 struck one another, mauwitu ba'duhum they slew one another. 
 
 THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN 
 § 124. The demonstratives are : — 
 (1) 
 
 MASC. 
 da, dih, and (rarely) deh 
 
 FEM. 
 
 di, di 
 
 this 
 
 Plural fob both Genders 
 dol, d61i, dola, dolat these 
 
 Remark a. — Dih is more emphatic than da, the latter being 
 mostly used as an enclitic, throwing back its accent to thejpre- 
 ceding word. 
 
 1 Cf . the expression ana get bi tiili or tult / came by myself, 
 alone. 
 
 2 Only the two persons are in use. 
 
THE DEMONSTRATIVE PEONOUN 109 
 
 Remark h. — In the " midJna " or city i dah is often heard 
 for dih, and diya for di. 
 
 I41^Remark c. — "When da stands alone immediately before the 
 personal pronouns, the latter may either remain unchanged or 
 assume the truncated forms described above, as da huwa or da 
 h6 that's he. 
 
 Remark d. — Both the singular and the plural forms are used 
 separately, or in close connection with a substantive, which takes 
 the definite article, and almost invariably precedes the pro- 
 noun ; e.g. ir ragil dih, ir rSgil da, il mara dt, il marS; di, ir 
 liggala d61 ; but da khaddam this {man is) a servant, dol betu'l 
 these {are) mine. D61t is rarely, and dSla, dSIat are perhaps never 
 heard with a noun. The latter form is mostly used by women. 
 
 (2) Singular. 
 
 Masc. — dik-ha, duk-ha, dik-hat, duk-hat, dik-haiya, dik-haiyat, 
 duk-haiyat, dik-hauwa, duk-hauwa. 
 
 Fem. — dik-ha, dik-hat, dik-haiya, dik-haiyat, and (seldom and 
 incorrectly) duk-hat and duk-haiyat that. 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 
 Duk-ham, duk-hamma, duk-humma and (occasionally) dik- 
 hamma and dik-haiyat those. 
 
 Da, dih, &c., are often used together with dik-ha, &c., to give 
 greater distinction to the object to which they refer, as ir-ragil 
 duk-ha dih, il bab duk-hauwa dih, il mara dik-haiya di, that man, 
 door, woman yonder ; duk-ham dol illi quddamak those there in 
 front of you. They are further used with another form, dak 
 (below), which seldom stands by itself. It remains unchanged 
 thus : dak dih, dak di, dak dSl. 
 
 Remark. — Dol is occasionally heard with the singular forms 
 (including dik), giving them a plural sense, as duk-ha dol, dvik- 
 hauwa dol, dik-dol, dik-haiya d61, dik-hat dol. 
 
 (3) Dik (or dik), dak (zak),^ tilk masc. and fem. that. 
 
 They are used with a few words expressive of time, as dik in 
 nahar, tilk il y6m that day, dftk il waqt that time, fi tilk il lela 
 on that night, and have no plural form. They must be imme- 
 diately followed by the article. 
 
 (4) Zalik that. 
 
 This word is seldom heard in the colloquial language, and 
 
 1 I.e. in the Sidna 1 Hisen, Gamallya, and neighbouring 
 quarters. 
 
 2 A nahwy form, of the literary dhak, and rarely heard. 
 
110 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 then only in a neutei- sense, as min ba'de zalik after that, after- 
 wards ; ma' zalik in spite of that, however. 
 
 The particle a, or (occasionally) ha and ma, may be prefixed to 
 the personal pronouns in their shortened forms, giving them a 
 demonstrative sense, as ah6 (Ah6),i h4h6 ! ahe, ahi ! ahum ! there 
 he, she is, they are I mahum hut there they are I 
 
 Remark. — The full forms are sometimes heard, as ahumma. 
 Aho may be used adverbially of the feminine as well as the mas- 
 culine. Thus a woman may say dana (da ana) aho hm-e I am. 
 We cannot, however, say il bint ah6 there is the girl, though we 
 may say ah6 il bint ahe. 
 
 Remark h. — The feminine demonstrative dl, di, with a, 4, or 
 ma prefixed, is used adverbially, as voild ! in French, without 
 distinction of gender or number, but the noun must be ex- 
 pressed, as adl ragil wisikh, mara battala that's a dirty man, a 
 had woman ; adl qershen here are two piastres. The union of ana 
 with adi results in the forms adtnl, adini, adln, or adin, as adlni 
 hina quddamak, adin get. 
 
 Remark c. — Da, and even the fem. di. are also used adver- 
 bially in certain cases. (See Syntax, § 416.) 
 
 Remark d. — In the expressions il y6m to-day, il lela to-night, 
 is subh this morning, is Sana this year, ish shitwlya this winter, and 
 a few others, the article has the force of a demonstrative pronoun. 
 
 THE INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN 
 
 § 125. The interrogative pronouns are : — ■. 
 
 (1) Min 'who? e, eh, esh, ma? lohat ? 
 
 Remark a. — Mtn may have the short form of the personal 
 pronouns attached to it, as minhu ? wlio is he ? but it is more 
 usual to say min huwa, &c. 
 
 Remark h. — Esh or ish (as it sounds when followed by a con- 
 sonant) is of much rarer use than g. It is a shortened form of 
 e she? ivhat thingj 
 
 Remark c. — E, eh, with the preposition li prefixed, forms the 
 interrogative adverb leh? why i 
 
 (2) Singular. 
 
 Masc.— anhu, enhu, anhiin, enhftn anhi, enhi, anhe, enhe, an- 
 huwa, enhuwa (anhiiwa, enhilwa). 
 
 Fem. — enhln, anhi, enhi, anhe, enhe, anhiya, enhtya. 
 
 Plui). — anhun, enhun, anhvim, enhum which, what? 
 
 1 For the accent, see § 39. 
 
THE EELATIVE PKONOUN 111 
 
 Remark a. — The masc. anhu is occasionally used with a femi- 
 nine noun. 
 
 Eemaek b. — Of those forms which end in a vowel the accent 
 is on the final syllable (except in the case of anhuwa, anhiya, 
 where it is always on the penultimate) when they stand alone, 
 and on the penultimate when they are followed by the substan- 
 tive or other word which they qualify, as anhii ? which ? lohieh 
 one 1 fi Anhi bet, balad ? in which house, toion ? The accent is, 
 however, sometimes on the final syllable when the demonstrative 
 da follows, as anhii-da 1 1 for anhu da 1 Those which end in a con-, 
 sonant are only used alone, the indeclinable ani being substituted 
 for the plural forms. 
 
 (3) Ant, ent ^ ivhich, lohat 1 for both genders and all numbers, 
 as ani rS,gil % ani mara ? ani bilad 1 
 
 THE RELATIVE PRONOUN 
 
 § 126. The relative pronouns are, for all genders and num- 
 bers : — 
 
 (1) nil, used b9th of animate and inanimate objects. 
 
 (2) Ma, ma, used mostly of inanimate objects. 
 
 Remark a. — The personal pronouns may be inserted for em- 
 phasis between illl and a verb expressed or understood, as illl 
 huwa gih, illl htya bintl. (See Syntax, § 372.) 
 
 Remark h. — Ma is used only where the object to which it 
 refers is understood or not defined by the article, as 'ala shan ma 
 q&l on account of that 'which he said, ahsan ma kan the best (ichich) 
 there was, muddit ma k&n henak during the time that he loas there, 
 kulle ma^ tqul lu whatever you say to him, ya ma saraqt u qatalt 
 oh, for that which you stole, those which you killed (i.e. lohat a 
 number of robberies and murders you have committed /).* 
 
 Remark c. — Whose is expressed by illl and the personal suffix 
 appended to the noun, as ir ragil illl husanu gih, literally tlie man 
 who his horse came. 
 
 Remark d. — The word min (Koranic man) is used in place of 
 illl in some proverbs and semi-religious expressions, as min tarak 
 she '&sh balah who leaves a thing lives without it, Allah, yunsurak 
 'ala min yi'adlk God give thee victory over [him) toho is thy 
 enemy. It is used also with kull (§ 127) and with auwil, as 
 auwil min shuftu, &c. 
 
 1 Sounding rather as anhuh da than anhuda. 
 
 2 The final vowel is pronounced almost short. 
 
 3 = also whenever 
 
 * See Syntax, § 433 seq. 
 
112 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 THE INDEFINITE PRONOUN 
 
 § 127. The indefinite pronouns are : — 
 
 Kullemin (kulle min ketn, kuUe min qam) whosoever; ey , eyiha i 
 (or eynha.) tohichever, lahatever ; eye wahid, gyiha (gyuha) wahid 
 wMcheve?- one; kulle manhu whoever, lohosoever; hesu (followed by 
 the subs, verb kan) lohatever ; wahid one, somebody; hadd somebody, 
 anybody ; Man, il fulant^ such a one; kaza^ suah^ 
 
 Remark a. — Kulle min is generally accompanied by the verb 
 k&n or qftm. 
 
 Remark b. — Ey is usually followed by the genitive form in in,'^ 
 when the latter is followed by a verb, as min eye betin kin 
 baladin kanit/ro?n lohatever house, village, it may be. (See Syntax' 
 § 454.) 
 
 § 128. II wahid corresponds to the English one in one hopes 
 for the best. II insan (linsan) or il insan minna is used in the 
 same way. (See Syntax, § 443.) 
 
 THE DISTRIBUTIVE PRONOUN 
 
 § 129. The distributive pronouns are : — 
 
 Kull every, kulle wahid everyone, kulle min (with kan), kulle 
 manhu each, ba'd, minba'd (either alone or followed by the pre- 
 position min) some, tani other, bashqa one tiling, anotliei- thing. ^ 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 kalam 
 
 loord, talk 
 
 lisan 
 
 tongue 
 
 guwar 
 
 environs 
 
 fi'l 
 
 deed 
 
 matrah 
 
 place 
 
 'esh 
 
 bread 
 
 mahiya 
 
 salary 
 
 ahl il bgt 
 
 family 
 
 mas'ala 
 
 question, 
 
 qartb (18) 
 
 relation, 
 
 
 matter 
 
 shidda 
 
 violence 
 
 sibil 
 
 drinking- 
 
 auwil 
 
 beginning 
 
 
 fountain 
 
 qirsh, qirshe 
 
 a tariff piastre 
 
 khadd^m 
 
 servant 
 
 sagh 
 
 
 1 The accent is generally on the antepenult. 
 
 2 Fulan never takes the article, while its adjective fuMni is 
 never without it. 
 
 3 Kaza is the nahwy form of the adverb kede (class, kadha). 
 * But see § 63 c, note. 
 
 '•> For other ways of expressing distribution and division, see 
 Syntax, §§ 438-42. 
 
THE DISTRIBUTIVE PEONOUN 
 
 113 
 
 kelubb (Id ixhh) club 
 
 'an 
 
 akhir 
 kebir, kiblr 
 kullu 
 
 'atshto 
 nSzil 
 masht 
 waqif 
 
 marbfit 
 shfi,yif 
 
 (sheyif) 
 dafi' 
 aksab 
 gara 
 'irift 
 
 'ii'ift? 
 
 itkhanqu 
 nadahte li 
 ragga' 
 
 qata't 
 (qataht) 
 
 yesMf 
 
 end 
 
 old 
 
 the loliole of it ! 
 
 thirsty 
 
 descending 
 
 walking on foot 
 
 standing, 
 
 stopping 
 tied 
 
 I gain 
 it happened 
 I knew, per- 
 ceived, 
 found 
 did you know, 
 
 learn 1 
 they quarrelled 
 I called, sent for 
 he returned, 
 replaced 
 I cut, deducted 
 
 he 
 
 shiribt 
 tiwaddl 
 
 qui 
 
 quit 
 
 tenam 
 
 beyikkallim 
 
 'an 
 yen&m 
 saiyibt 
 
 (seyibt) 
 'amalt 
 yisbrab 
 
 yiskunii 
 insaraq 
 
 addl 
 wabdu (or li 
 
 wahdu) 
 waMiha (li 
 
 wahdiha) 
 fa, fi, fe 
 wi 
 'ala 
 
 EXERCISE 25 
 
 I drank 
 it (f.) 
 
 conveys 
 say, suppose 
 
 (imperat.) 
 /, you, said 
 you sleep 
 he is speakirKj 
 
 of 
 he sleeps 
 I left 
 
 I, you, did 
 he drinks,- 
 
 smokes 
 they live 
 he, it, was 
 
 robbed 
 I give, will give 
 by himself 
 
 by herself 
 
 but, and 
 
 by (in oaths) 
 
 on, of, about 
 
 Kalle yom aksab It qershen. Adi 1 kalam illl 'andi. Kulle 
 min kan yiskur flh ketlr qawl. Kulle wahid qa'id 'ala kursl. 
 Addl ]u khamsa sigh walla eh?^ Iddt lu §ye haga. Fen ir ragil 
 illl k&n 'andak ? garfi, lu eh ? Esh gabak hina ? ana get bi zatt. 
 Humma gum li wahduhum. Kulle manhu yakhud ugritu. 
 Hadihna nazlln. Da khaddam 'andi. Da bnukum walla bne 
 mtn? Quite 'ala mln? Da HI hina gambina. 'Irifte ism 
 il balad di ? Ewa, htya ismiha Qina.^ Adi 1 gawab ill! gih 
 bi 1 busta betaht in nahar da. Lelit kaza min ish shahr. 
 Mtn huwa r rSgil illl waqif dak dih ? Giiwa 1 balad fi 1 midlna, 
 ya'nl fi Sidna 1 His6n wi 1 Gamaliya wi gwarha yequlu ir ragil 
 dah wi 1 liurma dtya. Inta shayif duk-hammat dol illl waqfln 
 hensik? Mln illl ffih? Huwa 1 malik nafsu. II barabra, ill! 
 
 Keneh, a town in Upper Egypt. 
 
114 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 humma khaddftintn 'andt, itkhanqu mbarih waiya ba'd ; fe w^hid 
 minlium darab it tant fi 'enu, tallahha. Wi nta 'amalte Ih? 
 Ana nadahte li 1 hakim ; gih, raggahha ; we qataht ugrit il 
 haktm min mabiyit illt tallabha. W Allahl 'amalte taiyib. II 
 Wahid lazim yeruh i yeshiif il mas'ala bi naf su. II babiii' yeqiim 
 min masr fi ani sa'a? Huwa kulle yfimen taMta yigl 'andina. 
 KuUe min qeim nisa walla rigS,1.2 Lisanu kan marbtit min shiddit 
 ma hasal lu. Hat li shuwaiyit 'esh min Msu ksln. Ahumma 
 dak d61 illi waqftn 'and il bab. Kulle min kan yequl innu r^gil 
 taiyib. Tigi f ani sk'k'i II balad di anhlnflhum. Kunte mSshl 
 fi s sikka we 'irifte naf si leinni 'atshan ; fe ruhte shiribte moiya 
 min is sibtl illl wara betik. Qui gih 'andak fulto il fulint, tequl 
 lu eh ? Min eye sikkitin ruht bardiha tiwaddik il balad. 
 
 EXERCISE 26 
 
 These are the men who were in the train with me. In which 
 room did you sleep ? My brother sleeps in (the one) which is 
 behind your mother's. Every one knows his (own) business. 
 I met somebody at the club yesterday who knows your father. 
 I was defending myself. The boy with whose father you came 
 from Upper Egypt is now a servant in my house. He has 
 married a woman fifteen years older than himself.^ By which 
 boat did you come? Everybody who was there was pleased. 
 Why did you leave me these and take the best for* yourself? 
 Husbands and wives should ^ always love one another. He who 
 smokes ten cigarettes a day ^ smokes too many. Is there any- 
 body here ? To talk is one thing, to do is another.'' The two 
 brothers live in the same house.** One sees inside the rooms. 
 He is always speaking of himself. Did yoii come alone, or with 
 your family ? I came with my father and mother and all my 
 relations. I read the whole of the book from beginning to end." 
 I have given you the best I had.i" Why did you let him go? 
 Because he bit my finger. Whose horse is that ? It belongs 
 to the man whose house was robbed yesterday. 
 
 1 I.e. it is necessary that. 
 
 2 A plur. of ragil less used than riggala. 
 
 3 Older than him by (bi) fifteen years. 
 
 i li. ^ lazim. " Trans, in the day. 
 
 7 Trans. The talk . . ., and the deed. . 
 
 8 Trans, in one house. 
 
 " Trans, from the beginning to the end. 
 1" Trans, the best which loas loith me. 
 
THE VEKB 115 
 
 THE VERB 
 
 § 130. Verbs may be either triliteral or quadriliteral, i.e. they 
 may contain either three or four radical letters. 
 
 § 131. Radical letters may be either strong or weak. A 
 strong radical is one that remains unchanged throughout the 
 conjugation of the verb ; thus h, t, h, the root or radical letters of 
 the verb katab to write, being strong, appear in the same order 
 in every phase of the verb, though the vowels may change and 
 other letters be added. The weak consonants ai'e w and y. 
 
 § 132. A triliteral verb which contains three strong radicals 
 is termed strong, while a verb containing w or y or qat'a (') as 
 one of its radicals is termed weak. Those which have two such 
 letters are doubly weak, and those which have three trebly weak. 
 
 133. Strong verbs are subdivided into two classes : — 
 
 (a) Those whose three radicals are all different, and 
 
 (6) Those whose second and third radicals are identical. The 
 former are called pei-fed verbs. 
 
 § 134. From the simple form of the verb, composed only of 
 the radicals and their connecting vowels, other forms, or con- 
 jvigations, are constructed by the doubling of the radicals and 
 the addition of new letters. 
 
 § 135. The verb has, as a rule, only one voice, namely, the 
 active)! ^^^fo moods, the indicative and the imperative, and two 
 simple tenses, the past and the aorist or imperfect, from which, 
 however, others are formed by means of prefixes or by aid of the 
 substantive verb kan, two participles or verbal adjectives, one 
 active and the other passive. The infinitive mood is represented 
 by verbal nouns expressing the nature or quality of the verb. 
 
 § 136. There are two numbers, singular and plural, three 
 persons, and, for the 2nd and 3rd persons singular, two genders. 
 
 THE SIMPLE PERFECT VERB 
 
 § 137. The 3rd person singular of the past tense takes one 
 of the three following forms : barak, birik, buruk, as darab he 
 struck, shirib he dran/c, sughiw he was small, and the tense is 
 conjugated thus : — ■ 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st per s. darabt darabt I struck or have struck 
 
 2nd pers. darabt darabtl thou struckest, ^c. 
 
 3rd pers. darab darabit he strucJc, she, Sfc. 
 
 1 The passive is usually expressed by one of the derived forms, 
 but see below, § 141 and §§ 505-506. 
 
116 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Plukal for both Genders 
 1st pers. darabna (-11&) we struck, Sfc. 
 
 2nd pers. darabtH (or darabtum) 1 you struck, ^c. 
 3rd pers. darabu (or darabum) 2 they struck, ^c. 
 
 § 138. Similarly shirib and sughur ; but it must be remem- 
 bered that the short vowels i and u often disappear between two 
 consonants.^ 
 
 Remark a. — Many verbs of a neuter sense take the form 
 Mrik or huruk optionally, though the latter is perhaps more com- 
 mon, as 'utus (or 'itis) to sneeze ; a few take the forms baralc and 
 birik, as bakhal or (more usually) bikhil to be stingy, and still 
 fewer all three forms, as khumur, khimir, and occasionally khamar 
 to rise (of dough). 
 
 Remark b. — Most verbs of the form barak are transitive in 
 meaning, those of the form birik mostly intransitive or passive, 
 while those of the form buruk are invariably intransitive (neuter 
 or passive). 
 
 § 139. In the formation of the aorist, the first vowel of the 
 past tense falls out, and the second is i (or less commonly a or u), 
 while the persons are denoted by affixes and suffixes. 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. adrab adrab I strike, loiU strike 
 
 2nd pers. tidrab tidrabi thou strikest, ^c. 
 
 3rd pers. yidrab tidrab he, she strikes, ^c. 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. nidrab we strike, ^'c. 
 
 2nd pers. tidrabii (or tidrabum) you strike, ^c. 
 3rd pers. yidiubil (or yidrabum) they strike, ^c. 
 § 140. Similarly aktib I lorite, adkhul / enter (from katab, 
 dakhal), but with i and u respectively throughout in place of the 
 a of the second syllable. 
 
 Remark a. — Occasionally the y of the 3rd person is indis- 
 tinctly heard. In in'al (or il'an) from na'al, la'an to curse, it is 
 often dropped altogether.* 
 
 1 Note that the u is quite short in all verbs when -wn is used 
 both in the 2nd and 3rd persons. Even ii is hardly pro- 
 nounced long. 
 
 2 Possibly the older form. Ct'. Aramaic p'alun. 
 8 See § 33. 
 
 * So regularly in Assyrian and Hebrew, and in the dialects 
 of Algeria and Malta. 
 
THE SIMPLE PERFECT VERB 
 
 117 
 
 Remark 6. — Tlie form of the 1st pers. plur. is in a few ex- 
 pressions used for the 1st pers. sing.,i as biddt nifham, na'raf 
 I want to understand, to know ; tili'te nigrl / started to run. 
 
 Remark c. — It will be observed that the 1st and 2nd pers. 
 sing. masc. of the past tense are identical in form, as are also 
 the 2nd pers. masc. and the 3rd fem. sing, of the aorist. When 
 there is a possibility of confusion the personal pronoun should be 
 expressed. 
 
 Remark d. — The vowel of the 1st pers. ^ng. of the aorist iiS 
 invariably a, that of the preformative syllable of the other per- 
 sons is i? The latter is, however, sometimes assimilated to u 
 when the final syllable contains that vowel, as yukhrug (or yikh- 
 rug) he goes out (so tukhrug, nukhrug, &c., or tikhrug, &c.), yuq'ud 
 he sits (for yiq'ud). In ya'raf, &c. (from 'irif), ya'mar (from 'imir) 
 to be inhabited, ya'rag he limps, and a few others, it is assimilated 
 to the a? In nahwy, as in the Koranic dialect, the initial syllable 
 of the aorist invariably ends in a, and such is the case in the 
 spoken language in many expressions of a religious tone, as yar- 
 hamkum Allah (for yirhamkum) ! Oud, have mercy on you ! 
 
 § 141. The following verbs take a in the final syllable of the 
 aorist : — 
 
 (1) Those whose second r 
 
 adical is h, h, or ' 
 
 , except : — 
 
 (a) taham 
 
 accuse 
 
 
 sahal 
 
 loosen 
 
 tahaf 
 
 give as a present 
 
 sahar 
 
 enchant 
 
 ta'ab 
 
 tire 
 
 
 sa'al 
 
 congh 
 
 ta'am 
 
 engraft 
 
 
 sa'ad 
 
 make ■prosperous 
 
 gaham 
 
 expel 
 
 
 shi'ir 
 
 make verses 
 
 dahan 
 
 grease 
 
 
 shahar 
 
 speak loell of 
 
 dahash 
 
 bother 
 
 
 shahan 
 
 load 
 
 da'af 
 
 weaken 
 
 
 qahar 
 
 annoy 
 
 ra'ab 
 
 frighten 
 
 
 laham 
 
 solder 
 
 ra'ash 
 
 )j 
 
 
 mahal 
 
 grant a respite 
 
 ra'adit 
 
 thunder 
 
 
 ni'is 
 
 be drowsy 
 
 which take i, 
 
 making athim. 
 
 atli 
 
 if, &c. 
 
 
 (h) sha'ar 
 
 feel 
 
 
 mahak 
 
 crush 
 
 qa'ad 
 
 sit 
 
 
 
 
 which take u 
 
 making ash'ui 
 
 , &c 
 
 
 
 1 In Algerian and Maltese n is regularly the sign of the 1st 
 
 pers. sing. 
 
 2 So in Hebrew, and in the 3rd pers. sing, and plur. and the 
 1st pers. plur. in Assyrian. In Ethiopic it is «. 
 
 2 But yi'raf, &c., are often used. 
 
118 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Remark. — 
 
 
 
 raban pledge 
 
 zihid 
 
 loathe 
 
 (rihin) 
 
 dahaslf 
 
 tread on 
 
 take a or i ; ni'is occasionally makes an'as ; 
 
 zahar, zihir appear 
 
 occasionally azbir (for azbar). 
 
 
 
 (2) Those whose final radica 
 
 I is h, h, ', q, 
 
 or kh, except : — 
 
 (a) dala' sioindle 
 
 shara' 
 
 begin 
 
 raba' tro% 
 
 faraq 
 
 separate 
 
 salah 6e reconciled 
 
 fanakh 
 
 retract, rescind 
 
 shabah resemble 
 
 qana' 
 
 content 
 
 which take i, making adli', &c.i 
 
 
 
 (6) baraqit it lightened 
 
 sharakh 
 
 split 
 
 bazaq spit 
 
 shanaq 
 
 hang 
 
 tabakh cook 
 
 qaraq 
 
 prattle, tell 
 
 taraq Icnoch 
 
 
 tales 
 
 dalaq spill 
 
 khanaq 
 
 throttle 
 
 razaq pi-ovidefor 
 
 mashaq 
 
 exhaust 
 
 zaraq slip away 
 
 malakh 
 
 pull from the 
 
 sadaq 6e ft-we 
 
 
 socket 
 
 salaq hoil 
 
 nafakh 
 
 blow 
 
 sarakh ■ cry 
 
 
 
 which take u, making tibruq, abz 
 
 uq, &c. 
 
 
 Rbmakk. — Fakah eat fruit ta 
 
 Ices a or i. 
 
 
 (3) A number of words near 
 
 y all intransitive or neuter and 
 
 of the form hirik or buruk,^ oi 
 
 " both, and 
 
 expressing mostly 
 
 mental or physical qualities or 
 
 conditions. 
 
 The following is a 
 
 nearly complete list of this clas 
 
 s, exclusive of those which fall 
 
 under (1) and (2) :— 
 
 
 
 bilid he dull 
 
 birid 
 
 get cold 
 
 biligh reaeh maturity 
 
 tukhun 
 
 get thick 
 
 (balagh) 2 
 
 tilim 
 
 be blunted, 
 
 bikhil be stingy 
 
 
 blunt 
 
 (bakhal) 
 
 tuqul, tiqil be heavy 
 
 1 Qanah convict of an offence and lafaq sew may be added to 
 this list of exceptions, but they scarcely belong to the colloquial 
 language. 
 
 2 Birik and buruk correspond to barik (fa'ila) and baruk 
 (fa'ula) of the literary language. Birik also represents fa'ala, 
 as misik (literary masaka), &c. 
 
 ^ But yibhigh gharadu he attains his desire. 
 
THE SIMPLE PERFECT VERB 
 
 119 
 
 ti'ib 
 
 get tired 
 
 sikhin, 
 
 get hot 
 
 tamar (tumui 
 
 , hear fruit 
 
 sukhun 
 
 
 timir) i 
 
 
 siqi', suqu' 
 
 get cold 
 
 tTirush,tirish 
 
 become deaf 
 
 silik 
 
 behave well 
 
 tafash 
 
 run away 
 
 suqut, 
 
 fall 
 
 gifil_(gafal) 
 
 he shy, shy 
 
 suduf 
 
 chance 
 
 gimid 
 
 get hard 
 
 sughur 
 
 become small 
 
 ghifil 
 
 dose 
 
 sihir 
 
 sit up at night 
 
 (ghtiful) 
 
 
 shibit 
 
 hold on, climb 
 
 ghilitjghulut 
 
 err 
 
 (shabat) 
 
 
 ghui'um 
 
 pay a fine 
 
 shimit 
 
 glocd 
 
 (ghirim) 
 
 
 shimis 
 
 bask in the sun 
 
 ghimid, 
 
 he closed 
 
 'utul 
 
 be interrupted 
 
 ghumud 
 
 
 'urug ^ 
 
 he lame 
 
 harab 
 
 flee 
 
 'ilim 
 
 know 
 
 hurun 
 
 be restive 
 
 'irid 
 
 be wide, broad 
 
 hilim 
 
 he patient ; 
 
 'imir('umui') 
 
 be inhabited 
 
 
 dream 
 
 'igiz 
 
 become infirm 
 
 hizin 
 
 be sad 
 
 'uqul 
 
 he, become, wise 
 
 hidir, hudvir, 
 
 be evident, 
 
 'irif 
 
 know 
 
 hadar 
 
 appear 
 
 'itir 
 
 stumble 
 
 hafad, hafaz 
 
 retain in one's 
 
 'itis, 'utus 
 
 sneeze 
 
 
 mind 
 
 'itish,'utush 
 
 he thirsty 
 
 himid, 
 
 become sour 
 
 faragh,firigh 
 
 be empty 
 
 humud 
 
 
 fidil 
 
 remain 
 
 hasal 
 
 happen 
 
 fitir 
 
 brealfast 
 
 dibil 
 
 wither 
 
 fitir 
 
 be tepid 
 
 dirik(darak) 
 
 arrive at 
 
 fitish 
 
 choice 
 
 
 maturity 
 
 qii-ib, qurub 
 
 drato near 
 
 dihik 
 
 laugh 
 
 qishil, 
 
 become bank- 
 
 rimid (or 
 
 have ophthal- 
 
 qushul 
 
 rupt 
 
 rimid) 
 
 mia 
 
 qidir 
 
 be able 
 
 raghab ^ 
 
 desire 
 
 qisir, qusur 
 
 be, get, short 
 
 raham 
 
 ■pity 
 
 qudum, 
 
 become old 
 
 rikhis, 
 
 get cheap 
 
 qidim. 
 
 
 rukhus 
 
 
 kibir 
 
 grow big. 
 
 zaman 
 
 continue, last 
 
 
 grow up 
 
 simin 
 
 get fat 
 
 kafar 
 
 rebel, be dis- 
 
 silim 
 
 be safe 
 
 
 obedient 
 
 1 Also atmir. The forms in 
 
 brackets are less used than the 
 
 others. 
 
 
 
 
 2 Also arghib. 
 
 
 
 8 'Arag, yi'rug is sometimes 
 
 heard. 
 
 
120 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 kimil 
 
 be finished 
 
 khisir. 
 
 he spoilt, lose 
 
 kisil, kusul 
 
 be lazy 
 
 khusur 
 
 
 kutur, kitir 
 
 increase 
 
 khuruf 
 
 drivel, be im- 
 
 khulus 
 
 he finished, end 
 
 
 paired 
 
 (khalas, 
 
 
 
 (intellect) 
 
 khilis)" 
 
 
 lizim 
 
 be necessary 
 
 khimir 
 
 leaven, ferment 
 
 libid 
 
 lie in loait for 
 
 (khumur, 
 
 
 nidif 
 
 be clean 
 
 khamar) 
 
 
 nidim 
 
 repent 
 
 khidil 
 
 he weary 
 
 ni'im 
 
 he, get soft 
 
 khigil 
 
 he ashamed 
 
 nihif 
 
 he slender. 
 
 khurus, 
 
 he deaf and, 
 
 
 delicate 
 
 khiris 
 
 dumb 
 
 
 
 To the above list must be added the followinj? verbs, which, 
 
 having a corres 
 
 ponding active form, may be 
 
 regarded as pm-e 
 
 passives ^ : — 
 
 
 
 tilif 
 
 be destroyed, perish 
 
 (act. talaf) 
 
 ghidib, ghudub be vexed, sulk 
 
 ( ,, ghadab) 
 
 ghilib 
 
 be conquered, weary 
 
 ( „ ghalab) 
 
 hilik, hulik 
 
 be exhausted, perish 
 
 ( ,, halak) 
 
 himid 
 
 be exhamted, worried 
 
 ( ,, hamad) ^ 
 
 sibit 
 
 he proved 
 
 ( ,, sabat) 
 
 sikin 
 
 he inhabited 
 
 ( ,, sakan) 
 
 sikir 
 
 be made, get drunk 
 
 ( ,, sakar) 
 
 'idim 
 
 he destroyed 
 
 ( ,, 'adam) 
 
 fiqii- 
 
 be made, get, poor 
 
 ( „ faqar) 
 
 qiris, qurus 
 
 he stung 
 
 ( ,, qaras) 
 
 qirif, quruf 
 
 be disgusted, bored. 
 
 ( „ qaraf) 
 
 qusum 8 
 
 be divided, allotted 
 
 ( ,, qasam) 
 
 mirid 
 
 be made, get, ill 
 
 ( ,, marad) 
 
 nishif 
 
 be dried, get dry 
 
 ( ,, nashaf, 
 
 rarely used) 
 
 niqis, nuqus 
 
 be lessened, grow less 
 
 ( „ naqas)* 
 
 1 Pure passives, because they are derived directly from the 
 active without any external change. Cairene Arabic resembles 
 Hebrew in its dislike and spare usage of these forms. They 
 have the form burak (fu'ala) in literary Arabic. Many of the 
 above also had no doubt originally an active form, which has 
 now been supplanted by the first derived form barrak, barrik. 
 
 -' As hamadu bi 1 'asaya. 
 
 ^ Mostly in the expression qusumit il qisma it was fated. 
 . ■* Others are peculiar to Upper Egypt, as gilid be flogged, 
 qitil be killed. 
 
THE SIMPLE PEKFECT VEEB 
 
 121 
 
 Remark a. — Some of the exceptions to (1) and (2) are perhaps 
 explained by the fact that the active verb must take i or u in the 
 aorist, so as not to be identical in that tense with the passive 
 form, as in the case of da'af, razaq, sahal, sa'ad, fanakh, and 
 qahar, which have passives, di'if, riziq (or ruzuq), sihil, si'id, 
 finikh, qnhur, making ad'af, arzaq, &c., in the aorist. 
 
 Remark b. — Apart from the words mentioned above, the 
 pure passive is rarely used conversationally, even by the edu- 
 cated, in the past tense ,i though it is heard now and again in 
 the aorist in the form yibrak (literary yubrak) ; and it may 
 happen that an active verb forming the aorist in a will be 
 identical in that tense with the active, as il kalam da ma 
 yiqbalsh, ma yifhamsh that statement is inacceptable, incompre- 
 hensihle. 
 
 (4) The following transitive verbs : — 
 
 darab 
 
 strike 
 
 shtrib 
 
 drink 
 
 daman 
 hamad 
 hiblit 
 rikib 
 
 guarantee 
 praise 
 conceive 
 ride, drive 
 
 qibil 
 kasar 
 kusub 
 khataf 
 
 accept 
 break 
 gain 
 snatch 
 
 sakhat 
 
 turn to stone 
 
 
 
 § 142. The following verbs take u in the second syllable :— 
 (1) Those whose second radical is t, d, s, sh, or kh, except : 
 
 (a) The few which take a. 
 
 (6) The following which take i : — 
 
 lakham embarrass 
 
 fasal 
 khasam 
 
 divide 
 deduct 
 
 (2) Those whose final radical is t, d, r, or z, except :- 
 
 (a) The few which take a. 
 
 (b) The following which take i : — 
 
 basat (basat) please 
 
 sahar enchant 
 
 shahar speak well of 
 
 shi'ir 2 make verses 
 
 faqar 
 fakar 
 qahar - 
 nakar 
 
 impoverish 
 think, imagine 
 annoy 
 deny 
 
 Remark. — Zahar, zihir appear, 'arad exhibit, 'asar squeeze out, 
 farad impose, duty on, nazam, put in order, take either u or i. 
 
 1 Qutil (for inqatal) and a few others may perhaps be excepted. 
 
 2 Mentioned above (§ 141, 1 a). 
 
122 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 (3) The following : — 
 
 barad 
 
 file 
 
 sarakh i 
 
 cry 
 
 balas 
 
 extort 
 
 salab 
 
 crucify, torture 
 
 baram 
 
 twist 
 
 sharad 
 
 run away 
 
 baraz 
 
 project 
 
 sharakh ^ 
 
 split 
 
 bazaq i 
 
 spit 
 
 'arag 
 
 he lame, limp 
 
 taqab 
 
 pierce 
 
 'abad 
 
 loorsMp 
 
 tarak 
 
 leave 
 
 'aqad 
 
 tie 
 
 talab 
 
 demand 
 
 farak 
 
 ruh 
 
 tabakh i 
 
 cook 
 
 faram 
 
 mince 
 
 tarad 
 
 expel 
 
 qaras 
 
 sting 
 
 ghanag 
 
 be coy 
 
 qa'ad 2 
 
 sit 
 
 haras 
 
 guard 
 
 kharag ^ 
 
 go out 
 
 haram 
 
 bereave 
 
 kharam 
 
 pierce, hare 
 
 hakam 
 
 jvdge 
 
 lakam 
 
 touch, strike 
 
 darag 
 
 insert 
 
 
 gently 
 
 damagh 
 
 brand 
 
 laqam 
 
 catch (a ball, 
 
 damak 
 
 compress 
 
 
 ^c.) 
 
 dakhal 
 
 enter 
 
 malakh * 
 
 pull from its 
 
 raqad 
 
 lie, lie ill 
 
 
 socket 
 
 raqas 
 
 dance 
 
 malak 
 
 possess 
 
 zaghad 
 
 push 
 
 nakhal 
 
 sift 
 
 sabak 
 
 cast lead 
 
 nakhas 
 
 prick, anTuyy 
 
 sikin 
 
 dwell 
 
 naqaf 
 
 strike 
 
 sikit 
 
 he silent 
 
 nafakh* 
 
 blow 
 
 samal 
 
 loHhstand, en- j 
 
 nakat 
 
 change one's 
 
 
 dure 
 
 
 mind 
 
 Remabk. — 'Abad and 'aqad make also a'bid and a'qid. 
 
 § 143. All other perfect strong verbs take i in the second 
 syllable of the aorist, and are usually transitives of the form 
 barak, never of the form buruk. 
 
 1 Mentioned above (§ 141, 2 b). 
 
 2 Mentioned above (§141, 1 b). 
 2 Bvit kharag yikhrig distil. 
 
 * Mentioned above (§ 141, 2 ft). 
 
THE SIMPLE PEEFECT VEEB 
 
 123 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 taqawi 
 
 seeds 
 
 
 minfakh 
 
 bellows 
 
 tUba 
 
 a Coptic month 
 
 hikma 
 
 wisdom 
 
 kanabS 
 
 sofa 
 
 
 karaf 
 
 decanter 
 
 ba'de bukra 
 
 the day 
 
 after 
 
 'aiya 
 
 disease, illness 
 
 
 to-morrow 
 
 aqum 
 
 I get up 
 
 kbabar 
 
 news 
 
 
 habas 
 
 he imprisoned 
 
 start 
 
 condition 
 
 
 haraq 
 
 he burned 
 
 Rabb 
 
 Lord 
 
 
 shahat 
 
 he begged 
 
 ramadan 
 
 the 9th 
 
 Mo- 
 
 khaff ■ 
 
 he got well 
 
 
 hammedan 
 
 warrlnl 
 
 show me 
 
 
 month 
 
 
 simi' 
 
 he heard 
 
 'alam 
 
 world 
 
 
 rabat 
 
 he tied 
 
 hikaya 
 
 story 
 
 
 takhud 
 
 she, it, takes, 
 
 fahm 
 
 coal, coals 
 
 
 
 catches 
 
 haqiqa 
 
 truth 
 
 
 yakul 
 
 he eats 
 
 hashish 
 
 grass 
 
 
 yeqiil (yiqul) 
 
 lie says 
 
 garaz (or 
 
 bell 
 
 
 lahsan 
 
 lest, or 
 
 garas) 
 
 
 
 li hadd 
 
 until, up to 
 
 zaman 
 
 time 
 
 
 kulle ma 
 
 all that, lohen- 
 
 matbakh 
 
 Idtchen 
 
 
 (kuUii ma) 
 
 ever 
 
 talg 
 
 ice 
 
 
 bi 1 haqq 
 
 truly 
 
 
 EXER( 
 
 3ISE 27 
 
 
 Zara't it taqawi fi gnintak walla lissa ? Zara'nftha fi shahre 
 tuba. Humma 'irfurrftgilminwishshu. Inta qa'adte 'ala km'Siya 
 w ana qa'adte 'ala kursik. Leh yirbutu riglen il khirfan ? Lamma 
 lefendiyat yitla'um barra fi s sef yiftahum shamaslhum lahsan 
 takhudhum ish shams. Ta'raf is sa'a kam dilwaqti? ana q'ud 
 (ana aq'ud) kulle yom sa'tSn fi 1 oda t tahtftnlya, u ba'dSn atla' ^ 
 aq'ud fi 1 oda 1 f oqanlya li hadd id duhr. Inti ya hiurma daralDti 1 
 walad da s sughaiyar l§h ? ^ II binte dl tishbih abuha. II mara 
 tutbukh li guzha wi wiladu. Ish shugle yiklas ba'de bukra. 
 L@h, ya bint, tuq'udl kulle y6m hina ? II gazma betahtak 
 qudmit. Illi yisraq il beda yisraq il farkha.* Lamma ti'tar 
 'ala hsin kuwaiyis iddlni khabar. Illl yakul kuwaiyis yisman u 
 yitkhan. II muslim yiftar fi ramadan 'ala '" 1 maghrib. Taiyib ! 
 ana qbal ish sharti da. II hidum tinshaf fi sh shams. Tifdal 
 
 1 When the penult is accented. 
 
 2 We is often omitted between two verbs. (See Syntax, § 572.) 
 
 3 The interrogative is often placed at the end of the sentence. 
 * Proverb. ^ at. 
 
124 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 fi 1 bet walla tukhrug barra ? Lamma yiqbadu 'ala 1 haramlya 
 yihbisuhum. Illi yishar fi 1 lei yirqud fl n' nahar. 'Namiisa 
 qarasitnt fi sba'i. II wilad yirkabu bmtr wi r riggala yirkabii 
 khel. Lamma tiksar kubbaya walla b^ga fi 1 bgt bass iddlnl 
 khabar 'ashsln a'raf. Lamma 1 waliid yi'tas yeqiil : " il kamdu 
 li 11a Eabbu 1 'alamin." II bet da sikin 'amnauwil walla la' ? 
 KuUima yikallimha ragil tughnug. Suqtit min 'al humar we 
 kasarit rigliha. Lamma yigi 1 khadd^m yitruq 'ala 1 bab aqiim 
 dugbri w albis. lilt yisduq kulle ma yisma' yigblat. Lazim tifriq 
 il kuwaiyisin. Min en 'iriftu 1 bik^ya dl ? Mush Mzim tinkiru 
 1 haqtqa. II masakin hilku min il gii'. Lamma smi'na 1 garaz 
 tili'na barra we fatahna 1 b^b. Khafile lakin 'aqlu khm-uf min 
 shiddit il 'aiya. 
 
 EXEEOISE 28 
 
 She sat in a cbair in the kitchen. When you grow up you 
 will both be like your mother. They went out of the house at 
 ten minutes to two, and will return in an hour's time.i The 
 girl snatched the stick out of ^ her brother's hand. At^ what 
 time did you breakfast yesterday ? She denies everything. 
 When the women shriek and the men fire * off their guns, the 
 robbers run away. When you blow with the bellows the fire 
 catches ' the coals. The sun bui-ns the grass. When the bell 
 rings ^ you must open the door. She shut the door in my face. 
 The sun rises at 4.20. He is a man (who) begs in the street. 
 Do you know him, my daughter ? (He) who weeps to-day, 
 laughs to-morrow. These knives have. become old and blunt. 
 Who was mistaken, you or I ? It gets soft after a time. You 
 must drink the wine to-day, or it will go sour. Show me the 
 man who witnesses truly. If you sit by '' the window you will 
 catch cold. When the judges give sentence, every one praises 
 their wisdom. When you write to me I will write to you. Put 
 the butter in the ice-chest,^ that it may get cold and bard. We 
 have broken a decanter and two glasses. Who will guarantee 
 you ? The water has got tepid ; (it) will get cold soon.^ She 
 laughed at i" him and ran away. A n good carpenter gains every 
 day twenty or twenty-five piastres. The children remain in the 
 house alone. The disease will become chronic with him. You 
 (plur.) must sow your seeds in September. 
 
 1 Trans, after an hour. ^ min. * fi. 
 
 * darab. ^ misik fi. ^ darab. 
 
 "< ganb. ^ Trans, the box of (beta,') the ice. 
 
 ba'de shuwaiya. i" 'ala. " Trans, the. 
 
THE IMPERATIVE 125 
 
 THE IMPERATIVE 
 
 imsik 
 
 seine 
 
 imsiku 
 
 
 irqud 
 
 lie down 
 
 uq'udil 
 
 sit 
 
 § 144. We may form the imperative from the aorist by 
 dropping the initial t of the 2nd pers., thus ; — 
 
 idrab strilce 
 
 idrabCi 
 (idrabum) 
 
 With the negative, however, and the particle ma, the t is 
 retained.! 
 
 Remake. — A wish or command having reference to the 1st 
 or 3rd pers. is expressed by the aorist, or by the verb khalll 
 let followed by the aorist, as nidrab let us strike, khalltnl adrab 
 (or khallln adrab), khalllhum yidrabu let me, them., strike. Note 
 that khalli remains, as a rule, in the singular even when several 
 people are addressed. It may be used with a neuter or passive 
 verb as well as an active one, as khalll yiskhan il hamm^m let 
 the bath be heated. 
 
 § 145. The unfinished present is expressed by the aorist 
 with the syllable be (or bi) prefixed to the preformatives. The 
 vowel disappears before the a of the 1st person. 
 
 SiNGULAB, 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. badrab badrab / am striking 
 
 2nd pers. betidrab betidrabt thou art striking 
 
 3rd pers. beyidrab betidrab he, she, it, is striking 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 
 benidrab 'we are striking 
 
 betidrabii (betidrabum) you are striking 
 
 beyidrabfi. (beyidrabum) the]) are striking 
 
 Remark a. — Beyi is sometimes contracted to bi in the 3rd 
 pers. plm-al. 
 
 Remark b. — The syllable me {mi) is sometimes heard for he 
 (bi) in the 1st pers. plural, as menidrab for benidrab. 
 
 Remark c. — The intensive adjective 'ammal (lit. doing fre- 
 quently), from the verb 'amal to do, occasionally precedes the 
 Eibove form or that of the aorist itself. It agrees with the 
 subject in number and gender, as ana 'ammal badrab (or adrab) 
 
 1 See § 491. 
 
126 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 / am in the habit of striking, or simply I am strilcing, intt ammala 
 betidrabt (or tidrabi), humma 'ammaltn beyidrabfi.^ 
 
 Remark d. — The unfinished present may also be expressed 
 by the active participle with the substantive verb understood, 
 as ana dai'ib, hlya darba, ihna darbln I am, she is, we are, striking.^ 
 
 § 146. The unfinished past (imperfect) is expressed by means 
 of the auxiliary verb kan to be in the past tense, followed by the 
 unfinished present, thvis : — 
 
 SiXGULAR 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. kunte badrab kunte badrab / was strilcing, 
 
 used to strike 
 2nd pers. kunte betidrab kunti betidrabi 
 3rd pers. kan beyidrab kanit betidrab 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. kunna benidrab 
 2nd pers. kuntu (-um) betidrabu (-um) 
 3rd pers. kanii beyidrabil (-um) 
 or with 'ammal, kunte 'ammal badrab, &c. 
 
 § 147. The finished past or pluperfect is expressed by kan 
 followed by the past tense of the verb, as kunte darabt / had 
 struck, kan darab he had struck, kunna darabna, &c. 
 
 § 148. The unfinished future is expressed by the aorist of 
 the verb kan followed by the unfinished present, thus : — 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. akun badrab akun badrab I shall be striking 
 
 2nd pers. tekun betidrab tekunt betidrabi 
 3rd pers. yekun beyidrab tekun betidrab 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. nekun benidrab 
 2nd pers. tekunu (-um) betidrabu (-um) 
 3rd pers. yekunii beyidrabil (-um) 
 
 Remark. — This tense may also be expressed by the aorist 
 of kan with the active participle, as akun dartb, tekun darba, 
 yekunii darbln I, she, they will be striking. 
 
 1 It is in more frequent use in Upper Egypt, where it gene- 
 rally appeai-s in the contracted form 'amma, without change of 
 gender or number. 
 
 i Syntax, § 498. 
 
THE IMPEEATIVE 127 
 
 § 149. The finished future (future perfect) is composed of 
 the aorist of kftn followed by the past tense. Thus akun darabt 
 / shall have struck, teMnl darabtt thou (f.) loilt have struck, 
 yekllnii darabu, &c. 
 
 § 150. The indefinite future is expressed : — 
 
 (1) Simply by the aorist. 
 
 (2) Emphatically by the aorist preceded by r^yih (the 
 active participle of r§,h. to go), agreeing with the subject in 
 gender and number, or by its indeclinable form rah, or 
 
 (3) By the aorist with the particle ha (sometimes pro- 
 nounced ha) prefixed ; e.g. : — 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. rayih (rayli) ^ rayha (for / vrill or am going to 
 
 rah adrab, or hadrab rayiha) strike 
 
 adrab ^ 
 rah adrab, or 
 hadrab 
 2nd pers. rjlyih tidrab, rayha tidrabt 
 rah tidrab, or hatidrab rah tidrabi, or 
 hatidrabt 
 3rd pers. r&yih yidrab, rayha tidrab, 
 rah yidrab, or rah tidrab, or 
 
 hayidrab hatidrab 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 
 1st pers. rayhin nidrab, rah nidrab, or ha nidrab 
 2nd pers. rayhin tidrabu, rah tidrabfi, or hatidrabH. 
 3rd pers. rayhtn yidrabfl, rah yidrabu, or hayidrabii. 
 
 Remark a. — The past tense of the auxiliary followed by the 
 future indefinite expresses that something was going or about 
 to take place, or nearly took place, as kunte rayih (rayh) adrab, 
 kunte r^h adrab, or kunte hadrab, &c., 1 was going to strike, &c., 
 kan r^yih yftqa', rah yiiqa', hayiiqa' he was near falling. (Syntax, 
 §486.) 
 
 Remark h. — Ha is appended to the imperative injthe donkey- 
 boys' cry, harga' ! [i.e. ha irga'). 
 
 1 Note that the qat'a of the first syllable generally disap- 
 pears, so that rayh, rah adrab will be pronounced ray, ra, hadrab. 
 
 2 Or contracted, rayha drab. 
 
128 
 
 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Remark c. — The inseparable particle la conveys witli the 
 aorist an oath or a threat/ as w AUahi larmtk fi dahya hy God ! 
 I will cast thee into adversity. 
 
 § 151. The subjunctive and so-called optative or potential 
 moods are expressed by means of the aorist and past tenses 
 (Syntax, ^ 494-5). The combination of the past tense of kan with 
 the aorist of the verb is equivalent in the apodosis of conditional 
 sentences to the English would have, as iza kunte shuftu kunt 
 adrabu if I had seen him I would have struck Mm. (Syntax, 
 § 510.) 
 
 § 152. The participles active and passive are respectively dfirib 
 striking and madrub struck, which are declined like ordinary 
 adjectives. 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 mal 
 
 
 property, 
 
 1 akim 
 
 / shall he 
 
 
 
 riches 
 
 kunna 
 
 we were 
 
 namus 
 
 
 mosquitoes 
 
 dakhkhal 
 
 he put in 
 
 waqt 
 
 
 time 
 
 zi'il 
 
 he got angry 
 
 Mga 
 
 
 thing, any- 
 
 1 get 
 
 I, you, came 
 
 
 
 thing 
 
 tili' foq 
 
 he ascended 
 
 'asha 
 
 
 dinner 
 
 matarit (na- 
 
 it rained 
 
 shi'lr 
 
 
 barley 
 
 tarit) 2 
 
 
 hamd 
 
 
 acid 
 
 qafal 
 
 he shut, closed 
 
 bilya 
 
 
 paint 
 
 qable ma 
 
 before that 
 
 darab 
 
 buya 
 
 he painted 
 
 bidal ma 
 
 instead of 
 
 ■ fi 
 
 
 
 tamallt 
 
 always 
 
 farrftn 
 
 
 haker. 
 
 iza (with 
 
 if 
 
 khis4ra 
 
 
 pity * 
 
 past tense) 
 
 
 (khusai'a) 
 
 
 
 
 EXERCISE .29 
 
 Betidrab il khel leh 1 Lamma kanii beyidrabu 1 banadiq kunte 
 betirqud walla la' ? Hiya betikhrug kiiUe yom is sa'a tnen ba'd id 
 duhr llhusanbetisman'alash shi'lr. Betidhak'alamin? Bad- 
 hak 'alek ' Leh ? 'ashan betirkab liusanak zey illi beyirkab auwil 
 mara Intt, ya bittl, kutti bti'mili eh fi 1 ginena beta'it giranna ? 
 Qable ma rigi'na kan ish shughle khulus. Kuntu tlihtu lamma 
 crih il hakim walla lissa? Kunna bnirga' we hssa fi s sikka. 
 Kulle ma sarakhna hna k^nit hlya betiskut. Kan beyisbrud mm 
 bet abHh lamma qabadu 'aleh, Iza gc't is sa'a sitta akun lissa 
 
 1 It is not very often heard in the spoken language. 
 
 2 Dunya world, iveather is understood. 
 
THE IMPEEATIVE 129 
 
 bal'ab bi 1 kura barra, welakin iza get is sa'a sab'a akun rigi't 
 'ala 1 bet. Inta r^yib. tiikhrug emta ? Ana rab akhrug is sa'a 
 rba'a u tilt. Humma raybln yirkabu nnabarda walla la' ? La', 
 bass is sitte hatirkab. Itla' min hina. Ishrabi moiya ndtfa. 
 IfdalU fi 1 bet lamma rga' ana. Kballtna niftah isb shibbak. Id 
 ■dakakln fatMn bukra s subb? La', qafltn 'asban il 'Id. Ftb 
 kubb§,ya maksfira ; mln kasarha 1 Hlya maksiira min naf siha 
 kede. Kunna bnisbrab qahwa. Kanit betimtur wi btir'id wi 
 btibruq tvll in nahar. 
 
 EXERCISE 30 
 
 Where i wer e you sitting ? At wbat i was she laughing ? I ran 
 away from him when I saw him getting angry .^ In England they 
 used to hang thieves,^ but now they imprison them. The water 
 is getting less every day. They covet her riches. She was 
 going upstairs * two steps at a time. They were painting the 
 house when I came. They will be sitting in the kitchen laugh- 
 ing* with the cook till dinner-time.^ You will have returned, 
 my daughter, before we go out. We are going to beg (some) 
 cigarettes of '^ you. The acid will burn the paint. You will 
 tire yourself. She is going to ascend the pyramids. (It is) a 
 pity ; she will be tired. (Is) the lady contented with^ her ser- 
 vants ? She (is) contented with one of them, but the others are 
 always getting drunk. What (is it) that makes them drunk ? 
 Why were you sitting outside the door instead of doing ^ your 
 work ? It is going to rain. Put the horse in the stable ; he will 
 get cold outside. Wash your hands before you cook anything. 
 The horse was rtinning away. The baker closes on Sunday, but 
 the tobacconist remains open.^ Shut the windows and open the 
 doors. The clock was striking twelve when we went out. I am 
 being stung all day long by i" mosquitoes. She was about to 
 knock at the door when the girl opened it. Will they remain 
 here when their children return ? Let her come in and sit down. 
 Why was she angry ? Because you (/.) shut the door in her face. 
 We were going out when they were coming in. You were 
 writing upstairs, and your dinner was getting cold downstairs. 
 
 1 The interrogatives should be placed at the end of the sen- 
 tence. ^ Unfinished present. 
 3 Trans, the thieves. * till' 'as salalim. 
 5 Unfinished present. "^ Trans, the time of dinner. 
 7 min. 8 Aorist. 
 9 Act. particip. " By (bi) if>e mosquitoes. 
 
130 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 153. The verb is rendered negative by the particle ma(md) 
 being placed before it, and sh after it in the form of a suffix,^ as 
 ma darabsh he did not strike. The vowel i is inserted between 
 it and a verb ending in a consonant, as ma darabtish you did not 
 strike. The conjugation of the negative past tense and aorist, 
 firstly without, and secondly with, the verbal suffixes, is as 
 follows : — 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. ma darabtish ma darabtish 
 2nd pers. ma darabtish ma darabtish 
 3rd pers. ma darabsh ma darabitsh 
 
 Plukal for both Genders 
 
 1st pers. ma darabn&sh 
 2nd pers. ma darabtush 
 3rd pers. ma darabush 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. ma drabsh ma drabsh 
 
 2nd pers. ma tidrabsh ma tidrabish 
 
 3rd pers. ma yidrabsh ma tidrabsh 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. ma nidrabsh 
 2nd pers. ma tidrabush 
 3rd pers. ma yidrabush 
 
 1st pers.— Singular 
 
 ma darabtuhsh I did not strike him 
 
 ma darabtihash 
 
 
 ,, her 
 
 ma darabtaksh 
 
 
 ,, tTiee (masc.) 
 
 ma darabtiksh 
 
 
 ,, thee (fern.) 
 
 ma darabtuhumsh 
 
 
 ,, them 
 
 ma darabtukush 
 
 
 „ you 
 
 2nd pers. masc. — 
 
 
 
 ma darabtuhsh thou didst not strike him 
 
 ma darabtihash 
 
 j» 
 
 „ her 
 
 ma darabtinish 
 
 J) 
 
 „ me 
 
 ma darabtuhumsh 
 
 TJ 
 
 „ th^m 
 
 ma darabtin&sh 
 
 ?J 
 
 „ us 
 
 1 Comp. ne . . . pas in French. 
 
 (See 
 
 further Syntax, § 53 
 
 se^.) 
 
 
 
THE IMPEEATIVE 131 
 
 2nd pers. fem. — 
 
 ma darabtihsh thou didst not strike Mm 
 
 ma darabtihash ,, ,, Jier 
 
 ma darabtinish „ ,, me 
 
 ma darabtthumsli ,, ,, them 
 
 ma darabttnash ' „ „ us 
 
 3rd pers. masc. — 
 
 ma darabftsh he did not strike him 
 
 ma darabhash „ „ Jier 
 
 ma darabaksli ,, ,, thee (masc.) 
 
 ma darabiksh , „ thee (fem.) 
 
 ma darabnlsh ,, ,, me 
 
 ma darabhumsh „ „ them 
 
 ma darabkflsh ,, ,, you 
 
 ma darabnlsh ,, ,, us 
 
 3rd pers. fem. — 
 
 ma darabitiish slie did not strike him 
 
 ma darabithash ,, „ her 
 
 Plural 
 
 1st pers. — 
 
 ma darabnalish loe did not strike him 
 
 ma darabnahash „ ,, her 
 
 ma darabnaksh „ „ thee (masc.) 
 
 ma darabn^klsh „ ,, thee (fem.) 
 
 ma darabnfthumsh ,, . ,, them 
 
 ma darabnakush „ ,, you 
 
 2nd pers. — 
 
 ma darabtuhsb you did not strike him 
 ma darabtvlhash, &c. „ ,, hei' 
 
 3rd pers. — 
 
 ma darabuhsh they did r^ot strike him 
 
 ma darabuksh ,, ,, thee (masc.) 
 
 ma darabClktsh, &c. ,, ,, thee (fem.) 
 
 Singular 
 
 1st pers. — 
 
 ma drabush I do, mil, not strike him 
 
 ma drabh&sh „ ,, her 
 
 ma drabaksh „ „ thee (masc.) 
 
 ma drabiksh, &c. „ ,, thee (fem.) 
 
 2nd pers. masc. — 
 
 ma tidrabilsh, (fee. thou (m.) dost, wilt, not strike him 
 
132 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 2nd pers. fem. — 
 
 ma tidrabihsli tliou (f.) „ ,, him 
 
 ma tidrabihasli, (fee. ,, „ ,, her 
 
 3rd pers. — 
 
 ma yidrabusli he does, will not strike him 
 
 ma yidiubhash, &c. ,, „ her 
 
 § 154. The prepositions li and bi with their suffixes may 
 intervene, as well as, or in addition to, the verbal suffixes, 
 between the verb and the negative sign sji, as ma tabakhit lush 
 she did not cook for him, ma tabakhitu lilsh she did not cook it for 
 him, darab bi 1 'asaya? la', ma darab bihfish did he strike with the 
 stick 1 No, he did not strike with it. But we may also say ma 
 tabakhitshe luh, ma tabakhitilsh luh, and ma darabshe biha. 
 
 § 155. In the compound tenses the sh is generally attached 
 to the auxiliary, as ma kunnash kharagna, but sometimes both 
 of the negative signs will, for the sake of emphasis, accompany 
 the principal verb, as kunna ma kharagnash (§ 541). 
 
 § 156. In prohibitions the aorist is used instead of the im- 
 perative, or, in other words, the initial t reappears, as ma tid- 
 rabsh, ma tidrabush do Twt strike. (See further Syntax, § 491.) 
 
 § 157. The negative particles may also be joined to the pro- 
 nouns, whether in their full or truncated forms, as ma hush (or ma 
 huw§,sh) not he, ma llsh, ma 'andiish (it is) not to me, with him,, i.e. / 
 have, he has, not, ma 'umrtsh shuftu I never saw him in my life, ma 
 'ilmish (it is) not my knowledge, i.e. I do not know. They are 
 very commonly joined to the indefinite pronoun hadd one, any- 
 body, as ma haddish darab no one struck. As the preposition fl, 
 with or without the suffix of the third pers. sing., is used in the 
 sense of there is, so ma fihsh (or ma fish) signifies there is not. 
 
 § 158. Mush or mish (contracted from ma hush, ma huwash) 
 may be used as the aorist of the negative substantive verb of all 
 numbers and gender, as hlya, humma, hina?.la', mush hina 
 is she, are they, here ? " No, she is, they are not, here. It some- 
 times serves to negative the verb, as mush kharag barra, dakhal 
 gftwa Tie hasn't gone out, he has come in, mush darabha ? didn't he 
 strike her ? Mush qulti lak tigi ? didn't I tell you to come 1 Mush 
 tigt waiy^na ? worit you come loith us ? Mush tiskut ! ioon't you 
 keep quiet I 
 
 § 159. In the first of the above phrases the verb kharag with 
 its complement is in reality the subject of the substantive verb 
 understood, so that we would translate literally it is not that he 
 went out.^ The emphasis would be lost if we said ma kharagshe 
 barra. In the other sentences there is implied a strong belief 
 
 We might also say mush leinnu kharag. 
 
THE IMPEEATIYE 
 
 133 
 
 or persuasion in the mind of the speaker that it has been, will 
 be, or should be, performed. 
 
 § 160. ia is used for ma in the word wala, composed of wa 
 (-W1, we) anda,n.A la Tiot , and the verb or other word following 
 It does not generally take the negative suffix sh unless the 
 negative with the conjunction may be translated by loithout or 
 and yet, the previous sentence being an affirmative one, as la 
 dakhaltish wala tlihtish I neitlm- loent in no?- came out, but ana 
 dakhalt wala hush 'arif / ivent in without his knowing.'^ 
 
 bilyardu 
 
 kls 
 bikhil 
 
 kanas 
 
 saraf 
 
 dafa' 
 
 2&hir 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 mind, memory I ghgr 
 
 billiards, 
 billiard- 
 table 
 
 bag, purse 
 
 stingy, 
 avaricious 
 
 sweep 
 
 spend 
 
 pay 
 
 clear 
 
 yimkin 
 
 zey m nas 
 
 abadan 
 min gn 
 bi z zur 
 
 besides, other 
 
 than 
 it is possible 
 
 that, pos- 
 
 as one should, 
 
 properly 
 never, not at all 
 lohence, how 
 by force 
 
 EXERCISE 31 
 Ma hummash sughaiyartn. Ma fish hadde gherna fi 1 bet. 
 II 6da Hi Tok fihash sagagld mush kuwaiyisa. Yimkin ma 
 nismahsh. Ma 'rafiish la zatan wala isman. Ana ma 'rafhash 
 wala htya ti'rafnt. La yishrab wala yakul. Tishrab wala 
 takulsh. Likshe^ ikhwa? Ana kuUe shahr badfa' lak talat 
 ginehsit wala ti'milshe shuglak zey in nas. Balaksh^ il haga 
 dt? Ana ma 'umrlsh simihte hsiga zeye dl. Ma ntish fahma 
 kalaml? La', kalamak mush zahir abadan. Ma kuntlsh be- 
 tindahl It? Ihna mush rayhln nishhat minhum haga. Mush 
 kfi,n ibnak hina qabl id duhr ? Ma hasal luhumshe hSga. Hlya 
 mish rayha titla' till in nah^r? Tani marra ma ti'miltsh haga 
 zlye di. Mush niknis shuwaiya qable ma tuq'iid? Ma'akshe 
 qershen? Ma lish akhkhe wala ukht. Mush ana 111 kasart il 
 fan&gtn ; da r rSgil illl kan beyidrab bliya fi. 1 bet, hiiwa lit 
 kasarhum. II bikhtl ma yisrifshe fuliis ilia b'i z zur. Ihna ma 
 kunnash 'arfin leinnik ma btiksabshe ziyada 'an kede. Lamma 
 ma tindahihshe ha ya'raf min en leinnik 'auzah ? Ma kanitshe 
 liidrit lamma gih abuha. Ma tirkabshe husan beyi'rag. 
 
 1 See further Syntax. 
 
 2 Ma is omitted in some circumstances (§ 534). 
 ^ The preposition fi is understood (§ 585 e). 
 
134 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 EXERCISE 32 
 Don't sit up after eleven. (He) who goes to bed early does 
 not repent. The work will not be finished before sunset.i I am 
 not going to burn it. Doesn't your mother ride? She did not 
 dance at all. Don't sneeze just in front of me. It thundered 
 and lightened, but it did not rain. I have not eaten or drunk 
 all day long. He doesn't play billiards better than you. Won't 
 you open the door to him ? There is no bread in the house. 
 Didn't any one seize them 1 Won't you sit down and keep quiet ! 
 She took her purse from her pocket without her knowing. Don't 
 go down to them. Don't insult a man 2 who has not insulted you. 
 We didn't hear him when he came. Don't snatch it away from 
 me. ^ It doesn't rain much in Cairo. They won't ever get dry. 
 Don't listen to him. We shall not return before Friday evening. 
 I neither won nor was beaten. 
 
 § 161. The derivative verbs are eleven in number, and take 
 the following forms : — 
 
 I. — Barrik or barrak, the latter where the doubled or the 
 final consonant is one of the letters t, gh, h, d, r, z, s, ', q, k, 
 and the former in other cases. 
 
 Eemakk. — Barrik make kneel and shaghghil cause to work 
 form exceptions to the above rule (but shaghghal is also in use). 
 
 § 162. Verbs of this form are usually transitive, either causa- 
 tive (where the primitive verb is intransitive) or intensive (when 
 the primitive verb is transitive), as qa"ad cause to sit, kassar 
 break in pieces, habbis imprison a number of persons fi Naggis 
 signifies either to cause to he or to consider unclean, saddaq consider 
 true, believe. Instances of intransitive verbs of this form are : 
 bahhar go north, gharrab go west, gaddar luive smallpox, zallaq 
 be slippery, 'affin be putrid. 
 
 Remark a. — It not infrequently happens that a verb appear- 
 ing in this form is not used as a simple triliteral, as khammin 
 conjecture ; or it may be denominative, i.e. derived directly from 
 a noun, whether of Arabic or foreign origin, as dabbish fetch 
 rubble (dabsh), bannig put under chloroform (bing narcotic^, sabbin 
 to soap (sabiin).* 
 
 Remark b. — Some verbs, mostly bearing a neuter sense, are 
 used both in the primitive and first derived form without any differ- 
 ence of meaning, as bilid (or ballid) get dull, 'igiz (or 'aggiz) get old. 
 
 1 Trans, the sunset. 
 
 2 Trans, the man. 
 
 8 We may say habashum or habbishum, but we cannot say 
 habbisu in this sense. 
 
 * From the Italian through Turkish. 
 
UNFINISHED PEESENT 135 
 
 Remark c. — A few are used both transitively and intransi- 
 tively, as shahhil hurry, qarrab come or hring near, battal abolish 
 or he abolished, take holiday. 
 
 § 163. The jSrst derived form is conjugated as follows : — 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 ,T.c„ Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. barrikt, barrakt barrikt, barrakt 
 2nd pers. barrikt, barrakt barrikti, barraktt 
 3rd pers. barrik, barrak barrikit, barrakit 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. barrikna, barrakna 
 2nd pers. barriktu (-um), barraktii (-um) 
 3rd pers. barrikii (-um), barraku (-um) 
 
 A OR 1ST 
 
 „ „„ Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. abarrik, abarrak abarrik, abarrak 
 
 2nd pers. tibarrik,i tibarrak tibarrikt, tibarrakl 
 
 3rd pers. yibarrik, yibai'rak tibarrik, tibarrak 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. nibarrik, nibarrak 
 2nd pers. tibari'ikii (-um), tibarraiku (-um) 
 3rd pers. yibarriku (-um), yibarrakft (-um) 
 
 UNFINISHED PRESENT 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. babarrik, babarrak babarrik, babarrak 
 
 2nd pers. bitbarrik,^ bitbarrak bitbarrikl, bitbarraki 
 
 3rd pers. biyibarrik, beyibarrak bitbarrik, bitbarrak 
 (or bibarrik, &c.). 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. binbarrik, binbarrak (or biyinbarrik, &c.) 
 2nd pers. bitbarrikii ^ (-m^), bitbarraku (-m) (or biyitbar- 
 
 riku, (Sec.) 
 3rd pers. blbarrikii (-m),* btbarrakft (-m) 
 
 1 Or tebarrik, and so throughout. 
 
 2 For biti (te) barrik, &c. 
 
 3 I.e. -um, the u being shortened when the m is added, and 
 so throughout. 
 
 * Or uncontracted biyi (ye) barriku, <fec. 
 
136 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 IMPEEATIVE 
 
 Sing. masc. barrik, barrak Fern, barrikt, barrakt 
 Plur. barrikli (-m), barraku (-m) 
 
 Particip., active and pass., mebarrik, mebarrak (mibarrik, 
 mubarrik, &c.).i 
 
 Remabk. — The participle of this form is frequently used as 
 a substantive, as me'allim one who teaches, a master. 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 kallim 
 
 address 
 
 ragga' 
 
 give back, re 
 
 qabbil 
 
 go south 
 
 
 turn 
 
 khabbar 
 
 inform 
 
 'azzib 
 
 torture 
 
 gallid 
 
 bind (books, 
 
 kaddib 
 
 give the lie to 
 
 
 &c.) 
 
 kassil 
 
 grow lazy 
 
 fassali 
 
 maJte room, 
 
 dakhkhan 
 
 smoke (chim- 
 
 
 walk (act.) 
 
 
 ney, &o.) 
 
 
 about 
 
 ta"ab 
 
 tire 
 
 hammil 
 
 load 
 
 fahhim 
 
 inform 
 
 farrag 'ala 
 
 show over 
 
 taffish 
 
 drive away 
 
 khaddim 
 
 employ 
 
 qashshar 
 
 shell, peel 
 
 fassal 
 
 cat out (cloth. 
 
 kattar 
 
 increase, make 
 
 
 &c.) 
 
 
 much 
 
 hadaf 
 
 throw 
 
 sallim 'ala 
 
 salute 
 
 sabbar 
 
 keep waiting 
 
 'allim 
 
 teach 
 
 gabbis 2 
 
 grow hard, 
 
 'allim 'ala 
 
 sign 
 
 
 harden 
 
 menaggid 
 
 upholsterer 
 
 ballat 
 
 pave 
 
 qumash 
 
 stuff 
 
 gammid 
 
 harden 
 
 bisilla 
 
 peas 
 
 sallif 
 
 lend 
 
 ganayni ^ 
 
 gardener 
 
 kharrag 
 
 take out 
 
 barasmi 
 
 seller of clover 
 
 fassar 
 
 make clear 
 
 nuzCil 
 
 descending, de- 
 
 khassar 
 
 spoil 
 
 
 scent 
 
 (khassar) 
 
 
 tulft' 
 
 ascent 
 
 dahhak 
 
 make laugh 
 
 hamla 
 
 load, burden 
 
 ghabbar 
 
 throw dust 
 
 
 
 1 For the vowel of the first syllable, see § 14 c. In the 
 literary language the vowel of the final syllable is always i in the 
 act. and a in the pass, participle. 
 
 2 From gibs gypsum. 
 
 * Sometimes pronounced gan^ni. 
 
THE IMPERATIVE 137 
 
 EXERCISE 33 
 
 Ana rayh agallid kitabin 'and il megallid. Dimagbu me- 
 gabbisa. Bahhar sana wala tqabbil yom. II furne bitdakhkhan 
 ketlr ; l^zim nenaddafha bukra- s subh. Ihdif It k6ra wahda, 
 mush haddif li 1 kull. Sallim It 'ala wiladak. Inta lit 'irift il 
 hikSya, khabbarnt 'anha. Taiyib, ana hafahhimha lak. Y& 
 barasmt inta bithammil hum^rak hamla qadde kede tiqtla leh ? 
 ti'azzibu leh, y& gabbfir ? AlMh yi'azzibak zeye ma 'azzibtu. 
 Hat Una 1 waraqa 'ashan ne'allim 'aleha. Khaddimtish il bara- 
 bra d61 fi betak ? Ya ganaynt ! ma tkattarsh il moiya ; rah 
 tikhassar il ward. Dabbish ya walad 'ala 1 banna. II gammal 
 kan rS,yili yibarrik gimalu. Khallt wahid menaggid yinaggid lina 
 mertabten. Hlya rah tikallimik 'an il mas'ala. Nazzil it tara- 
 b6za dl min 'as sutiih. Ma tkharragilhash barra. In nis dol 
 yinaggisu 1 kalb. 
 
 EXERCISE 34 
 
 Hurry up (jplur.) ; don't keep us waiting. Why are you 
 driving those men away ? The cat was looking for her kittens 
 all day long. I am going to teach you Arabic. I don't get 
 tired coming down ; i what tires me is going up.^ You have 
 stolen my pencil ; give it back to me. Will you lend me five 
 pounds? The road isn't paved. The story will make you 
 laugh. Are you not going to take the child for a walk? I 
 don't believe your statement at all. I am going to out the 
 stuff out myself. After lunch we are going to show you over 
 the stables. What are you doing, girl ? I am shelling peas. 
 
 § 164. II. — Barik.5 Verbs of this form denote : — 
 
 (a) An attempt or striving to perform the action expressed 
 by the primitive verb, as ghalib seek to overcome. 
 
 (b) A mutual performing of that action by both svibject and 
 object, as rahin to make one bet with oneself, wager. In the 
 latter sense the indirect object of the primitive verb becomes 
 the direct object of the second form, as la'ibnl ( = li'ib waiyaya) 
 he played loith me.^ Others have an apparently primitive sense, 
 the simple verb not being in use or bearing an entirely different 
 
 1 Trans, from the descent. 
 
 ^ Trans, the ascent. 
 
 3 The Koranic b4rak(a) (rarely heard). 
 
 * In the former it sometimes remains indirect, as sabiq 
 waiyah (or sabqu) he raced with him {raced him), lit. tried to pass 
 him. 
 
138- THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 meaning, as safir start on a journey, barik bless, congratulate, 
 q&bil meet. 
 
 § 165. The principal tenses are conjugated as follows : 
 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 
 
 SiNGULAE 
 
 1st 
 2nd 
 3rd 
 
 MASO. FEM. 
 
 pers. barikt barikt 
 pers. bSrikt birikti 
 pers. barik barkit (for barikit) 
 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 
 
 1st pers. barikna 
 2nd pers. bariktu (-m) 
 3rd pers. barku (-m) 
 
 
 A R I S T 
 
 
 Singular 
 
 
 MASO. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. abarik abdrik 
 2nd pers. tib^rik i tibarkt 
 3rd pers. yibSrik tib^rik 
 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 
 
 1st pers. nibdrik 
 2nd pers. tibarku (-m) 
 3rd pers. yibarkii (-m) 
 
 IMPERATIVE 
 
 Sing. masc. barik Fern, barkt 
 
 Plur. barku (-m) 
 
 Particip., act. and pass., mebfirik, mebarak ^ 
 
 Remabk a. — It will be observed that the conjugation of this 
 
 form differs in no way from that of the first, except that the 
 
 vowel i disappears in some of the persons in accordance with 
 
 the rules of pronunciation. 
 
 Remark b. — The passive participle is sometimes borrowed 
 from the primitive verb, though the other parts of the latter 
 are not in use or bear a different meaning, as mabruk Mest. 
 
 1 Or tebjlrik, yebarik, &c. 
 
 2 The latter form is sometimes used as a passive pai'ticiple, 
 as in the written language. 
 
THE IMPEKATIVE 
 
 139 
 
 VOOABULAKY 
 
 'arik 
 
 quarrel with 
 
 dafi' 'an 
 
 defend 
 
 'aiig 
 
 heal, attend 
 
 samih 
 
 pardon 
 
 barik fi 
 
 bless 
 
 sa'id ' 
 
 help 
 
 barik li 
 
 congratulate 
 
 'amil 
 
 treat, deal with 
 
 tagir 
 
 he in commerce, 
 
 'aridi 
 
 expose, exhibit 
 
 
 business 
 
 Msib 
 
 settle accounts 
 
 sharik 
 
 take as a part- 
 
 
 with, beware. 
 
 
 ner 
 
 
 look out 
 
 'akis 
 
 annoy, tease 
 
 hafiz 'aJka. 
 
 look after 
 
 sSbiq 
 
 race with 
 
 bitqiil 
 
 you say 
 
 khaiif 
 
 oppose, con- 
 
 fayit 
 
 passing 
 
 
 tradict 
 
 mas'iil 
 
 responsible 
 
 shatim 
 
 insult, bandy 
 
 mush'aranl 
 
 hairy 
 
 
 words ivith 
 
 gary 
 
 a running 
 
 fariq 
 
 leave one alone 
 
 sabqa 
 
 race 
 
 khiniq 
 
 quarrel with 
 
 ba'den 
 
 afterwards 
 
 
 EXERC 
 
 ISE 35 
 
 
 Huwa kulle yom bl'arikni. Ihna rayhin neqabilhum fi 1 
 mabatta. Mln bl'algu? II hakim illi 'alignl lamma kutte 
 'aiyan 'amnauwil huwa 111 me'algu. AlMh yibarik flk. Huwa 
 beyitagir wahdu ? La' mesharik wahid tant waiyah. Huwa 
 miggauwiz gidld ; mush rah tibarik lu ? Tamalll lamma tkun 
 fayta min hina, yi'aksuba 1 wiiad dol. II walden duk-hamma 
 rah yisabqu ba'd fi 1 gary. Hasbl ya wllya ! Ihna kunna 
 mrahnln ba'dina bi 1 fuliis 'ala s sabqa. II binti dt tamalli 
 mkhalfanl fi 1 kalam. Kanli beyishatmft ba'd quddam bitna 
 lamma gih ish shawtsh u waddahum it tumn. Inta mush rah 
 tefariqnl abadan ? Bitkhanqi^ 1 walad daleh ya bint? Ghaiibna- 
 hum fi 1 kora. Bitqftl khanqiih walla khanaqiih ? Barak ^ Allah 
 fi r ragil il mush'aranl wala barak Allah fi 1 mara 1 mush- 
 'araniya. 
 
 EXERCISE 36 
 
 The boys were playing with the girls. I will meet you 
 outside the shop. I didn't strike him ; I was only defending 
 myself. If you do this, I shall never pai'don you. When do 
 you (plur.) start ? I am starting by * the train which leaves ^ 
 at 2-36 P.M. They weren't helping us ; we did it by ourselves. 
 
 1 Better 'arrad. ^ For bitekhaniql. 
 
 8 For the use of the past tense, see § 473 c. 
 * ma' ^ yeqiim. 
 
140 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Your enemy does not always become i your friend because you 
 treat him well. They are not going to exhibit their goods in 
 the windows of the shops. Spend the money out of^ your 
 pocket, and I will settle with you afterwards. When they 
 quarrelled my brother reconciled them. You are responsible, 
 and must ^ look after everything. 
 
 § 166. III. — Ibrak* and occasionally (the literary form) abrak. 
 
 It is either transitive, bearing the same meaning as barrOc, 
 as ikhbar inform (for the more usual khabbar), or intransitive 
 (or neuter), as izman endure, last, islam become a Mussulman. 
 
 Remark. — This form is of very rare occurrence in the spoken 
 language. 
 
 § 167. The past tense is conjugated as in the other forms; 
 the aorist makes abrik, tibrik, tibriki, yibrik, &c. ; the imperative 
 is ibrik, &c., and the participle mubrik, mibrik. 
 
 Remark a. — The participle may exist where the other parts 
 of the verb are not in use, as mudhik causing to laugh, laughable. 
 Those verbs of this form whose sense admits of a passive parti- 
 ciple derive it from the simple verb, as alzam hs compelled, pass, 
 part. malzHm. 
 
 Remark b. — The word murzaq provided foi' (by God), blest 
 seems to represent the past participle of a verb arzaq, which, 
 however, exists neither in the colloquial nor the literary language ; 
 so mus'ad blest, and a few others. 
 
 VOOABULAEY 
 
 
 imkan (am- be possible to 
 
 i'lan 
 
 notify 
 
 kan) one ^ \ 
 
 igwaz 
 
 double 
 
 ifqar impoverish 
 
 muhsin 
 
 charitable 
 
 alzam compel, hold 
 
 mushrik 
 
 idolater 
 
 responsible 
 
 misri' 
 
 hurrying 
 
 ihsan(ahsan) show charity to. 
 
 (musri') 
 
 
 make gifts 
 
 yimkin 
 
 it is possible, 
 
 iblagh come of age. 
 
 
 possibly 
 
 infm-m 
 
 qiyam 
 
 starting, de- 
 
 ikram, In-eat with 
 
 
 parture 
 
 (akram) honour 
 
 kutr 
 
 excess 
 
 izhar bring to light 
 
 rasm (7) 
 
 tax 
 
 ib'ad remove 
 
 zira'at 
 
 crops 
 
 itqan perfect, make 
 
 
 
 ■nice 
 
 
 
 1 yigl. 2 ujiu. 
 
 ' lazim with aor. 
 
 4 Oomp. Phoenic. if'tl. 
 
 5 With a 
 
 direct object. 
 
THE IMPEKATIVE 
 
 141 
 
 EXEECI8E 37 
 
 Ma mkannlsh agahhiz il .gawabat betft'i qable qiyam il busta. 
 Ana Izamtak leinnak tifdal hina, ya'ni tkCin inta malzim u 
 mas'til 'an kulle,. haga. Lazim titqin nina (titqin Una) t tablkb 
 ziyada shuwaiya nnaharda, 'ashan flh diyuf. Lamma misku 1 
 haramtya kanH misri'tn bi 1 gary. Ana lamma ggt inta 'andt, 
 musb akramtak ? Yimkin nii'kab sawa bukra. 
 
 EXERCISE 38 
 
 The excessive taxation i was impoverishing the country. 
 Won't it be possible for you to write ^ to me to-morrow ? He 
 is a very charitable man ; he is making gifts every day. Your 
 tennis balls did not last more than two or three months. You 
 must notify them before Friday. Possibly we should go out to- 
 night. They are responsible, not I. There are still many poly- 
 theists in the world. They did not show me miich honour. 
 
 § 168. lY. — Itbarak.' It generally serves as the passive of 
 the primitive verb ; thus from habas imprison is formed ithabas 
 to he imprisoned, from misik seize, itmasak he seized. But the 
 primitive form is not always in use. Itbarak sometimes has a 
 neuter, reflexive, or middle sense, as itlafat turn round to look, 
 and is in a few cases identical in meaning with the primitive 
 form, as itbasat he pleased, from bisit (little used), ittalab ask foi' 
 oneself. 
 
 § 169. The aorist is atbirik, titbirik, titbirki, (fee, the impera- 
 tive itbirik, itbirkl, itbirkii (-m). The participle (mitbirik) is not 
 much in use, the passive participle of the simple verb generally 
 taking its place, as mahbils, mamsuk, &c. 
 
 YOOABULARY 
 
 itqafal 
 
 he locked 
 
 itlafat li 
 
 look to, after 
 
 itfatah 
 
 he opened 
 
 ithamal 
 
 he carried 
 
 itsharab 
 
 he drunk 
 
 itshataf 
 
 he chipped, 
 
 itfaham 
 
 he understood 
 
 
 hroken off 
 
 itkhabat 
 
 he knocked, 
 
 itqalab 
 
 he upset 
 
 
 humped 
 
 it'abad 
 
 he worshipped 
 
 1 Trans, the excess of the taxes. 
 
 2 Aor. {tliat) you write. 
 
 2 This form, unknown to literary Arabic, corresponds to the 
 Syriac ethp'el, regarded as the passive of the primitive verb. It 
 is doubtless more ancient than the reduplicated form itbarrak. 
 
2 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF 
 
 EGYPT 
 
 itgama' 
 
 be added up 
 
 itrafa' 
 
 be raised 
 
 itkhadam 
 
 be served, 
 
 itraf ad ^ 
 
 be dismissed 
 
 
 waited on 
 
 binaya 
 
 building 
 
 ithamaq 
 
 be quick-tem- 
 
 'agam 
 
 Persians 
 
 
 pered 
 
 gumla 
 
 . iotal 
 
 it'araf 
 
 be known 
 
 shukall 
 
 quarrelsome 
 
 it'azam 
 
 be invited 
 
 khulq 
 
 temperament 
 
 itghalab 
 
 be conquered 
 
 hamaqa 
 
 foolishness 
 
 itghasal 
 
 be loashed 
 
 taqm 
 
 suit 
 
 itrafas 
 
 be lacked 
 
 
 
 
 EXEKOISE 39 
 
 
 II bab il barranl beta' betna beyitqifil min griwa. Itsharab 
 'andina nibit ketir illela. Kallimna bi 1 'arabJ 'asMn kalamak 
 yitfihim min kull in n^s. II kbaddam il battal yitrifid. II hagar 
 dih lazim yitrifi' min bina. Itkbabatna min 'arabfya fi s sikka 
 quddam betak. Issarafi fulus ketir qawi fi 1 binaya di. Ish 
 shamse kanit betit'ibid 'and il 'agam. Lamma titgimi' il gumla 
 hana'raf qimt il kull. Ir r^gil da mitbimiq ^ we shukali ketir ; 
 kullima tkallimu yithimiq. Huwa yin'irif bi 1 hamaqa betabtu. 
 Hlya mittilba min Allah leinne Eabbina yirzuqha bi walad. 
 
 EXERCISE 40 
 
 They were imprisoned in their (own) garden. She was seized 
 before she reached her daughter's house. Both the doors of my 
 bedroom open inwards. The jacket too, in fact the whole suit 
 must be washed. Don't sit there, or ^ you will be kicked by * 
 one of those horses. Why was he dismissed ? Because be didn't 
 look after the house properly when we went away. If you play 
 with them you will be beaten. How are you going to be waited 
 on if there is no servant in the house ? The children were carried 
 on the camel's back. A small piece has been chipped ofi. Take 
 that glass away or it will be upset. 
 
 s ] 70. V. — Itbarrik, itbarrak.^ This form is constructed 
 
 2 Or mahmiiq. 
 
 1 Itrafat in the dictionaries. 
 
 3 lahsan. * min. 
 
 ''' Itfa"al is not unknown to the literary dialect, 
 the Hebr. hithpa'el, Syriac ethpa^al (the second 
 doubled). 
 
 It ,is 
 radical 
 
THE IMPERATIVE 143 
 
 from the first derived form by the addition of the prefix it, and 
 acts as its passive, or denotes generally the condition into which 
 its object is brought by its action, as : — 
 
 naddaf 
 
 clean 
 
 itnaddaf 
 
 be cleaned 
 
 barrad 
 
 cool 
 
 itbarrad 
 
 get cool 
 
 hakkim 
 
 give one autho- 
 
 ithakkim 
 
 have, me (or abuse). 
 
 
 ribj 
 
 
 such authority 
 
 Sometimes it bears the same sense and acts upon the same object 
 as the first form, but governs that object indirectly instead of 
 directly, as kallim ir rfigil (or itkallim waiya r rSgil) Ae spolce to 
 {with) the man, hadditu (or ithaddit waiy&h) he chatted with him ; 
 or it may be middle or reflexive in sense, as qallib turn, itqallib 
 turn oneself, roll hack. When the first form is intransitive, the 
 fifth is rarely in use ; when it is, it is generally identical in 
 meaning, as qarrab (or itqarrab) approa,ch. Vice versa, when the 
 fifth form is neuter, without any reference to the action of a 
 transitive verb, the first form does not often exist. 
 
 § 171. The aorist is atbarrik, titbari'ik, &c., or atbairak, 
 titbarrak, &c., according as the past tense is itbarrik or itbarrak ; 
 similarly, the imperative itbarrik or itbarrak and the participle, 
 mitbarrik or mitbarrak. 
 
 Remake a. — The literary form tabarrak will occasionally be 
 heard in conversation for both itbarrik and itbarrak ,i as also 
 mutabarrik for the active participle, as ragil mutakallim an 
 eloquent man. 
 
 Remaek h. — Itbarrid is sometimes heard for itbarrad, itbash- 
 shir for itbashshar, itraddad /regaeK^ for itraddid. 
 
 Remark c. — The i of the initial syllable of the past tense is 
 not infrequently placed after instead of before the t, and pro- 
 nounced very shortly, as tikallim (almost tkallim).^ 
 
 1 But only in imitation of the literary dialect. The Chaldaic 
 form is the only one, properly speaking, in use in the colloquial 
 language. 
 
 3 See § 14. For the assimilation of the # with certain letters 
 in forms (4), (5), and (6), see § 25 h. Its sound often approaches 
 that of d. 
 
144 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 
 itmarragh 
 
 roll (intr.) 
 
 itrattib 
 
 he arranged 
 
 itbashsliar 
 
 6e Messed with, 
 
 itfaddal ! 
 
 please 1 pray 1 
 
 
 lucJcy in 
 
 itfassah 
 
 take a walk 
 
 itbassas ('ala) play the spy 
 
 it'allaq 
 
 he suspended 
 
 itbassim 
 
 smile, laugh 
 
 itfarrag *ala 
 
 he shewn, look, 
 
 
 knowingly 
 
 
 over 
 
 itba"ad 
 
 he renewed. 
 
 itrikib 
 
 he driven, 
 
 
 keep away 
 
 
 ridden 
 
 ittarrab 
 
 he covered. 
 
 itghasal 
 
 he washed 
 
 
 filled with 
 
 kabbar nif su 
 
 give oneself airs 
 
 
 dud 
 
 kbaff 
 
 he recovered 
 
 itqaddim 
 
 he advanced 
 
 blqiil 
 
 he says 
 
 ithaggar 
 
 he harsh, 
 
 gitta 
 
 hody 
 
 "'ala 
 
 rough, with 
 
 bakht 
 
 good fortune. 
 
 ittallit 
 
 loolc with dis- 
 
 
 luck 
 
 
 dain on 
 
 khabb&s 
 
 charlatan 
 
 itrakkib 
 
 to put up, set in 
 
 khaiyat 
 
 tailor 
 
 itgarrab 
 
 he tried 
 
 rami 
 
 sand 
 
 itgallid 
 
 he hound 
 
 wahl 
 
 mud 
 
 ithassar 
 
 regret 
 
 serg 
 
 saddle 
 
 ithaffaz 
 
 he in safe 
 
 haind il finlk 
 
 phenic, car- 
 
 '('and) 
 
 keeping \ 
 
 
 bolic, acid 
 
 ithammil 
 
 hear malice ^ 
 
 waga' 
 
 pain 
 
 (min) 
 
 
 ardlya 
 
 floor, ground 
 
 issabbin 
 
 he soaped 
 
 sawa 
 
 together 
 
 itfassal 
 
 he cut out 1 
 
 zam^n 
 
 long ago 
 
 
 (clothes, &c.) 
 
 
 
 
 EXERC 
 
 ISE 41 
 
 
 II husan kan beyitmarragli fi 1 Ijashisb 'ashan gittitu sukhna 
 we yimkin titbarrad. Ihna tbashsliirna kttr bi 1 husan da, ya'nl 
 hasal 'andina bakht. Guztu kanit betitbassas 'aleh lamma kan 
 beyitbassim li wahda mish shibb^k. II hamdu li llah fariqni 
 dilwaqti r ragil da 1 khabbas wi tba"ad minnt. Is sikka dilwaqti 
 mittarraba bi shuwaiyit rami ; ma fihash moiya wala wahl. Kan 
 zaman min ashabt, lakin min y6m ma tqaddim fi 1 hukiima kabbar 
 nifsu wi ttallit 'aleya. II husan beta'na beyitrikib basse bi s 
 serg ; lissa ma tgarrabshe fil 'arabtya. Huwa ragil gabbar biyit- 
 hag^ar fi 1 kalam 'an in nas, ya'ni btqul luhum kalam g^mid. 
 
THE IMPEKATIVE 145 
 
 Ba'de ma kan khaffe min il 'aiya itqallib 'algh il waga' tttnl. 
 mwa thakkim 'aleya we qal li i'mil dl u dl. Beyithassar ketir 
 'ala nafsu b ilH r^li minnu.i 
 
 EXERCISE 42 
 They were talking together a long time. The book has been 
 in his-keeping (for) years. If you beat him at ^ the game, he will 
 owe you a grudge. The windows were put in yesterday only. 
 The floor must be well s soaped and washed with carbolic acid. 
 His jacket was cut out for him by * a tailor. The books were 
 arranged on the shelves. Pray sit down ! The boots are cleaned 
 every morning. We are going to take a little ^ walk after dinner.s 
 The overcoats have all been hung up behind the door. She is 
 going to look over the house. 
 
 § 172. VI. — Itbarik. It bears the same relation to the second 
 that the fifth does to the first. When used reflexively or reci- 
 procally the direct object of the second form is usually governed 
 by the preposition waiya, as qabiltu (or itqabilte waiyah) / met 
 Mm. It is conjugated precisely as the second derived form, the 
 aorist being atbarik, titbarik, titbarkl, (fee, the imperative itba- 
 rik, &c., and the participle mitb&rik or (borrowed from the primi- 
 tive form) mabruk. 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 itbarik 
 
 be blessed, for- 
 
 itkhaniq 
 
 quarrel 
 
 
 tunate 
 
 itbahis 
 
 dispute, discuss 
 
 itghamiz 
 
 exchange a 
 
 issabiq 
 
 contend with 
 
 
 wink 
 
 ishshahin 
 
 'wrangle 
 
 ittaqil 'ala 
 
 speak crossly. 
 
 it'ashir 
 
 associate. 
 
 
 roughly, 
 
 
 become inti- 
 
 
 toith 
 
 
 mate 
 
 itghasir 'ala 
 
 be bold with 
 
 iddakhil 
 
 interfere 
 
 itkhasim 
 
 have a diffe^'- 
 
 kattar 
 
 thank you 
 
 
 enee, fall out 
 
 kherak 
 
 
 itrazil 'ala 
 
 blackguard 
 
 wugud 
 
 presence 
 
 issa'id 
 
 be helped 
 
 kurbag 
 
 whip 
 
 ishshSrik 
 
 be associated 
 
 tigara 
 
 trade 
 
 issakib 
 
 seek a quan-el 
 
 sabab 
 
 reason 
 
 
 with 
 
 mudda 
 
 period, time 
 
 issadif 
 
 chance to meet 
 
 
 
 1 I.e. he has lost. 
 
 2 fi. 
 
 
 3 taiyib (after verb). 
 
 * min. 
 
 
 5 shuwaiya (after the verb). 
 
 6 Trans 
 
 . the dinner. 
 
146 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 EXERCISE 43 
 
 II hui-ma tbarkit bi wugfld ish shekh 'andiha. Huwa kSn 
 beyitgliamiz waiyaya 'asban amsiku. Ir r^gil da ttaqil 'algya 
 ketir qawt, hatta basal 11 za'al min kalamu. II 'arbagl da mush 
 basse ma qibilsh ugritu Itkin itgbasir 'aleya we darabnl bi 
 kurbagu. II khaddam beta't ma yitkbasimshe waiya badd. Inta 
 titrazil leh 'an in nas dol we tisbtimbum min gber sabab ? Huwa 
 r ragil da, illi buwa missa'id blya fi sbugblu kullu, ma qal llsbe 
 batta " kattar kherak." Ikbwatu mishsbarkln waiy&b fi 1 bet. 
 K^nu biyisbshaklu waiya ba'd wara 1 gami'. Iza ssadifte waiya 
 Salim sallim li 'aleb. 
 
 EXERCISE 44 
 
 She quarrels with her husband every day. We met your 
 brother by chance yesterday afternoon. They were discussing 
 together ^ all day long. We are going to race one another. 
 Don't wrangle with the people in the street. We have been 
 intimate with one another (for) a long time. He is associated 
 with her uncle in business. Why do you interfere? This is 
 not your business. Possibly we shall meet your brother to-night 
 at the sheikh's house. Why are you always seeking a quarrel 
 with that poor old woman? 
 
 § 173. VII. — Inbarak. It usually has a passive sense, and is 
 often interchangeable with the fourth form, as inharaq (or itharaq) 
 be burned, burned dovm, inhakam (or ithakam) be judged ; but it 
 not infrequently bears a middle or a reflexive sense, as inqafal 
 be shut, shut, infatab be opened, open, inkasar be broken, brealt. 
 It is occasionally transitive, as intazar aioait. 
 
 § 174. The aorist is anbirik, tinbirik, (fee. ; imperative inbirik, 
 inbirkl, &c. ; participle minbirik (or mabruk). 
 
 Remark. — The literary form of the participle munbarik is 
 heard regularly in the word munkasir (for minkisir) when mean- 
 ing humble, unassuming, and is frequently used by the more 
 educated classes in other words, as muntazir (for mintizir) 
 luaiting ; ankasar, yinkasar, will sometimes be heard for ankisir. 
 
 Trans, mith one another, 
 
THE IMPERATIVE 
 
 147 
 
 inbadal 
 
 he changed 
 
 intaqab 
 
 he pierced, 
 
 inbarash 
 
 he pulled 
 
 
 hored 
 
 
 asunder, 
 
 inliaras 
 
 he guarded 
 
 
 split; sprawl 
 
 inkatab 
 
 he written 
 
 inbasat 
 
 he pleased, 
 
 inqalab 
 
 turnover{inti:) 
 
 
 enjoy 
 
 ingarah 
 
 he leounded 
 
 inmasak 
 
 he seized 
 
 ingama' 
 
 he collected 
 
 (immasak] 
 
 
 s6gar 
 
 insure 
 
 inzalat 
 
 he swallowed 
 
 wagad 
 
 find 
 
 ingadal 
 
 he plaited 
 
 nahya 
 
 direction 
 
 intaqan 
 
 he done with, 
 
 gild 
 
 leather 
 
 
 precision 
 
 isbinsa 
 
 pantry 
 
 ingazar 
 
 he slaughtered ; 
 
 (sibinsa) 
 
 
 
 he grieved at 
 
 khabar eh ? 
 
 what's the 
 
 inga'as 
 
 lounge 
 
 
 matter ? 
 
 inhabas 
 
 he imprisoned 
 
 masnid 
 
 hack of carri- 
 
 inbahat 'ala 
 
 gaze lovingly 
 
 
 age (inside) 
 
 
 at 
 
 baqara 
 
 cow 
 
 ingaraf 
 
 he ladled out, 
 
 tiyatru 
 
 theatre 
 
 
 dished up 
 
 babl 
 
 rope 
 
 inkhabaz 
 
 he halted 
 
 kbashab 
 
 wood 
 
 inhalab 
 
 he milked 
 
 durg (14) 
 
 drawer 
 
 itnaqal 
 
 he removed 
 
 gburub 
 
 west' 
 
 insaraq 
 
 he rohhed, 
 
 fingan 
 
 cup 
 
 
 stolen 
 
 taqriban 
 
 ahout 
 
 inqatal 
 
 he Icilled 
 
 hatta 
 
 until 
 
 
 EXERC 
 
 )ISE 45 
 
 
 Da mush qalamt ; illi btl'l inbadal 'andak. Inbarashit rigleh 
 we rahit kuUe rigl fi nahya. II gazma 111 gildiha mush taiyib 
 tinbirish qaw&m. Huwa minbisit ketir min kaMmak. Hit it 
 tasa 1 kuwaiyisa ill! gat min bilM barra. La', hlya minkisra^ 
 'andi fi 1 isbinsa. Da rdgil taiyib, munkasir 'ala Uali.^ Lamma 
 mmasak il haraml wagadii waiyah il fulus? La', dl inzalatit 
 minnu u nizlit fi batnu. Da r ragil da tamalll yinbihit 'ala 1 
 mara,^ we hlya keman mabhtita 'aleh. It tablkh lazim yintiqin 
 keman shuwaiya. Hiya rah tingizir qawl milll hasal liha. II 
 hable da qudum ma yingidilsh. Khabar eh ! it tablkh lissa ma 
 ngarafsh? Qa'adna mag'usln 'ala 1 masnid beta' il 'arablya. 
 Inqilib 'ala 1 ganb it t&nt. II 'esh inkhabaz? La', lissa ma 
 nkhabass. 
 
 Or maksura. 
 
 ^ Trusting in God. 
 
 I.e. his wife. 
 
148 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 EXERCISE 46 
 
 Didn't you enjoy the theatre very much yesterday? The 
 cow will not be milked before sunset. Two watches and about 
 three himdred pounds have been stolen from one of my drawers. 
 We are very glad that ^ the stables have been removed from in 
 front of our house. Three of "the poor women were killed and 
 one was wounded. All the people of the village were collected ^ 
 outside the omda's house. Where will the wood be bored? 
 You will be imprisoned (for) three years. The garden ought to 
 have ^ been watched as-well-as * the house. Six glasses and four 
 cups were broken to-day. He was seized at the station when 
 he was about to leave. The letters had not been written before 
 noon. Insure your house, lest it be bvtrned down. Make haste ! 
 the lady is waiting for you. 
 
 § 175. VIII. — Ibtarak.5 Verbs of this form may be : — 
 
 (a) Reflexive (the reflex object being usually direct, but 
 
 occasionally indirect), as ihtaras guard, protect, oneself from, 
 
 istanad (issanad) support oneself against, iqtadar acquire power, 
 
 wealth , for oneself. 
 
 (6) Reciprocal, as ishtirik waiya ( = sharik, ishsharik waiya) 
 
 he in partnersliip with. 
 
 (c) Identical in meaning with a neuter simple verb or fourth 
 form, as khumur (or ikhtamar) rise (of dough). 
 
 (d) The passive of the primitive verb or first derived form, 
 as irtafa' he raised (rafa' raise), ishtaghal he occupied or (as a 
 neuter verb) he busy (shaghghal occupy), irta'ash he frightened, 
 trerable, shiver. 
 
 (e) Active, but with a meaning different to that of the simple 
 verb or first derived form, as ihtaram honour, istalaf hon-ow 
 (from haram de^jrive of, sallif lend). 
 
 § 176. The aorist is abtirik, <fcc., the imperative ibtirik, 
 tibtirki, ifcc., and the participle mibtirik (or mabruk). 
 
 Remaek. — Ashtaghal and aftakar / think, imagine, axe in 
 use as well as ashtighil and aftikir ; and mubtarik and mubtarak 
 are sometimes heard, as in the words muqtadir well off, mukhtalif 
 opposing, different, mushtarik associating, subscriber, muhtaram 
 honoured, honourable, mu'tamad trustworthy, mu'tabar respected, 
 respectable. 
 
 1 mabsiit leinn. 2 j'gm. sing. 
 
 3 kan lazim * mush bass. 
 
 '•• This form is a variant of itbaiak, and is comparatively rare 
 in the colloquial language. 
 
THE IMPERATIVE 
 
 149 
 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 
 Igtama' 
 
 gather together 
 
 khatrak 
 
 your sake 
 
 
 (intr.) 
 
 'agin 
 
 . dough 
 
 irtaga' 
 
 go hack from, 
 
 shurb 
 
 drinking, 
 
 
 renounce 
 
 
 smoking 
 
 i'tazar 
 
 excuse oneself, 
 
 liidlya 
 
 present 
 
 
 he " hard 
 
 ma'isha 
 
 a living 
 
 
 up" 
 
 fi ma'isha 
 
 living together 
 
 itlafat 
 
 attend 
 
 wahda 
 
 
 i'tamad 
 
 trust, rely, be 
 
 mitr (14) 
 
 metre 
 
 
 convinced 
 
 kam 
 
 a few (with 
 
 iftarad 
 
 retire, live 
 
 
 noun in 
 
 
 alone 
 
 
 sing.) 
 
 irtakan 
 
 lean 
 
 sa'a . . . sa'a 
 
 sometimes . . 
 
 iftaqar 
 
 hecome poor 
 
 
 sometimes 
 
 baqa 
 
 become 
 
 
 
 EXERCISE 47 
 
 Kulle lela yigtimi'ii waiya ba'd we yithadditii li ba'de nuss 
 il 161. Ana ktaramt akMk 'as]ifi,n kbatrak. Huwa fen ? Alio ! 
 mishtighil fi 1 ginlna. Kalamu mikhtilif, ya'nl sa'a yequl haga 
 we s&'a yequl haga tanya. II 'agin rah yikhtimir dilwaqti. 
 Irtagahna 1 iyam d61 mish sharb il qahwa wi s sagayir. Huwa 
 qtadar ketir u baqa ghani 'an ikhwatu. Lamma litazar gih 
 'andt wi stalaf minnl khamas ginehat. Ana htimadte leinnak 
 tisallif li 1 kitabat dol. Kan fi ma'tsha wahda waiy&na, lakin 
 muftarad dilwaqti li wahdu. Itlifit li shuglak. 
 
 EXERCISE 48 
 
 Why are you shivering ? have you i fever ? No, I am only 
 shivering from the cold. It is raised ^ three metres from the 
 ground. She was supporting herself against ^ the wall. She is 
 a woman of means.* I must borrow a few pounds from my 
 brother. Trust in* God. Are you in partnership with your 
 uncle, or not ? Don't ever work after eleven o'clock at night.^ 
 The door opened when I was supporting myself against it, and 
 I fell on the floor. I am going to give up drinking tea. Will 
 you lend me five pounds 'i No, I am hard-up '' myself. She 
 was once very rich, but now she has become poor. We were 
 very much occupied "^ all day. 
 
 1 'andak. 
 
 * Particip. of iqtadar. 
 
 ^ Particips. from primitive or supposed primitive verbs 
 
 2 Particip. 
 5 'ala. 
 
 'ala. 
 6 bi 1 lei. 
 
150 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 177. IX. — Ibrakk. It occurs only in verbs expressive of 
 colom- or a bodily defect. When the simple verb exists, its 
 meaning becomes intensified in the ninth form, as khadar to he 
 (jreen, ikhdarr he green all over. The conjugation is as follows : — 
 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 
 
 
 Singular 
 
 
 1st pers. 
 2nd pers. 
 3rd pers. 
 
 MASC. 
 
 ibrakket 
 ibrakket 
 ibrakk 
 
 
 FEM. 
 
 ibrakket 
 ibrakkgti 
 ibrakkit 
 
 Plubals fob both Gendees 
 1st pers. ibrakkena 
 2nd pers. ibrakketu (-m) 
 3rd pers. ibrakku (-m) 
 Aorid. — abrakk, tibrakk, tibrakkt, yibrakk, <fec. Imper. 
 ibrakk, <fec. Particip. — mibrikk. 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 izraqq 
 
 hecome blue 
 
 asl 
 
 origin, original 
 
 ismarr, 
 
 become brown 
 
 
 condition 
 
 ismarr 
 
 
 bayad 
 
 white, white 
 
 ihmarr 
 
 become red 
 
 
 colour 
 
 isfarr 
 
 become yellow 
 
 hamar 
 
 red, redness 
 
 ighmaqq 
 
 hecome dark 
 
 khala 
 
 desert 
 
 igradd 
 
 get faded 
 
 zahra 
 
 blue (for wash- 
 
 izradd 
 
 get flushed 
 
 
 ing) 
 
 irmadd 
 
 he affected with 
 
 ba'in. 
 
 appearing, 
 
 
 ophthalmia 
 
 bayin 
 
 evident 
 
 yehushu 
 
 they keep aioay 
 
 min waqtiha 
 
 ever since 
 
 insabagh 
 
 he dyed 
 
 
 
 EXERCISE 49 
 
 Lamma titghisil il hidum tizraqq. Is sagara di ha yifla' 
 minha warde mizriqq. Lon il bfiya beta'it bitna igradde shwaiya, 
 ya'nl mush 'ala aslu. Lamma kutte fi blad lingllz kal ^ loni 
 bayad bi hamar lakin bayin 'aleya dilwaqti leinni smarret min 
 kutr ish shams. Kunte baftikir leinn is sagara dl jneyita, lakin 
 dilwaqti baqa waraqha kvillu. mikhdirr. 'enen wiMd il fallahtn 
 tirmaddi ktlr 'ash&n ma yikhsilflsh wishshuhum wala yehushft 
 minnu d dibban. Lamma tinshaf il bflya tighmaqq. 
 
 For kan. 
 
PAST TENSE 151 
 
 EXERCISE 50 
 
 Her body has all turned yellow from the disease. His face 
 was red from over running, i We got very much siinburnt^ 
 when we were riding every day in the desert. The paint on^ 
 that wall will turn yellow when it gets old. The colours of that 
 stuff have quite faded ; it ought to be dyed. Her face is very 
 much flushed ; I think she has * fever. 
 
 § 178. X.— Istabrik, istabrak.^ It is :— 
 
 (a) Reflexive,^ in so far that the action is performed for the 
 benefit of the subject. In this sense it may be followed either 
 by a direct object or one governed immediately by a preposition, 
 as istashhid wahid he called some one to witness in Ms favour ; 
 istahsal 'ala haga he acquired something for himself. As a re- 
 flexive, it not infrequently denotes an attempt or a desire to 
 obtain the object denoted by the root of the verb, as istafhim 
 'an h^ga to attempt to get information (i.e. inquire about) a thing ; 
 or a belief on the part of the subject in the existence of the 
 notion expressed by the primitive verb, as istarkhas il kitab he 
 considered the booh cheap enough for himJ 
 
 (6) Similar in meaning to the simple verb, whether transitive 
 or intransitive, as istaqbil receive (a visitor), istahdar appear. 
 
 (c) The passive of the primitive verb or first form, as istakhdim 
 he employed. 
 
 Remark. — The last sense is borne by a few verbs only. 
 
 1 Trans, from excess of the running. 
 
 2 Trans, browned by the sun. 
 2 Trans, which is on. 
 
 * yekiin 'andiha. 
 
 5 The vowel of the final syllable depends on the consonants 
 enclosing it. (See § 161.) Istabrak bears the same relation to 
 a form sabrak as ibtarak does to barak. See under quadrilits., 
 and cf . Syriac shaqtal and ishtaqtal. 
 
 s The form of the Semitic verb in -s was originally causative, 
 that in -t reflexive ; hence the -si forms must be traced back to 
 a primitively causative sense. All other senses are posterior and 
 derivative. — (S.) 
 
 ^ Both these senses may occur in the same word, as istafragh 
 vomit, " retch " (desiderative), an'd consider empty (from faragh be 
 empty). The idea of reflexiveness is not always apparent, as in 
 istaghshim consider inexperienced, &q., and the participle may be 
 used adjectively without any reference to an expressed opinion, 
 as mistaqrab near. 
 
152 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 179. Some of those which fall under (a) are formed from 
 nouns, as istahmar, istaghash consider a donkey, young donkey 
 (gahsh). 
 
 § 180. The conjugation of this form is similar to that of I., 
 the aorist being astabrik (astabrak), tistabrik (tistabrak), &c., the 
 imperative istibrak (istabrak), &c., and the participle mistabrik 
 (mistabrak). 
 
 Remark a. — Mistabrak is sometimes heard irregularly for 
 mistabrik, as mistansab (for mistansib) approving. 
 
 Remark b. — The same verb may be both active and neuter, 
 as ista'gil urge on ; make haste. 
 
 § 181. XI. — Istibarrik, istibarrak, a variant of the tenth 
 form, and very rarely heard as a derived form of the perfect 
 verb. 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 istab'ad 
 
 consider, find 
 
 istakmil 
 
 be finished 
 
 
 too far 
 
 
 complete 
 
 istatqal 
 
 consider heavy. 
 
 istamlik 
 
 acquire domi- 
 
 
 too severe 
 
 
 nion over 
 
 istaghlib 
 
 acknowledge 
 
 istanzil ('an) 
 
 renounce 
 
 
 oneself con- 
 
 istasghar 
 
 consider small 
 
 
 quered 
 
 
 too small 
 
 istahsin 
 
 find good 
 
 istihallif 
 
 take an oath 
 
 istahkim 
 
 exercise autho- 
 
 
 threaten 
 
 
 rity over. 
 
 istahfaz 'ala 
 
 protect, guard 
 
 
 domineer 
 
 garah 
 
 to loound 
 
 istakhbar 
 
 get news from 
 
 'auwart 
 
 you damaged 
 
 istakhrag 
 
 extract 
 
 ghawa 
 
 beguile 
 
 istaghrab 
 
 he astonished 
 
 qatal 
 
 kill 
 
 istabrak 
 
 he Messed, find 
 
 khabta 
 
 a knock 
 
 
 lucky 
 
 nom 
 
 sleep 
 
 istadrag 
 
 get to under- 
 
 'aiyil 
 
 child 
 
 
 stand 
 
 fikr 
 
 idea 
 
 istarzaq 
 
 get one's liv- 
 
 qal'a 
 
 citadel 
 
 
 ing 
 
 mishwar 
 
 walk, errand 
 
 istarsad (li) 
 
 waylay 
 
 moiyit il 
 
 rose-water 
 
 istazraf 
 
 consider nice. 
 
 ma ward 
 
 
 
 good 
 
 zahr 
 
 flower 
 
 istas-hil 
 
 find easy 
 
 Musyu 
 
 Monsieur, Mr. 
 
 ista'gib 
 
 be astonished 
 
 shugla 
 
 job 
 
 istaqrab 
 
 find, consider, 
 
 agaza 
 
 leave, holiday 
 
 
 near 
 
 brins 
 
 pi-ince 
 
 istaghraq 
 
 he droioned. 
 
 WUSlll 
 
 airival 
 
 
 sink deep in 
 
 farigh 
 
 empty 
 
PAST TENSE 153 
 
 ghashlm inexperienced, 
 
 simple 
 walau,welau cdthough, even 
 
 if ' 
 bardu none the less 
 
 'ashan kede therefore 
 ma'Mm no doubt, of 
 
 course 
 madam seeina that 
 
 badri early 
 
 EXERCISE 51 
 
 Lamma tli'na min il bet kan filaina nerHh mashyin 'ala 
 rigllna li tadd il qal'a, lakin wi lina i fi nuss is sikka istab'adna 
 1 mishwar u rikibna 'arablya. Kunte rayL aqul lu 1 kalSm da 
 lakin istatqaltu sbuwaiya. MMSm 'auwarti ktabu Uzim tis- 
 tahsil lu 2 wahid gheru walau bi 1 fultis. Htya tamallt betistah- 
 marni u btistaghshimnl, ya'nt betiftikir leinnt ghashtm ma 'rafslie 
 haga. Ir rigg^la dSl nS,s battalln ; istalifaz 'ala nafsak minhum. 
 Saraqt il hstga dl leb ? Aho stahkim 'allya sh shgt^n wi gwani we 
 saraqt. Humma beyistihallifii It 'ala innuhum, lamma yitqablu 
 waiyl,ya fi s sikka, yikhanqftnt. II mara di mistakhdima 'ande 
 mtn ? Yistakbragu moiyit il maward min iz zubur. II muslim 
 yistabrak bi wugM il Qur'an fi betu. Ana dilwaqti istadragte 
 shuwaiya 'asb shughl. Ma'lilm kulle yom 'auz yiksab Mga 
 'ashan yistarzaq. Is sitt istazrafit ir r&gil u khaddamitu 'andiha. 
 Rayhtn nistashid larba' riggala d61 fi 1 mas'ala. Ista'gibna ktir 
 'ala kalamak. Ihna sta'rafna bub min zamltn wi 'irifna ba'd. 
 Ma smibtinish lamma khabbatte 'ala 1 bab? La', kunte mis- 
 tagbraq fi n n6m u ma smihtish wala khabta. Istafraghte 'aqlu, 
 laqetu zeyi 1 'aiyil. Anhi sikka mistaqrabba, dt walla dt? 
 Lamma yigi inta lazim tistaqbilu wi tqa"adu. Ba'de ma stam- 
 liku 1 hitta ban1\ba biyut. Istaghlib nafsu llya. 
 
 EXERCISE 52 
 
 I bought it becatise I considered it cheap. This wine won't 
 keep more than a year. In whose hoxise were you employed 
 before Mr. A. engaged you ? ^ Possibly you will be astonished 
 at my statement, but it is none the less true. Two men waylaid 
 the merchants outside the village, killed one of them, and wounded 
 the other. He didn't consider the job sufficiently easy, and 
 therefore didn't accept it. This road is much longer than that. 
 The work is not yet finished. He renounced his holiday in- 
 
 1 As we were, whilst we were. 
 
 2 Find him a good one. 
 
 ^ Trans, before employed you Mr. A. 
 
154 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 favour-of 1 one of the other employes. ^ Who is going to receive 
 the prince on ^ his arrival at * Alexandria. Of course you don't 
 win any money while you are idle. Why do you take me for 
 a simpleton? I don't take you for a simpleton, but I was 
 astonished that you confessed yourself beaten by ^ a small boy. 
 We must inquire of ^ the police about these people to-morrow 
 morning. Don't hurry too much ; it is early yet. You must 
 hurry on the work a little. 
 
 VERBS WHOSE SECOND AND THIRD RADICALS 
 ARE IDENTICAL 
 
 § 182. The primitive verb is conjugated as follows : — 
 PAST TENSE 
 
 SiNGULAE 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1 st pers. maddet maddet / stretched out 
 
 2nd pers. maddet maddetl 
 
 3rd pers. madd maddit 
 
 Plural 
 
 1st pers. maddena 
 2nd pers. maddetu (-m) 
 •3rd pers. maddu (-m) 
 
 A O R I ST 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. amidd amidd 
 
 2nd pers. temidd (timidd) temiddl (timiddi) 
 
 3rd pers. yemidd (yimidd) temidd (timidd) 
 
 Plural 
 1st pers. nemidd (nimidd) 
 2nd pers. temiddii (-m) (timiddu -m) 
 3rd pers. yemiddii (-m) (yimiddii -m) 
 
 IMPERATIVE 
 
 Sing. masc. midd, fern, middt. Plur. middu (-m). 
 Particip. act. madid (fem. madda, plur. maddln). 
 Particip. pass, mamdild. 
 
 ' li. ^ Particip. of istakhdim. ^ 'and. 
 
 ■* fi. ^ li. s min. 
 
SECOND AND THIRD RADICALS IDENTICAL 155 
 
 § 183. The other tenses are formed by the help of the pre- 
 fixes and the substantive verb, as in the case of verbs whose 
 radicals are all different ; but note that owing to the accent 
 falling on the final syllable, the weak e or i of the aorist prefoi'- 
 matives is either pronounced very rapidly or disappears alto- 
 gether, the 2nd pers. singular of the continued present be- 
 coming in the case of the above verb bitmidd (for bltSmidd), 
 the 3rd pers. blmidd {i.e. biymidd for biyimidd), and the 1st 
 pers. plural binmidd (for binimidd). The 2nd pers. singular 
 feminine and the 2nd and 3rd pers. plural generally con- 
 tract also, the final open vowels being somewhat shortened in 
 pronunciation, as bitmiddi, bimiddu. 
 
 § 184. Verbs whose first or doubled consonant is t, gli, d, r, 
 z, s, q, k, kh, or ', have u for the second vowel in the aorist, 
 except : — 
 
 taqq when meaning j sahh be correct 
 
 to die I 'add bite 
 
 which take a, and 
 
 tann^ 
 
 tinkle 
 
 qarr 
 
 confess 
 
 ghashsh 
 
 cheat 
 
 qall 
 
 grow less 
 
 harr 
 
 be hot 
 
 kashsh 
 
 shrink 
 
 raff 
 
 hurry past 
 
 kann 
 
 cover, hide 
 
 raqq 
 
 be thin 
 
 khass 
 
 get thin 
 
 sann 
 
 loait 
 
 khaff 
 
 recover 
 
 farr 
 
 flee 
 
 'arr 
 
 disgrace 
 
 fadd 
 
 end (trans.) 
 
 
 
 qabi) 
 
 rise to the sur- 
 face 
 
 
 
 which take i. 
 
 
 
 
 Remark. — 
 
 Qarr makes yiqur 
 
 r when mean 
 
 ing to talk ill 
 
 'add occasionally makes yi'udd, and kaflE keep back occasionally 
 yikiff. Khass concern and zann think take either i or u. 
 S 185. The rest take i. 
 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 
 bakhkh 
 gakhkh 
 gazz 
 ■gass 
 
 sprinkle 
 boast, talk big 
 shear 
 sound 
 
 tagig 
 hashsh 
 liatt 
 safi 
 
 pilgrim 
 
 cut grass, mow 
 
 put 
 
 arrange in a 
 
 hagg 
 
 go on a pil- 
 grimage 
 
 khall 
 
 row 
 he deranged 
 
 1 But rarely used. 
 
156 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 daqq 
 
 heat, pound, 
 
 dawa 
 
 medicine 
 
 
 mash, play 
 
 maqass 
 
 scissors, shear 
 
 
 (music) 
 
 hitta 
 
 piece 
 
 kahh 
 
 cough 
 
 'allq 
 
 fodder 
 
 rakk 
 
 rain 
 
 balla'a 
 
 sink, drain 
 
 lamm 
 
 pick up 
 
 fanella 
 
 flannel 
 
 radd 
 
 give hack, re- 
 
 salib (sahib) 
 
 landlord 
 
 
 ply, ^3Mi to 
 
 il bet ' 
 
 
 
 (a door) 
 
 bashtakhta i 
 
 writing-tahle 
 
 ramm 
 
 repair 
 
 hugga, Ligga 
 
 the inh Mo 
 
 kabb 
 
 pour 
 
 
 hammedan 
 
 hadd 
 
 demolish 
 
 
 month 
 
 darr 
 
 injure, hurt 
 
 rabta 
 
 hundle 
 
 natt 
 
 leap 
 
 ghasil 
 
 leashing, wash 
 
 dall ('ala) 
 
 indicate 
 
 dubara 
 
 string 
 
 shadd 
 
 pull 
 
 shuU 
 
 horse-cloth 
 
 maghshush 
 
 false 
 
 matara, 
 
 rain 
 
 rann 
 
 ring (intr.) 
 
 natara 
 
 
 fakk 
 
 unfasten 
 
 sha'r 
 
 hair 
 
 liasib 
 
 look out 
 
 buffeh 
 
 sideboard 
 
 ni'im 
 
 get soft 
 
 
 
 
 EXEE,( 
 
 :)ISE 53 
 
 
 Hasib ! ma tbvikhkhinish bi 1 moiya. Ir ragil da tamalli 
 biyegukhkhe bi 1 kalam, we ma yikallimshe ilia 'an nafsu. Ye- 
 gizzii sha'r il kharuf bi 1 maqass. Ana lazim agiss ir ragil fi 1 
 mas'ala. II goz wi g goza mush tamalli yehibbil ba'd. 11 mus- 
 limin yehiggu fi shahr il hugga. Husanak khasis qawi, yimkin 
 'aliqu shuwaiya. II bersim mahshush walla lissa ? Hiya kanit 
 hatta burnetitha 'at tarabeza. Kull il qazayiz mahtiitin we mas- 
 f Aftn foq il buffeh. Esh yekhussak bi 1 mas'ala di ? ^Mush 
 shughlak. Inta 'aqlak makhlul walla eh ? Lazim teduqqi 1 
 batatis wi tna"amth. Ana ma zunnish innu yigi nnahar da. 
 II fanella dl ma tkhishshish fil ghasil. Ishrabi d dawa dih, 
 yimkin tekhiffi 'aleh. Ma kanshe yisahhi lu yidrab in nas d81 il 
 masakin. II kvlra ba'de ma nizlit qabbit 'ala wishsh il moiya. 
 TJ'a 1 kalbe da lahsan yi'addak. Madam inta 'aij'&n lazini 
 tikinne nafsak min il bard. II hiis&n btkuhhe shuwaiya 1 lela. 
 Taiyib, iddt lu branmashsh we liuttu Ivi sh shull. II matara bit- 
 rukke shuwaiya. 
 
 1 Turkish. 
 
SECOND AND THIRD RADICALS IDENTICAL 157 
 
 EXERCISE 54 
 
 Stretch out your hand, girl, and pick them up from the 
 ground. Why didn't you put the door to? My landlord is 
 going to repair the house from topi ^q bottom.^ Let us pour 
 the wine into an empty bottle. They are pulling down the old 
 house in the street near us. A little wine won't do you any 
 harm. After you have undone the parcel put the string in one 
 of the drawers of my writing-table. They seized him as he was 
 jumping 3 over the wall. I think the streets are blocked 
 Please show us the houses which were bui'ned down yesterday. 
 She was looking from the north window which overlooks our 
 garden. The pilgrims will not have returned before the end of 
 the month. We were all pulling from one direction. I smell 
 a very bad smell near the sink. This piece must be bad ; it 
 doesn't ring at all. 
 
 § 186. Of the derived forms of these verbs, II., VI., IX., 
 and XI. do not occur in the spoken language, while III. occurs 
 only in a few participles, some of them used as substantives, as 
 mekhill injurious, mehimm important, mokihh friend. The others 
 are as follows : — 
 
 I. Bassas cause to look maddid stretch out 
 
 Aor. abassas, tibassas amaddid, timaddid, &c. 
 
 Imperat. bassas maddid 
 
 Particip.* mebassas memaddid 
 
 IV. Itmadd be stretched 
 Aor. atmadd, titmadd, &c. 
 Imperat. itmadd 
 Particip. mitmadd 
 
 V. Itbassas play the spy itmaddid stretch oneself 
 Aor. atbassas, titbassas atmaddid, titmaddid, &c. 
 
 Imperat. itbassas itmaddid 
 
 Particip. mitbassas mitmaddid 
 
 Remark. — Mitraddad is sometimes heard for mitraddid. 
 VII. Indarr be injured 
 Aor. andarr, tindarr, (fee. 
 Imperat. indarr 
 Particip. mindarr 
 
 1 f6q. 2 taht. 
 
 ^ Trans, and he is jumping. 
 
 * The same form is used for both voices. 
 
158 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OP EGYPT 
 
 VIII. Imtadd he stretched, lengthened out 
 Aor. amtadd, timtadd, &c. 
 Imperat. imtadd 
 Particip. mimtadd 
 
 X. (a) Istiqall i 
 
 {b) istaqlil consider little, too little, small 
 Aor. astiqall, tistiqall, ifec, astaqli], tistaqlil, &c. 
 
 Imperat. istiqall istaqlil 
 
 Particip. mistiqall mistaqlil 
 
 Remahk a. — Nearly all the verbs of this class are conjugated 
 after the first model. 
 
 Remark b. — The participle sometimes takes the form mista- 
 bii-k, as mistamirr (for mistimarr). The literary mustabark, as 
 mustamarr, &c. , will occasionally Ije heard. 
 
 Remaek c. — Forms I., V., and X. (6) are, of course, conjugated 
 in the past tense, as well as in the aorist, like the second form of 
 the perfect verb, namely, barrik, barrak ; while IV., VII., VIII., 
 and X. (a) are conjugated like the primitive verb of their own class. 
 
 VOOABULAEY 
 
 gannin 
 
 drive mad 
 
 ithaqqaq 
 
 he verified 
 
 haddid 
 
 hound, limit 
 
 1 itraddid 'ala 
 
 frequent 
 
 hannin 
 
 cause to have 
 
 indarr 
 
 feel oneself 
 
 
 compassion 
 
 
 injured 
 
 rassas 
 
 place in a roiv 
 
 ingarr 
 
 take oneself off 
 
 haqqaq 
 
 verify 
 
 ingazz 
 
 he shorn 
 
 itball, inball 
 
 he loetted 
 
 inhashsh 
 
 he mown 
 
 itgarr 
 
 he pulled 
 
 insarr 
 
 be pleased 
 
 ithabb, 
 
 he loved 
 
 inkabb 
 
 he poured, spilt 
 
 inhabb 
 
 
 inkadd 
 
 he frightened 
 
 ithakk 
 
 he scratched 
 
 istihaqq 
 
 deserve 
 
 itradd, 
 
 he put to (door) 
 
 istihass (bi) 
 
 perceive 
 
 irtadd 
 
 
 istidall 
 
 inquire 
 
 ithatt. 
 
 he put 
 
 istigann 
 
 consider mad 
 
 inhatt 
 
 
 istiqarr 
 
 confess 
 
 itlamm. 
 
 he gathered. 
 
 isti'add 
 
 he ready 
 
 iltamm 
 
 collected 
 
 shabb 
 
 to rear 
 
 itramm 
 
 he repaired 
 
 hasana 
 
 charity, alms 
 
 iggaddid 
 
 he renewed 
 
 hibr 
 
 ink 
 
 1 Note that i here takes the place of the a of the perfect 
 verb. 
 
THE WEAK VERBS 159 
 
 EXERCISE 55 
 II khaddam da mistigadde 'andi. Humma mistiqarrin 'ala 
 naf suhum. II mara di 1 masklna mistihaqqtya ^ 1 hasana. 
 Istimarret fi sh shughl till in nahar. Itgarr il habl min in 
 nahyitin. Indarret kettr min kalamak. Ingarr ! imsM min 
 qudd^mi ! Huwa mehibbi li ketlr qawl. II mas'ala dt bitganninnl. 
 II ghetan mebaddidin min kulle giha. Ithaqqaqit il mas'ala 
 walla lissa ? Ithakke gild il kitab minnt.^ Allah yibannin 'algk. 
 Kutte bastidalle 'ala betak. Kunna binistikanne min il bard. II 
 kit&bfi,t k^nil mirassasln fi r ruMf. Kan mirtadd ^ il bib walla 
 mafttih? Iltammena kullina fi s sikka. Intt mitraddida 'ala 
 i'mamu ? KInit mistaqlila * 1 fuMs. 
 
 EXERCISE 56 
 He doesn't deserve a piastre. You will get wet, as ^ you have* 
 no umbrella. The house ought to be repaired. Your sister 
 drives me mad. The sheep will be shorn to-morrow. The horse 
 was frightened, and reared. A bottle of ink has been spilt on 
 your carpet. They consider their salaries much too small. The 
 grass has not been mown this year. She was not ready when I 
 called to her. I thought you miust have gone mad when you 
 put your foot in the fire. We have not yet verified the matter. 
 The bottle should not be put on the dining-table. 
 
 THE WEAK VERBS 
 
 VERBS WHOSE FIRST RADICAL IS QAT'A 
 
 § 187. As these verbs are few in number, and present various 
 irregularities, it will be convenient to give a list of them, with 
 the forms commonly in use. It will be noticed that in most of 
 them the primitive or simple form is wanting ^ : — 
 'azan give permission 
 Aor. a'zin, ti'zin, ifec. 
 Particip. act. mi'zin Particip. pass, ma'ziin 
 
 X. istdi,' 7X0. ask permission 
 Aor. asta'zin, &c. 
 
 I. Assar (fi) impress, annoy 
 Aor. a'assar, ti'assar, ifcc. 
 Particip. me'assar, &c. 
 
 1 See § 60, Rem. ^ By me. ^ MardM is more usual. 
 * Or mistiqalla. ^ madam. * ma'ak. 
 
 7 The imperative, being in every case regularly formed, is 
 omitted for the sake of brevity. 
 
160 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 IV. it'asar 5e, annoyed 
 Aor. at'isir, &c. 
 Particip. mit'isir. 
 
 I. Aggar let, hire 
 Aor. a'aggar 
 Particip. me'aggar 
 
 V. it'aggar he let 
 Aor. at'aggar 
 Particip. mit'aggar 
 
 I. Wahhid recognise the unity of God 
 Aor. awahhid 
 Particip. mewahhid 
 
 VIII. iltahad ^ (or ittahad) form a compact with 
 Aor. altihid (attahid) 
 Particip. miltikid (mittikid) 
 Akkad take, usually skortened to khad and conjugated as 
 follows : — 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 
 MASC. 
 
 
 FEM. 
 
 1st pers. khadt 
 
 
 khadt 
 
 2nd pers. khadt 
 
 
 khadtt 
 
 3rd pers. khad 
 
 Plueal 
 khadna 
 khadtu (-m) 
 khadu (-m) 
 
 AOEIST 
 
 khadit 
 
 1st pers. akhud^ 
 
 
 akhud 
 
 2nd pers. takhud 
 
 
 ta,khdt 
 
 3rd pers. yakhud 
 
 Plueal 
 nakhud 
 takhdii (-m) 
 yakhdii (-m) 
 
 takhud 
 
 Imper. khud, khudl, '. 
 
 khudu (-m). 
 
 
 Particip. act. wakhid. 
 
 , wakhda, wakhdin. 
 
 
 Particip. pass, wanting. ^ 
 
 
 1 A corruption of ittahad. The latter form is in use among 
 the educated. 
 
 2 The a of the first syllables of the aor. is not pronounced 
 very long. 
 
 s Ma'khAz in Nahwy. 
 
THE WEAK VEEBS 161 
 
 Remark. — In Nahwy the past tense of the simple verb is 
 akhaz, that of the second derived form fikhiz. The aor. of the 
 latter is heard in the spoken language in the expression ma 
 t'akhizntsh (plur. ma t'akhizilnlsh) do not blame me, pardon me. 
 Tikhud, yikhud, &c., are sometimes heard for takhud, &c. 
 
 I. Akhkhar delay, a'akhkhai', me'akhkhar. 
 II. akhir Iwld hack, a'akhir, me'akhir. 
 V. it'akhkhar he late, he slow (watch), at'akhkhar, 
 mit'akhkhar. 
 VI. ittakhir stand hack, attakhir, mittakhir. 
 I. Addib teach one good manners, a'addib, me'addib. 
 V. it'addib he taught, ^c. 
 I. Iddun call to pray ei\ 
 Aor. addan, tiddan, &c. 
 Particip. me'addin.i 
 I. Idda, give. 
 Aor. addl, tiddl, (fee. 
 Pai'ticip. act. middt. 
 
 I. Wadda convey (the literary adda), 3rd pers. sing, 
 f em. iddat (for iddit). 
 Aor. awaddl. 
 Particip. mewaddl. 
 
 Azfi, hui'f, yi'zl, particip. wanting. 
 I. Azza. 
 
 III. In particip. mu'zt injurious. 
 
 IV. It'azS he hurt at'izt, mit'izt. 
 
 V. It'azzEi he annoyed, at'azza, mit'azzt. 
 
 Asar make captive, a'sir, particip. wanting. 
 X. istesar (istaysar) same meaning, astesar, mistesar. 
 IV. It'assif regret, at'assif, mit'assif . 
 X. Particip. mista'sif, 7'egretting. 
 I. Ashshar mark, a'ashshar, <fec. 
 V. it'ashshar he marked, ifo. 
 
 Aras inherit, a'ris, waris.^ 
 I. Akkid ('ala) insist, press, a'akkid, &c. 
 V. it'akkid he convinced, Sfc. 
 
 Akal eat. The qat'a and vowel almost always disappear in the 
 
 1 The Nahwy mu'azzin is sometimes heard, especially when 
 used substantively of the man who calls to prayer. ' 
 
 2 Aras has a duplicate form, wiris. 
 
162 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 spoken language, and the verb is conjugated throughout like khad, 
 as kalit she ate, kalna lue eat, akul / eat, yaklu they eat, kul eat, 
 wakil eating. In the particip pass., ma'kul,i the qat'a re- 
 appears. 
 
 I. Wakkil (sometimes akkil) cause to eat. 
 Aor. awakkill (a'akkil). 
 
 Particip. mewakkil (me'akkil). 
 V. it'akhkhil he eaten, &c. 
 VI. ittakhil he eaten, attakhil, &c. 
 II. Allif compose, write, a'allif, me'allif author. 
 V. It'allif he composed, Sfc. 
 Amar command. 
 Aor. a'mur, ti'mur (rarely tu'mur), &c. 
 Particip^ act. wanting. 
 Particip. pass, ma'mur. 
 
 V. it'ammar ('ala) arrogate authority over. 
 TI. Ammin entrust, trust, a'ammin, &c. 
 II. amin believe, trust, a'Smin, me'amin. 
 III. In particip. mu'min believing. 
 X. ista'min trust, yista'min, &c. 
 I. Wannis be companion to, awannis, &c. 
 II. 4nis keep company with, entertain, a'anis, me'anis. 
 V. itwannis (bi) be accompanied, have for companion. 
 X. Ista'nif ap^eaZ(against adecision),asta'nif,mista'nif. 
 X. Istannfi, (for ista'na), astanna, mistannl. 
 X. Istahil (for ista'hil) be worthy, deserve, astahil, 
 
 mistahU. 
 I. Aiyid affirm, confirm, a'aiyid, &c. 
 V. it'aiyid he affirmed. 
 
 II. Ayis risk, brave, despair of, a'ays (for a'ayis), 
 
 me'ays(for me'iyis). 
 An (for awan) arrive (of a time or season), yi'in, 
 particip. wanting. 
 I. Warra^ show, awarrl, mewarri. 
 V. itwarra be shown, atwarra, mitwarri. 
 
 1 In ma'kulflt edibles. M ittakhil is ordinarily used for 
 ma'kiil. 
 
 " Perhaps etymologically connected with ra'a see, the third form 
 of which (ara) signifies to show in literary Arabic, and appears as 
 aura (aor. aurt), in the flialect of Syria, as though from warS. Aura 
 may occasionally be heard also in Egypt. 
 
THE WEAK VEEBS 163 
 
 § 188. Attention is called to the following peculiarities, illus- 
 trated by the above examples : — 
 
 (a) In some cases qat'a passes into lo, as in w&khid (for 
 'akhid), wahhid (for 'ahhid), or into y, as in istesar (for istaysar, 
 for ista'sar) ; or disappears altogether, an a preceding it being 
 lengthened to «, as in yakul, yakhud (for ya'kul, ya'khud), istahil 
 (for ista'hil) ; ^ or is assimilated to t, as in ittahad (for it'ahad), 
 ittakil (for it'eikil), and to n in istanna (for ista'na). 
 
 (6) The two verbs iddan and idd& take i irregularly for a in 
 the first syllable. Both drop qat'a with its vowel in the aorist, 
 and idd& also in the participle,^ middt (for mi'iddt). 
 
 (c) Mi' zin permitting is quite irregular, resembling the parti- 
 ciple of the third form.^ It should be wazin (for azin), but it 
 would then have the same form as the particip. of wazan to 
 weigh. 
 
 {d) Ittakhil, ittakhid, and ittakhir (for it'akhil, &c.), though 
 conjugated after the sixth form, bear the sense of the fourth or 
 fiftli. 
 
 (e) Khad and kal take a for i in the aorist in compensation 
 for the loss of the qat'a, and wahhid i for a in the second syllable, 
 that it may resemble in sound the word wahid. 
 
 (/) The forms YII., IX., and XI. are not in use. 
 
 § 189. Medial qat'a occurs in the verbs ra'a see, ra'af he in- 
 dulgent, excuse, sha'am be of ill omen, and sa'al asl: 
 
 The three latter are conjugated regularly, the aorist being 
 ar'af, tir'af, &c., the imperative ir'af &c., the particip. act. rayif 
 (for ra'if), the particip. pass, mar'iif ; but note that while ra'af and 
 sa'al take a in the final syllable of the aorist and imperative, 
 sha'am takes i. Mas'ul is used in the sense of responsiUe. 
 Sha'am has for its first derived form, by substitution of lo for 
 qat'a, shauwim (rai'ely sha"am). Ka'^ (for ra'ay) makes ra'et / 
 saiu, &c. (regularly) ; aor. ara't, tira'i, &c. (irregularly, for ar'ay. 
 
 1 Or, in the language of the grammarians, the hamza (qat'a) 
 is converted into the cdif produdionis. 
 
 2 The former appears as azzan in Nahwy, and is regarded as 
 the first derived form of azan permit. According to rule, the 
 word should be addin in the colloquial. The a of the final 
 syllable seems to be in compensation for the weakening of the 
 first. Iddfi, is perhaps the literary adda, which also, as has been 
 seen, appears as wadda in the spoken language. 
 
 3 I.e. mu'zin, which exists in the literary language in the 
 sense of informing. 
 
164 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 &c.) ; imperat. (m, and f.) ra't ; particip. act. ra'i (rayi) ; particip. 
 pass not in use.^ 
 
 § 190. Final qat'a likewise occurs in a few verbs only. Most 
 of them are conjugated regularly, as kafi' reward (second derived 
 form of unused primitive verb), kafi't, kafi'na, &c. ; aor. akafi', 
 &c. ; imperat. kafi' ; particip. mekafl' ; baiya' (I.) shmo honour to, 
 haiya't, aor. ahaiya', &c. ; hazza' (I.) and istahza' (X.) moeJc, make 
 fun of. 
 
 § 191. The verbs sa' (for sa', contracted from sawa') do harm 
 to and sha' (for shayi') loMi are somewhat irregvilar in their 
 conjugation. The first makes si't, si'na, &c., in the past tense ; 
 aor. ast',tisi', &c. ; imperat. si' ; particip. act. s£yi' (for sa'l). The 
 third form is asa' (by contraction), hardly used except in the 
 particip. mist' (for mus'i). 
 
 Sha' makes shi't, &c. ; in the past tense asba', tisha', or (in 
 imitation of the literary) tasha',^ <fcc., in the aorist. The imperat. 
 and particips. are not in use. 
 
 Remakk. — Several verbs which have final qat'a in the classical 
 language have y in the Cairene dialect, as qara (i.e. qaray)^ read 
 (classic qara'). Haiya' has a duplicate form, haiya (or haiya), 
 with haiyet, haiyena, &c. , for the other persons of the past tense, 
 and ahaiya, &c., for the aorist. Sha' often drops its qat'a in the 
 expression in sha' Allah if God ^oill, which then becomes in 
 sha Hah. 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 Khad 'ala 
 
 ramit 
 gilda 
 
 sima' 
 qamus 
 
 get accvMomed 
 
 to 
 she threw 
 piece of leather, 
 
 binding 
 hearing 
 dictionary 
 
 agrumtya 
 
 galsa 
 
 baskawit 
 
 qadiya 
 
 duiab* 
 
 sitt 
 
 grammar 
 
 sitting 
 
 biscuits 
 
 affair, case 
 
 cupboard 
 
 grandmother 
 
 mahkama court 
 
 1 Ret (for ra'et) is used by fellaheen universally, and bj' 
 Oairenes in the expression ya ret loould that, (fee. The literary 
 form of the aorist ara, ifec, occurs in ya tara. 
 
 2 When this is used the accent falls slightly (though contrary 
 to rule) on the final syllable, as it also sometimes does in tisha', 
 yisha', &c. 
 
 8 See § 208 seq. i Turkish. 
 
THE WEAK VERBS 165 
 
 EXERCISE 57 
 
 Akhilya min zaman mit'isir 'annt ma yitkallimnish. II 
 qutta dl dilwaqti wakhda 'alexia. Ana akhiztu ketir fi 1 mas- 
 'ala dl. Leh? ma ti'akhzUsh, Mwa ma'zur. Htya tamallt 
 betittakhid min ghSr sabab. Lazim ti'akhir nafsak shuwaiya. 
 Kanu mittakhrln we qa'din bi'id 'anni. II mi'addin biyiddan 
 kulle y6m fi d duhr. Abiiya ma yi'zil lish i leinnt atraddad 'ala 
 n nas bi 1 .lei. Min middl lu 1 kitab da? Ana. II gesh il 
 masrl mistesar 'asakir min betu' id darawlsh. II gilda betalit 
 il kitab da me'asbshara. Itt&kbir 'annl shuwaiya lahsan id 
 dinya harr. L^zim ti'akhkhid 'al^h leinnu yiwaddi 1 fuliis 'ala 
 bett. Hlya aysit 'ala 'umrilia we ramit nafsiha fi 1 babr. Ana 
 mi'ayis waiyaku, zeye ma tigl tigl.^ Ma yir'afsbe abadan 'ala 
 1 khaddamln min ish shughl. Huwa ha yiiu'lni w ana mush 
 hara'lh. Zgye ma sl'ak sl'u. Humma tul in nahar yistahzu' 
 It. Hlya ma kanitsh misi'^ lik. 
 
 EXERCISE 58 
 
 Are you going to eat this apple yourself or give it to the 
 horse to eat ? ^ She was convinced that you had not taken the 
 medicine. She has composed a dictionary and a grammar. If 
 he permits me,* I will go. The tree will bear when its time 
 comes.^ You don't deserve your wages because you don't work. 
 Who took the biscuits from the cupboard ? Half of them are 
 eaten. I am going to ask permission from him to" take one 
 of his old garments "^ and give it to the man who was begging 
 in our street yesterday. The court has postponed the hearing 
 of your case till to-morrow's sitting. The house has been let 
 to my grandmother. You are late ! Forgive me, my watch is 
 slow.8 Give us the pleasure of your society ^ this evening. He 
 does as he likes. Please God, we shall see you here to-morrow. 
 
 1 For yi'zin llsh. 
 
 2 Fem. in a neuter sense. (See § 467.) 
 s Wakkil, with double du'ect object. 
 
 * Trans, to me. 
 
 5 The verb to precede its subject. 
 
 6 'ala innl. 
 
 ^ hidma min hidumu 1 qadlm. (See § 443, note 2.) 
 
 8 Delaying. 
 
 ^ tigl wannisna. 
 
166 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 VERBS WHOSE FIRST RADICAL IS W 
 
 § 192. These are conjugated as perfect verbs except for the 
 contractions resulting from the semi-vowel nature of the w. 
 Thus wa'ad promise makes in the aorist au'id, tu'id, yu'id, &c. 
 {for aw'id, tiw'id, &c.); in the imperat. ii'id (for iw'id), and 
 in the particip. pass, mau'ud (for maw'ud). Similarly, auqa', 
 juqa', &c., from wiqi' fall. 
 
 Remakk a. — The first syllable of the 1st pers. sing, of the 
 aorist sometimes sounds almost as u instead of ati. 
 
 Remark b. — Waqaf stop makes in the aorist tuqaf, yuqaf, 
 &c., and occasionally tiqaf/ &c. The imperat. is uqaf. Wiqi' 
 (sometimes waqa') makes aqa' more frequently than auqa' in 
 the 1st pers. sing, of the aorist; tuqa', yuqa', &c., in the other 
 persons, and occasionally tiqa', yiqa', &c. 
 
 § 193. The following verbs take a in addition to those whose 
 medial radical is h, h, or ', or whose final radical is /;, h, ', q, 
 •or kh : — 
 
 wagab arrive (time or 
 
 occasion) 
 wagad find 
 
 and occasionally wiris inherit.^ 
 
 wirim sivell 
 
 wisil arrive 
 
 § 194. Wasaf describe takes i irregularly for u, and the 
 following i irregularly for a : — 
 
 wahag confuse 
 
 wahar frighten 
 
 waham frighten 
 
 wahab give 
 
 wahash make desolate 
 
 wa'ad promise 
 
 wasaq load 
 
 Remark. — The aorist of wagad is used both in an active 
 and a passive sense. Occasionally yvlgid is heard (in an active 
 sense only) for yugad.^ Wagab makes yugib, when meaning 
 be incumbent upon.^ 
 
 In the eighth form the w is assimilated to the t, as in verbs 
 
 But tiqaf is scarcely pure Cairene. 
 
 Yflris is the common form in the spoken language. 
 
 But hardly from the lips of a true Cairene. 
 
 But it is rarely used colloquially in this sense. 
 
THE WEAK VEEBS 
 
 167 
 
 whose first radical is qat'a, as ittasal reach,, from wisil (for 
 iwtasal). 
 
 § 195. The following are examples of the derived forms : — 
 
 I. Wahhash make wild 
 waggih turn, direct 
 II. warib slant 
 
 w^fiq agree with 
 
 III. augab approach (of a 
 
 time, season) 
 
 IV. itwagad, be found 
 
 atwigid, 
 &c. 
 V. itwahhal besmeared icith 
 mud 
 itwaggih be turned, di- 
 rected 
 
 "VI. itwarib be slanted 
 VII. inwaga' smart 
 (more 
 usually 
 itwaga') 
 VIII. ittasal, reach 
 .attisil, 
 mittisil 1 
 IX. Not in use. 
 X. istauliash become wild 
 istaulid beget genera- 
 tions of chil- 
 dren^ 
 
 Remahk a. — The general remarks which have been made 
 with regard to the signification and use of the derived forms 
 of the perfect verb apply, of course, to those of the weak verb, 
 as, for instance, that the particip. pass, of the primitive form 
 often replaces that of the third, fourth, and other forms, as 
 itwazan be weiglied, mauzun weighed. 
 
 Remaek b. — Verbs of this class whose medial and final 
 radicals are identical present no irregularity whatever. 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 wazan 
 
 weigh 
 
 itwahal 
 
 be confused, stuck 
 
 wilid 
 
 beget, give birth to 
 
 itwazan 
 
 be weighed 
 
 waga' 
 
 hurt, pain 
 
 itwasaq 
 
 be laden 
 
 warraq 
 
 put on leaves 
 
 itwassal 
 
 act as a go- 
 
 wassa' 
 
 inahe room 
 
 
 betioeen 
 
 wafiq 
 
 agree with 
 
 wadd 
 
 love 
 
 itwahas 
 
 get entangled, 
 
 wazz 
 
 incite 
 
 
 stuclc, stranded 
 
 kashaf 
 
 uncover, per- 
 
 itwahhash 
 
 be turned into a 
 
 
 ceive 
 
 
 savage 
 
 bahri 
 
 north 
 
 
 1 Nahwj 
 
 1 muttasil. 
 
 
 
 2 Intens 
 
 ive. 
 
 
168 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OP EGYPT 
 
 qibll 
 
 south 
 
 maktab il past-office 
 
 wahsh 
 
 wild beasts 
 
 busta 
 
 lizq 
 
 sustenance 
 
 haram wrong, shame 
 
 wisq 
 
 load 
 
 q61 statement, de 
 
 qars 
 
 stinging, sting, 
 bite 
 
 duration 
 
 
 EXERCISE 59 
 
 Lamma yugab il waqt neruh 'ala betu. Ma ti'igadshe 'andina 
 liaga zeye dt. Ma twagadtish ana fi r rastabl lamma saraqu 1 
 khel. Humma kanu mitwaggihtn 'ala 1 bahr. II Mtta illi tkun 
 moiyitha shuwaiya tuqaf fiha 1 merkib we titwihis. Inta rah 
 tubaslint lamma tsafir. Huwa ragil mitwaKhash zeyi 1 wahsh. 
 Wiqif yitwihil ^ fi 1 kaMm. Hlya rah tiiris abuha w ummiha li 
 wahdiha. Warib^ il bab 'ashanmahaddish yikshifna. Yittisilu 
 rizqe min 'and Allah. Hftwa sakin fi masr min zaman u wUid 
 wi staulid henak. II gamal da mausuq wisqe ^ gamid 'aleh. Ir 
 ragil da stauhash fi 1 gibal. Hlya wildit waladen fi batne wahda.'' 
 Is sagara warraqit walla lissa ? Ma kanshe lazim tiwizzu 'aleh 
 yidrabha. Uzil It 1 gawab da min fadlak. 
 
 EXERCISE 60 
 
 Her face was turned (to the) South. My eye pains me. Her 
 clothes were smeared with mud. Her foot was swelling from 
 the bite of the mosquito. Leave the door a little to.^ She 
 doesn't love him. The letter ought to have been weighed. Stop, 
 gii'l, or you will fall down « the steps. She will describe the 
 house to you. We had arrived (at) the Pyramids before they 
 left^ the hotel. You (jilur.) are overloading i* youi' donkeys. I 
 will act as yom- go-between ^ in the matter. Make a little room 
 for me, please. Don't stop lo the cai-riage in the middle of the 
 street. 
 
 ^ The aor. is often equivalent to the particip. in English. 
 2 I.e. put it to a little. s I.e. with a burden. 
 
 * I.e. ttcins. o Particip. of itwarib. 
 
 8 Trans, from on. 7 tili' min. 
 
 ^ Trans, over by ketir at end of sentence. 
 " Trans. / will act as a go-between for (li) you. 
 1" First derived form of wiqif. 
 
 9 
 
THE WEAK VEEBS 169 
 
 VERBS "WHOSE MEDIAL RADICAL IS W^ 
 
 § 196. Most of these differ from the strong verbs in the primi- 
 tive form and in the fourth, seventh, eighth, and tenth derived 
 forms. In the past tense of the primitive verb the w, with its pre- 
 ceding and following vowels, contracts into d when the latter of 
 these vowels is followed by a single consonant, and into u when it 
 is followed by two consonants ; while in the aorist the w, with its 
 following short vowel, contracts into the long vowel which is homo- 
 geneous to the short one. In the fourth, seventh, eighth, and tenth 
 forms the w, with-its vowels, becomes d in the past tense when 
 the following vowel precedes a single consonant, and a when it 
 precedes a double consonant ; while in the aorist the zv, with its 
 following vowel, contracts to d. These forms are, however, 
 sometimes conjugated regularly. In the imperative the initial 
 vowel falls away, and in the active participle the io is weakened 
 to a qat'a or a scarcely audible y. 
 
 § 197. The following is an example of the conjugation of the 
 primitive verb : — 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st. pers. quit (for qawalt) quit / said 
 
 2nd pers. quit (for qawalt) quit! (for qawaltl) 
 
 3rd pers. qal (for qawal) qalit (for qawalit) 
 
 Plukal foe both Genders 
 qulna (for qawalna) 
 qultu, qultum (for qawaltu-m) 
 qalu, qalum (for qawalu-m) 
 
 AORIST 
 Singular 
 1st pers. aqul (for aqwul) aqiil 
 
 2nd pers. tiqiil ^ tequl (for tiqwul) tiqult, teqiili (for 
 
 tiqwuli) 
 3rd pers. yiqiil, yeqiil (for yiqwul) tiqill, tequl 
 
 1 In some of these verbs the middle radical was originally h, 
 or some other guttural ; cf. dahas and das, both meaning to 
 crush, sh&b he grey and the literary shahiba, Amharic mala 
 sioear with Ethiop. mahala. 
 
 2 The 1st pers. sing, of the aor. of 'az take refuge is pro- 
 nounced a'lizu in the expression a'uzu billah, as in the literary 
 
170 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Plueal fob both Genders 
 niqul, nequl (for niqwul) 
 tiqulu-m, tequlu-m (for tiqwulu-m) 
 yiqulu-m, yequlu-m (for yiqwulu-m) 
 Imperat. masc. qui, fern. quli. Plur. qulii. 
 Particip. act. qayil (qa'il). Particip. pass, not in use.i 
 
 Remark a. — The Nahwy passive of this verb, qil (for quwil), 
 with its aor. yuqal (for yuqwal), is occasionally used impersonally, 
 and consequently only in the 3rd pers. singular. 
 
 Remark 5. — A few verbs retain the w in the participle, as 
 tawi' obeying (also tayi'). The participle of 'az want is either 
 'awiz (in pronunciation almost 'auz) or 'ayiz ('ayz). Yi'lz, ye'iz, 
 are sometimes heard for yi'uz, ye'uz. Nam deep makes nimt, 
 jtiimna, &c., in the past tense, though it is for nawam.^ 
 
 § 198. Sa' contain, khaf ^ fear, nam,* and zal (in the expres- 
 sion lam yazal, § 545) take a in the final syllable of the aorist.^ 
 All others take u. A few are conjugated like verbs with medial 
 y in the primitive form, and in the derived forms like those with 
 medial w, as hal refer, hilt I referred, aor. ahll, but hauwil, ithauwil, 
 &c. ; ta' obey, yitl', makes tauwa' or taiya' in the first derived 
 form; 'an ZieZp, lift, 1st pers. 'int, aor. yi'ln, but II. 'awin or 
 (contracted) 'aun. 
 
 § 199. Verbs of this class whose final radical is y (being thus 
 doubly imperfect) are not subject to the contractions described 
 above, as kawa iron, aor. akwi ; nor are the following : — 
 
 tiwil 5 
 
 ghawat (and 
 its passive 
 ghuwut) 
 
 hawas 
 
 groio tall 
 dig down deep 
 
 talk con- 
 
 dawakh 
 
 dawash 
 ziwir 
 'a wag 
 
 inake giddy, 
 overpowe)- 
 deafen 
 choke 
 bend 
 
 
 fusedly, 
 drive silly 
 
 kawa' 
 khawat 
 
 recline 
 bother 
 
 hawal 
 
 squint 
 
 
 
 language. It will not be forgotten that the first syllable is pro- 
 nounced very short, except when, as occasionally happens, u is 
 substituted for i or e, as yumflt he dies (for yimut). 
 
 1 Mitqal or minqal are used instead ; so mindas trodden on, (fee. 
 
 2 Literary nawima. In the literary language all these have 
 t for the second vowel. 
 
 3 Yukhaf is sometimes heard for yikhaf . 
 
 * Nam is often used with a passive signification, as il qizd.z da 
 lazim yenam these bottles must be laid down. 
 
 5 Also tal, especially in the sense of to reach, he long enough. 
 
THE WEAK VERBS 
 
 171 
 
 Thus the particip. act. of khawat is khfi,wit, its particip. pass, 
 makhwiit, its fourth derived form itkhawat. The particip. pass, of 
 'awag is ma'ug (for ma'wflq) ; the seventh form of dawakh and 
 dawash, indawakh and indawash respectively. 
 
 § 200. Of these verbs, tiwil, ghawat i ghuwut, and ziwir take 
 a in the aorist, the rest i (dawakh and kawa' irregularly)'.^ 
 
 § 201. The following are instances of the derived forms of 
 those which contract -.-^ 
 
 I. 
 
 dauwar ^ 
 
 turn round 
 
 (dar) 
 
 
 
 tauwib 
 
 cause to repent (tab) 
 
 II. 
 
 gSwir 
 
 he neiglibom 
 
 ■to 
 
 
 
 gS,wib or (by 
 
 answer 
 
 
 1st pers. gawibt ; aor. 
 
 
 contraction) 
 
 
 
 agaub ; imperat. 
 
 
 gaub 
 
 
 
 gaub; particip. me- 
 gaub 
 
 III. 
 
 aqim 
 
 reside 
 
 
 1st pers. aqamt;* aor. 
 aqlm ; particip. 
 muqtm,^ meqim 
 
 IV. 
 
 ithash 
 
 he kept off 
 
 
 1st pers. ithasht ; aor. 
 athash ; particip. 
 mith^sh 
 
 V. 
 
 iddauwar 
 ishshauwaq 
 
 he turned n 
 long for 
 
 ound 
 
 
 
 iggauwiz 
 
 he married, 
 
 inarr 
 
 ■y 
 
 VI. 
 
 ittawil ('ala) 
 
 assault, abuse 
 
 
 
 ittaub (for 
 
 yaion 
 
 
 pai'ticip. mittawib, 
 
 
 ittawib) 
 
 
 
 mittaub 
 
 VII. 
 
 inhash 
 
 he kept off, 
 away 
 
 get 
 
 1st pers. inhasht ; aor. 
 anhslsh 
 
 
 inhawag (un- 
 
 heg 
 
 
 aor. yinhiwig 
 
 
 contracted) 
 
 
 
 
 VIII. 
 
 ihtag or (un- 
 contracted) 
 ihtawag 
 
 heg 
 
 
 1st pers. ihtagt or 
 ilitawagt ; aor. 
 aht^g or ahtiwig ; 
 particip. mihtag or 
 mihtiwig 
 
 1 Ghawat is rarely used, especially in the past tense, the 
 second form, ghauwat, generally taking its place. 
 
 2 See § 141 (2). " s Qr dauwar. 
 
 * Observe that in the derived forms the a of the past tense 
 is maintained throughout. 
 
 ^ III. is very rarely used. Istiqam (istaqam), with same 
 meaning, is more common than aqam. 
 
172 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 IX. iswadd 
 
 turn black 
 
 X, istigab^ or (un- grant a request 
 contracted) 
 istagwib interrogate 
 
 istamwit 
 XI. Not in use. 
 
 pretend to he 
 dead or wretched 
 
 1st pers. iswaddet ; 
 aor. aswadd ; parti- 
 cip. miswidd i 
 
 1st pers. istigabt, is- 
 tagwibt ; aor. asti- 
 gab, astagwib ; par- 
 ticip. mistigab, mis- 
 tagwib 
 
 Remark a. — Nam sleep, lie down, has usually naiyim put to 
 sleep, lay down, for its first derived form, as though the middle 
 radical were y, but nauwim is occasionally heard. Qaiyim raise 
 (from qam) ^ is sometimes used for qauwim, but savours of fellah 
 idiom. Tah go astray has tauwih, meaning to lead astray, and 
 taiyih to deal haughtily with.* 
 
 Remark 6. — The i of the first and fifth foims sometimes 
 becomes u under tlie influence of the first syllable, as khauwuf 
 frighten, itkhauwuf (for khauwif, ifec). 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 bar 
 
 he left idle, on \ 
 
 itbauwish 
 
 succeed to 
 
 
 one's hands 
 
 inbas 
 
 he kissed 
 
 bash 
 
 soak 
 
 istigar 
 
 call to assist- 
 
 tab 
 
 repent 
 
 
 a7ice 
 
 tab 'an 
 
 give up 
 
 istatwil nafsu hold one's head 
 
 hash 
 
 keep, keep away 
 
 
 high 
 
 bas 
 
 kiss 
 
 ridit 
 
 J consented 
 
 fat 
 
 pass, leave 
 
 mu'min 
 
 ieliever, faith- 
 
 'auwaq 
 
 delay, he long 
 
 
 ful 
 
 fauwit 
 
 let pass ; 
 
 akhras 
 
 deaf and dumb 
 
 hauwish 
 
 hoard 
 
 qilla 
 
 scarcity 
 
 liawit 
 
 surround 
 
 hagar 
 
 stone 
 
 qawil 
 
 give contract to. 
 
 buda'a 
 
 goods 
 
 
 engage < 
 
 hawa 
 
 atmosphere 
 
 1 Pern, miswidda, but the form miswadda is used as a sub- 
 stantive meaning a rough copy. 
 
 ^ Occasionally pronounced istagab. 
 
 ^ Note qam yequm rise, but qam yeqim raise. 
 
 ■* No doubt they are in reality distinct verbs. 
 
THE WEAK VEKBS 173 
 
 EXERCISE 61 
 
 Qillit is silq tibauwar il bad&'a. Lamma baqa 1 'esh n^shif 
 bushiiah fi 1 moiya. Ummu htawagit 11 fi i kam qirsh w ana 
 ma rditsh addihum liha. II malaka tbauwishit matrab 'ammiha. 
 Ikhwdnt 'ayzln yitauwibUnl 'an shurb id dukbkb^n. II bihtm 
 beyittaub zsy il insfin. Leh ma stigartilsb lamma darabilkfi.? 
 It tabbakha beta'itna miggauwiza wahid akhras. Ana thasbte 
 min Id il bulls we nattet fi 1 bahr. Mush lazim tittawil 'ala 
 n n^s we tishtimhum. Hlya betistatwil nafsiba we tiftikir 
 inniha wahda kblra. Intt lamma qumtt mush qultl 11 abaddar 
 il futur ? Kunna mnaiyimlnu fi 1 ard 'ashan neshilfu taiyib. II 
 'askar liautit il biyAt. Huwa 'aunnl min 'andu bi kam nuss. 
 II 6da beta'itna miswidda kulliha min id dukhkban beta' furne 
 garna. Inta meqawil min 'ala sh shugble da? II mara dt 
 tihwil bi 1 'enen litnln. Qull 11 min darabik. Ir ragil da ma 
 yekbaf she min Allah. Ma fish liaga tikhauwufu abadan. Inta 
 shayf ir ragil da walla ma ntash shayf u ? 
 
 EXERCISE 62 
 
 Didn't you see her when she was passing the house ? Let me 
 pass, please. We went to bed ^ yesterday at half-past ten and got 
 up at a quarter to nine ; how many ^ hours did we sleep ? Did 
 you kiss the lady's hand ? Why didn't you keep the dogs away 
 from us ? The ladder is (too) short ; it won't reach. The lady 
 wants you ; go (and) see her. Don't be frightened, girl ; he 
 won't bite you. Put your hand before your mouth when you 
 yawn. They were hoarding up their money for ■• years. This 
 stone has been kissed by thousands of* the faithful. The 
 atmosphere of the court overpowered the judges. She raised 
 her child from ^ the ground and put him on a chair. They were 
 reclining on sofas in the dining-room. Don't be long. 
 
 § 202. There are no verbs with lo for the final radical. 
 
 VERBS WHOSE INITIAL RADICAL IS Y 
 
 § 203. These are very few in number, and offer no peculiarity, 
 except that the syllables ti, yi, ni become U, yi and nt, as yibis 
 become hard, aybas^ (aor.), tlbas, ylbas, &c. The imperat., if 
 used, would be ibas. 
 
 1 Begged of me. We might equally well say ihtagit 11. 
 
 2 nam. ^ kam, with substantive in sing. 
 * min. ^ niin 'ala. 
 
 '^ Note the a in the second syllable of the aor., yibis being of 
 the class of verbs cited in § 141 (3). 
 
174 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 VERBS WHOSE MEDIAL RADICAL IS Y 
 
 § 204. In these verbs the following contractions take place: — 
 {a) In the past tense of the simple verb the y, with its pre- 
 ceding and following vowels, contracts into a when the latter of 
 these two vowels is followed by a single consonant, and into i 
 when it is followed by two consonants ; while in the aorist the 
 y, with its following vowel, contracts into i. The changes which 
 take place in the derived forms are identical with those which 
 occvTr in the lu verbs. 
 
 § 205. The following is an example of the conjugation of a 
 verb of this class : — 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. bi't (for baya't) bi't Isold 
 
 2nd pers. bi't bi'tl 
 
 3rd pers. ba' ba'it (for baya'it) 
 
 Plural fou both Gexdehs 
 1st pers. bi'na (for baya'na) 
 2nd pers. bi'tu-m (for baya'tu-m) 
 3rd pers. ba'ti-m (for baya'u-m) 
 
 Imperat. bl', bi'l, bi'u. 
 
 Particip. act. bayi' (ba'i').i Particip. pass. mebl'. 
 
 Remabk. — The uncontracted form of the passive participle 
 appears in ma'yub dishonoured, insulted, madyfln indebted (from 
 disused dan), and a few others; tash he light-headed makes 
 matwilsh more often than matyiish.^ 
 
 § 206. Ban apjJear, bat pass the night, and sha' (for shaya') ^ 
 take a in the aorist (making aban, &c.). Hab/ea;- and nail obtai?i 
 generally make tihlb, yinil, but occasionally yuhab, yunal.* 
 
 Remark. — The verb khayal dazzle does not contract either 
 in the simple verb or in any of the derived forms. 
 
 1 The a of the participle in ayi sometimes sounds nearly as e, 
 as biiyi', beyi' (or bii'i, (fee). (See § 3.) Similarly, verbs with w 
 for the middle radical, but some of them often contract to one 
 syllable. (See above.) 
 
 2 The particip. pass, is not much used, that of the fourth or 
 seventh derived form generally taking its place. 
 
 2 For the conjugation of sha', see § 191. 
 
 * u for i in the first syllable, apparently in the belief that it 
 sounds educated. 
 
THE WEAK VEEBS 
 
 175 
 
 § 207. The derived forms are as follows : — 
 
 I. khaiyat 
 
 sew 
 
 
 'aiyid ('ala) 
 
 visit on a fete clay 
 
 
 sgyib (for saiyib) 
 
 let go 
 
 
 II. sayis (generally 
 
 
 
 contracted) 
 
 
 
 'ayir 
 
 reproach 
 
 
 III. a'ashi 
 
 make live 
 
 aor. a'isb 
 
 IV. itbi' 
 
 be sold 
 
 atba', mitba' 
 
 V. itbSyin (for 
 
 to make clear 
 
 
 itbaiyin) 
 
 
 
 VI. it'ayiq 
 
 think oneself a dandy 
 
 
 iddayin 
 
 be in debt 
 
 
 VII. inba' 
 
 be sold 
 
 anba', minb&' 
 
 VIII. ihtar 
 
 be puzzled 
 
 yihtar, mihtar 
 
 IX. ibyadd 
 
 turn white 
 
 abyadd, mibyidd 
 
 X. istigis's 
 
 call for help 
 
 astigfis, mistigis 
 
 istatyib (uncon- 
 
 find good, approve 
 
 
 tracted) 
 
 XI. istiraiyab. 8 (or rest, repose 
 istireyab) 
 
 Remark. — The first syllable of the first form is sometimes 
 very hurriedly pronounced, as though its vowel were «, as siyibha 
 (or isyibha, see § 15), for seyibha let her go. The first and fifth 
 forms occasionally take w for y, although the aorist is regular, as 
 zad increase, aor. yiztd, but zauwid, izzauwid (for zaiyid, &c.). 
 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 
 qad 
 
 light 
 
 khaiyish 
 
 put lorapping 
 
 'ash 
 
 live 
 
 
 (khesh) on 
 
 bad 
 
 lay eggs 
 
 daiyin 
 
 charge with a 
 
 sai 
 
 flow down 
 
 
 debt 
 
 qas 
 
 try on 
 
 beyin 
 
 expose 
 
 shai 
 
 raise,takeaway 
 
 isseyib 
 
 be let go, escape 
 
 'aliaq 
 
 hang, put to 
 
 iddayin min 
 
 be made a 
 
 haiyar 
 
 perplex 
 
 
 debtor by. 
 
 saiyah 
 
 melt (act.) 
 
 
 owe 
 
 1 But no verbs of this form can be fairly said to exist in the 
 colloquial language. 
 
 2 Istaqam is sometimes used for istiqam, and some others 
 similarly both of the w and y class. 
 
 ^ This form is in use also in other spoken dialects. 
 
176 
 
 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 ikhtar 
 
 choose 
 
 
 ras is Sana 
 
 Nevj Yeafs 
 
 (ikhtar) 
 
 
 
 
 Day 
 
 istad 
 
 fish 
 
 
 khaiyata 
 
 dressmalcer 
 
 inshal 
 
 be carried away 
 
 wadi (pi. 
 
 valley 
 
 inzad 
 
 increase. 
 
 rise 
 
 widyan) 
 
 
 zalam 
 
 wrong 
 
 
 ketir ma 
 
 often 
 
 beyin 
 
 evident 
 
 
 (before 
 
 
 wasakha 
 
 dirt 
 
 
 verb) 
 
 
 fanus 
 
 lantern 
 
 
 ghasbe ^ 'an 
 ikminn 
 
 in spite of 
 because 
 
 EXERCISE 63 
 
 Usbui' lamma beyil lak il mas'ala min auwilha li akhirha. 
 Euh. ir rastabl we qui li s sayis ^ yi'allaq il khel bi 1 'arablya, 
 we yegibhum halan. Humma ma ya'rat'iish yi'milu eh ; mibtarln 
 khalis. Allah ya'raf il 'ayib min il ma'yub wi z zalim min il 
 mazliim. Huwa khtar leinnu yil'ab waiyaya ma yil'abshe waiyah. 
 Lazim tikhaiyish is sanadlq bi 1 khesh qabl is safar. II wasakha 
 dl hatinshal min hina kulliha. Ihna bitna nbaxih akhir marra 
 fi bitna ; bihnah li garna. Ana ma kuntish 'auz adrabu ; il 
 'asaya sseyibit min Idl ghasbe 'annt. Beyin 'alek innak ma 
 nimtish tul il lei. Kanit sheyla bintiha 'ala ra=ha. Qid il 
 fawants betl' il 'arabiya. II mahkam.a daiyinitu bi rasm il 
 •qadtya. Ir ragil da ddayin minnl kam qirsh. Huwa tamallf 
 mashl mit'ayiq fi nafsu fi s sikak. Kan me'ayi-u ikminmi ma 
 kramnlsh zey innas. 
 
 EXERCISE 64 
 
 I told you to bring ^ me two chairs ; why didn't you bring 
 them to me ? I have lived all my life in the same * village and 
 in the same* house. We often pass the night in town.* The 
 white hen has laid two eggs. The matter puzzles me altogether.*" 
 I am not going to increase your pay until "■ your work is ^ better. 
 The Nile is rising every day. A groom who does not know (how) 
 to manage" a horse is no groom. i" We are going to get up 
 early to-morrow morning and fish in the sea. It was New Year's 
 
 1 Sometimes pronounced ghazh. 
 - Pronounce almost says. 
 '* Trans, you bring. 
 
 khalis. 
 Aor. 
 
 Trans, in one. 
 ilia lamma. 
 mush ismu savis. 
 
 ^ In the town. 
 ^ Aor. of kan. 
 
THE WEAK VERBS 177 
 
 Day, and all the inhabitants ^ were paying each other visits. 
 The sun causes the snow to melt on the mountains and flow 
 down into the valleys. My sister is going to ^ the dressmaker 
 to-morrow to try on ^ her new ball * dress. 
 
 VERBS WHOSE FINAL RADICAL IS Y 
 
 § 208. These verbs are of the forms barak and birik, but 
 drop the y, leaving the vowel of the final syllable somewhat 
 lengthened. It is pronounced fully long when the negative 
 suffix -sh or the shortened forms of the personal pronouns are 
 attached, or when it is, for any other reason, accented. 
 
 Remabk. — A few neuter verbs take the form burik for birik,^ 
 but optionally, as 'usi be rebellious (for 'isi). 
 
 § 209. The conjugation of the simple verb is as follows : — 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 Singular 
 
 MASO. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. taf§t tafet I extinguished 
 
 2nd pers. taf^t tafetl 
 
 3rd pers. tafS, (for tafay) tafit (for tafayit) 
 
 Plubal for both Genders 
 1st pers. tafena 
 2nd pers. tafStIi (-m) 
 3rd pers. tafl (-m) 
 
 
 
 
 AORIST 
 
 
 
 
 
 Singular 
 
 
 1st 
 
 pers. 
 
 atft 
 
 
 atfl 
 
 2nd 
 
 pers. 
 
 titfl 
 
 
 titfl 
 
 3rd 
 
 pers. 
 
 yitft 
 
 
 titfi 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. nitfl 
 2nd pers. titfH (-m) 
 3rd pers. yitfii (-m) 
 
 Imperat. itfl (m. and f.), pi. itfii. 
 Particip. act. tafi. Particip. pass, matfl. 
 
 1 in nas betft' il balad. ^ 'and. 
 
 3 Aor. * beti' il ballu. 
 
 5 It will be remembered that most verbs of the form barak 
 are transitive, while birik is mostly intransitive. 
 
 M 
 
178 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 
 SiNGULAE 
 MASO. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. mishit mishit I walked 
 
 2nd pers. mishit mishltl 
 
 3rd pers. mishl (mishiy) mishyit (mishiyit) 
 
 Plukal fok both Genders 
 
 1st pers. mishina 
 2nd pers. mishltu (-m) 
 3rd pers. mishyii (-m) 
 
 
 
 AORIST 
 
 
 1st pers. 
 
 amshl 
 
 
 
 amshl 
 
 2nd pers. 
 
 timshl 
 
 
 
 timshl 
 
 3rd pers. 
 
 yimshl 
 
 
 
 timshl 
 
 
 Plural 
 
 FOR BOTH Genders 
 
 
 1st 
 
 pers. 
 
 nimshi 
 
 
 
 2nd 
 
 pers. 
 
 timshu (- 
 
 m) 
 
 
 3rd 
 
 pers. 
 
 yimshu (■ 
 
 -m) 
 
 Imperat. imshl (m. and f.), pi. imshu. 
 
 
 Particip. act 
 
 .. mashl. 
 
 
 
 
 § 210. All verbs of this class of the form barak are conju- 
 gated after the first, and all others after the second model. 
 
 Remark a. — Ya'nl tliat is to say is used for yi'ni, from an 
 obsolete 'ana. 
 
 Remark b. — The y or iy of the 3rd pers. sing, of the past 
 tense is sometimes dropped, as mishit (for mishyit, mishiyit), 
 bikit she loept (for bikyit). Baqa become makes baqat (for baqit) ; 
 so tafat optionally for tafit, and a few others similarly ; Istqeifijid 
 occasionally makes liqlt (for laqet) in the 1st and 2nd pers. 
 sing., as though from liqi. The final syllable of the 2nd pers. 
 sing. masc. sometimes sounds as at for et, as ma Iqathumsh I 
 did not find them. 
 
 Remark c. — Verbs of this class of the form birik ai-e almost 
 invariably passive or neuter, and may rarely have a passive 
 participle.^ 
 
 1 Ghili boil has maghll bci/ed ; khizi be eclipsed, makhzl. 
 
THE WEAK VERBS 
 
 179 
 
 § 211. All verbs of this class take i in the 
 the aorist except the following, which take a : — 
 
 baqai 
 tiri 
 
 ghili 
 ghishi^ (or 
 
 ghushi) 
 
 'ala 
 hidi 
 hifi 
 hili 
 himi 
 
 hiyi 
 
 diri 
 difi 
 ridi 
 ra'a 
 
 sa'a 
 
 sihi* 
 
 sihi 
 
 remain, become 
 get soft, cool 
 
 (weather) ^ 
 happen 
 he dear 
 faint 
 
 hecome docile 
 go harefooted 
 be sweet 
 he hot 
 come to life 
 Jcnoio 
 get warm 
 consent, accept 
 see 
 help 
 forget 
 wake 
 
 sifi 
 
 shifis 
 
 shiqi 
 
 'i?i ('usi) 
 
 'ili 
 
 'imi 
 
 fidi 
 
 qara 
 
 qisi (or qasa) 
 
 qiwi 
 
 khiri 
 
 laqa^ 
 
 mala 
 
 misi* 
 
 nisi 
 
 witi 
 
 final syllable of 
 
 he hright, 
 limpid 
 
 he healed, get 
 well, heal 
 
 overwork one- 
 self, weary 
 
 disobey, be 
 
 be high 
 he blind 
 he at leisure 
 read 
 he cruel 
 be powerful, 
 autocratic 
 
 find 
 fill 
 
 hecome evening 
 forget 
 be loio 
 
 and a few passives and neuters, as tifi (or tafa) ^ he extinguished, 
 shifi (and shufi) he healed, khifi (or khufi) be hidden, hide oneself 
 in shame, khizi (and khuzi) be ashamed, he given the lie, be eclipsed, 
 khishi be shy (aor. sometimes yukhsha for yikhsha), nigi (naga) ^ 
 he saved, escape. 
 
 Remake. — The fern. sing, of the imperat. of these verbs ends 
 in %, as in the case of those whose aorists take i, as masc. imla 
 fill, fern. imll. 
 
 1 The final vowel of these verbs is not pronounced sufficiently 
 long for it to be necessary to continue to mark it with a 
 circumflex. 
 
 2 Id dinya tarrit is more usual than id dinya tiryit. 
 8 Used impersonally. 
 
 * Used also impersonally, sihi (or suhi) 'aleh, misi 'aleh (il 
 waqt). 
 
 ^ Act. shafa heal, yishfi. 
 
 s Also yilql. 
 
 ^ So that we have tafa yitfi extinguish, tafa yitfa he extin- 
 guished. ^ But naga yingl save. 
 
180 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 bada 
 
 begin 
 
 lihiq 
 
 bara 
 
 sharpen 
 
 shaql 
 
 haka 
 
 relate 
 
 bisab 
 
 ragha 
 
 froth, foam, 
 effervesce 
 
 fatla 
 
 qala 
 
 fi-y 
 
 ragbwa 
 
 qada 
 
 do, perform 
 
 
 tana 
 
 fold 
 
 bikaya 
 
 bana 
 
 build 
 
 ibriq 
 
 khafa 
 
 hide 
 
 sbam'a 
 
 rama 
 
 throw 
 
 sbarr 
 
 rakha 
 
 loosen, let groio 
 
 darb 
 
 hama 
 
 protect 
 
 ballast 
 
 giri 
 
 run, flotv 
 
 kasar6iia 
 
 risi 
 
 reach, come to 
 
 bi 1 lei 
 
 
 agreement 
 
 lagl 
 
 
 EXER( 
 
 ]ISE 65 
 
 reach, overtake 
 
 unruly 
 
 account 
 
 piece of string, 
 ^c. 
 
 froth, efferves- 
 cence 
 
 tale 
 
 pot 
 
 candle 
 
 wickedness 
 
 striking, blow 
 
 pitcher 
 
 saucepan 
 
 at night 
 
 in order that 
 
 Yibqa lak kam qirsh min il bisab ? Hiya tamalli tibdi bi 1 
 kalam qable ma yikkallimu n nas. Ibri li 1 qalam da min fadlak. 
 Biklna qawl lamma smi'na 1 khabar. Tanu 1 fatla marraten 
 'ashan tibqa gamda we ma tinkisirsh. II qamar makhzl ; ruhi 
 sbufih qable ma yitla'. II binte tikhza minnina, mush radya 
 tiqabilna. Ana grtt (girlt) 'ala akhir nafasi^ wi Ihiqtu fi 1 
 mahatta qabl il babiir ma yequm. Ihku li 1 hikaya kulliha 
 'ashan a'raf gara Ikum eh. A.na mush 'arif 'ashan §h ma yirdash 
 yis'a 11 fi 1 mas'ala. Sihyu 'ala darb is s&'a tamam. II blra dl 
 betirght raghwa kblra^ we tibqa qayma li foq. Ihna risina 
 waiya ba'd 'ala kede. Ma tinslsh titfi ^ 1 lamda qable ma trfihl. 
 II husan hidi ba'de ma kan shaql. Ihnl tulak lagle tiqdar tefut. 
 Mush lazim ti'sa 1 bulls. 
 
 EXEEOISE 66 
 
 Where did you find my hat ? Say to the gu-l : Fill youi- 
 pitcher from the river. Were they running when you saw 
 them? Don't pom- the water in the teapot* till^ it boils. 
 She refuses (doesn't consent) to come with us. She doesn't let 
 
 1 I.p. till I had no breath left. 2 gge § 103. 
 
 ^ The first derived form tafEa is in more common use. 
 * beta' ish shay. s iHa lamma. 
 
THE WEAK VEKBS 181 
 
 her bair grow. At what time do you want to wake to-morrow ? 
 The boys throw a bucket of water over his head. The men were 
 watering their fields from the canal. Why didn't you (/'.) put 
 out the candle before you went to bed ? If ^ you read too much 
 at night you will grow blind. I want you to do ^ something for 
 me. The cook was cooking fish in the saucepan. The goods 
 are getting dearer ^ every day. Are you going on foot ? * This 
 house was not built ^ when I came here. God protect us from 
 the wickedness of our enemies. 
 
 § 212. The first derived form is constructed regularly, except 
 that the vowel of the final syllable is invariably a as well as that 
 of the first. Thus from mala is formed malla, from mishi, mashsha. 
 The conjugation is as follows : — 
 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 
 1st pers. 
 2nd pers. 
 3rd pers. 
 
 SiNGULAK 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 rabbgt rabbet I educated 
 rabbet rabb^ti 
 rabba rabbit 
 
 
 Plueal for both Genders 
 
 SMARK b.— 
 
 1st pers. rabbena 
 2nd pers. rabb§t1i (-m) 
 3rd pers. rabbH (-m) 
 
 -Khallat is usually said for khallit. 
 
 AORIST 
 
 Singular 
 
 1st pers. arabbi arabbi 
 
 2nd pers. tirabbi ® tirabbl 
 
 3rd pers. yu'abbi tirabbl. 
 
 Imperat. rabbi (m. and f.), rabbii (-m). 
 
 Particip. merabbi (whether in active, passive, or neuter 
 sense). 
 
 Remark. — The passive participle is generally supplied by the 
 simple verb or one of the other derived forms. Masmi (or, as it 
 
 1 izakan with aor. ^ Trans. / want you do (aor). 
 
 3 Trans, getting dear. * Particip. of misht. 
 
 5 Particip. pass. '^ Or terabbl, &c. 
 
182 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 is generally pronounced, mesml) is used as the passive participle 
 of samma to name, though the simple verb sama is not in use. 
 Idda give has middi for the active participle. 
 
 § 213. The following are examples of the other derived 
 forms : — 
 
 II. la,qiifind, aor. alaqi, imperat. laqi, particip. m.elaql. 
 III. a'ta give, 1st pers. a'tet, &c., aor. a'ti, ti'tl, &c.,i im- 
 perat. i'tt, (fee, particip. mu'tl. 
 
 ikhla 
 
 let go 
 
 imsa 
 
 become evening 
 
 ifta2 
 
 pronounce a 
 
 irma 
 
 throw 
 
 
 fetwa 
 
 isqa 
 
 water 
 
 IV. itbara he sharpened, aor. atbiri, imperat. itbiri, parti- 
 cip. mitbiri. 
 "V". iddaflfa warm oneself, aor. addaflfa, imperat. iddaffa 
 (fern, iddaffl), particip. middafFi. 
 VI. iddara hide oneself, aor. addara, imperat. iddara, par- 
 ticip. middari. 
 it'afa get strong. 
 VII. intafa he extinguished, aor. antifi, imperat. intifl, par- 
 ticip. mintifi. 
 VIII. iltaqa _;?K(i, meet, aor. altiqi, imperat. iltiql, particip. 
 miltiqi.8 
 IX. Not in use. 
 
 X. istabda hegin, aor. astabda, imperat. istabda, particip. 
 mistabdl, 
 XI. istilaqqa catch, receive,'^ aor.astilaqqa, imperat. istilaqqa, 
 particip. mistilaqqi. 
 istikhabba hide oneself. 
 
 Remark. — The learner will have no difficulty in completing 
 the conjugation of the above verbs after the models of the simple 
 verb and the first derived form. 
 
 1 Ta'ti, &c., is sometimes heard for ti'ti, in the belief, perhaps, 
 that it is educated, though the literary form is tu'tiyu. 
 
 2 Also afta. 
 
 3 Mishtari huying, ciisiomer, is sometimes heard for mishtiri, 
 mistawi cooked, very rarely for mistiwi. Instead of imtala be 
 filled, intala is often heard. 
 
 * Istalqa is also used with the same meaning. 
 
THE WEAK VEEBS 
 
 183 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 garra 
 
 mdlte run 
 
 inhasha 
 
 be stuffed 
 
 ghalla 
 
 boil (act.) 
 
 inbana 
 
 be built 
 
 salla 
 
 saij one's 
 
 irtada 
 
 consent 
 
 
 prayers 
 
 istahla 
 
 find sweet 
 
 'adda 
 
 cross 
 
 istasma ('an) 
 
 inquire name of 
 
 'abba 
 
 fill, load 
 
 ista'ta 
 
 take (drinks, 
 
 naqqa 
 
 choose, select 
 
 
 drugs, (fee.) 
 
 g^iza, 
 
 punish 
 
 istiliamma 
 
 take a bath 
 
 r^'a 
 
 tend sheep, 
 
 haffad 
 
 make learn by 
 
 
 watch; chas- 
 
 
 heart 
 
 
 tise 
 
 qass 
 
 cut 
 
 itrama 
 
 he thrown away 
 
 'auwar 
 
 ruin 
 
 itkhafa 
 
 hide 
 
 luqma 
 
 morsel, mouth- 
 
 itqala 
 
 he fried 
 
 
 ful 
 
 idda'a 
 
 pretend 
 
 shambanya 
 
 champagne 
 
 idda'a 'ala 
 
 accuse 
 
 himu 
 
 heat 
 
 itrabba 
 
 he brought up 
 
 lot 
 
 board 
 
 itkhafEa 
 
 disguise one- 
 
 'alqa 
 
 a thrashing 
 
 
 self 
 
 ma'dlya 
 
 ferry 
 
 itqalla 
 
 he fried. 
 
 loz 
 
 almonds 
 
 
 scorched 
 
 g6z 
 
 walnuts 
 
 
 EXEEC 
 
 ISE 67 
 
 
 Ish she illi ma yinfa'sh yitrimt. Ma tkhalllsh hadde yekhush- 
 she qable is s&'a khamsa. Ba'd il masarwa yitrabbft fi blad barra. 
 Kull in nas yistahlu s sukkar il masri 'an bet^' barra. Ruh. 
 istasma 'an sahb il arde dl. II harS,miya fidlu mistikhabbiyln fi 
 waraq is sagara lamma ntafit il lamda. Htiwa min muddit talat 
 sinin ma stihammS,sh. Rub itkbift min Hna ! Mush 'auz asma' 
 il kaMm da wala ' shM wishsbak. Rub itkhaffa bi libse tant 
 ghir illi 'alek. Quite li t tabbakba : dafft li 1 luqma di shuwaiya 
 'ala n ntx. Hiiwa rtada Mkin ana ma rditsb. Ha trabbl sha'r 
 min tant ^ ba'de ma qassetu ? II khoga ra'a 1 walad 'alqa 'ala 
 rigllh 'ashan yibaffadu 1 I6I1. Khallt balak lamma tiftah ish 
 shambanya btya tirghl wi tqiim minnak. Ha titqalla bi himu 
 ish shams iza qa'adte hendk. Rib f^n? ana mush melaqtySh. 
 Ana mush fadi ; riih inta wi stilaqqahum. Intalat il qizaza walla 
 
 For wala ashM. 
 
 ■ grow again. 
 
184 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 lissa ? II kharM yinhishi bi 16z u g6z u gheru. Htya betiddi'i 
 'allya inm saraqte kisha. II walad kan masml Mahmiid. Allah 
 yigazfk ! 
 
 EXERCISE 68 
 
 Go (and) warm yourself a little by ' the fire. Go (to) the 
 market and buy me a little meat and some vegetables. When 
 do you want to begin ? He made me run all over ^ the town. 
 Boil me a little water in a saucepan. Hide yourself there tiU 
 he comes. He has gone to say his prayers.^ The house will be 
 built on the piece of land in front of your garden. Don't load 
 the guns before I tell you. You (f.) mustn't disguise yourself. 
 We crossed the river in the ferry. (Those) who take hashish 
 repent. Wait a little and I will give you a piastre each.* The 
 potatoes were frying in the kitchen. We have bought them all ; 
 choose one for yourself. When you(/.) take a bath, don't forget 
 the soap. 
 
 § 214. Doubly imperfect or weak verbs are those which have 
 ID or y for their initial or medial radical, and y for their final 
 radical. They thus combine the peculiarities of twa classes of 
 weak verbs. 
 
 § 216. The following are examples of the simple verb and 
 derived forms. 
 
 Aor. Imper. Particip. 
 wafa fulfil, complete aufl, tufi ilfi (act.) w^ft 
 
 (pass.) maufi. 
 wi'i^ he aware au'a li'a (act;) wa't 
 
 (f.) il'i 
 rawa irrigate arwt irwi (act.) rawl 
 
 (pass.) 
 marwt. 
 'iyi he ill a'ya, ti'ya, &c. 
 
 I. warra show awarrt, &c. 
 
 II. dftwa treat (medically) adawi, dawi, ifec. 
 III. lira" show aurt, tM, &c. (pass.) 
 
 mauri '' 
 ihya « restore to life ahyt 
 
 Aorist. 
 
 ^ 'and. 2 fikuii_ 
 
 * I'o each one. ^ Wa'a is also used. 
 
 8 For aura, but the u is not generally pronounced very long. 
 This form is not nearly as frequent as warra. 
 '' As though from a simple form, wara. 
 ^ Very little used. 
 
DEFECTIVE TEILITEEAL VEEBS 185 
 
 IV. Itrawa he watered, atriwi, mitriwi.^ 
 V. Itwaflfa ^ die, atwaff§,, mitwaffi. 
 Itrauwa he watered, quenched. 
 VI. Idd^wa he treated, addawS,, midd^wl. 
 Issiwa agree, conspire. 
 VII. Ittawa he folded, antiwl, mintiwl.i 
 VIII. Istawa he ripe, cooked, agree, astiwi, mistiwi. 
 IX. No example. 
 X. Istahwa catch cold, astahwS, mistahwl. 
 Istaufa he completed, astauffi,, mistaufi. 
 XI. No example. 
 
 Eemark a. — The verb liiyi Las istaha hlush as the tenth de- 
 rived form (for istahy^),^ aor. astiht (for astahya), particip. mistihl. 
 Eemark b. — The following verbs take a in the aorist : — 
 
 sawa * he worth I 'iyi be ill 
 
 hiyi revive | wi'i beware 
 
 Wufi be completed (of a term, (fee), though a pure passive, 
 makes yufl only.^ 
 
 DEFECTIVE AND lEEEGULAE TEILITEEAL VEEBS 
 
 § 216. It will not, of course, be supposed that all the parts of 
 any particular verb are in use. In some cases the meaning of a 
 word will restrict its use to one or two forms, or even to a single 
 tense ; in others, habit has for one reason or another preferred 
 some forms or tenses to others. Thus the imperat. ishmil keep to 
 the left, with the aorist ashmil, will frequently be heard, though 
 the past tense shamal has fallen into disuse. There are com- 
 paratively few verbs possessing more than eight or nine derived 
 forms. 
 
 1 Marwl and matwi are used by preference. 
 
 2 Jjiterally, be fu/Jilled. The classical form tuwaffl (or tiwaffl) 
 is sometimes heard. 
 
 ^ Istahya in the written language means to revive, istaha to 
 hlush, the simple verb (hayiya) also bearing both these meanings. 
 
 * Sawa is used in the same sense as, and much more fre- 
 quently than, the simple verb. 
 
 ^ Or perhaps we should say that it is not used at all in the 
 aorist, the active form wafa, which sometimes has itself a passive 
 sense, being used instead ; thus wafit (or wufyit) il mudda tfie term 
 was completed, but tufi 1 mudda (only) the term loill he completed. 
 
186 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 217. The verb ga' (or gih) come, which in classical Arabic is 
 written ga'a (for gaya'a), is conjugated as follows in Oairene : — 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 Singular 
 
 MASC, FEM. 
 
 1st pers. get, git get, gtt 
 
 2nd pers. get, git get}, giti 
 
 3rd pers. ga', gih ; negat. gat 
 ma gash 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 
 1st pers. gena, gina 
 
 2nd pers. getii, gitli (-m) 
 
 3rd pers. gu, gum 
 
 AORIST 
 
 1st pers. agi agi 
 
 2nd pers. tigt, tlgi tigi, ttgl 
 
 3rd pers. yigl, yigi tigl, tlgt 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. nigi, nlgl 
 2nd pers. tigu, tigH (-m) 
 3rd pers. yigii, yigu (-m) 
 
 Imperat. masc. ta'ala, ta'a ;j f em. ta'ali, ta'i ; plur. ta'alii, 
 ta'a.i 
 
 Particip. act. masc. gay, gay, ge ; f em. gaya, gaya ; plur. 
 gayln, gayin.2 
 
 Remark. — The a of ga' is lengthened (the qat'a disappearing), 
 not only with the negative sign, but whenever it is accented, as 
 ganl, ga lak he came to me, to you, &c. 
 
 § 218. The word tann, or its lengthened form tannit, with the 
 shortened forms of the pronouns, is used either by itself or with 
 the present participle and occasionally the aorist to express a 
 continued action. It may itself take the preformative syllables 
 of the aorist in addition to the suffixes, or if preceded by 
 riyih, rah, or ha, be conjugated either with or without them, 
 as follows : — 
 
 1 Ta'il is never heard. With the affirmative particle ma 
 (§ 491), tigl, tigil, should be used, but ta'ala-u are sometimes 
 heard. 
 
 2 The y is only half sounded (§ 20). 
 
DEFECTIVE TKILITEKAL VEKBS 187 
 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 
 
 Singular 
 
 1st pers. 
 
 2nd pers. 
 3rd pers. 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 tannl, tannitl,i masht tannl, tannitt,! mashya / 
 
 continued walking 
 tannak, tannitak, mashi tannik, tannitik, mashya 
 tannu, tannitu, masht tanniha, tannitha, mashya 
 
 Plukal for both Genders 
 
 1st pers. tannina, tannitna, mashyln 
 2nd pers. tannukil (-m), tannitku (-m), mashyin 
 3rd pers. tannuhum, tannithum, mashyin 
 
 AORIST 
 
 1st pers. atanni, atanniti, masM atannl, atanniti, mashya 
 
 2nd pers. titannak, titannitak, titannik, titannitik, 
 
 mashl mashya 
 
 3rd pers. yitannu, yitannitu, titanniha, titannitha, 
 
 masht mashya 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 
 1st pers. nitannina, nitannitna, mashyin 
 2nd pers. titannukti (-m), titannitku (-m), mashyin 
 3rd pers. yitannuhum, yitannithum, mashyin 
 
 INDEFINITE FUTURE 
 
 R^yih tanni, atanni, tanniti, atanniti, mashi ; rayha tanniha, 
 ttanniha,^ tannitha, ttannitha,^ mashya, &c. 
 
 Imperat. tannak, tannitak, m&sht ; tannik, tannitik, mashya ; 
 tannukli (-m), tannitktl (-m), mashyin. 
 
 Remark a. — The preformatives of the aorist are sometimes 
 omitted, as 'ashan yinzilum we tannuhum mashyin 'ala tftl that 
 they may go down and loalk straight on. The negative imperative 
 does not necessarily take the preformative t. In the 3rd pers. 
 sing, of the past tense tann may be used without the pronoun 
 (i.e. tanne mfishi for tannu msishi). 
 
 Remark b. — Dann is sometimes heard throughout for tann, 
 but it is in less common use. 
 
 1 Occasionally also tannitnl and tannStnl. 
 
 2 For tinanniha, &c. 
 
188 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 219. The conjunction m^dlm seeing that (composed of m^ 
 and the obsolete verb dam last) som.etimes makes madumt, 
 madumt{, in the 1st and 2nd pers. sing., as madumte get (for 
 madam get) seeing that you have come. It remains unchanged 
 in the other persons. 
 
 § 220. The verb gab iring is very rarely used in the impera- 
 tive, the verb hat ^ give, hring (fern, hatl, pi. hatu), replacing it. 
 
 § 221. The interjection yalla {i.e. ya Allah) sometimes takes 
 the sign of the 2nd pers. of the aorist, as ma tyalla (tiyaUa) 
 come along then I 
 
 THE QUADRILITERAL VERB 
 
 § 222. Quadriliteral verbs may be : — 
 
 {a) Reduplicated forms of weak triliteral verbs, or of tri- 
 literal verbs whose medial and final radical are identical, the 
 second radical in the second case appearing as the final radical 
 of the new verb ; e.g. : — 
 
 bashbish 
 
 soak 
 
 bash 2 
 
 rakhrakh 
 
 loosen 
 
 rakha 
 
 sausa:u 
 
 squeak 
 
 sawa 
 
 basbas 
 
 ogle 
 
 bass 8 
 
 baibil' 
 
 wet 
 
 bail' 
 
 dashdish 
 
 smash to pieces 
 
 dashsh 
 
 sham shim 
 
 sniff 
 
 shamm 
 
 qabqab 
 
 rise, swell 
 
 qabb 
 
 Remark. — Dahdah weaken (originally da'da')* appears to be 
 an intensive form of the perfect verb da'af, the final radical 
 being dropped. 
 
 (6) Lengthened forms of the perfect or weak triliteral, a new 
 letter being added at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end 
 of the word ; e.g. : — 
 
 1 This word is said to be the imperat. of the thii-d form of 
 the obsolete ata come, with prosthetic h after the analogy of the 
 Hebrew. It is not used in any other sense. 
 
 2 The verbs in this column are the triliterals in which the 
 quadrihterals have their origin. They are given in the form in 
 which they bear a similar sense. 
 
 2 Of. the literary basar see. 
 
 * Da'da' is still heard, though less frequently than dahdah. 
 
THE QUADEILITEEAL VEKB 
 
 189 
 
 da'mish 
 
 he half Mind ^ 
 
 'imish 
 
 daMar 
 
 roll, dope 
 
 indahar 
 
 ghatrash 
 
 turn a deaf ear 
 
 tirisb 
 
 issarmah 
 
 live fast 
 
 ramab ^ 
 
 shaqlib 
 
 upset 
 
 qalab 
 
 slia'laq 
 
 suspend 
 
 'alaq 
 
 shaqdif ^ 
 
 throw 
 
 qadaf 
 
 sha'bat 
 
 climb, hold to 
 
 sbibit 
 
 ■khalbat 
 
 confuse 
 
 kbalat 
 
 qarbat 
 
 he stingy 
 
 qarrat 
 
 is§albat 
 
 he incited 
 
 sallat 
 
 kharbaq 
 
 pierce with many holes 
 
 kbaraq, kbarraq 
 
 kbarbisb 
 
 scratch 
 
 kbarasb * 
 
 kharwish 
 
 scratch (as a mouse) 
 
 kbarash * 
 
 qarqasb 
 
 munch. 
 
 qarasb 
 
 idda'bil 
 
 fade 
 
 dibil 
 
 lahlib 
 
 hlaze 
 
 labab 
 
 sha'lil 
 
 hurst out inflames 
 
 sha'al 
 
 zagblil 
 
 he dazed 
 
 zaghal ^ 
 
 halwis 
 
 talk inanely 
 
 hawas 
 
 sbarmat 
 
 tear to pieces 
 
 sharat 
 
 qarmisb 
 
 munch 
 
 qarasb 
 
 farsbin 
 
 spread out 
 
 farash 
 
 itfaltin 
 
 live fast, hecome arogue 
 
 itfalat* 
 
 it'afwin 
 
 grow strong 
 
 it'afa 
 
 itma'yaq 
 
 play the fop 
 
 it'ayiq 
 
 ma'yar 
 
 revile 
 
 %ir 
 
 ma'gin 
 
 make putty 
 
 'agan 
 
 itma'shaq 
 
 hecome enamoured 
 
 it'ashiq 
 
 matwib 
 
 lead astray 
 
 taiyih 
 
 itmakbtar 
 
 swagger 
 
 khatar ^ 
 
 inga'mas 
 
 recline 
 
 inga'as 
 
 1 As in the expression 'gnu mida'misha. 
 
 ^ We say yissarmah (or yirmah) wara n niswan. Eor the 
 initial sibilants, compare the ist of the tenth derived form and 
 the sister languages Aramaic, and Ethiopic. 
 
 8 Shaqdif has recently fallen into disuse. 
 
 * Not in use ; falat means to get loose, escape. 
 
 * Of. also z^gb in 'eneh z^gbit. Many triliterals are them- 
 selves only lengthened forms of weak verbs, or verbs with a 
 doubled radical, as shaqqar from shaqq ('ala) to visit ; so basar, 
 bass (above). See below. Rem. h. 
 
 ^ Of. ishshakhtar to hluff (a word, however, not in common 
 use). 
 
190 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 itna'nis 
 
 
 revive 
 
 
 na'ash i 
 
 lahwig 
 
 
 goad 
 
 lahag 2 
 
 laswa' 
 
 
 flog 
 
 lasa' 
 
 lahwis 
 
 
 lick clean 
 
 lahas 
 
 it'olaq 
 
 
 lehave lasciviously 
 
 'alaq 
 
 khozaq 
 
 
 impale 
 
 khazaq i 
 
 qarwat ^ 
 
 
 cut off 
 
 qarat ^ 
 
 naqwar 
 
 
 insult 
 
 naqar 
 
 shahwar 
 
 
 smear with soot 
 
 shahhar 
 
 itqaryif 
 
 
 get disgusted 
 
 qirif 
 
 wastan 
 
 
 place in middle 
 
 wassat 
 
 it'alqan ( = 
 
 = it'olaq 
 
 y 
 
 
 from 'alaq) 
 
 
 
 itrahbin 
 
 
 become a m-onJc 
 
 itrahhib 
 
 ('■) Original 
 
 forms 
 
 or forms derived from triliteral verbs 
 
 obsolete in both the literary and spoken dialects ; e.g. : — 
 
 batbat 
 
 splash 
 
 
 rasras 
 
 tremble (from 
 
 tashtish 
 
 fizz 
 
 
 
 cold, &c.) 
 
 dahdar 
 
 roll 
 
 
 ra'ra' 
 
 be fresh and green 
 
 dardish (fi 1 
 
 get con 
 
 fused (in 
 
 karkib 
 
 put in disorder 
 
 kalam) 
 
 speaking) 
 
 washwish 
 
 whisper 
 
 Remabk. — Many of these, like batbat, rasras, are reduplicated, 
 or at least the third radical is identical with the first. In others 
 all four radicals are different. Some, like tashtish and washwish, 
 are no doubt onomatopoetic. 
 
 (rf) Purely denominative, many of theln from foreign nouns, 
 and all from nouns containing more than three consonants,* 
 except where a w is inserted, as ishsharwid to hloio the hot wind, 
 called shard ; e.g. : — 
 
 bandaq 
 itbarqa' 
 garnal 
 itrasmil 
 
 shoot bunduq 
 put on a veil burqu' 
 im-ite about one in a neiospaper gurnal 
 be a capitalist rismal 
 
 sogar 
 kartin 
 
 insure sukurta 
 put into quarantine karanttna 
 
 mazrat 
 
 blustei' mizrat 
 
 itnamrad 
 
 be like Nimrod, i.e. act tyrannically 
 
 1 These verbs are not in use in the Caii-ene dialect. 
 
 2 The primitive verb generally means to cheat in Cairene. 
 ^ Of. also qurma log, stump. 
 
 * Unless sabbin to soap and nammar to number (numero) be 
 regarded as quadrilitei'als instead of the first derived form of 
 imaginary triliterals. 
 
THE QUADKILITERAL VERB 191 
 
 Remark a. — It will be observed that n is the ooly letter 
 added at the end of a triliteral to convert it into a quadriliteral, 
 and that m and w are more frequently added than any other 
 letter. Those which insert r and I correspond to the Syriac par'el 
 and pa'lel, regarded in that language as forms of the triliteral 
 verb. 
 
 Remark h. — Sometimes both the quadriliteral and perfect 
 triliteral from which it is immediately formed owe their origin 
 to a weak triliteral, or a triliteral with a doubled radical (the 
 latter in many cases being no longer in use), as z^gh, zaghil, 
 zaghlil ; shat scoi'cli, sha'at, sha'wat. 
 
 § 223. Quadriliterals, and in particular the duplicated forms, 
 generally intensify the meaning of the triliteral verb, and herein 
 increase the resemblance which they already bear in structure 
 to the first derived form of the triliteral. 
 
 § 224. The vowel of the first syllable of the quadriliteral 
 is always a ; that of. the final syllable is a or ?', in accordance 
 with the rule laid down in § 161. There are, however, a few 
 exceptions, as garnal, which is also at times pronounced garnil, 
 shankal (or shankil) liooh, trip up.^ Those verbs whose second 
 vowel is i are xisually active in signification. 
 
 § 225. The conjugation offers no difiiculties, as will be seen 
 from the following examples : — 
 
 PAST TENSE 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1st pers. dahdart, karkibt dahdart, karkibt 
 
 2nd pers. dahdart, karkibt dahdartl, karkibtl 
 
 3rd pers. dahdar, karkib dahdarit, karkibit 
 
 Plural for both Genders 
 1st pers. dahdarna, karkibna 
 2nd pers. dahdartii (-m), karkibtu (-m) 
 3rd pers. dahdaru (-m), karkibu (-m) 
 
 A O R I S T 
 
 Singular 
 
 1st pers. adahdar, akarkib adahdar, akarkib 
 
 2nd pers. tidahdar,^ tikarkib tidahdari, tikarkibi 
 
 3rd pers. yidahdar, yikarkib tidahdar, tikarkib 
 
 1 Both foreign words. ^ Or tedahdai', &c. 
 
192 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Plueal foe both Gendees 
 
 1st pers. nidaMar, &c. 
 2nd pers. tidahdarii, &c. 
 3rd pers. yidahdard, &c. 
 
 Imperat. masc. dahdar, karkib ; f em. dahdari, karkibi ; pi. dah- 
 daru, karkibu (neg. ma tdahdarsh,i <fec.). 
 
 Particip. midahdar, mikarkib (or medahtar, &c.); 
 
 Remaek. — The verb tata^ tend doion, though in reality a 
 quadriliteral, is treated in its conjugation as a triliteral of the 
 second derived form, and makes atati in the aorist, metatl in 
 the participle. 
 
 § 226. There is only one derived form, and this we construct 
 by affixing it to the simple verb, as itlakhbat he confused, iddahdar 
 be rolled, roll oneself, ikkarkib (itkarkib) he thrown into disorder. 
 
 Remaek a. — A second form, ilkhabitt,^ occurs in the word 
 itma'inn (simple verb tam'an) he easy in one's mind, confident; 
 aor. atma'inn ; particip. mitma'inn. This verb, however, is not 
 in common use, like its kindred triliteral ittammin. 
 
 Remark h. — The derived form of the quadriliteral answers 
 to the fifth derived form of the triliteral. 
 
 § 227. From "stop 'er" is derived the verb istabbar stop,'^ 
 aor. astabbar, particip. mistibbar, used in a neuter as well as 
 an active sense, and often with no reference to machinery. 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 bargim 
 
 talk con- 
 
 bartal 
 
 hrihe 
 
 
 fusedly. 
 
 barwiz 
 
 frame 
 
 
 mutter 
 
 bahtar 
 
 spill, scatter 
 
 tanbil 
 
 he lazy 
 
 zahlaq 
 
 slip 
 
 khansar 
 
 clench 
 
 rahwin 
 
 amhle 
 
 targim 
 
 translate, in- 
 
 'anwin 
 
 address 
 
 
 terpret 
 
 gharbil 
 
 sift 
 
 ^ Or ma ddahdarsh. 
 
 2 Ta'ta' in the written dialect. 
 
 3 Corresponding to the literary ilkhabatt (if'alaUa). 
 
 * Cf. the Alexandrian ma stabbanlsh from sta hene—{8.). 
 Istabb is also used as an imperative, but somewhat jocularly. 
 Istabbar is not to be confused with istabar, the eighth form of 
 the verb sabar. 
 
THE QUADEILITERAL VERB 
 
 193 
 
 kartin 'ala put into qua- 
 rantine 
 
 qarbas tie to the •pom- 
 
 mel of the 
 saddle ^ 
 
 igga'mas he puffed up 
 
 loith pride 
 
 issattit ('ala) play the grand 
 lady 
 
 issaltan 'ala lord it over 
 
 it'afrat become like one 
 
 behave 
 naughtily 
 iddarwisli become a der- 
 vish 
 
 tabbaq 
 
 glianna 
 
 raqas 
 
 wiqif 
 
 tawa 
 
 tilwa 
 
 it'ata 
 
 dar 
 
 lawa 
 
 gisr 
 
 siira 
 
 shammam 
 
 fruta 
 
 ruzz 
 
 mafrash 
 
 sabat 
 
 fold 
 sing 
 dance 
 stand 
 fold 
 hide 
 he given 
 iralk about 
 twist 
 
 embankment 
 picture 
 water-melons 
 fruit 
 vice 
 
 table-cloth 
 basket 
 
 EXERCISE 69 
 
 Inti ildawetl 'ande min ? Istawena sawa 'ala kede. Ir 
 Tiggala dol issau ^ 'ala bnl yidrabuh. II bed yithatte fi 1 
 kasarona wi yinsiwi. Ma takulsh ish shammtima dl ; mush 
 mistiwlya. Ma titwish dira'i, 'auz tikassarit? II 'asaya kanit 
 mittawiya wara dahru. TSMl, ya bitte, kursi aq'ud 'aleh. Ta'a 
 ya wad, wa.iT{ li Hi fi idak. Agi ana 'andak walla ha tig{ inta 
 'andl? Ga-' lakshe khabar 'an abvlk, ya'ni ylgl walla la'? Ma 
 hyash gaya llfda ? La' , ihna Hi gayin. II binte tanniha taht is 
 sagara lamma gih abuha. Tannuhnm' mashyin humma wi r 
 rigg&la 'ala biyuthmn. Tannitik tal'a waiyahum 'ala foq. Tan- 
 nina hna 1 kull merauwahln sawa. Tanniha 1 mazzlka tduqqe 
 quddam il 'arablyat. In niswan tannuhum lamma hassalu 1 bet. 
 Intt leh tamalli titannik fi matrali wahid ? Ma tannakshi tqul 
 liaga zeye dt. Tamallt biyebargim bi 1 kalam ; mush 'arif biqul 
 eh. II arde mibashbisha bi 1 moiya, ma tighdarshe til'ab. 
 Rayhtn nigarnal il mas'ala fi 1 garanln (garanll). Da ragil 
 metanbil u keman migga'mas fi nafsu, biyiftikir ma fish hadde 
 ghgru. Kunna mdahdarin il kura fi 1 ard bidal ma nihdifha 'all. 
 
 1 From qarbiis (liter, qarabus). The verb is used of forcing 
 up the head of a donkey, ifec, by tying the reins to a ring in the 
 saddle. 
 
 2 Oonti'acted from issawu. The accent is on the final 
 syllable. 
 
 ^ The a is pronounced somewhat shortly. (See § 13.) 
 
 N 
 
194 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Akhuya ddarwish, ya'ni baqa darwlsh min id darawish. Ikhraq 
 11 keman kharqe hina 'ashan tibqa 1 khashaba kuUilia mikhar- 
 baqa. In nar sha'lilit fi 1 bet. It'afrat il husan lamma wiq'it 
 il 'agala tahte riglu. Hlya khansaiit il fuliis fi idha, ya'nt 
 tabbaqit idha 'alehum. II marad da'da'u ktir. Nazaru medali- 
 dali. II berstm lamma yikbar fi 1 ard we yikhdarr, yequmi 
 yeiu'ra'. Ma tqarbassi hmartak kede ; liaram 'alek ! 
 
 EXEKOISE 70 
 
 The papers a,re all in confusion ; ^ why didn't you number 
 them ? 8 Come (and) read me this letter, please. Don't (/.) keep 
 on walking about all night. They continued playing and singing 
 and dancing until the sun rose.* Nobody was ever bribed by 
 himj nor has he ever bribed anybody. You ought to frame one 
 of these two pictures. She was carrying the basket on her arm 
 when the rice was spilt on the ground. We both slipped and 
 went ^ rolling down the bank till we fell into the canal. I saw 
 yovT standing there shivering " with '' cold. The horse was going 
 at an amble. She always plays the grand lady with nae. You 
 had better 8 register^ yom- letters, seeing that there are cheques 
 in them. They have returned the paper all torn. You haven't 
 addressed your letter. The barley has to be sifted before it is 
 given to the horse. He wants to lord it over everybody. Will 
 they put us into quarantine at Port Said? Please loosen this 
 cord a little. Take the tablecloth in i" the middle and fold it (in 
 two). What 11 was she whispering in his ear? Why didn't you 
 come when I called to you ? You will get ill if '^ you eat unripe ^^ 
 fruit. The fields will be irrigated i* to-morrow afternoon. 
 
 VERBAL NOUNS 
 
 § 228. Verbal nouns, adjectives, and substantives are those 
 which are derived directly from verbs. They may be expressive : — 
 
 (a) Of the agent or person who acts, as katib he that writes, a 
 clerk, kannas a sweeper (from kanas sweep). 
 
 1 Syntax, §§ 11 (2), 559. 
 
 - Particip. fem. 
 
 2 3rd pers. sing. fem. 
 
 * Verb before subst. 
 
 5 tann. 
 
 ^ Continued present. 
 
 ^ min. 
 
 ® ahsan, at beginning of sentence. 
 
 ' s6gar. 
 
 1" min. 
 
 11 After the verb. 
 
 1'^ iza, with past tense. 
 
 1^ Trans, which is not (mush) ripe. 
 
 1* Fem. sing. 
 
 
VEKBAL NOUNS 195 
 
 (b) Of the person or thing on whom the act is performed (the 
 patient), or of the thing created by its action, as maktiib a thine/ 
 lontten, a letter. 
 
 (c) _ Of the action of the verb in an abstract form, or of the 
 becoming what it denotes, as darb striking, sugr a heinq small 
 ehildlivod. 
 
 (d) Of the doing of that action once, as darba a strildng once, 
 a single blow. 
 
 (e) Of the time or the place at which it is performed, as 
 maghrib sunset (from gharab, gharrab) go west, maktah. study, school. 
 
 (/) Of the instrument with which it is performed, as muftah 
 key (from fatah to open). 
 
 _{g) Of the vessel containing that which is produced by the 
 action of the verb, as mihlab a milkpail (from halab milk). 
 
 § 229. Glasses a and b include not only the active and passive 
 participles, but all adjectives derived from verbs, many of which 
 are used only as substantives. The following are the principal 
 forms which they take : — 
 
 FORM EXAMPLE 
 
 1. bark sa'b hard, sahl easy 
 
 2. barak gada' brave, Hasan, pr. n. {beautiful) 
 
 3. burk murr bitter 
 
 '4. birik khishin rough, in lumps, tikhit thickset 
 
 5. barak khal^s finished, haram /o?'&iAiew, disgraceful 
 
 „ ( barik adlb well-bred, da'tf weak, hallq shaved 
 
 \ birtk 1 bikhll stingy, tiqll heavy, gidld Tieio ^ 
 
 7. baruk hasiid envious, 'agHz aged 
 
 8. barik katib, t&nl, talit, s&hil easy. 
 
 9. barr&k battal bad, bassas spy, khaiyat tailor 
 10. barrlk^ akkil glutton, qa,asis priest, sa,iy It singer 
 
 , , j barkan sakran drunk, 'atshan thirsty, kharban spoilt 
 
 I birkan 'iryan naked * 
 12. abrak ahmar, abyad, ahwal, &c. 
 
 Remark a. — The participles of the simple and derived forms 
 are excluded (with the exception of barik) from the above list, 
 as they have been already noticed under the verbs. 
 
 1 Birlk is a weakened form of barik. The a is always main- 
 tained when the enclosing consonants are strong. 
 
 2 Notice wiltf companion ( = literary allf). 
 ^ Intensive of bartk. 
 
 * Ga'an (and occasionally gi'an) is for gaw'an (from ga'), the 
 10 having fallen out, 
 
196 THE SPOKEN 'AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Remark h. — A few quadriliterals have an adjective of the 
 form lakhbut, as khalbus deceiving, a rogue. 
 
 Remabk c. — Barik is confined to the participle and the 
 ordinal numbers. Barrak and barrik are generally intensive in 
 meaning.' The former is used mostly of trades or professions. 
 The word gallal scavenger is a denominative from gilla ; so tauwab 
 hrichnaker from tub, shaddaf from shadM. Barik, bariik, and 
 barkan are often identical in meaning with the passive participle 
 of the active verb (whether in the simple or first derived form),^ 
 as qatll slain, ( = maqtul), rasul one sent, a messenger ( = marsul),^ 
 kharban spoilt ( = makhrub). 
 
 Remark d. — Barik and birik are frequently used in the 
 feminine to denote the thing on which the action of the verb has 
 been performed, as daflna a thing buried, sarlqa a thing stolen, 
 booty, liqlya a find ; madiya, from the intransitive mada pass (of 
 time), is used of a previous lesson (in school). From nafa exile 
 are formed the nouns nifaya and nifawa one spurned, an outcast. 
 
 Remark e. — Abrak (weakened to ibrik in iswid) is confined 
 to the comparatives and adjectives denoting personal defects (§ 61). 
 
 Remark /. — A few adjectives, derived from verbs whose 
 middle radical is iv or >j, take the form baiyik (or beyik), as 
 maiyit (meyit) dead (from mat), taiyib good (tab, yetlb), beyin 
 evid>-nt (ban, yeban). 
 
 § 230. Class c comprises the so-called iniinitives used sub- 
 stantively. The principal forms of those derived from the 
 primitive verb are as follows : — 
 
 FORM EXAMPLES 
 
 1. bark katm concealuig, 'add biting, akl eating, qol (for 
 
 qawl) saying, word, ser walking, proceeding, 
 mashy loalicing, gait 
 
 2. barak 'amal doing, deed, talab demanding, demand, 
 
 marad being ill, illness, 'ama being blind, 
 blindness 
 
 3. barak kalam spedliing, speech, sawad^ a being blaclx, 
 
 black 
 
 4. barilk qabul accepting 
 
 1 Kaddab is used of one who has just told a lie, though it 
 properly signifies one addicted to lying, a professional liar. 
 
 ^ B'rik is the pass, particip. of the primitive Syriac verb, 
 as baruk is of the Hebrew. 
 
 3 Used as the pass, particip. of irsal (arsal) se7ifZ, which is not, 
 however, in colloquial use. 
 
 * All the colours have this form. 
 
VERBAL NOUNS 
 
 197 
 
 I"_OBM EXAMPLES 
 
 birk 'ilm knoiving, hnowledge, kidb lying, lie 
 
 birak gilas sitting, rida consenting, consent 
 
 (burak) . (ghuna) a being independent, riches 
 
 g 
 
 ■hina 
 
 birak 
 birik 
 burk 
 
 bur^k 
 
 7. 
 8. 
 9. 
 
 10. 
 
 11. 
 
 12. 
 
 13. 
 14. 
 15. 
 16. 
 
 17. 
 18. 
 19. 
 
 20. barakftn 
 
 21. 
 
 22. 
 
 23. 
 24. 
 25. 
 26. 
 
 27. 
 28. 
 29. 
 
 30. 
 
 (for 
 
 kitab writing, hook^ qiyam rising, starting 
 
 nihiq hraying ^ 
 
 sukr a getting drunk, shurb drinking, till 
 
 tuwl) being long, length 
 su'al questioning, question 
 f buriik ( '^"^^'^^ entering, entry, luzum being necessary, 
 I biruk 1 ^fc«ss%> surilr being glad, gladness, wisul ar- 
 
 [ riving, arrival, ghiluw being dear. 
 barka rahma pitying, compassion, daSva pretending, 
 
 •pretension 
 baraka nadSta cleaning, 'amaya blindness 
 baruka maru'a manliness (verb not in use) 
 birka sirqa thieving, theft 
 
 biraka tigira trading, trade, shiyala carrying, khiyata 
 
 sewing, tailor's profession 
 birtka miglba bringing, migiya coming 
 buraka ghufSra watching, guarding 
 
 buruka su'iiba being difficult, difficulty, suhula being easy, 
 facility 
 dawarftn turning, sbawafan seeing, dawakh^n 
 getting giddy, tawahan (or tayahan) going as- 
 tray, wool gathering, kharar&n leaking 
 barkana sagbrana being childish, farsana being courageous, 
 
 intrepidity 
 birk&n bunyan building, nisy3,n {ruxsykn) forgetting 
 
 (burkan) 
 birktya sbiddlya^ strength 
 
 buruklya sukbunlya heirig hot, gumudlya being hard 
 mabrak mashal (for mashyal) * carrying 
 mabrik mibl' (mebl'), for mibyi', selling, migt' coming 
 
 (mibrik) 
 mibrak mirwah, going 
 
 mabraka maqdara being powerful, mashyakba being a sheikh 
 mabrika ma'rifa knowing, knoioledge, ma'isba (for ma'- 
 
 yisha) living 
 mi (me) mehabba loving, affection 
 barka 
 
 1 In a passive sense. 
 
 ^ The verb is only used in the first derived form (nahhaq). 
 
 ^ A lengthened form of shidda. 
 
 * Just as yehab is for yihyab (§ 204 seq.). 
 
198 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Remark a.— Of these forms, 1, 2, 5, 12, 16, and 23 are mostly 
 in use, while many of the others are of very rare occurrence. 
 Bark is generally the abstract noun of transitive verbs ; barak 
 of intransitive as often as transitives ; birk is confined to 
 intransitives ; biraka is mostly used of trades or professions; 
 buraktya and buruka are derived entirely from neuters usually 
 admitting both the forms birik and buruk, and expressing 
 abstract qualities. 
 
 Remark b. — Many of these nouns are used in a concrete as 
 well as an abstract sense, as ma'rifa knowing, an acquaintance, 
 and some of them only in a concrete sense, as 'esh bread 
 (originally living). Some of them have both an active and a 
 passive signification, as darbu his striking or his being struck, 
 su'alu his questioning, his question, or his being questioned, Ms 
 examination. 
 
 Remark c. — The letter w preceded by the vowel i and followed 
 by a, i.e. in the forms birak, biraka, buraka, is changed to y, as 
 qiy&m (for qiwam), siyam fasting (for siwam), ziyara (or zuwEira) 
 visiting. 
 
 Remark d. — The noun of the form bark derived from verbs 
 whose last two radicals are the same is necessarily identical 
 with the 3rd pers. sing, of the past tense, and barak is identical 
 with the 3rd pers. sing, of the past tense of the perfect verb. 
 
 Remark e. — Nouns derived from verbs whose middle radical 
 is w or y are in general subject to the changes to which the verbs 
 themselves are liable. Those derived from verbs whose first 
 radical is w sometimes drop that letter, as sifa quality (from 
 wasat), giha direction (from wagah).'^ 
 
 Remark /. — A form baraka appears in the words sala prayer, 
 and haya life (contracted from salawa and hayawa), and in a few 
 other words not in general use. 
 
 § 231. The abstract nouns of the deiived forms of the tri- 
 literal verb are as follows : — 
 
 I. 
 
 1. tabrik as taftlsh searching (fattish), tadwlr turning. 
 
 2. tabraka as tazkara remuiding, ticket (zakkar). 
 
 3. tabrika as tagriba trying, experience (garrab). 
 
 4. tabrtka as tasliya amusing, amusement (salla). 
 
 tahliya sioeetening (halla). 
 
 Remark. — The first and fourth of these forms are by far the 
 most common, the latter being confined exclusively to veibs whose 
 
 1 Wagah is not itself in use. 
 
VERBAL NOUNS 199 
 
 final radical is y. A fifth form, tabrak, occurs in the word takrSr 
 repeating (karrar), and a sixth in tilqa' a bringing face to face with 
 (laqqa) ; but the former is scarcely colloquial,i and the latter is 
 used only in the expression min tilqa' ^ nafsu, nafsak, &c., of Ms, 
 your, ^c, own accord. 
 
 II. 
 
 1. mi (me, mu). 
 
 barika ^ as mekhalfa contradicting, a contravention (khalif ), 
 mi'akhiza blaming (akiz), muwafqa agreeing 
 with (wafiq), migauba anmering (g&wibj, 
 mi'ayra reproaching ('&yir). 
 
 2. birak as liisab taking account, hill (hasib). 
 III. 
 
 1. ibrak as i'lan publishing. 
 
 2. abraka^as agS,za permitting, leave of absence, holiday. 
 
 Eemabk. — The second of these forms is confined to verbs 
 whose middle radical is w or y. 
 IV. Not in use. 
 V. tabarrik, tibarrak, tibarrik, as takallim speaking, tiharrak 
 being moved, tiqaddim being advccnced, taharrt inves- 
 tigating, investigation. 
 
 VI. tab§,rikj tibarik, as tahSmil bearing malice. 
 
 Remark. — Forms V. and VI. do not belong to the colloquial 
 language, but are sometimes used in imitation of the literary 
 tabarruk and tabaruk. 
 
 VII. inbirak, as inkisar being broken, humiliating oneself 
 
 (inkasar). 
 
 Remark. — This form likewise is very rarely heard. 
 VIII. ibtirak as istilam receiving (istalam). 
 ishtiyaq yearning (ishtaq). 
 IX. ibrikak as ihmir&r getting I'ed. 
 X. and XI. istibrak as istifham getting information. 
 "2. istibraka, as istiqama rectitude, istighisa calling for aid, 
 istiraha reposing. 
 
 1 Takrir is the form in use. 
 
 2 Tilqa' is corrupted colloquially to tilka. 
 
 3 The first syllable is occasionally u, especially before lo. 
 The i usually falls out (§ 33). 
 
 * Literary ibrSka. Note that the spoken language has in 
 this instance the stronger vowel. 
 
200 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Remark a. — Only verbs whose middle radical is tv or y have 
 the second form, and of these only those which contract in the 
 past tense. From istagwib interrogate is formed istigwab, after 
 istibrak. 
 
 Remark ?<. — In some cases the noun is in use, though the 
 verb has become obsolete. i The verbal substantive of the 
 derived forms is not infrequently supplied by the primitive 
 verb. 
 
 § 232. The abstract noun of the simple quadriliteral verb 
 takes the form lakhbata ; - that of the derived verb ti(te)lahkblt, 
 as dahdara rolling, kharbasha scratching, ti(te)bartil a being 
 bribed. 
 
 § 233. Class d is formed by the addition of the feminine 
 termination a to the abstract noun, the forms bark and tabrlk 
 being used exclusively for this purpose in the case of the primi- 
 tive and first derived triliteral verb, as darb striliing, darba a 
 striking once, a blow ; 'add biting, 'adda a bite , tafriq inalcing a 
 distinction, tafrtqa a making a distinction in a particular case. 
 
 Remark a. — Nouns derived from verbs whose final radical is 
 y sometimes change the y into w, as sharwa (for sharya) a pur- 
 chase (from shara buy). A few nouns of this class take either 
 10 or y, as ghalwa (or ghalya) a boiling.^ 
 
 Remark b. — With the exception of barrak, the derived forms 
 very rarely, if ever, admit of a noun of this class. The word 
 mutatiya a bending is an irregular formation, being the feminine 
 of the participle of tata treated as the form of a triliteral instead 
 of a quadriliteral, as it is in reality. 
 
 Remark c. — In the quadriliterals the derived form tilakhbft 
 becomes tilakhbata,* as ti(te)makhmada a being upset by shaking, 
 ^c, nauseousness. 
 
 Remark d. — When the abstract noun already ends in a, as 
 in the case of the simple quadriliteral verb, no distinction, of 
 course, can be made, and the adjective wahda must be added if 
 the idea of unity is to be emphasized. 
 
 § 234. Nouns of time and place derived from the simple 
 
 1 Or exists only in the literary dialect. The colloquial 
 sometimes borrows one part of speech, while it rejects others 
 belonging to the same root. 
 
 2 Lakhbita, as well as tilakhbtta (see below), is sometimes 
 used by the higher classes. 
 
 8 The plur. ghalwat is preferred to ghalyat. 
 '^ The learned say tilakhbita. 
 
VEEBAL NOUNS 
 
 201 
 
 triliteral verb take the forms mabrak and mabrik, the former 
 when the vowel of the final syllable of the aorist is a, generally 
 also when it is u, and in a few cases where it is « ; i 
 
 e.g. :— 
 
 maghtas 
 matbakh 
 maktab 
 maglis 
 
 maghrib 
 
 a large basin for plunging 
 kitchen 
 school 
 
 place or time of sitting, as- 
 sembly 
 time of going loest, sunset 
 
 (from ghutus, yightas) 
 (from tabakh, yitbukh) 
 (from katab, yiktib) 
 (from galas, yiglis) 
 
 (from gharab, yighrib) 
 
 Remark a. — The noun of time and place of verbs whose 
 medial radical is lu becomes mabak, as maqam looochoork round 
 the tomb of a sheikh ^ (from qam, yequm), and those whose medial 
 radical is y, mablk, but there is perhaps no example in the 
 spoken language. 
 
 Rbmakk b.- — Several of these nouns take the feminine termi- 
 nation, as madrasa school (from daras, -yidris). A few derived 
 from verbs whose initial radical is w or y take the form mibrak, 
 as ml'g,d 8 appointed time (from wa'ad promise), miMd birthday 
 (from wilid). 
 
 § 235. Class /, denoting the instrument, takes the forms 
 mabrak, mibrak, to' which the feminine termination is some- 
 times added, and mabrak, mibrak ; e.g. : — 
 
 mabrad 
 
 a file 
 
 
 barad 
 
 maqass 
 
 scissors 
 
 
 qass 
 
 misann 
 
 a steel for sharpening 
 
 sann 
 
 mamsaha 
 
 a cloth for tviping 
 
 masah 
 
 masyada 
 
 a trap 
 
 
 sad 
 
 minashsha 
 
 a fly tohisk 
 
 
 nashsh 
 
 muftah 
 
 a key 
 
 
 fatah 
 
 minshar 
 
 a saw 
 
 
 nashar 
 
 minq^r 
 
 a chisel 
 
 
 naqar 
 
 miqy^s 
 
 a gauge 
 
 
 qas 
 
 mlzan (for 
 
 a balance 
 
 
 wazan 
 
 miwzan) 
 
 
 
 
 1 In these cases 
 
 it is u in the 
 
 written 
 
 dialect, as katab. 
 
 yaktub. 
 
 
 
 
 The meaning dignity, position, is not generally known, 
 though the expression sahib maqam is used sometimes even 
 by the uneducated. 
 
 8 More commonly ma'^d. 
 
202 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Remark a. — The verb from which the instrument is derived 
 is not always in use, as in the case of misalla paclcing-needle (from 
 the obsolete sail). 
 
 Remark h. — From nakhal sift is formed mankhul a sieve, 
 from ra'a see mir^ya loolcing-glass, the qat'a falling away. 
 
 § 236. Verbal nouns denoting a vessel take the same forms 
 as those of class /, as mihlab a milk-pail (halab), mibzaqa a 
 spittoon. 
 
 Remark. — From kahal to paint the eyes with Ttuhl is derived 
 mukhila the vessel in ivMch the paint is kept. 
 
 § 237. The above classes, though they comprise a vast number 
 of words, do not include all the nouns derived directly from verbs. 
 Of others, the following are most worthy of notice : — 
 
 (a) Nouns denoting a part or small quantity. These take 
 the form birka or burka, as : — 
 
 hitta a bit luqma a mouthful 
 
 liissa apm-tion, share 
 
 (6) Garments, coverings^ &c., many of which take the form 
 bir^k, as : — 
 
 libas drawers girab sheath, hag 
 
 hiram coverlet,ivoollen 
 
 over-garment 
 
 (c) The place where a thing is constantly produced or found, 
 or that by means of which the action of the verb is constantly 
 performed, is represented in a few instances by the feminine 
 form of the intensive adjective barrak, as : — 
 
 mallaha a salt-mine, 
 
 salt-cellar 
 
 tarraha a mattress 
 
 'assara an oil press 
 
 Barradtya is the vessel where water is kept cool. 
 Remark. — A few intensive adjectives take the forms mibrak, 
 mibrik, as mis'ad^ fortunate, and mibkhit very lucky and mityiz 
 icith large thighs, formed from the nouns bakht and tiz. 
 
 § 238. The remaining forms ai-e not easily classified, as they 
 are applied almost indiscriminately to different orders of nouns, 
 as : — 
 
 shibbak a window 
 
 dibban Hies 
 
 tiffah apples 
 
 § 239. It should be noted also that a particular form is not 
 necessarily confined entirely to a class. Thus shammam water- 
 melons has the form of nouns denoting trades, &c. 
 
 1 Unless it represents the passive participle of the verb as'ad. 
 (See § 167.) 
 
VERBAL NOUNS 
 
 203 
 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 
 khatt 
 
 handwriting 
 
 '6za 
 
 need, want 
 
 sliurba 
 
 draught 
 
 taswiya 
 
 cooking 
 
 dukhUl 
 
 entry 
 
 sugr 
 
 childhood 
 
 niyiba 
 
 procuration 
 
 dabh 
 
 slaughtering 
 
 nashr 
 
 sawing 
 
 libs' 
 
 clothing 
 
 qiraya 
 
 reading 
 
 titakhbtt 
 
 being knocked, 
 
 firar 
 
 fleeing 
 
 
 knocking 
 
 meqauma 
 
 reslstame 
 
 rubat 
 
 tying 
 
 surto 
 
 joy 
 
 wasl 
 
 receipt 
 
 inshirih 
 
 gaiety 
 
 fakk 
 
 untying 
 
 wisiya 
 
 order 
 
 kuhha 
 
 coughing. 
 
 qu'^d 
 
 fitting 
 
 
 cough 
 
 tazylr 
 
 putting on, in- 
 
 ghuna 
 
 singing 
 
 
 teresting one- 
 
 sukat 
 
 being silent. 
 
 
 self with 
 
 
 silence 
 
 hashwa 
 
 stuffing 
 
 hafa 
 
 going bare- 
 
 iazz 
 
 enjoyment 
 
 
 footed 
 
 inbis&t 
 
 contentment, 
 
 mauqaf 
 
 place of stand- 
 
 
 pleasure 
 
 
 ing, stand 
 
 hana 
 
 happiness 
 
 mahmal 
 
 (See Lane, 
 
 Mnntya 
 
 kindness, com- 
 
 
 Mod. Egypt., 
 
 
 passion 
 
 
 ch. xxiv.) 
 
 radawa 
 
 depravity 
 
 taman 
 
 price 
 
 ghiyar 
 
 changing 
 
 'amallya 
 
 doing, deed 
 
 madad 
 
 stretching. 
 
 fSt 
 
 a passing. 
 
 
 scope 
 
 
 going through 
 
 shSf 
 
 seeing, view. 
 
 dikka 
 
 bench 
 
 
 vision 
 
 fittr 
 
 pastry 
 
 dashsh 
 
 crushing 
 
 sham'idan 
 
 candlestick 
 
 tulU' 
 
 rising, depart- 
 
 'ankabut 
 
 spider 
 
 
 ing 
 
 habara 
 
 kind of cloak 
 
 hadad 
 
 demolishing 
 
 halla 
 
 pot 
 
 ihtiram 
 
 respecting, re- 
 
 rlq 
 
 saliva 
 
 
 spect 
 
 furn 
 
 oven 
 
 mushtara 
 
 buying 
 
 kanun 
 
 oven (Arab) 
 
 (mishtara) 
 
 
 nagaf 
 
 chandeliers 
 
 hifz 
 
 preserving. 
 
 fak-ha 
 
 fruit 
 
 
 protecting 
 
 gidrl 
 
 smallpox 
 
 kubr 
 
 leing big, man- 
 
 na'im 
 
 soft 
 
 
 hood 
 
 gahil 
 
 ignorant 
 
 du'f 
 
 weakness 
 
 nadir 
 
 rare, scarce 
 
 diyana 
 
 religion 
 
 hadiq 
 
 salt (adj.) 
 
204 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 simili 
 
 bright, smiling 
 
 qarrab 
 
 approach 
 
 waMl 
 
 agent, repre- 
 
 amar 
 
 order, give 
 
 
 sentative 
 
 
 orders 
 
 khaflf 
 
 slight 
 
 'ii-if 
 
 kno'w, recognise 
 
 tabb 
 
 stumble, come 
 
 darr 
 
 injure, do harm 
 
 
 suddenly 
 
 
 to 
 
 sharraf 
 
 honour 
 
 wassa 
 
 charge, enjoin. 
 
 qawil 
 
 engage, give 
 
 
 order 
 
 
 contract to 
 
 taqtaq 
 
 explode 
 
 'allaq 
 
 attach, hang 
 
 ghala, ghili 
 
 boil 
 
 daq 
 
 be pressed. 
 
 al'an 
 
 more accursed 
 
 
 squeezed 
 
 
 (mal'iin). 
 
 qala' 
 
 talte off, extract 
 
 
 icorse 
 
 mala 
 
 fill 
 
 ba'de ma 
 
 after that 
 
 ta"am 
 
 vaccinate 
 
 ke'lnnuhum 
 
 as tlwugh they 
 
 'azzib 
 
 torture, punish 
 
 (keyinnu- 
 
 
 gahhiz 
 
 p-ejMre 
 
 hum) 
 
 
 rabba 
 
 bring up. 
 
 'ala liasab 
 
 according to 
 
 
 educate 
 
 lagl, li agl 
 
 for, in case of 
 
 EXERCISE 71 
 
 II fahme da kullu iia'im ; khallih yegib lina khishin. II 
 khatte beta'ak sa'be qawi ; min yiqrah i II qassis da ragil 
 akkil ; bidal ma yakul luqmiten khad il kull. Ana 'atshana 
 qawi ; iddinl shurbit moiya. 'Add il 'ankabut al'an min qars 
 in nam.ils. Kalamak kullu kidb min il auwul li 1 akliii'. Id 
 dukliul ?a'be 'an il khurug. Migibt il 'afshe kan qable mirwali- 
 hum. Taman ish shi'ir bi 1 mashal tis'ln sagh. Musli salibi 
 hfiwa, basse ma'rifti. Iza shafak il bulls yiktibak fi 1 ineklialf§,t. 
 Iktib It wasl 'an istilam il fulus. Waqt il maglirib kanit qa'da 
 il maktab abiilia. Huwa wakil 
 Shughl il minshar li nashr il 
 ya'rafsh il kitaba wala 1 qiraya. 
 il firar ahsan min il meqauma. 
 
 'and ish shuhhad. Idfa' 'ala liasab maqdartak. Simi'te titaqtiq. 
 il banld lamma miskit fill in nar. Mutatiyitak di li s sala mush 
 tamam ; tatt keman shuwaiya. Wishshu simih we beyin 'aleh 
 leiniiu ragil taiyib. Ghalet il moiya ghalwiten walla ghalya 
 walida bass? II liusan tabbe tabba gamda. Itgauwizte hittit 
 bint, lakiii liqiya 'al. Ana, ma fish luzftm agt. La', tigt ; 
 migiyak yiiifa'. Hilwa lissa ma khulusse min tahdlr il 'arabtya? 
 Sharraftina we anistiiia we liasal lina s surflr wi 1 inshirah bi 
 
 il Khalifa bi n niyaba 'annu. 
 
 khashab. Da ragil gahil ma 
 
 'Ande wisul il haramtya yekiin 
 
 Katm il liaqlqa mush nadir 
 
VEEBAL NOUNS 205 
 
 wugiiclak 'andina. Zeye ma wassetimi adlnl 'amalte bi 1 wislya 
 litkum. Htwa qal lak kede qol sahih ? Lazim neqawil w^hid 
 'ala ta'llq in nagaf wi eh sham'idinat luzfim il farak we 'iila 
 talidlr is sag^gld luzum id dikak liagle qu'ad in uks 'aleha. 
 Guzha shtara Iha liabara lagli t tazylr biha. Qaddimu 1 farkha 
 bi liaskwitn. -Tannuhum fi hazz wi mbisat we fi hana we fi 
 srur lamma yedilrum we yirga'um 'ala bethum. Ana ra'aftu 
 min l^inntyit qalbt 'aleh. Min radawit qalbiha 'alena qamit 
 darabitna wi khanaqitna, we baqat nafasi middayiqi min maskitha 
 fi raqabti, n baqet a'aiyat min khanqiha flya u min darbiha flya. 
 Akl il fawakih yinfa' li gbiyar ir rtq. FI n^s yehibbn t tabikh 
 hadiq shuwaiya zgye nusse liuduqiya. BMi 'ala madad shofak.^ 
 Ma titla'sh il kliamsa min gebu ilia bi qal' id dii-s. Khallt 
 balak maly ik kubbiya yekun khafif lahsan yitk'abb in niblt 
 'as sufra. Kutr il kalam yidurr. II walad min gumudlyitu u 
 min shiddlyitu rah dughri misik ir ragil u ramah 'ala dahru. 
 Qaulu 1 minaggid 'ala tangid il maratib. KhalUh 'an nar 
 lamma yistiwi u tibqa taswiyitu zey iz zibda. Min ba'de ma 
 yikhlasii min dashsh il ffd yigbarbillih, u ba'd it tigharbll 
 yihuttilh fi 1 halla. Ana shayif leinn il masiira di ftha kbararim. 
 Betu fi ani sikka. ? Auwil tahwidak 'ala 1 yimin. 
 
 EXERCISE 72 
 
 As soon as I had finished cleaning ^ the house. It was 
 broken by a stone falling on it when the wall was being pulled 
 down.* From her limited knowledge of Arabic. ^ When he had 
 got down from '5 the horse. He showed'' them great honoiu-, 
 as thoxigh they were big people. Choose me a good carriage 
 from the stand. You must make a contract with him for ^ the 
 girl. (It is) she who brought me up from my childhood to my 
 manhood. I have not yet finished buying what is necessary 
 for the table. Children are vaccinated to protect them from 
 
 1 See § 464, note, and § 560. 
 
 2 Or 'ala maddit shfifak (or ish shof). 
 ^ Trans, from the cleaning of. 
 
 * Trans, the descent of a stone on it at the time of the pulling 
 
 down of the wall. 
 
 ^ Trans, the smallness of her-lmowledge in the Arabic. 
 
 ^ Trans, after his descent from on. 
 
 '■ 'amal 1. ^ 'ala. 
 
206 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 smallpox.i A European oven is better for cooking pastry than 
 an Arab oven. God will punish them according to the weak- 
 ness of their religion. The pilgrims spend ^ two or three days 
 in the preparation of their food,^ until the time for* the de- 
 parture of the mahmal approaches.^ The meat is only half- 
 cooked.'' Leave it there in case of need. "We arrived before 
 sunset and left before sunrise.'' The price for slaughtering ^ a 
 lamb is five piastres tarif . We are not satisfied with ^ our food 
 and clothing. I heard a knocking at^" the door. Why didn't 
 yoii prevent him from striking her ? ^^ Tying ^^ is easier than 
 untying.i^ They do all these things ^^ to make fun of people. i* 
 When it first came down,i-5 the rain was slight. She has a 
 violent cough. Give me a little drinking-water,ifi please. The 
 king gave orders for his head to be cut ofi.^'^ I recognised him 
 by 1^ his 1^ gait. They were busy with 2" their drinking and 
 singing. If .speech is silver, silence is gold.^^ He is ever wool 
 gathering.''- Going bare-footed ^s is harmful to the health in 
 winter.-* I saw him as I was passing through ^^ Cairo. 
 
 1 llie vaccination of tlie children is for the preservation from 
 the . . . 
 
 - fidil. 3 il akl wi sh shurb. * Of. 
 
 ^ Yerb before the subject. 
 
 '' Trans, coolied half a cooking. 
 
 '' Trans, before the rising of the sun . . . before its setting 
 (nuzul). 
 
 s Genitive. ^ fi. lo Of, genitive. 
 
 11 Trans, his striking at (fi) her. 
 1- Trans, the tying, the xintying. 
 1^ Trans, doings. 
 1* 'ashin dihk in nas. 
 1* Trans, in its first descent. 
 i' Trans, toater (of) drinking. 
 1'' Trans, for (bi) tlie cutting off (of) his head. 
 IS min. " beta'u. ' 20 fi. 
 
 21 Trans, if speech is of ... , silence will be of . . . 
 
 22 Trans, he has ever (tamallt) toool gathering. 
 28 Trans, the going, &c. 
 
 ^^ Trans, in the lointer. 
 
 25 Trans, in my passing through ('ala). 
 
THE PKEPOSITIONS 
 
 207 
 
 THE PREPOSITIONS 
 
 § 240. The prepositions may be divided into two classes : — 
 
 (1) Inseparable,! or those which in pronunciation regularly 
 form one word with the noun or pronoun which they precede and 
 govern ; and 
 
 (2) Separable. 
 
 § 241. The former consists of the following : — 
 
 Bi, be, bu at, hy, in, &c., li, le, lu/o;-, to, &c., and wa, wi, we 
 hy (in swearing), as w Allah, w Allahi Ijy God, wi hyat ra§ak hy 
 {the life of) your head, wi n nabi by the Prophet. 
 
 Remake. — The particle ka like, as, partakes of the nature of 
 a preposition, and may also be regarded as inseparable, but it is 
 scarcely heard in the spoken language, except in the expression 
 zfi,hir ka sh shams as dear as the sun, and in the conjunction 
 keinn (or key inn). 
 
 § 242. Separable prepositions are, for the most part, derived 
 from verbs, and a great number of them are verbal nouns used 
 as substantives. The following is a list of those in common 
 use: — 
 
 barra 
 
 outside 
 
 fl, fi 
 
 in 
 
 ba'd 
 
 after 
 
 f6q 
 
 above 
 
 ben 
 
 hetioeen 
 
 qabl 
 
 before 
 
 bidai 
 
 instead of 
 
 qadd 
 
 up to 
 
 ta t 
 
 under 
 
 qudd^m 
 
 in front of 
 
 till 
 
 during, 
 
 qusad 
 
 opposite 
 
 
 throughout 
 
 khalf 
 
 behind 
 
 gdwa 
 
 in, inside 
 
 lamma 
 
 till, up to 
 
 ganb 
 
 beside 
 
 li hadd, li 
 
 up to, as far as, 
 
 gher 
 
 without, except 
 
 ghayit 
 
 until 
 
 hawalen 
 
 around 
 
 ma', mi' 
 
 with 
 
 didd 
 
 against 
 
 mitP 
 
 like 
 
 dimn 
 
 among 
 
 min 
 
 from 
 
 zey 
 
 as, like 
 
 waiya, wtya 
 
 with 
 
 'ala2 
 
 on, against 
 
 wara 
 
 behind 
 
 'an 
 
 from 
 
 wust 
 
 amid 
 
 'and 
 
 by, tvith, ^c. 
 
 
 
 1 They are written as separate words in this work, to prevent 
 confusion. 
 
 2 'Ala represents in sense the literary ila, which is only 
 heard, perhaps, in the phrases rtih ila hes or ila ma sha llah, i.e. 
 go to perdition. 
 
 8 Mitl (literary mithl)does not seem to be known to most of the 
 lower orders (S.). It is usually pronounced misl by the educated. 
 
208 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Remahk. — The changes which some of the prepositions 
 undergo in conjunction with the pronouns and the sign of the 
 negative have already been noticed (§ 117). 
 
 § 243. As in other languages, two prepositions naay occur 
 togethei', as min ioq from above, off, min wara /ro?)i behind. Min 
 is sometimes vised with another to give greater precision, or 
 pleonastically, as ba'de minnu, tahte minnak, min gher haga. 
 Others form a new preposition in conjunction with another word, 
 as 'ala shan (or 'ashan) for the sake of, on account of, li hadd up to, 
 imtil, bi dun, min dun loitkout, ghasbe (or ghasbin) 'an in spite of. 
 
 Remark. — In bala, balash loiihout ; never mind ! the i of bi is 
 strengthened to a. 
 
 THE ADVERBS 
 
 § 244. Many of these are adjectives used adverbially, or sub- 
 stantives in the accusative case (see § 63), or with the pronominal 
 suffix of the 3rd pers. ; several are a combination of two or 
 more words, especially of a preposition with a substantive ; and 
 a few, lastly, are verbs in the 3rd pers. of the past or aorist 
 tense. Some are used also as prepositions. The following ai'e 
 frequently heard : — 
 
 (1) Adverbs of time : — 
 
 
 
 abadan 
 
 never 
 
 zaman, zeye 
 
 formerly 
 
 aslu 
 
 originally 
 
 zaman 
 
 
 auwilan, ii 1 
 
 firstly 
 
 sa'a, sa'at 
 
 sometimes 
 
 auwil 
 
 
 dilwaqt, dil- 
 
 at present 
 
 emta ? 
 
 lohen ? 
 
 waqti 2 
 
 
 imbarGh 
 
 yesterday 
 
 halan 
 
 at once 
 
 in nahar da 
 
 to-day 
 
 summa ^ 
 
 then, next 
 
 badrt 
 
 early 
 
 'amnauwil 
 
 last year 
 
 ba'd, ba'diha 
 
 aftencards 
 
 qabla, qabliha before 
 
 ba'don 
 
 afterwards 
 
 lissa 
 
 not yet, still 
 
 bukra 
 
 to-morrow 
 
 nihaytu, in 
 
 finally 
 
 tamalli 
 
 alioays 
 
 nihaj'a 
 
 
 tanii 
 
 again 
 
 wakhri 
 
 late 
 
 dawaman, 
 
 always 
 
 
 
 dayman 
 
 
 
 
 (da'iman) 
 
 
 
 
 1 The Nahwy form saniyan is sometimes heard. 
 
 - For dt il waqt (§ 416). The t seems to emphasize the 
 word. Of. doli these here, kemitnt (for keman) ; similarly, perhaps, 
 the final ak in va dobak, &o. (See § 570, note.) 
 
 8 Borrowed from the literary language. 
 

 THE ADVEEBS 
 
 209 
 
 (2) Adverbs of place : — 
 
 
 
 barra 
 
 out 
 
 i^n-i 
 
 where ? 
 
 taht 
 
 under 
 
 f6q 
 
 above 
 
 gdwa 
 
 inside 
 
 quddam 
 
 in front 
 
 henSk 
 
 there 
 
 qusSd 
 
 opposite 
 
 bina 
 
 here 
 
 wara 
 
 behind 
 
 (3) Adverbs of manner and degree : — 
 
 
 atabl, atM 
 
 now, assuredly 
 
 balbatt, il- 
 
 certainly, no 
 
 izzgy ? 
 
 how ? 
 
 batt^ 
 
 doubt, pi-o- 
 
 bardu, bardu 
 
 also, all the 
 
 
 bably 
 
 
 same 
 
 dugbrt 1 
 
 straight 
 
 balash 
 
 no need of, 
 
 dobak, ya d6b scarcely, 
 
 
 gratis 
 
 
 hardly 
 
 bass 
 
 only 
 
 rubbama, li 
 
 perhaps 
 
 baqa, baqat 
 
 however, still 
 
 rubbama 
 
 
 beyin 
 
 apparently 
 
 zgye bardu 
 
 all the same 
 
 belkl,! belkin 
 
 perhaps 
 
 ziyada 
 
 more 
 
 bi hsab 
 
 cautiously 
 
 s&biq 
 
 formerly 
 
 bi zyfiida 
 
 too much. 
 
 sawa, sawiya 
 
 together 
 
 
 enough 
 
 sirqa 
 
 stealthily 
 
 bisbwSsh 
 
 gently 
 
 sirr 
 
 secretly 
 
 bi 1 aqall 
 
 at least 
 
 shaw&hid, 
 
 evidently 
 
 bi t takbmln, 
 
 appyroximately 
 
 ish shShid 
 
 
 takhmln 
 
 
 shuwaiya 
 
 a little 
 
 tamam, bi t 
 
 completely 
 
 'asalla 
 
 perhaps 
 
 tamam 
 
 
 'ala 1 mahl ^ 
 
 slowly, gently 
 
 taqrtban 
 
 about 
 
 faqat 
 
 only 
 
 tgs, bahre tes 
 
 very much 
 
 qawl 
 
 strongly, very 
 
 ghaliban, 
 
 probably, 
 
 qawam 
 
 quickly 
 
 ghalib 
 
 mostly, gene- 
 
 qalle ma 
 
 seldom 
 
 
 rally 
 
 kaza,* kede 
 
 so, thus 
 
 gbershe 
 
 only 
 
 kef 
 
 how 
 
 hantara, ya 
 
 I wonder if 
 
 ket we ket 
 
 so and so 
 
 hantara, 
 
 
 kittr (kettr) 
 
 much 
 
 ya tara 
 
 
 kaman, ke- 
 
 also, again 
 
 hatta 
 
 even 
 
 man, ke- 
 
 
 haqqa 
 
 truly 
 
 mSni 
 
 
 Turkish. 
 
 For il batt the conclusion. The h is frequently dropped. 
 
 Used also with the pronominal suffixes. 
 
 Not in general use. 
 
 o 
 
210 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 keinn, ke- 
 
 apijarently 
 
 ma'naha kan 
 
 however it be 
 
 yinn ^ 
 
 
 mot 
 
 exceedingly 
 
 khaiis 
 
 entirely 
 
 mush, mush, 
 
 not 
 
 la', la 
 
 no, not 
 
 mish 
 
 
 la budd 
 
 of necessity 
 
 nar 
 
 exceedingly 
 
 llh? 
 
 why? 
 
 na'am 
 
 yes 
 
 ma 
 
 hut 
 
 wasil 
 
 at all 
 
 masal, masa- 
 
 for example 
 
 wi s salam 
 
 once for all 
 
 lan 
 
 
 ya'ni 
 
 that is to say 
 
 mahsan, ya 
 
 apparently 
 
 yitla' 
 
 about 
 
 mahsanak 
 
 
 yigi 
 
 about 
 
 ma'naha 
 
 that is, namely 
 
 
 
 CONJUNCTIONS 
 
 245. The following are of everyday occurrence :- 
 
 au 
 
 w 
 
 ham . . 
 
 both . . . and 
 
 amma^ 
 
 but, when 
 
 ham* 
 
 
 agrann 
 
 since, seeing 
 
 hatta 
 
 until 
 
 
 that 
 
 hal in 
 
 directly that 
 
 auwil ma 
 
 directly that 
 
 hes (le) inn 
 
 inasmuch as 
 
 azinn 
 
 inasmv^h as 
 
 hakim 
 
 inasmuch as, in 
 
 atabl, atari 
 
 seeing that 
 
 
 fact 
 
 iza, izakein 
 
 if 
 
 sa'it ma 
 
 at the time that 
 
 in 
 
 if 
 
 'ala shan. 
 
 in order that. 
 
 inn, ilia 
 
 that 
 
 'ashan (ma) because of 
 
 ilia inn 
 
 except that 
 
 'ala inn 
 
 that 
 
 ikminn 
 
 seeing that, be- 
 
 'ala bal ma. 
 
 until 
 
 
 cause 
 
 'abal ma 
 
 
 innama 
 
 only that, ex- 
 
 fa, fi, fe 
 
 and, so 
 
 
 cept that 8 
 
 qable ma 
 
 before that 
 
 i'wad ma 
 
 instead of 
 
 kulle ma. 
 
 lohenever 
 
 ba'de ma 
 
 after that 
 
 kuUi ma 
 
 
 bidal ma 
 
 instead of 
 
 keinn, keyinn as if 
 
 tauw, tauwe 
 
 as soon as, no 
 
 le inn 
 
 because, that 
 
 ma 
 
 sooner 
 
 lagl (l! agl) 
 
 in order that 
 
 tul ma 
 
 as long as 
 
 lagle inn. 
 
 in order that 
 
 gher inn 
 
 except that 
 
 lagle ma 
 
 
 1 With the pronominal suffixes. 
 ^ As in amma nshfif let me see. 
 ^ Pr. seulement. 
 * Turkish, from Persian. 
 
INTEEJECTIONS AND EXCLAMATIONS 
 
 211 
 
 lahsan 
 
 lest 
 
 madam 
 
 inasmuch as 
 
 li hln, li Mn 
 
 until 
 
 ma'inn 
 
 although, 
 
 ma 
 
 
 
 whereas 
 
 lakin, we 
 
 hut 
 
 (wa),wi,we,ii 
 
 and 
 
 lakin 
 
 
 walla 
 
 or 
 
 lau, walau 
 
 if, although 
 
 wala . . . wala neither . . . nor 
 
 16ia 
 
 if not, hut for 
 
 waqte ma 
 
 at the time that 
 
 lamma 
 
 when 
 
 ya . . . ya 
 
 or . . . or 
 
 mata' (only 
 
 when 
 
 ya imma . . . 
 
 or . . . or 
 
 with past 
 
 
 ya imma ^ 
 
 
 tense) 
 
 
 
 
 INTERJECTIONS AND EXCLAMATIONS 
 
 § 246. The following are in frequent use : — 
 
 
 Allah, Alia 
 
 dear me 
 
 tay tay 
 
 to call a goat 
 
 (God) 
 
 
 ta-a-ta 
 
 when teaching 
 
 allahumma 
 
 in truth; in- 
 
 
 a child to 
 
 
 deed 
 
 
 walk 
 
 ah, ah-hs 
 
 ah, alas, oh 
 
 trrrr 
 
 to make a 
 
 akh, akh min fle on 
 
 
 camel kneel 
 
 ikhkhi, 
 
 pugh, ugh 
 
 gay gay gay 
 
 help 
 
 ukhkh, iffi 
 
 ) 
 
 hus 
 
 to quiet a 
 
 uff, uffen 
 
 
 
 dog, (fee. 
 
 ikhs ('ala) 
 
 Jie, for shame 
 
 h6, h^ (hoh, 
 
 h&re 
 
 iy 
 
 mind 
 
 hgh)5 
 
 
 tyak 
 
 beware, see that 
 
 hay hay hay 
 
 to call goats 
 
 
 you 
 
 hay 
 
 
 ly^h, lyaha 
 
 there he, she, is 
 
 ha-ah, harga' 
 
 to urge a 
 
 i-i-yth 
 
 ugh, not really 
 
 
 donkey 
 
 inzil, shinzil 
 
 * move 
 
 hiss 
 
 to quiet a 
 
 8h, 0, oh 
 
 oh, oho 
 
 
 donkey 
 
 ummal 
 
 rather,! should 
 
 sik sik sik 
 
 to call goats 
 
 
 think so, 
 
 sik 
 
 
 
 pray 
 
 shl-ih 
 
 to urge a beast 
 
 hi liahi 
 
 hy Ood 
 
 
 of burden 
 
 bis bis bis 
 
 to call a cat 
 
 shg gharlb 
 
 how strange 
 
 1 Mata is i-arely heard. 
 
 2 Also ya immatan, savouring of Nahwy. 
 
 ^ Expresses mostly distress and admiration, and sometimes 
 an emphatic assent. 
 
 * Used especially to a horse. Shinzil is intensive, and is 
 used when the first cry (inzil !) has no effect. 
 
 s Mostly with a and kede prefixed (§ 124). 
 
212 
 
 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 kis kis,kis 
 
 kh-b-h-h 
 khat 
 
 khatt, khatti 
 
 khud 
 
 fagr 
 
 kil' 
 
 shanab 
 
 karsha 
 
 fusha 
 
 khidma 
 
 kinisa 
 
 ista'gil 
 
 'am 
 
 sail 
 
 sakk 
 
 fitii- 
 
 sihir (sihir) 
 
 iftakar 
 
 birid 
 
 sbadd 
 nawil 
 istad 
 samak 
 
 to maker a 
 horse go 
 back 
 
 to make a 
 camel kneel 
 
 to make a 
 camel step 
 cautiously 
 
 to a donkey for 
 the same 
 purpose 
 
 to call a per- 
 son's atten- 
 tion, hey I 
 
 lai 
 
 ma 
 
 ya ma 
 
 ya ma hsan 
 
 yalla 
 
 ya ret 
 
 ya salam, ya 
 
 satir 
 yiss, yisse ^ 
 
 baqa 
 yu-uh (ya 
 
 salim) 
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 daion 
 
 elboio 
 
 moustache 
 
 hurrying 
 
 recreation 
 
 service 
 
 church 
 
 haste 
 
 swim, float 
 
 he correct, pro- 
 per 
 
 to loch 
 
 to hrealtfast 
 
 to sit up, watch 
 
 thinli 
 
 catch cold, a 
 chill 
 
 pull 
 
 hand, reach 
 
 shoot 
 
 fish 
 
 istafhim 
 darab bulta 
 kbalat 
 waqqa' 
 bi kh(i)laf 
 bi 1 marra 
 
 istihbab 
 
 mandil 
 
 mallin 
 
 till 
 
 lisan 
 
 kaliln 
 
 quwwa 
 
 (quwa) 
 'ada 
 sahib 
 sahiha 
 kidb' 
 balta 
 
 to express sur- 
 prise 
 
 but 
 
 how much, how 
 very 
 
 surely 
 
 come on 
 
 would that 
 
 fancy, dear me 
 
 to make a 
 
 horse stop 
 oh 
 
 inquire 
 
 take a stroll 
 
 mix 
 
 let fall, drop 
 
 contrary to 
 
 once for all, 
 
 not at all 
 chumming to- 
 gether 
 handkerchief 
 millieme 
 length 
 tongue 
 lock 
 strength, power 
 
 custom 
 true 
 truth 
 
 falsehood, false 
 axe 
 
 EXERCISE 73 
 Inta rayih 'ala fen ? Fib mandilen f udtl foq it tai-abeza ; 
 hat li wahid minhum. Ma mi'ish fulus wala mallim ; fib 'andak 
 
 ^ La is followed by the personal pronouns, huwa, hiya, and 
 humma, being appended to it in then- shortened forms, as lahu 
 gib ! lahe gat ! lahum gum ! 
 2nd pers. (la nta). 
 
 It is but rarely used with the 
 ^ The ij is barely pronounced. 
 
INTEEJECTIONS AND EXCLAMATIONS 213 
 
 inta? Itla' 'ala f6q we shiif iza kan Mwa rayih yinzil wala la'. 
 Khalli sotak qadde tiilak. Beyin innt sakket il bftb 'ala 1 fadi, 
 ya'ni 'ala 1 hawa, bidal ma (a) dakhkhal lisSn il kaMn fi 1 hadld. 
 Beyishtaghal 'ala qadde quwwitu. Shiddi nna 1 garaz. Ana 
 gay 'andak taht is sagara. Intu mBallatln in nas d61 'aleya leh ? 
 Humma til'um min hina ya tara wala lissa? Lazim nequm 
 bukra badrt lahsan ma nilhaqsli il babur. La', ma darabtusb 
 qadde kede gamid ; khaftf .i Humma mashyin 'ala mahluhum 
 ketlr ; khallihum yista'gilu shuwaiya fi 1 mashy. Li hadde 
 dilwaqti ma sbuftisb wala w&hid minhum. Balasb kalam hina ; 
 iskut ! Rah tigi emta ? Ba'de sa'a u nusse agi. Ihna lissa ya 
 d6b kunna fitirna lamma tabb ir r&gil. Kan ^ il qizaza ya d8b 
 'ayma foq wishsh il moiya. Ihna kunna 'andu min yigi sa'ten. 
 Ishtaghalna tul il lei lamma li ghdyit tulfl' il fagr. 'ashSn eh 
 'amalte kede bi khlaf 'adtak ? Sitritak mashruta min 'and il kii'. 
 ESgil mitlak mush lazim tikh&f min walad sughaiyar. Sihirna 
 lamma s s&'a talata min il lei. Tif tikir leinmi yigl ? Ma 'raf sh, 
 ya yigi ya ma yiglsh. Uq'ud henak inta lamma (a)ruh ana 
 agibha. II husan khadu bard ikminnu w&qif min gher ish shull. 
 Ish sh§,hid nihaytu zgye ma quit ana. Illi bfiyil 11 shawahid 
 sahlhit qSlak hilwa kaMm akhiik w ukhtak. Atabi r ragil da 
 kalfimu sahlh, we Mkin 'ammu atabfh ragil kaddab. I'wad ma 
 tibqa hina min ghgr shughl ahsan bi 1 marra tigi tishtighil 'andt 
 fi 1 ghSt. Litngn saknin sawa istihbab. Wi hyat shanabak, ya 
 stdl, kaMmi mush kidb ; ana ragil faqtr, ma yisahhish inni akdib 
 'algk. Yehibbiha m6t. II kalam da na ma smihtush ilia dil- 
 waqti. Ya zauwidni ^ ya balash shughl. Nihaytu qui li eyuha 
 wahda minhum wi s salam illi tkun nizlit. Hfiwa qal 11 'ala 
 innu ha yigl bukra s subh. Rasu kblra khalis mush keblra bass. 
 Humma qalii 11 a'mil ish shughle dih ana b nafst. lyak tefut 
 'aleya u ma tinsash. Ihna kunna min dimnuhum. Hlya 
 tawlla? la', basse ganbik tawlla. Yequlil "imsht" keinniha * 
 karsha, we " mashsM " keinniha'' fusha. Ya mahsan yekun gara 
 lu Mga ; ummal 'auwaq leh ? Abiiya ma mat min zamSn. Ma 
 tigi titfaddal tuq'ud 'andina shuwaiya. Ya ma nta wisikh ya 
 walad ! Ikkhi 'aleh, da ragil mal'iin. Akh minnak illi 'amalt 
 il 'amallya dl. Ma niqdarshe nitlub minnu shughle ketlr hakim 
 hiiwa ragil 'agiiz. Mahma kanit il haga teqlla tinshal. Lahna 
 kunna hina ! ma kunnash. Lahu ana darabtu ? 
 
 1 Adjectives used adverbially. (See Syntax, g 336.) 
 
 2 For kinit (§ 458, (/). 
 2 I.e. my pay. 
 
 * Syntax, §387. 
 
2U THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 EXERCISE 74 
 
 I took cold yesterday from not wearing i an - overcoat. 
 Since when have you been in Cairo ?2 Please reach me that^ 
 pencil from the top of the cupboard. I wonder who has torn 
 these leaves out of my book ? If you go to bed ^ early, you must 
 not get up late. He fell ofE^ the bank into the water, and 
 they were only just able to pull him out before he was drowned. 
 You were making fun of me behind my back. I returned 
 without anything '' after two days' shooting.^ What is the 
 distance from Cairo to the Pyramids 1 About two hours and 
 a quarter walking.^ He said that he will do i'' it for yoin' sake 
 only. We ran after him till we overtook him outside the town. 
 Haven't you asked him yet why he didn't look for ^^ my watch, 
 or make inquiries about ^^ it ? The water flows round the village, 
 and the inhabitants fish in ^^ it. He is always trying i* to talk 
 Nahwy, and says, for example : " ir ragul allazi ga' 'indl ams " 
 for " ir ragil illi gih 'audi imbarih." Tell me approximately 
 how long you have been in the Government service. ^^ At what 
 time do they ring i^ the bell for dinner ? The telegram didn't 
 come till two in the afternoon. Is his house next-door-to ^^ 
 the post-ofiice or opposite to it ? When our work is finished i^ 
 we will take a stroll as far as the market. Why did you mix 
 the good with the bad ? It would-have-been ^^ better if you 
 had taken the eggs out of the basket before you dropped it on 2" 
 the floor. I wish (I had) ! Go straight on ^i and turn to ^^ the 
 left after the English church. You will find it right at the 
 top.^^ Even 2* if she comes now she won't catch ^^ the train. 
 She says she met him yesterday, whereas he doesn't arrive in 
 Cairo till the day after to-morrow. I can give it you as soon as 
 you come, only^s you must let me know before,-'' so that I may 
 get it ready for ^^ you. Is the lady in or out ? 
 
 1 Trans, because I (ikminnl) did not wear. - Trans, the. 
 
 ^ Trans, you since when in Gairo 2 * da. 
 
 5 Past tense with iza. « From off. ' Mga. 
 
 8 We had shot. o Trans, to the walker. 
 
 1" Aorist. 11 'ala. 12 'an. 
 
 ^^ min. H 'auz with aor. 
 
 15 Trans, the service of the Government. is darab. 
 
 1'' ganb. i« Aor. The verb to precede its subject. 
 
 19 kan. 2" fi. -'^ Trsius. in front of you. 22 i^la. 
 
 23 Trans. aboi}e, entirely. '--i i^atta. 25 lihiq^ aor. 
 
 ^^ bass. 27 jnin qj^i3j_ 28 j;.' 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 NAHWY PRONUNCIATION AND FORMS 
 
 For S we hear ay (as in English aisle), as 'ayn eye ; for 6, 
 au (as in German), as khauf /ear. 
 
 s and z take the place of t and d where these letters corre- 
 spond to the literary th and dh.^ 
 
 g is pronounced soft like the English J, as rajul ( = ragil.) 
 
 ' retains its full value. (See § 21.) 
 
 For the pronunciation of q, see § 20. 
 
 Elision of the vowels, in such instances as are given in §29, 
 is to a great extent avoided. 
 
 The words cited in §§ 17 and 18 are, for the most part, 
 sounded as they are written in the dictionaries. 
 
 The definite article, which is pronounced al or el, is assimilated 
 only to t, t, d, d, r, z, z, s, s, sh, and n. 
 
 Words are frequently used in their uncontracted forms (§ 33). 
 
 a replaces the colloquial i in a large number of words,^ as 
 wa and, gadd grandfather, shagaratuhu (or shagaratu) Ms tree. 
 
 Nouns, when undefined, are declined after one or other of the 
 following models :^ 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 N. katibun k^tibatun 
 
 G. katibin katibatin 
 
 Ac. katiban katibatan 
 
 N. katibani 
 
 G. A. katibaini 
 
 N. katibiina 
 
 G. A. katiblna 
 
 Dual 
 
 Plukal 
 
 katibatani 
 katibataini 
 
 katibatun 
 katibatin 
 
 1 In Hebrew also and other Semitic languages s andz answer 
 to the Koranic th and dh in a large mimber of words. 
 
 2 Or, in the words of the grammarians, imala does not take 
 place ; but occasionally we have i for a, as in 'ind = colloq. 'and. 
 
216 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 
 
 Broken Plural 
 
 
 
 
 MASC. 
 
 
 N. 
 G. 
 A. 
 
 
 rig&lun 
 rigalin 
 rigalan 
 
 
 N. 
 
 
 'usmsinii 
 
 
 G. 
 
 A. 
 
 'usmana 
 Dual and Perfect Plural as 
 
 above. 
 
 Broken Plural 
 N. dirahimu 
 G. A. dirahima ^ 
 
 Undefined nouns, i.e. nouns preceded by the definite article, 
 or followed by another noun in the genitive, or having a pro- 
 nominal suffix, are declined according to the first paradigm, but 
 without the final -un, as al aswadu the hlack, G. al aswadi, 
 A. al aswada ; kitabu 'llahi the hook of God, kitabuhu his hook. 
 
 Ahun father and akhun brother are, under these circumstances, 
 declined as follows : — N. abii, akhii ; G. abi, akhi ; A. aba, akha ; 
 while the dual loses the termination ni, and the perfect plural the 
 termination na, and i is substituted for u, as mustakhdamlh his 
 employes. Tibl-SS 
 
 Remark a. — A substantive is often given the case ending, 
 while the qualifying adjective remains in the colloquial form, as 
 fl yomin w&Md in one day. 
 
 Remark b. — The final vowels and the " tanwln " {un, in, an) 
 are more often omitted than not. 
 
 The cardinal numerals which differ from those in common use 
 are as follows : — 
 
 
 MASC. 
 
 fem. 
 
 
 ahad(un) 
 
 ihda 
 
 
 wahid(un) 
 
 wahida(tun) 
 
 2. 
 
 isnan(i) 
 
 
 3. 
 
 salas(un) 
 
 salasa(tun) 
 
 8. 
 
 saman 
 
 samaniya 
 
 10. 
 
 'ashr(un) 
 
 'ashara(tun) 
 
 11. 
 
 aliada 'ashara 
 
 ihda 'ashrata 
 
 12. 
 
 isna 'ashara, <fec. 
 
 
 18. 
 
 samaniya 'ashara, <fec. 
 
 
 20. 
 
 'ishriin(a), for both genders 
 
 
 30. 
 
 salasdn, salastn, (fee. 
 
 
 80. 
 
 samantin, sam^nln 
 
 
 100. 
 
 mi'atun, mi'ah 
 
 
 200. 
 
 mi'atan(i) 
 
 
 300. 
 
 salasu mi'a(tin), &c. 
 
 
 1 The student must consult the grammars of the literary 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 217 
 
 The ordinals are : — 
 
 MASC. 
 
 1st. auwal(un) 
 2nd. sanl 
 3rd. salis(un) 
 8th. samin(un) 
 11th. hadt 'ashara, &c. 
 The pronouns which 
 
 FEM. 
 
 fila 
 
 saniya(tun) 
 salisa(tun), &c. 
 samina(tun) 
 
 must be regarded as Nahwy are: 
 
 haza this, f. hazihi, pi. comm. ha'ula' ; zalik this, that; allazt who, 
 which, f . allatl, du. allazan, f. allatan, pi. allazani; and the 
 personals nalin(u) we, hum tliey, f . hunna. 
 
 The verbal suffixes which express the accusative differ from 
 those in general use in the 2nd pers. sing., the masc. taking the 
 form ka and the fern. Id, and in the 3rd pers. sing, masc, which 
 appears as hu. The dual huma them both and kuma you both, 
 and the fern, plurs. hunna them and kunna you, will be sometimes 
 heard. Thus we have nazartuhu / sail) him, qataltahuma thou 
 didst slay them- both. 
 
 Eemaek.— The u of hu, huma, hum, and hunna is in certain 
 cases changed to i. 
 
 The same forms are appended to nouns and prepositions, as 
 akhaztu saifahu minka I took his sword from thee. 
 
 The perfect triliteral verb in its ground form has a invariably 
 after the first radical, in both the preterite and aorist, and a, i, 
 or u after the second radical. 
 
 The following is an example of its conjugation : — 
 
 Singular 
 
 MASC. FEM. 
 
 1. qataltu qataltu 
 
 2. qatalta qatalti 
 
 3. qatala qatalat 
 
 PRETERITE 
 
 Dual 
 
 Plural 
 
 MASC. 
 
 FEM. 
 
 FEM. 
 
 qataln^ qatalnA, 
 qataltuma qataltum^ qataltum qataltunna 
 qatala qatalatS qataM qataln^ 
 
 AORIST 
 
 1. aqtulu aqtulu naqtulu naqtulu 
 
 2. taqtulu taqtulina taqtuMni taqtulani taqtulflna taqtulna 
 
 3. yaqtulu taqtula yaqtuMni taqtulani yaqtuluna yaqtulna 
 
 language as to what nouns are "triptotes" and what " diptotes,'' 
 and as to the circumstances in which the genitive and accusative 
 are employed. 
 
 1 We usually hear allaztn. 
 
218 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Kemark. — The final short vowels are sounded or not according 
 to the will of the speaker. ^ 
 
 Similarly are conjugated sami'a to hear (aor. yasma'u) and 
 saqula be heavy. The passive is without exception burika in the 
 preterite and yubraku in the aorist. 
 
 The derived forms are : — 
 
 1 . Act. pret. burraka, aor. yubarriku ; pass. pret. burrika, 
 
 aor. yubarriku. 
 
 2. Act. pret. baraka, aor. yubariku ; pass. pret. burika, 
 
 aor. yubarak. 
 
 3. Act. pret. abraka, aor. yubriku ; pass. pret. ubrika, 
 
 aor. yubraku. 
 
 4. Act. pret. tabarraka, aor. yatabarraku ; pass. pret. 
 
 tuburrika, aor. yutabarraku. 
 
 5. Act. pret. tabaraka, aor. yatabaraku; pass. pret. tublirika, 
 
 aor. yutabaraku. 
 
 6. Act. pret. inbaraka, aor. yanbariku ; pass. pret. unburika, 
 
 aor. yunbaraka. 
 
 7. Act. pret. ibtaraka, aor. yabtariku ; pass. pret. ubturika, 
 
 aor. yubtaraku. 
 
 8. Act. pret. ibrakka, aor. yabrakku. 
 
 9. Act. pret. istabraka, aor. yastabriku ; pass. pret. 
 
 ustubrika, aor. yustabraku. 
 
 Remark. — The derived verbs are conjugated throughout like 
 the simple form. The participles and verbal nouns have already 
 been given, foi' the most part, in the grammar. 
 
 Instances of the other classes of triliteral verbs are : 
 zanna to think, zanantu, zananna, &c., instead of zannet, &c., 
 and similarly all verbs with a doubled radical ; qtla it was said, 
 aor. yuqalu ; amata he put to death, aor. yumttu. 
 
 The quadriliteral is lakhbata, aor. yulakhbitu in the act., 
 and lukhbita, yulakhbatu, in the pass. 
 
 The prefix sii, and occasionally sauf, is employed to give the 
 aorist a future sense, as ha, kc, in the colloquial" language. 
 
 Kon (classic, kaun), the verbal noun of kan to be, is used as 
 a conjunction without being preceded by a preposition, as konu 
 rail since he has gone or the fact of his having gone. Sometimes 
 
 1 The terminations of the aorist undei'go various changes in 
 the classical language, but as they are not generally understood, 
 and are rarely imitated in conversation, it would be superfluous 
 to describe them. 
 
APPENDIX 219 
 
 it is equivalent to inn, le inn, as iltazam k6nu yigi he was com- 
 pelled to come, kallifiinl kfinl aruh they charged me to go. 
 
 The following are instances, in addition to those already given, 
 of common mistakes made in the attempt to imitate the grammar 
 of the classical dialect : lam is used with the past tense instead of 
 the aorist, and even with a substantive, in place of la ; the seventh 
 form of the verb often appears as abtarak for ibtarak, as in 
 a'tabar he esteemed, a'taraf he confessed; tawaffa he died is almost 
 invariably heard for tuwufii (classic, tuwuffiya). 
 
 Many of the forms given above are only heard in quotations 
 from books or in speeches. The verb, for instance, is conjugated 
 in practice as in the grammar (§§ 130-232), and, but for the 
 influence of French and of modern teaching, there is very little 
 difference between the everyday language of the educated and 
 that of the lower classes. The former would say abuya rah 
 Amerika, the latter abHya rfth Amrlka fi bMd il malakto. ^ 
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 PROVINCIAL PRONUNCIATION 
 
 The following provincial peculiarities should be noted : — 
 
 In Upper Egypt — 
 
 q is pronounced throughout as hard g, z generally as z. 
 
 The fem. termination a usually becomes e, as ginene (for 
 ginena) ; so also in ane, inte, ta'ale (for ana, inta, ta'ala). 
 
 In other positions a is liable to be changed to i, as Mehimmid 
 (for Mohammad), Ihmad (for Ahmad), so in the aorist of triliteral 
 verbs (with the exception of those used in a passive or neuter 
 sense) which elsewhere take the vowel a, as asriq, adrib (for asraq, 
 adrab),^ and in the second syllable of verbs of the first derived 
 form, and of quadriliterals, as khallis (for khallas), fantiz (for 
 fantaz). 
 
 1 § 589. If speaking in public, the educated would say walidl 
 (or waldi) tawaggah ila Amerika, but they generally " descend " 
 from the nahwy to the colloquial as they grow excited, and are 
 liable in all cases to mix the forms peculiar to the two dialects 
 in the same sentence. 
 
 2 So in the classical language. On the other hand, a is often 
 heard for i in the past tense, as masak, sakat, za'alt (for 
 misik, (fee.) ; i is sometimes heard for u, as shift for shuft. 
 
220 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 The vowel i is inserted between two consonants to facilitate 
 the pronunciation, as ma Iqetish for ma Iqetsh (Iqitsh), tibin (for 
 tibn). 
 
 The 1st pers. plvn\ of the aorist is frequently used for the 
 singular. 
 
 The accent may fall on the antepenult contrary to the rule 
 laid down in § 39 h, as mAstaba, yidfinu. 
 
 By the Bedouins — 
 
 e is often used for a, q is pronounced as hard g, or (in some 
 parts of the country) as in nahwy, and g as English j/'.i Thus we 
 hear jemel for gamal. d and ' are pronounced with considerable 
 emphasis. 
 
 In the Fayoum q is sometimes sounded as in nah icy. 
 
 1 Some sound it as s in pleasure. 
 
SYNTAX 
 
 THE ARTICLE 
 
 § 247. The indefinite article agrees with its noun in gender, 
 as wahid ragil a man, wahda sitt a lady. It is very rarely, if 
 ever, expressed with abstract nouns, as zi'tq min gher fa'da 
 (fayda) a noise without pi-ofit ,'^ and should in all cases be omitted 
 unless the speaker desires to throw some stress on the noun, or 
 generally to ensure the attention of the hearer. The noun 
 stands in apposition to the article, and never precedes it. 
 
 Remark a. — Wahid and wahda may be used alone of a man, 
 a woman, as shufte wahid / saw a (man), wahda gat li a {woman) 
 came to me, miggauwiz wahda 'amya married to a blind looman, 
 and may in this case itself take the definite article. It may, of 
 coiu-se, stand alone, whatever the noun with which it agrees, when 
 it still partakes of the nature of a numeral, as 'andak kuwar ? 
 iddtni wahda have you any balls ? Give me one? 
 
 Remark b. — The quantitative adjective some, when used as 
 the plural of the indefinite article, is either unexpressed in 
 Arabic or is rendered by the words ba'd, kam, &c., as shufte 
 riggala (or ba'de rigg^la or kam ragil) fi s sikka I saw some men 
 in the street? 
 
 § 248. The definite article is in the following cases used in 
 Arabic where not expressed in English : — 
 
 (a) With adjectives, numerals, or adjectival substantives in con- 
 cord with, in opposition to, or limiting a substantive, which itself 
 has the article or a pronominal sufiix, as ir ragil it taiyib the good 
 man, il bint il 'aiy&na the sick girl, khaddamlnak il battaltn it talata 
 
 1 I.e. "Much ado about nothing." Ga'ga'a min gher tahn a 
 shouting without any grinding, is used in the same sense, or as 
 equivalent to " empty vessels make the most sound." The word 
 ga'ga'a is not, however, understood by all classes. 
 
 2 For further uses of wahid, see under distributive and de- 
 finite pronouns. 
 
 3 See § 451. 
 
222 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 your three had servants, ir ragil in naqqash the painter, lef endi 1 
 katib Monsieur le commis, il qalam ir rusas the lead-pencil, il 
 fingan il qahwa the cup of coffee, it tisht il ghasil the wash basin, il 
 gallabiya latlas the satin goian, il burneta 1 kbos the straw hat, il 
 biba 1 khashab the wooden pipe, il id il khashab liswid the Hack 
 loooden handle, is sa'a d dahab the gold watch, is sikka 1 hadtdi 
 the railway, il merkib in nar the fire (steam) ship, iz zimla litnen 
 (or litnen iz zimla) the two companions. 
 
 Remabk a. — Kam/ew precedes its substantive and alone takes 
 the article, as il kam qershe d61 these few piastres. 
 
 Remark 6. — In street cries an epithet is often emphasized by 
 being placed before its substantive, and in this case the latter 
 alone takes the article, as abyad is simit ! ^ 
 
 Remark c. — When the cardinal numeral precedes the sub- 
 stantive it is more usual for the former only to have the article, 
 unless emphatic, as litnen zimla, it talat banat. 
 
 Remark d. — The adjective does not take the article in a few 
 cases where it forms a compound with the substantive, as it 
 tamre hindi the tamarind. 
 
 (b) With names followed by a demonstrative pronoun, as ir 
 ragil da this man, il mara duk-haiya that woman.^ 
 
 (c) With abstract nouns and substantives denoting a class 
 or spoken of as a whole, as is svivccjoy, il 'sidal justice, id du'a 
 ahsan min in nom prayer is better than sleep, sinan il 'aql wisdom 
 teeth, 'andu tul il bal he is long-suffering, abu 1 h61 father of 
 terror (the Sphinx), ragil 'andu 1 qabaha an insolent man, tob min 
 il harir a robe of silk, shurb id dukhkhan tobacco-smoking, il 
 kilab dogs, il lahm. meat, il gidri smallpox, bet mabni min it tub 
 a house built of bricks, ibn il 'amm cousin, kubbayt in nibit* 
 a wine-glass, ikhsilu bi s sabun wash it with soap, ishtaretu bi 1 
 fulus / bought it with money, fi s sa'a khamsa ba'd id duhr at 
 five o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 Remark. — In some of the above expressions, as in many 
 others, the article may be dropped. Thus we may say rSgil 
 'andu qabaha, tob min hartr, mabni min tub, salam 'alekum or 
 (less usually) is salam 'alekum peace he with you, hail, 'aiyan 
 'aiya hubb (or marad il hubb) love-sick, 'umru foq il arbe'ln (or 
 
 1 Le chemin de fer = la voie ferree. 
 
 - See further, § 285. 
 
 3 But a'uzu bi llah dih. (See syntax of demonstrative 
 pronouns.) 
 
 * The wine-glass is usually expressed by il kubbaya betalit in 
 nibtt. 
 
THE AETICLE 223 
 
 f 6q 'an il arbe'tn or foq 'an arbe'ln) he is more than forty, it talata 
 nuss is sitta (or taMta nusse sitta) three is half six. We invariably 
 say li 1 be' fw sale, bi 1 husan, bi 1 humar on horse, donltey, hack, 
 bi 1 'arabl in Arabic, and usually bi 1 ugra for hire, bi 1 fults 
 for money, though bi ugra and bi Ms are admissible ; while, on 
 the other hand, bi zibda with butter, bi siyasa diplomatically, 
 moiya bi zit, bi malh loater with oil, salt, &c., bi hibr with ink, 
 &c. are more common than bi z zibda, &c. We usually say yishrab 
 dukhkhSn, niblt, <fec., he smokes tobacco, drinks wine, &c., but shurb 
 id dukhkhitn, in nibit, tobacco-smoking, loine- drinking, <fec., abu 1 
 h61, but abu diqiq the father of flour (butterfly), abu khangar the 
 father of the dagger {nasturtium). 
 
 An abstract noun, or one denoting a class, is sometimes used 
 without the article in - proverbial expressions. In short, no 
 very definite rules can be given as to the use and omission of 
 the article in these cases, and the learner cannot expect always 
 to make the right choice until he has had some practical 
 experience. 
 
 Remabk.- — ^When used partitively (the word some being 
 understood) or adjectively (see § 296), and in negative sentences, 
 these nouns are, of course, without the article, as kan ft niblt fi 
 1 kubbflya there ivas (some) ivine in the glass, ma shuftish kiMb fi 
 betu 1 did not see any dogs in his house. 
 
 (d) With the names of some countries and towns, and 
 occasionally with proper names, as il Hind India, is Sugz, ish 
 sham Damascus, seyidna 1 Hisen our lord Hisen. 
 
 (e) With the names of the seasons, as ish shita winter, fi s 
 s@f in summer ■ the days of the week, as litn^n Monday, nahar 
 il khamis Tuesday ; the divisions of the day, as fi d duhr at noon, 
 fi 1 maghrib at sunset, bukra s subh to-morrow morning ; so bi n 
 nahar by day, bi 1 lei by night. 
 
 Remark. — We say, however, yom itnen min dol a Monday, 
 kulle yom talat every Tuesday, nahar hadd of a Sunday, kanit 
 maghrib (or il maghrib) it was sunset, sallena subh. u duhr, we 
 'asr u maghrib we 'isha we prayed in the morning, at noon, in the 
 afternoon, at sunset, and in the evening. 
 
 (/) Occasionally with nouns wholly or partially indefinite 
 in sense, as shufte qutta foq is sagara / saw a cat up a tree, 
 talabti lu 1 qahwa they ordered coffee for him, ma tishtimsh ir 
 ragil illi ma shatamaksh dorit insult a man who has not insulted 
 you, illi ma yeshufshe min il ghurbal a'ma he that cannot see 
 through a sieve is blind (prov.). 
 
 § 249. The definite article is expressed in English, but 
 omitted in Arabic : — 
 
224 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 (a) Witli a noun followed immediately by another noun or 
 a phrase limiting its meaning (unless the second noun is used 
 adjectively, expressing a material, &c.), as bab il bgt the door 
 of the house, qalam il walad the boy's pen, matrah ma truh the 
 place where, wherever, you go; but il qalam ir rusas th£ lead- 
 pencil. 
 
 Eemaek. — The first noun sometimes takes the article as well 
 as the second when the latter is regarded as being in apposition 
 to it, or denotes the object it contains, as il goz il khel the pair, 
 the Tiorses, i.e. the pair of horses, il hittiten il bus the two hits of 
 reed, is sukkar in nabat the sugar-candy, il farkh il waraq dih 
 this sheet of paper, il melahiz il bulis the inspector of police, il 
 marad il hubb love-sicltness ; but in many cases the article is 
 optional. Thus we may say il merkib in nar di (or merkib in 
 nar dl) this steamboat, il fard iz zanbil ir ruzz (or fard iz zanbll 
 ir ruzz or farde zanbll ir ruzz) this basket of rice?- The first is 
 perhaps the most usual. II fuhiil il gamus means the young 
 buffaloes, fuhul il gamus the foals of the buffaloes. 
 
 Remark. — The first noun may also take the article when it 
 practically forms a compound with the second. In this case the 
 second noun does not assume the article (though it will, of course, 
 retain it if it ah-eady has it when used indefinitely), as il qershe 
 ta'rifa the current piastre, in nusse faddan tlie half acre, il ban! 
 adam the sons of men, mortals, is saffe zS,bit the non-commissioned 
 officer, il qamar id din the {dish called) qamar id din. 
 
 We may, however, also say, with perhaps a slight nuance of 
 meaning, in nuss il faddan dih and nuss il faddan dih, and bant 
 adam is more usual than il banl adam.^ 
 
 (6) With the ordinal numerals and adjectives denoting ex- 
 tremes, as auwil, talit, akhir yom, tlie first, third, last, day, huwa 
 fi ahsan sihha he is in tlie best of health. 
 
 (a) Irregularly in a few expressions, though the no\in is 
 definite in sense, as khabar eh ? (or il khabar eh, but less usually) 
 ichat's the matter .? bi qudrit Qadir by the might of the Mighty 
 (God), qatta' tariq a highioayman, lissa ma dakhalshe dinya lie 
 has not yet come into the world (of one who has no experience), 
 mefattish qibll the inspector of tlie South {provinces). 
 
 1 For fard, see § 300. 
 
 '•^ Nusse kiiz il moiya dih this half jug of water is more u.sual 
 than in nusse kuz il moiya dih, and umme khamsa dl tMs piece 
 of five {piastres) than lumme khamsa dl. For omission of the 
 article with the demonstrative, see § 420. 
 
THE AETICLE 225 
 
 Remark. — The article is generally omitted by the lower 
 classes with the word afukatu (or abvikatu) advocate, lawyef, as 
 afuMtu Hasan- (for Hasan il afukatu), afukatu gih.i With the 
 name of an office followed by Efendt the article is usually 
 omitted, as Mufti Efendl. 
 
 § 250. The cases in which Arabic agrees with English in 
 suppressing the definite article may be studied from the follow- 
 ing examples : ya'raf 'arab! he knows Arabic, fi shahre ramad^n 
 in the month of Ramadan, gahannam hell (but il ganna heaven),^ 
 min yom li y6m from day to day, min Id li id from hand to hand, 
 dahr fi dahr back to bach, 'ala ghafla of a sudden, unawares, hum&r 
 sikka a street don'/cey, 'arablyit ugra a hackney carriage, husSn 
 ruklib a hack, lei ma' nahSr day and night, nS,zir mahatta a station- 
 master, si,'l busta a postman-, 'askarl bulls ^ a policeman, ibne 
 haram a child of sin, bahri, qibll, <&c., North, South, (fee* 
 
 § 251. It will be observed that in many instances the second 
 noun is used as an adjective, or the two together form a com- 
 pound. When the first is definite, the word betfi,' (see § 69) is 
 inserted between them, as il humar beta' is sikka the street 
 donkey, is sfi't beta' il busta the postman; or in some cases the 
 second retains its character as an adjective, and takes the article 
 as well as the first, as il wilad il haram the children of sin. 
 
 § 252. The definite article has the force of a demonstrative 
 pronoun in the expressions in noba this time, il y6m to-day, 
 il lela to-night, ish shitwlya this winter, and in a few others ; 
 of a personal pronoun in such phrases as bidd akhsil Men* 7 want 
 to wash my hands, hiwa khusara fi 1 m6t it loould be apity to kill it, 
 zauwid lu 1 'allq increase his forage, khassarti nna 1 akhl you 
 have spoilt our food, khataf minni 1 burneta he snatched my hat 
 from me ; of a relative when used with a predicate adjective (or 
 participle) preceding its substantive, as il b@t il muqlm flh abuya 
 the house in lohich my father lives.'' 
 
 1 Oomp.. the use of Master in older English and Maitre in 
 Erench, especially as a legal title. 
 
 2 Literally the garden, paradise. 
 
 3 The plural, however, is usually 'asakir il bulls. 
 
 * See also above, § 248, c. Rem. 
 
 * Oomp. me laver les mains, die JSdnde iraschen, &c. 
 " Not in common use. 
 
226 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 THE NOUN SUBSTANTIVE 
 
 THE CASES 
 
 § 253. It has been already pointed out (§ 63) that in the 
 language of Cairo the cases are rarely distinguished by inflections. 
 Their place is supplied by prepositions which stand before the 
 noun without the latter (with the exceptions hereafter noted) 
 undergoing any change. 
 
 § 2-54. A noun in the genitive may express : — 
 
 (a) Possession, whether it denote the possessor or the thing 
 possessed, or whether it be material or denote a quality or 
 attribute, as bet abuya my father's house, imrat akhiikh your 
 brother's loife, Malik id dinya Lord of the loorld, shatart in 
 naggar the carpenter's skill. 
 
 Remaek. — The idea of close attachment or relation of one 
 thing to another, as illustrated by the following examples, is 
 included under this head: shahah urnxnu. tJie image of his mother, 
 shiddit il musadma i/ie violence of the slioclc, khalawit il mishwai' 
 tlie gratuity paid for the errand, naharak (or naharna) sa'id may 
 your day be propitious, good-morning to you, nas Lundura the 
 people of London, marad il hubb love-sickness, yom is safer the day 
 of departure, dakhil fi sinn il 'ishrtn getting on for tioenty, yutama 
 1 abb, 1 umm children who have lost their father, their mother, 
 beh ummu, i.e. a bey by courtesy only, sirqit il farkha the theft of 
 the fowl, ishab is sirtqa, is sirqa the victims of a theft, sirqit il 
 har&mlya the theft committed by the robbers, sahb il gitta the owner 
 of the corpse, i.e. the dead man, haddCidit is sultan the story about 
 the sultan, mashy il hafa a walking barefooted. 
 
 (b) Fidness, as kubbayit niblt a glass of wine, qizfizit bira a 
 bottle of beer. 
 
 (c) A part of a whole or the lohole of a part, as hittit lahm a 
 piece of meat, ras is sana the beginning, first day, of the year, 
 auwil, talit, akhir ish shahr the first, third, end of the month, 
 shuwaiyit malh a little salt, gimlit nas a number of people, ba'd ir 
 riggala some of the men, kull ish shughl the whole of the business, 
 tul il lei the whole of tlie night, gamth(gamt') in nfis all the people. 
 
 {d) Qause and effect, oi-igin, as waldt my father (literally my 
 begetter), Hasan 'all Hasan, son of Aly, katib il gawab the writer of 
 the letter, katb il gawab the writing of the letter, nur il qamar the 
 light of the moon, simm il far ratsbane. 
 
 (e) Material, as gallabtyit shash a vuislin gown, sahni nli^s a 
 copper dish, sikkit il hadtd the railway. 
 
 (/) Measure of time, space, value, as mesafit y6m, a day's 
 
THE NOUN SUBSTANTIVE 227 
 
 distance, qimit sl,'a u nuss a matter of an hour and a half, 
 mesafit, waqte, shurbe sigara, 'M, mesafit sigara iTie time it takes 
 to smoke a cigarette, a pipe,^ qtmit tahdlr il husan the time required 
 for getting the horse ready, fi muddit A'rabl' in the days of Araby. 
 
 iff) Use, often expressed by a compound in English, as 
 kubbayit in nibit a glass for wiim, wine-glass? 'arabtyit ugra a 
 carriage for hire, tusSn rukflba a hack, 'Hit khiyata a sewing 
 machine, odit sufra dining-room, gallablyit hai-fm a lady's goim, 
 fittit wishsh, tden, sufra a totoel for the face, the hands, a 'table- 
 napkin. 
 
 § 255. The second noun may in a general way limit the fii'st,. 
 as ma'rifit wishsh, siiq a person one knows only by sight, a market 
 acquaintance. 
 
 § 256. When the first of the two nouns is a verbal substantive 
 the second naturally stands with regard to it in the relation of 
 a subject when the verb itself is intransitive, of a subject or 
 object where the verb is intransitive, as wuqil' il walad the boy's 
 falling, darb il walad kan shidld the striking of the boy was severe, 
 i.e. the boy was struck hard or the boy struck hard, fikrl, takhmtnl 
 leinnu. yigt it is my notion, conjecture, that he will come, amar bi 
 hdSru he ordered him to appear, but amar bi tahdlru, bi mgibtu 
 he ordered him to be brought, nuzul il husSn min il gabal Mzim 
 yektJln bi mnazrit is says the descent of the horse from the hill must 
 be under the groom's superintendence, istilahna ahsan min khinaqna 
 waiya ba'd better that we should be reconciled than quarrel with one 
 another. 
 
 § 257. The word beta' is very frequently placed between the 
 two nouns, standing, as it were, in apposition to the first, but 
 agreeing with it in number and gender, as has been seen in 
 the accidence.^ It is mostly used to express the genitive of 
 possession, and very rarely, if ever, to express the genitive of 
 measure. When speaking of near family relations we must 
 not, as a rule, use beta'. Thus we cannot say il akhkhe beta'I, 
 il umme betahtu for akhuya, ummu, unless we wish to speak 
 disrespectfully. An exception, however, is made in favour of 
 mara and sitt in the sense of wife, the former being occasionally 
 
 ^ A period of time is often measured by the time it takes to 
 perform a particular act, especially the smoking a cigarette ; so 
 mesafit laffe (or malwe) sigara we shurbiha the time it takes to roll 
 a cigarette and smoke it. A fellah will say, ba'd il maghrib bi 
 nusse 'alqit shaduf . . . half a turn at the shaduf. 
 
 2 Or kubbaya li n niblt or beta' in nibtt. 
 
 3 §69. 
 
228 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 followed by beta'a and the latter always.^ No hard and fast 
 rules can be laid down in other cases for the use of beti', but 
 it may be remarked that it is best omitted when no particular 
 stress is laid upon the second noun, and when clearness or 
 elegance of expression would not be gained by its insertion.^ 
 When it is used as an adjective signifying po-oper or peculiar to, 
 it cannot be omitted, as it tiff&h beta' il akl eating apples. 
 
 § 258. Beta', whether in the sense of possessed or possessing, 
 may stand by itself, agreeing with a substantive understood, as 
 mush 'auz betii'l, 'auz betu' akhuya 7 don't want mine, I loant 
 my brother s, beta' il 'esh, il 'ads, il hamSm, il hammam, il 
 mantal6n, il bui'nSta, &c., a seller of bread, lentils, doves, a bath- 
 keeper, one who wears trousm's, a hat, <bc., betii' il mazzlka lissa 
 ma gush the musicians have not come yet. In il beta' dih this 
 thing, article, it retains its character as a substantive. With 
 eh ? (ohat 1 it serves as an interrogative particle implying sur- 
 prise or annoyance on the part of the speaker, as beta' eh ti'mil 
 kede, aruh waiyak ? What are you doing that for 1 Why should 
 I go with you? Lastly, it may be used, with or without the 
 third pronominal suflS.x, in the sense of et cetera, as biyizra' 
 batatis, ful, gazar beta' (or beta'u) he grows potatoes, beans, 
 carrots, <bc. 
 
 § 259. When the first noun is indefinite and the second a 
 possessive or causal genitive and definite, either beta' or the 
 preposition li must be inserted between the two, as bet beta' 
 abiiya (or 1 abiiya) a house of my father's, binte llya a daughter 
 of mine. Where, on the other hand, the second noun is in- 
 definite (in which case it can often be rendered in English by 
 an adjective), no word need intervene, as bet, binte, muluk a 
 Icinijly house, a p^'incess. 
 
 § 260. The adjective taba' is used much in the same way as, 
 though less frequently than, beta', but I'emains unchanged with 
 feminine and plural nouns, as il bet da, is siraya dt, taba' mtn? 
 to whom does this house, this palace, belong 1 
 
 § 261. The substantives abfij^ umm, ibn, bint, ahl, s&hib 
 have in certain expressions the sense of possessed of, endowed 
 
 1 Sitti means my lady or 7ny grandmother. Sitt is not used 
 by the lower classes and seldom by the higher in the sense of 
 wife. A servant may say is sitte beta'itna when speaking to 
 his master of his (the latter's) wife. 
 
 2 Thus we should say udt is sufra beta'tak your dining-room, 
 not odit sufritak. 
 
 8 The u is practically pronounced short. 
 
THE NOUN SUBSTANTIVE 229 
 
 toith, as rSgil abu fuMs a man of money, abu daqn, sbanab 
 'imma, &c., a man with a heard, a moustache, wearing a turban, &c. , 
 ■waraq bet^' il busta min umme qirshe sSgh postage stamps loorili 
 a piastre tarif, umme quwgq the screech-owl, baruda umme shutfa, 
 kabsftl, a gun with a flint-, a percussion-loch, r&gil ibne talattn 
 Sana a man of thirty, bint arbe'ln sana a woman of forty, ragil 
 able khibra a respectable man, one ' who Jcnoivs, an expeii, ana 
 mush min able zalik / am not that sort of man, able zimma a 
 man of honour, r^gil s&bib ml,l a man of wealth. 
 
 Remaek a. — The noun is sometimes understood, as abu 'isbrtn 
 containing twenty {piastres), i.e. a dollar, r^gil abu mlten (or 
 mtten gineh) a man who has £200 a month,'^ umme arba'a w 
 arbe'in j7os»essed! of forty -four {feet), i.e. a centipede. 
 
 Remark h. — A fixe piastre piece may be expressed by umme 
 kbamsa or bitta min umme kbamsa or hitta bi kbamsa, five 
 piastre pieces by hitat min umme kbamsa or bitat min umme 
 kbamsEit or hitat bi kbamsa or hitat bi kbamsat.^ Similarly, 
 a ten piastre piece is umme 'ashara, &c. Umm may take the 
 plural form ummat, as ummat qershenat two piastre pieces, but 
 hitat min umme (or abu) qershgnat is more usual. Neither abl 
 nor abu are used in the plural in this connection. 
 
 § 262. The partitive genitive may sometimes be expressed 
 by the prepositions min and fl, as fth nfis in nisw&n minhum 
 yitbarqa'u there are people, the women of them (i.e. lohose women) 
 wear the veil, shuwaiya minnu a little of it, auwil y6m min ish 
 shabr the first day of the month, il mitre fiha yisawi qirsben a 
 metre of it is worth two piastres. 
 
 § 263. Under the pai'titive genitive may be classed the use 
 of the constructive form' before the interrogative eh? as shuft 
 il haga dt? h^git eh? (or hagt eh?) Did you see this thing ? What 
 thing 1 
 
 § 264. The noun following the indefinite pronoun ey is 
 placed in the genitive, and generally takes the case ending in 
 unless it is followed by a relative pronoun, as eye dukkanin 
 lohichevw, any, shop, bi eye tariqtin by any means, but bi eye 
 tarlqa illi 'andak by any means you have. When the noun is 
 followed by the substantive verb it retains the case ending, 
 although the verb usually agrees with it, as gye wahdin kan, 
 
 1 One may hear the following : min da ? Da abu mtt gineh 
 Who is that ? That's a {or the) man who has £100 a month. 
 A man is estimated in Egypt, as in other countries, by his 
 income. 
 
 2 We may also say simply khamsat, 'asharat, &c. 
 
230 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 min eye gihitin kanit.^ Sometimes the verb is placed between 
 ey and its noun, and causes the case ending to be shifted to the 
 pronoun itself, as eyin kan wahid whicheve)' one it he. The 
 lengthened form eyiha is not followed by a noun with the case 
 ending, as eyiha garni' whichever mosque. 
 
 § 265. The genitive of use may also be expressed for the 
 sake of clearness by means of beta' or the preposition li, as 
 kubbaya betaht in nibit (or li n nibit). 
 
 § 266. When the second substantive denotes the material it 
 is very frequently regarded as an adjective, or stands in appo- 
 sition to the first, which then undergoes no change. Thus we 
 may say gallablya shash instead of gallabiyit shash ; similarly, 
 ibra hadid a steel needle, nishara khashab sawdust, sliavinr/s, 
 sikka hadtd a railway, hitta dahab a piece of gold, a'ta lu wazifa 
 nazir he gave Mm the functions of a minister, tazkara rayih gay 
 a return-ticket. To emphasize the material we may employ the 
 preposition min, as suhun min nahas (or min in nahas). 
 
 Remark. — We may also say nisharit khashab, hittit dahab ; 
 and wazifit nazir is more usua.l than waztfa nazir. The piece of 
 gold is hittit id dahab (or il hitta d dahab), a raihoay train babur 
 sikka hadid, the railway train babur is sikka 1 hadid (or babur 
 sikkit il hadid). 
 
 § 267. On the other hand, a noun limiting or explicative of 
 another may stand to it in the relation of a genitive, as 'arabiyit 
 karru (or 'arabiya karru) a cart. When an object is introduced 
 by its generic term the latter, if ending in a, will of necessity 
 take the constructive form, as midinit Masr the city of Cairo, 
 sagarit labakh an acacia tree, sagart il filfil the pepipei- tree, nimrit 
 wahid, itnen No. 1, 2, qolit bint the word bint. Sana a year also 
 takes the constructive form when followed by its date, as fi 
 sanat tultemtya in the year 300. 
 
 Remark. — The two constructions are very frequently con- 
 fused, and such expressions as the following will be heard every 
 day : il hittit id dahab the piece of gold, il 'iblit id dukhkhan 
 the tobacco box, is sikkit il hadld,^ il kelt il qamha dt this meastire 
 of cm-n, il ghet il bersim the field of clover, waraq is sagarit il 
 qtita the leaves of the tomato plant, ik kubar ish shuqay V/ie greatest 
 of scoundrels, il bizr il kittan the lint seed, the first and second 
 noun with its article being regarded as one word. 
 
 § 268. A definite noun which limits a superlative of degree 
 
 1 But see § 63. 
 
 2 Hadid is not here used as an adjective, for we say sikkit il 
 hadtd as well as is sikka 1 hadid. 
 
THE NOUN SUBSTANTIVE 231 
 
 may be regarded as a genitive of relation, as in ahsan in nas 
 the best of people. 
 
 § 269. The genitive of possession is sometimes employed in 
 Arabic where we would use a preposition, as moiyit librlq inkabbit 
 the water in the jug was spilt. 
 
 § 270. The insertion of an adverb or other word between the 
 two nouns does not prevent the first from taking the t, as mesafit 
 taqriban y6mgn a distance of about two days, mesMt yigt Ichamas 
 daqayiq an interval of almost five minutes, muddit baqa sanat^n a 
 period then of two years, qtmit qiil talatin gingh a value of sau 
 
 £S0. 1 .8 
 
 § 271. A whole sentence often stands in the relation of a 
 genitive to a preceding noun, as li fikrit innu rah. yigi in the 
 belief that he was coming, muddit il khidewi kan fi Lundura at 
 the time the Khedive icas in London, sa'it ma kunna barra at the 
 time we were out, li ghayit lamma yigt till the moment he comes, 
 q61it ma ruhtish, the statement that you didn't go, 'ibarit qable 
 ma yshMii dt this expression, " before they see," sikkit illi yeruli 
 ma yirga'sh the road by which he who takes it never returns, bi 
 sabab kunte qayil hi for the reason that I had told him. 
 
 Remark. — The construct form is not always used with ma ; 
 thus we may say auwil Igla ma yebat fi 1 bet as well as auwil 
 ISlit, &c., the first night he sleeps in the house. 
 
 § 272. The construct form is sometimes assumed by sa'a and 
 Sana and a few others without reason, when used adverbially, as 
 sanat yigi, sanat ma yiqtsh some years he comes, some he doesn't, 
 sa'it 3'ishrab, sa'it ma yishrabsh sometimes he drinks, sometimes 
 lie doenn't (or sana yigi, &c.).i 
 
 § 273. When two or more nouns are determined by a 
 genitive, the first precedes it, while the others follow and 
 indicate their relation to it by means of the pronominal suffixes, 
 as abu r rSgil we bintu the man's father and his daughter, i.e. the 
 man's father and daughter, 'aql il qudah wi stiqimithum, the 
 loisdom and integrity of the judges, tul il 'ilba we 'ardiha we 
 tukhniha the length, breadth, and thickness of the box. Should, 
 however, beta' be employed, the order will be the same as 
 in English, as it tril wi 1 'ard wi t tukne betu' il 'ilba. 
 
 § 274. Where two or more objects of a class are determined 
 by more than one genitive they should be repeated before each, 
 as kitS,b abiik wi ktab akhiiya your father's and my brother's 
 book, sitritl we sidertya we sitrit 'ali we siderih Aly's and my 
 coat and waistcoat. We may, however, often shorten these 
 
 1 Perhaps for sanata, sa'ata, accusative forms used as adverbs. 
 
232 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 sentences with the help of beta', as sitriti we sideriya wi btu' 
 'alt (or wi Hi btu' 'alt). When the object determined is one and 
 the same in each, the English construction will be used, as b^t 
 Hasan we 'alt Hasan and Aly's house; but the full form of the 
 personal pronoun must be added after the suffix, as qolak enta 
 wi 1 hurma dt this lady's and your assertion. 
 
 § 275. The ideas peculiar to the dative are mostly expressed 
 in Arabic by means of the preposition li.i 
 
 § 276. It has been seen that the objective or accusative case 
 has rarely a distinctive sign except sometimes when used as an 
 adverb.2 Motion, too, one of its chief characteristics, is usilally 
 expressed by the prepositions li, 'ala, (fee. ; ^ but, as will be seen 
 hereafter, the preposition not unfrequently falls out after a 
 verb or verbal noun of motion. 
 
 § 277. A noun immediately following a predicate, and 
 limiting or specifying its application, may be regarded as an 
 accusative of extent,* as ragil kebtr is sinn a man old (advanced) 
 in years ; ketir, qaltl, il kalam loquacious, taciturn; mekhattata 
 'aneha loitli pencilled eyes ; riglu min'asa ttn Ms foot iesmeared 
 with mud; arde mazrii'a dura land soxmi with maize; tarde 
 khalis il ugra a f repaid parcel , khumm in nom lethargic ; 
 tawtl il td long-fingered (of a thief) ; ^ tawll il lisan long-tongued 
 (of a great talker). The feminine adjective is generally in the 
 construct form, especially when the noun is closely connected 
 with the subject, as maridt il gism ill in iody ; gamilt is sura, 
 il wishsh heautifid of countenance ; but khalsa 1 ugra,'' malySna 
 moiya. 
 
 I 278. This locution is not very common, and even in cases 
 where it is admissible the preposition ft (or bi) may generally be 
 inserted, as kebtr fi s sinn ; nas naytn fi 1 kalam crude, raw of 
 speech, mardan bi gismu. It is more colloquial to say ana 
 nazart da'tf / have a iceaJc sight than ana da'tf in nazar ; a foot 
 h-oad, long, &c., can only be expressed by 'ardu, tiilu qadam, &c. 
 
 § 279. Not only verbs with their participles, but adjectives 
 having the force of a participle, may take a direct object, as 
 sharrtb dukhkhan one who is constantly smoking. 
 
 § 280. The sign of the vocative case is the interjection ya ! 
 It is occasionally omitted, especially before proper names and a 
 
 1 See § 570. ^ See § 63, d. s gee § 570. 
 
 * Of. the Greek and Latin idiom. The noun takes the sign 
 of the accusative in literary Arabic. 
 
 * Eng. light-fingered. 
 
 6 Khalsit il ugra is hardly admissible. 
 
THE NOUN SUBSTANTIVE 233 
 
 few words in common use, as bauw^b ! porter J Mehammad ! amma, 
 amm ! mother / walad ! bint ! &c. It is also omitted with 
 efendim sir (but not with sitt). 
 
 § 281. When a person is addressed by both his names the 
 interjection is repeated before the second, as ya Mhammad ! ya 
 Salim ! This is also generally the case when he is called by his 
 name preceded or followed by his trade or profession, or is 
 designated by two or more qualities, as ya Hasan, ya hammar ! 
 donkey-hoy Hasan I ya wad, ya Mhammad ! boy ! Mehammad ! 
 ya rfi,gil ya saqqa, b^ya', nagger ! you fellow, water-carrier, vendor, 
 carpenter 1 ya Bkhlta, ya bint, yakhtt ! girl, sister Bikhita ! ya 
 r&gil ya t^nj you, the next man ! 
 
 Remark. — The interjection is not always repeated where the 
 quality, title, or profession is almost inseparably attached to the 
 name. Thus a man habitually called 'amme ' Mehammad Uncle 
 Mehammad, or Me'allim 'all foreman Aly, might be addressed by 
 ya 'ammi Mhammad, ya m'allim 'all; hvA, if there is the least 
 pause between the two words, ya will be repeated. The word 
 ragil sometimes forms a compound in sense with a noun ex- 
 pressing a profession, and alone takes the sign of the vocative, 
 as ya ragil saqqS ! water-carrier I 
 
 § 282. Lastly, the second noun, especially if denoting a high 
 office, may take the definite article instead of the interjection 
 being repeated, as ya sidna 1 qadi our lord the Kadi. 
 
 § 283. The interjection may, of course, be placed before 
 adjectives and participles used substantively, and will be 
 repeated with them when they are in concord with a sub- 
 stantive expressed, as ya 'agtlz ! old man ! ya 'atshan ! ^ oh thirsty 
 one ! ya ragil ya atrash ! you, you deaf man I ya 'auza 1 q1ita oh 
 lady loho want tomatoes I 
 
 § 284. It may be placed before personal and, elliptically, 
 before relative pronouns, as ya inta ! you there I u'a ya Hi shfi,yil il 
 mishanna,-ya Hi m^sht min gher ma tiftah 'Snak look out youtoho are 
 carrying the bread basket, you who are walking with your eyes shut/ 
 ya bitte ya lit 'auza 1 hummus ! ladies who want chieh-peas I ^ 
 
 Remark a. — When the subject addressed is named or other- 
 wise indicated after the personal pronoun, ya will either be 
 repeated or stand before the noun only, as ya inta ya Mhammad, 
 ya inta ya ragil (or inta ya Mhammad, inta ya rSgil). 
 
 1 'amm is applied as a title of respect to an elderly man or 
 one older than the speaker. 
 
 2 Street cries. The water-seller sometimes says 'atshan 
 without ya. 
 
234 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Remark h. — In the expression ya ismak eh ! (for ya inta Hi 
 ismak eh !) both the personal and relative pronouns have dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 § 285. The sign of the vocative is used in street cries with 
 the object for sale, to call the attention of the passers to it, and 
 in this case the epithet qualifying or puffing it is often placed 
 with or without ya first in the sentence and in the masculine 
 singular, whatever the gender and number of the substantive, as 
 ya tirmis ! lupines ! ya subfin ya 'al ! hest soap ! 'arid ya kurrat ! 
 broad leelcs ! baladt ya banzaher ! _^?ie native {lemons) \ qadim ya 
 lumad ! old lamps ! ahla min il 'asal ya basal ! onions sweeter 
 than honey ! ya rum{ ya 'asal ya gazar ! carrots sweet as Gh'eelc 
 honey ! At the end of the sentence the adjective may be re- 
 peated (generally without ya), as baladl ya krumbe baladl ! 
 native eabhages, native cabbages I akhdar ya kurrat akhdar ! 
 
 § 286. Somewhat similar to the above is the use of ya as a 
 cry of distress or surprise, as ya rasi ! ya 'eni ! oh my liead ! oh 
 my eye 1 ya lela s6da ! oh unlucky night ! ya ana maskln ! i oh 
 loretched me ! ya bakhtak ! what luck is yours ! ya ritna ! oh I 
 would we ! ya ma nta wisikh ! oh, how diHy you are ! ya ma uliif ! 
 oh how many thousands ! 
 
 § 287. In scolding, the interjection is rarely omitted, and it 
 is usually repeated with every term of abuse, numerous as they 
 often are. It will be best translated in this case by the personal 
 pronoun you. 
 
 § 288. A noun may be used absolutely without being pre- 
 ceded by a preposition or dependent on any other word in the 
 sentence. This use corresponds in some instances to the dative 
 of other languages, with or without a preposition, in others to 
 the so-called accusative absolute or the accusative of extent,^ as 
 tigi s sa'a khamsa you must come at five o'cloch, in nahar da to- 
 day, il lOla di this night, tani yom another day, il gum'a 1 gaya 
 next week, kulle yom is subh every day in the morning, id duhr at 
 noon, il maghrib at sunset, sitttn sana we sab'en yom, i.e. the 
 devil I care, ruhna msafa kblra we icent a great distance. 
 
 Remark. — In such expressions as shufte wahid dira'u maksura, 
 wishshu mkashshar / saiu a man with a broken arm, a rm-y face, 
 there is an ellipse of the relative pronoun illi and the substan- 
 tive verb kan. 
 
 § 289. A noun following another noun or a personal pronoun. 
 
 1 More commonly used by Fellaheen. 
 
 - Many of them may be regarded as adverbial expressions. 
 
THE NOUN SUBSTANTIVE 235 
 
 and explicative of it, is said to be in apposition to it, as Meham- 
 mad il farr^n M. the taker ; is sultan 'abd il Hamid ; i guz khel 
 batStl a pair of liorses, barrels' (i.e. a.s round as barrels) ; in nas il 
 bashaw^t wi 1 bahawat ; fih gama'a diyM 'andina we have some 
 guests in our house; r&gil khaddam, beya', khaiyat, &c.; qususa 
 banat priestesses ; in nas gamihhum the j)eople, all of them ; il 
 gibna kulliha the whole of the cheese ; hftwa sh Shekh he tlie Sheikh ; 
 hiya rnkhra she the other (i.e. she too) ; intft litnen you both ; 
 iddetii lu hidtya I r/ace it to him, (as) a present , gabuh 'aiyina they 
 brought it as a sam^ile. 
 
 § 290. The word luzum necessity is very commonly used after 
 another noun in the sense of needed for, for the use of, as khashab 
 luzum il furn wood for the stow, farsha luzum U husan bedding 
 for the horse. 
 
 § 291. The second noun is sometimes annexed in apposition, 
 though it is really of the nature of a genitive, as tazkara ula, 
 "tanya, talta daraga a first, second, third class, ticket ; il goz il khel 
 the pair {nf) horses? 
 
 § 292. The noun in apposition may be separated from the 
 other by several words, as hlya kharagit min il oda 1 hurma she 
 went out of the room, the woman {I mean). 
 
 § 293. For the sake of clearness the relative pronoun followed 
 by the personal pronoun maybe inserted between the two nouns, 
 so that the second becomes the predicate of the first, as Meham- 
 mad illi huwa 1 farr^n, il qususa illi humma banat. 
 
 § 294. The nouns nafs, shakhs, z&t, '6n, tul self, kuU, gami' 
 all, and wahd a being alone, with the pronominal suffixes, stand 
 similarly in apposition to another noun or pronoun introducing 
 them, as ish shekh shakhsu ; il hurma nafsiha; il khidewi zatu ; 
 il 'asakir 'enhum the sheikh himself ; the lady herself, &e. ; ana get 
 tflli / came by myself ; il wil&d kulluhum ; qaret il kitab kullu / 
 have read the book, the whole of it ; in nas gum gamilihum the 
 people all came ; il ingllz wahduhum the English by themselves, 
 alone. 
 
 Remark. — The preposition bi and (with wahd) li often inter- 
 vene, as il bint bi zatha ; ta'alft intu bi 'enku come yourselves ; 
 ana bi tidi / by myself : humma li wahduhum. 
 
 § 295. A whole sentence or substantive clause may stand in 
 apposition to a noun, as il kaUm da 'ala inn ir ragil da ahsan 
 min kull in nas gher sahlh this statement, namely, that this man 
 
 1 The order is sometimes inverted, as il Khidewi 'abbSs for 
 'abbas il Khidewi. 
 
 2 § 249, a. Rem. 
 
236 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 is superior to everybody (else), is untrue. (Here the words from 
 'ala inn to in nas are in apposition to il kalam da.) II khabar 
 le innu inqatal the neios tliat he has been killed. 
 
 § 296. Substantives are sometimes used as adjectives, especi- 
 ally when they denote a material i or a condition (as the state 
 of the weather) ; e.g. gallabtya shash, a muslin robe ; mandil 
 harlr a silk handkerchief; burneta khos a strata hat; kitab 
 gild a bound book , biba khashab a wooden pipe ; sikka hadld an 
 iron {rail) way ; sa'a dahab a gold loateh ; suhun nahas copper 
 dishes ; il kalbe 'anduhum nagasa the dog with them is an unclean 
 thing ; id dinya bard, harr, nar the weather is cold, hot, hot as fire ; 
 id dinya 'atma, dalma, shard, wahla, zahma, ramadan it is dark, 
 blowing a sirocco, muddy, crowded, Ramadan; kalamak nafla u 
 kidb your statement is foolish and false ; matrah dalma, 'atma a 
 dark place ; hSga 'eb a disgraceful thing ; oda katma a close room ;^ 
 qumash alwan a stuff of {many) colours, i.e. variegated; samak, 
 baskot ignas various fish, mixed biscuits ; 'ishrln muf tah ishkal 
 twenty different keys ; kalam zur false statevteid ; ragil kuhna a rag 
 of a raan (i.e. loorn-out); walad lakhma a muddle-headed boy; 
 mara, zabiin tarab a charming woman, a splendid customer ; kitab 
 khara a loorihless book ; q61 sharaf word of honour ; da shughla 
 karbe qawi that is a very fatiguing business ; il bahre '6m the river 
 is deep enough to sioim in {not fordable) ; zahma miot a deadly 
 crush; tdu shalal Ms hand is unthered ; 'iyar nar a shot from a 
 gun ; ishun luzum is sufra, khudarat luziim il akl, it tabikh, &c. 
 
 § 297. Verbal substantives will sometimes be followed by a 
 substantive clause as their object, as takhmlnt leinnu yigl it is 
 my conjecture that he will come; biddu yeruh U balad it is his 
 want, i.e. he wants to go to toion; haqqubum kan yidrabtih it was 
 their right to strike him, i.e. they ought to have struck him; or 
 the object may be another substantive, as haqquhum ish shanq 
 they ought to be hanged. 
 
 NUMBER 
 
 § 298. As has been seen in the accidence, when a noun ex- 
 presses a whole class, the individual of that class may be denoted 
 by adding the termination a ; and even where the same noun 
 expresses both the class and the individual, as often happens 
 when it has a broken plural, the termination may be added for 
 clearness if it is necessary to make a distinction, as ti'ban snake 
 
 1 As is the case in English. 
 
 2 = oda khabls (§ 62). 
 
NUMBER 237 
 
 or snakes (pi. ta'abtn), ti'Mna (or ti'bana waMa) a single snake. 
 The same termination will sometimes be added to an abstract 
 noun to give it greater vividness, as kunna fi 'izz in n6ma 1 
 liilwa we ivere in the middle of a sweet sleep. M6ta is a fataltty, 
 a case of death, akla one eating, a meal. 
 
 § 299. Wahid, with its fem. wahda, as a substantive corre- 
 sponds to one in English, and ^may be used in the dual and 
 plural, as addi lu kummitra ? Ewa, iddt lu wahda wahditen shall 
 [ give him a pear ? Yes, give him one or tioo. 
 
 § 300. The word fard or farda (pi. fardit) is used as the 
 singular of nouns denoting objects that go in pairs, the latter 
 form generally taking the t when followed by the noun, as 
 though it were a partitive genitive, as fardit gazma,^ shui'ab, 
 guwanti an odd shoe, stocking, glove ; fard (or fardit) hamfi,m one of 
 a pair of pigeons ; fardit tabanga a pistol. Sometimes it follows 
 the noun, as 'arabtya bi hsan fard a single-horse carriage ; or the 
 noun may be understood, as talatt igwaz u fard three pairs and 
 a single one ; farda a pistol ; f arden balah two paniers of dates ; 
 fardit husan an odd, a single horse-shoe ; farde ruzz a single basket 
 made of rice-straiv, or a sack of rice; bunduqiya bi farda a 
 single-barrelled gun , ragil bi farda, abu farda ^ a one-eyed man. 
 
 Remark. — The plural is fardat, but the broken form ifrad 
 is used in the expression ifrad in nas individuals, without re- 
 ference to couples. 
 
 § 301. 'M stick and zirr are similarly used of plants and a 
 few objects made of wood, as 'Ad mantto, basal, ward apiece of 
 stock, a bulb, a rose^cutting ; 'M halfa ( = halfaya) a blade of half a 
 grass ; 'M kabrit or simply 'ud ( = kabrita) a match, as 'andak 'ftd 
 awalla' buh sigartl? have you a match with which I can light my 
 cigarette 1 zirre khiy^r, shammam a encumber, a melon. 
 
 Remark. — 'fid kabrit sham' a tvax match is also said. 
 
 § 302. The word kam, whether meaning how many ? or afeiv, 
 is always followed by a noun in the singular number,^ though 
 the adjective or pronoun qualifying it will be in the plural, as 
 kam qizaza ? hoio many bottles ? nazzU il kam kubb^ya dol il 
 kuwaiyisin bring down these few pretty glasses. 
 
 § 303. When the plural pronominal suffixes are appended to 
 the word ism natne, or words denoting self^ or parts of the body 
 or the body itself, the nouns often remain in the singular, and 
 
 1 Note that although gazma means a pair of boots, and con- 
 sequently gizam pairs of boots, we may say guz gizam for a single 
 pair. ^ Or farda k(i)rtma. 
 
 2 Oomp. Italian qualche bottiglia. * See § 122. 
 
238 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 in this case the qualifying objective will also remain unchanged, 
 as ismuhum eh ? what are their names 1 naf suhum themselves ; 
 daqnuhum tawtla their beards are long; simi'na kalamhum bi 
 widnina tve heard their statement loith our ears; gismuku |(or 
 gittitku) kullu (kuUiha) min'&s (min'asa) wahl your bodies are 
 all besmeared loith mud. 
 
 § 304. The same is the case with titles of respect, but here 
 both adjective and verb will be in the plural, as hadritkui 
 mabsiittn? are your Honours satisfied? sa'aditku. shuftuhum? did 
 your Excellencies see them 1 
 
 Remark. — 'en is more frequently used in the plui'al in this 
 connection. In such an expression as taffu sh sham'at bi hniki- 
 thum they put out the candles with their mouths (i.e. they blew 
 them Old), the plural is used by preference, as a separate act is 
 performed by each person. 
 
 § 305. It will have been noticed that nouns of unity refer to 
 an indefinite class. To express that an object is one of a number 
 of others of a definite class, whether in reality or only ren- 
 dered so by being preceded by the definite article, we must 
 employ the numeral wahid or, when persons are spoken of, rSgil 
 or mara or the singular of the noun itself, followed by the pre- 
 position min, as wahid min il khaddamtn ; wahda min is salalim 
 one of the steps ; ragil, mara, min il 'urban ^ one of the Arab men, 
 women ; sallima min is salalim ; ghanama min ghanamak one of 
 your sheep , yom min il iyam one day? 
 
 § 306. The plural demonstrative dol is often used instead of 
 the class being napied, as yom min dol one of these days. The 
 noun in the singular may be preceded by wahid, as wahid yom 
 min zat il iyam, or be made definite for emphasis, as U mara 
 min dol. 
 
 THE DUAL 
 
 § 307. Nouns will not necessarily or generally be used in the 
 dual number, although two objects are spoken of, unless it is 
 sought to emphasize the fact of their being two and two only. 
 In other cases they will be spoken of in the plural. Thus we 
 may say of two boys, as of a lai'ger number, il wilad dol gum min 
 en? darabflk leh ? so dol kitabatt ana (though only two) ; ir ra^len 
 fi buyuthum (not betenhvim), intil ash^b? are you {two) friends? 
 
 1 The more educated sometimes say liadratkum. 
 - We may also say ragil, mara min bet'u' il 'urban. 
 8 Or min zftt il iyam. (See § 443.) 
 
THE DUAL 239 
 
 Remark. — It cannot, however, be denied that the dual is 
 frequently used where in English we would not consider it 
 necessary to describe the objects spoken of as two or both. 
 For instance, we might say hat il kitaben illi fi s sufra give me 
 the {two) boohs which are on the tahle, when it is as obvious to the 
 person addressed as to the speaker that there are two only on 
 the table ; so litnen shitmitin hoth are insults (referring to in- 
 sulting expressions), though shitma would be more logical. 
 
 § SOS. The adjectives have no dual form, even when used as 
 substantives. 
 
 § 309. The plural is used in place of the dual in the voca- 
 tive, but it may be followed for the sake of emphasis by itngn, 
 as ya wil&d litnen you tioo hoys. 
 
 § 310. The numeral itnen is often added pleonastically after 
 a noun in the dual, to insure the hearer's intention, as hat 11 
 kursiyen itnen hring me two chairs, il kitaben litnen the tido 
 books — both of them ; or it may precede a noun in the plural, as 
 itn§n behat tico Beys ; itnSn Mehammadat ; litnen khel we litnen 
 siyas ; litnen riggS,la, ikhwa, &c. In both cases the second 
 word is in apposition to the first — a fact which becomes particu- 
 larly clear when both of them take the definite article, or the 
 first a pronominal suffix and the second the article, as litnen il 
 haramiya d&l, kitabatt d61 litnen. 
 
 § 311. Similarly, raglfin, shakhsen, tiuo men, two persons, and 
 similar words, may precede a plural noun limiting their sense, 
 as g§, It shakhsSn 'umad two persons (omdas) came to me. A 
 stress is here laid on the fact that they were omdas, which 
 would not be the case if we said gS, It 'umditln. 
 
 § 312. The following words are used in the singular preceded 
 by itngn : — 
 
 (a) Those which have no dual or plural forms, as itnen 
 karru ^ two carts ; itnen riglu two kicks (at a game resembling 
 rounders) ; itnen daqqu, sinnu, kahku (other terms used at that 
 game) ; itnen bults tivo policemen.^ 
 
 (b) Most foreign pieces of money and a few other foreign 
 words, as itnin malln, ifrank, riyal, gineh, tioo milliemes, francs, 
 dollars, pounds; itnen malyHn two millions. 
 
 Remark. — Maltnen, riyalen, and malyilnen are also in use, 
 and qersh piastre always takes the dual form. 
 
 1 'Arabiyiten karru is also in common use. 
 
 2 Itngn nibtt, btra, laban, &c., will be heard at restaurants. 
 Itnen bulis is elliptic for raglen (or nafaren) betil' il bulis. 
 
240 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 (c) Proper names occasionally, as flh itnen 'abdurrahman 
 
 there are two Abdurrahmans. 
 
 Remark a. — The nuances resulting from the various con- 
 structions may be illustrated by the following examples : — 
 
 Flh Mehammaden itAere are two M.'s; fih Mehammaden itnen 
 there are two M.'s; flh itnen Mehammad there are two men oj 
 the name of M. , flh itnen Mehammaden there are tivo men both 
 Mohammeds , flh itnen Mehammadat there are two — more than 
 one M.; flh Mehammadat itnen there is more than one M., there 
 are tioo. 
 
 Rbmaek b. — The singular is very rarely used with itnen in 
 other than the above cases.^ 
 
 Remark c. — Hasanen is used for Hasan and Hisen, the two 
 sons of All, cousin of the Prophet. Among the fellaheen indi- 
 viduals are often named by the dual, as Mehammaden, 'auwaden, 
 &c. (§ 75, note). 
 
 § 313. Twice is expressed by the word taq with the definite 
 article followed by itnen, as huwa tawU 'annak it taq itnen he is 
 twice your size ; both by litnen or da wi da (or da w dih, often pro- 
 nounced daudih), fem. di wi dl (or di u di) ; double by the indeclin- 
 able 2 adjective migwiz ; a pair by the word goz, which, like fard, 
 is sometimes used alone, the objects to which it refers being 
 understood, as g6z khel a pair of horses ; kan fi idu g6z, i.e. a 
 brace of pistols ; il husan da yidrab bi 1 g6z Iciclts ijoith both its 
 legs, bucks. 
 
 § 314. The idea of tioo easily passes into that of a small 
 number, and such expressions as the following are of common 
 occurrence : ana 'auzak fi kilmiten / have a word or two to say 
 to you ; iddi lu qershen, nussen, give him a piastre or tioo, some 
 small money ; il qershen betu'l viy little fortune ; isbur shuwaiyiten 
 wait a couple of seconds ; 'add! khatwiten min hina wi tlaqi 1 bet 
 quddSmak you have only to go two steps from here and you'll find 
 the house in front of you. 
 
 1 Ma'na itnen (for ma'niten) tico meanings is sometimes said. 
 The expression kurbag bi itnen lisan, quoted by Spitta, might be 
 used carelessly even by a native, but it should not be imitated. 
 
 ^ But see S 326, note. 
 
THE ADJECTIVE 241 
 
 THE ADJECTIVE 
 
 §315. It has been seen in the accidence that attributive 
 adjectives are regularly placed after their substantives, the 
 article being repeated when the latter are definite, as naggar 
 shi,tir a clever carpenter, in nagger ish shatir the clever carpenter, 
 but in naggar sh^tir the carpenter (is) clever. 
 
 § 316. The adjective, whether attributive or predicate, agrees 
 as a general rule in gender and number with its substantive, 
 as walad taiyib ; ir rfigil taiyib ; il mara taiyiba ; ii- rigg^la, in 
 niswan, taiyibln. 
 
 § 317. As adjectives and participles have no dual form, they 
 must be placed in the plural when qualifying dual substantives, as 
 ir raglgn taiyibin ; il hagtgn mafhtlmin both things are intelligible. 
 
 § 318. An adjective qualifying a plui-al substantive is, how- 
 ever, very frequently put in the feminine singular, especially 
 when the plural is a broken one or ends in at, as il khel il batt&la 
 il kiblra ; widanu tawila his ears are long ; f ulus qulaiyila little 
 money; il kilab ish sha'rana the mad dogs; nas iktiyartya old 
 people ; il kitabat il qadima ; is sagar&t 'alya the trees are high ; ir 
 riggMa mitrattiba 'ala sfiif the men are arranged in rows; in 
 naggarin il mistakhdima 'andl the carpenters employed at my 
 house ; ish shawishlya il bass&sln is siniya the secret police con- 
 stables, spies ; is salatat it talyaniya Italian salads ; il mahabis illi 
 mahbiisa mi'u the prisoners impn-isoned with him, in niswan it 
 tawila the tall women ; il 'askar is siidanlya the Soudanese troops , 
 dol (referring to a plural substantive) fransawiya these are French. 
 
 Remark. — In nearly all of the above examples the adjective 
 might also be put in the plural, and we might say is sagar^t 
 'alyln, khel kubar, widanu tuwal, &c., and generally would say 
 in naggarin mistakhdimln, il mahabis illi mahbusln mi' ah. The 
 only rules that can be laid down for the learner's guidance are 
 the following : — ■ 
 
 (a) Perfect phirals, especially those in in, and plural substan- 
 tives denoting human beings, usually have their adjective in the 
 plural. 
 
 (6) Broken plurals, unless they denote human beings, usucdly 
 have their adjective in the feminine singular. 
 
 (c) Adjectives ending in % rarely agree in number with a 
 plural substantive, unless it ends in in. 
 
 It follows that kitibat kub&r is more usual than kitS,b&t 
 kebira, and kutub kebira more usual than kutub kubar, and that 
 we should say niswan kubar gumM (or gamalat) in preference to 
 niswan kiblra gamlla. 
 
 Q 
 
242 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 319. A noun in the dual occasionally has its adjective in 
 the feminine singular, and this even (especially if the adjective 
 ends in i) when expressing an animate object, as 'eneh sughaiyara, 
 humra, mewalla'a Ms eyes are small, red, darting fire ; binten, 
 raglen, talyanlya two Italian ghis, men ; ir ragMn il mistakhdima 
 'andl, il hagten mafhfima (better mestakhdimln, mafhiimin). 
 
 § 320. Although the cardinal numerals ahove ten are followed 
 by a substantive in the singular, yet the adjective qualifying -the 
 substantive will be in the plural (or feminine singular), as 
 arbahtashar ragil taiyibtn (or taiyiha.) fourteen good men ; 'ishrin 
 'ilba sughaiyara (or sughaiyarln) tiventy small ioxes , mlt maqtaf 
 malyana (or malyanin) a hundred full baskets. Similarly with 
 the word kam, as kan fih kam darwish maqtulln (or maqtiila) ? 
 hoiv many dervishes were there killed ? il kam darwish il harbln 
 the few dei'vislies tliat got away. But where the substantive is 
 (or might be) in the singular in any case, the adjective may agree 
 with it, as itnashar gineh masrl mitqaddim twelve Egyptian 
 pounds paid in advance, for we might also say 'ashara gineh. 
 
 § 321. Nouns of multitude are generally qualified by adjectives 
 in the plural, as il gama'a dol za'lantn minnl these people are 
 angry loith me ; glritna ^ (for giranna) wiskhln (or wiskha) we have 
 dirty neighbours. So also are the words shuwaiya and habba a 
 small quantity (lit. a grain), as ish shuwaiyit it tibne dol lazmin? 
 ai-e these few bits of straw wanted .? il habbit ir radda illi miaugudln 
 'andak the little h-an you have in your house , but the adjective 
 sometimes agrees, as hat shuwaiyit, habbit, moiya ndifa bnng a 
 drop of dean loater. 
 
 § 322. Collective nouns, on the contrary, ai-e used with a 
 singular adjective, except in some cases when they denote a 
 number of human beings, as il ghanam, il baqar, il kuwaiyisa ; 
 il waraq il abyad ; il ghafar (but better il ghufara) il battalin dol 
 these bad watchmen. 
 
 EiBMABK. — Adjectives ending in i very frequently remain 
 unchanged whether the substantive be in the feminine singular 
 or in the plural. This is particularly the case : — 
 
 (a) When the adjective is so closely connected with its sub- 
 stantive that the stress is laid on one as much as on the other, 
 the two almost forming one word. 
 
 (6) Where the adjective expresses the material of which the 
 subject is made, or the country of its origin, or a class of person 
 or things to which it belongs. 
 
 1 That is, our entourage. The adjective is in concord with 
 the idea. 
 
THE ADJECTIVE 243 
 
 (c) When the adjective is a foreign word. 
 
 (d) When it may be translated by an adverb. 
 
 (e) When the substantive is indefinite. 
 
 E.g. batttkha sMt (rarely seflya) a summer melon (i.e. one of a 
 summer crop); sikka 'umUml a public road, thoroughfare; 'asakir, 
 gazma, sawari cavalry, riding hoots; il badla 1 mulki the civil 
 costume; arde sharaql (rarely sharSqlya) dried (unflooded) land; 
 mas^mlr qabaqtbi tin tacks, small nails ; qah^wl sahharl coffee- 
 houses, taverns, kept open all night ; is sikka t tauwili the straight 
 road; silika sultani high-road; 'atfa nafEadi a lane with an out- 
 let ; 'arablya mallakl private carriage ; bin^ya bughdadll i lath 
 and plaster building ; 'umla barr^nl (occasionally barr^ntya) bad 
 money ; ^ lahma dani, baqari mutton, beef; sanlya stambiilt 
 (istambult) a tray from Constantinople; ishun, itbSq, slni china 
 dishes, plates , fuMs 'arabl Arab money ; arghifa baladl, 'arabl 
 native, Arab, loaves ; dura shami Syrian maize ; itnen gineh masri 
 L. E. 2 ; n-attga 'arabl an Arab almanack; il hinna 1 wahhabl 
 Wahhaby henna ; kilma si'ldt a, word used in tipper Egypt ; iz zawat 
 il 'usmalll Turkish grandees , riggala hindl Indians ; bunduqlya 
 falMht a gun such as the peasants use, gazma, qumsan, harimi 
 women's shoes, shifts ; hidiim rigg&ll men's clothes ; gallablya harlrt, 
 ghazlt a silk, spun silk, gown; h&gat, isnaf, werdinarl ordinary, 
 second-class articles ; bunduqlya mlri ^ gun supplied by the Govern- 
 ment ; sakr^n sakra ingllzl ; laqet il 6da f 6qani tahtanl I found the 
 room upside down , kilma sirrl a secret, pi'ivate, loord ; ithasset 
 bi h^ga khafifl / felt a slight sensation ; banl Adam khiyall, ma 
 yighlibiish ^ ilia 1 m6t * the sons of Adam are inventive, nothing but 
 death overcomes ihevi. 
 
 Remark. — The adjective remains unchanged even when the 
 substantive is not expressed, as ir rrlml d61 malu 1 balad kuUiha 
 these foreign (dogs, fust spoken of) Jiave filled the whole toion. 
 
 § 323. When the adjective does not fall under one of the 
 above heads it will generally agree with the substantive, and 
 this may also happen, when, although it belongs to one of the 
 above heads, great stress is laid on it, or, at least, greater stress 
 
 1 But mara bughdadllya a woman from Bagdad. 
 
 2 From Arabic amir, borrowed by the Turks and returned to 
 the language in its truncated form. 
 
 2 Note that the singular verbal suffix is here used, bani Adam 
 being regarded as a collective. Banl is used in a few expres- 
 sions for banil, the literary construct plur. of ibn. 
 
 * The last three examples do not fall under any of the above 
 heads. 
 
244 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 than on the substantive, and consequently when it is a predicate. 
 Further, adjectives ending in dni and those which are derived 
 from adverbs or prepositions, as quddaml front, invariably 
 agree ; and lastly, adjectives denoting nationalities agree with 
 a feminine substantive denoting an animate object.^ E.g^ ir 
 ragil kan sakran sakra ingliztya kttr qawl ; il kilina kanit 
 sirrlya ; is sikka dt 'umtimlya ? is this a thoivughfare ? iftah ish 
 shababtk il foqanlya (or il foqantyln) open the top windows; il 
 husan biya'rag bi riglu 1 quddamlya, 1 waraniya the horse is lame 
 in the fore, hind, leg; il kilma lakhrantya the last word; in nas il 
 f ulanlya such and such people ; il 'askar is sMantya the Soudanese 
 troops ; in nas il f ransawiya wi t talyantya French and Italian 
 people ; wahda ingUzlya an English woman. 
 
 § 324. Adjectives denoting nationalities always end in %, 
 but in place of them the collective noun is used in many cir- 
 cumstances. The following examples are given for the learner's 
 guidance, as more depends on custom than logic or analogy : 
 husan turkt ; mara, faras, turklya ; ragil turk, turkt (or turkawl) ; 
 khel turkl (or turk) ; nas turk ; bashawat turk (or turkl) ; ir ragil 
 da turk ; husan ingltzi ; khel inglizt (more rarely khel, hamtr, 
 ingliz, and occasionally khel, &c., inglizlya) ; khiyul ingliztya ; 
 mara ingliziya ; nas, niswan ingliz ; ragil ifrang a European ; 
 miluk ifrang ; khel ifrang ; mara, faras, ifranglya ; husan 'agaml 
 a Persian horse ; khel 'agaml (or 'agam) ; mara 'agamlya, nks 
 ■'agam ; ir ragil da 'agaml ; ragil, husan, sharkasl a Circassian, a 
 Circassian horse , mara, faras, sharkaslya ; nas sharaksa ; khel 
 sharkas (or sharaksa) ; khiyul sharkaslya (or sharaksa) ; ragil 
 hindl (rarely hind) an Indian ; riggala, bashawat, hind (rarer 
 hindl) ; mara hindlya ; niswan hindlya (or hind) ; ragil 'arab (or 
 'arabl); ibne 'arab; maraarablya; nas, niswan, 'arab (or 'urbfin); 
 kilab 'arab ; ragil badawi a Bedouin ; riggala, niswan, bidw ; 
 mara badawlya ; husan magar a Hungarian horse ; faras magar, 
 khel magar ; ^ ragil arna'iit (or ama'utl) an Albanian ; faras, 
 mara, arna'titlya, khel arna'iit (or arna'utl) ; khiyul arna'utlya ; 
 n^s aranta ; ragil nimsawl an Austrian {or German) ; mara, 
 
 1 But we say farkha riiml (or maltl) a turkey. Where the 
 substantive is a broken plural it will sometimes remain un- 
 changed, as in iz zawat il 'usmalll above ; iz zawat il 'usmalliya 
 may also be used, and should be where there is the least 
 emphasis, as, for instance, if a distinction were being made 
 between Arabs and Turks. 
 
 2 The adjective form is rarely used. We might say da wahid 
 magarl, but magar would be more correct. 
 
THP] ADJECTIVE 245 
 
 faras, nimsawiya ; nas nimsawiya ; in nas d51 nimsawi ; naggaiin 
 nimsawlya ; i ragil, husan, talyant ; mara talyanlya ; riggala, nas, 
 taly^niya; ragil malaMn (or malakant) are ^jjzmcaw; nasmalakan 
 (or malakanlya) ; r^gil, husan, rftml a Greek, Oreelc horse ; mara 
 rilmiya ; nas rflmtya (or irwam) ; rfigil igrtgi a Greek ; mara 
 grigtya (or grlgi) ; nas igrtg (or igrtgi); shilikht Bohemians; 
 ragil shilikht (or shilikhti) ; mara shlikhttya. 
 
 § 325. Kettr much is generally unchanged, but the plural 
 kutar is sometimes heard, especially when animate objects are 
 spoken of, as nas kuttar many people, the feminine ketlra rarely ; 
 we may say kal lu 'iyil kettr, kutSr, or ketlra, but the first is 
 the most usual. Kutar implies a greater number than ketir. 
 
 § 326. The following also usually remain unchanged, especially 
 when the substantive is indefinite : — 
 
 qahir bad, abandoned 
 
 qaltl, qulaiyil little 
 midrig marriageable 
 
 migwiz double ^ 
 
 mufrid single 
 
 ag-har day-blind 
 
 baligh marriageable 
 
 darig current 
 
 hamil pregnant 
 
 salim sound 
 
 'aguz old 
 
 E.g. n^s qulaiyil (occasionally qulaiyila or qulaiyiltn) ; mara 
 'agftz, but il mara 1 'agflza dl; binte baligh (rarely, balgha) ; 
 tili'na saltm (occasionally sulam or salmln) we came out safe and 
 sound ; 'enSh ag-har (also guhr) ; il haga dt qaltl this is a little 
 thing (more correct than qaltla) ; mara qahir (rarely qahra) • 
 kilma dsirig (less usually darga) a loord in common use, but il 
 lugha d darga the colloquial language. 
 
 In the expression leltak sa'tda the a is often barely audible. 
 
 § 327. Wahid may be used in the masculine in the expres- 
 sions is sa'a wS,hid it is one o'clock, nimra w^hid number one, 
 'ishrtn, talattn, &c., ilia w§,hid save one, although the objects- 
 referred to are feminine, as 'umrt khamstn ilia wahid 1 am 
 thirty save one. In other cases it should agree with its sub- 
 stantive whether used as a numeral or the indefinite article.^ 
 
 § 328. An adjective or participle often remains unchanged 
 when it is used in a neuter sense, agreeing rather with the idea 
 conveyed by the whole sentence than with the substantive which 
 
 1 The plurals nims^wiyln, talyaniytn, are not frequently used, 
 ingliziytn, riimiyln, (fee, are never heard. 
 
 2 But binte migwiza a marriageable girl. 
 
 3 Occasionally even a native will say carelessly wahid bint, 
 wahid lamda, &c., but such expressions are not to be imitated. 
 
246 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 it should qualify, or when it is used adverbially, as talata taiyib 
 (or taiyibtn) three's all right, il balad illi nta rayihha tekfin mis- 
 tab'ad (or bi'id) 'alek, i.e. it loill be too far for you to go to the 
 ■village you are making for (but il masafa bi'ida) ; itfaddali min 
 gher matrud, i.e. make yourself at ease without fear of being sent 
 away ; khadte Imga mityassar kede / got something loMeh put 
 me in easy circumstances, but Mga mityassara a comfort- 
 able sum ; ruh fil mauqaf we naqqi 11 'arabiya ahsan il maugfid 
 go to the stand and choose me a carriage — the best of eoerything 
 there; 'andak mazbljlti ( = is sa'a 1 mazbuta) ? have you the right 
 time ? qal luhum mabrvlk lie congratulated them ; til'u mbahhar (or 
 mbahhartn) they went away toioards the north ; qulti Iha hati 11 
 kursl ; qalit 11 taiyib hadir / said to her, Bring me a chair, and she 
 replied. All right, lit. (/ am) ready ; mishyu mqabbil th^y icent 
 south; ishtarethum rikhls (or rukhas) / bought them cheap) , liattiha 
 wati ( = liatte naf su watya) he behaved modestly ; misht ma fish 
 maugud wala furash ma fish maugud there is neither a comb nor 
 brushes. 
 
 § 329. Beta' will often be used in the masculine singular 
 (with a feminine or plural substantive, «) when it means /o?' the 
 use of, in which case the two substantives which it connects will 
 (especially if the second is indefinite) form a compound in English, 
 as hat il lamda beta' is sala bring the draudng-room lamp ; il haga 
 dl beta '(or beta'it) hina ; it tahuna beta' bunn ^ a coffee-mill ; and 
 I), occasionally when the first is indefinite, as kitabat beta' abiiya 
 boohs of my father. 
 
 Remark. — -The masculine will sometimes be heard irregularly 
 in other cases, but this is an error equivalent to the use of the 
 masculine of the French past participle with a relative pronoun 
 referring in the oblique case to a feminine substantive, which 
 may pass in a Frenchman, but in a foreigner would be attri- 
 buted to ignorance. This construction will possibly become more 
 common in a later development of the language. 
 
 § 330. Lastly, when an adjective precedes its substantive, 
 whether as an attributive or a predicate, it generally undergoes 
 no change, as auwul, tinl, talit, lela ; ^ gamll il lamda ! fine lamj^s ! * 
 lissa fadil khamastashar yom tliere are still remaining fifteen days ; 
 kan maugud nas ketlr there were present viany people ; ketlr marra 
 many a time ; kan marsiim ^ 'alch rigl insan thei-e vas delinecded 
 
 1 They also say 'andak zabt ? 2 Qp ^g^a' il bunn. 
 
 f § 353. ■ ■ 4 g§ 248, 285. 
 
 '" Oomp. the use of inclus in Fr. and such phrases as piasse 
 cette date. 
 
THE ADJECTIVE 247 
 
 thereon a man's foot ; il waraqa dl marsiim flha 1 ginena there is a 
 plan of the garden on this paper; lazmak haga? do you toant any- 
 thing 1 il marhftm i walditl my departed mother ; iza kan maugud 
 'anduhum hSga if they had anything with them '; fih naqis wahda, 
 but flh wahda naq§a the)-e is one (f .) missing ; kan bfiyin 'alelium 
 'aMmat there loere. marks apparent on them; ya 'azfz rasak (as an im- 
 precation) ; mabruk (or mubarak) 'alek il wazifa congratulations 
 on your (new) post ; kuwaiyis (or kuwaiyisa) minnu 1 marCi'a dt it 
 was fine of him to show such humanity {such humanity was fine on 
 his part). 
 
 Eemaek a. — We say Mzimni Mga / ■want something, musb 
 lazimhum 'arablya, &c. ; but generally lazima kaga, mush lazimsl 
 'arablya, &c. 
 
 Remark h. — Where the participle precedes its substantive, 
 and is accompanied by the definite article, taking the place of 
 the relative pronoun, it should be in concord, as il bet illl sakna 
 flh ukhti the house in which my sister resides. 
 
 Remabk c. — The adjective beyin is sometimes used adver- 
 bially and impersonally, and at others personally, and is in the 
 latter case in concord with the substantive,^ as inta beyin 'aiyan 
 (or inta 'aiyan bgyin) you are seemingly ill, you are ill apparently ; 
 inti beyin 'alekt khassa (or bgyina 'allki khassa) you appear to he 
 getting thin; so bgyin 'alehum 'aiyanln (or bgyintn 'aiy^nln), &c. ; 
 is s&'a 'ashara beyin it is ten o'clock, it seems. 
 
 Remark d. — The word rakhar, or less frequently lakhar (for 
 il akhar), may often be translated by also, but it always agrees 
 with the subject of the sentence, as hlya rukhra she also ; intu 
 gayln rukhrln ? are you coming too 1 ^ 
 
 § 331. An adjective or participle may be used as a sub- 
 stantive, as it tawll yetill the tall can reach ; il hadrln those who 
 are (loere) present ; il mauliid gidld the neiv born ; il mirt the govern- 
 ment ; darab fi 1 'tit he fired high above ; mityassar balah a few 
 dates ; il kibir betahhum their chief; kubar in nas the great {of 
 the) people, the grandees ; il ma'lum the thing Inown, understood ; 
 mi'ah maugM, mityassar he has got means ; meqauwara a scoop ; 
 it tibbiya the doctors (for il hukuma t tibbiya) ; falattya bad char- 
 acters ; mashrubat things di-wnk, beverages ; il baql the remainder ; 
 maktiib a letter ; il battal the evil ; il wahid the one, &c. 
 
 § 332. An adjective is not uncommonly used in this way 
 with the preposition min following and separating it from the 
 
 1 But also marhtima. 
 
 ^ Comp. the use of 8rjXo^ and ^ave/jos in ancient Greek. 
 
 ^ Comp. vous autres and vosotros { = you). 
 
248 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 substantive, so that we have two substantives, one of them in 
 the position of a partitive genitive, instead of the adjective 
 in concord with its substantive, as il wiskhin min in nas dirty 
 people ; ish shuttftr min il khaiyatin clever tailors ; ketir min in 
 niswSn yi'milu kede many loomen do so. 
 
 § 333. An adjective qualifying two or more substantives may, 
 as in English, be repeated with each or placed in the plural, as 
 ir ragil it taiyib wi 1 walad it taiyib gum or ir rftgil wi 1 walad 
 it taiyibin gum the good man and tlie good boy, or the good man and 
 boy, have come ; ir ragil il battal wi 1 mara 1 battala (or ir ragil wi 
 1 mara 1 battalin) ; similarly, ir ragil taiyib wi 1 walad taiyib (or 
 ir ragil wi 1 walad taiyibin) the man is good and the hoy is good, or 
 the man and boy are good, <fec. 
 
 § 334. When, on the contrary, one substantive is qualified 
 by different attributive adjectives, they will be placed after 
 it without being connected by the copulative conjunction, and 
 both will take the article when the substantive is definite, as 
 rftgil tawil rufaiya' a tall thin man; hagat wardinari rikhisa 
 common cheap things ; il maratSn dol il fuqara 1 masakin these tioo 
 poor toretclied women. 
 
 § 335. The predicate adjective in this case will not neces- 
 sarily be connected by the copulative unless their meanings are 
 quite distinct, as in niswan d61 fuqara masakin (or fuqara u 
 masakin) these loomen are poor and, wretched ; il kitabat kibira u 
 samra the books are large and brown. 
 
 Remakk. — It will have been observed that the copula (or 
 substantive verb) is not expressed between subject and predi- 
 cate, at least in affirmative sentences, when the fact stated has 
 reference to the immediate or continuous present. Ir ragil 
 yekun taiyib means the man will be, or may be, good. 
 
 § 336. Adjectives, as we have seen, are verj' frequently 
 used adverbially, or rather they are turned into adverbs, losing 
 in most cases their power of inflection, as huwa 'aiyan gidid, 
 hiya 'aiyana gidid, humma 'aiyanJn gidid he, she, is ill again, they 
 are ill again ; malyan kittr very, too, full ; kibir qawi very big ; il 
 husan mishi hadl the horse uent quietly ; kan labis abyad he was 
 dressed in white ; taiyib ! well, good ! auwil ma get directly I came ; 
 i'mil da auwil do this first ; auwil inbarih (for il barrh) yesterday; ma 
 tgish tani don't come again, (fee. ; min hina u tali' (or rayih) hence- 
 forth ; sa'ten rayih u sa'ten gay two hours there and two hours back. 
 
COMPAEISON OF ADJECTIVES 249 
 
 COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES 
 
 § 33.7. When the adjective does not take the comparative 
 form (see § 47) it of course agrees in gender and number with 
 the substantive, as hlya kbtra 'anni she] is older than /, humma 
 shutter 'annak they are cleverer than you. 
 
 § 338. There are two cases apart from the above construction 
 when the adjective remains in the positive, viz : — • 
 
 (a) Where it is used absolutely denoting excess, as il fatla 
 di qusaiyara walla tamS,m ? is this piece of string too short or all 
 right 1 mantaldnak tawil 'alek your trousers are too long for you. 
 
 (b) Where the object with which the comparison is made is 
 understood, as huwa kbir walla nta ? is he the taller or you ? {i.e. 
 huwa kblr 'annak walla nta kblr 'annu ?) ; min f Jku tawtl ? which of 
 you is the taller ? {i.e. 'an it tanl) ; ana 1 kibir fina / am the oldest 
 of us. 
 
 Remake a. — We may also say ana lakbar fina. 
 
 Remaek b. — Ketlr with the definite article has a superlative 
 sense in the expression bi 1 ketlr at most ; bi 1 aktar bears the 
 same meaning, but may more often be translated generally. 
 
 § 339. The qualitative adjective is denoted by means of 
 adverbs or adverbial expressions, as ahsan shuwaiya, ketlr a 
 little, much, better ; akbar it taq itnen ttnce as big ; and the quali- 
 tative superlative by adverbs, or (but much less commonly) by 
 the repetition of the positive adjective, as kebtr ketlr ve^-y big ; 
 'aiyan qawi very ill; keblr kebir; tikhln tikhln very thick; so 
 kettr ketir very very, or very much ; shuwaiya shuwaiya very 
 little^ In the expressions auwil b auwil, ahsan bi 1 ahsan (or 
 il alisan bi 1 ahsan, or ahsan bi ahBaxi) first vf all, best of all, the 
 preposition bi intervenes.^ The adverb more is expressed by 
 ziyada, as beyishrab ziyMa minnak (or 'annak) he drinks more 
 than you; kuUe yom ziyada 7nore and more every day. He gets 
 thinner, fatter, ^c, every day may be translated by kulle malu 
 btkhiss, beyisman, &c. 
 
 § 340. When an object is represented as being the most 
 prominent of a whole class, the noun denoting the class stands 
 in the relation of a genitive to the superlative, as huwa ahsan 
 in nas he is the best of men ; hlya al'an in niswan she is the most 
 accursed of women. 
 
 Remake a. — The construction is the same if the class is 
 
 1 We say also shuwaiya sugaiyara, shuwaiya kbira. 
 
 2 The expression auwil (or biringt) wahid A 1 may be noted 
 here. 
 
250 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 referred to definitely, as huwa ahsan il wilad dol he is the best of 
 these hoys. 
 
 Kemaek 6.— The word keblr often remains in the .positive 
 in this connection, as keblr in nas ; keblrit (kebirt) in niswan ; ir 
 ragil da min kubar ish shuqay this man is one of the greatest of 
 rascals} Taiyib has a comparative sense in the expression huwa 
 taiyib he is better {in health).'^ 
 
 § 341. The same notion may also be expressed by an abso- 
 lute superlative followed immediately by the noun it qualifies, 
 neither of them taking the article, as atwal walad dih tlie tallest 
 boy {of them) is this one ; ahsan 'esh 'andak (or ahsan 'esh illi 
 'aiidak, or ahsan ma fi 1 'esh illi 'andak) the best bread you have ; 
 ma qalshe adna haga he didn't say the least thing ; hlya fi ahsan 
 siliha she is in the best of health. 
 
 § 342. There is sometimes a confusion between the two 
 degrees of comparison, the superlative being employed to com- 
 pare an object to a class to which it does not belong, as huwa 
 ahsan ikw^tu, ashqa khwatu he is the best, the most rascally, of 
 his brothers, i.e. he is better, more rascally, even than his brotherrs 
 (for ahsan min, shaqi 'an, ikhwatu).' We may also say huwa 
 ahsan, ashqa ma fi kwatu. 
 
 § 343. The pronominal sufiix ha is sometimes attached to 
 the superlative when followed immediately by a substantive, as 
 huwa akbarha ragil he is the greatest of men; adnaha, aqalliha kilma 
 mint qulti lak the least word of those which I addressed to you. 
 
 § 344. Comparison may be denoted by a verb followed by 
 the preposition 'an, as huwa yitkallim 'arabi 'annak he speaks 
 Arabic better than you ; baddar 'an il 'ada he was earlier than usual ; 
 istakhfif nafsu 'an wahid he pretended, considered, that he ivas 
 more alert than some one;^ zad 'anni fi sh shaga'a he had more 
 courage than I. 
 
 1 Huwa min il kubar ish shuqay is also said, but the con- 
 struction is a mixed one. Other adjectives are sometimes used 
 in the same way, as tawil il maugudln the tall one (i.e. the tallest) 
 of those pi'esent, and we may, of course, say it tawll min il 
 maugftdln. 
 
 2 Borrowed, perhaps, from the Turkish eyidir (not daha 
 eyidir). 
 
 2 Oomp. the Greek idiom, imitated by Milton in " Fairest 
 of her Daughters, Eve," and Pliny's (homo) " omnium non 
 solum bipedum sed etiam quadrupedum spurcatissimus." 
 
 * The construction is particulai'ly common with the verbs of 
 the tenth derived form. 
 
THE NUMERALS 251 
 
 § 345. Adverbs may be objects of comparison, as hina ahsan 
 min henak it is better here than there ; or one of the objects may 
 be an idea denoted by a verbal sentence, as huwa ahsan mim ma 
 (min ma) kan 'amnauwil (or elliptically min 'amnauwil) lie is 
 better than he was last year {than last year) ; Mya rufaiya'a mim 
 ma k^nit she is thinner than she loas ; huwa ahsan mimma k^n 
 he is better than ever he was. 
 
 ■ § 346. Better than that (with a verb following) is expressed by 
 ahsan min inn (or mim ma) or, with an ellipse of the min, ahsan 
 ma, as da ahsan nim innina nruh 'andu that is better than that 
 we should go to his house ; il mot ahsan mimma n'tsh kede death 
 is better than that we should live thus ; ahsan ma nmflt bi 1 gft' 
 better than that, that we die of hunger. In rendering the ex- 
 pression hett&r to — than to we may employ the aorist without a 
 conjunction in the first alternative, as ahsan nidrab mim ma 
 nindirib (or ahsan il wahid yidrab mim ma yindirib), or, when 
 possible, the verbal noun, as is often the case in English. The 
 latter construction is the more idiomatic of the two. 
 
 § 347. Ahsan, or, with the article, il ahsan, is used absolutely 
 in the sense of it were better, best, no alternative or alternatives 
 being mentioned, as il ahsan tequl lu 1 haqq it were better that 
 you tell him the truth ; ahsan tigtna inta you had better come to us. 
 It may also stand alone adverbially, the verb being supplied 
 from what has gone before, and may be qualified redundantly 
 by ziyada, as ana hatkallim waiyfi,h ahsan, ahsan ziyMa / will 
 speak with him, that will be best — much better. 
 
 § 348. Akbar stands as an absolute superlative without the 
 article in the expression Allah akbar God is greatest, i.e. inost 
 great. 
 
 THE NUMERALS 
 
 § 349. It has already been noticed (§ 97, Rem. <■) that the 
 cardinal numbers above ten take their substantive in the sin- 
 gular. i The word n&s forms an exception to this rule, as arbe'in 
 nas foiiy people, the reason probably being that it has no sin- 
 gular of its own ; but it is more correct to say arbe'in nafas (or 
 nafar). 
 
 § 350. The word ssi'a. in the sense of o'clock precedes the 
 numeral, which is always the cardinal, and remains in the sin- 
 gular, as tigi s sa'a (or fi s sa'a) 'ashai-a. 
 
 1 Including, of course, collectives, so that we say ihdashar 
 burtuqana, not burtuqan. 
 
252 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Rbmaek. — Ras, meaning a head of cattle, and foreign pieces of 
 money, are generally left in the singular with a cardinal under 
 eleven, as arba' (or arba'a) rSs (less usually than rus) ghanam 
 four head of sheep, tdlata frank, sitte gineh. Malyun million is 
 used in the same way. 
 
 § 351. The cardinals retain the forms talata, arba'a, &c., 
 when followed by a noun in the singular, as talata gineh, bintu, 
 (fee, as has been said (§ 93), but talata riggala, ginehat, &c., will 
 sometimes be heard ; so also occasionally when the noun is 
 definite, as it talata khaddamin, il arba'a ghrush ^ dol these three 
 piastres; kan fih wahda mi'aha talat banat, wi t talata banat dol. . . . 
 
 § 352. The cardinals as a rule precede the noun whether 
 definite or indefinite, but frequently follow it when it is definite, 
 and occasionally when it is indefinite, for the purpose of em- 
 phasis, as it talat kitabat (or il kitabat it talata) ; hat li kitab^t 
 taMta (for talat kitabat) bring ine threi hoolis. 
 
 § 353. The ordinal may either precede or follow the noun ; 
 in the former case neither will take the article, but in the latter 
 the article will be placed before both in accordance with the 
 rules, as talit noba dl (or in n6ba t talta di) this third time. The 
 noun will generally be in the plural, when preceding the cardinal, 
 though the number be over ten, but with the higher numbers 
 the singular is sometimes heard, as iddini kitabat talattashar, 
 kitabat (or kitab) miten u wahid give me thirteen, a hundred and 
 one, books. Kitab talattashar would mean booJc iXo. 13. 
 
 § 354. When objects are spoken of as being either of one 
 number or another the disjunctive is not usually expressed, 
 and if one number is under ten and the other above ten the 
 noun is generally mentioned twice, first in the plural and then 
 in the singular, as talatt arba' kitabat ; 'ashaxt infar, riggala, 
 hidashar nafar, three or four books, ten or twelve men, but 'ashara 
 tnashar nafar, &c., will also be heai-d. 
 
 § 355. We may express one or tioo, two or three, by naming 
 the object itself in the first case in the singular and in the 
 second in the dual, and placing the numeral which indicates the 
 higher number immediately after it, as ragil itnen one or two 
 men ; qizazten talata two or three bottles ; or, in the first case, the 
 object may be named in the singvilar and repeated in the dual, 
 as sufra sufriten a table or two. 
 
 Remakk. — The insertion of the disjunctive points to the 
 existence of a strong doubt in the mind of the speaker as to 
 
 From sing, ghersh, a duplicate form of qersh. 
 
THE NUMEEALS 253 
 
 which is the right number, as talata walla (or au) arba'a three, 
 or it may he four, the last number being the extreme limit. 
 
 § 356. The date of the year and the month is expressed by 
 means of the cardinal numbers, as sanat tultemtya w arbe'in the 
 year SJfl ; it taMta bet^' ish shahi' the third of the month ; khamsa 
 abrtl 5 April. The word sana may be omitted, just as nahar or 
 yom is in the date of the month. 
 
 Remark. — Observe that in the date of the month the month 
 is in apposition to the numeral instead of being a partitive 
 genitive. 
 
 § 357. The words si'a hour and 'umr age are often unex- 
 pressed, as in English, with the numerals, as tigl talata u nuss 
 you must come at half-past three ; hiya zeye arba'a, foq il arbe'in 
 she is about four, above forty. Gin§h may also be understood, 
 and sagh and ta'rifa may stand for qershe s&gh, qershe ta'rifa, as 
 'andu malyiinen he has two millions ; yes&wl tamanya s&gh, talS,ta 
 ta'rifa it is worth eight tarif, three small, piastres. 
 
 § 358. Twofold, threefold, <5'c., are expressed, as has been seen, 
 by the word t&q with the definite article followed by the car- 
 dinal numeral, and note that taq always remains in the singular 
 in this connection. 
 
 § 359. Occasionally a cardinal expressing a round number 
 is used by itself as a multiplicative adverb ; e.g. Da kalbe 
 wihish. Wi za kin mit wihish, da sabab leinna,k tidrabu ? It's 
 a loathsome dog. And if it is a hundred times (i.e. ever so) loath- 
 some, is that a reason why you should beat it ? dol 'ishrln kadd^bin 
 liars ticenty times over , kattar alfe kherak thank you a thousand 
 times. 
 
 § 360. When several objects and a portion of one of them 
 are spoken of, the substantive must first be mentioned with the 
 numeral qualifying it and the fraction follow coupled with it 
 by the conjunction, as talatt irghifa u nuss (not talatt u nuss 
 irghif a) three and a half loaves ; khamastashar wiqqa u tilt fifteen 
 and a third olces ; qa'ad ala rukba u nuss to hneel on one knse ; but 
 we sometimes hear miytin wi ksur qersh for miyten qersh wi 
 ksiir, tioo hundred piastres odd, dec. 
 
 § 361. It is much more usual in Arabic than in English to 
 indicate a figure slightly under a round number by stating the 
 difference between it and the latter, as 'uma:'! taMtIn ilia tnSn, 
 wahid / am thirty less tioo, save one, year ; is sa'a 'ashara u nuss 
 ilia' khamsa 10-%5. 
 
254 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 THE PRONOUN 
 
 § 362. The personal pronouns are not usually expressed 
 with the verb unless they are emphatic or their omission would 
 cause ambiguity,! as gena mbarih Ke came yesterday ; ihna gena 
 mbarih we humma safru nnahai-da loe came yesterday and they 
 left to-day. 
 
 § 363. When the pronouns of the first and second or the 
 first and third persons, or the first person and a noun, are 
 together the subjects of a verb, the verb will be in the first 
 person plural, as in English, as ana wi nta kunna maugudin 
 you and I were present ; ana we hiya lazim neruh she and I nmst 
 go ; ana wi 1 walad gena sawa the boy and I came together. 
 
 Similarly, when the second and third persons or the second 
 person and a noun are together the subjects, the verb will be in 
 the second person plural, as inta we huwa darabtu 1 walad ; inti 
 we gartik betitkhanqu till in nahar you and your neighbour are 
 quarrelling all day long. 
 
 Remark. — Notice that, contrary to the English custom, it is 
 usual to place the first person before the second and the second 
 before the third. 
 
 § 364. The first person plural is very frequently used instead 
 of the singular, as ihna gayin bukra ire are coming to-morrou:, 
 though the speaker alludes to himself only ; similarly, when the 
 pronoun is not expressed, a plural verb or participle may be 
 employed, as 'auzin neshiifak / irant to see you. The second 
 person plural is also used for politeness, as in many European 
 languages, but rarely even by the educated. Instead of it the 
 words hadra and ganab honour, with the pronominal suffix of the 
 second person (making hadritak, ganabak), are often employed, 
 when equals or superiors are addressed, with the verb in the 
 second person singular, while hadritu and ganabu are used when 
 they are spoken of.^ 
 
 § 365. A pasha is addressed as sa'adtak, contracted generally 
 to sa'tak your Beatitude, Excellency, and spoken of as sa'adtu. 
 The vocative ya sa't il Basha is used by inferiors only. 
 
 1 Such as might arise from the fact of the first and second 
 persons singular of the past tense of the verb being identical 
 in form. 
 
 - The plural is liadritku (kum), ganabkil (kum), see § 304. 
 Comp. vuestra merced in Spanish, vossa merced in Portu- 
 guese, Tou Ad-yov (Tov, eras in Greek. 
 
THE PEONOUN 255 
 
 § 366. When, on the other hand, the objects of the verb 
 consist of different personal pronouns, or of a personal pro- 
 noun and a noun, they will generally be indicated by a plural 
 suffix followed by the full pronoun or pronouns and the noun, 
 as abfiya shafna ana (or shafna na) wi nta my father saio {us) vie 
 and you ; il walad darabna (a)na we humma the hoy struck me and 
 them; il 'arbagi illi gabkti inta wi 1 efendly^n the driver loho 
 brought yuu arid the tioo gentlemen ; il bulis misikhum humma wi 
 n nisw&n the police seized them and the women. 
 
 Remark. — The full form of the pronoun is sometimes 
 omitted, especially in phrases of a religious character, as Allah 
 yihfazna wi n n^s kuUiha God preserve us and everybody. 
 
 § 367. There are two other constructions, however, which 
 are not unusual, viz. : — 
 
 {a) Instead of the plural suffix the singular is used, as 
 representing the first object, followed by the two full personal 
 pronouns or the pronoun and noun, as darabu hiiwa w ana he 
 struck him — him and me ; gabha hlya wi bniha we bintiha he 
 brought her and her son and daughter. Darabu 1 wa,lad w ana 
 should not be said, i.e. the pronoun must precede the noun. 
 
 (6) The verb may be mentioned twice, first with a pro- 
 nominal suffix and then with another suffix or a novm, as 
 darabak we darabnl, misikna we misikhum. 
 
 REMABK.-^These constructions are much more common than 
 in English, and the latter is often employed where there is no 
 need to emphasise either the verb or its objects. 
 
 § 368. As a noiin or a preposition cannot take more than one 
 pronominal suffix, they must either be repeated with each, as 
 baladi u baladak my ■village and yours, abuk w abuya your father 
 and mine, ganbu we ganliiha by him and her, 'aleM we 'ala bnik 
 on you (f.) and your son, katab liya we lik he torote to you and to 
 me, or a construction may be used similar to that of the verb 
 with its objects described above, as 'alena na wi nta ore me and 
 you, kiti,bhum humma we hHwa their book and his, waraku inta 
 we hiiwa behind you and him. 
 
 Remark. — The noun may, of course, be replaced by the 
 possessive adjective beta' with the suffix, as kitabi wi bta'ak, 
 but it is more usual to repeat the noun. 
 
 § 369. It is not uncommon for the personal pronoun, with 
 which a pai'ticiple or adjective is in concord, to be unexpressed 
 when there can be no doubt as to the identity of the person or 
 thing referred to, as sh&yif ir ragil ill! waqif ? do you see the man 
 standing (there) ? 'auz eh ? what do you ivant ? rayih fen ? rayih 
 masr where are you going ? lam going to Cairo ; gay walla mistannl 
 
256 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OP EGYPT 
 
 lissa ? are you coming o?- still waiting ? u'a ! mehauwidin look 
 out ! we are coming round (turning up a street) ; inta hadir? 
 Hadir are you ready? I am ready; shuft innas dol? Ewa, 
 masakin ma Ihumshe bet did you see those people ? Yes, they are 
 poor houseless people?- The use of the adjective hSdir in reply 
 to a call or an order is an instance of this figure, though in 
 sense it can in many instances be hardly distinguished from an 
 adverb, as Mehammad ! HSdir Mohammed ! Here I am ; iqfil 
 il bab. Hftdir ! sliid the door. Good (lit. I am ready to do it). 
 The ellipse takes place with participles much more frequently 
 than with adjectives. 
 
 § 370. The personal pronoun is often placed before or after 
 the noun, or other part of speech, to which the corresponding 
 possessive suffix is appended, without any particular stress being 
 necessarily laid on it, as inta betak fen? {you) loliere is your 
 house "i ana shughli fi Masr my work is in Cairo ; humma 'adithum 
 innihum yigu s sa'a talata their custom is to come at thi-ee ; fi bitna 
 hna in our house ; qulti lu leinni ana gay 'andu fi 1 bet ? did you 
 tell me that I am coming to him at his house ? 
 
 § 371. Similarly, the full form of the personal pronoun may 
 be added to the suffixes appended to the verb, as ana bakkallimak 
 inta / am spealdng to you ; ma tidrabnlsh ana don't strilie me. 
 
 § 372. The personal pronouns are very commonly placed 
 pleonastically between the relative illi and its predicate,^ espe- 
 cially when there is an ellipse of the copulative verb kan, as 
 ir ragil illl huwa hina the man who is here ; il kalab illi humma 
 'addu 1 walad the dogs which bit the boy; is sa'a illi hiya 'and 
 abuya the watch ivhich my father has ; il 'ada illi hiya mauguda 
 'and il badawin tke custom which exists amongst the Bedouins. 
 
 § 373. In each of the above examples the personal pronoun 
 might be omitted, and would be as often as not ; but where the 
 relative clause is merely explicative of a definite antecedent 
 and in apposition to it, the personal pronoun should be inserted, 
 as il wilad illi humma shabna the boys loho are our fnends. 
 
 Remark. — In the latter case, when the predicate is a sub- 
 stantive, the personal pronoun is sometimes in accord with it 
 as being the most important word in the sentence, as il moiya 
 illi huwa sh shirse beta' il laban the loater that is the whey from 
 the milk. 
 
 1 No one but a foreigner would say ana 'auz 'arablya, &c., 
 unless the pronoun were emphatic or another mii^ht be under- 
 stood if it were omitted. 
 
 2 As in Hebrew. 
 
THE SUFFIXES 257 
 
 § 374. Huwa (Mwa) and hiya are of coui'se applied to 
 inanimate as well as to animate objects, so that they will be 
 translated by he, s/ie, or it, according as the object is masculine, 
 feminine, or neuter. The concord of the personal pronouns with 
 the nouns which they represent is governed by the same rules 
 as that of the adjective with its substantive, but the feminine 
 singular hlya can hardly be used with reference to a strong 
 plural, thus though we may say in naggarln il mistakhdima hina, 
 we must refer to the carpenters as humma, not hiya. 
 
 § 375. Huwa is sometimes used impersonally for the demon- 
 strative da, as huwa mush sahlh leinnu darabak ? is it not true 
 that he struck you ? and may serve as well as its feminine and 
 plural to introduce a substantive, which then stands in apposition 
 to it, as huwa v ragil mush gay ? isn't the man coming ? hlya 1 
 bint biti'mil %h ? what's the girl doing ? humma n naggarin 
 yishtaghalu ttd in nahar the carpenters ivork all day. The de- 
 monstrative may be added (although the personal pronoun itself 
 resembles a demonstrative in this usage), as huwa 1 kitab da 
 bet&' mm? lohose took is this ? or the personal and demonstrative 
 may stand together without a substantive, as bitqvll 'ala min? 
 Hftwa da of whom are you speahiiig ? Of this one ; hlya dl illi kanit 
 betibkl? is this the woman who loas weeping ? 
 
 Hiiwa is used interjectionally to introduce another personal 
 pronoun, whatever its gender, as huwa ana shuftu ? huwa hiya 
 1 mahkama rah tihkum 'aleya ! 
 
 THE SUFFIXES 
 
 § 376. The suffixes may be appended, as we have seen, to 
 many conjunctions and adverbs as well as to nouns and verbs, 
 being nothing but shortened forms of the personal pronouns. 
 Even adjectives used as adverbs will sometimes take them, as 
 beyinu khayif, beyinuhum khayfin he seems, they seem, to be in 
 fear. 
 
 § 377. When, as not infrequently happens, a word which in 
 English would take the sign of the genitive is placed before the 
 governing word, the latter will pick the former up, as it were, 
 by means of the suffix, as ir ragil da betu fgn? whera is this 
 man's house ? il wiliya di 1 maskina shuf te khalaqitha ? this poor 
 old looman, did you see her rags ? il walad da min khad gazmitu 
 who has taken this boy's shoes 1 It is the same with a relative 
 clause when the antecedent is suppressed, as illi kan hina bgtu 
 fen? for fgn bgt (ir ragil) illi kan hina? 
 
 R 
 
258 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 378. Similarly, when the object of a verb precedes it the 
 suffix must still be appended to the verb, so that the object will 
 be mentioned twice over, as abfiya shuftu ? have you seen my 
 father ? (not abuya shuft) ; il khamsa iddithum lu {as to) the Jive 
 (piastres) I have given them him. I 
 
 Kemark. — It must not be supposed that this idiom is unusual, 
 and employedjOnly for the sake of emphasizing the object, as in 
 English. It is on the contrary exceedingly common. 
 
 § 379. When a relative pronoun is the object of a verb the 
 suffix will refer to its antecedent, as is sandiiq iUl gabiih the 
 box ivhich they irought ; il 'arabtya illl rikibnaha the carriage in 
 which toe drove; il karast illl kasartuhum tJie chairs which you 
 broke. The antecedent may, of course, be understood, as illi 
 'addu t ti'ban yekhaf min il habl he ivhom a snake has bitten 
 starts at a rope. 
 
 Remark a. — This idiom may lead to confusion, as in ir ragil 
 illi kan darbu, which may mean the man whom he was striJcing, or 
 the man who loas striking him. 
 
 Kemark b. — When ma is used for illi the suffix is not neces- 
 sary, and is very rarely employed, as 'ala hasab ma qal accwd- 
 ing to xohat he said, and the same is often the case where the 
 relative and antecedent are both omitted, as ma mi'ish addi lak 
 / have nothi7ig to give you. 
 
 § 380. Similarly, a preposition when it refers back to a noun 
 already mentioned will take the suffix appropriate to that noun, 
 as il bet illi quddamna min sakin fih ? luho lives in the house in 
 front of us? is sagara di fuqha 'asafir kettr there are many birds 
 on this tree ; in niswan luhum wilad the ivomen have children ; ix- 
 ragil illi 'andu fius the man who has money. 
 
 § 381. In the relative clause the genitive of the relative 
 pronoun {whose) will be translated in Arabic by the nominative 
 who, while the noun which in English governs the genitive will 
 take the pronominal suffix, as il basha illl betu ganbina the 
 pasha lohose house is near ours ; il masklna dl illi flusha nsaraqit 
 this -poor tooman whose money has been stolen; il kalb illi rasu 
 inqata'it min 'agalt il 'arablya the dog whose head was cut off by 
 the wheel of the carriage ; il mara illl guzha 'abit the woman whose 
 husband is an idiot ; illl riglC-h tuwal yimshl qawam a man with 
 long legs ivalks quickly ; il qazayiz illi ghutyanhum fihum the bottles 
 with the corks (or stoppers) in them. 
 
 § 382. Beta' here again may take the place of the suffix, the 
 noun being accompanied by the definite aiticle, as is sandiiq illi 
 1 ghata beta'u rah the bo.v whose lid is lost. 
 
 § 383. It is not necessary that the noun immediately follow the 
 
THE SUFFIXES 259 
 
 relative ; a verb or other word may intervene, as il bint illi shanaqu 
 abUha (or, as in § 378, illi abUha shanaquh) ; il qalam ir rusas illi 
 nkasar tarf u the pencil the point of loMch is hrolcen ; in nas illi gum 
 gamihhum the people all of whom came ; il -walad illi 1 taramiya 
 khataffi tarbiishu min rasu we kisu min ggbu the hoy whose tar- 
 hush the thieves snatched from his head, and wliose purse they 
 snatched from his poclcet ; il 'agtiza illi qata'vL subahha bi sikkln 
 we ras guzha bi miis the old woman whose finger they cut off with 
 a knife, and whose husband's head they cut off' with a razor} il bint 
 illi kan qfi,'id abUha ganb ukhtiba the girl whose father was sitting 
 by her sister ; il badawi illi kunti fi 1 khema betahtu the Bedawy in 
 whose tent you {i.)were ; ilbasha illi khadt il ward min ginintu the 
 pasha from lohose garden you took the floioers ; ir ragil illi ma Msh 
 fuMs ma lush ishib he that has no money has no friends ; lefendl 
 illi 1 guhannamlya bithimme 'ala 1 balakun beta' bStu tlie gentle- 
 man along the balcony of whose house the bo'againvillia climbs. 
 
 § 384. The preposition takes the suffix where in English it 
 would govern the relative, and this even when the relative is 
 omitted,^ as il bgt illi kunte flh the house in tvhich I was ; il 
 walad illi khatafl minnu 1 fulus the boy from whom they snatched 
 the money ; il yom illi safirna f ih the day on which we darted ; il 
 het illi yehimme 'aleh ish shibrefayit ^ the loall on which the honey- 
 suekle climbs ; il 'ibara illi qulti lak 'aleha the matter about which 
 I spoke to you ; illi mS, llish fulus ma lush ishib ; shufna balad kull 
 in nils fiha nisw8,n we saw avillagein (i.e. of) which all the people 
 were women. 
 
 Eemaek a. — We cannot say il bet, is sanduq, fSn shuftu tlie 
 house, the box, lohere (for in which) I saw it. 
 
 Remaek b. — The preposition with its suffix will be omitted 
 when the relative is ma, and occasionally when no relative is 
 expressed, as waddih matrah ma gibtu take it to the place you 
 brought it (from) ; dabbaru tadbir yesimmuh they devised a plan 
 by lohich they might poison him. 
 
 § 385. A noun preceded by a numeral may take the suffijc, as 
 it taiata khaddSminak your three servants; tftni idak yoiir other 
 hand ; but it is more usual in this case to employ beta', or to 
 place the numeral after the substantive. 
 
 § 386. The suffix of the 3rd person feminine may refer, like 
 
 1 Compare the conciseness of the Arabic with the clumsiness 
 of the English in these two phrases. The words khatafil and 
 qata'u might be repeated in the second part of the sentences. 
 
 2 As is the case when the noun is indefinite. (See § 430.) 
 ^ Ghevrefeuille. 
 
260 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 the full form hiya, to a plural object, and even (thougli un- 
 usually) to a perfect plural denoting men, as il ashyat illi gib- 
 tiha the things I brought ; in n&s kulliha all the people ; il mis- 
 takhdimin kulliha all the employes. It may refer also to a 
 number of objects previously mentioned, whether singulars or 
 plurals, masculines or feminines, as farragh il barmil wi s sanduq 
 wi 1 kull, u waddiha guwa 1 makhzan empty the barrel and the 
 box and everything {else), and take them inside the cellar. 
 
 § 387. It is used in a neuter sense, the reference being to a 
 whole sentence or an idea previously expressed or understood. 
 It occurs frequently in the expressions yomha, naharha (or 
 nahariha), sa'itha, and is then equivalent to the demonstrative 
 pronoun that, i.e. the day, hour, ^c., of that event, or the day of 
 ■which toe ivere speaking ; e.g. kunna y6mha fi 1 haram we were 
 at the Pyramids on that day ; kunte mashghll sa'itha I was busy 
 at the time ; kunna sahrantn Iglitha we were sitting up that night ; 
 waqtiha gih wahid talabni at that moment some one came and 
 asked for me ; asliha kan gammal he was originally a camel-driver ; 
 ma'naha that is to say ; il fallahin ma yi'iddush leinniha '§b 
 lamma yiqla'u quddam in nas the fellaheen don't account it an 
 improper thing to disrobe in public ; yibqa fiha farag lamma yigl 
 there will he time to think about it before he comes (lit. there is a 
 respite, interval, in it) ; fatihha 'al baharl ^ riding the high horse ; 
 hatitha wati loivering one's tone, humbling oneself ; Allah gabha 
 saltm God has made it to turn out well ; adi Hi nakirha ana thai is 
 just what 1 deny. 
 
 § 388. Lastly, ha may be appended to the superlative, giving 
 it a semi-absolute sense, as akbarha ragil the greatest of men; 
 kan labis (pron. kal labis) andafha qamls he had on the cleanest 
 of shirts.^ 
 
 § 389. The masculine suffix is used in the same way with 
 the prepositions 'ala and fl in the expressions ma 'alehsh there is 
 nothing on it, i.e. it doesn't matter ; flh and ma fihsh (often cor- 
 rupted to fl and ma fish) there is, are, is, are not (see Accidence, 
 §§ 117, 118); and in a few other words, as aslu originally; li 
 waqtu at that moment ; aqallu (or aqalliha) at least ; nihaytu ( = in 
 nihaya or simply xiiMya.) finally ; bardu (or bardiha) all the same, 
 nevertheless ; ma yiglsh minnu no advantage will be gained ; ma 
 'alekshe^ minnu no harm, will come to you from it, don't worry ; 
 zi'il lakin ma rdish yiwarrth he got angry, but didn't leant to 
 shot!) it , illi aftakaru ana . . . my idea is that . . . 
 
 § 390. The pronominal suffixes are but rarely appended to 
 
 1 Lit. opening it to the north. 2 g 3^3^ 
 
THE POSSESSIVE PEONOUNS 261 
 
 adjectives, and then only of course when they are used as sub- 
 stantives, as ya 'azizt Tny dear. 
 
 § 391. The possessive particles must be suffixed to the sub- 
 stantive when followed by an adjective or another substantive 
 in apposition, not to the adjective, so that we must say kitabak 
 il kuwaiyis, not kitSb kuwaiyisak. The only exception, perhaps, 
 to this rule is the occasional use of the suffix with kull in a few 
 expressions, as il 'umre kullak all your life (for 'umrak kullu). 
 
 § 392. The possessive is cui'iously used for the demonstrative 
 in the expressions fi yomi, nahSri, sanati, &c., as ana fi sanatl 
 ma ruhtish / haven't been this year ; inta fi naharak ma shuftflsh ? 
 haven't you seen him all {your) day 1 
 
 THE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS 
 
 § 393. It has been seen that Arabic has no distinct possessive 
 pronouns, their place being supplied by the suffixes or the word 
 beta' (§ 121). (See also § 261.) 
 
 § 394. The secondary possessives mine, his, as well as the double 
 possessive forms hers, ours, your.s, theirs, are usually expressed 
 by bet&' with the suffixes, but sometimes the noun expressing 
 the object possessed is repeated instead, as il kitab da kitabi 
 this hook is my booJc ; il fulus dol fulilsak walla fllisi ? (for betii'ak 
 walla betu'i) is this money yours or mine ? A hook of mine, of 
 yours, (fee, is expressed by kitab liya, or kitab min kitabati, 
 kitabi,tak, &c., or kitab min betu'i, <fec. (see also § 438), or, less 
 idiomatically, wahid min kit&b^ti, &c. 
 
 § 395. When the noun denotes a living object we may use 
 the indefinite article, and merely append the suffix to the noun, 
 as wahid sahbi a friend of mine. 
 
 Remark. — When the demonstrative is used with the noun, 
 the possessive is expressed by a relative clause, as is sufra dl 
 illi (hlya) betahtak this table of yours. 
 
 § 396. The possessive is sometimes expressed by the definite 
 article when the noun is preceded by the preposition li with a 
 pronominal suffix as the indirect object of a verb, as kassarti li 
 1 qalam you have broken my pen ; khassarti nna ( = khassarte lina) 
 1 akl you have spoilt our food ; or even when there is no indirect 
 object expressed, the subject of the verb being the possessor of 
 the object, as bidd aghsil liden / want to wash my hands.^ 
 
 1 The possessive pronoun is replaced by the article m a few 
 half -adverbial phrases, as ana 'arfak leinnak ma tikdibshe 'aleya 
 abadan il 'umr / know you would never in your life tell me a lie. 
 (See § 252.) 
 
262 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 REFLEXIVE AND EECIPROOAL PRONOUNS 
 
 § 397. When in an English phrase the action of a verb is 
 understood to have been performed by the subject accidentally 
 on some part or property of itself, it is usual to place the verb 
 in Arabic in a form that bears a passive signification, as rigli 
 nkasarit / have broken my leg; inqata' suba'u he has cut Ms 
 ■finger off; ishsharmat burqu'ha she has twn her veil. Kasarte 
 rigli, qata' suba'u, are sometimes said with the same sense, but 
 they' might imply ^ that the act had been done on purpose. 
 
 § 398. The absence of special forms for reflexive and reciprocal 
 pronouns is supplied, as we have seen, by means of the substan- 
 tives nafs, ba'd, and others, with the help in general of the 
 pronominal suffixes. Ba'd is sometimes repeated with the article 
 for emphasis, as sa'du ba'duhum il ba'd they helped one another. 
 
 § 399. The English word own has no exact equivalent, but 
 the emphasis which it conveys can generally be rendered by 
 placing the full personal pronoun after the suffix, though this does 
 not always imply in Arabic any particular stress (§ 370), as kunti 
 f beti ana I was in my own hoilse ; da shugl ana ( = shugli ana) 
 that's my own affair ; da milk abuya, beta'i ana (or illi bta'i ana) 
 fi giha tanya that's my father's property, my own is in another 
 quarter. 
 
 Remakk. — In such an expression as wadda 1 walad 'ala betu 
 (or 'ala betu nafsu) he took tlie boy to his house, to his oini house, 
 there exists the same ambiguity as in English, nor would it be 
 any clearer whose house was intended if we were to say 'ala b§tu 
 hiiwa (or hiiwa nafsu). 
 
 § 400. In many cases the suffix alone expresses the idea of 
 self, as khad ugritha luh he took her icages for h im-<elf, i. e. he 
 appropriated them ; shuf lak 'arabiya we tigi waiyftna get yourself a 
 carriage and come with us. 
 
 §401. Savie may generally be translated by wahid, or by 
 ba'd with or without the suffixes, as gSna f yom wahid loe came 
 OH the saine day ; 'umruhum, tulhum, w&hid they are of one (i.e. of 
 the same) age, height; humma min dor ba'd they are of one 
 another's, i.e. the same age ; the self-same, and words of similar 
 import, by nafs, or '^n, or the particle iya, with the suffixes, as 
 fi 1 lela nafsiha on the self-same night ; lyahum humma dol these 
 very ones; hiya 'enha she her very self . Nafs may precede the 
 noun, when the latter becomes a kind of partitive genitive ; 
 
 1 Like /ai casse ma jambe for je me suis casse la jamhe. 
 
THE DEMONSTEATIVE PRONOUN 263 
 
 while 'In may be separated from its noun by the preposition bi, 
 as naf s il yom beta' is safar the very day of the departure ; hlya bi 
 'gnha, ja 1 yom bi 'gnu. (See §122.) 
 
 § 402. Ba'd is equivalent to the English each or one another, 
 as well as to himself, &c., and undergoes no change of number 
 or gender ; thus we say in niswan khadu ba'd, il wilM darabu 
 ba'd. Notice the expressions humma ahsan, min ba'd each is 
 better' than the other, and ma beni u bSn ba'd between ourselves. 
 
 § 403. As in English, the repetition of a word will sometimes 
 serve to express the notion of reflexiveness, as s6t yishbih sot 
 voices resemble one another. This is not an uncommon idiom in 
 Arabic. 
 
 § 404. The peculiar use of the word bard with the suffixes 
 may here be noticed. In general it is equivalent to the English 
 dill, anyhow, notioith standing, all the same, and takes the mas- 
 culine, feminine, or plural suffix according to the gender and 
 number of the object to which it refers, as kunte baftikir leinnak 
 tiddini ziyada, lakin it talata gin6h barduhum kuwaiyisin I thought 
 you would give me more, however, the £3 are good {acceptable) ; 
 kattar kherkum, bardiya ana mabsuta thanJf, you, and I am satisfied 
 (implying that more would have given greater pleasure) ; bardina 
 lina niqbal we nigl neqablak anyhow loe accept, and loill come to 
 meet you. 
 
 § 405. With the suffix of the third person it is often used 
 adverbially, as khallasitiii bardu 1 ugra di, u bardu kattar khgrak 
 this remuneration, hoio&ver, loill satisfy me, indeed I thank you 
 for it. Zgye bardu means it's all the same, it's all one, as 'and! 
 zgye bardu it's all the same to me ; in kan bi Ms walla min gher 
 f uliis bardu ya sldl zgye bardu, ya'ni bardu ma fish mani' bardiya ^ 
 ana khadd^mak, i.e. whether you pay me or not, it's all the same, 
 if doesn't mattei; I am your servant. 
 
 THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN 
 
 § 406. The rules which govern the concord of the adjective 
 with its substantive apply to that of the demonstrative pronouns, 
 so that a broken plural is very frequently, and a perfect plural 
 occasionally, followed or represented by di and dik-haiya, as 
 kull il ashya di all these things, hlya 1 hidiim dl tigi 'algk these 
 
 1 For the form taken by the suffix with this word, see § 120. 
 It is sometimes pronounced with d, and is said to be derived 
 from bi ard. 
 
264 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 clothes fit you, il hagat di i these things, il mistakhdimin dl (better 
 dol) these employes. 
 
 § 407. Even when an adjective qualifying a preceding sub- 
 stantive is a perfect plural the demonstrative will sometimes be 
 in the feminine singular, as ir riggala 1 mistakhdimin di. 
 
 § 408. A demonstrative as well as a personal pronoxm may 
 be either in the singular or plural when used with or referring 
 to a collective noun, and is more likely to be in the latter 
 number when the individuals of the class are separated ; thus, 
 although we say generally il namle dih these ants, il ghanam di 
 these sheep, rather than il namle d61, il ghanam dol, we might call 
 to a drover limm il ghanam dol min sikkitna gei these sheep 
 together {and take them) out of my )ray : so shuf in namle dol illi 
 mbahtarln fi kuUe matrah look at these ants scattered all over the 
 place. 
 
 § 409. Shuwaiya is almost universally used with a plural 
 demonstrative as with a plural adjective, as shil ish shuwaiyit it 
 tibne d61 take away these few hits of straw. 
 
 § 410. Although the substantive qualified by the adjective 
 kam is in the singular, the demonstrative will be in the plural, 
 as il kam kilma dol these few ivords, kam kitab dol how many 
 books are these ? 
 
 § 411. An invariable adjective, or one used invariably, will be 
 followed by a plural demonstrative though the substantive with 
 which it agrees is not expressed, as il bsiladi dol. (See § 322.) 
 
 § 412. The demonstrative may, of course, stand alone, refer- 
 ring to a noun understood, as da ahsan this is better ; dol nas 
 taiyibin these are good people , 'auz di? do you want this? (ref er- _ 
 ring to a feminine object). It will generally agree with the 
 noun unexpressed, so that we should not say khud da take this, 
 when pointing to a hat (burnota) or other feminine object, but 
 it is sometimes used neutrally when the object is not clearly 
 referred to, as da (for di) haga kuwaiyisa ; da (bvit better di) 
 fulusak that's your money. 
 
 § 413. There is not the same distinction between da and 
 dik-ha, &o., that there is between this and that in English, da 
 being equivalent to that almost as often as it is to this, and 
 pointing to a distant object as well as to a near one ; ^ e.g. 
 shM il binte di beti'mil Oh henak? see what that girl is doing 
 
 1 11 ashyat dol is more usual, but il hag&t di is more common 
 than il hflgftt dol. Experience is the only safe guide. 
 
 - This is the reason why two demonstratives can be joined 
 together. (See § 124.) 
 
THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN 265 
 
 tliere ; il kit^b da Hi shtaretu lu mbarih. yi'gibu ? does he like that 
 hook which I bought him yesterday ? da she we da shS this is one 
 thing and that is another. 
 
 § 414. Dik-ha and dik-hauwa necessarily imply the existence 
 of another object closer at hand ; thus we say khushshe min il 
 bab dih illi 'andak, mvish min dik-ha go in by this door near you, 
 not by that there ; 'auz il burneta dl walla dik-haiya ? do you loant 
 this hat 07- the other ? If the objects are beside one another, we 
 must speak of both as da ; thus, in the last example, if the 
 speaker were holding the two hats in his hand, he would say 
 'auz il burneta dl walla dl? 
 
 § 415. Da occasionally precedes both noun and article, as 
 da 1 kal^m mush kuwaiyis that assertion is not seemly ; so in the 
 adverbial expression dilwaqt, and it may be placed both before 
 and after a word for the sake of emphasis, as da r ragil da, di 1 
 hurma dl, deh da ! (for da eh da) what's this, what's the meaning 
 of this 1 We may even in the last expression repeat the demon- 
 strative twice, and say da deh dih ! deh dih da 1 kalam ! 
 
 § 416. Both da and di sometimes partake more of the nature 
 of demonstrative exclamations than of pronouns. This happens 
 in most of the cases where they precede the nouns, and 
 they will not necessarily be in concord with them ; e.g. da 
 fl^n gih (or da fl^n da gih) see I so and so has aome ; deh da^ d 
 daw^ya di ! wliat sort of an ink-pot is this ? kebir da eh ? how's it 
 large 1 how can you call it large ? da kalSmak eh ? what's that 
 you're saying 1 da nnaharda (or di nnaharda) this very day ; ^ da 
 hna fulsin here we are, lohoever it be ; da lei ! but it was night ! da 
 nnaharda dunya we bukra akhra, i.e. we live to-day, and to-mo7roio 
 we die ; da 1 arde kulliha '6m min kutr il moiya see the ground is 
 all deluged loith water ; da s sana di ma flshe harr why, there's no 
 'heat at all this year ; ya di 1 ISla is suda, ya di n nahar il wisikh 
 what a black night, a dirty day, is this I ^ kulle ma da (or dau = 
 da we) yisman he gets fatter and fatter. 
 
 § 417. When the substantive is qualified by an adjective the 
 demonstrative may either be placed between the two or follow 
 the adjective, as id daw&ya di 1 kebira (or id dawaya 1 kebira di) 
 this large ink-horn ; il khaddamin dol il battaltn (or il khadd^min 
 il battaltn dol). It should, however, be always placed after the 
 possessive adjective beta' to prevent confusion ; thus il khadda- 
 
 1 Comp. the pleonasm in It. qiiest'oggi and Pr. ce jourd'liui, 
 oggi and hui being from the Lat. hodie ( = hoc die). 
 
 2 I.e. what a night of horrm-s, a terrible day I 
 
266 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 min betu'i dol these servants of mine, but il khaddamin dol betu'i 
 these servants are mine. 
 
 § 418. Similarly, when two nouns are in apposition, and 
 especially when the second is used adjectively, the demonstra- 
 tive may intervene or be placed after both, as il walad da it 
 talmiz (or il walad it talmiz da) this school-hoy ; il gallabiya di 1 
 harir (or il gallabiya 1 liarir di) this silk gown ; il bab da 1 hadid 
 (or il bab il hadid da) this iron gate ; but it usually follows the 
 second, whether a pure genitive or not, when the two are closely 
 united, as il qalam ir rusas da this lead-pencil ; is sikka 1 hadid 
 di this railway ; ir riggala 1 giran dol these neighbours ; ir ruh in 
 nashadir di this ammonia; ish shuwaiyit, il habbit, il moiya dol 
 this little, these few dro]ps of, water. 
 
 § 419. The demonstrative is used without the article with a 
 proper name in the singular, but if two or more persons of the 
 same name are spoken of it will be accompanied by the article, 
 as Mehammad da this [man called) M., but il Mehammadfin, il 
 Mehammadat dol. 
 
 § 420. The article is also omitted before the substantive 
 fulan sricli a one (but not with the adjective fulani), and gener- 
 ally before a sentence equivalent to a noun, as a'uzu bi llah da 
 this man from lohmi God protect me,'^ but il ismu eh da gih (or 
 ismu eh da gih) this Mr. What's-his-name has come.^ Finally, it 
 is often dropped before substantives governed by abb and umm 
 (§ 261), as umme 'ashai'a di. 
 
 § 421. 27iis and that may often be rendered by the adverb 
 kede so, as lamma shufte minnu kede kunte rayh adrabu token I 
 saw that from him ( = him do that), I was about to strilte him ; so 
 ba'de kede after that, &c. Kede is equivalent to the English 
 demonstrative so in such a phrase as huwa sakran ? Kede Is he 
 drunk 1 He is so. ^ 
 
 § 422. Aho may, like da, be used adverbially ; thus a woman 
 may say ah6 gaya ! see, I am coming ! as well as ahe gaya ! so ah6 
 gat ah6 ! see, there she's come I * 
 
 1 Lit. this I seek refuge irifh God (from). 
 
 2 Abukatu da is used by the uneducated. (See § 249.) 
 
 2 So was originally a pronoun only, though now generally 
 used as an adverb. 
 
 * Notice that aho and ahe, though for ahuwa and ahtya, 
 may be used with the first person. 
 
THE INTEEKOGATIVE PEONOUN '267 
 
 THE INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN 
 
 §423. The interrogative min? is placed optionally at the 
 beginning or the end of a direct sentence, as min darabak ? (or 
 darabak min ?) wlio struck you t min garak ? (or garak min ?)^ xolio 
 is your neighbour 1 min gay bukra ? (or gay bukra min ?). Eh is 
 only placed at the beginning when considerable stress is laid on 
 it, the relative illi being often inserted between it and a verb 
 in this case, as eh qal lak (or Ch ill! qal lak) ir r^gil da ? vhat 
 was it that man said to you 1 Here in ordinary circumstances 
 we would say ir ragil da qal lak eh ? (or qal lak eh ir ragil da ?). 
 
 Remaek. — It is very unusual in any circumstances for eh to 
 precede a verb when the latter is not accompanied by any other 
 word ; for instance we very seldom hear eh q^l ? for q&l eh ? or 
 gh 'auz ? for 'auz eh ? It is not infrequently the first word in a 
 sentence where the substantive verb is understood, as eh da? eh 
 il Mga dl ? what (is) this thing 1 
 
 Leh and its equivalent 'ala shan §h (or 'ashan eh) foi- what 
 reason 1 wherefore 1 are put almost indifferently before or after 
 the verb. Li eh sabab ? bi sabab eh ? for lohat cause ? and 
 similar expressions generally stand first in the sentence, and 
 this is invariably the position of 6sh ? 
 
 Anhu, (fee. , as well as ani, must precede the substantive with 
 which they are used. (See §125.) 
 
 In indirect sentences the interrogatives should always follow 
 the final verb, as qal lak darabu min? did he tell you who struck 
 him 1 
 
 § 424. Min ? may sometimes be translated by the adjectival 
 interrogative which ? being practically equivalent to anhu or 
 ani, as min flhum Mehammad ? lohich of them is M. ? When 
 repeated with the copulative, it forms a kind of plural, as min 
 u min shMHk ? (or shafak ?) who were they loho saw you 1 kan min 
 u min maugudin ? (or maugM ?) wlio were present 1 It may be 
 followed by the relative illi, the substantive verb and the third 
 personal pronoun being understood, as min illi darab il garaz ? i 
 wiho was it who rang the hell 1 
 
 § 425. Eh, like min, may be used with a plui'al noun, as eh il 
 hagat ■ illi f gebak ? lohat are the things ivhich are in your pocket 1 
 eh il kuwar dol illi 'auz til'ab buhum? It occasionally, but 
 somewhat incorrectly, asks, like anhu and ani, for one or more 
 objects out of a definite number, as ruhte 'ala eh bet min dol ? 
 to lohich of these houses did you go 1 
 
 1 Huwa may, of course, be expressed as min huwa Hi gih ? 
 
268 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 426. Its use as a genitive in such phrases as hagit gh 
 (or hagt eh) ? sittit eh ? how six ? (alluded to in § 64) is very 
 common, and, with an adjective, is equivalent to that of the 
 adverb izzey ; thus 'aiyanit eh ? i does not mean of ichat is she 
 ill ? which would be 'aiyana bi eh ? but hoio can she be ill ? and 
 implies a disbelief in the statement. 
 
 Remark. — We may say with almost identical meaning, eh ! 
 'aiyana fen? (or eh illl 'aiyana di !). 
 
 § 427. Somewhat similar is the use of eh with a verb in such 
 an expression as istanna ! Istannaeh? Wait! What do you mean 
 by wait 1 why should I wait ? 
 
 § 428. The neuter interrogative ma is used only with the 
 preposition li with the pronominal suffixes, as ma lu ichat has 
 he ? i.e. what is the matter with hi^n ? ^ ana ma li ? what's that 
 to me 1 ma 11 u ma lak ? lohat have I to do with you 1 ma Ihum 
 min il fulus d61? lohat sliare have they in this money? ma Ihum 
 fi 1 fulus dol ? lohat have they to do irith this money 1 What is 
 the matter with this man, woman, ^c, must be translated by ir 
 ragil da ma lu? il mara di ma Iha? (or ma lu li r ragil da? 
 cfec), not by ma li r ragil da, &c'. Eh is sometimes added 
 pleonastically, as ma lu eh ? 
 
 THE RELATIVE PRONOUN 
 
 § 429. This class of pronouns has been already treated of to 
 some extent under the Possessives and Suffixes, so that only a few 
 remarks need to be added here, and firstly : — 
 
 § 430. The relative is not expressed when the antecedent is 
 indefinite, or the verb in the relative clause, whether expressed 
 or understood, has the sense of a pluperfect. In the former 
 case the relative clause is often equivalent to a qualitative 
 adjective, as llya b§t ma fihshe ahsan minnu / have a house 
 tlian which there is none better, second to none ; yibqa wahid ma 
 khadshe ugritu there remains one ivho has not had his pay ; auwil 
 ragil gih abuya the first man to come was my faflier ; fih bab 
 beyikhbat there is a door hanging ; fih nfts ma yeliibbuhsh there 
 are people who don't like him; fi ragil fi 1 b&b beyis'al 'al§k there 
 is a man at the door asking for you; babur quwwitu 'ishrin husto 
 an engine of tioenty horse-power ; wahid ismu M. one named M. ; 
 iddini min ahsan 'andak give me of the best you have ; dakhalna 
 
 1 Qat'a often falls out, as id dinya dalma. Dalmi tgh ! (for 
 dalmit §h !) hoio can you call it dark J 
 
 2 Qu'a-t-il? 
 
THE KELATIVE PKONOUN 269 
 
 f b6t sahbu irmsh maugud we icent into a house whose oiimer tvas 
 absent ; q^bilna wUhid wishshu mekashshar we met a man with a 
 sulky face ; huwa r&gil ma yi'rafshe Mga he is a man who knoics 
 nothing, an ignoramus; da rftgil la ba'se minnu (or 'algh) an 
 unobjectionable man ; kal&m mS lush asl an unfounded statement ; 
 gUbu 1 walad k^nu mhammiyinu they brought the boy whom 
 they had already bathed, i.e. having previously bathed him ; min 
 dimnuhum kUn il qftdl meshgya'il lu ( = mesheya'in lu) amongst 
 them was the kadi, for lohom they had. sent. 
 
 Remark a. — Where the relative is the object of the verb the 
 suffix may also be omitted, as ma 'andish addl lak (or addih lak) 
 / have none, nothing, to give you. 
 
 Remark b. — Notice the expression 'auz sanddq. 'auzu ginsu 
 Sh ? ( = 'auz illi yekun ginsu eh ?) I loant a box. What kind do 
 you leant 1 
 
 §431. The antecedent may be omitted when there is no 
 doubt as to its identity, as illi kan hina rah hen&k. This is 
 often the case where the antecedent to be supplied is in the third 
 person, as in proverbs, as illi ma yeshufshe min il ghurb&l a'ma 
 he who cannot see through a sieve is blind ; illi ma luhshe hadde, 
 luh Rabbina i he loho is loithout any one, S^c, Illi is equivalent to 
 the English ivhat when standing for that lohich, as illi a'rafu 
 aqtlii lak lohat I knoiv I loill tell you ; illi shuftu ana innu hvlwa 
 111 darabha ivhat I saw was that ( = as far as I could see) it was he 
 loho struck h&r. 
 
 § 432. nil . . . wi 111 has the force of one . . . another, or 
 the one . . . the other,'^ as illi yiddl lu qirshSn wi 111 yiddl lu 
 talat quriish wi Hi yiddl lu arba'a one gives him tioo jnastres, an- 
 other three, and another four ; ilU yigfi. bukra wi 111 yigu ba'de bukra 
 some come to-morrow, arid others the day after. 
 
 § 433. MS, (ma) refers almost exclusively to inanimate ante- 
 cedents, corresponding to the Latin qiiod or id quod. It is not 
 frequently the subject of any but the substantive verb (ex- 
 pressed or understood) unless preceded by kull or a word of 
 similar import, and as the object it does not, like illi, require 
 the verb to take the suffix. Except when followed by the pre- 
 position bSn (the copula being understood) its antecedent, though 
 sometimes definite in sense, is never accompanied by the article. 
 
 1 In the expression illi yiddl lak humar ma tshMuhshe sinnu 
 k&m { = don't look a gift horse in the moidh), illi- yiddl lak is 
 equivalent to iza dd&lak w&hid. 
 
 2 As qui . . . qui in Fr. 
 
270 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 It may take the pronominal suffixes. It is mostly used in the 
 three following cases : — 
 
 (a) When it partakes of the nature of an indefinite pronoun, 
 in which case the antecedent is often the noun kull or kafa 
 (kaffa), expressed or understood. 
 
 (h) Where it is equivalent to the English relative that go- 
 verned by a preposition unexpressed, its antecedent being a 
 date or period of time, or the relative clause being in the posi- 
 tion of a genitive governed by the antecedent. 
 
 (r;) After the prepositions qabl, ba'd, ben, 'ashan ('ala shan),i 
 &c.,and the substantive kull, forming conjunctions with them ; e.i/. 
 kaffit ma 'andu min il fulits all the money he has, whatever money 
 he has ; kulle mft lu whatever he has ; ahsan ma mi'l the best Ihuve ; 
 giri 'ala akhir ma mi'ah he ran as fast as he could, all he knew ; 
 'ala ma shuf (ma ashuf) ana as far as I can see, judge ; mft b§n 
 lahmar u ma ben liswid between red and black ; il mesafa ma ben 
 litnen the distance between the two ; ahsan ma fi 1 ghanam best of 
 evei-ything among the sheep, i.e. of all the sheep ; ana akbar mft 
 fi khwati (ikhwati) / am the oldest of all my brothers, i.e. older 
 than any of my brothers, matrah ma truh ruh, i.e. go irhere 
 you like; 'ala qadde mahum 'auzin as much as they want ; 
 nahar, yom, ma get the day that ( = on lohich) I came ; fi msafit mi 
 tit'ashsha akun hadir / loill be ready as soon as (by the time) 
 you have dined ; sabab mS, zi'il ir ragil (or sabab ir ragil ma zi'il) 
 the reason that ( =/o)- which) the man got angry ; min kutre m§, 
 kan za'lan ^ from the excess of his anger ; qable mft yigt before lie 
 comes ; 'ashan ma rah because he has gone, &c. 
 
 Remark. — In cases b and c ma should immediately precede 
 the verb, so that it is incorrect to say sabab ma r ragil zi'il, 
 qable ma il walad gih, but see § 579, note. 
 
 § 434. The word in is often used instead of ma in case & when 
 the antecedent is a period of time, as nahar in safirna the day 
 that ive started ; tani yom in get the day after you came ; hal in 
 rahum the moment they icent. 
 
 § 435. Ma (or in) is sometimes omitted in case b, as that is 
 in English, as a'rafu min yom kunte shuftu fi bet wahid sahbi 
 I knoio him since a day I met him at the house of a friend of 
 mine ; so sabab ir ragil zi'il the reason the man got angry. 
 
 § 436. When the third personal pronoun is the subject of a 
 verb of which ma is the object, it may be appended to ma in its 
 shortened form as a sufiix, as in 'ala qadde mfthum 'auzln above. 
 
 1 'ashan ma=Lat. quod. Mod. Greek Stdrt ( = Sta on). 
 - This is more vivid than min kutre za'alu. 
 
DISTEIBUTIVE PEONOUNS 271 
 
 §437. When a statement is made with regard^ to two oi- 
 more objects, and the speaker proceeds to define its ■ particular 
 relation to each one of them, the first may be referred to, 
 whether animate or inanimate, by ma followed by the personal 
 pronoun, the two together being equivalent to the verb ya'nl in 
 its adverbial sense, as ana qaret il kitaben ma huwa ktabak wi 
 ktab 'all ; laqet it taiata kuUuhum madbfihtn, m§, h^iwa Meham- 
 mad madrub bi rus^sa fi sidru wi Hasan j&su maqtil'a wi 
 Hs§n madrub bi sikktna fi qalbu I found them all three slaughtered 
 — Mohammed shot with a bullet in his chest, Hasan ivith his head 
 severed, and Hisein stabbed to the heart loith a Jcnife. 
 
 Remark. — lUi may, of course, be used in the same way. 
 
 DISTRIBUTIVE PRONOUNS 
 
 § 438. Kull in the sense of eveiy, each, always precedes its 
 substantive, as kville rigil erery man, kulle haga each thing ; but 
 when used with a definite noun it is treated as a substantive, 
 and is followed by a genitive or is placed after the noun with 
 the pronominal suffixes attached to it, as kull ir riggala the whole 
 of the men, i.e. all the men, kull il mistakhdimin all the employes, 
 kull id dinya the lohole of the world (or ir riggala, il mistakhdimin 
 kuUuhimi, id dinya kulliha). When the noun is understood and 
 not represented by a personal pronoun, il kull may be used for 
 all of them, the lohole of it, as agib lak kam wahid minhum, 
 shuwaiya minhum ? Hat il kull. Shall I bring you a few of them, 
 some of it ? Bring them all, the whole of it. 
 
 § 439. TM expresses the whole in the sense of extension 
 over a period, and is, like kull, a substantive, as till in nahar the 
 whole of the day. When following its substantive it does not, 
 like kull, take the pronominal suffix, but plays the part of an 
 adverb, as la shuftuhum il lei tl!ll wala n nahar tul. 
 
 § 440. Every one is expressed by kulle wahid, kulle hay (i.e. 
 every living soul), kull in n§,s, kulle min kan, ifcc. ; every one of the 
 men, every one of the books, by kulle wahid min ir riggala, kulle 
 wahid min il kitSbSt (or kulle ragil min ir riggala, kulle kitab 
 min il kitabat) ; every man of them by kulle ragil minhum ; so 
 kulle kitab, kulle kubbaya, minhum, eve7-y other by kulle tSni, 
 or kull followed by a noun in the dual, as kulle yomen every 
 oflier day. 
 
 § 441. One by one is expressed by wahid wahid, or by the 
 repetition of the noun, as yeriihfi 'ala 1 biyftt bet bet they go 
 round to the houses one by one ; two by tivo by itnen itnen, and so 
 forth. 
 
272 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OP EGYPT 
 
 § 442. Eitlier and neither have no exact representatives, and 
 must be rendered by periphrases, as kulle wahid min litnen 
 yighdar yi'milu either of them can do it ; kulle wahid (or dih we 
 dih) yi'gibni (or litnen yi'gibuni) either will please me ; musibit 
 dih walla dih tigharraq litnen a mishap to either loill ruin hoth ; 
 wala yigish wala wahid mil litnen nor will either of them come ; 
 'auz anhiim minhum ? La dih wala dih whicli of them do you 
 want 1 Neither , wala wahid mil litnen gih (or litnen ma giish) 
 neither of them came ; ^ huwa wi sh shekh ma gush neither he nm' 
 the sheikh came ; la na (la ana) wala nta neither I nor you ; la 
 Mhammad wala Hsen neither M. nor H. ; fi barren in Nil on 
 either side of the Nile ; wala fi barre min barren in Nil on neither 
 side of the Nile. 
 
 INDEFINITE PRONOUNS 
 
 § 443. These include the numeral and indefinite article wahid, 
 which bears most of the senses in which the English one is used 
 as huwa yimkin yigi wahid y6m perhaps he irill come one day ; ^ 
 gani wahid one (i.e. a ceiiain man) came to me. One as an in- 
 definite substantive may be translated by wahid (or more usually 
 il wahid), or linsan (or linsan minna), as kalam zeye dih yiza"al 
 il wahid such a remark snakes one angry ; ahsan linsan ma yish- 
 rabshe ziyada 'an sitte sagayir fi 1 yom it is better that one do not 
 smoke {= not to smoke) more than six cigarettes a day; linsan 
 minna lazim yi'mil waziftu wala yintibih li fkar in nas one must 
 do one's duty icithout heeding the notions of other people. When 
 one is equivalent to they used indefinitely, it may be expressed 
 by the third person plural of the verb, as yequlu 1 kalam da one 
 uses this expression. 
 
 § 444. One as a definite substantive qualified by an attribu- 
 tive adjective, and referring to an object already mentioned, 
 also finds an equivalent in wahid, as ana gib (agib) lak wahid 
 kuwaiyis, wahda kuwaiyisa (according as the noun understood 
 is masc. or fem.) I will bring you a good one ; hat li kam wahid 
 tuwal bring me a few long ones. 
 
 § 445. The unit may be omitted when the noun has just 
 been qualified by an adjective opposed in sense, as is sahne dih 
 
 1 Not both of them didn't come, which we would translate by 
 mush litnen gum. We say kullu mush fi niahillu, meanin<^ 
 none of it is in its place. ' * 
 
 2 But it is more idiomatic to say yom min il iyftm (or yom 
 min zat il iyS.m, or yom min dol). 
 
INDEFINITE PEONOUNS 273 
 
 wiaikh, iddini (wEthid) nadif this plate is dirty, give me a clean 
 one. 
 
 § 446. When one and the other or another are opposed in a, 
 sentence to each other, their Arabic equivalents may be omitted 
 altogether, the repetition of the substantive being sufficient, as 
 it sometimes is in English, to indicate the meaning, as ruhna 
 min giha li giha, min bet li bet we went from one place to another, 
 from house to house ; rigle li f 6q we rigle li taht one leg up and 
 the other doion ; id tid'ak bi s sftbuna we id tesubb one hand 
 scrubbing loith the soap while the other pours {the water) ; iddi lu 
 1 gawab min id li id, i.e. give him the letter from your hand into 
 his; yom fih u y6m ma fish one day there is and another there 
 isn't ; bitruh tamalli ? Y6m ^wa u yom la' do you ahvccys go ? 
 One day yes and another no (i.e. one day I do ami another I don't) ; 
 da gins wi da gins that is one sort and this is another. 
 
 Remaek. — The word tkiA may be added to the noun repeated, 
 as ruhna min giha li giha tanya, &c. 
 
 § 447. One . . . another, as substantives, may be translated 
 in this connection by ill! . . . illi (§ 432) ; one thing . . . another 
 thing, by bashqa . . . bashqa ; ^ or we may repeat the substantive, 
 as da kitab we da kitftb, &c. 
 
 §448. Any one, anybody, any person { = somebody) may be 
 rendered by w&hid or hadd, as shufte wahid (or hadd) ? did you 
 see anybody ? iza gih hadd if any one should come, hadde minkii 
 'auz yerliih. ? does any one of you loant to go ? the plural any 
 ( = some) by nas, haga, &c. min, or simply min, as fih nas minku 
 rfthu Masr ? have any of you been to Cairo .? wala hSga min il 
 wuMsh nor any loild beasts ; fih minhum battalin ? are any of 
 them bad ? (For the use of the indefinites ey, eyiha, see below.) 
 
 As an indefinite quantitative adjective (again = so?ne) any is 
 not expressed in Arabic, but as a substantive it is generally 
 represented by min with a pronominal suffix, though here again 
 it may be omitted, as 'auz kar^si, laban ? do you want any chairs, 
 milk ? mush 'auz minhum, minnu (or mush 'auz) / don't want any. 
 
 Remark. — With the negative signs hadd signifies ko one, 
 nobody, as ma haddish gih nobody came. Anything, when equi- 
 valent to something, is rendered by Mga, in other cases by eyiha 
 Mga or kulle shin (she in) k^n, as 'andak h§.ga tiddiha li ? have 
 you anything to give me ? ma tqul lush Mga don't tell him any- 
 thing , addi lu eh ? Iddi lu Sye h^ga lohat shall I give him 7 Give 
 him anything ; kulle shin kan yiqdi anything will do. 
 
 § 449. Some in the sense of about is best translated by the 
 
 1 Turkish. 
 
274 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 verbs yigi, yitla', used as adverbs, as 'umru yitla' tamantn he is 
 ■some twenty years old , yigi gum'iten ma shufttish it is some two 
 weeJcs since I saia him ; but true adverbs must be used where a 
 future event is spoken of ; thus we should not say haq'ud henak 
 yigi (or yitla' sanaten), but taqiiban sanaten (or zgye sanatgn) I 
 ■sludl stay there some two years. 
 
 § 450. Somebody can always be expressed by wahid, as w§,hid 
 ■darab il garaz somebody rang the bell, &c. ; yiftikir leinnu wahid 
 he thinks he is soviebody ; something by Mga. Some . . . some is 
 rendered, as one . . . another (above), by illi . . . illl, or by the pre- 
 position min with the suffixes, as gih tal&tin nafar minhum 
 riggala u minhum niswan thirty people have come, some men and 
 some women. 
 
 §451. The quantitative adjective is unexpressed (as any 
 above), as h4t 'gsh u zibda u gibna bring some bread, butter, and 
 cheese ; shufna kl&b fi s sikka we saio some dogs in the street ; but 
 'andak 'gsh ? Ewa. Taiyib, iddini minnu (or iddini) have you 
 some bread ? Yes. Good, give me some. 
 
 § 452. Other as an adjective finds its equivalent in t&ni or 
 in other words already mentioned. The indefinite other than is 
 ■expressed by tani gher or by ghgr alone, as wahda tanya gh§r 
 Bikhita another than Bikhita ; ma fish hadde gheri. 
 
 Remark. — Y6m min dol means tJie other day, some future day, 
 jiocording as the verb is past or future. Every other day is 
 rendered by kulle tani yom, kulle yomgn, or kuUe yom we yom. 
 
 § 453. The indefinite relatives whoever, icliichecer, whosoever, 
 ifec, are expressed by eye (or eyiha, eyuha) w^hid and gy fol- 
 lowed by a noun with or without the case ending, whoever it 
 may be by eye wahdin kan. But as a rule an English indefinite 
 relative may be rendered by illi (or mk), accompanied sometimes 
 by other words to make the sense cleai-, as illi yidrabni adrabu 
 whoever strikes me I will strike him ; illi ti'milu a'milu ana irhat- 
 ever you do I loill do ; illi tdihni bardu akun mabsiit / shall be 
 contented with whatevei- you give me, illi yeqiilu h'uwa bardu 
 kidb whatever he says is a lie , il yom illi tigi fih bardu yekfin 
 kuwaiyis; illi ma takhdush inta akhdu ana I'll fake whichever 
 you don't take, illi yigra yigra whatever will happen will happen, 
 i.e. happen what may ; waqte ma tigi tigi at whatever time you 
 come, come, i.e. come ivhen you like. 
 
 Remark. — There is sometimes a confusion between the in- 
 definite relative adverb and the pronoun itself, as in the expres- 
 sion yiduqqu 1 mazzika li kulle ma hadde yekhushsh the band 
 strikes up in honour of each as he comes in.''- 
 
 ^ Kulle ma meaning whenever. 
 
THE VEEB: ITS CONCORD WITH SUBJECT 275 
 
 § 454. Ey, gyi w^hid, and gyiha require the noun to take the 
 case ending when the substantive verb follows (the verb being 
 usually in concord with the noun), as bi gye tariqtin ki,nit by 
 any means lohatever ; eye wS,hid fiqihin kan any schoolmaster, 
 lohoever he be ; min fiyuha dukkftnin kS,nit from whatever shop it 
 he ; but bi eye tartqa ; bi §ye tarlqa min 'andak,(or illl 'andak) by 
 any means ; by any means you have ; ishtirlh min Syuha dukkan 
 buy it from any shop. Eye wShid and eyiha wfihid become 
 «ye wahdin and eyiha wahdin when followed by a verb, and 
 remain masculine though a feminine object be understood, as 
 eye wahdin gat, iddih liha give it to any woman loho comes. 
 
 § 455. Fulan and the adjective fulani are the English such, 
 so and so, and may be used together somewhat pleonastically, as 
 f uMn gih such a one lias come ; il B§h fulan so and so Bey ; il 
 mara 1 fulanlya such and such a woman ; shufte fulan il fulant. 
 
 § 456. In dates kaza is generally employed, as lelit kaza min 
 ish shahr on such and such a night of the m.onth. 
 
 Remark. — The definite such is a demonstrative adjective, and 
 will be generally rendered by the adverb z6y, as / never sair such 
 .a man as you ma shuftish abadan ragil zeyak. 
 
 § 457. Zed, 'amr, Raghib, and occasionally 'umar, are used as 
 hypothetical names, like Jones, Brown, and Robinson in English, 
 as R&ghib gih u 'amre rah ; Zld u 'umar u Raghib u tirtan we 
 ■'illan ; iza darabak Zed min in nas. 
 
 THE VERB 
 
 ITS CONCORD WITH ITS SUBJECT 
 
 § 458. When the subject is definite the verb as a general 
 rule agrees with it in gender and number, as ir r&gil gih the 
 man came ; il mara 'aiyatit the %voman loept ; tuga'nt rast my 
 head aches (lit. pains me) ; ir riggfila yishtaghalvL the men work ; ^ 
 but the following important exceptions must be noted : — 
 
 (a) When the subject is a broken plural the verb is very 
 frequently placed in the feminine singular, as il hamir insaraqit 
 kulliha (or kulluhum) all the donkeys were stolen ; il kh@l kanit 
 ta'bana the horses toere tired ; nizlit il kil&b we 'auwit ths dogs 
 
 1 In relative clauses the verb is, of coui'se, of the gender and 
 number of the antecedent, whether expressed or understood, as 
 it tS,gir illl bah li 1 buda'a ; id dawaya Ui nkabbit ; illi kanii hina 
 rahii Masr. 
 
276 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 came doivn and barked , ish shababik infatahit the luindows were 
 opened; gat ir rigg^la we giryit in niswftn fhe men came and 
 the women ran avjay , kan fih 'aiya ktir ma ben in nas, lakin il 
 liamdii 11 llah aghlabha gat salima there loas a great deal of illness 
 among the people, hut, thank God, most of them recovered ; mahabis 
 gheru k&nlt malibusa mi'u other prisoners ivere imprisoned with 
 him ; is siyas mfshyit the sayces luent away ; lamina gat il bara- 
 bra nizlit ir rukkab min il babiir wlien the Berberis came the 
 passengers got down from the train. 
 
 Remaek a. — When the demonstrative is in the feminine 
 singular the verb should be so likewise, as in nas di tigi, but in 
 n&s dol yigii. 
 
 Remaek b. — The verb may be in the feminine singular though 
 followed by a predicate adjective (or participle) in the plural, as 
 'gneh k&nit maftuhin his eyes were open ; il wir^q k^nit maktubin 
 the papers ivere irritten. 
 
 Remaek c. — In all the above examples the verb might also be 
 in the plui-al, and would be perhaps more often than not where 
 the subject denotes human beings, or when it precedes the verb. 
 
 (6) The verb will occasionally be in the feminine singular 
 when the subject^ is a perfect plural and is preceded by the verb, 
 as lamma gat lefendiyftt mishyit in naggarin tchen the Eferulis 
 came the carpenters went away. 
 
 Remark. — In naggftrtn il mestakhdimin rahit (the subject 
 preceding the verb) will rarely be heard, because by placing the 
 noun first in the sentence we emphasize the fact that it denotes 
 a number of separate objects.^ 
 
 (c) The verb will sometimes be in the third person singular 
 masculine when preceding a plural subject and separated from 
 it by intervening words, as fatah luhum bS,b il bet il khaddftmin 
 the servants opened the door of the house to them ; but fatahu Ihum 
 would also be quite correct, and indeed more usual. 
 
 Remaek. — The third person singular may occasionally be 
 heard when the verb is similarly separated from a feminine sub- 
 ject in the singular, as iddet lu higab 'ashan yeruli minnu bi izni 
 
 1 The construction is admissible when the persons or things- 
 described are spoken of as a single body without reference to 
 their personality. It must be remembered that the feminine in 
 Arabic also represents the neuter of other languages, and that- 
 several objects mentioned together, though they be living, are 
 liable to be regarded in the Semitic languages as a mere multeity 
 when their individuality is not brought to the foreground Oomp 
 §§ 387, 467. 
 
THE VERB: ITS CONCORD WITH SUBJECT 277 
 
 liah il 'en I gave Mm a charm that the evil eye might, hy God's 
 peiinission, depart from Mm ; but this is an irregularity not to be 
 imitated. 1 
 
 {d) When the past tense of the substantive verb kto precedes 
 a definite subject it very frequently remains tmchanged, especially 
 if the subject is a feminine singular, and this even when it serves 
 as the auxiliary of another verb which itself agi'ees with the 
 subject,^ as kiln il bint fi 1 b@t the girl was in the house ; kUn id 
 daw^ya ikkabbit tlie inkstand had been U2^set ; iza kftn il binte 
 tigl (in preference to iza kjlnit il binte tigi) ; kftn ummu bit'aiyat 
 his mother leas weeping ; k&n (or kftnit) is sft'a tnin it was two 
 o'clock ; kftn id dinya dalma it was dark. 
 
 § 459. When the verb precedes two or more definite subjects 
 of different genders or numbers, it may either agree in gender 
 and number with the first, or be placed in the plural, as gih (or 
 gum) il walad w abuh the boy ami Ms father came, gat (or gum) 
 il mara wi bniha ; insaraqit il 'arablya we taqmiha the carriage 
 and its harness /cere stolen ; qumt ana wi Mhammad / and M. 
 got up. 
 
 § 460. When the subjects precede, the verb should be in the 
 plural, as il mara wi 1 walad gum ; ana wi nta ruhna ; but it is 
 occasionally made to agree with the first when feminine, as hiya 
 w abiiha rfthu or (less usually) r^hit ; but abflha we hiya r&hu, 
 not r^h. 
 
 § 461. When the subject is a collective noun the verb will 
 be in the masculine singular, as il g^mus k^n fi 1 ghet the 
 buffaloes were in the field ; is sagar yikhdarre fi shahr abrll the 
 trees get green in the month of April ; il lamun, il burtuqan, ghili 
 lemons, oranges, have got dear ; bunduqhum inzabat min il bulls 
 their guns were seized by the police ; kam naf ar gat (or gum) ? how 
 many persons came ? 
 
 Remark a. — Though the above construction is the usual one, 
 the verb is sometimes in the plural, especially when the subject 
 denotes living beings, as il ghafar gih (or gfi) the watchmen 
 came. 
 
 Remaek h. — With the words 'askar soldiers, troops, and 
 
 1 The intervening words may cause the speaker to forget that 
 he started with a masculine verb and intended to use a masculine 
 noun. In the above example, for instance, the word hasad might 
 be in his thoughts when he began with the verb yeruh. 
 
 2 In compound tenses the auxiliary is often of a different 
 number and gender to the principal verb, as il gama'a k^nit 
 lissa m4 gush the peojde had not yet come. 
 
278 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 ghanam sheep, the verb is put in the feminine singular, as 
 qalit il 'askar li ba'diha fhe soldiers said to one another; il ghanam 
 gat. II 'askar gum' may also be said, but not il ghanam gum. 
 
 Remark c. — Nouns of this class, denoting nationalities, are 
 usually regarded as masculine singulars, but the verb is not in 
 frequently in the plural or the feminine singular, as lingliz 
 miskii (or miskit) arduhum the English seized their land; mishyit 
 'arab the Arabs are gone. 
 
 § 462. When the subject is a noun of multitude the verb 
 is usually in the plural, but may also be in the masculine or the 
 feminine singular, as ahlu rahu (or r^hit) Masr his people have 
 gone to Cairo ; il khalq igtama'u (or igtama'it) the people collected; 
 il harim nizlii, nizlit, nizil fi 'arabjya tanya the ladies got into 
 another carriage ; kulle barre Masr beyid'u 'aleh all Egypt curses 
 him ; ba'd in nas yequlu (or tequl), the latter agreeing with the 
 broken plural nas in the feminine singular ; but ba'duhum 
 yeqitlii (or yequl) ; il gam^'a dol rah yirkabii fi 'arabiyitak ? 
 are these people going to drive in your carriage ? il 'Mam da, di, 
 dol gih, gat, gum min en irhere have these people'^ come, from? 
 il kulle gih (or gum) all came. Of two verbs, one may be in 
 the singular and the other in the plural, as il ba'de gih wi 1 
 ba'de ma gush some came and some did not come. 
 
 § 463. K&m with its substantive is most frequently followed 
 by a verb in the feminine singular, but the plural is admissible, 
 and occasionally the masculine singular is heard when the noun 
 denotes male human beings, as k§,m kilab gat, (less usually) 
 gu ? kftm mara gat, gu ? kam ragil gat, gu, gih ? 
 
 Remark. — Shviwaiya, habba, and ba'dishi ( = ba'de she), in 
 the sense of n little, are regarded as nouns of multitude, and are 
 generally constructed with a plural verb, as ish shuwaiyit il 
 laban ghilyvL the little milk has boiled ; habbit tibn insaraqu mir 
 ristabl a little straic was stolen from the stable ; il ba'dishi 
 dol ma yikafffish (or il ba'dishi da ma yekaffish) this small 
 quantity trill not suffice. 
 
 § 464. A verb will sometimes agree with the idea conveyed 
 by a word, though not a collective noun or a novm of multitude, 
 rather than with the actual form of the word itself, as arba'a 
 fi talata tibqa (less usually yibqu) itnS,shar .^^ x S " equals " 12 ; 
 itnashar min 'ishiin tibqa tamanya tirelve from ticenty ^^ leaves" 
 eight ; itngn yekafifi tiro's enough ; ana rah addi lak 'ashara 
 gineh ; iza khallasak ma fish ma'na, ma khallasakshe . . zgye 
 ma yi'gibak baqa I am going to offer you £10 ; if it satisfy you, 
 
 ^ Ce iiionde. 
 
THE VEE.B: ITS CONCOKD WITH SUBJECT 279^ 
 
 well and good ; if not — why, please yourself ; kutte biddi aruli 
 (for kan biddl) / toanted to go ; ^ ma kuntish lazim agi (for ma 
 kanshe Iftzim) ; yeqUm dim^gliu yefftq 'aleh ^ he recovers con- 
 sciousness ; iili zgyina nirkab ^ hamii' ! do such as we ride 
 donkeys ? yibqa inta ksibt it results that you have icon ; or it 
 may agree with a word which is strictly in apposition to the 
 subject, or in the relation of a genitive to it, but of more im- 
 portance in the sentence, as kulle barre Masr betid'I 'al§h (for' 
 beyid'ft, as above, agreeing with Masr). This is commonly the 
 case where the word nafs and others of similar meaning precede 
 the noun with which they are used, as nafs ir rigg^la qftlu ;. 
 so with titles, as hadritak, gan^bak, sa'tak, the verb agreeing, 
 with the pronoun. 
 
 § 465. Verbs expressing the state of the weather are put in 
 the feminine, the word dinya (dunya) being understood, as matarit 
 (or natarit) it. ruined, betishtt it is raining, betir'ad it thunders, <fec. 
 
 § 466. Dinya (dunya) is also understood* in the expressions. 
 kS,nit id duhr, il maghrib, qamar, tur&b, &c. it 'was noon, su7iset, 
 moonlight, dusty, &o., but k&n is also said if the predicate is- 
 masculine, and even sometimes when it is feminine. 
 
 § 467. In the expression we khulsit baqa and so my story 
 ends, hikaya is understood ; in ma dakhalitshe ^ it has nothing to 
 do with it, the subject understood is a word or phrase just- 
 spoken. In some others, as gat salima it has turned out all 
 right, il liamdu li llah illt gat 'ala kede thank God that it has 
 turned out that loay, hakamit kede it has heen so ordaineil, has 
 so happened, zgye mft tigl tigi come what may, tekiln fi hanakak 
 tiqsam li gh§rak, i.e. there is many a slip twixt the cup and the lip,. 
 the verbs are impersonal, the feminine standing for the neuter. 
 
 Remabk. — Impersonal verbs are, however, sometimes in the- 
 masculine, as ma yinfa'sh, ma yigJsh minnu it's of no use ; hasal 
 khSr na harm's done (all's loell that ends well) ; and baqa is used 
 much more frequently than baqaf (§ 560). 
 
 1 Kutte biddi is used nearly as frequently as kan biddi. 
 
 2 The educated often use dimSgh with a masculine verb. 
 
 ^ nil zgyina yirkab may be said, but even then the plural 
 hamli' will be used. 
 
 , * It is, however, frequently expressed in both cases, as id 
 dinya k4nit tur^b, bitir'ad. 
 
 5 Or dl ma dakhalitshe wala kharagit that is neither here 
 nor there. 
 
 " Baqat is occasionally used for baqa even when it is not 
 used in a purely adverbial sense. 
 
280 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 468. A definite dual subject requii-es the verb to be in the 
 plural, as ir raglen gu, nizlu, or gum (gu) ir raglen ; but it is 
 not unusual for the verb to be in the masculine or feminine 
 singular when it precedes the subject, as lamma gih ir raglen ; 
 gatnl sagarten ; and it will sometimes be in the feminine 
 though following its subject, if the latter denote an inanimate 
 object, and in particular if it denote the double members of the 
 body, as ideh bitlit we 'eneh rS,hit, i.e. lie has lost the use of Ms 
 hands and his eyes. We may say 'eneh kanit maftulia, or kftnit 
 maftuhin, or kftnii maftiiha, or kanu maftuhin, but k^nit 
 maftuhin and kanu maftuha are unusual. 
 
 § 469. When the subject is indefinite and precedes the verb, 
 the concord is regulated by the rules and exceptions set forth 
 in the preceding sections ; but when the verb precedes, it is 
 placed by preference in the masculine singular, whatever the 
 gender and number of the subject ; e.g. mara darabit bintiha 
 a 'woman beat her daughter ; qutat wi kl&b te'adde ba'd rats and 
 dogi bite one another ; raglgn, kitaben, gum ; but ga lu wahda 
 ■"agdza there came to him an old imman ; nizil nas waiyah 'ala 1 
 balad there went some people vith him to the village ; ma yibqa 
 lish ugra zeyi n nas / don't get proper wages ; kan maugud n§,s 
 ketir there were many people present ; lissa ma fatshe sana there 
 has not yet passed a year ; ma hasalshe minha samara there has 
 not been any good result from it ; kan hasal nadra an accident 
 .had happened , lamma yigi lak gawabat irhen you get letters ; iza 
 gara lu Mga if anything happened to him ; tabbe 'aleya raglen 
 tieo men overtook me, came upon me ; gih khamsa naggarin there 
 came five carpenters ; ga li gmrn&lSn I received tico neirspapers. 
 
 Remark. — The verb, however, not infrequently agrees, espe- 
 cially when it immediately precedes the subject, or the subject 
 is emphasized, as hasalit lu nifs (or 'en) the eril eye ha» come upon 
 him , gat lak dahya ! perdition upon you ! kuUe ma tgi lu mara 
 yitkhaniq waiyaha irhenever a woman comes near him he quarrels 
 toith her ; kan (or kanit) 'aleh kiswa suda he had on a black suit. 
 The substantive verb preceding an indefinite subject will often 
 .agree with it in form, owing to the fact that there is an ellipse 
 of the relative between the subject and the following words, as 
 kanit bint qa'da ganb il bab there was a girl sitting near the door 
 { = hiya kanit bint illi qa'da she was a girl who . . .) ; ksinit 
 (less usually kan) dawaya nkabbit, but kan inkabbe dawaya an 
 inkstand had been upset ; kanu liggala henftki they were men who 
 
 or 
 
 1 So kanii riggala gil or kanit riggala gat, kan riggala gum 
 kan riggala gat. 
 
THE TENSES 281 
 
 were there ; kan riggala henS,k there were men there. In such a 
 phrase as ma g^sh ilia mratu the verb is masculine although the 
 noun is definite as agreeing with the word hadd understood. 
 The full expression would be ma gftsh hadde ilia mr^tu gat. 
 
 § 470. When following the indefinite pronoun gy and its 
 noun the verb regularly agrees with the noun, but occasionally 
 remains unchanged, as gye gihitin k&nit whatever direction it he. 
 With h§su, on the contrary, it remains unchanged, as 'auz 
 yitgauwiz binte min hSsu k&n he irants to marry a girl, 'whoever 
 she be. 
 
 Remark. — Kftn serving as an auxiliary and placed after the 
 principal verb is generally unchanged, as asli ana gibtiha kS,n ; 
 ana qultilak inbarili kin. 
 
 § 471. The verb is never in the feminine when preceding a 
 perfect plural, and very rarely when preceding a dual or broken 
 plural denoting human beings ; thus, while both nizil and nizlli 
 naggftrin (or nagg&rgn) are admissible, nizlit cannot be said. 
 
 § 472. Though the fii'st of two or more verbs may not agree 
 in gender and number with a subject common to both of them, 
 the other or others may and generally will, and this whether the 
 subject be definite or indefinite, as gat il banftt u miskii fihum 
 the girls came and seized thera , qfi,bilni raglgn u s&rii yimshU 
 waiy§,ya two men met me and continued loalking iiith me; lamma 
 yigi lak mara we tis'alak lohen a woman comes to you and asks you; 
 iltammit in n§,s 'aleya we darabuni we saraquni tJw people collected 
 around me and beat and robbed me ; qftm abb il bint w ummiha 
 qalu . . . 
 
 THE TENSES 
 § 473. The past tense (or perfect) denotes : — 
 
 (a) An act just completed at the present time, as katabt il 
 gawftb / have imitten the letter ; kanasft 1 oda they have swept the 
 room. 
 
 (b) An act completed at some past time, as katabt il gawib 
 qable ma yigi / 'unvte the letter before he . came ; banu 1 bit 
 'amnauwil they built the house last year. 
 
 (c) An act begun at the time of speaking, or previously, 
 and continued at the present time, as il walad habbiha the boy 
 has fallen in love with her ; saddaqna q61ak ice believe what you say ; 
 alzamtak leinnak teruh I command you to go ; istaghralDt / am 
 astonished ; haqquha qaf altuha you ought to have shut it. 
 
 (d) A prayer or wish, as la samah Allah God forbid ; dumtum 
 bi kh§r may you keep well, fareioell ; kattar khgrak (sc. AlMh) 
 God increase your well-being, thank you ; gatlak dahya perdition 
 seize you ; inshallah ma ruht / hope yoii won't go. 
 
282 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 (e) An act to be performed in the immediate future, as sibu, 
 lahsan (or we ilia) qataltak leave it alone or I'll Idll you ; esh 
 qultum fi 1 mas'ala what say you about the matte)-? kliallgtik be 
 'afya ya sitt / leave you in health (said by a lady caller on taking 
 leave). 
 
 (/) An act which may probably or possibly take place at 
 some future time, such as would often be described by the 
 subjunctive in other languages, as in gih, iza rfth if he come, 
 go ; 1 li gye matrahin ruht to vhatever place you go ; eye betin 
 kftn H-hatever house it he; kulle min ^tri^ whoever it be; kulle 
 ma amartuni buh a'milu whatever you command me ( = shall have 
 commanded me) I will do. 
 
 (g) An act which has been performed once and is cited as a 
 rule for the future, as iza kan fih mishwar ruht if there is an 
 errand I yo on it. This construction is not uncommon in 
 proverbs, in which vividness of expression is always an object ; 
 e.g. illi tarak she 'ash baMh loh.o leaves a thing lives toithout it 
 ( = iraste not, irant not) ; or in narrative where we could only 
 use the present or future in English, as il walad min'na lamma 
 yikbar we 'auz yitgauwiz yequm yitlub mahre min abiih . . . u 
 ba'den lamma shaf abuh mush 'auz yiddi lu mahr hauwish 
 ugritu u g£ib mahre min 'andu we qam abuh khatab lu bint 
 ■irlien one of our children groins up and maids to get married lie 
 asks his father for (money for) a doicer . ., but u-hen he sees 
 his father umoilling to give it him, he saves up his earnings and 
 finds the doirer out of his own poclcet, and his father betroths hiin 
 to a girl.^ 
 
 § 474. The verbs khalla let, shaf see, simi' hear, hasab believe, 
 consider, laqa, wagad/iwJ, and others of a similar signification, when 
 themselves referring to past events, may be followed by another 
 verb in the perfect where in English it would bfe in the infinitive 
 or a participle, the second verb forming an indirect predicate to 
 the object of the first; e.g. khall§tu rah il bgt I let him go to 
 the house; shviftiha gat I saw her come ; simi'na 1 fulus wiq'it 
 min gebu we heard the money fall from his pocket ; kutte bali- 
 sibhum ishtarfdi / was tidnking they had bought it; shuftu 
 ingalad I saio him flogged ; laq§tu nizil rfth I found him gone. 
 
 Remark. — We may also say khalletu yeruh il bet, simi'na 
 1 fuMs tuqa', (fcc, but the facts are not then so fully certified. 
 
 1 For the conditional sentences, see §§ 507 seq. 
 "^ Qui que ce soil. 
 
 2 The present and past are used iudiscriminatelj-, the speaker 
 changing from one to the othei\ 
 
THE TENSES 283 
 
 The English I saw Mm going will be translated by shuftu rayili, 
 or we hftwa rftyih,! or biyeriih. 
 
 § 475. The past tense is equivalent to the English plu- 
 perfect : — 
 
 (a) In a clause united to a previous one by a conjunction, as 
 ma fatCish ilia lamma mauwitu he dvhi't leave liivi till he had 
 killed Mm ; rauwah qable ma khallas shughlu he went away hefure 
 he had finished Ms loork ; ba'de ma katab il gawftb hattu fi zarf 
 after lie had written the letter he put it in, an envelope. 
 
 Remaek. — In indirect discourse the past tense or present 
 used as a past is not followed, as in English, by the pluperfect, 
 but by the simple perfect, unless it is desired to lay particular 
 stress on the fact that the action was already completed at the 
 time that the reported words were spoken, as qftl innu katab 
 il gawftb he said that he had icrilten the letter ; balisib innu gih 
 I thought he had come. 
 
 (b) Occasionally with lau, 16, in conditional sentences. (See 
 §§ 507 seq.) 
 
 § 476. The past tense of the verb kftn with a participle will 
 often express the pluperfect, as kftnu mhaddarln il akl theij had 
 prepared the meal. This might also mean they had been or were 
 preparing the meal, according to the context. 
 
 § 477. The aorist corresponds to our indefinite unfinished 
 present, as ahibbu / love him ; il ghina yegib ishab liches bring 
 friends ; kulle yom yiddini qersh he gives me a piastre every day ; 
 ish shamse titla' fi ani sa'a? at ichat time does the sun rise? or 
 to the indefinite future, as iza shuftu aqullu if I see him, I ivill 
 tell him ; lamma yigi ashgya'u lak vjheii, he comes I will send him, 
 to you ; ish shamse titla' fi ani sft'a bukra ? at what time does 
 {will) the sun rise to-morroir, 1 
 
 Remark. — Hence English adjectives in able, ible, &c., may 
 generally be translated by the aorist of a passive or neuter 
 verb, and compound nouns often rendered by its help, as 
 yittftkil edible ; yin'irif recognisable ; ma yitqibilsh unacceptable ; 
 ma yitfihimsh incompi-ehensible ; yimkin possible ; qftmfts yithatte 
 fi 1 geb a poclcet-dictionary ; meqauwara titqauwar biha 1 gibna 
 a cheese-scoop. 
 
 § 478. It often plays the part of the historic present, as 
 yequl taiyib agi all right, he says, I'll come ; yequm abuh yiz'al 
 minnu we yequl lu his father then gets angry idth Mm, and says 
 to him. 
 
 § 479. It sometimes has the force of the imperfect present. 
 
284 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 especially when joined by the copulative to another verb in the 
 imperfect present, the bi being dropped perhaps in the latter 
 case for euphony, as tindah li leh ? why do you call me ( = are 
 you calling me)? bit'aiyat wi tza"aq kede leh? what are you 
 crying and howling like that for ? 
 
 Remakk. — Similarly, the hi may be dropped in the unfinished 
 future, as u'a tekun tinsEl. 
 
 § 480. An event which happens habitually at regular periods 
 may be denoted either by the aorist or the imperfect present, 
 as kulle sana nhigg (or binhigg) ice maJce the pilgrimage every 
 year. 
 
 §481. It is used like the perfect, and with much greater 
 frequency, to express a wish or desire (which includes a curse), 
 as Allah yihfazak, yisallimak God preserve you , Allah yitauwil 
 'umrak God prolong your life ; il'an (for Allah yil'an) abuk {God) 
 curse your father. Both perfect and aorist may occur in the 
 same sentence, as shakar Allah fadlak u Rabbina yitammim bi 
 kher God requite your Inndness, and our Lord bring about a safe 
 issue. 
 
 § 482. The aorist is very frequently attached to a preceding 
 verb or its participle, or a verbal noun or expression, without 
 the intervention of a conjunction or any other particle. This 
 may happen ; — 
 
 (a) Where it is equivalent to the English infinitive, whether 
 simple or gerundial, and qualifying or limiting the sense of the 
 preceding verb or verbal expression, or acting (with its comple- 
 ment) as an object or an indirect predicate, or denoting a pur- 
 pose ; e.g. 'auz aruh / want to go; yi'raf yiktib he knoics how 
 to write , talabna nrflli loe asked to go ; ana talib minnak tiqdi li 
 1 hlga di / beg you to do this for me , emta tigi tshufni? ichfii 
 will you come to see me .? gih yishtimni he came to insult me ; 
 battalte ashrab dukk&n / h'lve given up smoking tobacco ; huwa 
 yikhtishi yeruh he is ashamed to go, khalllh yitkallim let Mm 
 speak ; fadlshe titla' ? (are you) not free to go out ? biddt, gharadi 
 amauwitu it is my wish (I ivant), my purpose, to kill him ; talab 
 minnu moiya yishrab he asked of him same water to drink . 'aleku 
 tiktibu lu it is for you to write to him , kan menabbih ma had- 
 dish yigi 'andu he had given orders for no one to come to Mm , 
 ma qadarshe, ma rdish, ma qibilshe, yakhdu he was unable, un- 
 willing, he refused, to take it ; ma a'rafshe aruh fen I don't know 
 wlieiv to go , ma yehunshe 'aleya amauwitu / haven't the heart to 
 kill it , amaru yeruh he ordered Mm to go , kan lazim yigi he 
 ought to have come : haram, 'eb, 'alfk tequl kede it is disgraceful 
 of you to say so; ma Ihiqshe yigi he couldn't manage to come; 
 
THE TENSES 285 
 
 il'a la tinsa take care you don't forget ; u'a tiiqa' heware of falling, 
 ma kanshe haqqu yidrabu he had no right to strike him ; 'auzak 
 tigl / want you to come; qui Ivi yiddih lak tell him to give it 
 you, ma hibbish (ahibbish) titkallim 'kede quddam in nfts / 
 dorCt like you to speak thus in public ; hilif yimauwitu he sioore 
 he would kill it ; sheya't aglbu / have sent to fetch it ; alzamtak 
 teqilm I command you to get up ; il liakim harrag 'aleh ma yit- 
 la'she min il bet the doctor forbade him to leave his house; Mzim 
 yerilh he must go, Iftzim yekun rah he must have gone, nisit, 
 fatni, aqullak [forgot to tell you; rah yilbis he has gone to 
 dress , qarrab yikhlas it has come near to being finished (i.e. it will 
 soon he finished) ; qarrab yigi he will soon he here ; khayif yeftit 
 he is afraid to pass. 
 
 (b) Where, being the complement of the preceding verb, it 
 would be expressed by a participle in English ; e.g. dakhal, 
 nizil, yigrt he came running in, down; tili' yigrt he started 
 running ; shatamni fi 1 lei u bat sabah yishtimni he insulted me 
 at night, went to bed, and got up insulting me in the morning, 
 mashi yighanni sincjiug as he went. This idiom is very common 
 with the verbs qa'ad and fidil, as qa'adna ndardish tul il lei we 
 sat chatting together all night , kan q^'id yiqra fi 1 Qui'an he was 
 sitting readinij the Koran; fidil yishrab he continued drinking , 
 fidilna nimsM lamma wisilna ice continued walking till we arrived. 
 Sftr is inchoative besides denoting continuance, as sirna nigri 
 warah we started running after him ; sar yidrab il walad bi 
 'asaytu he began hitting the boy leith his stick. Dar yelifE is- 
 used in the sense of walking around, as kan dayu' yelifEe fi 1 
 balad he was roaming about the village. 
 
 § 483. The imperfect present is sometimes used in the same 
 way, as mishyit hiya betihsib il fviliis lissa fi gebha she 'went 
 away thinking the money was still iiL her pocket, and may alsa- 
 replace the aorist as an historic present, as u ba'den hiya bitqul 
 li then she says to me ; baqul lu ana mush ana illi 'amalt il 
 'amaliya di, lakin ma' zaiik beyif dal yidrab fiya / told him it was 
 not I who did it, but in spite of that he goes on striking me. 
 
 § 484. The verb hasab is very regularly used in the present 
 for the indefinite or imperfect past, as inta lissa hina ? bahsibak 
 ruhte Masr are you still here 2 I thought you had gone to Cairo ; 
 qumte ana bahsib ^ il baruda fargha I thought the gun was un- 
 loaded ; qafalt ish shamasi leh? Bahsib il lamda gaya why did 
 you shut the shutters ?- I thought the lamp was coming. 
 
 Remahk. — This tense may be preceded by the auxiliary k&n, 
 
 1 Though qam should be followed by a verb in the past tense. 
 
286 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 forming the unfinished past or imperfect tense, as kunte bahsib 
 innak akhiih / was thinking that you were his bnithei', but the 
 imperfect present is more usual. 
 
 ^ 485. A past customary or continued action is generally 
 denoted by the imperfect present preceded by the auxiliary kan, 
 as ana kulle yom kunte baddl lu qershen sagh / ivas giving him 
 tico piastres a day , kan beyigi 'andi ktir he used often to come to 
 viy house , kan beyakul we yentlm (for biyenam) waiyana mar- 
 raten fi g gvim'a he used to dine and sleep with us tu-ice a 'week ; 
 kSn beyidrab flh he loas striking him ; kanit bithizze fi rasha she 
 teas sliakivg her head.^ 
 
 § 486. It has been seen that the aorist may stand for the 
 English indefinite future, but as such it has only to do, in affir- 
 mative sentences, with simple futurity. To express volition or 
 the determination to perform an act we must add the participle 
 rayih (rayh, rah), or the particle ha, or adopt a periphrasis ; 
 thus lamma tigi inta aruh ana ichen you come I shcdl go, but iza 
 get inta haxuh ana if you come I trill go ; aruh leh? why should 
 I go ? but ana rah aruh / am going, I )tiean to go; tigi bukra ? 
 idHI you ajiiie to-morrow 1 ha tigi bukra shall you come to-morrow 2 
 inta 'auz timna'ni min il mirwah, lakin bardu haruh ana you 
 vjant to p?-event me from going, but I trill go all the same. 
 
 § 487. The determination not to do a thing is, on the con- 
 trary, generally expressed by the aorist, as riih min hina. Ma 
 ruhsh (aruhsh) go away from here. I won't go ; sallimni 1 'asaya 
 lit fi Idak. Ma sallimha laksh (asallimha laksh) or mush rayih 
 asallimha lak give me up the stick you hare in your hand. I will 
 not give it you. 
 
 Remark. — Rayih, rah, and ha are sometimes inserted where 
 we would expect the aorist alone, as ma yisahhish leinni ana 
 rayih akdib ala n nas it woidd not be right thai I should go and 
 tell lies to people. 
 
 § 488. A determination not to do a thing is sometimes ex- 
 pressed by mush 'auz, as il musmar mush 'auz yitla' tlie nad 
 doesn't loant to (i.e. won't) come out. 
 
 § 489. The future perfect may in some cases be rendered by 
 the aorist of the auxiliary followed by the participle of the verb, 
 just as the pluperfect may be by the past tense of the auxiliary 
 and the participle, as mesafit ma nakul is samak yekiinii gaybin 
 il lahm hy the lime ice hare eaten the fish they will ham brought 
 the meat. 
 
 1 For this use of fi, see S 570, Rem. 
 
THE MOODS 287 
 
 THE MOODS 
 
 § 490. The spoken language has, as we have seen in the 
 accidence, two finite moods only — the indicative and the im- 
 perative. As there is no separate form for the subjunctive, the 
 indicative has to perform its offices. 
 
 § 491. The imperative maintains the t of the aorist in the 
 second person, or, in other words, the aorist is used for it : — 
 
 (a) In prohibitions, as ma tqarrabshe don't go near (for 
 qarrabshe); ma tgish don't come (for ta'ala) ; iyak teruh mind 
 you don't go. 
 
 (b) When preceded by the particle ma or the imperative of 
 the verb baqa,i as ma tqul li but tell me ; ma tigi ; ibqa trflh 
 'andu go to his house ; but we may also say ibqa ta'41a, &c. 
 
 (c) Usually with the conjunction ya eitlier, or, as ya tuq'ud 
 ya timshi either sit doion or go away, but uq'ud walla mshl 
 (imshi). 
 
 {d) Frequently in other cases to render the command less 
 harsh or abrupt, as tigl bukra mind you come to-morrow ; tibqa 
 tsallim 11 'ala biik remember me to your father. 
 
 Rbmaek. — Tibqa, tibqii, are said more often than ibqa, ibqfi. 
 
 § 492. To express an exhortation in connection with the first 
 or third person we may employ the verb khalli (§ 144) followed 
 by the aorist, or the aorist alone, as khalllna nruh, khallih 
 yitfaddal (or yitfaddal alone) let him come in, &c. ; khallih yitribit 
 (or yitribit) let it be bound. 
 
 § 493. Let us ... is also expressed by the second jDsi'son 
 singular of the imperative followed by the preposition bi with 
 the suffix of the first person plural, as imsht bina (or imshi bna) 
 let us be going ; uq'ud bina let us sit doion. 
 
 Remark. — Bina is sometimes added to the first person plural 
 of the aorist, as neruh bina, (fee. 
 
 § 494. The so-called potential mood is made up in Arabic, as 
 in English, of a principal and an auxiliary verb, as aqdar aruh 
 / cati go ; yimkinak tigl you can come. The past tense may be 
 rendered by the aorist preceded by kan, as kimt asheya'u lu / 
 might, could, should, ^ have sent it to him ; mush kutte tiddi Ihum 
 shuwaiya min il kitlr illl 'andak ? couldn't you have given them 
 a little out of the quantity you have? kanit ti'mil §h? irJiat was 
 she to do ? or by the help of other auxiliaries, as kan yimkinu 
 yidrabu he could have struck him. 
 
 1 Used pleonastically. 
 
 2 An unfulfilled duty is sometimes implied. 
 
288 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 495. Would and ivould have, in a subjunctive, conditional, 
 or optative sense, will be rendered by the tenses of the indica- 
 tive mood. 
 
 § 496. In indirect discourse the aorist, generally preceded 
 by ha or rftyih, will be employed, as qftlit inniha tish^ya'ha, ha 
 tiktib, rah tigi she said that she ivould send her, would irrite, come. 
 
 § 497. The English infinitive is expressed : — 
 
 (a) By the aorist united to the preceding clause or word by 
 a conjunction, especially when the infinitive denotes a purpose, 
 as ruhna 1 balad 'ashan nistafhim 'an il khabai' ice went to 
 toirn to inquire about the neios ; gibte kitab&ti 'ash&n awarrihum 
 lak / have brought my boohs to sliow {them to) you ; haddarna r 
 ragil lagle yihki lak hikaytu loe have brought you the man, to tell 
 you Ms story ; talab minnu innu yi'allim 'ala 1 waraqa they 
 begged of him to sign the paper , at'ashshim inn! aqdar agi / 
 hope to be able to come, wa'adni innu yiktib 11 lie proinised to 
 write to me. 
 
 (6) By the aorist without a conjunction (§ 482). 
 
 (c) By a definite verbal noun governed by the preposition li, 
 or 'ash&n when a purpose is expressed, as il mashye ahs§,n min 
 ir rukiib it is better to walk than to drive ; ma baqa Ina.sh Mga 
 ghgr it taslim ire have nothing left us but to submit ; ithakam 
 'aleh bi 1 gild he was condemned to he flogged ; guhuz li 1 mirw&h 
 he teas prepared, ready, to go. 
 
 THE PAKTICIPLES 
 
 § 498. The active participle very frequently replaces the 
 continued present, and sometimes the past or future tenses, 
 and this whether the subject be expressed or understood ; e.g. 
 kan katib il gawab ( = kan beyiktibu) lamma tabbet ana he 
 was iiyriting the letter when I appeared ; yekun fatih il b&b lamma 
 tusal he will be opening the gate irJieii you arrive ; ana gay / am 
 coming ; ana dayir ( = kunte badur) fi 1 balad we gih wahid qal 
 li as I iras iralking round the town some one came and told me ; 
 kan waqtiha sharib he iras drinking at the moment; qam waqif 
 he stood standing { = he stood up); lamma wisilna laqena n nas 
 garyin (or beyigrvl) ire found the people running when we arrived ; 
 shufna 1 mashayikh talyin (beyitla'um) min il balad rakbin 
 hamirhum we saw the sheikhs coming oid of the village riding 
 their donkeys ; ragga' it talyin bring back those who are going out ; 
 ish shibbak 'ala yemin id dakhil, i.e. the window is on your right 
 as you go in ; bidal ma nta qa'id hina instead of your sitting here ,- 
 
THE PAKTICIPLES 289 
 
 ma nlsh qaylak imb&ih ? didn't I tell you yesterday ? ma fish 
 haga nasiha ? is there nothing {you) have forgotten ? ana mrabblh 
 'andl min sugre sinnu I have brought him up from his childhood ; 
 kan fatih, qafil he had shut, opened {his shop, Sfc); so rSgil qM 
 a reading man, i.e. a read man ; rah dugri sh^rib fingan il qahwa 
 he went straight and drank the cup of coffee, i.e. he drank it straight 
 off; yeruh dugrl dirib il walad fi wishshu he straightway hit the 
 hoy in the face ; ^ ana mush nayim fi 1 bet il lela (for ma akunshe 
 niyim), il babfir qAyim in naharda walla bukra? is the boat 
 starting to-day or to-morrow 1 so ma ntish hina bukra ? won't you 
 he here to-morrow? the participle of the substantive verb not 
 being in use. 
 
 § 499. The passive participle refers only to an act already 
 past, and the English imperfect passive participle must be 
 translated by a periphrasis ; thus laqgt il walad madrub bi 
 'asaya I found the hoy struck with a stick ; laqet il walad beyi- 
 drablih (or beyidrabti fih) I found the hoy being hit. 
 
 § 600. The participles, like any other adjective, may qualify 
 a noun or be used substantively or adverbially, as ir rftgil il 
 h^dir the man ivho is present ; il mara 1 maqtula the murdered 
 woman ; kalam matbu' a printed statement ; il gawabat il meso- 
 gara the registered letters ; id dakhil lazim yikhalli balu he who 
 goes in must be careful ; il matqul ma yihkish hikaytu, i.e. dead 
 men tell no tales ; w^hid gahil in ni'ma, nakir il ma'rtif one for- 
 getful of favours, i.e. an ungrateful man , il gstri yisal qabl il 
 mSshi the runner arrives before the walker ; uq'ud sakit sit quiet ; 
 il husan mishl hadi the horse -went quietly. 
 
 § 501. The active participle is, strictly speaking, imperfect 
 in its action, and neither it nor the passive participle can be 
 used by themselves, like the English participles, to define the 
 circumstances of an action. An English clause, therefore, in 
 which a participle has of itself the full force of a verb, must be 
 converted into one introduced by a conjunction, or be otherwise 
 paraphrased ; thiis mMSm 'irifte innak mush gay tili'te barra 
 knowing that you weren't coming, I went out (not 'arif innak) ; 
 lamma t'akkidte inniha gat having assured myself that she had 
 come; ba'de ma sakket il bab hattet il muftah fi gebi having 
 locked the door, I put the key in my pocket ; ma rdish yigi ikminnu 
 ta'ban being tired, he was unwilling to come ; ba'de ma natte 'ala 
 1 hit dakhal il bet having jumped over the wall, he went into the 
 house ; lamma shifu beyit'asha istanna fi 1 bab seeing him at 
 
 1 Oomp. the English " Don't go hitting him," " Why do you 
 go doing that?" 
 
290 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 dinner, he loaited at the door ; ba'd il fuKis ma ndafa'it (or lamma 
 ndafa'it il fulus) the money having been paid ; shal il 'aiyil 'ala 
 kitfu we tili' yigrt lifting the child on to his shoulder, he ran 
 ■away. 
 
 § 502. But they may be ixsed like the aorist to qualify the 
 meaning of certain verbs, as mat maqtul ; and an active parti- 
 ciple may — 
 
 (a) Immediately follow the verbs rah, gih, q8,m, fidil, and 
 tann, limiting their action, as rah gari he went running ; gena 
 mashyin we came loallcing, on foot ; qam waqif , sakit ; fidilna 
 tal'in lamma li foq we continued going up till {lue reached) the top ; 
 tannuhum sharbin they continued drinking. 
 
 (b) Define the condition of the object of verbs signifying to 
 pierceive or find, as ana shuftu dakhil / saio him going in ; laqetu 
 darib il wad I found him, striking the lad. 
 
 Kemaek. — In both oases the aorist or present may be used 
 instead of the participle, and in the latter, especially after verbs 
 of seeing, the conjunction we may be inserted between the object 
 and the participle. 
 
 § 503. A partial exception to the rule laid down in § 501 is 
 the use of the copulative with the personal pronoun, which, 
 together with the participle, are equivalent to a clause inti-o- 
 duced by a temporal conjunction, as itqabilte waiyah w ana 
 rayih 'ala 1 balad / met him as I was going to the village ; 
 shufn&h wi hna gayin min 'andak we saw him when ice were coming 
 from you ; w ana mashi waiya Mahmiid qal li as / was icalking 
 with M., he said to me. (See further, § 576.) 
 
 Eemark. — Here again the continued present may be used, 
 as itqabilte waiyah w ana baruh, (fee, but the participle is 
 preferable. 
 
 § 504. The English gerund may be rendered in Arabic by a 
 verbal noun, the aorist, or a separate clause sometimes intro- 
 duced by a conjunction, as yehibbe dars il lugha he is fond of 
 studying philology ; sahn li garf id dik a dish for serving the 
 fowl ; ana badrabak 'ashan daqqitak di fi bintt / am hitting i/mi 
 for pushing my daughter in this way ; yehibbe yiqra fi 1 Qur'an 
 he likes reading the Koran ; qam 'adda 1 bahr we harab he escaped 
 by crossing the river ; shanaqiih 'ala shan ma qatal imratu he was 
 hanged for murdering his wife ; iggannin ikminnu (or lamma) 
 daiya' fuliisu he went mad through having lost his money ; khadu 
 bard ikminnu kan waqif fi 1 matara he has taken cold through 
 standing in the rain ; kattar kherak illi get thank you for coming ; 
 ma fish fayda fi innak terdh there's no good in your going. 
 
CONDITIONAL SENTENCES 291 
 
 THE VOICES 
 
 § 505. The passive voice is expressed — 
 
 (a) In certain vei-bs by a special form (Accidence, § 141). 
 
 {b) By one of the derived forms (Accidence). 
 
 ■(c) By the use of the third person plural of the active, with- 
 out reference to a definite subject, as darabuh he was beaten; 
 emta katabu 1 gawSb ? lohen was the letter 'written 1 rayhln yish- 
 nuquh he is going to be hanged ; rah yiqtil we qataliih he ivent to 
 .kill {somebody), and was Icilled himself. 
 
 § 506. The agent is usually introduced byminwhen a passive 
 form is used, but not infrequently by bi, especially when it is 
 not a human being, as inqatal min min ? by whom was he killed 1 
 quruste bi 'aqrab / was stung by a scorpion. 
 
 Remark. — Although the passive forms are freely used in 
 Arabic, it is better, as a rule, especially when the agent is ex- 
 pressed, to put the verb in the active voice ; thus tlie thief ivas 
 caught by two men passing would be better translated by itnin 
 MnH faytin misku 1 harami than by il harami itmisik min itnen 
 MnH faytin. 
 
 CONDITIONAL SENTENCES 
 
 § 507. The protasis (or clause containing the condition) is 
 introduced by iza or in when a future condition is stated, and 
 by lau, 16,^ iza, or in when a past condition is stated. In all 
 ■cases the verb must be in the past tense ; e.g. iza gih w4hid if 
 any one come ; in wiqi' il kitab min idak if the book should fall 
 from your ha^id ; iza kunte ruht if you had gone ; lau kutte had- 
 dart il husftn if you had brought the horse. 
 
 § 508. Iza k^n and in kan, followed by the aorist, are used in 
 the same way as iza and in with the past tense, and followed by 
 the imperfect present introduce a condition which may be in 
 process of fulfilment. 
 
 § 509. The conjunction inn or le inn may intervene between 
 lau, 16, la, ifcc, and the verb. When this happens, the verb kan 
 is understood, so that the strict rendering would be were it that 
 . . . not that . . . the words introduced by the conjunction form- 
 ing a substantival clause. 
 
 § 510. The following examples of affirmative and negative 
 clauses will show what tenses should be used both in the pro- 
 tasis and apodosis (that is, the clause containing the conclusion), 
 according as the former implies that the fulfilment of the condi- 
 tion is, or was, possible, probable, or impossible : — 
 
 The form 16 is generally used in negative sentences. 
 
292 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 (as) Future possibility, or probability, or mere assumption ; 
 iza gih, in gih, iza kan yigi (or in kan yigJ), aruh ana i if lie 
 come, (or comes), I will go ; iza ma g^sh, in ma gS-sh, iza kan ma 
 yigish, iza ma kanshe yigi, in kan ma yiglsh, in ma kanshe yigi, 
 artih ana if he do (does) not come, I teill go. 
 
 (b) Present possibility or probability : iza kan beyigi, in kan 
 beyigi, artlli ana if he is coming, I will go; iza ma kanshe beyigi,. 
 in ma kanshe beyigi arfth ana if he be (is) not coining, I will go. 
 
 (c) Future improbability : iza gih, in gih, ruht if he came 
 {should come), I would go ; iza ma g8,sh, in ma gftsh, ruht if he were 
 not to come, I would go. 
 
 ((X) Past probability or possibility : iza kan gih, in kan gih 
 aruh if he has come, I will go ; iza ma kanshe gih, in ma kanshe 
 gih, aruh if he have (lias) not come, I leill go. 
 
 (e) Past improbability : lau gih, lau innu (le innu) gih, in 
 kan gih aruh ana if he should have come, I would go ; lau ma (or 
 16ma), gash, 16 M gih, lau innu (le innu) ma g&sh, in kan ma g&sh, 
 in ma kanshe gih, aruh ana if he should not have come, I loill 
 go. 
 
 (/) Past impossibility (condition unfulfilled) : lau gih, lau 
 kan gih, lau kan yigi ^ ruht, kunte ruht, kunt aruh ana if he 
 had come, I loould have gone ; lau (16) ma g&sh, 16 la gih, lau (16) 
 ma kanshe gih (yigi), lau kan ma gash, 16 M kan gih (yigi) ruht, 
 kunte ruht, kunt aruh ana if he had not come, I loould have 
 gone. 
 
 (g) Imperfect impossibility : laii kan beyigi kunte ruht, kunt 
 ariih, kunte baruh, ana if he had been coining, I loould have gone 
 (he going) ; lau (16) ma kanshe beyigi, 16 la kan beyigi, lau kan ma 
 beyiglsh kunte ruht, kunt arlih, kunte baruh, ana if he had not 
 been coming, I would have gone (been going). 
 
 Remark a. — Iz lam yigi is sometimes used for in ma g^sh by 
 the uneducated, in the belief that they are displaying a know- 
 ledge of nahioy. 
 
 Remark b. — In (g) the aorist is sometimes used for the con- 
 tinued present, as lau kunte a'raf ma kuntish astarda if I had 
 known (lit. been hnoioing, aware), I leoidd not have accepted. 
 
 § 511. La, a particle of asseveration, is sometimes prefixed 
 
 1 Sometimes, also, kunte aruh when the probability is remote. 
 In kan yigi is perhaps more remote than iza kan yigi. When 
 the fulfilment of the condition is practically a certainty, iza or 
 in becomes equivalent to lamma, as in tili' in nahar neruh, i.e. 
 when it is morning we will go. 
 
 2 Unusual. 
 
CONDITIONAL SENTENCES 293 
 
 to the verb in the apodosis, as lau kunte itq^bilte waiyiha 
 lakunte mauwittuha had I met her, I would assuredly have killed 
 her. 
 
 § 512. Iza kan is generally regarded as one word, kan remain- 
 ing unchanged in number and person, ^ as iza kan agi, yigii if I, 
 they, come ; but we may also say iza kunte (or kutte) agt kanA 
 yigCi, &c. With in, on the contrary, kSn should agree with the 
 subject, as in klnit 'agabitak walla n kanit ma 'agabitakshe 
 whether she pleased you or not. 
 
 § 513. L6 mS, 16 M, and sometimes in m^, may immediately 
 precede a substantive in the sense of iut for ( = ivere it not for), 
 as 16 m^ khofu minhum hut for Ids fear of them ; 16 la d dawa dih 
 kutte mutt but for this medicine, I had died ; in ma kanshi d darb 
 hut for the blow. The verb k^n is not infrequently expressed, as 
 lo la kan id dawa dih, &c. 
 
 § 514. The conditional particles are often omitted, especially 
 when there are two alternative clauses, as rays6n fi merkib 
 tighraq, lit. two pilots in a hoot, {and) it sinks ; kalam il lei mad- 
 hun bi zibda ; yitla' 'aleh in nahar, yeslh the words of the night are 
 spread with hutter, if { = lohen) the day rises upon them they melt 
 away ; tiqraha ma fihash h&ga read it, and there is nothing in it ; 
 sh&lu li foq z6ye ma fish Mga lie lifted it up as if there -were {it 
 were) nothing ; yigi ma yigtsh zeye bardu it is all the same whether 
 he comes or not ; yigi, taiyib ; ma yigtsh, ni'mil eh ? if he comes, 
 well and good ; {hut) lohat shall we do if he does not come ? gih gib, 
 ma g^sh neshuf Una tai'tqa tanya if he comes, he comes ; if he does 
 not, toe shall see what {else) can be done ; ma fish fulils, ma fish 
 'esh no money, no bread; ^ kan henak, khud minnu radd ; ma kanshe 
 henak, f lit il gawab 'andu if he is there, bring an answer from him ; 
 if he is not, leave the letter at his house ; iza kan khallasak ma 
 fish mani' ; ma khallasakshe zeye ma yi'gibak baqa if it satisfies 
 you, well and good ; if not, lohy, {do) as you please ; keblr kan au 
 sughaiyar whether it be much or little ; naggar walla mush naggar 
 ma InSsh da'wa it does not concern us tphether he is a carpenter or not. 
 
 § 515. The conditional particles are expressed after verbs 
 denoting W07ider, surprise, &c., thus, instead of saying bastaghrab 
 iza kan rah yigi walla la', we say bastaghrab rah yigi walla la' or 
 ya tara yigl walla la'. After verbs of asking they may be 
 used or not optionally, as sa'altu iza kan rayih yigl (or sa'altu rayih 
 yigl) / asked him if he were coming ; but note that in the latter 
 
 1 KSn sometimes remains unchanged also with lau, as lau 
 kan shuftu for lau kunte shuftu. 
 - Turk, para yok ekmek yok. 
 
294 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 case the question is actually asked, and the words must be pro- 
 nounced accordingly. 
 
 § 516. Whether . . . or is often expressed by sawa in kan . . . 
 au, walla (we ilia), as sawa n kan yiksab au yikhsar whether he 
 gain or Lose , lohether ... or not by iza k4n, iza (with past tense of 
 verb) in kan, sawa n k&n . . . walla la', walla ma, as qui li iza 
 kunte radl walla ma ntash radi, iza kunte 'auz teruh walla la' 
 tetl me whether you are luilling or uniuilling, whether you wish to go 
 or not , in k^nit takvil walla ma takul whether she eat or nut ; 
 iza ruhte walla ma ruhtish tvhether you go or not , ma a'rafshe 
 kin ir ragil maugud walla la' / don^t knoio ivhe.ther the man loas 
 present or not {in being understood, as above) ; even if, though, by 
 wi lau, wi lau inn, or lau we inn, as wi lau gih huwa haruh ana 
 though he come, I will go , haqtil il kalam da wi lau innuhum 
 yiwabbakhiinl / shall say this tliough they scold me ; kibir k§,n wi 
 lau sughaiyar be it large, or even he it small , lau wi nnina ma 
 shufnahsh even though loe saiv it not. 
 
 Remark. — We must be careful to distinguish between walla 
 or [ — wa ilia, we ilia) and wala nor ( = wa la) ; we in la is con- 
 tracted to willa, as iskut willa aqta' rasak he quiet or I will hreah 
 (lit. cut off) your head. 
 
 INDIRECT DISCOURSE 
 
 § 517. An indirect quotation may be introduced by the 
 conjunctions inn, leinn, 'ala inn, as qal innu 'amal kede lie said 
 that he did so , or the original words may be quoted, as qal ana 
 'amalte kede ; ma tqulshe li hadd ana 'amalte kede dorit tell any 
 one you did so. 
 
 § 518. Occasionally these two forms of speech are confused, and 
 a direct quotation is introduced by a conjunction,^ as qal le innt 
 kunte sakran waqtiha he said lie (himself) was drunk at the time : 
 ba'dgn ana qulti Iha le inni ana habbgtik / then told her I lore 
 her ; khabbaru 1 basha 'ala innina ma Iqgnahshe tliey informed the 
 pasha that they had not found him ; kan menabbih 'algya innak 
 tihaddar il akl he had ordered me to prepare the meal. 
 
 § 519. In indirect questions the conditional particle iza kan 
 may be used with all persons, as sa'alni iza kunte ravh agi, 
 sa'alu iza kan, <fec. ; or it may be omitted, and very generally 
 is, when there is an alternative clause, us sa'alni rayih agi walla 
 
 * So oTi sometimes in Greek. Confusion is not likely to 
 arise from the double meaning, the context showing what is 
 intended. 
 
INTEKEOGATIVE SENTENCES 295 
 
 la, shuftu walla la he asked me ivhether I am coming or nut,, 
 whether I saiv him or not ; istafhim gih walla lissa inquire whether 
 he has come yet or not ; or the original words may be quoted, 
 as sa'alnl rah tigl, shuftu walla la'. The first of the three 
 forms of expression is the most usual. 
 
 § 520. The conjunctions inn, le inn, &c., are not infrequently 
 omitted after the verb qal, though the quotation remains indirect, 
 as qftlH ma laqUsh il walad they said they didn't find the hoy , is 
 sauwahin yeqiilii ma shafflsh il haram the tourists say they haven't 
 seen the Pyramids , qald 'algya mat (or mutt) they said of me that 
 I had died ; il laban mush maghll ; it tabbakha bitqill maghlt 
 the milk is not boiled ; the cook says boiled (i.e. that it is boiled). 
 
 § 521. When the verb in the indirect quotation or question 
 would not logically be in the past tense, it is placed in the 
 imperfect present, aorist, or future in Arabic ; thus ivhat did 
 he say 1 He said lie was coming will be translated by qal gh ? 
 qal innu biyigi ; he said he didn't think by qal 'ala innu ma 
 yiftikirsh ; they said they loould bring them by qalii innuhum 
 yegibuhum (or hayegibuhum) ; / asked him if he accepted by 
 sa'altu iza kan beyirda ; so qal 11 innu ma ya'rafshe haga 'an il 
 mas'ala dl he said he kneiv nothing of this matter. 
 
 INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES 
 
 § 522. An interrogative sentence usually stands without an 
 introductory particle, as in English, when nothing is implied 
 as to the answer, as rah tigl bukra ? are you coming to-morrow .? 
 shuft ir rftgil illi kan hina ? or when the verb is negative and 
 an afiirmative answer is expected, as ma shuftish ir ragil? didn't 
 you see the man ? In other cases it is not uncommonly intro- 
 duced by the word ya'ni (the 3rd pers. sing, of the aorist of 
 the disused 'ana to mean), an afiirmative answer being then 
 invariably expected if the verb is afiirmative, and a negative 
 answer if the verb is negative, as ya'nl rah tigl bukra ? you are 
 coming to-morrow, tlien 1 ya'ni ma shuftish ir rftgil da ? so you 
 didn't see that man ? 
 
 § 523. Ya'nl may be followed pleonastically by the noun 
 ma'na with the feminine pronominal sufiix, as ya'nl ma'naha 
 mush radi tigl so then ^ you are not loilling to come. 
 
 § 524. Both in direct and indirect questions the interrogative 
 
 1 Ya'nl and ma'n&ha may be expressed by so then, as above, 
 but they are much more freely used in interrogative sentences- 
 than their English equivalents.- 
 
296 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 pronoun usually precedes the verb when it is the subject, and 
 follows it when it is the object. (But see § 423.) 
 
 § 525. An alternative question is introduced by walla, as 
 ^auz ter<ih walla tistanna hina do you want to go or stay Tmre 1 
 shgya't il gaw&b walla huwa lissa 'andak Tiave you sent the letter, 
 or have you still got it ? 
 
 § 526. The Arabs are very fond of introducing a principal 
 or causal sentence by an interrogative clause, for the purpose 
 of attracting the attention of the hearer to the fact about to 
 be stated ; e.g. lamma sa'altu qal 11 gh ? qal li le innu 'umru 
 ma shafh&sh when I asked him, what did he tell me ? he told 
 me that he had never seen her in his life ; wi humma maqsudhum 
 eh ? maqsudhum yitaffishuhum and what was their object ? their 
 object luas to drive them away ; ana qulti lak il kalam da leh ? 
 qultilak il kalam da 'ashan ta'raf . . lohy did 1 tell you that ? 
 I told it you that you might hioir. . . 
 
 § 527. Instead of answering yes or no, the person to whom 
 a question is addressed will often repeat the principal word 
 of the interrogative sentence (usually a verb) in an affirmative 
 or a negative form, as shufti kt&bu? Shuftu (or ma shuftiish) ; 
 da ktabu ? Ewa, kit&bu ; • fi n§,s hen§,k ? Fih, ma fish. 
 
 Remark a. — Notice the insertion of la' in such expressions 
 as get imbarih au innahar da? la', get imbarili ; gibte wElhid 
 walla tnen? la' gibte Wclhid bass; da r3,gil taiyib? la', taiyib, 
 the second alternative, even though unexpressed, being denied 
 before the first is affirmed. 
 
 Remakk b. — Note that qal is sometimes used for sa'al, as 
 ■qal lu iza kan huwa rah yeruh dilwaqti walla yistanna shwaiya 
 he asked him wliether, ^c. 
 
 Remark c. — An interrogation may be equivalent to a nega- 
 tive, as akhallas qawam ; a'auwaq ? ( = ma 'auwaqsh) / shall finish 
 quickly ; do you suppose I shall he long ? 
 
 VERBS EXPRESSIVE OF WONDER, SURPRISE, 
 DOUBT, FEAR 
 
 § 528. Where a circumstance is mentioned as a matter of 
 surprise or doubt, the sentence recording it is introduced by 
 the conjunction inn, 'ala inn, &c., and acts as the object of 
 the verb, as ana staghrabte 'ala innak ma ta'rafshe ahsan min 
 kede I am surprised that you do not know better than that ; ana 
 'andi shakke leinnu huwa / doiM whether it is he ; but where 
 an alternative or an interrogative follows, no conjunction is 
 used, as ithaiyarna rayhtn yigtina walla la' loe were perplexed as 
 
NEGATIVE SENTENCES 297 
 
 to whether they were coming to us or not; istaghrab rah ni'mil gh 
 tit he ivondered what loe were going to do to him ; 'andi shakke 
 yekun hHwa walla gh§ru I am in doubt as to whether it be he 
 or some one else. 
 
 §529. The English / iconder whe.tlier may generally be 
 translated by ya tara i or haltara (or hantara), which may either 
 precede or follow the verb, as ya tara rah fSn / wonder where 
 he has gone; humma til'um min Masre ya tara have they left 
 Cairo I wonder ; so in a dependent sentence, as shuf ya tara 
 m mil gh see, find out, what we should do. The conditional par- 
 ticles sometimes follow, as qui 11 ya tara in kunte mabsilt walla 
 la tetlme, as I am wondering, whether you are contented or not. 
 
 § 530. The clause which contains the object of fear, being a 
 future event, is introduced by the conjunction lahsan (or ahsan) 
 or occasionally, but improperly, by inn, le inn, &c. ; or it may 
 stand by itself ; as khftyif lahsan, ahsan yigl, ma yigtsh fearing lest 
 he come, do not come, or (less usually) khftyif yigj, ma yigish. 
 
 § 531 . Sometimes the negative la is used superfluously though 
 the event is expected to take plaoe,^ as khaf la yemflt il walad 
 he feared lest the boy die or the hoy would die; khad waiyfth sham- 
 siya mm khfif la tumtur id dinya he took an umbrella for fear it 
 should ram. Similarly with the verb wa'a, as u'a la tinsft. 
 
 § 532. When the object is an event which is believed to be 
 actually taking place, or to have already taken place, it will be 
 introduced by the conjunction inn, le inn, as khSyif le innu 
 ^eyigi, gih fearing he be coming, had come. 
 
 NEGATIVE SENTENCES 
 
 §533. The negative suffix s7i may be attached, as we have 
 seen m the accidence, to pronouns and pronominal suffixes, as 
 well as to the verb, and even to other words when emphatic ; 
 e.g. in ^ kunte ma ntish mesaddaqnl if you don't believe me, 
 where in ma kuntish mesaddaqnl might equally well be said ; 
 in kan ma Ihumshe 'gsh (for in ma kanshe luhum) if they 
 haven't any bread; ma bgnlsh u benak haga (for ma fish bent 
 u bgnak) there is nothing between us ; ma hummftsh kubftr (for 
 humma mush kubar) they are not large ; ma 'ilmish le innu rah 
 / have no knowledge that he has gone ; ma haddish gih ; ma 
 
 1 Ya tara is more often used than haltara. Tara is the 2nd 
 pers. sing. aor. of the verb ra'a. (See § 189.) 
 
 ^ As \).r] in Greek, ne in Latin, ne, nan, no in the Eomance 
 languages. 
 
298 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 'umrish simi'te liaga zgye di / never in my life heard such a 
 thiiig. The sign is sometimes attached to the principal verb, 
 instead of to the auxiliary, when there is a stress on the 
 former, as kan m§, biyakulshe (for ma kanshe biyftkul) Tie ivas not 
 eating ; kan lissa ma g^sh he had not yet come. 
 
 § 534. Ma is not infrequently omitted, especially in in- 
 terrogative sentences, where an affirmative answer is expected 
 or astonishment implied at the existence of something, as 
 ma'akshe fulus ? haven't you any money ? lakshe ikhwa ? have you 
 no brothers ? kuntish henak ? iveren't you there ? balakshe 1 haga 
 di ? don't you remember this matter ? ma'akshe wala khamsa 
 sagh ? haven't you got even five piastres ? iza kuntish dafa't kan 
 ahsan it -would have been better if you had not paid ; ma 'rafshe 
 kan maugiid walla kanshe / don't know whether he urc-; present or 
 not (but we may here also say wa la kanshe) ; adi sabab ma 
 getsh this is the reason why I didn't come (to avoid the double 
 ma, but adi sabab ma ma getsh will sometimes be heard). 
 
 § 535. Ma is used without sh : — 
 
 (a) Where it is supported, as it were, by another word 
 or other words in the sentence, which already so strongly 
 emphasize the negative notion that the sh is intuitively 
 dropped as superfluous, as wa llahi ana ma a'raf by God (in 
 very truth) I hiow not ; ^ 'umri ma shuftu ; wa 11a na ( = llah ana) 
 m^ni fahim kalamak of a truth I do not understand your words. 
 It is not unusual, however, where no particular stress is laid on 
 the strengthening word, to add the sh, as wa llahi ma 'rafshe 
 upon my ivord I don't knoio. 
 
 (b) In emphatic wishes (but optionally), as Allah ma 
 yihrimna (or yihrimnash) minnak may God not deprive us 
 of y 021. 
 
 (c) In the expressions ma drish ilia, ma basse ilia, ma yish'ur 
 ilia he didn't know ichere he was, lie hadn't time to look round before 
 . . . , used with reference to a sudden event. The copulative 
 loi is often inserted either before or after ilia, as ma ash'ur ilia 
 (or we ilia) wahid hatte idu fi ggbl suddenly I felt some one put 
 his hand in my pocket ; ma basset illavi ( = ilia we) wahid minhum 
 natte fL 'arabiya we harab / hadn't time to look round before one 
 of them sprang into a carriage and made off. 
 
 (d) When used for la in the sense of neither, and followed in 
 another clause by wala nor, as ma kallimtu wala shuftu I neither 
 
 1 The omission of the sh here may also be due to the 
 prevalent notion that the Koranic, or at least the Nahwy, should 
 be imitated in a sentence of a religious turn. 
 
NEGATIVE SENTENCES 299 
 
 spoke to him nor saw Mm ; ana ma darabte wala ndarabt / neither 
 struck nnr 'was struck ; but the suffix will often be used, especially 
 if the first sentence is emphatic or more emphatic than the other 
 or others, as ana ma darabtush wala hfiwa darabni I did not 
 strike him, nor,did he strike me. 
 
 (e) In some phrases of a religious turn, and mostly in 
 proverbial expressions, as da ma yikhallasni min Allah that will 
 not save me from (the wrath of) God, i.e. it is against iriy conscience ; 
 16 la 1 kaslira ma kanit il fakhura hut for the breaking, there would be 
 no pottery ; la shg illi m& luh nafa' there is nothing loithout a use. 
 
 (/) Occasionally in other expressions where ilia follows in 
 the sense of except or, combined with ma, in the sense of only, 
 as ana ma ddilak il fulus ilia lamma tsallimni 1 kimbiyala / 
 won't give you the money till you hand me the bill ; ana ma ruhti 
 lu ilia n6ba wahda I only went to him once ; ma nis'al ilia 
 'ankum ive ask only about you (i.e. my thoughts are only of you). 
 Here again sh may be added it much stress is laid on the denial. 
 
 § 536. Neither . . . 7Jor are more generally expressed by IeI . . . 
 wala, and sh is rarely added in the first clause and usually omitted 
 in the second, as la laqgtu wala dauwarte 'algh I haven't found it, 
 nor did I look for it ; la dakhal wala kharag, i.e. it lias nothing to 
 do with it ; la shvift ir ragil wala shuft akhuh / didn't see the man, 
 nor did I see his brother ; la laqu 1 bint wala laqu 'ammiha ; la 
 shufttish wala kallimtiish (or la shuftu wala kallimtu) / neither 
 saw him nor spoke to him ; khadu fulusi wala khallu llsh haga they 
 took my money and left me nothing ; wala fish wahid gherna nor is 
 there any besides us ; wala hish masalan ukhti nor is she, for 
 example, my sister. Where wala is equivalent to the English 
 without sh should be added, as yishrab wala yakulsh he eats 
 without drinking, khadte minni nusse gin§h wala raddgtush. 
 
 § 537. Sometimes ma is used pleonastically after wala, and 
 in this case the sh should not be omitted, as ma kunnash 
 ni'rafhum wala humma ma yi'rafunash loe didn't know them, nor 
 did they know us ; ma 'andish nibit wala moiya ma fish / have no 
 wine, nor have I even any water ; khadu fulusi wala ma khallu llsh 
 haga ; wala ma fish hadde gherna. 
 
 § 538. Ma may be placed before a pronoun, the subject of 
 the substantive verb, whether expressed or understood, as mush 
 ( = ma hu.wash) kin hina? wasn't he here? ma ntish radl? are 
 you not willing ? iza kan (or kunte) ma ntJsh rayha if ^ you (f .) 
 are not going. Sometimes the pronoun is repeated, as iza kunt 
 inta ma ntash r4yih. 
 
 § 539. Mush (niish), as we have seen, is used for all genders 
 and numbers, and may be followed by all tenses. In interroga- 
 
300 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 tive sentences it invariably calls for an affirmative answer, as 
 mush kunte fi b§tu inbarih ? weren't you (i.e. surely you were) at 
 his house yesterday 1 mush ish shamse betitla' mish sharq ? doesn't 
 the sun rise in the east ? 
 
 § 540. When followed by a verb negatived by«m& it must be 
 translated by not that, as mush ma rahsh not that he didn't go ; 
 mush ana ma mishitsh — mishit not that I didn't go — / went. 
 
 Remark. — MS, . . . sh are occasionally used with the verb it- 
 self when mush would be more regular, as huwa ma rahshe yisraq 
 we miskuh darabiih it was not that he went to steal and was caught 
 and beaten. With the aorist it niay serve to express an emphatic 
 command or prayer, as mush tiskut ! tcon't you be quiet ! mush 
 tisallif ni wala khamsa s^gh ? wor^t you lend me even five piastres ? 
 mush tiftah li 1 bab ? are you not going to open the door for me ? 
 
 Remark. — Ma is apparently pleonastic in such a phrase as 
 k§f sihhitak min waqte ma ma shuftaksh hoio have you been since 
 I saw you (depuis que je ne vous ai vu) ? but the idea is during all 
 the time that 1 have not seen you. In the expression nakar innu 
 ma shafush he denied that he saw him, both negative particles are 
 pleonastic. 
 
 § 541. La, unless preceded by the conditional particle 16, 
 rarely stands in the spoken language before a noun with ellipse 
 of the substantive verb, except in expressions borrowed from 
 the Koran, as la ilaha ilia llah there is no god but God, in a few 
 proverbs, and in the expression li, budde min (or 'an) lit. there 
 is no escape from, as la budde min m6tu he imcst surely die ; la 
 budde min inni aruh I vmst go. La is sometimes used as ma, 
 above, with the aorist to express a wish, as Allah la yi'afik may 
 Ood not give you health, and occasionally with the past tense 
 when preceded by the conditional in, as il la ( = in la) ma sha' 
 Allah if God will not. In the compound tenses the auxiliary 
 may remain positive and the negative be appended to the prin- 
 cipal verb, as kunnft ma kharagnash. This adds, perhaps, vivid- 
 ness to the negation. So kan ma fish 'gsh tliere iras no bread 
 (for ma kanshe fi 'esh), Mzim ma haddish gih no one can have come} 
 
 § 542. The verb khalla sometimes passes on the negative 
 which would be more logically attached to it than to the quali- 
 fying verb, as ana khalletu ma rahsh I didn't let him go (for ma 
 khalletiish yeruh), with no appreciable dijEEerence of meaning. 
 
 § 54.3. The verb following qidir be able, can, may take the 
 
 1 This is invariably the construction with Iftzim and words 
 of similar import forming with the verb the past tense of the 
 potential mood. 
 
VEKBS TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE 301 
 
 negative, as niqdar ma nis'alaksh we are able not to ask you, i.e. 
 we are not hound to ask you. 
 
 § 544. Ma ftsh is occasionally used as the negative of yekun, 
 or even kin, but in this case it is usually equivalent to is, was, 
 less than, as ish shurUt ma fish darb yihsal minnak the conditions 
 are, no Mows on your part ; is s^'a ma fish arba'a it is not yet four ; 
 il mesMa ma bgnhum ma fish mitren the distance between them is 
 not two metres (lit. as to the distance letween them, there are not two 
 metres ; mush arba'a, mush mitrSn, would not necessarily imply 
 that the time — number — was less) ; kalna gibna ma' '§sh bass, 
 ma fish zibda we ate cheese with bread only, no butter: It has the 
 force of a noun in the expression qafalu 1 bab 'ala ma fish (or 
 'ala 1 hawa), i.e. without its having anything to hold it. 
 I § 545. The negative particle lam of the written language is 
 sometimes employed by the lower classes in the desire to pass as 
 educated, but always with the past tense, as lam shuftu wala 
 ra'gtu, except when preceded by the (also educated) conditional 
 particle iz, and in the expression lam yazal. 
 
 VERBS TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE 
 
 § 546. Many verbs are used as in English, sometimes transi- 
 tively, sometimes intransitively or reflectively, as darab il garaz 
 he rang the bell, il garaz darab the bell rang ; shahhilu he hurried 
 him, shahhil he hurried ; qaddimu hina 'andl bring him forward 
 to me, qaddim keman shuwaiya come a little further fonuard ; 
 iqla' hidiimak take off your clothes, qala'uh tlvey stripped him, 
 qala' we nizil fi 1 moiya he stripped and loent into the water ; zad 
 ugritu he increased his pay, zM. in Nil the Nile 7-ose ; tammet ish 
 shughla / Tiave finished the job, tammit ish shughla the job is: 
 finished ; khulust ish shughl / have completed the work, khulus ish 
 shughl the work is completed ; libis hidumu (or libis) he dressed ; 
 ghaiyar (or ghaiyar hidumu) he changed ; qarrab il husan bring/ 
 the horse near, qarrab li t talitwar ^ come close to the pavement ; 
 yiduqqu (nafsuhum) they tattoo (themselves) ; battalt id dukhkhan 
 / have given up smoking, il madrassa battalit the school kept 
 holiday ; ghasal he washed himself, ghasal Idgh, hidumu, &c. ; 
 sidd il qiz^za stop, i.e. put the cork in, the bottle, ana saddgt bid&lu 
 / took his place (filled the vacancy) ; rabatuh bi 1 habl they tied 
 him with a rope, biddi arbut (sc. il qol) waiyah / ivant to come 
 to terms with him, il babtir rabat the boat moored ; ishtaghal il 
 husS,n he worked, exercised, the horse, ishtaghal tul in nahar he 
 
 1 Trottoir. 
 
302 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 worked all day ; khadii ba'd (or khadu rauwahum) they took them- 
 selves off ; qafal, fatah, id dukkan he closed, opened, the shop, kan 
 qafil, fatih imbarih he (i.e. his shop, Src.) was closed, open, yesterday, 
 iqfil or qaifil {sc. hanakak) be quiet, " shut up ! " yishrab nibit 
 he drinks wine, yishrab he drinks ; itfaddal pray walk in, 
 ^c, itfaddal 'gsh, kiirsi pra^j take some bread, a chair ; 'amal 
 atrash, meyit he pretended to be deaf, dead; kan Mtit or 
 nasib (sc. kbgshu, &c.) we sh&l he was pitching Ms tent, putting 
 up, here, but has since decamped, huwa hatt he has become infirm 
 {from old age) ; kan yimsM yemidd {sc. riglu) he stepped out, 
 walked fast ; sallim nafsu and sallim he surrendei-ed himself, 
 surrendered. 
 
 Remake a. — In the expressions sam Ramadan, akal (or fitir) 
 Ramad&n he fasted during {kept) Ramadan, he eat during Ramadan, 
 the noun may be regarded as an accusative of limitation. i 
 
 Remark b. — The imperatives itla' and inzil are often used, 
 when the object is not expressed, for the derived forms talla', 
 nazzil. 
 
 § 547. Some verbs govern their object either directly or 
 indirectly, i.e. by means of an intervening preposition, as id dawa 
 nafa'ni (or nafa' II) the medicine benefited me, iggauwiztiha / 
 married her, iggauwizte biha / icas married to her ; ihki li bi 1 
 hikaya (or il hikaya) tell me the story, sagadu (or sagad lu) he 
 worshipped him ; lahag 'algh (or lahagu) he cheated him ; kabastu 
 / seized him, kabas 'aleh in nom sleep overcame him ; yilzimnl 
 {more usual than yilzim li) kursiygn Z want two chairs (lit. two 
 chairs are necessary to ine, so l^zimni 'arabiya, &c.) ; hama 'annu 
 he protected, defended, him, but AU&h yih&mik ; akninu and 
 aknin 'al6h he annoyed him ; sh&ru and shar 'algh he counselled 
 him. 
 
 Remark a. — In some cases the preposition may be regarded 
 as part of the verb, as in English he begs for bread, &c. 
 
 Remark b. — The preposition often produces a slight difference 
 of meaning, as nadahu he called hwn ; nadah ki lie called to him ; 
 fatii he left him, passed him, fat 'al6h he passed by him, paid him 
 a visit ; saddaqu believe it, saddaq bi believe in ; ^ khulust ish 
 shughl I have finished, the loork, khuluste min ish shughl I have 
 finished with the loork. 
 
 § 548. Others, whose equivalents in English govern a direct 
 object, always require the help of a preposition to complete their 
 
 1 Unless these expressions are after the analogy of 'amal 
 Ramadan to keep Ramadan. — (S.) 
 
 2 But always saddaqu of a pei'son. 
 
VEKBS TKANSITIVE AND INTKANSITIVE 303 
 
 action, as khaf min to fear ; bUrik ft to bless ; shafaq 'ala to 2'ity ; 
 shaqqe 'ala to visit ; nabbih 'ala order ; 'allaq li 1 husan to feed 
 the horse?- 
 
 § 549. Verbs expressive of motion are sometimes regarded as 
 transitives, and take a direct object, as ruhte bet abiik I went to 
 your father' s house ; gftnl gaw4b min Lundura / have received a 
 letter from London ; lamma dakhalna 1 bgt ichen we entered the 
 house ; biya msifra skandariya she has left for, gone to, A lexandria ; 
 ■waddihum it tumn take them to the 'police station ; nizil il balad 
 he has gone to town ; ramgtha 1 moiya / threiu her into the water ; 
 ba'de ma wisil il moiya as soon as he arrived at the water ; wasalni 
 1 gawab, i.e. I have received the letter ; da ma yiglsh taman sh§lu 
 that doesn't come to the price of { = loon't pay for) the porterage ; 
 qataru he ran after him ; so with causative verbs : ragga'u 
 matrahu take it hade to its place ; waqqa'tu 1 ard 1 threw him on 
 the ground , wassalitu 1 bgt she saw him home. We may also say 
 ruhte 'ala bSt abljlk, dakhal guwa 1 bgt, wasal 11 gawab, qatar 
 warSh, (fee, and note that the preposition generally intervenes 
 when the object is the second or third personal pronoun ; thus 
 ruhti lak, yigl lu, yerflh lu, aruh luhum are said in preference 
 to ruhtak, yigih, yertlhu, aruhhum. 
 
 Eemaek. — Tigt is almost invariably used for ta'ala when 
 the object (direct or indirect) is a personal pronoun ; thus we say 
 tiglnl, not ta'alSnt. The shortened form ta'a can, under no 
 circumstances, take the suffixes. 
 
 § 550. Verbs of rest are sometimes followed directly by the 
 object, as huwa qa'ad Barlz 'shahrgn he remained tioo months in 
 Paris ; ana fidilte mahalll I remained in my place? 
 
 § 551. Verbs denoting to give, lend, deliver, deprive of, strip, 
 ivard off, often govern the indirect object directly, as iddet il 
 walad kit&bu / gave the boy his book ; iddlnl qershen ; sallif nl (or 
 sallif It) gineh lend me a pound ; sallimu 1 basha il gawab they 
 delivered the letter to the pasha ; Allah ma yihrimnash wiladna 
 (or min wiladna) -God bereave us not of our children ; il ghina dih 
 yiharramni n n6m this singing deprives me of sleep ; qala'iih 
 hidiimu they stripped him of his clothes ; Allahumma kfina s su' 
 God, avert the evil from us ; but in order that the indirect 
 object may stand alone {i.e. without a preposition), it must 
 immediately follow the verb, or at least not be preceded by the 
 direct object. 
 
 1 See further, under prepositions. 
 
 2 So in classical Arabic qatalahu makanahu he killed him in 
 Ms place, i.e. where he stood. 
 
304 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 § 552. The direct object is sometimes used for the indirect, 
 as in English, when it is a personal pronoun, as qarftha 1 gawab 
 (for qara Iha) he read her the letter ; ishtirinl kitab (for ishtirt 11) 
 buy me a book ; zauwidnah hibre ahmar we added some red ink to 
 it ; da 'auzha shughl (§ 558); so walla'ni give me a light, but 
 walla' li hadritu give the gentleman a light. 
 
 § 553. In addition to the above, the following verbs may 
 take a double object without the aid of a preposition : — 
 
 (a) Causative verbs, whether in form or meaning only, pro- 
 vided that in the former case the primitive verb may have a 
 thing as its direct object {ac. rei), as warretu i 1 matwa / let him 
 see (showed him) the penknife ; qalla' il walad hidximu he made the 
 boy take off his clothes ; sharrab bintak id dawa dih make your 
 daughter take this medicine ; niqsim il 'esh nussen we will divide 
 the bread into two; rakkib il fasse dahab set the stone in gold; 
 'allim il walad il lugha he taught the boy the language ; qabbadni 
 1 mablagh he let me receive {paid me) the amount ; fakkaritu I 
 mas'ala she reminded him of the matter ; dakhkhal is sanduq il 
 makhzan put the box inside the cellar ; iaqint moiya, qahwa give 
 me some water, coffee, to drink. 
 
 § 554. Prepositions are not infrequently inserted, as sharrab 
 id dawa dih li bintak,^ dakhkhal is sanduq fi 1 makhzan, wakh- 
 khilu li 1 husan give it to the horse to eat. 
 
 {b) Verbs signifying to make, name, appoint, find, know, see, 
 think, feel, &c., as 'amal il be basha he made the bey a pasha ; 
 sammu 1 walad Mehammad they nained the boy Mohammed ; 
 'aiyinu 1 hakim qadl they made the doctor a judge ; ana ba'de ma 
 qataltu laqetu akhuya lohen I had killed him I found him {to be) 
 my brother ; ^ humma ya'rafiak ragil taiyib * they know you {to be) 
 a good man ; bahsibu harimt / took him for a thief. 
 
 Remark. — In the above instances the second object is a 
 predicate accusative. 
 
 (c) Verbs denoting to fill, <fcc., and others whose action is. 
 limited by the noun and where the preposition with is used in 
 English, as malet ^ il kiiz moiya (or, but less usually, bi moiya) 
 
 1 Or warreti lu. 
 
 2 Notice the inversion of the order. We should not say 
 sharrab il moiya 1 bint. 
 
 3 Ana laqetu, shuftu, bahsibu, rah il balad (§ 474), are in- 
 stances of the same construction, only in this case the second 
 object is a sentence. 
 
 ■* More usually ya'raffik le innak ragil taiyib. 
 '' So the adjective malyan. 
 
VEEBS TEANSITIVE AND INTKANSITIVE 305 
 
 I filled the mug witli water ; 'as riglu tin Ue besmeared his foot 
 with mud ; darab il bgt buya he painted the house. 
 
 _ Ebmark a. — We might regard the objects included under 
 this heading as mere complements attached to the verb, but 
 tbey take the sign of the accusative in literary Arabic, as in 
 other languages. 
 
 Remark b. — Notice the expression rahit timla moiya (or 
 simply timla) she went to draw ivater. 
 
 (d) Verbs which are followed by a noun of kindred signifi- 
 cation, the so-called cognate accusative or internal object, often 
 the infinitive of the verb itself (§ 230), or one which limits the 
 extent of their action, as darab il walad darbiten, 'alqa, nabbutSn, 
 khazranten, 'asayten talata, kaff, kaffen he struck the boy two 
 Mows, gave him a thrashing, hit him with a nabbut, gave him two 
 or three cuts with a cane, a stid:, gave him a cuff, &c. ; salla 
 rak'itto he prayed two prostrations, i.e. a short prayer ; ana nazil 
 mishwar I am going on an errand ; qasamna r righlf qismen loe 
 divided the loaf into tioo halves ; kharamt il murtna khurmen I 
 bored two holes in the planle ; isbugh li t tob sabgha kwaiyisa 
 dye this dress fm- me nicely (lit. a nice dyeing) ; naddaf ha nadafa 
 taiyiba ; qa"adhum 'ala banuka qu'ad il talamza make them sit on 
 benches as schoolboys sit ; ghalet il moiya ghaliyton (or ghalwiten) 
 / boiled the water twice; il husan tabbe tabbi shdld the horse 
 stumbled badly ; id'ak riglu da'ke kuwaiyis (or da'ka kuwaiyisa) 
 give his leg a good rubbing ; it tabbakha sauwit il kharshuf nusse 
 siwa bass the cook has only half cooked the aiiichol,'es ; istiqamna 
 henak istiqama kbtra ive make a long stay there. 
 
 Remark. — It will be seen that the noun of unity is generally 
 used in such expressions. When otherwise, the noun generally 
 serves more to intensify the meaning, i as rametu ramy, mush 
 daqq^tu bass / threw him down, I didn't only push him ; asma' 
 sam' / hear only. 
 
 § 555. In the passive construction the object which does not 
 become the subject remains attached to the verb or participle 
 as in English, as yit'allimu 1 mazzika the.ij are tuugld music; 
 il kizan itmalit moiya the mugs loere filled loith 'water , riglu kanit 
 mit'Eisa tin his foot was besmeared loith mud; il bet madrub buya. 
 § 556. An adjective of the nature of a participle may also be 
 qualified by a verbal noun as an accusative of specification, as kan 
 'aiyan 'aiya shdld he teas exceedingly ill ; saki-an sakra inglizi as 
 drunk as a lord ; so malyan malw brimfid. 
 
 § 557. The verbal noun may, like the verb itself, pass its 
 
 ^ As is so common in Hebrew. 
 
306 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 action on to another noun as its object, as qable dukhulna 1 bet 
 hefore our entering the house ; waqte rukubhum khelhum at the 
 moment of their mounting their horses ; il istilah ahsan min 
 mirwah il karakon reconciliation is better than going to the police 
 station ; eh sabab darbuhum 'ainmak ? lohat is the reason of 
 their beating your uncle ? shurb il husan il moiya the horse's drink- 
 ing the water. 
 
 Remark a. — When the object is a personal pronoun this con- 
 struction becomes impossible, and a preposition must intervene, 
 as qumte fi zaqqitha di liya / sprang up on her pushing me in this 
 way ; bi sahab liubbu f iha hy reason of his love for Iver. Further, 
 a preposition generally separates a genitive from the object if 
 the latter is a noun, as shurb il husan fi 1 moiya. 
 
 Kemark h. — In some cases the noun following may be regarded 
 as a genitive instead of an object, as akl il batatis tlie eating of 
 potatoes. 
 
 IMPERSONAL VERBS AND VERBS USED 
 IMPERSONALLY 
 
 § 558. Under these are included : — 
 
 (a) Verbs and participles which have a sentence for their 
 subject whether introduced by a conjunction or not, as ma 
 yehunshe 'aleh yisrif, yidaiya' fulvis it is not a light thing for him 
 to spend money ; ma yib'adshe innu yigi it is not improbable that 
 he will come; ma yimkinshe agi lak, ma simi'she (or inni agi lak, 
 innu ma smi'sh) it is impossible for me to come to you, that he did 
 not hear ; iza saraqtu yibqa kuwaiyis lau raddetu if you stole it, it 
 will be well to return it ; ynkhrug, yitla', min idak, ti'mil kede ? 
 is it within your poioer to do such a thing ? ma hasalshe abadan min- 
 nak innak darabt akhuk ? did it never hajypen that you struck your 
 brother ? sadaf inni ruht it chanced that Iioent ; beyin 'alek innak 
 'aiyan it is clear from your aspect that you are ill; ma kanshe le 
 innu saraq mandil yom min dol? wasn't it {isn't it) a fact that he 
 one day stole a handkerchief ? f atnt aqul lak inni msafir / forgot 
 (lit. it escapied me) to tell you that I am going aicay ; ma yikaffikshe 
 innak kharabte beti bi fitnak we daiya'te umri ? does if )wt sufflce 
 you that you have ruined me — ivreclced my life— by your calumnies 1 
 mashhur 'annu innu ghant it is repxded of him that he is rich 
 ( = he is reputed to be rich). 
 
 Remark. — The verbs ban and si'ib sometimes agree in render 
 and number with the object of the following verb, as ma thunshe 
 'aleh yidrabha he has not the heart to strike her ; yis'abii aleya 
 agazlhum it is hard for me to punish them ; ahe hanit 'algya wi 
 darabtiha. 
 
PECULIAE USES OF PAETICULAE VEEBS 307 
 
 (b) Verbs which have no subject, i.e. passive forms of verbs 
 which in the active have an indirect object, as il 'arabiya dasit 
 'aleh the carriage ran over him, indas 'aleh he ivas run over; hakam 
 'aleh he pasned judgment on him, ithakam 'alSh sentence was 
 passed on him;^ 'allim 'ala 1 waraqa he signed the paper, it'allim 
 'ala 1 waraqa the paper was signed , katab 'algh he wrote on 
 it, inkatab 'aleh it was written on; ghishi, ghimi, 'aleh (from 
 obsolete actives meaning to cover, darken), it grew {loas made) 
 dark around him, he fainted ; il moiya dt mal'iib ftha some one 
 has heen playing a game with this water. 
 
 ^Eemaek. — The agent is introduced by min or bi, as me'allim 
 'algh minnu signed hy him ; but occasionally it stands alone, as 
 mindas 'algh 'arabiya (or bi 'arabiya) run oi:er hi/ a carriage. 
 
 (c) Verbs whose subject is understood without having been 
 previously mentioned, as matarit (or natarit) it rained; betir'ad, 
 betubruq it thunders, lightens {sc. id dunya), &o. ; imsa 'alohum' 
 (or imsajalehum il m) the night overtook them; kattar kherak 
 {sa. AlMh) thank you (lit. may He increase your prosperity) ; 
 yurzuk, gSz^k, in'al ablik may {God) provide for you, punish you, 
 curse your father ; da 'auzha shughl.^ 
 
 Remark a. — In some cases, as in hakamit kede, it is difficult 
 to supply the subject. (See § 467.) 
 
 Eemaek h. — Allah may be omitted with one verb and ex- 
 pressed with another in the same sentence, as kattar kherak 
 wi shakkar Allah fadlak. Kattar Allah kherak is naturally 
 more emphatic than kattar kherak. 
 
 PECULIAR USES OF PARTICULAR VEEBS 
 
 § 559. The verbs dar and qAm are often placed superfluously 
 before another verb, serving, as it were, to introduce it. The 
 former is joined mostly to verbs of motion, and in all cases 
 retains its original signification of turning in a circle, while the 
 latter is of much more general use, and is often best left un- 
 translated or rendered by then, thereupon, cfec. It is, as a rule, 
 immediately followed by the principal verb, while dftr is usually 
 connected with it by the copulative wi; e.g. qulti lu ti'mil eh hina? 
 qam qal li " ana badauwar ala waiiid " I said to him. What are you 
 doing here ? he said to me, "/ am looking for some one ; " gih abuh 
 qam qa'ad ganbu his father came and sat by him ; mikhtishi le 
 innu yequm yakul waiya s sitt shy of eating with the lady ; lamma 
 
 ^ Mahkum is sometimes said for malikiim 'aleh condemned. 
 ^ A slovenlj' expression for di 'auza Iha shughl. 
 
308 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 shaf kede qam darabu fi wishshu ichen he sair that, he straightiomj 
 slruck him in the face ; qumt ana balisib le inniha gat / then 
 thought she had come ; yequm abuh yiz'al minnu his father there- 
 U2wn gets annoyed with him; yequm yukhshai 'aleh mmnt he 
 then fights shy of me; hatta yedur we yigi 1 ma'ad until the 
 appointed time comes round ; kan yedur yelifE he was going round; 
 lamma dtoit u matit il 'aguza when the old uvman came to die ; 
 lamma yediir u yikblas ish shabr vjjien the month comes to an 
 
 end. 
 
 Remark.— Sometimes lamma is used for wi between dftr 
 and the other verb, as hatta yedur lamma yistiwi tmtil it gets 
 cooked. 
 
 Qam is sometimes attached to the participle, as qam raqid 
 'aiyan he went to bed ill It is rarely used in the imperative 
 except when it retains its original sense (though still redundant), 
 as qftm uqaf (or w^qif) get up, stand upi-ight. 
 
 § 560. Baqa. The primary meaning of this verb, namely, 
 to remain stationarg, can be traced in most of its derived uses, 
 the principal of which are the following : — 
 
 (a) In the sense of to become, as baqet makrush / got out of 
 breath; baqa mihtar he became, stood, perplexed ; baqu mush 
 'arfin yi'milu 6h tliey stood in ignorance of what they should 
 do ; iza ma laqetflsh fi 1 bet habqa ana ruhte balash if I don't 
 find him in the house, I shall have gone for nothing j iza. kan kede 
 yibqa enta ghashshitni (or yibqa ismak ^ ghashshitni) if it is so, 
 then {it results that) ijou have cheated me; yibqa yeruh emta? 
 when will he b" going? tibqa tigl bukra ; ma tibqAsh teruli 
 hen&k ; ^ ma baqash q^dir yftkul he became unable to eat. 
 
 (b) In the sense of starting or continuing the action of the 
 verb to which it is attached, as baqCi yidrabii fih they began to 
 heat him; baqat tishrab li hadd is subh she ivent on drinking 
 till the morning; ma baqiish laqyinu, i.e. they gave up^ trying to 
 find it. 
 
 (c) With a period of time following it as its subject. In 
 this connection it remains unchanged in number and gender 
 by the rule laid down in § 469 ; e.g. baqa li sanaten fi Masr 
 I have been two years in Cairo ; kan baqS, lu talatt ishhur 
 lamma . . he had been three months ivhen . . . ; yibqa Iha 
 
 1 This use of qam with an impersonal verb shows that it is 
 regarded as an adverb, although it agrees with the object of 
 the verb in form. 
 
 2 See § 590, Rem. b. 
 
 8 It is very commonly used with an imperative. (See § 491). 
 
PECULIAR USES OF PARTICULAR VERBS 309 
 
 yfimm dayra (or we hiya dayra/ or we hiya bitdur) she has 
 been wandering about for two days ; huwa ghftyib (or we huwa 
 gMyib) baqa lu saba' sinin he has been absent for seven years ; 
 baqa lak kam y6m hina ? — 'aiyfl,n ? hoir long have you been here ? 
 —ill ? 
 
 (d) 111 the past tense with the negative emphasising a quali- 
 fying verb in the aorist, as ma baqS,sh yigi he loon't come now, 
 there is no chance of his coining nam ; ma baqitsh ariih / ivont 
 go at cdl noio ; ma baqen&sh ni'attib betak ire ivill never cross 
 your threshold again. 
 
 (e) As a pure adverb. As such it takes the form baqat as 
 well as baqa, though the latter is by far the commoner. It may 
 be omitted in translation or rendered by so then, &c. ; e.g. shuf 
 yeqfllak eh baqa see lohat he loill tell you ; ni'mil Sh baqa? loh'd 
 are ire to do then ? lakin baqa ti'milli ma'rM but anyhow do me 
 the kindness ; baqa mitwakkil bukra ? so you are off to-morroio ? 
 baqa 1 fuliis dl mush betahtak ? this money is not yours, then ? 
 baqat ha t'azzil min hina so you are moving from here ; dilwaqti 
 baqat abfth m§,t. Baqat is perhaps more likely to be used where 
 there is a pause. 
 
 § 561. Some few verbs, as sabali to get up in the morning, 
 sabaq precede, qurub (or qarrab) app-oach, rigi' return, used in 
 conjunction with others, are best translated by an adverb or 
 adverbial expression in English, though they are inflected 
 throughout. The following examples will illustrate their use : 
 nisbah nib'atil lak we -will send it you in the morning, isbah tigi 
 'andl came to me first thing in the morning ; but sometimes the 
 full sense of the verb may be rendered, as sabahna laqena d 
 dinya betishti we looke up to find it raining ; sabaqna qulnft lak 
 ■we told you before, ana sftbiq fakkartu / reminded him previously ; 
 ish shughla qurbit tikhlas the job is nearly finished, lamma qarrab 
 yigi 1 ma'Sd when the appointed time teas close at hand; rigi' khallif 
 minha he begat another child by her.^ 
 
 § 562. A verb is sometimes followed immediately by another 
 in the same tense and of practically the same meaning, but 
 serving as an intensive. The latter will in this case be generally 
 rendered by an adverb or adverbial expression, as rah qata' he 
 has gone for good, ghutus ma bansh he has clean vanished. 
 
 § 563. Of other verbs used adverbially we may notice the 
 substantive verb kin, which often bears the meaning of once, 
 
 1 § 576. 
 
 ^ Oomp. the use of rigi' in such an expression as 'auz yirga' 
 'askarl he wants to become a soldier again. 
 
310 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 formerly, or gives the principal verb the sense of a pluperfect, 
 though remaining unchanged, as ana y6m min clol qulti lu kan 
 •/ once said to him ; ish shita 'auwimit id dinya kftn the rain had 
 deluged the earth. It is sometimes inflected, as qulti lu y6m 
 kunt. Even in qulti lu inbarih kunt it cannot, as following 
 the principal verb, be treated as an auxiliarj' ; it might be trans- 
 lated by the slovenly expression, / told him yesterday, I did. 
 
 Kemark. — Participles are, of course, as liable as all adjectives 
 to be used as adverbs (§ 336). 
 
 § 564. The verb beyit (first derived form of bat) is used in 
 the sense of keeping a thing iritli one at night, as beyit il gawab 
 'andak w isbah waddih il busta ; beyit 'ala is used intransitively 
 of calling on one at night, as beyitte 'ala n naqqash 'ashan yigi 
 badri 'andina I went to the painter overnight to tell him to come 
 tu us early. 
 
 § 565. Ga', gih, has often the sense of to be or hecoyne, as 
 lamma gih abuh mabsut minnu irhen his father teas pleased ivitli 
 him ; yigi azraq lamma yinshaf it will he blue when it dries. 
 
 Followed immediately by the aorist of another verb, it is 
 often equivalent to the English come with an infinitive, as lamma 
 get aruh ichen I came to go, i.e. just as I was going ; so lamma gat 
 tulid, and, with a future sense, lamma yigi yidrabak ihrab minnu. 
 
 Remark. — Till' has also the sense of become, or rather turn 
 out, prove to he, as il walad till' shatir. 
 
 § 566. Ya ret^ icould that is used when followed by a past 
 tense, either alone or with the pronominal suffix, as ya ret ruht 
 or ya ritnt ruht ; but when it is followed by the aorist, the suifix 
 is omitted, as ya ret nerflh icould that we might go. 
 
 § 567. The verb basar to see, though obsolete in the past tense, 
 is used with the interrogative eh in the first person singular of 
 the aorist in the sense of so and so, et cetera, as kan 'auz yiddi lu 
 dawa, absar eh he wanted to give her some medicine or something. 
 Sometimes it corresponds to our phrase " what was I saying," 
 like izzeyak, but is not pronounced interrogatively. It is used 
 occasionally at the beginning of a sentence as a strong interro- 
 gative, as absar eh u madrik eh illi kunte bitqul 'aleya what's all 
 this, pray, that you've been saying ahoid me ? 
 
 § 568. The English must is expressed by lazim, as lazim yerlih, 
 lazim yekun rigi', &c., or occasionally by bidd- with the sufiixes, 
 
 1 For ra'et (§ 189, note). 
 
 '•^ Bidd with the suffixes means also to want. It sometimes 
 gives the aor. a purely future sense. The mod. Armenian bidi 
 presents a curious parallel. 
 
THE PREPOSITIONS 311 
 
 as bidde arflh / must go ; ma biddukvLsh titgabbaru 'alejia (or 
 bidduku ma tgabbarush 'alena) you must not tyrannize over us. 
 
 § 569. The verb to have has no equivalent in Arabic, and 
 the ideas it conveys must be expressed by help of the preposi- 
 tions,! as luh ukht, 'andi ktab, ma'^k fulfls, &c. (See Accidence.) 
 
 THE PREPOSITIONS 
 
 § 570. A list of the principal prepositions has already been 
 given in the accidence, and it remains only to add a few ex- 
 amples of derived and peculiar uses of those which most fre- 
 quently occur : — 
 
 Ba'd 
 ba'de bukra lo-morroir. 
 ba'de ba'de bukra the day after to-mon-ow. 
 ma fish ba'de kede nothing could he hetter. 
 la qablu wala ba'du incomparahle, second to none. 
 
 Bin 
 
 Bgn is usually, but not necessarily, repeated with the second 
 of the two objects whether it has reference to a material or 
 moral connection, as : — 
 
 bgn ik kursi wi s sufra between the chair and the table. 
 
 bgnaku bgn ir rjigil it tanl between you and the other man. 
 
 ma fish mehabba b§n ig goza wi durritha there is no love between 
 
 the two toives of one man. 
 bin da u bin da (or ben da wi da) bettceeii thii and that. 
 
 The repetition often emphasizes the connection or relative 
 position of the objects. 
 
 Remark a. — Bgn, like all other prepositions, must, of course, 
 be repeated with each pronominal suffix. 
 
 Remake b. — To avoid confusion where ben occurs with three 
 different objects, we may insert the words min giha, min giha 
 tanya, as hasal khinaqa beni wi benu min giha u ben akhuna 
 min giha (or min giha tanya) a quar-rel arose bettoeen him and me 
 on the one side and our brother im the other. 
 
 Ma is sometimes added to the first bin, as ma fish haga 
 mabSnl u bSnu there is nothing betiveen us. 
 
 BSn is equivalent to half in such expressions as bin- nftyim u 
 saM half asleep and half awake, ben bahri u sharqi north-east. 
 
 1 Malak implies complete possession, and is mostly used in 
 a legal sense. 
 
312 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 It takes the dual form in the expression ben il benfin middliiig, 
 and sometimes the plural when a plural suiEx is attached to it/ 
 as beni u benathum. 
 
 Bi 
 
 darabu bi 'asaya he struck Mm loith a stick, &c. (as the instru- 
 ment). 
 
 mitlaffe bi shal irrapj'ed up in a shawl. 
 
 bi sukkar loith sugar, bi zibda icith butter. 
 
 qalam il katib bi dawaytu the clerk's pen and inhhorn. 
 
 il fanagin bi tbaqhum the cups and saucers. 
 
 il hamir bi hmalhum the donkeys loith their burdens. 
 
 tig! bi 1 humar, bi 1 'arabiya come with ( = bring) the donkey, the 
 carriage." 
 
 harga' buh / will come back with him (briny him bach). 
 
 Sarah bi 1 mawashi he went to pasture the cattle. 
 
 bah bi 1 kalam he let out the secret. 
 
 talata ghgrt walla biya ? three with ( = counting) me or loithout ine ? 
 
 da bi da this tvith that, both. 
 
 'arbagi bi sitra a driver wearing a coat (not a galldbiya). 
 
 ragil bi daqn a man toifh a beard. 
 
 itkallim bi sot 'all he spoke irith (in) a loud voice. 
 
 kalam yikkallimii bu an expression they use. 
 
 shuwaiya bi shwaiya (or shuwaiya shuwaiya) little by little. 
 
 bahart bi (better ma') gharbi north-ioest. 
 
 iswid bi (or ma') ahmar reddish-black. 
 
 Allah yihannin 'algk bi qersh may God cause you to be comforted 
 icith a piastre. 
 
 itngn gingh bi 1 ketlr, bi 1 aqall £2 at mast, at least. 
 
 ma ktafush bi kede they were not satisfied with that. 
 
 ahsan bi ktlr much better. 
 
 bi n nahar by day, bi 1 Igl by night. 
 
 'aiyan bi 1 gidrl ill with smallp)0.c. 
 
 'aiyan bi 1 gism ill in body. 
 
 bi 1 hanak by word of mouth, verbally. 
 
 bi khlaf kede contrarily. 
 
 akbar bi shahrSn two mojiths older. 
 
 atwal bi mitren ttoo metres longer. 
 
 'agaza bi talatt iyam a holiday of three days. 
 
 iddini bi 'ishrtn (sc. qersh) give me a dollar's icorth. 
 
 1 As in Hebrew. 
 
 2 So inzil bi, &c., rendering a neuter verb transitive. 
 
THE PEEPOSITIONS 313 
 
 y6mu bi y6men ^ (zSyi 1 mtrt) his day is equal to i/co, i.e. a very 
 
 long one. 
 hitta bi qershen a two piastre piece. 
 itkallim fi haqqu bi taiyib he spolce well of him. 
 ni'mil il kulle bi 1 marra let's do it all at once (straight away). 
 mathtlm bi sirqa accused of theft. 
 qum bina, yalla bna (or bina), ifec, (§ 493). 
 simihti bu / have heard of it. 
 auwul b auwul first of all. 
 s^kin bi (better fi) 1 bet living in tJie house. 
 fasalni bi qershen he settled [agreed) irith me for two piastres. 
 bi msafit sa'tSn at a distance of two hours. 
 ish sliamse k^nit 'ala 1 gabal bi qasabten talata the sun icas tioo 
 
 07' three " qasabas " ^ above the hill. 
 ma dritshe bi takhbit il babiir / didn't feel the shaking of the 
 
 train. 
 'arrafnt buh introduce me to him. 
 ma 'lamshe bi 1 mas'ala / know nothing of the matter. 
 amaru bi 1 liiidur, bi 1 magly he ordei'ed him to come. 
 ana kalliftu, wassStu, bi 'arabtya / ordered a carriage of liiui. 
 maskhar bi wahid make fun of one. 
 bi llahi hy God, in truth. 
 bi khatrak that's your affair, as you like. 
 ishtaretu bi qersb / bought it for a piastre. 
 
 Remaek. — Affixed to the substantives, or adjectives used as 
 substantives, bi corresponds to the English preposition by or 
 the adverbial termination ly, as bi s sudf by chance ; bi 1 ghalat 
 by tnistaJce ; bi z zabt propierly, accurately, exactly ; bi t tam^m 
 completely ; bi z zur of necessity. 
 
 Ganb (pronounce gamb). 
 huwa ganbak tawll he is tall compared to you. 
 
 Zey 
 zeye zeyu = zeye ba'duhum. 
 
 'Ala 
 
 fat 'aleya he passed by tne, called on me on Ids way. 
 
 yekun 'alSya / shall be responsible for it. 
 
 in kan 'allya if it depended on me. 
 
 yequl eh 'ala 1 mas'ala dl ? ivhat does he say of this matter 1 
 
 ^ Or bi 'ashara. - A qasaba= 3-55 metres. 
 
314 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 qarrab'ala (or min) draw near. 
 
 fadil talatt iyara 'ala akhir isli shahr it wants three dai/s to the 
 
 mil of the month. 
 saqqaf 'ala 1 khaddam he dapped his hands for the servant. 
 she3'a'te 'aleh ? have you sent for it 1 
 
 ish shibbak yikshif 'ala 1 ginena the loindow overlooks the garden. 
 liuttuhum 'ala ganb put them aside. 
 khayif 'ala ^vccaxu fearing for his life. 
 mai-liun 'ala viyslen piawned for two dollars. 
 katab il kitab 'aleha he entered into a contract of marriage loith 
 
 her. 
 tekhiffe 'ala d dawa dih you will get well on this physic. 
 betiftar, bitghaiyar riqak, 'ala eh ? on what do you breakfast ? 
 khad, wallif, it'auwid, 'ala tahi to, get accustomed to. 
 lonu iswid 'ala hmar of a redd,ish-l)lack colour. 
 khadtiflium marra walla 'ala marraten did you take them all at 
 
 one time or at two different times 1 
 ghasal Una 'ala idena.i 
 
 'ala hasab il 'ada illi 'aleya according to the custom I have. 
 ma ghdarslie (qdarshe) 'aleh / am not equal to it. 
 il liaqqe 'alek yoti are in the wrong. 
 liya 'alek qershen you owe me two piastres. 
 'ala 1 mahl, 'ala mahlak, &o. slowly. 
 'ala mesafa at a distance. 
 
 'ala kullan, ala kiiUe hal, 'ala lisan hala anyhow, better. . 
 'ala zanni in my opinion. 
 
 'ala fikri according to my idea, wliile I think of it. 
 istafhim 'ala, ista'raf 'ala inquire about. 
 ista'raf 'ala recognise. 
 gar 'ala be jealous of. 
 nia 'alehsh (or 'alesh) it doesn't matter. 
 qabad 'ala seize, catch hold of. 
 shihid 'ala give evidence against. 
 
 akkid 'ala wahid, cala haga insist with one, press on something. 
 ridi, istarda 'ala (or bi) consent to a thing. 
 itmaniiii 'ala wahid ask something of one. 
 sa'al 'ala (or 'an) ask about. 
 istama' 'ala listen to. 
 hama 'ala (or 'an) defend. 
 
 ammin, ista'min, wahid 'ala haga enti~u,st one witli a tiling. 
 kidib 'ala wahid give one the lie. 
 'ala ghafla uiianrtres, of a sudden. 
 
 The water being poured over the hands. 
 
THE PEEPOSITIONS 315 
 
 'ala rasi we 'Inl, 'ala r ris wi 1 'dn most willingly, untlivut fail 
 
 (generally in reply to a command or a request). 
 itnamrad, itgabbar, &c., 'ala tyrannize over. 
 ration sukkar 'ala talatt irtal 'asal two pounds of sugar 'with three 
 
 pounds of honey (in cooking recipes) ; so khamsat 'ala 
 
 'asharat, shuwaiyit laban 'ala shuwaiyit moiya, &c. 
 min da 'al^ da altogether. 
 yintibikh keman 'ala sanfe (pron. samfe) tant it may be cooked also 
 
 in another way. 
 iggauwiz 'ala (or foq) wahda tdlze another wife without divorcing 
 
 a previous one. 
 'ala till straight away ( = min barra barra). 
 giri 'ala akhir nafas he ran till he loas out of breath. 
 zauwar 'aleya lie committed a forgery against me, told lies 
 
 about me. 
 fi 1 hala illi htya 'alona as affairs are with us at present. 
 arba' bashawat itbauwishu 'algh wi hiiwa f Masr he has seen four 
 
 Pashas succeed to the Pashalik {KheJiuiate). 
 baka 'ala iveep for. 
 nada 'ala wahid call one. 
 da'a 'ala to curse. 
 
 mashsht, fassah, il husan 'ala idak lead the hoise up and Jomi. 
 id dor 'ala mtn ? whose turn ? 
 da ghall 'aleya that is too dear for me. 
 khud It 'alek shuwaiya mcdce a little room for me. 
 ittafaqu, issawu, rabatu 1 qol, 'ala innuhum yerflhu they agreed 
 
 {arranged) to go. 
 qal 'ala innu gib he said he had come.^ 
 
 'An 
 bi'td 'a,n far from. 
 
 tadaiya' ri,sak 'an gittitak / will sever your head from your body. 
 it'akhkhar 'an ish shugbl he was behind with (lazy about) his work. 
 keblr 'an (§ 47). 
 itlaha bi 1 li'be 'an ish shughl he was more bent on play than on 
 
 work. 
 'an iznak by your leave. 
 
 sa'al, istafhim, &c., 'an (or 'ala) ask, inquire, about. 
 Mma, d&fa 'an defend. 
 
 kulle wabid skikle 'an it t^nt each one is different to the other. 
 huwa waktl 'annu he is his agent. 
 yighlab 'an il li'b he gets tired of playing. 
 
 1 See conjunctions. 
 
316 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 iddlnt 'ashara quriish 'an il meqaula kulliha oive me ten piastres 
 
 for the whole joh. 
 il 'arablya 'ala mta the carriage is for when 1 when do xjou want 
 
 the carriage ? 
 naqqasu 'an il ugra he reduced his wages. 
 ma 'annak (or la 'annak) get / hope you will not come. 
 ma 'annush = ma 'alehsh. 
 la budde 'an motak (§ 541). 
 afaddal dih 'an dih, is safar 'an innt abqa hina / prefer this tu 
 
 tJiat, travelling to remaining here. 
 
 'And 
 
 'andi, ifcc, I have, ^c, loith me, at my house. 
 
 ma 'andtsh haga zeye dl / would never do such a thing. 
 
 fassaltu 'and il khaiyat / had it cut out at the tailor's. 
 
 kam 'andak ? what's the time by you ? 
 
 iz zanbe mush 'andl the fault is not with me. 
 
 11 'andak qershen you owe me two piastres. 
 
 abfih gauwizu min 'andu his father married him at his expense. 
 
 Rabbuna razaqu min 'andu God provided for him. 
 
 'andl mush kuwaiyis it is not becoming in my opinion . 
 
 il kalbe 'anduhum nigis the dog is with them unclean. 
 
 kan waqif 'and il bab he was standing at the door. 
 
 uq'ud 'andak, istanna 'andak sit, stay, lohere you are. 
 
 uqaf 'andak (or simply 'andak ) ! stop ! 
 
 'and il luzum in time {in case) of need. 
 
 kullu 'and! sawa it's all the same to me. 
 
 Fi 
 
 enta ghaltan f arba'a sagh you are four piastres im-ong. 
 
 talata fi 'ashara (§ 103, Rem.). 
 
 ana 'auzak fi kilma, kilmiten i / loant to have a word, two words, 
 
 ti'ith you. 
 ana biddi atraggak fi mas'ala I have a favour to ask of you. 
 mathum fi sirqa accused of a theft. 
 misik ft seize hold of, hold on to. 
 beyiskar fi 1 hashish he gets drunk on hashish. 
 ma yi'rafshe ft he is no connoisseur of? 
 tiddtnt kam fi dih? how much will you give mer for this? so 
 
 addtlak 'ishrtn gineh fi 1 husan. 
 kidbe fi kidb lie upon lie ; so kaddab fi kaddab. 
 khashab fi khashab nothing hut nvod. 
 rah fi n nom he toent to sleep. 
 
 '^ Trilnis verbis te volo. '^ II ne se connait pas en. 
 
THE PEEPOSITIONS 317 
 
 sitta fi 1 miya 6 per cent. 
 
 humma fi s sufra they are at table. 
 
 huttu fi 1 ard, rametu fi 1 sixA put it, 1 threw Mm, on the c/round. 
 
 it tilit flhum the third one of them. 
 
 tirkab il tusSn fi 1 bSt walla fi 1 lukanda ? tvill you mount at the 
 
 house or the hotel ? 
 mabsutln fi (for min) akluhum pleased ivith their food. 
 tumu' fl to covet. 
 
 min hubbu f Iha from Ms love for her. 
 
 s&fir fi 1 bablir in niinsS,wt he travelled by the Austrian boat. 
 betidfa' eh fi sb shugbla dl ? lohat are you paying for this job ? 
 fib zabir u fib mush zfi,bir sometimes it is clear and sometimes not. 
 ragil illi fi 1 quwwa di a man of such strength. 
 ma ti'akbizn!sh. Fi eh 1 excuse me. Far lohat 1 
 marra fi marra from time to time. 
 waddih fi 1 bet, fi 1 busta (for 'ala) talte him to the house, take it 
 
 {to) the post. 
 hlhen fi ba'dubum two h's folloioing one another. 
 il wiqqa f Ih an olce of it. 
 
 Remake. — Ft is very frequently used with the unfinished 
 and indefinite tenses to emphasize the continuance of the action, 
 as kan beyishidde fi 1 habl he was pulling away at the rope, 
 fidlum yidrabu fih hatta mauwitvlh they beat him till they killed 
 him ; kan m&shi biyemusse fi 'ud qasab he was going along sucking 
 at a stick of sugar cane. 
 
 F6q 
 'umru foq it tal^ttn (or without the article) he is over thiiiy. 
 foq 'an si'a more than an hour. 
 iggauwiz foqba (or f6q minha), as 'aleha (above). 
 
 Li 
 
 liya, lik, &c. /, you, ^c, have. 
 
 ma lakshe haqqe tidrabba you have no business to strike her. 
 
 il akhkh it tani luh (for illl luh) the other brother he has. 
 
 il amre li llah it rests with God. 
 
 laqet liha rlha wihsha I found it smelling horribly. 
 
 lik mudda safirt ? is it long since you left ? 
 
 ma ti'raf luhumshe wala kilma one doesn't understand a loord 
 
 they say. 
 utlub li lamda ask for a lamp for me. 
 mazzaq lu 1 galMbiya he tore his gown for him. ^ 
 ma ti'raf luhshe shughla can't you find him a job ? 
 
318 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 shuf li 1 Basha see the Pasha for me. 
 
 ab'adiya tisawi Iha i alten gingh a farm, ivorth ^2000. 
 
 bakrag yakhud lu 'ishrin fingan a coffee-pot holding tioenty cups. 
 
 biddl akkauwah 11, an'is li, aghfal li, shuwaiya / want to lie doton 
 
 a little, take a nap. 
 da'a li to bless 
 
 khud lak kursi get yourself a chair. 
 
 ma nish qadir arsi li 'ala liaga I don't know what to decide on. 
 min mat lu ? whom has he lost 1 
 lamma tibqa lak ^ il arde sukhna zSyi n nar when you have the 
 
 ground as hot as fire. 
 qam huwa, qam lak ^ eh ? ^ rah darab il bint fi wishshiha u-hat 
 
 do you thinlc he did ? he went straight and struck the girl in 
 
 tlie face. 
 qalii lu Mehammad they named him Mohammed ; yequlu lu fll 
 
 they call it an elephant. 
 qa'ad waiyaya li 1 maghrib he sat loith me till sunset. 
 (li) shuwaiya fat 'aleya presently he passed hy me. 
 (li) wahdu hy himself. 
 (li) tani yom is subhe gih next inorning he came. 
 
 Remark a. — The use of li or 'ala after verbs of motion is 
 practically identical, but the latter is more common. 
 Remark 6. — For le inn, see § 577. 
 
 Ma' 
 ma'ak il haqq you are right. 
 ma' zalik all the same, in spite of this. 
 nahar il hadde ma' Iglt il itnSn Sunday, day and night. 
 bahri ma' gharbl south-west. 
 mesafir 1^1 ma' nahar travelling day and night. 
 ma' il maghrib at su7iset ( = bi 1 magrib, fi 1 maghrib, but is more 
 vivid, implying contemporaneous action). 
 
 1 It is more usual to say yisawi lu, yakhud lu, &c., than 
 yisawi, yakhud, simply in such oases. 
 
 2 Lak in these two examples is an instance of the so-called 
 ethical dative. Oomp. the use of the second pronominal suffix 
 with bard as follows : baqa nta zauwart il hikaya dt 'aleya. 
 Hasal w ana bardak kaddab so you invented this tale about me. 
 It is so, and I am, as you see, a liar. The strengthened forms 
 of the adverbs qawam, ya dob (qawamak, ya dobak) probably 
 present a similar use of this suffix. 
 
 3 S 526. 
 
THE PKEPOSITIONS 319 
 
 Min 
 
 huwa min d6ri he is of iinj age, a confemporary of mine. 
 
 dakhal min gilwa Mb il b@t (for gilwa) he icent inside the gate of 
 
 the house. 
 da min mudda thafs a long time ago. 
 wiqi' min tillu he measured his length on the ground. 
 ummu matit minnu he has lost his mother. 
 gabu 'idad il qahwa min bakarig u tanak theij brought the vessels 
 
 far making cofiee, including the Jia];rags and tanakas.^ 
 huwa minnina he is of our paiiy. 
 n^s min kub^r u min sugMr people high and low. 
 'anduhum tamant ulad min subyan u (min) banat they have eight 
 
 children, lohat with hoys and girls. 
 minhum n^s, min ba'de nas (§ .448), 
 
 minnu farran u minnu baqqal he is both a baker and a grocer. 
 ya saMm min il liarr ! good heavens, ichat heat ! 
 yerauwalni min il maghrib they go aii:ay at sunset. 
 min fikri le inn it is my opinion that. 
 zabatuh min b§tu they arrested him at his house. 
 ish shamse titla' min isb sharq th4 sun rises in the east. 
 min yom li yom from day to day. 
 khalli balak min il 'afsb keep an eye on the luggage. 
 yatim min il umm one who has lost his mother. 
 battal mish (min ish) shughl idle, witJwut work. 
 rah min hina, min henak he has gone this, that, iray. 
 'adda min il bahr, min f6q il kubrl he crossed the river, passed 
 
 over by the Irridge. 
 qarrab min (or li) approach, quraiyib min near to. 
 ganbe minnu beside him (for ganbu). 
 misiktu min ish sha'r / caught him by the hair. 
 il khalifa mat min il gidri the Khalifa died of smallpox. 
 sitritak daiyaqa min taht il bat your coat is too tight under the 
 
 arm. 
 zaman mudda min is sinln many a long year. 
 minnu li llah it is beticeen God and him. 
 itmazzaqit il gallablya min kitfiha the goum was torn in the 
 
 shoulder. 
 ma shuftish minnu Mga zeye dl / never kneio him to do such a 
 
 thing. 
 is sirqa minku fikii one of you has committed the theft. 
 kunte shela ( = shayla) 1 wad we mat minni the boy died in my 
 
 arms. 
 
 1 Different kinds of cofEee-pots. 
 
320 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OE EGYPT 
 
 min da 'ala da a little of both. 
 
 'auz yeruh min dilwaqti ? cJo you loant to go at once ? 
 
 hat minnu bring some of it. 
 
 lull bet min bab, min 'ataba he has a house with its door, its 
 
 approach, all to hims'elf. 
 in nadafa mil im.an cleanliness is next to godliness. 
 zi'il min (or waiya) get annoyed with. 
 mala min (or bi or direct object) _/??/ with. 
 intaqam min avenge one's self on. 
 talab, &.C., min demand of 
 ti'ib min get lueary of. 
 
 Waiya, ictya 
 
 ana waiyak / am with you, of your opinion. 
 quraiyib waiyah related with. 
 khallt balak waiyaya think of me, don't forget nie. 
 enta waiyak bard ? are you cold. ? have you taken cold / 
 zi'il waiya (or min, 'ala). 
 
 Wara 
 
 'amalu min waraya, min wara 'ilml he did it behind my back, 
 
 ivithout my knoudeilge. 
 waraya shugl, diwan, talab / have work to do, to go to tlve office, 
 
 am. wanted. 
 talat sinln wara ba'd three years consecutively. 
 ma warah u ma quddamu all he has. 
 ish shalir illi warana dih next month. 
 
 Prepositions may be placed before or govern other parts of 
 speech than nonns and pronouns, as ruh min hina ; ahsan min 
 innina nmiit better than that ire die, ma fish fayda fi innak ' 
 terfili there is no adva?itage in your going ; so 'ala inn, leinn, 
 ma' inn, &c. 
 
 THE CONJUNCTIONS 
 
 § 571. Of these, the following deserve some special notice : — 
 
 Fa, tea (usually pronounced fi, fe ; wi, we) 
 
 The former conneots sentences only, and the relation they 
 bear to one another is usually more remote than when wa is 
 employed. It picks up the thread of the discourse, and the fact 
 stated in the second sentence is often the effect of that stated 
 
 1 Leiniiak is more usual in ordinary conversation. 
 
THE CONJUNCTIONS 321 
 
 in the first,i as il walad iza rah li wahdu yimkin yettih, fa ahsan 
 teruh waiy&h if the hoy goes alone he viaij lose his way, so you 
 had better go with him ; f e ana lamma smihte minnu kede rigi'te 
 darabtu tSnt and ivhen I heard Mm say that, I struck Mm again ; 
 kan fi Idu sikkina, fi ihna min khSfna tba'adna minnu he had a 
 knife in Ms hand, and so loe loere afraid and kept Oiway from Mm. 
 The verb of the second sentence may be in the imperative, or 
 the first be introduced by a conjunction, as ana khadte minnu 
 talagr^f le innu gay, fi ruh enta iddl khabar li 1 B^sha / have 
 had a telegram from Mm saying he is coming, so go ami tell the 
 Pasha, ; ma dam huwa mush 'auzu f e ahsan niddih li gheru since 
 he doesn't loant it, we had better give it to some one else. 
 
 It is sometimes used immediately before the verb in a sem- 
 tence introduced by the conjunction amma (or we amma) or 
 Mkin (we lakin), to show emphatically that the action of the 
 verb relates exclusively to a particular object, as litnen dol 
 r^hum we amma 1 baqyin fe fidlum matrahhum. 
 
 § 572. Wi connects both single words and sentences. It is 
 commonly omitted between two verbs closely connected, even 
 though their subjects are different, as rigi' ir ragil 'and il farran 
 talab minnu r raghlf the man loent back to the baJcer's and asked 
 him for the loaf ; dauwarte 'aleh laqetu I looked for it and found 
 it ; arga' asukku / loitl come back and lock it ; ^ gih yikahhilha 
 'amm&ha he went to paint it (his eye) loith "Icohl," and blinded it ; ^ 
 hat li 'arablya tkun kuwaiyisa get me a can~iage, a?id let it be a 
 good one ; ishtirinna sanlya tkun min in nahas lasfar buy me a 
 brass tray (with a stress on the word brass) ; ana twaladte laqetu 
 kede I found it so lohen I was barn, i.e. I know it icas so since my 
 birih ; nadahti lu gih I called him ami he came ; ana qulti lak ma 
 tiftahsh il bib tequm dugri tiftfthu I told you not to open the 
 dow, and you immediately go and open it ; ma saddaq get qal li 
 lie loaited till I came, ami then told me ; raysen fi markib tighraq 
 (§ 514), ihdar ardabbak yezid be present at the {deliver-y of) 
 your ardabb, and it will increase (be better measure) ; enta qadde 
 kede 'abtt 'amalte kede loere you such a simpleton as to do that ? 
 
 Remark. — Such expressions as rS,h we gftb, qam huwa we 
 shaf, are uncommon. Note that after i'mil ma'ruf be so kind 
 the copulative is regularly used', though not after kallif khatrak 
 (Jonnez-vous la peine), as i'mil ma'ruf we qui li be so good as 
 
 1 It is equivalent in many cases to the German ilann. 
 
 2 So rah gib, hanzil astafhim, &c. (§ 482), and after a nega- 
 tive verb, as ma gash qal It he didn't come and tell me. 
 
 8 Proverb. 
 
 X 
 
322 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 to tell me ; ^ kallif khatrak tistanna shuwaiya have the goodness 
 to loait a little. 
 
 § 573. On the other hand, where two or more nouns or pro- 
 nouns are in sense vmited each with the preceding one, the 
 conjunction must be expressed between every two, not only 
 (as is often the case in English) between the last but one and 
 the last, as is sab'e wi 1 fil wi n nimr the lion, the elephant, and 
 the tiger ; gena ana wi hiya wi bniha slie, I, and our son came; 
 kan hadir il 'arts wi 1 'arusa we waldehum wi 1 kull the hride, 
 the bridegroom, their parents, and all the rest ivere there. 
 
 § 574. Wi is sometimes joined to the conjunctions amma and 
 lakin, as and to yet in English, and to the conditional lau, 
 giving it the sense of although, and may in the last case also 
 be repeated with the following word, as huwa gih we amma 
 khuh ma gash he came, but his brother did not come; humma 
 fikruhum kede we lakin humma nas gahliya such is their idea, 
 hut then they are ignorant people; we lau il walad rah (or we 
 lau wi 1 walad r^h) (§ 516). 
 
 § 575. In the following phrases the conjunction seems out 
 of place in English, though its appearance is not in all cases 
 illogical : kulle yom wi t tanl evei-y day or two ; marraten wi 
 talata ttoo, or even three, times ; ba'de yomen wi t tallt laqetu ; 
 kulle Sana (or 'am) wi ntu bi kh§r may every year bring ycni 
 pjrosperity (lit. every year and you in prrosperity) ; shuwaiya (or li 
 shuwaij'a or shwaiyiten or habbiten) wi gWi presently he came ;''■ 
 kulle ma da or dau ( = da we) yisman, yikhiss he gets fatter, 
 fhinnerr, every day ; ma ash'ur illau ( = illa we, also allau) huwa 
 ganbt lie was at my side before I kneio it (lit. / teas only just aware 
 and there lie idcis, ifec.) ; ma saddaq allavi gih ; ma kanshe minnu 
 illau shatamnt tohcd did he do but insult me. 
 
 § 576. Somewhat analogous to the above is the use of wi 
 with a participle, adjective, or the continued present tense, in 
 place of a temporal conjunction and a verb, as shuftu w ana 
 rayih il balad / saw him as I was going to the village ; itqabilte 
 waiyah wi huwa gay min is suq / met him as he was coming from 
 the marliet ; talatln sana wi r ragil mat it is thirty years since the 
 man died ; ya tara luh zaman we huwa 'aiyan 7ms he been ill long, 
 I wonder ; ana safirte wi nti sughaiyara / went airay u-hen you 
 were a little girl; ma shuftuhumsh ilia we humma quddaml / 
 only saw them when they irere before me; ana smihtak wi nta 
 
 1 Germ. iSeien Sie so gut und. 
 
 2 Comp. Eng. a moment, and Fll be with you, " a little while, 
 and ye shall see me." 
 
THE CONJUNCTIONS 323 
 
 bitisrukh / hemrl you when you were crying out; nadah 'alghum 
 wi humma beyitla'um Tie called to them as they were going out. 
 
 Eemark a.— The clause with wi may precede as well as follow 
 the other, as wi hna mashytn fi s sikka g^na wahid qal lina as 
 we were walMng in the street, &c. 
 
 Kemaek h. — The simple aor. may also be used, and the con- 
 junction and pronoun may be (though they seldom are) omitted, 
 as zabathum yisraqu he caught them stealing, seized them in the 
 act of stealing. 
 
 Remark c. — Wi is occasionally used for lamma with a past 
 tense, as w ana kunte henak shuftu I saw him tohen I was 
 tJi&re. 
 
 Kemaek d. — As the substantive verb has no present parti- 
 ciple, lehen I was, &c., will be translated by w ana, &c., as wi 
 nta fi skandartya nizilte f^n? ivhere did you 2mt up when you 
 were at Alexandria ? ma shuftilsh wi huwa walad ? didn't you see 
 him when he loas a hoy ? 
 
 Remark e. — This clause introduced by wi is regarded as a 
 genitive when a word expressing a period of time precedes, as 
 min muddit wi ntt binte sugaiyara. 
 
 Remark/. — Wi is very seldom used in this way with anything 
 but the. personal pronouns. 
 
 § 577. The preposition li is affixed to the conjunction inn 
 without practically adding anything to its force,i as will be 
 seen from the following examples, in each of which inn might 
 alone be used ; qulti lu le innl 'aiyan I told him I was ill ; 'ala 
 hasab le inn il mablagh indaf a' inasmuch as the sum is paid ; ma 
 yisahhish le innak tigt it is not riijht that you should come ; min 
 hos le innina hadrin seeing that we are present ; izzeye gozik 
 le innu ma g§,sh ? how is it that your husband has not come ? 
 miraran le innl shuft often have I seen; na'am le inniha qalit 
 kede, lakin . . . {it is) true she said so, but . . . ; qui le innu gih say 
 (i.e. suppose) he came ; hassSt bi haga le inniha ^ gat fi 'enl I felt 
 something come into my eye ; huwa khammin le innina rauwahna 
 he imagined toe had gone ; darabnah hatta le innina nauwitnah 
 we beat him till we hilled him ; 'ashan le innina biddina nshufak 
 because we ivant to see you. 
 
 Remark a. — It will be noticed that inn and le inn are not 
 necessarily preceded by a verb, and also that when the subject 
 of the verb following is a personal pronoun it must be appended 
 as a suffix to the conjunction, but when ilia is used the pronoun 
 
 1 But leinn is more usual than the simple conjunction. 
 
 2 Le inniha might here be omitted. 
 
324 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 is not expressed, as akkid 'aleh innu yigl (or ilia yigi) insist upon 
 his coming.^ 
 
 Rbmakk b. — Where inn or le inn is preceded by another 
 conjunction or an adverb it may be practically superfluous, 
 having no conjunctional force, as 'ashan le innu gay since he is 
 coming ; amma innak 'abtt vei-ihj rjou are a simpleton ; allahumma 
 innl ana zi'ilte minnu indeed I was angry with him ; u ba'den ya 
 stdi le inniha tanniha mistannlya. Inn will occasionally stand 
 quite alone, itself introducing the sentence, as innak enta 'abit ! 
 with the same meaning as above. 
 
 § 578. 'ala inn is optionally used for inn _or le inn after qal, 
 iftakhar, khammin, yihsib, and verbs of similar import, as qulti 
 li 'ala innu mush rSdl you told n>e he irasn't icilling ; iftakarte 
 'ala inn il husan da betS,'ak T thought this Iwrse was yours ; bahsib 
 'ala innak ta'ban / thought you were tired. 
 
 § 579. The relative ma forms conjunctions with the pre- 
 positions 'ala, qabl, &c. (§ 245), or prepositions followed by 
 certain nouns, as 'ala bal ma ichilst, 'alashan ( = 'ala shan) or 
 'ashan ma, &o. It must in almost every case immediately pre- 
 cede the verb, so. that where the subject is expressed and pre- 
 cedes the verb it is separated from the rest of the compound, as 
 qabl ir ragil ma yigl ; 'abal ( = ala bal) il gawab ma yinkitib 
 until the letter is ivritten, kc, but we may, of course, say qable ma 
 yigi r ragil, &c.^ 
 
 Rbmaek a. — When used with tauw it should not in any case 
 be separated, nor is it, as a rule, when used with tul. 
 
 Remabk b. — Ma is added for emphasis to ketir, halbatt, and a 
 few other words, as ketir na mbasat, ma gena, &c. ; halbatte ma 
 yigt why, of course he'll come. 
 
 § 580. Tauw may take the pronominal suffixes, and means 
 with a past tense that the action has just been completed, or, 
 when followed by ma, as soon as it was completed, as tauwu gib 
 he has just come ; tauwu ma ruht as soon as you irent. With the 
 aorist it denotes as soon as an act is (will be) accomplished, as 
 tauwu ma yigt as soon as he comes. It should in the latter case 
 be accompanied by ma. The participle may be used in place of 
 the past tense, as lissa tauwuhum gayin ( = ma gum). 
 
 1 Ilia is not in fi'equent use. 
 
 2 It cannot be said that qable ma r ragil yigt is never heard, 
 but such an expression should not be imitated. 
 
THE INTERJECTIONS 325 
 
 THE ADVERBS 
 
 § 581. As has been seen (§§ 244, 336), substantives, adjec- 
 tives, and even verbs, may be used as adverbs. 
 
 § 582. Adverbs may qualify substantives as well as adjectives, 
 as huwa sahbl kettr he is a great friend of mine. 
 
 THE INTERJECTIONS 
 
 § 583. As an appendix to the list of interjections given in 
 the accidence, a few expressions used mostly among friends on 
 the occurrence of common events are here given.^ 
 
 To One Starting on a Journey 
 Tarlq is salama; ma' is saMma ; Rabbina^ yiwaddik bi 
 
 kMr. Reply — AlMh yisallimak ; in sha' Alia nshtifak (or nshftf 
 
 wishshak, wishshuku) fi kher. 
 
 Rabbina yitammim 'alSk bi kh§r. Reply — Allah yihfazak ; 
 
 Rabbina yigma'na 'aleku bi kher. 
 
 To One Returned from a Journey 
 Sall,mat ; hamdu li llah (or hamdilla) 'as salama ; wahashtina, 
 auhashtina.^ Reply — Allah yisallimak; wahashtina, to which 
 the person returned may reply — Allah yihfazak, yisallimak. 
 
 To -Congratulate 
 Mebarik (mubarak). Reply — Allah yibarik flk. 
 
 To One Leaving after a Visit, 
 Sharraftina. Reply — ihna Hi tsharrafna ; Allah yisharraf 
 
 qadrak; or 
 
 Anistina. Reply — Allah ye'ansak; Allah yitfaddal 'alek bi 
 
 1 khgr ; or 
 
 Nauwarte betna. Reply — Allah yihfazak ; or 
 
 Hasal lina s surur bi wgudkum. Reply — Allah yihfazak. 
 
 After Drinking (in a Friend's House) 
 II hamdu li lEh (saluting at the same time). Reply — Hant'an 
 (lukum), to which the drinker replies — Allah yihannlk (or hann&k 
 Aimh 3). 
 
 1 The meaning of the words which follow, if not already 
 given in the body of the grammar, will be found in the vocabu- 
 lary at the end. 
 
 2 Rabbina and Rabbuna are both said, the latter after the 
 literary. ^ Nahwyish. 
 
326 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 On Receiving a Cup of Coffee 
 Qahwa dayman. Eeply—dimit hayatak (or Rabbuna yidim 
 alek is satr). 
 
 After Eating 
 
 Inbasatte ktir min in akl. RejiliJ — bi sh shifa wi 1 'afya, to 
 which the fii-st replies — Allah yi'afik (or yi'afi badanak). 
 
 On Rising to Leave 
 
 'an iznak ; nista'zim ; min gher mu'akhiza. 
 
 To Express Thanks oe Gratitude 
 Kattar kherak ; mitshakkarln (mutashakkarin) ; kattar alf e 
 kherak ; ana mamnim min hadritkum u mutashakkar.i liejjly — ■ 
 kattar kherak ; il 'afw efendim ; istaghfar Allah. 
 
 To A Beggar (in place of a piece of money) 
 
 Ruh ! Allah yihannin 'alek ; yirzviq ; ruh, ya shekh, Allah 
 3'irzuqak ; Allah yi'tik, yiddik. 
 
 To Beg Pardon 
 Ma t'akhiznish (ma t'akhiznash . . . unish, &c.). Ilejjiy — il 
 'afwe ya sidi ; ma 'alesh ; la mu'akhza. 
 
 To AN Invalid 
 
 Shidde helak. Reply — ish shidde 'ala Ua. 
 
 Mush ahsan? Reply — il hamdu li llah ; Allah yisallimak. 
 
 On Inquiring after One's Health 
 
 Izzeyak? Reply — il hamdu li llah, taiyibin, &c. (or simply 
 il hamdu li llah).^ 
 
 On Meeting a Friend ^ 
 
 Naharak sa'td ; naharak sa'id u mbarak. Rep/ly^— the same 
 words. 
 
 Ahlan u sahlan. Reply — sahlan (or ahlan) bak. 
 
 ^ The Turkish expression barakat warsal o>- warsin (Turk. 
 versin) is still sometimes used, especially by the lower classes. 
 
 2 It is not Arabic to say ana taiyib, kattar kherak in reply to 
 an inquiry. Kattar kherak is not used in this way. Kattar 
 kherak illi sa'altinl would be correct and intelligible, but the 
 above are the proper replies. 
 
 3 A Mussulman greets another by the expression salam (or 
 is Salam) 'alekii. Reply — 'aleku s salam. 
 
THE INTEKJECTIONS 327 
 
 On Meeting a Fjbiend in the Evening 
 
 Allah yimasslk bi 1 kher, masstkft bi 1 kher i (§ 38). Reply 
 — masslkfl bi 1 kh^r wi s sa'ada. 
 
 Timsa 'ala kher. Reply — wi ntu mnahl ( — . min ahl) il kher 
 (or wi ntu mnahlu) ; timsfl 'ala kher (or bkher). 
 
 At Night 
 
 Leltak sa'lda (§ 326). Reply — same words. 
 Imsa 'ala kher we tisbah 'ala kher. 
 
 On Announcing a Death 
 
 II baraka ii hissak, hakaza halt id dinya (or Mi halt id 
 dinya) ; il 'umr it tawtlak (for it tawil lak) . . . akhuk mat, 
 husS,nak mat, &c. 
 
 To One about to Pbay 
 
 In sha' alia haraman. Reply — suhba (or gam 'a, or Rabbina 
 yigma'na) ; ^ or 
 
 Allah yitammin bi kher. Reply — in sha' allah, Rabbina 
 yisma' minnak u yitammim Una wi luknm bi kh&'. 
 
 To One who has Recovered from an Illness 
 Hamdilla 'as salama. Reply — Allah yisallimak. 
 
 To a Fiance 
 
 Mebarik. Reply — Allah yib&rik ftk ; 'uqba 1 'andak ( = li 
 'andak). 
 
 To Condole 
 
 II baraka fi hissak. Reply — Allah yibarik ftk. 
 
 On the Occasion of a Festival 
 
 Kulle Sana wi nta taiyib (or wi ntil taiyibin). Reply — kulle 
 'dm wi ntu bkhgr ; il 'id mebarik in sha llah. Reply — Rabbina 
 ye'M 'allna wi 'alek bi kher. 
 
 1 These expressions are hardly used by any but Copts and 
 women. 
 
 2 I.e. unite us in Mecca. These expressions are, of course, 
 only in use among Mussulmans. 
 
328 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 On the Bieth of a Child 
 Mabriik il maulfld.i Illi {i.e. God), gab lak yikhalll lak. 
 Reply— Allah yibarik flk ; Kabbina yiddlk (yi'ttk). 
 
 To A Father on the Death of a Chilc 
 Allah yi'auwad^ 'alek. Ee/jJy — ya mahsan 'awadu, halt id 
 dinya kede. 
 
 On an Avekted Mishap, or when a Thing has happily 
 
 TQENED OUT WeLL 
 
 Hasal kher ; il hamdu li llah illi gat sallma. 
 
 ORDER OF WORDS IN A SENTENCE 
 
 § 584. The rules as to the position of words in the sentence 
 will have already been gathered to some extent from the exer- 
 cises and examples, as well as from the remarks bearing directly 
 on the subject, but a short resume of them will not, perhaps, be 
 out of place. 
 
 {a) The subject, when definite, may either precede or follow 
 the verb, as ir ragil gih or gih ir ragil, ana ruht or ruht 
 a,na. 
 
 (b) When an indefinite singular, it very rarely precedes un- 
 less the indefinite article is expressed ; thus we should say gih 
 ragil, but we may say wahid ragil gih. Riggala gum is, how- 
 ever, not uncommon. 
 
 (c) When two or more verbs have the same subject the 
 subject may precede them all, follow the first, or follow them all, 
 as is sitta khadit ba'diha u rahit, or khadit ba'diha s sitt u 
 rahit, or khadit ba'diha u rahit is sitt. The last order is rarer 
 than the first and second. 
 
 {d) With only a few exceptions, the qualificative adjective 
 follows its noun whether definite or indefinite. 
 
 (e) The demonstrative pronouns almost invariably follow the 
 noun, but words may intervene between the noun and it, as il 
 mahill illi hna qa'dln flh dih this place in u-liich we are sitting ; 
 yeqdm ir ragil illi kan mashi dih. 
 
 1 When a mother is congratulated, -the following words are 
 often added : wi ttahrih wi tgauwizu fi hayatik we fi havat 
 abiih. 
 
 2 = 'auwadu llah ahsan 'awad. 
 
OEDEE OF WOEDS IN A SENTENCE 329 
 
 (/) Interrogatives, especially e (Sh), le, kam, mtn, and the 
 conjunction emta,i are usually at the end of the sentence. 
 
 (g) A verb is never in a strict sense preceded by its object, 
 but the object may be mentioned absolutely (for the sake of 
 emphasis or clearness) before the verb, and be represented and 
 so repeated after the verb by means of the pronominal suffix, as 
 ir ragil shuftu, never ir ragil shuft. 
 
 (h) When the subject follows the verb, the object and other 
 words as well may come between the two, though it is more usual 
 for the subject to be near the verb, as katab ir ragil il gawab, 
 or katab il gawab ir rSgil ; min ba'de ma khadit il khamsa 
 gineh il 'aguza after the old woman had taken the £5 ; qal lu 
 taiyib il Beh " good I " said the Bey. 
 
 ii) With verbs of giving, &c., the indirect object should 
 precede the direct as in English, unless the former is governed 
 by a preposition, when it may either precede or follow, as a'ta 1 
 walad il k6ra, but a'ta 1 k6ra li 1 walad, or a'ta li 1 walad il 
 kora. 
 
 (j) It is better in a conjunctive clause to place the verb 
 before its subject, whether definite or indefinite, especially 
 where there is another verb connected by the copulative ; thus 
 lamma gih ir ragil u shaf halt il walad is much preferable to 
 lamma r r&gil gih, &c. 
 
 iji) The auxiliary k^n may be separated from the principal 
 verb, as k&nit min qable fi 1 babur talabitu minnl she had asked 
 it of me before in the boat ; kan waqtiha abiiya fth 'andu shugl 
 my father was busy at that moment. 
 
 Rayih, rah, when used with the aorist, should not be separated. 
 
 (Z) The vocative may occur in the middle of the sentence, 
 even between subject and verb, as ana ya sidl ma 'amaltish haga ; 
 quite ya bittt fi nafst lazim tikhalliki qalbik gamid / said to 
 myself, My girl, you must keep a brave heart ; is sikka di ya gada' 
 tertih min hina 'ala fen ? where, my lad, does this road lead ? 
 ana ma ma'lsh ya kht fulus ; hSti ya bitte kursi. 
 
 (m) The adverbs kettr, qawi, follow in most cases the words 
 they qualify, as taiyib qawi, but kettr sometimes precedes. 
 Izzly in the sense of hoiv, to lohat degree, also follows an adjective, 
 as shuf rufaiya'in izzly see how thin they are, and is usually at 
 the end of the sentence, in accordance with rule (/), as mat 
 izzey ? &c. Others, as taqrtban about, tamallt always, may either 
 
 1 This is apparently due to Coptic influence — (S). The con- 
 junction mata ( = emta) always precedes, but it is very rarely 
 used. 
 
330 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 follow or precede an adjective which they qualify, as tamalll 
 nadtf or nadff tamalli, but they should follow when unemphatic. 
 
 (n) Adverbs should not intervene between subject and verb 
 or verb and subject unless very emphatic ; thus ir ragil qam 
 halan the man got up at once, but ir ragil halan qam (or qam 
 halan ir ragil) the man immediately got up ; so da halbatte ma 
 yisahhish that eefiiainly won't do , ana s sana dl mush rah asafir ; 
 huwa da'iman ^ tamalll yibqa 'aiyan.^ 
 
 (o) An emphatic word will often be put in a prominent 
 place, though its natural order would be elsewhere, as kan il 
 qadt meshaiya'il lu as to the Kadi, they had sent fw him ; ma 
 f ish fi 1 bet 'esh. 
 
 FIGURES OF SPEECH 
 
 ELLIPSE 
 
 § 585. By this figure we understand the omission of a word 
 or words, to be supplied from the general sense of the phrase. 
 The following are instances of its use : — 
 
 (a) The omission of the name of God in such expressions as 
 kattar kherak, in'al abuk.^ 
 
 (&) The verb qal is sometimes omitted in a narrative, as 
 giryit in nas ..." khabar eh ■' the people ran up (saying) 
 " What's the matter 1 " 
 
 (c) Usbur, or a word of similar sense, is often understood 
 before lamma, as gara Ihum eh ? Lamma s'alhum what's happened 
 to them ? Wait till (or Til tell you when) I have asked them. 
 
 (d) When the object, to which the action of the verb has 
 reference, has just been mentioned, and would, if referred to, 
 be represented by a pronominal sufiix if definite, or by wahid 
 if indefinite, it is frequently omitted altogether, as ana qulti I'ak 
 tigib li 1 kitab da ; leh ma gibtish / tokl^ you to bring me that 
 hoolc ; v]hy didn't you bring it ? 'auz kursi ? Ewa, hat do you loant 
 a chair ? Yes, bring one. 
 
 (e) Words are omitted in a few other expressions of com- 
 mon occurrence, as the nouns sinln and 'alqa (a beating) in ibne 
 'ashara, iddi lu ; khad bOh, basha (for rutbit beh, &c.) ; innama 
 haga ; * kefak (for 'ala kefak) as you li/ie ; 'andu uluf he has 
 
 1 Notice the accent. 
 - - Notice the difference between shakwitu tamalli ma tinfa'sh- 
 and shakwitu ma tinfa'she tamalli. 
 
 3 As in English Bless you I Curse you 1 
 
 * Mais il y a une chose ; c'e una cosa. 
 
EUPHEMISM 331 
 
 thousands {of pounds), is very^ rich; mush 'auz yidaiya' he doesn't 
 loish to- spend {money); id dinya nawiya (or nawi'ya 'alanlya) the 
 weather is threatening. Fih moiya gadde tftlen {i.e. tul raylon). 
 Sa'id and kherak are often said in reply to naharak sa'ld and 
 kattar khgrak with an ellipse of the first word.i 
 
 § 586. The form of ellipse called brachylogy of comparison 
 is illustrated by such expressions as qimtu ragil its height is 
 that of a man (for qimtu qimit rftgil) ; wishshu na'im zeyi 1 
 hartm his face is soft like a woman's ; so san'itu naggar his trade 
 is that of a carpenter ; hilif 'aleha bi t talaq inniha ma tf utsh il 
 bgt = qal laha ma tffttlsh il bet we hilif 'aleha bi t talftq iza 
 f§,titu. 
 
 EUPHEMISM 
 
 § 587. The avoiding of unpleasant or unlucky words by 
 others more propitious, sometimes implying the exact opposite, 
 is an idiom not unknown to Arabic. Instances are : — 
 
 Iddt lu 1 ma'liim give him Ms present or- bi-ibe {you Ttnow what) ; 
 itwakkil {so. 'ala 11a) to go away (lit. commend one's self to God) ; 
 khud il malyan take away the full {cup), meaning the empty one ; 
 itwaffa (tuwuffi) die.^ 
 
 A person saying an unpleasant thing to another, or of an- 
 other, will often address him, or speak of him in the latter case, 
 as il bi'ld (or il ab'ad) the far, the farthest one, to avert the evil 
 from himself or from the person addressed, as ya kalb il ab'ad 
 you dog ; yin'al abu 1 bi'ld curse your father ; ikrush il ab'ad dih 
 drive away this felloiv ; akhkh il ab'ad mat his brother has died.^ 
 
 Bid 'anni and bid 'annak ( = bi'ld 'annl, &c., i.e. ish sharr 
 the evil) are used for the same purpose, as huwa bi'aiyat leh ? 
 'ashan bid 'annak m&t abuh. 
 
 A man generally speaks of his wife as gama'itna (or il 
 gama'a 'andina), and occasionally as beti (or able beti, or fami- 
 llyite) ; * so gama'tak, &c., your loife ; wiladi may include the 
 whole family — wife as well as children. 
 
 The word baySd whitewash is used for zift pitch. A house 
 should not be spoken of as maqful.s 
 
 1 See also §§ 261, 300, 313, 357. 
 
 ^ It is paralleled by the word defunct. 
 
 ' Comp. il 'umre tawllak, above. 
 
 * Pamillyiti is after the Turk, familyam, and rarely used by 
 the uneducated. 
 
 ^ Zift will be used, of course, by those who have to deal with 
 it. " II bet maqful " might imply that there had been a death 
 in it. The word menafi'ad should be used. 
 
332 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 RHYME, USE OF SIMILAR SOUNDING WORDS, AND 
 ALLITERATION 
 
 § 588. This figure occurs : — 
 
 (a) When words of the same origin, but of different parts 
 of speech, are placed together, as will naturally happen in a 
 language where most words are derived from a verb root. Thus 
 there is nothing clumsy in such expressions as darabuh darba ; 
 qismit il qiama. innl fate decreed that I . . . huwa meqiwil wahid 
 'ala meqaula he has made a contract with one; ish shey&l shal ish 
 shela the porter carried the burden ; wahid 'abid biyi'bid Rabbuna 
 fi 1 gabal yiwahliidu a hermit ^corshipping the Lord in the vioun- 
 tain, and declaring His Unity ; yimtur il matar it rains ; yirga' 
 margu'na li our story noio reverts to (lit. oiir returned returns) ; il 
 katib katab il kitab the writer (clerk) wrote tlie lorit ; ^ nor will an 
 effort be made in any case to avoid the similarity of sound by 
 using a synonym. ^ 
 
 (&) In proverbs and other expressions where the rhyming of 
 two or more words serves to impress the meaning of the whole 
 sentence on the memory ; e.g. ma ya'rafshe bu'u min kti'u he 
 does not know his right hand from his left (lit. the bone of his toe 
 from his elbow); kulle ma hasal wasal, i.e. every little helps; il 
 insan fi t tafktr wi r Rabbe fi t tadblr, i.e. man proposes and, 
 God disposes ; lisanak husanak wi n suntu sanak your tongue is 
 your horse ; take cure of it, and it loill take care of you. 
 
 (c) Where a particular word is emphasised by another or 
 others of similar sound rhyming with it, but not necessarily ex- 
 pressing the same sense, or indeed any sense at all. The second 
 word is often identical with the first, but appears with a new 
 initial letter, generally m,^ and often in a lengthened form ; e.g. 
 la yi'raf kalam wala salam (of a boor) ; dakhal la dastur wala 
 hudiir he entered leitliout asking pe)'mission (saying dastlir) or 
 announcing his piresence, i.e. irithont ceremony ; la fesh wala 'al^sh, 
 i.e. loithout any result ; h6s dos piell-mell ; khalta balta confusedly, 
 topsy-turvy ; la Iha nafa' wala shafa' of no use or advantage ; ma 
 'andlsh wala b^t wala ghot, i.e. / am homeless and p)enniless ; ana 
 ragil min bett li gheti, i.e. simple . isme bala gism ; iddinya baqat 
 
 ^ La yu'qal li 'aqle 'aqil is a favourite phrase among the 
 educated. 
 
 2 Gibna 1 gibna loe have broiujht the cheese would be more 
 pleasing to the ear than haddarna 1 gibna. 
 
 2 Of. Harut and Mariit, the names of two rebel angels. The 
 Koranic names for Cain and Abel are Qabil and Habil. 
 
PLEONASM AND TAUTOLOGY 333 
 
 kulliha 'osa u losa nothing but dirt and mud in the streets ; ma 
 shuftish wala r&gil wala tagin, i.e. no one and nothing ;'^ tamalll 
 qayim nayim (till in nahar fi betu) of a stay-at-home ; wala fayda 
 wala 'ayda of no use or profit (i-eturn) ; h&lan b&lan at once ; haudat 
 u laud^t hends and curves ; dus dughrl 2 in a straight line ; tannu- 
 lium yikkallimil fi haqq in nas we yeqfllu qffl u qll u qulna u kSn 
 u filto wi 'illan u tirtan they loent on gossiping about people and 
 saying, " A.e said," and " it loas said," and " we said," and "lie teas," 
 and " su/ih a one," and " so and so ; " wala kitS,b wala mitab ma fish 
 there is no book, noi' anything like a book ; dauwarte 'aleb fi salqat 
 u malqat I searched for him up hill and down dale ; kulle hin u 
 min every now and then ; ma 'andish shughla wala mashghiila / 
 have nothing whatever to do ; la she' wala mashwe' nothing lohat- 
 ever ; ma fish hadde wala mahdiid wala she' wala mashwe' no- 
 body and nothing ; hSga mihtaga something or other ; itmalSna 
 turab ihna u halna u mihtalna (or mihtiyalna) loe laere covered 
 with dust as well as everything belonging to us ; bala k&ni wala 
 mani, i.e. don't talk nonsense ; ma tuq'udshi tqul 11 la kani wala 
 m^ni wala dukk&n iz zalab&nl (or il fakharanl). 
 
 So great is the love for rhyme, that grammar is sometimes 
 sacrificed for it, as itghadda tmadda (for itmadd), it'ashsha it- 
 mashsha, i.e. after dinner rest awhile, after supper loalk a mile ; 
 birgalatak birgalatak halaqa dahab fi widanatak ; ' 161a 1 kasura 
 ma kanit il fakhura.'' 
 
 PLEONASM AND TAUTOLOGY 
 
 § 589. This figure is naturally very common in a rich 
 language like the Arabic, where the same idea can be dressed 
 in manifold garbs. It is due usually to the desire of the speaker 
 to make his meaning clear by repeating it in different words, 
 or by translating a nahwy term into its corresponding dctrig, or 
 vice versa. As in other languages, it is much more prevalent 
 in the talk of the lower classes than in that of the educated ; 
 e.g. dakhalna gfiwa fi d duklsan (where dakhalna fi d- dukkan 
 or dukhalna d dukkan would express the same sense) ; so kharag 
 barra ; kan sabaq qablu ( = sabaqu) ; dughrl fi 1 hal immediately ; 
 fi awan waqt is sef in the summer season ; ma benna u ben ba'd ; 
 
 1 They say of a bachelor, la 'andu mara wala tagin. 
 
 2 Turkish. 
 
 ^ See Exercise XIII. 
 
 * Above, § 535 e. Kasura, though used by foreigners (for 
 kasr), is not Arabic. 
 
334 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 rigi' tanl he returned ; moiyit il maward ivse water ; ahsan ziyada 
 heiter ; basse faqat only ; lamma shafha qa'da galsa heriak lohen he 
 saw her fitting there ; rasamhum 'ala hasab taswirit surit bani 
 Adam he drew them in tlie form of men ; da'iman tamallt always ; 
 ya'ni ma'naha / mean, that is to say , kaffit kulle haga every single 
 thing ; la budde min innl le inni aruh it is imioerative that I go ; 
 'ashan ikminnu mush 'auz because he doesn't want, kan ahsan 
 lazim teruhi you should have gone ; in sha' Alia Rabbuna yirzuqak 
 bi walad jplease God, the Lord will give you a son; wahdanl li 
 wahdu quite alone by himself ; ana mara 'azba we gozi mat / am 
 a icidoiv woman, and my husband is dead;^ mabsut min qol 
 kalamu ^jZeaseJ with his loords ; gallabiyitha kanit izzeyiha? ichat 
 was her robe like ? baqa lazim tequl 11 'ala 1 kalam id dughri we 
 'ala 1 kalam is sahih we ti'mil ma'ruf tequl li qol sharaf — il waqt 
 illi ruhte fih kan f ani waqt?^ Wahid yom gih il bashmu- 
 handiz gih hina fi 1 bet — kan hadir il khawaga lamma gih, u 
 waqtiha lamma gih ma kanshe maugud Salim hina kan rah fi d 
 diwan waqtiha is sa'a tamanya kede. We amma 1 bashmu- 
 handiz lamma gih kanit ya sidi is sa'a titla' ya'ni taqriban tis'a 
 au tis'a u rub'e kede, izzeyak,* u lamma gih . . ^ Rikib husanu 
 we tannu mashl huwa wi 1 khaddam beta'u we s sftyis beta'u we 
 tannu m^shi 'ala betu u nizil fi 1 bet beta'u.* 
 
 § 590. The words baqa, qam, beta', ya'ni, izzeyak, absar eh, 
 as we have seen, are often slovenly inserted without adding to 
 the force of the words, but the first two, though generally merely 
 expletives, sometimes add a nervousness or elegance to a sentence 
 which is lost in a literal translation. To these we may add 
 ma takhiznlsh (for ti'akhizntsh) excuse my saying so {jpassez moi 
 ce mot), an expression frequently employed, especially when the 
 speaker is addressing a superior, without any reason ; ti'raf you 
 Itnoio ; qal, yeqiil he said, says he (in a narrative) ; walla haga or 
 something, as mush kunte yom min dol dakhalte fi betu walla 
 h§,ga didn't -you go into his house one day or something? 
 
 Remark a. — Ti'raf (or ta'raf) and qal, yequl are by no means 
 as commonly used as their equivalents in European languages, 
 but the latter are often used after verbs of asking, ordering, (fee, 
 converting an indirect into a direct sentence, as sa'alha we qal 
 
 1 A mixture of ideas. The expression is a very common one 
 
 2 Of. 2 Sam. xiv. 5. 
 
 5 Notice the mixture of construction. 
 
 * See below, § 590. 
 
 * The last sentences illustrate the prolixity of the lower 
 classes. 
 
PLEONASM AND TAUTOLOGY 335 
 
 laha lie ashed her, saying . . . ; yigi yutlub min abuli we yequl 
 lu , . . 
 
 Remark b. — The use of ism in such expressions as the 
 following may here be noticed : da ismu bet ! do you call that a 
 house ? is that a house ? dl ismiha 'arabiya ! call that a carriage I 
 yibqa ismak ghalabtinl so you have beaten me or it is a ease of 
 your having beaten me. 
 
 § 591. The words masal (or masalan) for example and bard 
 (or bard), with the pronominal suffixes, are often repeated 
 several times in the same sentence, as lau masalan rah min 
 'andak masalan Mga {/, for instance, you {fen- instance) lost some- 
 thing ; bardu ya sidt z§ye bardu ya'ni bardu ma fish mani' 
 bardina niqdar ni'mil kede. 
 
 § 592. Repetition may intensify or convey a plural notion, 
 as dughri dughrt quite straight ; bukiu bukra to-morrow "as even' 
 is " ; min barra barra straight away ; iskut sftkit feejj quiet ; hasal 
 hasal it has assuredly hapjxned ; ^ illi katabtu katabtu ; ^ wfthid 
 wahid one by one ; humma wiskhln wiskhtn ; emta emta (or emta u 
 emta) yigi? fen u fen rfi,h? " wJiere and oh where ? " fen hayhat u 
 hayhat lamma nsh-ftfak marra = kulle hin u hin marra; hitta 
 hitta, piece by pnece (§106); ikwam ikwam m heaps; kharramu 
 khrum khurum pierce it all over with holes ; 'Cid il qasab yibqa kullu 
 'uqal 'uqal a stick of sugar cane is full of notches ; fidil yidrab 
 yidrab yidrab flh he kept striking him one blow after another; 
 yikhaiyat, yikhaiyat, yikhaiyat, stitching, stitching, stitching ; fi. 1 
 ahsan we ahsan we aktar we aktar minnu. 
 
 § 593. The principal clause is very frequently repeated with 
 a temporal conjunction by way of introducing a new event 
 consequent upon the first, as qa'adit Mya ; ba'de ma qa'adit gih 
 abuha she sat doion, as soon as she had sat clmon her father came ; 
 dakhalt il b^t, lamma dakhalt il bet shuft ... I went inside the 
 house, when I went inside the house I saw . . . 
 
 1 Or it has happened, and there is an end of it. 
 
 2 "o -j/iypatfia yeypatfia. 
 
EXEECISES ON THE SYNTAX 
 
 Kan labis badlit id diwan. Ir rikabat yitrakkibu fi z zukham 
 wi 1 ligam fi r ras ig gild, i^at 11 Jbitta hittiten sukkar. i.<Mush 
 tis'alni su'al bi 1 ma'ruf ? f^' ragil it taiyib yiban min kalamu u 
 min wishshu. Kan -wahid miggauwiz wahda ismiha Sitt abtiha. 
 Fatah qahwit hashish, ^^a ragil ya qahwagi hat lina kam fingan 
 qahwa. Qanasil Fransa wi 1 Misk6f . Ir ragil il qahwagi qaddim 
 lu 1 lahm wi mi'u 1 'esh wi 1 malh. Qui 11 'ala mas'alt il binte 
 dt. v^en il goz il hamam ? Raddum humma 1 kull it talata we 
 qalu..^ Kan mabnl 'aleh sur min il bnlad. v^Rabatu 1 qol waiya 
 ba'd we qalu. Ana ma yisahhish innt arkab il husan 'ala sarge 
 halfa ; illi zeyinna ma yirkabshe 'ala s suriig il halfa. ii^amma 
 tikhlas min shughl il bet. t^^iiwa dilwaqtl fi 'izze buliighu. i^Jl 
 usul 'anduhum lamma 1 wahid yiddaiyif 'anduhum yigibii lu 1 
 qahwa. Hatte. Idu fi gebha, fi geb il gallablya 1 atlas beta'itha. 
 Enta tirkab fi 1 'arablyit il kubbel we ana rkab fi 1 hantur. 
 'aleha hagat fadda. Kal labis badlit it tashrifa. Kan fi idha 
 qirtas melabbis. Fidil il qirtas il melabbis fi idha. Ilbis mal- 
 busatak il harlr. v Ishtarena toben talata shash min ish shash il 
 marmar. Sheyah lina itnashar kurst min il kharazan au min 
 il karasi 1 'ada illi mafriishln bi 1 qashsh il akhdar. Santyit 
 'asha kibtra wi tishte hammam.y^Tahafna Iha hittit suhbit warde 
 kuwaiyisa. Tishten talata ghasil li 1 hidum min il kubar wi 
 saniyit fanagll min in nahas 'ashan shurb il qahwa, we h6n 
 hagar luzum il matbakh. v<D61 asluhum gayln min il barr il 
 gharbl illi hiiwa gharb il Glza. vBa'de ma tallaqitha iddatha 
 waraqit talaqha. v^ Gabu lu. dulmit qar' we dvilmit bedingan we 
 lahmit kabab mistiwlya fi s samn. v Kunte fi' safariyit is Sudan ? 
 II kanun il 'arabt huwa mabnt min it tub we 1 hugara, we amma 
 1 kaniin il afrangi huwa hadid. '^Yutbukhum fi hilal min nahas u 
 f Ih nas yutbukhum fi bram f ukhkhar . Hat It shuwaiyit zet salgam . 
 u- Lamma tirkhas il mulukhlya yibqa r ratle fiha bi 'ishrln fadda 
 ta'rtfa. Yegibu r ratlun il mulukhlya 'ala shan il khamas sitt 
 unfus yikaffthum 'asha wi ftur. Khalli n uar mewalla'a taht il 
 lialla lamma tighli 1 moiya.^Yisluqn 1 bed fi 1 moiya. Yifrumu 
 
EXERCISES ON THE SYNTAX 337 
 
 1 lahm f6q tabltya khashab au qurma khashab. viTen ratlen il 
 khashab illi ddgthum lak? Dif 'aleh guz'e min is sukkar we 
 guz'e min is samn. ^1 hulqan il hadld. ^Hat li 1 fursha sh sha'r. 
 'ala sbahha dibla dahab bi gdlla. Yeduqqu 1 filfil fi 1 gurn il 
 iiagar au fi gtirn rukham au khashab we yedishshu 1 fill fi 1 
 rahaya 1 hagar. [JEs sahn il fill in nabit. Yebillu 1 f iil fi 1 moiya 
 u ba'dSn yisaffilh, lamma yinabbit, min moiyitu. t<£ulle yom 
 yishtiru 'gsh 'ala qaddi kfSyit il 'ela.^'^Fi 'andak ma'laqten 
 fadda ? Ish shuwaiyit il malh wi t tumnit ir ruzz illt gibtuhum 
 min is siiq h&tithum fen? ixishtirl 11 shuwaiyit lamfln min il 
 baladi. widdi lu 1 kuz il moiya. ^t tabtkh kan mahtut fi qalbe 
 tSgin fukhkhar. "Wazant il kilt i id dura ? wHat Una n nusse 
 qadah ir ruzz. QCitit Iskandartya zayda fi 1 halawa wi fi t ta'm 
 we fi 1 kubr 'an qfttit il gharb, wi ahsan minha fi s salatat wi fi 
 t tablkh. Yebt'u 1 lubya il qadah fiha bi qershen sagh au bi 
 tal§,ta sagh. Illi yebi'u 1 basal il akhdar yenadii 'aleh fi s sikak, 
 yeqiilu: "ahlamin il 'asal ya basal." Ma f Ish fi betu tushut ghasil 
 idSn. vTehibb il fitir abu zet ? Taiyib, iddini talatt arba' fatayir 
 ummat samn we fitirtSn itnen ummat zet. ^n nas illt 'anduhum 
 il qersh 'anduhum isMb.v^Min is sana li s sana. Kan mit- 
 hazzim bi shamlit silf fi wustu. Minhum yilbisu 1 qumsan il 
 ghazlt we yilbisum il 'azba ^ f 6q rushum ; wi minhvim yilbisuhum 
 min harir, wi minhum yilbislihum min qutne hindl. II fingan 
 il qahwa s sada bi 'ishrln ta'rtfa, wi 1 fingan il qahwa 1 hilw abu 
 sukkar bi qershe ta'rtfa. t^Iddtni mihlit khamast iyam. i^l hawa 
 hawa matar. v<[Iumma gharqanin fi n n6m. Khadu n nom. 
 Khadha 1 bard. Ana kutte 'aiyan bi sh shams. ,^Iiiwa 
 btfauwit zam^nu bi 1 li'b. Khud lak shuwaiyit ramla min 
 il beda. Ihna msafrtn fi babiir il 'asr. i/Hiya dakhalit 
 fi 1 khamstn. II hawa ddauwar li qiblt. Wilad il haram 
 yi'rafu ba'd. Ir r&gil da tamallt 'andu ziyadit kalam. vlhna 
 'auztn nas able khibra yikshifu 'ala 1 bet. Humnia tnen we 
 htiwa taiithum. Iddanl talatt^shar hitta bi qershenat we 
 talat hitat bi 'asharat. Li bni adam minna lu rbe'ln shabah. 
 Ma sh'uftush min sa'it abuya ma rah. v^Fuqari.t eh ! 'anduhum 
 gib^l fultis. Id dinya harriha shidtd wi namusha kitir. Adi 
 sabab ma ruhtish ana. Kulliha bi sifat taqriban. Kanit mak- 
 shflfa 1 wish'sh. Mesafit ma yistiwi 1 bed akiin nizilt. Mit- 
 yassar minhum gih u mityassar minhum ma gash. Id dinya n 
 nahar da barde zIyi s simm. Humma kulluhum mamriidin il 
 gism. Kan mi'ah bartda umme shutfa. Shuf wishshi r rigil 
 abilk^tu dih. Qumna s sa'a khamsa afrangt. Is sur' it tahtSnt 
 
 1 I.e. kelit. ^ Or 'asba. 
 
338 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 illi huwa luziim il ligam. vll kalam ^ da kan nahar il hadd. '^a'ad 
 'andu mesafa li ba'd id duhr. Rlsha min fadda u rislia min dahab. 
 -^Min hiya 1 kibira flhum. II amri lak ^ ya malik is sa'^da. Gab 
 luhum mahrama qasab. Gat kihum il hurma 1 khatba. We 
 humma 1 goz il khel it taqm illi 'alehum min in nalias lasfar, 
 we 'ala kulle ras husan malirama, ya'nt litnen khel 'ala rashum 
 mahramten, wi 1 itnen styas kanu labsln badla mulki bi s 
 sideriyat il qasab u bi t tarablisat il harir u bi 1 kufflyat il 
 hartr-. II ashyat il ma'kulat yeqaddimuba kulliha li 1 ma'&ztm. 
 Shuf li 'arabtya bi guz khel nudaf. Kaffit ma yekun luzum il 
 farah. Iz zaffa k^nit il 'isha nahar il itnen ma' lelt it talat. 
 II wilad dol wahid fuq ras wfthid, ya'ni wahid ibne tamanya we 
 Wahid ibne 'ashara we wahid ibne itnashar sana. Hat It kursi 
 au itnen, huttuhum fi 1 balakon. Ir ragil goz il marra min dol. 
 Qallibu 'ag ganben. Lonu hamar bi safar. Illi yebi' il gazar 
 yeliffe fi 1 hawarl we yinadl wi yequl : " ya ruml ya 'asal ya 
 gazar sukkar." 'M il qasab till ir ragil au tul ragil u nuss. 
 'auz qadde eh ugritha? Hittit it tir'a di ya tara '6m walla 
 khod? 'arabtya bi hsan fard. Baqa gismu moiya. Ahsan 
 minnu t taq itnen. Id dinya harri shdtd. Ziyadt il kher 
 kheren. II kidbe ma lush riglen. Ma kanshe lazim tequl li 1 
 kalam da 1 kidb. Da wahid zimllu. II iyam dol barde kitir. 
 Indah li wahid min il bults. Kan yaurlya tnen wara 1 khidewi 
 mbarih. Rigi' bi tdu fadya. Kanu n nas waqtiha 1 ma'azim 
 qaydln fi udt il mesafrtn, wi 1 be kan qa'id waiyahum sahib il 
 farah. Hittiten khalakhtl fl rigleha. vis sa'ayda luhum kalam 
 gins. Shufna hittit nitfit binte fulla khalis, lakin 'aleha goz 'iyim 
 u goz khidud zeyi 1 bannilra, nagafa khalis.' Qui It 'ala matMbak. 
 
 II 
 
 Intl beyina waltya taiyiba min bet nas taiyibln. Ranlya 
 stambilll kuwaiyisa w ishun slni. Kan malfflf 'ala 1 kurbao- 
 min ba'de haga min il hartr. Hutte dol fi qalb is sultantya s 
 stnt. Walla'u 1 'ishrin shama'a liskandarant. II maul'ud bint 
 mush walad. Farraghu s sahn li n niswan il ma'aztm kulliha. 
 Fadil khamas sitte khirfan wi talatt arba' 'ugfil gtmus lissa ma 
 ndabaMsh. Igtama'u n nas wilad il balad il agnlya wi 1 fuqai-a 
 kulluhum. Yilbisum hidumhum in nudaf wi yeduru fi 1 balad 
 Hat shuwaiyit filfil madqfiqtn. Is salatat il afrangtya ahsan 
 mm kulle haga. In nas il fransawtya wi t talyantya mistani- 
 
 1 See § 1, note 2, and S 29, Rem. 
 - Or 4mre lik, but not amri lik. 
 
EXERCISES ON THE SYNTAX 339 
 
 yinak. II halla yekun mahtut fi 'arriha shuwaiyit samii wi 
 shwaiyit diqlq sughaiyara. Is sa'a baqat me'allaqa fi 1 het bi 
 masamli' tuw&l haddMl. Ni'mil lak salata ruml wala 'arabl? 
 Is sittS,t il 'usmalM yirkabu 'arablylt kubbll. II khiyam man- 
 suba walla lissa? Ihna ma nilbls qumsan ghazlt. Timshi 
 tamalli bi rigleha hafl. Yequlii le inne y6m il khamls we yom 
 litnen humma as'ad u mabriikln min iyam il gum'a kulliha, 
 leinn ibwdb is sama tibqa mfattaha, wi za k&n il insan yequm 
 masal fi ISlt ig gum'a fi nuss il IM we yisalU lu rak'iten we 
 yittillib min Allah le innu yekun sa'id, huwa wi mratu u wladu, 
 yimkin Rabbuna yiqbal miiinu. II hitan betil' il fallahtn 
 qusaiyara ma tkunshe tawtla. Enta hm&ya miskofl ? II 'usye dol 
 kulliha 'lig. Saqena 1 husan 'ala akhir sui-'. P&dil khamas daqayiq 
 'ad duhr. Iddlni shuwaiyit gibna rftml. Iz zubb&t d61 tubglya 
 walla saw&rt? Ishtaret iswira min wahda mara swalUya. 
 Darabflhum kulle wahid darba mufrid. Til'um meqabbil. 1)61 
 n3,s turk we laghwithum turkt. Milaya riggall qutn. II kilma 
 dl sirrt ma benna. Iddinl 1 kam qersh illl 'andak. Abyad il 
 'gsh ya qashatt ! 
 
 Ill 
 
 Intam beyintn nas taiyibin we umara ktir qawi. Enta 
 bitiqbad mahtyitak fi akhir ish shahr au fi auwilha ? II ma'ruf 
 wi t taiyib illl 'amaltu waiy^k inta kamSn lazim ti'milu fi 1 
 wilad d61. Id dinya wahla qawi n nahar da. Min hiiwa 1 kibli' 
 betahhum ? Baqa lu talattn sana fi khidmit il mtrt. Kan l&bis 
 iswid we rakib himaru bi 1 maqliib. Huwa btfauwit zam^nu 
 fi 1 farigh. Is sikka tinzil li 1 wati we titla' li 1 'ali, ya'ni 
 kulliha nuqar. Huwa hiring! w^hid sharrtb fi 1 hashish. Ihna 
 n naharda fi d dunya we bukra fi 1 akhra. Enta ta'raf 'arabl 
 'annl. Hat waraq busta min abu talata mallin. Fidilte henak 
 kitlr? La', basse shahr itnen kede. Kanit sayqa 'arablya b 
 arba'a khel. 
 
 IV 
 
 Ana nta mb^rih il had qulti It le innak bukra tibqa tfakkarni. 
 Kan waqtiha minabbih 'alena le innak tehaddar is sanadlq is 
 sa'a sitta ba'd id duhr. Ihna glr^n wi 1 bet betahhum ganbe 
 bitna, wi hna l' kulle saknln fi Mra wahda. Itfaddal qui li 
 alSha, htya gh il mas'ala dt? Basse adi Hi hna 'auzlnu minnak. 
 Adi nta shayif ir rSgil da 111 huwa 'ammiha. Gih yishtaghal 
 'andina u bardu kattar kheru illi msheya'u. Taiyib adin 'Lrift 
 il mas'ala hiya eh. II khashab dih rayhtn ti'milu foqu eh? 
 Qal lu: "ya akhl ma fish matrah anam flh?" Qal lu : "leh 
 ya sldi?" Qal lu : "ana gharlb we 'auz matrah abat flh." 
 
340 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 'andina hikaya ghartba. Eh Mya ? Haddiitit is sultan wi hmlru. 
 Min yi'mil li sh shughla dl ? 'andl min yi'milha lak. Quddamu 
 sikkit is salama we sikkit in nadama we sikkit illi yerflt ma 
 yirga'sh ; fi rah hiiwa min is sikka illi ma haddish yirga' minha. 
 It tami' yeqille ma gama'. Simi'te hisse niswan beyitkhanqum 
 waiya ba'd. Izzey inta ma ntash 'arif illi 'auzinu? Ma ntish 
 nasya haga? La', ma fish haga nasyaha. II husan beta'na 
 rakbah hlya. II humar gih fi riglu zalata. Iddenaha min 
 kaffit ma yilzimha. Qui lina 'al mahr illi ntii 'auzinu kam. 
 [Ui hna hasal ish sharaf bi wgudhum. Idehum humma litngn 
 fi ba'duhum. Laqiihum kulluhum maugudin humma t talfita, 
 illi qft'id 'ala kursi wi 111 q&'id 'ala diwan — kulluhum qa'dln. 
 Hlya ma hish bintukum ? ewa ya sittl ; taiyib ana 'arfa Iha 
 Wahid 'arls kuwaiyis. Ana basma' kulle min kan beyishkur fth 
 kitir qawt. Qal liha : " hagit eh illi qadetiha Ina ? " Nihaytu 
 eyuha wahda minhum wi s salam illi tigl 'andik qvili Iha. Eyin 
 kan wahid minhum yigl 'andak minhum tibqa tis'alu 'an il 
 mas'ala. Shftf 'auzin eh. II mahall illi hna qa'dln flh dih. 
 Mahu ana ma rdltshe agl 'ash&n mikhtishl. U ba'den il walad 
 ummu r^hit lu we qalit lu. Qal 11 : " inta 'auz kam qersh ? " Ya 
 saMm u sallim ya khl wi 1 ugra dl ketlr 'aleya. Flh min il 
 'al u min id dun. Wi 1 'arablyat hammiluhum il 'arbaglya. 
 Dl shihadt in niswan kulliha zur ; yimkin yekun minhum 
 'ashara ma tisduqshe minhum wahda. Ma tibqlsh teshlll haga 
 tqlla tekun teqlla qawi. Fi -auwul lela ma twaladit il bint. 
 Ahl il bint ma kanshe 'anduhum khabar. Hatifdal il haga 
 mi'ah ilia ma sha Allah. Minhum nas yirkabum khiyul wi 
 ykunum labstn minhum yekun labis id dimlr wi sh shirwal, 
 we minhum yekun labis il mantal&n lafrangl ; u minhum yir- 
 kabum ibgh&l u minhum yirkabum hamlr. Kulle ma hadde 
 yigl ye'aiyid 'alehum wi yequl luhum : " kulle sana wi ntum 
 taiyibln." II kharftf minhum yekun bi qarnen kub&r wi yeku- 
 num zahrln min rasu. Kulle manhu minhum yishtirl lu akl 
 'ala hasab marghubtu. Min ba'de nas min il fallahln k&nu 
 mashyin wuste sikka min sikak Masr beyiftikiru innuhum fi 
 ghltanhum, fe das 'alehum 'arablya. Ma tiftikirshe le inne 
 linsan min in nas il fuqara iza nzalam shakwitu ma tinfa'sh. 
 Iddlhum qadde mahum 'auzln. Illi yekun Mdir luhum yidra- 
 buhiim bu. Yehuttii min il malh f6q min' il ful. Dlf 'aleh 
 ba'dishe filfil. Nas min il Igrig khanquh. Is sikka illi ghgtt 
 minha rilhi ftha. Kafiit ma yilzim in kan min suhun walla miia 
 kubbayat. Minhum nfts yekun il maulud 'azlz 'anduhum yeliffuh 
 fi hittitSn khulqan. II wiltya 111 hlya waqfa quddamak. II 
 hakim ma 'irifsh il 'aiya Hi huwa 'aiyan buh. Wassa' in naqb 
 
EXERCISES ON THE SYNTAX 341 
 
 'ala qadde ma yefdt ir ragil minnu. II matara nizlit zeyi d 
 durbesh illi yekun nazil min Mtit bet blhiddiiha. Yiddaru f 
 hitta watya tkiin asliha birka. II kalbe tamalli yebibbe yeruh 
 •waiya sahbu matrah ma yimshl. Euh matrab ma yi'gibak. 
 Kulle sbg luh waqt. Waddlha tani matrah ma gibtiha. II 
 wahid al'an min it tani. Ana baqul lak t6r,'teqiil ihlibu.i Is 
 sanA dl harriha shdid. La gawabak wish wala gawabl. Illi 
 yisraq il beda yisraq il farkha. II qirde 'ande ummu ghazSl. 
 Fth efendiyat id darig beta'hum shuwaiya lahsan in nas yiftikir-u 
 innuhum 'ammlya. Ma mi'lsh fulfts ilia dol.' In kan ana walla 
 nta wetbid zeye bardu. Ma qal llsh 'ala min (or 'ala Hi, 'alii) 
 darabu. D61 nSs agniya. Agnlyit eh ? Illi 'anduhum khamsin 
 shahrl mush ismuhum ghun^y. 'auz askun fi eye bet in kan. 
 'auz tishtirl li dawaya. Min ani dukk^n ? min gy in kan wfihid, 
 ya'ni min eyiha dukkan in kanit. Shuf lina gyiha bet in Mn 
 'ash^n is sakan. Kulluhum ausakh min ba'd. Ana 'auz sagara 
 labakh. Taiyib wi dt sagarit labakh. 'aizln nekhushshe fi gnintak 
 nedauwar 'ala kilra gat fiha. Da she yi'lamu AMh. Hilwa na 
 batkh&niq waiySku ? Da wahid ma ya'raf she Mga. Min hiiwa ? 
 Da Ui hina fi Magr. Lazim timna'u 'an kede. La', bi khlaf 
 kede. Adi 11 ihna 'auzlnu. Ba'dishe gih wi 1 baqt ma g&sh. 
 Akhilya 'andu tumnemit gingh. Basma' inne dt ifti'ala. Yimkin 
 mauwitu hadde yekun yiqrab lu. lilt gab da 'auz wash Ana 
 basma' kulle min k^n beyishkur fik. Shuf It 'arablya tkun 
 kuwaiyisa wi khelha taiyiba. Ba'de ma 'irifna 1 walad leinnu 
 mabsftt. Ant flhum kuwaiyis ? Litnen mush kuwaiyistn. Da 
 she ma shufnahshe bi 'enena we lakin simi'na nas yeqiilu 'annu. 
 Humma fi matrah wShid? La', dol fi giha wi dol fi giha. II 
 walad illt mush ma'rfif ismu da. II qar' il i'drSf illi hiiwa fth 
 me'auwig u fth dughrt u lonu akhdar we huwa tawtl. Kanu 
 beyiqallibilh min il ganbi da wi 1 ganbl da. Itbukh^ li shwaiyit 
 tabtkh min eye sanf in kan. Fth n^s buz il kalb 'anduhum 
 nigis, u fth n^s yinaggisu gismu kullu. It taiyib luh we li n 
 nas, wi r radt li wahdu. Ikxush il 'alam d61 il wiskhtn min 
 qudd^m bitna. Ana blkul Mia fill wi lela 'ads. Inta fi fikr 
 w ana fi fikr. Kulle w&hid shikle 'an it tani. Addt lak is 
 sandiaq bi tiilu walla bi 111 fth? Imsht waiy^h matrah ma 
 yimshl. Shuftuhum fen ? Shuftuhum fi mahalle ma kanu qa'dtn. 
 Humma tnen ikhwa ahsan min ba'duhum. Fth wilad hammara 
 yeshukku 1 himtr betuhhum bi mismar dakhil min 'asaya ismiha 
 nukhkhastya. La shS ilia ma luh Ekhir. Kulle wahid yutlubnt 
 ariih 'andu. Qui ma tqiil. 
 
 1 Of an impossible thing. ^ Or idbukh. 
 
342 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 V 
 
 Gih fi rigl il liusan zalata fidlit guwa hafru. Yirkab rukubtu 
 in kanit faras au husan au baghla au hmai- wi tannu masM 
 hiiwa wi 1 khaddam beta'u. Iqfil isb shababik 'ashan la yigi 
 'ufar fi 1 bet wala yitkassar haga. Hasal il qisma wi tqabilna 
 ma' ba'dina. II mas'ala illi qulna lik 'aleha we qulti Ina 'aleha 
 hadilina qadenaha lik. Min ba'de ma stardum 'ala 1 mablagh 
 ahl ii 'ariisa, mishyit umm il 'aris wi 1 'arls w abu 1 'aris humma 
 1 kull, we khadit ba'diha we rahit il hurma. Qa'adit iimmiha 
 wi ummu w abuh w abfiha fi 6da tanya. Yindaf 'aleh samn u 
 sukkar. FI gama'a dyuf gum 'anduhum. Taiyib, istardena bi 
 1 mahr illi humma t talatin gineh. II harim tannuhum nazlin 
 min 'ala 'ai'abiyithum we dakhalum min guwa 1 bab wi tannuhum 
 dughrt tal'in 'as salalim. Shal luhum is sitara 1 farrash. Min 
 ba'de ma tiii' foq il haiim. Kan waqtiha 1 harim gaybin lamun 
 we 'asrlnu we malu 1 kubbayat. Kanit iz zagharlt dayra foq fi 1 
 havim. Yishtiri Iha masagh in kanit zatuna au in kanit libba. 
 Nazzilu 1 'afsh il 'arbagiya min 'ala 1 karruw^t. Teruh il hurma 
 we guzha fi bSt il q&dt we ahliha kam^n waiyaha. Shakwitha 
 ma hasalshe minha samara. Min ba'de ma tamm it talatt 
 ishhur. Wi 1 mazzlka ba'de ma tikhlas min id daqq tit- 
 'ashsha, we yakhdum ugrithum wi baqshishhum. Yifdal basse 
 talatt arba't iySm 'ala ftkhir ish shahr. Dabahu 1 fuhul il 
 gamiis ig gazzarin bi 1 ugra 1 me'aiyina. Fi 1 'ed il kibii- il 
 mad&fi' tidrab fl s subh u fi d duhr u fi 1 'isha hatta yikhlas il 
 arba't iyam betu' il 'ed. Yiwalla'u wil'a qulaiyila taht il halld, 
 'ashan it tabikh ma yakhudshe siwa ktlr. Yiflaqu 1 qar'a 
 nussen. Yikharratiiha hitat hitat avi halaq halaq. Yikharratu 
 1 qar'e takhrit halaq, u ba'den yighliih ghalwiten talata 'ak 
 kanlin. In kanum yekimu 'ela illi rayhln yaklum. Walla' 
 wil'a khaflfa. Yekunu malyinha min in nahyiten. Ba'de ma 
 yihritvi 1 arde bi 1 mahartt yikhattatuha khutCit, wi yirmu 1 bizr 
 fi harf il hutut. Min 'att i il qiita bizriha yi'auwaq ketlr fi 1 
 ard hatta yitla' fuq wishshiha. Khafit lahsan yidrabha 'alqa. 
 Baqat tir'ad id dinya ra'de khafif wi baqat nazla matara nuzul 
 qawiya.2 Hidilmak dabit min 'ala ku'ak. Zi'il za'al shidid. 
 Kan ruziq bi walad. Esh gabak Masr ? Ba'den 'iyit 'aiya 
 shdtd qawi. Wakkilu shuwaiyit lahm. 'ashan yeruh^ minnu 
 1 'en illi hasalit ki. Id dumii' nizlit min 'eneh. Bukra hanitla' 
 
 1 For 'adt. 
 
 2 For qawi, qawiya agreeing with matara. 
 s.Forterah. 
 
EXEECISES ON THE SYNTAX 343 
 
 is sed. Gftna gama'a min ashabna. 'ashg,n eh tit'ab kull it 
 ta'ab dih ? A'rafu mi'rifit wis'hsh. Ma tsaddaqshe kull il hals 
 illi beyihlisii lak, wala kull ir raghy illi beyirgih lak fi haqql. II 
 hidvLm dol 'auza tinshitif shatfa miltha. 'eneh kanit mewalla' = 
 In zeye sharart in nar. Ketlr ulilf minhum safrit is SUdan. 
 It mut^ttya Hi titattha dt tiwaqqa'ak min 'al husan. Hizz is 
 sagara hazziten kede. 
 
 VI 
 
 Ana takbmtnl leinne ma f humshe turab. Riglu k&nit min'asa 
 tin. Ma ghdarshe akhud badde minku akhaddimu. Kashaf 
 'al lieta laqaha mashquqa nuss^n. Lamma tigfl. takhlH 'and! 
 haqaddim luku haga Mlwa. Ti'mil ma'rM we tibqa twassi r 
 riggfila, illi tibqa tishtagbal hina, yibqu mmal lamma yehiddum 
 yehiddum bi ]is§,b. Intum mewaddiytn il khashab da f^n? 
 Ilina "gayin nishtaghal 'andak bukra. Kattar kheru illi yekun 
 li watdu wi ykun yeshiif shugbl 'ala qadde kede. Ihna sheflnak 
 rSgil taiyib. LaqenShum tani yom nahar it talat beyishtaghalu 
 u fatahu Ihum shinisha fi 1 het. Lamma shuftuhum beyibnum. 
 Rail ramaha fi qalb il btr, khallaha. Girl hirib min il balad. 
 Qa'ad yeblh we yisbtiri fi kulle hS,ga liatta kusub lu mal ketir. 
 S^r yitmashsha fi qalb il balad. Rab. 'andu we hiiwa ma 
 ya'rafsbe le inn ir ragil da guzha. Qa'ad yishrab fi 1 qabwa 
 lamma li ghftyit nuss il lei. Ana khaddSmak, tibat 'andl hina. 
 Hat lina 'asha l&kin yekun il ma'kiil sanfe wahid. Dakhalu 
 tfassahum fi 1 ginena. Uq'ud hina talatt iyam u ba'den teruh 
 'and is sultSn we titqaddim quddSmu wi tb-fls il ard we tit- 
 'akhkhar ; yequl lak: " gibt il Mga dt?" qui lu : "hagibha 
 bukra." Issawum waiya ba'duhum we qalu ihna nmauwitu fi 
 s sikka wi hiiwa gay min 'and abiih. Is sultan kan minabbih 
 ma haddish yeqld nur fi 1 balad. Qumt ana tli'te agri 'ala foq 
 is siilim betl' il khaddamtn. Ana ma bahsibktsh bitqullt kede. 
 Htya kanit mishyit betihsibhum arba'a sagh. Laqetha nasya 1 
 kitab. Qal It le inni garret il husan ketti'. Wi nta ya 'ammi 
 Mhammad quite eh fi 1 mas'ala dt ? Tekhallt balik, ma tinstsh, 
 tekhalltkt fakra taiyib. Khalllhum yigu yitfaddalum yisharra- 
 fum 'andina. Ana, ahibbe le innik tibqt mabsuta. Taiyib, ana 
 nzil astafhim minnu 'annu. Maddi lu tdu we rah dughrt bfiyisha. 
 In sha Alia Rabbuna yihmtk It min 'enen in nas. In sha 11a 
 Rabbuna yisma' minnak. Kan waqtiha 1 khaddam beta'u gayib lu 
 1 faras betahtu we qa'id mithaddar biha we mistannth. Nislna 
 nis'al 'ala kede. Enta rayih teruh waiyana walla fadilhina? 
 Waqt iz zaffa kanit il 'arabtya meghatttya b shal wi mfanfaza 
 
344 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 kuUiha bi 1 fantazlya 1 kuwaiyisa. Kts yehuttii fth. dill u dih. 
 La sarnali Allah leinnt akdib 'alSkt. Lamma gat tiilid il mara. 
 Yequmu 1 giiin yisa'diihum yi'ginu wi yikhbizu waiyilium. In 
 lifts il fallahfn illi yekfinu yigum hina f masr ilM yekfinu yebt'u 
 wi ishtimm i humma yisma'u 1 kaMm min il balad leinne bukra 
 s siyam. Yeruli il gazzftr dabih il kharuf bi Idu, we qable ma 
 yimashshi s sikkina 'ala raqabt il kharuf yequl : " bi smi Mhi 
 Allahu akbar," we yeruh garir is sikkina marraten. Yirga'u 
 yifassasu ras il qarnabit fisfis fisus. 'ala bftl ma yistiwi 1 ful 
 yekdnum ghasalum it tumnit ir ruzz. Yeglbu farkha yekHnu 
 sharyinha min is sflq. Lazim tisqi 1 arde hatta yedur il bizr u 
 yenabbit u yitla' 'ala wishshiha. Lamma yedur il walad we 
 yisabba'. Fidil ir rsigil nftyim wi 1 kalbe harsu lamma dar u Ifth 
 il fagr. Bidal ma nta qft'id hina ahsan teruh tindah li 1 hakim. 
 Haiyak Allfth ! Nazla matara rufaiya'a. Ma Iqenash gara lu 
 haga. Shawir lu yigi. Ana m.rabbtha min sughre sinniha. 
 Tannak mftshl dughrt 'ala tul lamma tdur u tiisal wi tqul lak : 
 " adini." Sharlh min en? Iftakarna 1 qutt, g&na yenutt. II 
 kilma di betitnitiq bi t te walla bi t ta ? Kan d&yir yi'as'is zeyi 
 i a'ma. Ma tqulshe li hadd ana 'amalte kede u kede. Kan 
 haqqiha tigl. Ma Ihiqshe yigi. Kunna mashytn nitkallim. 
 Inta ya sta ^ merakkib il gama'a dol ? Kan waqtiha niinabbih ^ 
 'aleya le inni a'allaq il husftn bi 1 'arabiya. Bi sabab kunte 
 q^yil lu yirmi 1 waraqa. Iza kunte mewassih 'ala 'arabiya ma 
 kunnftsh nit'ib nafsina. Tigi badri, u'a tkun tinsa.* Enta 
 tirkab 'arabiya we tannina hna 1 kull merauwahln sawa. Inta 
 mkhallif minha 'iyftl? Biddik tistahrasi 1 nafsik. Kulle yom 
 kunna iisiim we niftar fi 1 maghrib. Illi habbiih itnen yekun 
 Kabbuna talithum. Fi 1 'abid yu'sur ir rumman fi buqq il 
 walad kulle y6m hatta trabba u baqa kbtr. Min en^ 'andak 
 haqqi tqul 11 haga zeyi dt? H&l in shiribha rah nftyim. Min 
 hatit da hina ? Huwa dayir yidauwar 'ala buh. 
 
 VII 
 
 Iza kan ana qulti lak le inn id diwan ill ana fih ma fihshe 
 shughl leh enta betis'alni 'ala wazlfa? Sawa in kan sahbak 
 walla in kan qarlbak. Ana nianish 'arif wala ma mi'lsh khabar 
 in kanu 'auztn walla mush 'auzln. Iqfil ish shabablk 'ashan la 
 yigi 'ufar fi 1 bet wala titkassari^ haga wala mihtaga. Intum 
 
 1 For yishtirum. 2 ugt^. = Pluperfect. 
 
 * Or fi'ft la tinsa. 5 p^on. minen. ^ Better yitkassar. 
 
EXEKCISES ON THE SYNTAX 345 
 
 bitiz'alfl llh? Ihna ma Ina? Yinfa' ma yinfa'she zeye bardu. 
 Inta za'al&n leh y^ba ? L61a 1 'esb wi 1 malh ma kuntish tauwilte 
 mi'ak. Qalit lu iza kan abuk yidra innak gliibte min il b^.t ? 
 Qal liha : kunte aqul lu innl ruht aghlb. Binte in dihkit tifattah 
 ish shams wi n 'aiyatit yir'ad ir ra'd we yimtur il matar. In 
 kftnit tis'al 'aleya tibqt tindaM 'aleya. In kan hilwa walla htya 
 z§ye bardu. We lau wi nnina ma sbufnash il bint we Mkin 
 ihna saddaqna qfilik 'ala inniha kuwaiyisa. 'ala hasab le innina 
 ma kunnSsh ni'rafhum wala humma ma yi'rafuuEish. In iddetinl 
 walla ma ddgtlnlsh bardu wisil. Ma tkhafshe ya walad wala 
 tikhtisM ; ma fish hina ilM na w abftk wala ma fish hadde 
 gharlb gherna. Ahsan in kuntu ti'miM ma'riif wi tkhallima li 
 wahdina. Iza kftnum yis'alum 'an 'arabiy^t qui luhum yegtbu 
 'ashanna lina. Taiyib, ana rayh add{ lak kilma wahda, 'ashara 
 gineh ; iza kan khallasak ma fish niflni' ; ma khallasakshe, zeye 
 ma yi'gibak baqa. W adln qulti lak 'ala 1 q61 is sahih illi ma 
 ba'dCsh 'andl kalam. II khamastashar qershe d61 yikaffuk 
 walla ma yikaffukshe, wi tkun mabsilt walla ma tkunshe 
 mabsHt? Ana ma kaltish minnu h&ga wala shiribte minnu 
 Mga wala nahabte minnu h&ga. Lamma n nas it taiyibin 
 is salhtn yequlu Ihum : " da haram 'aleku ; Allah yigfi,zikii," 
 yequmu yequlu Ihum : " harsim halal, iza kan yi'azzibna Rab- 
 buna walla ma yi'azzibnash yibqa zeye ma ya'raf yi'mil fina ; 
 we amma intu ma Ikilsh da'wa lina in kunna nsum au niftar." 
 In ma kanshe maugiid lamiln baladt we yikun ma gash il awan 
 betft'u wala yekunshe tarah fi sagaru wala yekunshe gih itba' fi 
 s sHq, wi ykun waqtiha maugiid lamun adalya shi'irt, fe tishtirt 
 minnu hiiwa. Iza kan ma Itaqush mush kunte dauwart? Ill 
 kan ma Ihumshe khabar yi'milu eh baqa? Guht ma guhtish 
 ma yehimminish. Shayifsh il kalb il makliib fi sikkitna? Ma 
 'rafshe yi'gibnt eh. In kunte ma ntish misaddaqnl. Qlrat 
 bakht wala faddan shat§,ra.i Iza ruht ana tighdar ma truhsh 
 enta. Lau kunte a'lam inniha batt&la lam kunte arghab ig 
 gawaz. Qulti li k&n le innak tibqa tfakkarnl 'ala inni asheyah- 
 hum lu. Iza khuluste badrt ruht. Hiiwa qal li qui innahum 
 kanu naymtn mi'l. Mush tis'alna su'al bi 1 ma'rHf ! Zeye bardu 
 in kan sukkar walla in kan tin walla n kanit kummitra. Ana 
 shuftu hina k^n min zam^n. La yirham wala yikhalli rahmit 
 Rabbina tinzil. La gih wala shaiya' khabar. Is'al megarrab 
 wala tis'al tablb. 
 
 An ounce of luck is worth a pound of xoit. 
 
346 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 VIII 
 
 Ruht ir rastabl tammart il husan. Qam sa'alni we qal It, 
 "rtyili'fen?" Lazim tifakkai-m 'asMn abqa a'tik il mahtya 
 bukra.' Inta leh baqet ma gayib il muftah li gbSyit nahar y6in 
 litnen ya'ni yibqa mbarih il hadd u yom il itnen ? Istannetu 
 lamma dar u libis hidumu. Ba'den tannl mistannl lamma dar u 
 gill. Lazimni gawab tiwaddih il busta. Ruli rauwah il husan 
 fi r rastabl wi bqa ta'ala 'al bet. Lamma yibqii yitlubuh ana 
 bqa qui lak. Ba'den sabahum, tanl yom nahar il itnen ir riggala 
 gum. Baqa akhi ilina 'auzin nitla' foq minnu. Khallaha betimla 
 min il btr. Qum 'abbt It ta'm'tra. Tigtni 1 bet is sa'a 'asbara. 
 II ginena dt baqa Iha talat siiitn ma tfatahitsh. Rauwah ir 
 ragil betu za'lan. Izzey li inni abqa ibne basha w arkab himar ! 
 Ahsan ne'allim il bet we nisbah nib'at luhum. Rametu fen? 
 Rametu 1 bahr. Baqet makrush 'ala akhir nafas. Hatta le innl 
 baqet akhud sallimten talata fi khatwa wahda. U ba'den gih 
 abuh qam qa'ad ganbu. We baqat il 'ariisa mirat il 'arts. 
 Qamit itlaffit fi milayitha wi zzaiyarit bi 1 izar betahha we khadit 
 ba'diha n tanniha qayma 'ala halha.i Qumt ana w ana bashrab 
 il qahwa basset laqet binte sughaiyara. II walad baqa mikhtisht 
 qawl le innu yequm yakul waiyahum. Taiyib, ana abqa ddih 
 lak min ba'de ma khadtu min akhuya. Yalta, in kuntu rayhtn, 
 tinzilu baqa. Fi 1 ahsan dilwaqti lazim baqat nutlub ir ragil naf su 
 we nis'alu. Lazim ti'mil ma'ruf wi tqul lina baqat 'al il meqaula 
 hlya kam qersh. Yitannu huwa qa'id yighanni we humma qa'din 
 yistimi'um il ghuna. Tanniha 1 mazztka tduqqe quddam 'arablyit 
 il 'arusa hatta le inniihum darum kulluhum we rauwahum 'ala bet 
 il 'arts. Baqa z zaghartt dayra fi s sikak. Raliit wakhda 1 mah- 
 lama 1 qasab. In qultu 1 kalam kidb ha yibqa haram 'alekft. 
 Qam qal liha : " Ya wltya intt ! " qamit hlya siktit ; qam qal 
 liha : " Intt ya tarma ma truddt 'aleya." 'asu 1 mahrama damm. 
 Lamma yedur u yibrad. Hit rah yitla' il higaz yiktib ismu fi z 
 zabtlya 'ala 3'adde mashayikhhum le innuhum khalyin id diyun 
 ma 'alehumshe haga. Ana basa'dak lagle inta, lamma yekun 
 'andt haga, tibqa tsa'idnt. Khallth 'an nai" hatta yedur u yistiwi. 
 Baqat qadde gum'a shefa shughla zeyi n nas, u baqat ti'mil le 
 inniha mara taiyiba. We huwa 'ala hasab sughi-e sinnu nisi 
 ummu. Ana ma yikhallasntsh tuq'udt hina waiyaya. Zeyi Hi 
 yekvlnil tal'tn il higaz. Fidlit tikhbat fi 1 bab u tidrab fi 1 
 garaz hatta nizlum ahl il bet. Baqa lu talatt iyam ma stiham- 
 mash. II bab da baqa lu khamastashar yom maqffd. Qam 
 
 1 =mashya dughrt 'ala kefha. 
 
EXEECISES ON THE SYNTAX 347 
 
 r^id 'aiyin. Ana rah a'mil saiyad. Nizil biyistad. Kan bslsis 
 mish shibbak. Khabbaru 1 basha 'ala innina ma Iqenahsh. 
 U'^ tigt wala twarrint wisbshak. Ma yehunshe 'aleh yisrif. We 
 lau inniha tumtur. Lau ma kanshe basal 'uzre kunte rubt. 
 Izak^n il kidbe ying{ k^n^is sidqe ahsan. Mush timshl fi adabak^ 
 II futiir mush Mdirl Ewa hadir. Taiyib, inzil. II khera I 
 auwilaniya illi khtarha lins^n hlya Hi ahsan. Min hesu k^n 
 ana biddt aruh. Min ba'de ma kanit hatiddiha itnSn gingh 
 idd&ha khamsa. Ma titgabbarlisb 'aleya. Ihna hanitgabbar 
 'al^k fi gh? II bSb ma yiftahshe min barra. Enti nistti 1 
 wislya illi wassetik biha. Kusub fi t tigara di maksab, lakin 
 bahre t§si HHwa Hi shammimni 1 khabar. In n^s yequlu inn 
 akl il 'iruq bitu' il figl il baladt bi 1 waraq beta'u yihsal minnu 
 manfU'a li n nazar. Khalli sahbu yig{ yutlubu minni. Baqa 
 min il merauwahin. Intarash tarsha gamda. Ana li muddit 
 y6men ma shuftiish. Iza bgyitte 'ala sh shughla di hatisbah 
 Mdl. Khushsh il 6da. Shilhum shel wahid. Yakhdu 1 hagar 
 min il gabal we yinazziluh il bahr. Luh min 'ande Rabbuna 
 kulle yom righif. Ihna nhibbe le innak tekun , mabsilt minna. 
 Taiyib, ya gid'an,^bardu kattar kherkum . Rayhin nerakkibu zey e 
 ma hna 'aizin. Esh 'arrafkum blya inni ragil taiyib ? II walad 
 biyis'al il qahwagi biyeqiil lu . . . Itfaddal it 'ashsha. Kalum 
 litnen wi nbasatum ; ba'd il 'asha qal lu : " Ya akhi inta min 
 anhi balad 1 " Inta s&'it ma hadaftiha fi 1 bir ana stilaqqitha. 
 Wi humma beyitfassalmm fi 1 ginena laqu goz hamam. Ba'at 
 li umm il banSt, gabha qal liha. U ba'den we hiya bitqul 11 
 kede wi btindah 'aleya qumt ana bahsib li inniha bitqul li ta'alt 
 foq. Gih fi widni 1 kali,m z§y illi hiya bitqul It. Simi'te hissik 
 wi ntt betindahi li. Ma khulustish lissa min hina 1 Mush tisma' 
 kalami 'an kaMm d61 ? Qabl il 'asr bi yigi s^'a. II hus^n da 
 khasis ; lazim tizauwid lu 1 'aliq. Ir ragil da shaql nar. Ma 
 yehunshe 'aleya tkul fi bet gher betak. Izakan qa'adte 
 hina ganbi yibqa kuwaiyis. Taman it talagri,f khamsin sSgh ; 
 kan flh kilma migwiz. San'itu yebi' karasi. Ma benlsh 
 u bSnu haga. Kulle kam yom yigi? Betigrl leh kunti 
 Kunna khayfln la tihrab minna 1 bint. D61 wilad 'amme 
 ba'd. Kulle wahid minhum yeqil kaMm shikl. II h&ga di 
 tflhit ma ben Zed we 'umar we Eaghib. 'ala kuUan ahsan min 
 balish. Gharramnah nussen taiyibin. Dabbar hi 'ala mota. 
 E&dil 'ibara 'an khamas daqa'iq kede. Ihna lissa fi 1 kalam w 
 abiiya nadah li. Iza kan tezid 'annl fi 1 li'b yibqa ismak ghalab- 
 tini. II qalam yizbut 'an il 'aql. Jl ghina yegib isMb. Qftmiis 
 yithatte fi 1 geb. Shuftuhum ? Ewa, tauwuhum fayttn 'alena. 
 Lam yizal li ghayit il an biyisrif fulusu fi 1 li'b wi 1 qumar. Id 
 
348 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 clinya dalma kuM. II bab yiftah bahri. Lihiqtu wagadtu fi 1 
 bgt. ilina msaf rln bukra. II arde di mazru'a batatis walla eh ? 
 D61 h^gat taqrlblya. Ma shuftish ilia tnen sammithum ' lak. 
 Mishyii min is sikka illi nahyit il gabal wara bet 'ali Basha. 
 Gih fi 'eniT zalata we lakin zalata mistaufiya qawl. Eidlit waiy&h 
 hatta leinnu gih fi 1 bet. II husin da huttu lu sh shull lahsan 
 yibrad. II wahid minna lamina yekun ma'naha ibne khamastS- 
 shar Sana. Taiyib ummal bitis'alni 'ala gaw^z leh lamma ma 
 ma'akshi fliis ? Ihna khaddamin lik we li bnak. Adi 1 kalam 
 illi 'andl illi fi sarirtl. 'adt il masriyin il usul 'andudum yigi 1 
 qadi yiktib il kitab fi bet il 'arusa. II usul illi 1 masriyin yimshu 
 'algha. Baqat tequl li kede we tirga' tequl li kede 1 Azrat min 
 ba'duhum litnen. Kan masik rigleha tindirib. Bikhtta illi 
 hiya ukhte talta luh. 
 
 IX 
 
 Iddi kursi li s sitt tuq'ud tistireyah. Qa'adit hiya ; min 
 ba'de ma qa'adit talabu Iha 1 qahwa. Istaghlit il mahr wi q&lit 
 inn il mahre da ktir. Min ba'd ir rS,gil ma simi' kal&mi. 
 Humma 'auzin yista'rafu bkum wi ntum kemS,n mush 'auzin 
 tista'ratu bhum? Ma qulti lish le innuhum in k&num riggala 
 walla nisa. Min ba'de kuUe wahid minhum ma nizil. Ana 
 tli'te wi nta w&qif fi 1 bab. Rayhin negibu hina yiktib lina 1 
 gawab quddamna. KuUe ma gibt ana higa f beti talihudha 
 inta. Qal laha : " izzeye gozik li innu biyishshakka minnik? 
 Irkhi dri'tak gambe minnak. Ma ti'milshe karkaba min gher 
 luziim. Hatshufu wi nta t&li' wi nta n&zil. Sikitna lu, dakhal 
 bi 1 humar.2 A'allimak is sirqa, tehutte idak fi gebj. Qalbu 
 mahriiq 'ala hlu illi matu lu. Knlle da hasal wi hiya shayfa. 
 Fatah lu^ dukkftn. Luh ibn 'amme nftqis il manakhir. Ya 
 zauwidnl ya baMsh shughl. Manis'h qMir arsi li 'ala hftga. 
 Biddt astaqrab sikka tkun quraiyiba. Ana liasset bi riglak wi 
 nta m&sht. Qam abuh khatab lu bint, binte I'agil taiyib, u sharat 
 'ala bUha, we qal lu we qal 1 ummiha kaman, qal luhum . . . 
 Yinkhilvih bil mankhul. Akl il figl in nlli kuwaiyis 'an is sefi. 
 It tuwftla atwal min il karaweta marraten fi t tul. It tabballn 
 yitabbilu wi z zammarin yizammarum. Min ba'de ma yinwi 
 ntyitu illi huwa nawl 'aleha. Ma tiz'altsh waiya gozik za'al kibtr 
 qawl, le innu iza kan htwa yiz'al 'aleki lazim tisrifi nti z za'al ; 
 'ashan ir ragil yimkin yekun g&y ta'ban min shuglu we yimkin 
 
 1 For sammethum. 
 
 - I.e. we gave him an inch and he took an ell. 
 
 8 I.e. li nafsu. 
 
EXEKCISES ON THE SYNTAX 349 
 
 yequl lik : qumi, ya bitti, hati Mga, teqflm inti ma ttau'ihshe i wala 
 tisma'lsh kaMmu, yimkin yekun ganbu 'asaya walla hSga, yequm 
 min za'alu yeruh. darbik biha walla Mga ; ahsan bi 1 ahsan tekiinl ya 
 bintl muti'a li gfizik. Ana ya sldl, Kabbuna yitauwii 'umrak, ragil 
 faqtr, ma yisahhish inni adrab in nas wala sraq minhum wala 
 zallimhum. Ba'de gum'a ana mush hina. Tequl lu ya 'amm ? Ya 
 ritha k&nit darabitak. Ana bidd(i) akhalli n naliar da yekun iswid 
 'ala 1 ab'ad. In nas il fuqara yifhatu Ihum nuqra fi 6da min il 
 bet, wi yegtbu qidra f ukbkhar we yisurru f ulushum fi hittit khalaqa 
 qadtma, we yirmuha fi qalb il qidra we yinazzilii bi Hi fiha 1 qidra 
 fi n nuqra, we yighattli 'algba balata, wi 1 balata tekun min sbikle 
 balat il 6da, we yilzaqu 1 balata li babbit izmint au bi shwaiyit 
 gibs. Lamma tir'ad id dunya wi 1 barqe yibqa yubruq yequlu 
 waqtiha linsS,n yimkin iza kan yittillib min Allah yekun b^b is 
 sama maftuh, zeye fi lelt ig gum'a, we yistigab minnu Rabbuna. 
 Waqt il akl wi auwul ma yitqaddim yequl il insan : " bi smi 
 llah ir Rahman ir Rahtm ; " u lamma yishba'um min il akl 
 yeqiilfl : " il hamdu li llah Rabb il 'alamin ; " wi n nas illt ma 
 yeqiiliisb kede yeqiilu le inn Allah yinazzil fi batnuhum il qaht, 
 wi yeqiilu le innuhum, madam ma sammush^ 'ala 1 akl wala 
 hamadusb Rabbuna, yequmil yaklu min hina, wi 1 'aMrit yakhdti 
 1 akhle min batnuhvim wala yibqash hasal 'anduhum qun'. 
 
 X 
 
 Iza k&n lins&n minna 'auz yishtirt Mga min suq, zgye masal 
 suq Khan il Khalilt, yeruh il wahid li 1 beya' min dol, we yifsil 
 waiyah masalan siggMa walla haga, wi yequl lu : " Ana 'auz is 
 siggada dt ashtirtha minnak." Yequl lu : " Taiyib, ya stdi, 
 marhaba; da hna tihsal lina 1 baraka btk." Yequm il wfihid 
 yeqiil lu : " Allah yibarik flk." Yequl lu : " Taiyib itfarrag 'ala 
 Hi nta 'auzu." We ba'de ma tfarrag il insan 'ala s siggada illt 
 ti'gibu yeqfll li t t^gir : "Qui li nhaytu 'ala akhir taman." 
 Yequl lu : " Ifsil zgye ma nta 'auz, ya'ni ma tikhtishlsh." Yequl 
 lu masalan : " Bnta qui 11 qabla is siggada bi kftm ? " Masalan 
 huwa rah yequl lu : " Bi talatin gineh." Yequm bi sabab innu 
 qa'ad 'andu we talab lu fingan qahwa yequm yukhsha 'aleh le 
 innu yefiitu wi yeruh yishtari min gheru bi sabab shurbu fi 1 
 fingan il qahwa, yequin yequl lu : " La', dilwaqti ihna ha niqsim 
 il balad nussin ; khallasak walla la ? Iza khallasak ^mafish 
 mani' ; ana ddl lak il khamastashar gineh w abqa zabunak fi 
 kaffit il hagat illt tilzamnl ; ana hqk gt akhudha min 'andak." 
 
 1 =titawi'ihsh. ^ &. AMh. 
 
350 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 Yequm yequl : " Tigt bardu tsharrafna, lakin ana ma ykhallasnish 
 it taman da ; ana biddl aksab, ma biddtsh akbsar." U ba'den 
 il wahid yequl lu : " Taiyib, ana ddi lak sittashar." Yequl lu : 
 "Yiftah Allah." "Taiyib, sittashar u nuss." "La", yirzuq 
 Allah." "Taiyib, ya Shekh, khallasak sabahtashar ilia rub' ? " 
 Yequl lu t tagir : " Ya akhl, ma tuq'udshi tnakifnl ; balash 
 menakfa ; da mush shira dih illi nta betishtirlh." Yequm il 
 wahid baqa, lamma huwa yequl kede u yiz'al, yizauwidu rub' 
 wi yequl lu : '' Khallasak bi sabahtashar walla la' ? " Yequl lu 
 " Baqa ma ma'akshe ziyada 'an is sabahtashar dol ? " Yequl lu 
 " La', d61 sharyin wahda fi 1 bet bi sittashar u nuss, w ana ddetak 
 dilwaqti ziyada nusse gineh 'an illl 'andina fi 1 bet." Yequl lu : 
 " Taiyib, aqul lak ya ma yi'auwad ; Allah yikassibak ; hat il fulus ; 
 khasrana kasbana nihaytu hadihna bi'na wi s salam." 
 
 XI 
 
 Iza kan wahid khaditu sh shams, il ahsan yikhalli wahid 
 yid'aku min wustu wi yemasbsht Idu fi qanayit dahru li raqabtu 
 hatta yitalla' ish shams ; we hiya sh shams tibqa mkabbiba fi 1 
 qura zeyi 1 'inaba. U ba'd id da'k yihuttu 'ala 1 'inaba dl mandil 
 we yiqrushuha bi snanhum ; tequm ish shams titaqqe wi tfarqa' 
 zeyi 1 beda illi tkun fi n nar wi yekun zad 'aleha s siwa. U 
 ba'den yeglbu shwaiyit moiya f fingal qahwa, wi yidauwibu 
 shwaiyit malh fi qalb ish shuwaiyit il moiya, u ba'den yihuttu 
 1 insan i fi wid§,nu min il moiya bi 1 malh ; wi auwul ma 
 yihuttuh^ lu yingidi' 'ala ganbu sh shimal, we yihuttuha lu fi 
 1 widn il yemin ; tequm il widni ttashtash zeyi 1 babur, ti'mil 
 shi . . . sh, au zeyi beda ttashtash fi s samn 'ala n nar. Wi 
 yequm min 'ala ganbu sh shimal, yifarragh widnu 1 yemln ; 
 tequm il moiya tissaffa min widnu ; lakin waqtiha yequm yilqi 
 1 moiya fi tdu sukhna nar, zeyi 1 moiya Hi tkun bitighlt fi halla 
 'ala 1 kanun, min quwwit 'azm ish shams. We yirga' tani 
 yenam 'ala ganbu 1 yimin ; tequm titashtash il widn it tanya 
 zeyi 1 auwilaniya ; we dimaghu, ba'de ma kanit betubrum we 
 bitliffe 'aleh, tequm teruq, wi huwa yefuq li nafsu. U ba'den 
 yegtbi\ lu shuwaiyit lamun baladl, ya'ni lamunten talata baladt 
 banzaher, yisharrabtih, wi yenaiyimuh wi yeghattuh ; yequm 
 yisbah fayiq zeyi 1 liusEin, wi yeruh yis'a 'ala shughlu. 
 
 1 For 1 il insfin. 
 
EXEKCISES ON THE SYNTAX 351 
 
 XII 
 
 Yeqftlu n nas leinn it ti'ban illl htcwa, 'ainir il bet tul ma 
 hliwa qS,'id fi 1 bet ahsan bi 1 ahsan ihna ma n'azzihsbe wala 
 hfiwa kaman ma yi'azzinash ; leinn ilina in azzanah au mauwitnah 
 tequm wiliftu tigt masalan tilaqt halla flba tablkb walla ma'iin 
 yekun fih laban yimkin tekun tebukhkhe f th ; u waqte ma 
 bakhkhit bi hanak-ha yimkin iahkh il matalle yi'yum au liadde 
 min wiladhum ; we amma iza kan il ins&n ma yeqarrabshe bi 1 
 'ummar ill! humma s sukkan illl humma t ta'&bln, wala ma ye'- 
 azzihumshe wala ma yemauwitshe minhum haga, humma rukhrin, 
 hatta iza kan il akle maksbM, yekunfl mehafztn 'aleb wala 
 yeqarrabfl luhshe wala yebukbkbiish fih wala yi'miliish aztya fi 
 1 bet abadan. We tul ma yuq'udum we yitauwilu fi 1 bet we 
 yifqisu we yiilidum yifdalu 1 'umre kuUu meMfizin 'aleh. We 
 fih nas min nas il qudm yeqftlum d61 'ummSr il biyiit, we ahsan 
 ma nkallimhumshe wala nidrabhumshe wala nmauwithumshe 
 leinnuhum makhaliq, Rabbuna khaliqhum bi rwah zeyina ; we 
 yimkin bi sabab leinnina ma n'azzlhumshe wala humma ma 
 y'azzimash yimkin ill! zeye dol yekiinum i qudumhum sa'ad 
 'allna, we yimkin ba'de ma nkim fuqara Rabbuna yis'idna 'ala 
 qudumhum. 
 
 XIII 
 
 Lamma twaladit il bint bashsharu abfiha leinniha bint ; qam 
 abiiha zi'il shuwaiya leinniha bint ; q^mu qalii lu : " Ya bn{ 
 inta betiz'al 'ala sh^n eh ? da 1 bint rizqiha bi rizqen,^ we amma 
 1 walad bi rizqe Wahid." Hina r rSgil, lamma simi' il kalam da 
 ininhum, hamad Rabbuna we qal : " II hamdu li llah Rabb il 
 'alamln, ihna mistardiytn bi Hi ddah lina Rabbuna." U mba'de 
 wiladt il bint g&bu' 1 ummiha talatt igwaz firakh u fard, u ba- 
 qum yidbukhu Iha kulle ySm farkha, we gum il giran yibarkhu 
 Iha ; we lamma tamm is subt' gabu Iha shuwaiyit nuqle 'ala 
 kam sham'a iskandar^nl, we yeqtbu Iha sanlya we yehuttu flha 
 shuwaiyit moiya, we yeglbu Iha quUa (leinn il maulUda bint) 
 we yehuttiiha fi qalb is sanlya u talatt arba' shama'at, u qadiihum 
 u hatttihum hawalen il qulla u tannuhum qaydin lamma darum 
 wi'ntafum. We fi auwil lelit ma twaladit il bint, hattitha d 
 d^ya fi ghurbai u hazzitha fih marraten talata, we tann il bint 
 
 1 § 4(34. 
 
 2 I.e. a double gift from God, as He will provide for her 
 sustenance. 
 
352 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 nayma fi 1 ghurbal lamma li s subu'. Hina sabaMyit is subu' 
 gat id daya wi ddu Iha shuwaiyit malh we taqtaqithum ^ (ish 
 shuwaiyit il malh) fi wust il hara ; u lammit laha saba' 
 tamantfishar 'aiyil, u baqum kulle wahid minhum masik sham'a 
 we yeqUl : " Bii'galatak, birgalatak,^ halaqa dahab fi widanatak " ^ 
 qadde 'ashar daqayiq wi 1 'iyal taffu sb sham'e, nafakbuh bi 
 linikithum, we khadu kulle manhu sham'itu illi f idu li nafsu ; 
 we g^bit id daya shuwaiyit nuqle miu nuql is subu' u farraqitu 
 'ala 1 iilad ; we hlya khadit il b^qi u khadit ba'diha u tannilia 
 mashya 'ala betha ; u tamme baqa 1 wilada wi s subu' beta' 
 wilad il 'arab il fuqara ; we dumtum bi kher. 
 
 XIV 
 
 Yequlii le inn il 'irsa lamma tigt tulid tequm tifbar liha 
 shaqqe walla gubr, wi t'ashsbish fib bi shwaiyit sba're zeye 
 cliflra qadima milll yiddaffaru bha n niswan, walla bi shuwaiyit 
 khulq^n 'ala shwaiyit qutn ; u ba'den ti'arbid laha fi 1 bet hatta 
 ti'tar liha 'ala zatuna walla meshakhlaqa walla halaq dahab au 
 asawir fadda walla burqu' bi 'arustu wi 1 'arusa tkun min dahab 
 bunduqi, we takhudhum 'andiha fi guhriha. "We 'ala ra'ye 
 qol in nas le inniha ma tulidshe ilia 'ala masagh min dahab au 
 min fadda. We hlya lamma tigl fi 1 bet tequm tisrukh sarkha 
 wiskha bishl'a yitmili bha 1 bet kuUu min foq li taht, yequmu 
 shab il bet yeqCdu Iha : " 'andina Mhammad 'arts," yiftikiru le 
 inniha tihrab min il kilma dt. 
 
 XV 
 
 Iza kan yekun ti'ban barrant illi ma ykunshe 'amir il bet 
 gay yewisbshe min il khala we qasid il mahall illt yekun linsan 
 sakin fiha, auwul ma yifaufu 'amir il bet min bi'id yequm 
 yukhrug fazi' 'ala 1 gharib, wi yeruh mekarrashu min naliyit il 
 bet ; u ba'den yirga' sidna 'ala guliru, we hiiwa 1 gharib yimkin 
 min khofu, we hilwa gari yewishshe, yimkin yefut il gubdra 
 betahtu ; u waqtiha iza kan linsan yekun waqif we bakhtu qayim 
 yequm yakhudha wi t ti'ban yiz'al yetaqqe yemut 'ala shan il 
 guhara illi kan mashl 'ala nurha. Wi t ti'ban 'eneh ag-har ma 
 yighdarshe yeshuf min gher il gilhara ; wi n fatitu 1 guhara di 
 
 1 To keep off the evil eye. 
 _ 2 Notice that the masculine is maintained though the child 
 is in this case a girl, the phrase being stereotyped. Birgalat is 
 
 a nonsense word. 
 
EXERCISES ON THE SYNTAX 353 
 
 yi'ma 1 bi'id i ma yshuf sh. "Wi 1 giihara di yeqfllu n nds iza kan 
 Rabbuna yi'tiha li 1 instil we yakhudha we yeruh biha fi bgtu 
 we yegib babbit radda, walla bfiga, we yihuttuha fi wa'^ya 
 fukhklifi,r au habbit nisMra khashab, we yihuttuhum fi eye 
 mS'iin in k^n yektin Mdir, we yihutt il insstn ig'gdhara fi qalbu- 
 bum we yirmi qershe s^gb taht ig giihara we yigbattl 'ala 1 
 ma'lin we yikhalllh fi maballe niuhtakif i lagle ma yibqish 'aleh 
 rigl, yisbab is subh we yiksbif il m^'lin yeqiim yilaqi min ba'd© 
 ma kan Mtit qersbe wahid yillqthum ^ itnen ; wi n hatte hitta 
 bi 'ashara yilaqiha hittitSn bi 'asharat, wi n hatte riySlen yikql- 
 hum arba' riyalat, we tannu baqa fi z ziylda lamma yehutte 
 w&hid yilaqihum itnSn. 
 
 XVI 
 
 Kan fth r&gil we huwa lissa maugtid ismu Mehammad, huwa 
 min Damanhiir il Bihera, u kan it'aiyin waiya 1 gesh il ingllzt fi 
 muddit barb is Stldan il auwilanl, ya'nt min muddit khamastSshar 
 Sana, we kftnit waziftu gazzar ; we qa'ad waiya 1 gesb kulle 
 waqt is safartya, u fidil ba'diha muddit talatt arba' sinln fi s 
 Stdan. TJ lamma habbe leinnu yigl yis^fir 'ala barre Masr we 
 yirauwah. baladu qam mishl fi sikka fi wust ig gabal, u kan 
 yetHh fiba ; u kan yuq'ud m4sM sbahren tal&ta lamma wusul fi 
 wMl ismu w^di 1 kilS,b, ir rigg^la betii' il balad kilab wi n niswan 
 betu'hum bani fidam ; u lamma wusil 'anduhum qamum giryin 
 il kiMb 'aleb u laffum bawalSh; u w&hid min il kub^rat betub- 
 bum sbaiya' wibid min tarafu li 1 malik betabbum leinnu yigt 
 yeshiif ir r^gil da 1 gbartb yitfarrag 'al6h, leinnu biiwa ragil 
 bani adam. We lamma gib is sultan itfarrag 'ala r r^gil u sbafu 
 u habbe leinnu yi'zimu 'andu ; wi 1 akabir, illt bumma 1 'umad 
 betii' il balad, ka,nu 'auzin rukhrin yi'zimuh 'andubum. We 
 lamma s sult&n talab yi'zimu 'andu bumma t'akhkbarum wi 
 q^lum : " min ba'de ma yikblas is sultan min 'azumtu ibna kaman 
 ni'zimu 'andina." Fe rah ir r&gil fi tilk il yom wi f tilk il lela 
 t'azam 'and is sult&n, fi s sultan basatu wi dafvi we ikramu 'ala 1 
 ghfiya ; u bat fi bet is sultetn u sabah fitir is subh, u gabu lu 1 
 qahwa, shirib u nbasat, u gum il 'umad betii' il balad wi sab- 
 bahum 'as sultan we qsi\A lu : " Naharak sa'id u mbarak, ya 
 sa'dt is sultan ; ibna biddina nista'giz minnak leinnina nakhud 
 id dgf dih nedlfu 'andina." Is sultan qal lubum : " Itfaddalil 
 khudHh." We bumma kbadub we d&fiih 'andubum in ktlnum 
 
 1 § 587. 
 
 2 Or muhtikif (for mu'tikif). 
 8 -bum referring to itngn. 
 
354 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 'ashara tn^shar naf s walla 'ishrtn naf s min akabir il balad humma 
 1 kull dafuh 'anduhum we harimhum humma lit ' biya'raf u 1 
 lugha beta' riggalithum, wi 1 k'alam illl yequMli ir riggala humma 
 1 hartm yitargimilli li r ragil bi 1 'arabt. Tannu r ragil lamma 
 qa'ad fi 1 balad yigt muddit shahr lamma li yfim min zat il iyam 
 kan binte wahid min in nas il kubar, w abuha ragil 'umda min 
 dimni 1 balad, qalit 1 ummiha : " Ya umml, kull in nas 'azamu r 
 ragil da wi hna kaman 'auztn ni'zimu." Qam ir rsigil qM : " Ma 
 fish mani' ; ihna ni'zimu." We hiiwa rah filbet illi kanma'zum 
 fth id def talabu minnu ; qal lu : " Taiyib itfaddal khuilu." 
 U fi ISlitha r r&gil it'ashsha 'anduhum wi nbasat wi 1 mara mratu 
 basatitu min akl u shurb u min kafiit kulle ashya, igrannu huwa 
 r ragil da huwa gada' shabbe sughar we surtu gamtla. Qamit il 
 bint — bint ir ragil — 'ishqitu we habbitu, we habbit leinniha 
 tgauwizu. U ba'de ma nam abuha w ummiha fi nuss il lei 
 kan ir ragil nayim fi mahall il madyafa, wi 1 binte qamit 
 min in nom mafzii'a ma baq^sh gayi Iha n nom fi lelitha 
 min hubbiha fi r rigil id def ; we qamit rahit lu, w abuha 
 w ummiha khamranln fi 'izz in nom, we hiya khallathum fi 
 ahlaha noma we sahhit ir ragil we qalit lu : " Qum bina, ya 
 m'allim Mehammad." Qal liha : " Aqum aruh fen?" Qalit lu: 
 " Qum isha min in nom. w uq'ud 'ala helak ; ana biddi aqullak 
 'ala hik&ya." Huwa r rSgil qam min in nom u sihi u qa'ad 'ala 
 helu we qal liha : " Intt 'auza eh, ya sitte Zbeda." Qalit : 
 ^' Ana habbetak wi nta ya tara habbitnt zey ana ma habbetak 1 " 
 Qam qal liha : " Ana habbetik kettr qawl, lakin manish qadir 
 aqiil, leinnl khayif min abukl we min ummik la yimauwitunl. 
 Qalit lu : " Ya tara iza kan ana aqul luhum leinnuhum yigau- 
 wiziml lik tiqdar tuq'ud hina fi 1 balad we ilia la' ? LUzim tiqul 
 li qable ma aqul luhum, ya'ni in kunte radt walla ma ntash radl." 
 Qal liha : " Ana khayif aqullik manish radt truht tiftint 'aleya, 
 wi n qulti lik ana radt ma qdarshe leinnt aghtb 'an wiladt wala 
 shufhumsh, leinnt baq& li dilwaqti khamas sitti sntn fi 1 ghurba 
 wala shuftish wiladl ; w adin qulti lik 'ala 1 haqq, wi r ra'y 
 illt ti'milth masht 'aleh. Qalit lu : "Ana ayisi vraiyak w afut 
 ahll w afiit baladt 'ala sh&nak ; innama ya gada', amant Allah 
 ma tibqash tifarrat flya fi blad il ghurba, ya'ni f baladak?" 
 Qal liha : " Da hiiwa da yisahh ya sitti Zbeda ? Ana shllik fuq 
 rast u m^ li baraka ilia ntt." We humma 1 bint wi r rfto-il khadu 
 ba'duhum, we hattit hiya idha fi tdu we rahu gabu ba'lr we 
 rikbum we hattum kitf fi t tartq ; u tannuhuni mashyln lamma 
 darum u wuslu li hadd il bahr ; wi 1 binte kanit mistahrasa 'ala 
 
 a'ayis (pronounce almost als). 
 
EXERCISES ON THE SYNTAX 355 
 
 shuwaiyit zSd waiyftha ; tannuhum yaklum u yishrabu fi 1 'esh 
 illt gayblh il bint ; we lamma wuslum li 1 bahr il m&lih,i we 
 htya 1 mes^fa dt muddit 'ashar itnasbar yom min widy^n il 
 kilSb, nizlum fi m'erkib. We hina agrann abiiha w ummiha 
 lamma qSmu min in n6m bassum Ik laqu 1 bint wala laqu r ragil 
 id def. Darum yigrum fi 1 balad \vi yidauwarum malqu Ihumshe 
 rtha wala ghubarlya. Hattum kitf we, agrannuhum humma min 
 'Sditbum ya'rafu I'gurra illi lins&n yekun masht flba, tann ir 
 rSgil wi mr^tu wi wMdu subyan u banat sughaiyarln we humma 1 
 kull rakbln gimal tannuhum lamma wuslum lihadd il bahr, mesafit 
 itnashar y6m gabiiha fi 'ashart iy^m ; u nizlum min 'ala gmalhum. 
 U baqa r r&gil yi'au'au 'ala bintu wi yindah 'aleha we yiqul liha 
 bi r rutan betahhum : " Ya bint irga't u fliti r ragil il khayin 
 dih u ta'all 1 ummik wi 1 abiiki we li khwatik." Qalit : " Ti'ai- 
 yatum ma ti'aiyatiish manish gaya." Wi humma rig'u &khir ma 
 ghulbum, u rauwahum 'ala bladhum za'lanin 'ala shan il bint, we 
 qS,lu : " bi kh&tirha azinniha m&tit." Wi r ragil khad il bint u 
 tannu mashl min babllr il bahr li babtr il barr hatta wisil li 
 baladu, DamanhUr il Bihera, we rauwah 'ala betu ; we qa"ad il 
 bint fi bet makhsiis li wahdiha u katab 'alSha wi ggauwizha. 
 II mara 1 qadlma talabitha leinniha ti'zimha 'andiha ; qam ir 
 ragil khSf 'ala 1 bint lahsan tesimmiha, we huwa ma rdlsh yi- 
 khalllha truh 'andiha. Xf fidlit mabstita u f hazz u nbisat ; u 
 khallifit minnu banat u suby&n, we tanniha mauguda waiy&h li 
 gh^yit il y6m. U tammit hikayit wadi 1 kilab illi humma rig- 
 galithum kilab u harimha minadmtn. 
 
 XVII 
 
 Kan Wahid shttml tagir u wahid t^gir masri ; we kanu litnSn 
 humma shuraka waiya ba'duhum, we kanu biyisrahum fi kafiit il 
 bilM waiya ba'd, we yifdalum qaymtn u naymin u waklln we 
 sharbln sawa. IJ mba'de ma ktasabum min it tigara we si'dum, 
 we habbe kulle wahid minhum le innu yakhud naybu we yirga' 
 'ala baladu, qam ish shamt khad manabu illi tli' lu fi t tigara, il 
 maksab wi r rismal, u wadda' sahbu we qal lu : " Ya akhi nsMf 
 wishshak fi kher ; " we sallimu 'ala ba'd, u khadu ba'duhum bi 
 1 hudn, we da qal li da : " tartq is sal&ma, nshM wishshak fi 
 kher." Qui leinne, ya stdi, sh sh^ml khad ba'du u safir 'ala blad 
 ish Sham, wi 1 masri rigi' 'ala Masr. U ba'de ma wusil 'ala 
 baladu t tstgir ish shaml we rauwah betu we sallim 'ala 'iltu we 
 *ala girslnu wi staq^m fi d d^ betahtu, nam lela min il layalt 'ala 
 
 So distinguished from il bahr the Nile. 
 
356 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 ganbu 'ala smakh widnu ; u ba'den we huwa nayim, lakin nayim 
 sahl, qam beyiftikir it tigara wi 1 ahwal ill! kan fiha waiya t 
 tagir il masri, u beyi'mil hisbitu ; u kan beyiftikir leinne luh 
 'and it tagir il masri maiyidi, we qam qal : " Allah ! ya wad da 
 nta lik meyidi 'and it tagir il masri illi huwa kan shirikak ; ilia 
 tqum dughri wi thutte kitfe 'ala Masr we tutlub il meyidi min 
 shirikak wala tfutu luhshe abadan." Qam ' ir ragil qam min 
 balad ish Sham, u gih mesafir makhsus 'ala' shan yigl yakhud 
 il meyidi 'ande shirlku. Fi 1 waqt illi rayih yetubbe fih ish 
 sh&mt fi Masr, ya'ni waqtiha huwa dakhil min bauwabt il hadid 
 wi r ragil il masri qal: "Allah! ya wad ; " wi ftakar fi nafsu 
 we qal : " da nta 'andak meyidi li shirikak it tagir ish shami ; 
 ana qalbi bidillini le inn ir ragil da yimkin yequm min bilad ish 
 Sham we yigl yetalibni bi 1 meyidi ill! 'andi luh." Wi ba'den 
 huwa beyiftikir fi 1 mas'ala di, w agrann ir ragil ish shami tabbe 
 quddam bab il bet. Qam il masri simi'u we 'irif hissu we qal 
 li mratu : " Ya mara ana rah aqul lik 'ala mas'ala." Qalit lu : 
 " Ya ragil rah tequl li 'ala mas'alit eh? ya tara iyak tekun 
 kher." Qal liha : " Intt mish 'arfa illi bikhabbat 'ala 1 bab 
 da min?" Qalit lu : "La'." Qal liha : " Ana 'irifte hissu, we 
 'irifte huwa min ; da t tagii' ish shami gay yakhud il meyidi illi 
 'and! luh." Qalit lu : "Ba'den ma niftah luhsh il bab?" Qal 
 laha : " La' ; isburi lamma ahrab qable min foq is sutuh." U 
 ba'den qam ir ragil u harab u natte min foq is sutuh. Qamit il 
 mara fatahit il bab li sh shami, we qalit lu : " Inta 'auz min? " 
 Qal liha : " Ana 'auz shirlkl (fulan il fulanl)." Qalit : " Taiyib, da 
 fulan sMr il Higaz." Qal liha : " Taiyib, w ana kaman waiyaya 
 1 humara betahtl wildit fi s sikka, 'auz abni Iha madwid htya we 
 bintiha, f astanna hina fi Masr lamma yidur u yigl." TJ ba'de 
 sabaht iyam bass ir ragil il Masri laqa sh shami lissa maugiid 'andu, 
 fe qal li 1 mara : "Ana ahsan rah a'mil 'aiyan, u ba'den a'mil 
 meyit, u ba'de ma mut yiwadduni n nas it turba yidfinuni, u mba'de 
 ma yidfinuni huwa rah yakhud minni eh?" U ba'den ir ragil 
 'amal il hlla dl u mat, u wadduh u dafanuh u ghattii 'aleh u 
 fatHh, u tannuhum mashyln. U min dimn in nas illi kanu 
 mashyin fi mashhadu kan mashi sh shami. Qal: "baqa ya 
 wad rah tigt min bilad ish Sham wi tkallif nafsak we tisrif il 
 masartf dt we tighramha ? Ahsan bi 1 ahsan lamma yekhushsh 
 il lei we yehauwid teruh takhud minnu h'aqqak." Is sa'a talata 
 min il lei rah ir ragil 'ala bab it turba, u falla' sikklna min 
 gebu u qa'ad ganb ir ragil il mOyit we qal lu : "Ana lazim 
 akhud haqql min gildak walau hitta min kafanak." Qam ir 
 ragil il masri qam fazi' bi 1 kafan u qa'ad 'ala helu, u fakk 
 il kafan min nafsu u qal lu : " Baqa ya ragil tig} min bilad 
 
EXEECISES ON THE SYNTAX 357 
 
 ish Sham makhsils 'ashan mSyidl wahid?" Qam qal lu sh 
 shamt: " Wi shmi'nai nta ya masri lamma smi'tinl khabatte 
 'ala bab bgtak qumte nattet min foq is sutilh harabt we quite 
 li 1 mara : ' ana msafir il Hig&z ; ' u lamma laqitni tauwilte 
 saba' tamant iyfim w ana sarih u mrauwah. 'ala betak khufti 
 tkallifnl 'ala naf sak bi Mga ? We lakin il masrflf ill ana saraftu 
 fi akl u f shurb saraftu min gebt, wi nta takhud ba'dak u tig} 
 min f&q is sutflh wi ttubbe fi 1 bSt t^ni we ti'mil 'aiySn u ti'mil 
 ■ mgyit, wi tkalli n nSs yidfintik bi t turba bi 1 Mya we da kullu 
 'ala sh&n il meyidi ! Ana w Allahl we lau akhud hitta min 
 kafanak bidal il mgyidi bet&'l." Qal lu : " Ya akhi ana Mnt 
 mutte wala gar^ It haga ; wi dilwaqti rayak eh? Qui li." 
 Humma fi 1 kaMm u mitlu ilia gami,'a haramtya agrannuhum 
 sarqin khazlnit mal u miht^rtn yeshiiffi. matrah yiqsimu 1 mfil 
 fth, we mush laqytn ; we tannuhum mashytn u harlD&nln bi 1 m&l 
 hatta wuslu 1 qardfa illt ftha turbit ir rftgil il masrl. Fu ^ humma 
 1 har^miya laqti sham'a qayda fi t turba ; qam wahid minhum 
 qal ; " Ya gid'an ihna ninzil niqsim il mal 'ala ba'dina fi t turba 
 1 menauwara dl." Humma nizlum, in klinu 'ishrtn walla talatin, 
 bi 1 mffl illt waiy&hum. Qam il masrl qal li sh sh&mt : " Ga lak 
 il farag ; yalla ni'mil meyittn wi nn&m ihna litnen fi t turba 
 lamma n nas d61 yinzilum wi nshufhum rayhtn yi'milu eh ; ly&k 
 yekul^ lina qisma fi lit waiy&hum. U ba'den litn§n namii, wi 
 1 haramtya nizlum btqassimu 1 mal 'ala ba'duhum ; u mba'de 
 ma tqassim il mal fidil waiyahum wahid naqis min zimlathum 
 ma khadshe nistbu min il fuliis. Humma mi'ahum sef me- 
 faddad yisSwi manftb wthid ; q^mum qfilu li sh shakhs, illi 
 hiiwa f^dil dih ma khadshe man^bu, qalfl lu : " Ya (fuMn) ihna 
 'auztn niddt lak is s@f dih fi man&bak." Qam huwa star da ; 
 qal1\ lu : " Taiyib, ya sh^tir, niddt lak is sef fi manabak, Mkin 
 ish shurilt 'ala kede ihna biddina inta tidx'ab in n&s il itnen il 
 miyittn illi naymtn ganbe ba'de dol." Qam ir ragil qal : " Ya 
 khwanna, ya tara ana drabhum we humma meyittn? Mush 
 harslm 'alena?" Qall lu : " Wi nta ma lak? Ihna shurutna 
 waiytlk 'ala kede, wi n ma darabtuhumshe bi s sef ma lakshe 
 manab 'andina." Qam htlwa qal : " We 'ala shan eh rah atla' 
 min gh^r manab masalan ? " Qam misik is sef bi tdu we rah 
 fSzi' 'ala litnen il miyittn rah yidrabhum. Qamu humma 
 faza'um 'ala 1 harS,mtya, 'afratuhum. Tafashu humma we fStu 
 1 m^l, we ffitu s sef, we kulle wahid giri fi nahya. Qam il 
 masrt qal li sh shamt : " Kede, ya akht, aht gat min Allah, we 
 Rabbuna 'tana kher bi zyada min 'andu we gat lina bi n niydba 
 
 1 =eshmi'na. - By assimilation. ^ yekun. 
 
358 THE SPOKEN AEABIO OF EGYPT 
 
 u gat lina 'at tubtab." JSTihaytu 1 haramtya lamma harabum 
 we giryum qam il masri qa'ad yiqsim il mal waiya sh shSmi; 
 qasamflh nussSn ; kulle wahid khad nuss il mal. Qam il masrl 
 qal li sh shaml : " Khud manabak we rauwah. 'ala baladak baqa 
 bi salama, w ana akhud manabt w arauwah. 'ala beti." Qam qal 
 ish sMmi, qal li 1 masrl : " Ya akhi, ana 'auz il meyidi btfi'l ; 
 ana ma futshe haqql." Qam qal : " Ya akhi, mush mekafftk 
 il mal da kuUu, u lissa biddauwar 'ala meyidi wahid kaman 
 minnt ? " Humma fi 1 kalam u mitlu waiya ba'duhum bassu ' 
 laqil wahid min il haramlya basis min taqt it turba, we hiiwa 
 waqte ma kan btbusse 'alehum min il khurm beta' it turba qam 
 il masri 'ala helu ; u waqtiha kan ir ragil il haraml labis libda 
 fuq rasu, we kan il masrl rah khatif il libda minnu. Qam il 
 haraml khaf u giri ; we kan il masrl qal li sh shaml: "Waddi 
 1 libda fi 1 meyidi bta'ak, wala tit'ibnlsh wala tit'ibshe nafsak, 
 u adinta khuluste bi haqqak w ana khluste bi haqql, wi 'tana 
 Rabbuna kher bi zyada." U sallimu 'ala ba'd, u kulle manhu 
 rauwah 'ala baladu. 
 
 XVIII 
 
 In nas yeqfilu 'ala 1 ihram fi akhir iz zaman lamma tqum il 
 qiySma yiqiimum "yigu 1 habash min kutruhum, le innuhum 
 kutSr z6yi 1 naml, yigum bi salatinhum bi wuzarithum bi 'askar- 
 hum bi halhum bi mihtiyalhum bi harimhum bi 'iyalhum, yigu 
 dughrl 'ala 1 ihram ; wi 1 ihram tithaiya' luhum fi sifat dahab 
 kasr ; we humma yitkhahqu waiya ba'duhum fuq dahr il haram, 
 wi yeqiimum 'ala ba'd, wi yidrabum ba'duhum ; wi da yakhud 
 shuwaiya wi da yakhud ketlr, we yimauwitu ba'de ba'duhum bi 
 ba'd, wi yeruhum kulluhum fi sharbit moiya ke innihum ghirqu 
 fi 1 bahr, we ta'abhum yeruh min gher fayda. 
 
 XIX 
 
 II agrud huwa illl yekfln min gher daqn wala shanab we 
 yibqa wishshu amlas na'im zeyi 1 harlm. Wi 111 yistibih buh 
 yifdal till in nahar me'aknin wi yequl : " A'lizu bi llah, da ragil 
 sabahu wihish u sabah sabbahna 'ala s subh, ya Fattah, ya 'allm 
 bi wishshu r radl dih ; ya'ni hna sabahna nistibih ilia bi wishsh 
 ir ragil da!. Rabbuna yifauwit subhlyitu 'ala kher in nahar 
 da le inni ana bashshauwim min wishsh il agrud da ! Lakin 
 hana'miP eh baqa? ish sharre maqdvir." "We 'ala ra'y il masal 
 le inne sab&h il qurfld wala ^ sabah il agrvld. 
 
 1 For ni'mil, as the imper. a'mil sometimes for i'mil. 
 
 2 = ahsan min. 
 
EXEECISES ON THE SYNTAX 359 
 
 XX 
 
 Kan fth wahid ganayni kulle yom is §ubh k^n yakul arbe'tn 
 lamiina baladl banzaher bi qishruhum. U yfim min dol kan ir 
 r^gil da misht fi s sikka, we qablu wihid simm&wl ; wi s siminS,wi 
 dih yeqillii 'algh le innu beyibqa fi idu maqra'a grid min girld 
 in nakhl, u maktiib 'aleha sihr ; wi yeqUlu le innu auwul ma 
 yikhbat insS,n 'ala rasu bi 1 maqra'a dl yitannu mfi,shl warah in 
 kan r^gil au mara au walad. Hina lamma shaf ir rSgil da 1 
 gangni mSshl fi s sikka u shafu gislm simln rah khabtu 'ala rfisu 
 bi 1 maqra'a ; qam il gangnl mishi wara r ragil is simmawi, we 
 tannuhum mashyln litnen lamma dakbalum bet is simmawt ; wi 
 r r^gil is simmawi liabas ir ragil il ganenl guwa 1 bet, u sakk il 
 bSb 'aleh u khad ba'd, we rah. yistM gheru. Qam il ganSnl ga' 
 ive qarasit 'aleh batnu mig gu' ; qam qal fi balu : " ya wad, qum 
 dauwar lak 'ala haga fi b@t ir ragil da t^kulha." We huwa ma 
 kanshe 'arif leinne da simmawt, wi le inne fi bStu fth simme 
 minsh&l ; u kan waqtiha laqa magiir fukhkhar, we huwa da'ir 
 yi'arbid, wi 1 magir makft ; qam '&n harf il magfir bi idu, laqa 
 tahte minnu sahn, wi f qalb is sahn h&ga misfirra we yabsa ; we 
 lamma shafha misfirra wi f 16n il 'ads, lamma 1 'Ssh yissaqqa flh, 
 qam min gii'u qal : " ya wad,fmadam enta ga'an adi nta laqet 
 tasqiyit 'ads ahe quddSmak ; kul minha lamma tishba' walla 
 kulha kulliha in qidirte 'algha we sittln sana sab'en y6m hlwa 
 r^yih yigi yi'mil lak gh? Iza kan rayih yigi we yidauwar 
 'alSha wi yis'alni, ana qui lu min gA't akaltiha." Qa'ad ir r&gil 
 kalha kulliha wi nbasat ; wi agrann ir rfi,gil is simmSwl gih 
 fatah il b^b we dakhal bi r riggala wi 1 'iyfi,l wi n niswan illl 
 hftwa s&yidhum min barra, qam qa"adhum fi matrah, we 
 habas-hum. U ba'den qal fi nafsu : " ya wad, qable ma tish- 
 tighil, shiif il haga illi nta sheyilha." Rah yidauwar taht il 
 magur 'ala s sahn ; qam laq&h sahne ma IhUsh, zeye ma ykun 
 maghsM bi 1 moiya ; qam nadah li r ragil ig ganenl, u qal lu : 
 "Ta'Sla, ya ragil, hina." Qal lu : " Na'am, 'auz Mga?" Qal 
 lu : " II magiir fen ? " Qal : " Ana, ya stdt, ana wallah min gti'l 
 kaltiha." Qal lu : " Ya rfigil, kaltiha izzey ? di h^ga tmauwit, 
 u zzgye kaltiha?" Qal lu : " Dt ma mauwititnlsh ; da na 
 laqitha hilwa wi hsibtiha fattit 'ads, qumte kaltiha." Qam qal 
 lu ; " Enta kunte aslak san'itak eh? " Qal lu : " Min sughrl li 
 kubrt li ghSyit il &n w ana ganaynl, we kulle yom, ya sldl, ana 
 aqul lak il haqq, aghaiyar ir rtq 'ala rbe'tn lamuna benzaher." 
 Qam qal lu : " Ya shatir, nafadte bi 'umrak dilwaqt ; ana qa'adt 
 ahauwish till is sintn dol kam shahr au wi s sana^ illi ana 
 
 1 = au kam sana hatta. 
 
360 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 lammgtha tiha adi nta kaltuhum fi sa'a wahda ; yalla, ya gada', 
 tariq is salama, ruh fi hllak ; Allah yihauwin 'alek ; baqa nafadte 
 bi 'umrak." U ba'dgn qal fi nafsu s simmawt : " rayih tuq'ud 
 ti'mil eh baqa fi 1 balad dt madam illi hauwishtu fi Sana ah6 
 rah fi daraga wahda ? Ahsan teruh terauwah baqa 'ala baladak." 
 U seyib in nas illl kan gSyibhum, u qal luhum : Riihum intii 
 keman li halkum." We khad ba'du u mishi 'ala bMdu. Wi 1 
 ganaynt lamma rauwah 'ala baladu qam qal il mas'ala di fi 1 
 balad betahtu ; u wahid yequl li wahid lamma kull id dinya 
 khadit khabar buh. Wi 1 qol da yequluh il wilad is sughaiyarin 
 min muddit Efendina Isma'th Basha. 
 
 Wi yequlu n nas lamma s simmawi yakhud in nas we yidakh- 
 khalhum fi 1 bet beta'u we yighfil 'alehum, yekun mehaddar qazan 
 kiblr nahas, wi 1 qazan yikhud lu qadde qirbiten moiya, we 
 yekun mewalla' n^r taht il qazan ; wi yegib in nas yi'allaqhum 
 mir riglehum, ya'nt yikhalli riglchum li foq we rashum li taht fi 
 1 qazan ; u waqte ma yi'allaqhum bi s sifa dl yequlu n nas min 
 sahd in nar yequm yinzil is simme min bant adam min dufre 
 rigleh li ghayit sha're rasu fi qalb il qazSn ; wi lamma yissaffa 
 yeshilu wi yegib gheru yi'allaqu. Wi yequM le inn is simme 
 dih illl beyikhrigu s simmawi min gittit banl adam yeq(ilu le 
 innu yiwaddih li s sultan beta'u ; wi huwa mgiyu fi Masr we 
 akhdu s simme min in n&s bi ami- is sultan. 
 
 XXI 
 
 Fih nas min id darawtsh il wahid minhum yimsik sef min in 
 nahyiten bi Jdeh litnen we ba'de ma qal : " bi smi llSh, AUahu 
 akbar," yeruh yidrab nafsu bi s sef 'ala batnu, walla 'ala kitfu 
 we yigi 1 khalifa yegib wahid darwlsh 'ala yemlnu u wahid 'ala 
 shmalu ; wi r ragil illt f idu s sef yenam fi 1 ard wi ye'hutt is 
 sef 'ala batnu, wi yigi 1 khalifa yistinid bi Ideh litnen we yehutte 
 idSh kulle id 'ala kitfe wahid, we yitla' bi rigleh litnen f5q dalir 
 is sef we yittakka bi rigleh bi quwwitu 'ala iikhir 'azmu, wi s sef 
 yibeyit gliwa batn id darwish ; u ba'den yequm 'ala helu yebussu 
 n nfis la yilaqiih kharre damme min gismu wala hasal lu haga ; 
 we auwul il Khalifa ma yitalla' is sef bi idu yebilli sba'u bi 
 rtqu min hanaku wi yemashshih 'ala batn id darwish 'ala matrah 
 is sgf . Wi 1 wilad is sughaiyarin yehuttu Ihum shlsh fi hanakhum 
 we yinafSdfth fi sidaghhum nahyiten, wi yehuttu Ihuin lamtlna 
 fi tarf ish shtsh min nahyiten ; wi minhum wilad il wahid 
 minhum yimsik qarrdya walla qandil fi idehum we yeruh duo-hri 
 qatmu we zaghit il qizdz fi kirshu. Wi minhum nas miri rigg^la 
 kubar bi dqun, wi 1 wahid minhum yimsik it ti'ban bi idehum 
 
EXERCISES ON THE SYNTAX 3G1 
 
 litnen we yitannu yuq^um we yiqarqash flh bi hanaku bi lahmu 
 bi 'admu bi Mlu wi yibla'u fi batnu ma ykhalUsh minnu hkga. 
 U minhum nSs yimsiku 1 hittit il wil'a, ya'nt hittit fahma 
 miwahwiga, kulliha hamra, wi yeriiliii dughrt balghinha 'ala 
 tul. 
 
 XXII 
 
 II fallaMn iza shftfu binte min banathum bitkallim walad 
 yikun shabb u baligh u htya km^n baligh yeqiimu marraten 
 tal^ta yinabbihu 'aleha abliha u ummiha wi yeqillu Iha : " 'eb ya 
 bint ! Ma timshlsh waiya bni Mn ; " u mba'de ma yinabbihu 
 'allha wi yeshufliha mishyit waiyfth tant, au waiya gheru, yeqfim 
 ir ragil abiiha is si'idi dih, yequl liha : " Ya bint il manbilsh,i 
 ana 'amma qui lik marra u itnen u talata ma timshlsh waiya 
 bn il medaifistn ; inti ma 'amm&sh tisma't kaMml leh ? lakin 
 khudi bilik u rauwaht 'al id dar." U ba'den il bint khadit 
 ba'diha u r^hit 'ala dar abiiha, we ummiha q&lit laha : " Intt kutti 
 fSn ya bittl ? " Qalit liha : "Ana kutte 'amma mla moiya min il 
 bahr fi zarawiye, w abM ^ ragabni ^ u giri waraye u gatalnl * u gal ^ 
 It rauwaht 'ala d dar, u gibt iz zarawtye u g§t agrl karsh 'ala d 
 dar." Q&lit laha ummiha : " Ya sabtye w ani ma gulti lik 
 la trlihtshe timlt min zarawtye walla Mge min il bahr. MMam 
 intt ma smi'ttsh kaEmi aho abilkt yigtilik wala yikhalllki ; aho 
 yibga ^ bi kefu 'fi,d ya bnaiyitt." "We hina r ragil lamma sh^f 
 il bint talatt arba' marrat, walla khamas sitte marrat, zimiq 
 minha we qal liha : " Ana 'amma gul lik 'al kalam wi ntt ma 
 'ammSsh tisma't minni ya bint is subaiye,^ ana la khalli 1 
 aghribe wi t tiy&r ma yshimmii lik rlha wala khallt lik asar 'ala 
 wishsh il ard." II binte aysit, kharagit min id dar u rahit waiya 
 1 walad illi k^nit bitdilr waiyah. Hina shafha baqa, u qal liha : 
 " Intt bardtkt 'amma tdftrt waiya s sabt dih w ana 'amma 
 traggab ^ 'alekt fi sh sherg ^ u fi 1 gharbe ma 'ammash al&gikt,!" 
 u ba'den adin ragabtik u shuftik dilwaket." ^^ U ba'den ir ragil 
 kan waiyah turya, u kan biyi'zaq btha fi 1 ghet, u qal li 1 bint 
 " Istannlni hnth,!^ ana 'auz arauwih ^^ ma'aki d dar." II binte 
 masktna ma kSnitshe 'arfa, u, lagle akhir 'umriha we agalha, 
 
 ^ A mother will call her own child bint il kalb, bint ish 
 sharmuta, &c. 
 
 ^ abiiya. ^ raqabnt. * qatalnt. 
 
 ^ qal. 6 yibqa. ' sabtya. 
 
 * atraqqab. ^ sharq. i" alaqikt. 
 ^1 dilwaqt. Of. Syiian halqet. 
 
 1^ hina. Of. Syrian hontk. ^^ arauwah. 
 
362 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 qa'adit fi 1 ghet lamma gih abiiha we g&b it turya, hattiha 'ala 
 kitfu u khad il binte fi idu we hatte kitf 'ala 1 khala, we tannu 
 mashi lamma rah. taht talle 'all ; u fahat taht it tall bi t turya, 
 u gab il bint u rah daribha bi t turya, mauwitha, u dafanha fi 1 
 birka illi fatatha taht it tall, u ramaha fih u radam 'aleha ; u 
 tanne masM merauwah 'ala betu. U ba'den, lamma rah il bet, 
 umm il bint sa'alitu we q&lit lu : " Ya bne flan, ya'ni min waqt 
 il liinte ma rahit tiwaddi lak il 'esh fi 1 ghet, ya'ni dilwaket 
 imsa 1 lei wi 1 binte ma gatsh." Qam ir ragil qal laha : " Ya wliya 
 inti ha tug'udi ^ tegurrt ^ we tigrugi ^ wi tzinnl 'ala shan eh ? Iza 
 kan intl ma ntish rayha tikhft di s stra * (sirt il bint) ana fut lik 
 il balad dl b illi flha w atanni mashi." Qamit qalit lu : " Taiyib, 
 ya fulan, ana baz'al 'ala bintt wi nta za'lan 'ala shan eh ? " Qam 
 qal liha : " Nihaytu ana rayh aguUik 'ala kilme wahde,^ wala 
 tgurrl 'al§ya wala tigrugi 'aleya wala Mga ; il bint khamas sitte 
 marrat walla saba' marrat ana shuftiha waiya 1 wed" we hiya 
 mashya waiyah, qulti Iha : ' ya sabiyiti ya binti irga'i ma tigturish ^ 
 waiya 1 wed dih ; ' hiya ma sim'itshe kalami ; ana, akhir ma 
 ghlubte minha, khadtiha fi idi u ruhte fi 1 khala u darabtiha bi 
 t turya u fahatti Iha birka u lagahtiha ^ flha bi khulganha, we 
 dannetl m^shl u get 'ala d dar ; w adin gulti lik 'ala mas'alitha 
 w5 shufi nti kef rah ti'milt gh baga." Qalit lu : " We kef, ya bu 
 'ammu, gataltiha u mauwuttiha ? " Qal liha : " Adin gataltiha we 
 mauwittiha bi t turya, ya'ni dabahtiha, wahiya rShit li halha ; 
 shUfl kef a ti'mill baga." Qalit hiya : " 'ad, ya bu 'ammu, u kef 
 ma zmagshe 'ala bitti ! " Qal liha : " Tizmagl ma tizmagish 'ala 
 kefik ya sublye." U ba'den il mara min za'alha 'ala bintiha 
 sauwatit u sarrakhit ; u kan waqtiha t tof maugudln fi 1 balad u 
 simi' sirlkh il wallya ; we waqtiha r ragil min za'alu hiiwa kan 
 rah yiqtil il mara we yidbahha 'ashan hiya kanit bitsauwat u 
 bitsarrakh ; u ba'den lamma sauwatit gum il ghufara, wi r ragil 
 kan bldur 'ala sikklna lamma hiya garrasitu bi s sirlkh betahha, 
 u f waqte wugM it tauwafa tabbum 'ala r ragil we qafashuh ; u 
 r^hum dayrln kitafu, ya'ni dauwarum ideh wara ktafu u kattifiih 
 bi hable tU qinnib (biyi'miliih bi z zift tequm tilaqlh zey il hadld), 
 we ramii fi rigleh qed hadld we garruh litngn, wahid min 'ala 1 
 yimln u wahid min 'ala sh shimal ; we huwa baqa f wustuhum 
 ir ragil illi huwa sahib il 'amla ; wi 1 mara mratu mishyit warShum 
 we humma wakhdln ir ragil, u tannuhum lamma wassaluh li 1 
 hukftma u sallimlih li 1 bulls bet^' il mudiriya. 
 
 1 tuq'udl. '^ tiqm'ri. 3 tiqruql. 
 
 * is slra dl. = wahda. ^ wad. 
 
 "> tiqturtsh. s laqahtiha. 
 
EXERCISES ON THE SYNTAX 363 
 
 XXIII 1 
 Kan ft hikstya 'an hurma fi bilM ir rlf le inniha kfinit 'andiha 
 shabbit baqara ; qam talabha sbekh il balad le innu yeshagh- 
 ghalha 'andu fi 1 mihr^t au fi 1 gurn sukhra.^ Qamit il mara 
 khifit 'ala baqaritha, q^lit lu : " Ana ma ghdarshe addihg, lak, 
 di bit'aiyishni u bifaiyisb 'iy&ll, u warftya 'iyal yutama." 
 Qam shSkh il balad ma smi'she minha vi talab minha ir 
 rusum betl' il mlrf. QMit : " Ma biltlsh." Qam kbad minha 
 1 baqara bi 1 ghadre 'anha, u talab w^liid gazzar u khalla g 
 gazzar dabahha ; u kauwim il baqara kwam, u talab nas il balad 
 qadde taMttn arbe'in khamsin sitttn nSs 'ala qadde miqdar 
 likw^m ; u kulle ■wS.hid minhum khad lu kom bi t taman 
 wi 1 k6m bi riy&l, ya'nl qui sittln k6m bi sittln riyal, u khad il 
 fuliis darabhum fi 'ibbu. Qamit il mara 'aiyatit qalit lu : " Ana 
 'auza taman il baqara btahtt walla baqartt bi nafsiha leinn il 
 baqara btahti tisawi Iha miya u 'ishrin riyal." Qal liha : " Ya 
 wltya ma Iktsh 'and! haga ; rfihi shtikl matrah ma tishtikl." 
 Rahit 'and il mudir wi shtakit ir r&gil illl hiiwa shekh il balad, 
 wi qalit lu : " Ya hadrit il mudtr shSkh il balad (il fulanlya), illl 
 hiya baladi, talab minnl rusiim it tin ; qulti lu : ' ana sahbit 
 'iyal ttfim wala ma mi'ish fuliis dilwaqti ; lamma yiglni.' Qal 
 li : ' ma yimkinshe ; ma ghdarsh at'akhkhar 'an fulus il miri.' 
 Qam zalamni we garre baqartl minnl bi 1 gabre 'ann{ we haddar 
 il gazzar, u dabahha we kauwimha kiwam, sittin kom, kulle kom 
 bi ryal." Qam qal laha 1 mudtr : " Ya wltya, ummSl baqartik 
 tis^wt fi t taman kam ? " Q&lit lu : " Ya hadrit il mudir, tisawi 
 mlya u 'ishrin riy&l." Qam' il mudtr talab shekh il balad we 
 haddar il mara we haddar in n^s illi shtarH 1 ikwam min lahm 
 il baqara wi g gazzar illi dabah il baqara bi nafsu, wi n nis 
 kulliha magmii'a, we amar bi lamme meshayikh il bilad kul- 
 luhum, we haddar qS,di 1 mudtrlya we sa'alu, we qal lu : " Eh il 
 gSyiz, ya hadrit il qS,dl, illi ni'milu fi r ragil da zeye ma zalam 
 il mara dt fi iDaqaritha? " Qam il qfi,dt qal li 1 mudtr : " Yilzam 
 leinn il gazzEir yi'mil fi r r&gil da zeye ma 'amal fi 1 baqara 
 htaht il mara, ya'ni yidbahu g gazzar we yiqassimu kwam we 
 yifarraq likwam 'ala s sittin nas illi humma khadu kw&m il 
 baqara, kulle k6m bi riyfUSn, yibqu mtya we 'ishrtn riyal, hukme 
 ma talabit il mara taman baqaritha, 'an amr il qadl we amr il 
 mudtr." Gum il masha'ltya kattifu r ragil illi hiiwa 'umdit il 
 balad we ramilh fi 1 ard, we dabahu 1 gazzar, u kauwumu kwam 
 we farraqu 'as sittin nafs, kulle kom bi riyalen ; we amar il 
 
 ' This story is told by Lane {Mod. Egyp., chap. iv.). 
 ^ Adverbially. 
 
364 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 mudir leinn il gazzar yakhud ras ir ragil f ugritu zeye ma khad 
 ras il baqara fi dabliiha ugritu. Wi 1 mara khadit il fuliis taman 
 il baqara min id il mudir, we da'it li 1 qadi we li 1 mudir le 
 innuhum khallasu Iha tarlia min ir rS,gil. 
 
 XXIV 
 
 Kan fih bint, binte bikr, 'andiha 'ashara tnashar Sana, we 
 laha mirat 'abb, we mir^t abiiha kanit tamalli mkhalliya 1 binti 
 di dayra fi 1 khala wi tdur tiqashsbish laha 'afsh u hatab lagli 1 
 kbabiz wi t tabikh. Qamit yom min zat liy&m il binte masbya 
 laqat taqa maftuha zeye nuqra fi 1 ard we laqatha betidwl 
 zeye Ion il fadda ; we kanit tinzil il binti b maqtafha, malit 
 il maqtaf bi 'enu, u shalitu foq rasba khaditu wadditu 'ala 
 bet abiiha, iddatu limr^t abiiha wi qalit laha: "Ya mrat 
 abiiya, khudi." Qamit il mara shafit il maqtaf we 'irfit illi 
 fih le innu mal. Qalit laha: " Ya bitte gibti da min en?" 
 Qalit laha : " Y umm, gibtu min il khala ; laqet nuqra w ana 
 dayra baqashshish, qumte malet il maqtaf wi tanni gaya." Qamit 
 qalit laha: " Umm^l riihi hatt kaman noba lagl aghaddtkt 
 ghadwa hilwa." Qamit il bint, masktna, khadit il maqtaf wi 
 rigi'it tani lagle tama' mirat abiiha fi d dunya 1 fanya. Qa'adit 
 il bint timla 1 maqtaf min il matlab ; wala kal lihash ilia 1 marra 
 1 auwilantya lagle qismitha we qadar 'umriha we agalha ; qam il 
 matlab inqafal 'aleha wi 1 binte halakit min il 'atash we hlya lissa 
 liaya. Wi f waqtiha kan abuha rauwah il bet min barra barra' 
 sa'alha (mirfttu) 'ala bintu we qal liha : " Fen il bint, ya 
 (fulana)? " Qalit luh : " II amre mahu kaza kaza wi di d d6r 
 il auwilani illi gabitu we shOya'tiha teglb dur tani." Qam ir 
 ragil zi'il 'ala bintu wi qal laha : " Ya wliya f ani hitta rahit? " 
 Qalit _lu : '' Fi 1 hitta (1 fulantya)." Qam rah yidauwar 'ala ijintu 
 fil hitta ill} qalit lu 'aleha 1 mara; qam simi' hisse bi'aiyat; 
 laqah hisse bintu, we 'irif taht il arde bit'aiyat. Qal liha : " Ya 
 binti ya (fulana)." Qalit lu :' " Yaba 'atshana ; isqini," marraten 
 talata. Qam fahat 'aluha tiilen talata, ma talhash, wala smi'sh 
 ilia 1 hisse min bi'id 'ala tfil mesafa ; u ba'dgn qal liha : " Ma bi 
 1 yadde hlla ; ha da amr Allah hakam 'aleki we qismitik hakamit 
 'ala qadde kede we 'ala qadde ma lik '^-sh fi d dunya." We 
 tarak 'awadu 'al Allah. We qal: " AlMh yibri dimmitik u 
 yisamhik." U ba'den bana Iha sbil fuq minha, we kulle yom 
 yimla moiya li n nas yishrabii minnu, li r rayih wi g gay. 
 
 XXV 
 
 Fi daqqe yeduqqiih in nas 'ala dri'ithum. Iza kan yekun 
 gada' mm d61 'Ishiq wahda bint yikhalli 1 fiqt walla 1 mara 
 
EXEECISES ON THE SYNTAX 365 
 
 yiktib ismiha 'ala dr^'u we yeglb mara ghagariya we yequl liha : 
 " Duqqt li 'ala drft'i 'ala 1 ismi da ; " fe hlya tduqqi lu. Wi 1 mara 
 mill d61 tisrah. fi 1 hawftrl min dfil, wi tza"aq wi tqfil : " NibSyina i 
 z6n we nadmura i zen wa nduqqe zgn wa nt^hir il banat zen wa 
 nkhutte b il wada' zen; illi luh raqaba ^ yiduqq walla yittabir walla 
 yidmur walla yeshuf bakhtu." "We minhum min niswan il 
 ahr^r fi bMd il fall&hln yeduqqum 'ala daqnuhum talat khutftt u 
 nuqta au talat nuqat fuq qurithum 'ash^n iz zlna lagle tibqa 
 hilwa u ti'gib ir r&gil yimkin yihibbiha ziylda 'ala shan id daqq. 
 Wi 1 bint il bikr tiduqq 'ala dr8,'ha sh shimal dirs (bi sbikle 
 tadwlrit dirs is saqya) u 'ala quritba ; we waqtiba lamma yibqa 
 d daqqe fi idha tahte khunqitha we tibqa labsa 1 asawir il fadda 
 fi ideha, wi s sigha fi raqabitha wi 1 halaq fi widanha we tilbis 
 liha qamts iswid we tahte minnu gall§,biya bedft tibqa 1 hagat dl 
 mibSyin^ha leinniha hilwa. Yeduqqum keman 'ala sidr il insan 
 'ala shan il buhaq. Leinne kan fth wahid hasal lu 'aiya, wi 1 
 'aiy^ dih baqa yi'attashu ktir we yikhallth yishrab moiya min 
 gher q^niin, u baqa yakul il akl it talat taqat we ma baqash il 
 akle yimrt 'aleh wala yinfa' ; u ba'dSn shawir 'aqlu we qal ahsan 
 as'al w^hid min in n&s il mitqaddimin fi s sinn ; fe rah sa'al 
 wahid 'umru yitla' sab'en Sana, we qal lu leinnl, ya 'amme f ulan, 
 ana hasal 'andi 'aiya kaza kaza ; fi huwa qal lu : " Yimkin ya bnt 
 leinnak kunte y6m min d61, walla hSga, wiqifte 'ala furn wi 
 ddaffSt 'al6h we stahlet id dafa, we yimkin aslak kunte bardan 
 lamma kunte wlqif quddam il furn ; f e yimkin waqtiha 1 furne 
 dih yekun is sabab asliha mai'a tekun hattit tawagin samak fi 1 
 furn wi nta ma khadtish fi naf sak wala 'tet * leinne da aslu yekun 
 samak mahtflt fi 1 furn, we bi sabab qillit fikritak khallet riht 
 is samak tigi 'al@k min il furn we hlya Hi 'aiyitak ; walla 
 yimkin kutte 'atshan u kassilt u nimte bi 'atashak wi nta '^rif 
 natsak leinnak 'atshan, we lakin min tuqle dim&ghak ghalab 
 'alek in n6m we nimt, fi 1 'aiya iiasal 'andak bi sabab il 'atash ; 
 fi 1 ahsan teruh 'ande wsthda ghagariya tikhalHha * tiduqqi lak 
 'ala sidrak." We huwa daqqe zeye ir ragil ma qal lu, u ba'den 
 khaff. 
 
 XXVI 
 
 Plh nas yimshum fi s sikka we yithadditum li wahduhum we 
 humma yekunu yimkin beyiftakaru fi 'ib^dit Rabbina we mash- 
 ghUltn fih, we yimkin yekunu labsln hudiim qudS,m mesharmatln 
 au meraqqa'ln au yimshu 'iryfinin ; in nas yeqiilu 'alehum d61 
 magSnln au magazlb au auliya. We amma min 'adt il wall ma 
 
 ^ For nibeyin, nidmur. ^ I.e. 'umre tawll. 
 
 3 = iftakart. ' * § 12 6. 
 
366 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 yakhudshe min tadde fulus wala yiqbalshe min hadde haga ; we 
 iza akhadii haga, fulus au hidiim, humma yifarraquhum li n nas 
 il masakin ; we yimkin iza akalum walla shirbum yimkin yakh- 
 lum bi guz'e min il fulus illi tgi Ihum, wi 1 baqt yifarraqlih ; 
 we lakin ma haddish yighdar yishufhum biyakhlum eh walla 
 biyishrabti eh wala haddish yighdar yeshuf hum biyensimum wala 
 ma binamitsh, ya'iii Rabbuna huwa lit 'alim buhum. Wi n n&s 
 yeruhu 'anduhum yezuruhum iza kanum yekunu haytn. TJ 
 mba'd in nas yuq'udum quddamhum, wi yekun il insfin 'auz 
 yiftikir fi mas'ala yiftakarha fi 'aqlu min gher ma yequl luhum 
 bi 1 hanak, humma yeqiilu lu iza kan fiha nafa' yequlu 'aleha ; 
 ma fihash, yequlil : " II mas'ala di ma 1 hash nafa', wi s sikka dl 
 au 1 mishwar dih au 1 balad di au 1 giha di ma timshlsh flha." 
 
 XXVII 
 
 Kan lela min zat il layalt kan flha khatmit Qur'an 'ala shS,n 
 farah ; wi 1 farah da kan fih tuhiir walad, we kan flh fiqi bgyiqra ; 
 wi 1 ftqt da sotu kuwaiyis, ya'nl missaiyat fi 1 qiraya, we kSnit 
 in nas malmuma qa'da betisma'u ; we kan wahid yifizze min nas i 
 illi qa'din, we kan yequl : " Ya salam u sallim ! amma s6t rl 
 gada' da gamil illt biyiqra." Waqtiha kan abu 1 fiqi hadir ; 
 qam simi' kilmit ir ragil, u qam 'ala helu wi kan yeruh d4rib 
 kafff f sidghu. We kSn il walad rah sarikh, we kanit in nas 
 teqfim 'ala sarkhit il walad, we qalit luh : " Leh, ya rigil, 'ala 
 shan eh ? Haram 'alek ; darabt il walad il kaffi da leh ? " Qal 
 luhum : " JSTihaytu nafad is sahm, wi 1 hamdu li llah hasal kher 
 'ala kede." We maqsud abu 1 fiqi darab ^ il kaffe 'ala kede 
 'alashSn khayif 'aleh min il 'en, ahsan yinhisid, u f darb il kafif 
 ma hasal lush haga ilia kull il kher. 
 
 xxyiii 
 
 Lamma yi'ya 'aiyil sughaiyar yequm ahlu yequlii : "da 
 yimkin fulan hasadu walla fulana hasaditu ; " yequmu yegibu 
 shuwaiyit malh yitaqtaqvlha lu ; u yimkin yakhdu hittit khalaqa 
 min il khulqan il qadlma, hitta sughaiyara medauwara qadd il 
 qersh, yequssuha bi 1 maqass we yakhduha, ma yikhalltish hadde 
 yeshufhum, we yibakhkharu bha 1 'aiyil, ya'nt yewalla'uha waiya 
 1 malh fi n n^r waiya hittit shabba zifra min 'and il 'attar, wi 
 yedakhkhanuhu 'ashan ir rtha lagle ma yeshimmiha il 'aiyil'; u 
 tauwu ma bakhkharuh bi r raqwa yetib. 
 
 1 Contracted from min in nas. Stress is laid on the min. 
 
 2 = fi darb (nahw. fi kSnu darab). 
 
EXERCISES ON THE SYNTAX 367 
 
 XXIX 
 
 Iza kan yekun zir mauglid fi bSt min biyut wilad il 'arab, wi 
 z zir da masalan malyan moiya walla Mga, we gib iz zir wiqi' 
 min 'ala 1 hammala betahtu we tabbe fi 1 ard, teqAm il mara 
 tiz'al we tinwihir, we qalbiha yetubbe, wi tqiil : " ya tara rah 
 yigra Sh fi 1 bet?" U ba'din yimkin tequm tequl fi naf siha : 
 "ya bitte ray ha tiza''ali nafsik leh?" Yimkin hatihsal mustba 
 walla Mga, wi tktin asliha nazra walla nifs walla haga min ragil 
 walla min mara, yekun hadde dakhal gilwa b@tik we shaf il farsh 
 wi 1 matrah mehaiya', we yimkin, lamma dakhal, shahaq wala 
 qalshe " ma sha' allah," wala haga, fi 1 mas'ala di hasalit min 
 kede we ISkin il hamdu li Hah illi gat 'ala kede. 
 
 XXX 
 
 Iza kan il 'aiyil ibne talat sinln walla khamsa sitti sntn, we 
 'auz il ins^n yi'mil lu taswtra yihraqha 'ala shan in nazra, yegtb 
 hittit waraqa we yigtb ibra walla dabbfts, we yimsik il hittit 
 il waraqa bi tdu we yiqnssuha bi 1 maqass we yirsimha 'ala hasab 
 rasme taswtrit ban}S,dam,!we yikharraqil waraqa bi 1 ibra we yequl ; 
 "fi 'en fuMna u fl&n u flfin u flana," we huwa beyikharraq flha, 
 ya'ni n nas illi huwa zanin leinnuhum hasadu ibnu walla bintu ; wi 
 mba'de ma yikharraq il waraqa khurilm khurum yegib 'ud kabrlt 
 we yimsik il waraqa fi Idu we yiharrarha, ya'nt yisaddar il waraqa 
 quddam wishsh il 'aiyil we yiwalla'ha we yidarrtha fi 1 hawa, 
 teqilm il 'tn teruh min il walad. Ya immatan yakhud qataru, 
 ya'nl in kan bint yakhud mandilha min 'ala rasha iza kg,nit 
 'iriqit flh we hlya 'aiy&na, walla iza kan walad yakhud taqltu illi 
 'iriq flh, we yiwaddu 1 qatar 'ande wahid min il fuqaha illi yekun 
 ya'raf yeqls il qatar wi ykun yi'raf yiktib hig&bat li 1 'iyal ; we 
 hftwa tauwu ma qSs il qatar yeqftm yi'raf il 'aiya illi 'aiyg,n buh 
 il 'aiyil we yiftah il kitab we yi'mil hisab in nigm we yiktib il 
 hig§,b 'ala hasab muqtada nigm il 'aiyil, we yiktib fi 1 higab aya 
 min ^yat il Qur'an ish sharlf ; we umm il 'aiyil takhud il higab 
 min il fiql bi qabul minnu bi nlya khalsa, we takhdu tigallidu 
 bi hittit glide sikhtiy^n ahmar walla sfar walla khdar, zSye ma 
 tkdn, we tdt lu qershe ta'rifa walla qershe s&gh ugrit it tagltd ; 
 we takhdu ti'allaqu li 1 'aiyil fi raqabtu bi hittit qttan walla 
 shirtt wi tfauwitCi lu min tahte batu sh shimfll ; we tauwu ma 
 khaff il 'aiyil 'ala 1 higS,b teriih il mara tiwaddi r rashwa li 1 
 fiql 'ala hasab shuruthum waiya ba'duhum. 
 
368 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 XXXI 
 
 Hina f Masr iza kan il wahid yegtb hittit batttkha au ratlen 
 lahma yekun sharlhum li 'iyalu ^vi yekun dakhil buhum 'ala 1 
 bet, yequm iza kanit mara walla ragil min in nas illl humma 
 able hasad we 'Onehum betakbud wi betishrah fil 1 insan, yequmu 
 yequlu : " ya salam da fulan da kulle sa'a beyishtiri Mgat wi 
 yekhushsbi bha 'ala betu ilbatti Hi zeye dih mahu 'ala maksab 
 kuwaiyis willa ^ fi khidma kuwaiyisa 'ande gama'a frank walla 
 yekun fi sraya beta'it bashawat turk." "We yimkin fi waqte ma 
 bumma yuq'udum yikkallimu wi yequrrii wi yzinnii yeqilm il 
 insan yiddi 1 Mga li mratu we blya tkun gayba sbuwaiyit bamya 
 walla shwaiyit mulukhtya we tigi tqatta' il liittiten il lahma, wi 
 tkun mekharrata 1 basalten we ramya Ihum il babbit is samn fi 
 'aiT il halla ; we tauwu ma ramit il hittiten fi qalb il balla, we 
 waqtiha tkun il mara qa'da quddam il balla, wi tbussi tlaqi 1 
 halla nattit wi nsbalit min foq il kanim li wahdiba wi trub mak- 
 buba li wabdiba min gber ma badde yezuqqiha wala badde yigt 
 yammitba, we tauwe ma kkabbit il balla yekun ir ragil kharag 
 u gib min sbugblu, teqijll : " Ya bu (flan) ma tiz'alsb, ibna kal- 
 lifna 'al halla 'ashara tnasbar qershe sagb, we lakin blya nafad 
 flha s sahm u nkabbit li walidiha." Yequl liha : " Ya (fulana) 
 ana kunte dakhil min bab il bSt u shafitnl (fulana u fulana) we 
 li,kin il bamdu li llah ill! gat 'ala babbit it tabtkb wi kkabbit, 
 u nafadit 'enebum flba. 
 
 Wi za dakbal wahid bi battlkha walla eye liagt in kanit illi 
 ykun sharlba li 1 akl wi yekun mara walla ragil sbafub, we biiwa 
 rakbar shafhum, yiftikir leinne dol yimkin nas basudiyin wi 
 yequl : " ya ritna ma kuntisb sbuftubum wala sbafiinl ; yimkin, 
 ya wad, madam dol shafuk tuqa' minnak il battlkb li wahdiba 
 tinkisir wala nakul wala nishrab minba." Wi n ma kkasaritsb 
 il batttkha yimkin yikbaniq miratu walla wiladu ; we tauwe ma 
 hasal il kbin^q walla ba'd il insan ma yinfadde min il kbinaq wi 
 yeruq yeqftl : " W Allah ya (fulana) iz za'aVillt basal Una dih 
 da min 'en (fulana) illi shafitni w ana dakbil bi 1 battlkha." 
 
 XXXII 
 
 Wugud il hamam fi 1 bOt hirze li 1 ulad, ya'ni 1 bet illl 
 maugud fib il hamam ma tkhushsbiish wiMd il gan il ashqiya 
 we da yequlii le innu bi sabab tamalli 1 hamam yizkur Rabbuna 
 we yiwahhid Allah wi yeqfil : " ya Ra'uf ! " Illl yeqiil " ya 
 
 1 = we ilia (i.e. walla). 
 
EXEKCISES ON" THE SYNTAX 369 
 
 Ra'M " humma 1 hamam ir rflmi 1 abyad we hHwa fi riglgh rtsh, 
 we luh shuwgsha lish fi rasu ; wi lit yeqCil " Alllh ! AlMh ! " 
 hdwa 1 ya.mani 1 iswid, sughaiyar 'an ir rUmi wi nhif fi gismu. 
 We amma 1 baladi yizkur AlMh r&khar, we lakin il ginsen d61 
 yizkunlh ziyada 'an il baladt; wi 1 baladi bid menaqqatln 
 nuqat nuqat, ahmar 'al abyad. U flh fir^kh balacfl minhum dlk 
 ismu dlk me'6shar luh fi rigleh 'asbar sawabi', wi hiiwa abyad 
 kMlis fi 1 16n ; we yeqUlu le inne Mwa rakbar birze fi 1 bet, wi 
 1 bSt illl yibqa maugiid fib yibqa murzaq we mus'ad, we lamma. 
 yi'uz yiddan yisma' dlk il 'arsh we yiddan warSh. 
 
 XXXIII 
 
 II kalb il agrab lamma yigl quddam b^t il insan yeqilm il 
 wabid ma yilzimshe leinnu yidrabu wala yi'zlb ; ahsan bi 1 
 ahsan yihsin 'al§h bi luqmit 'esh wi yekballlh yeruh bi 1 ma'rftf ; 
 absan yimkin yekiln il kalbi da yekun wabid min ikhwanna 1 
 gka yitla'um fi n nabftr au fi 1 ISl fi sifat kilab walla f sifat qutat. 
 Wi za kan il mara min d61 walla r ragil min dol yesbflf il kalbe 
 dib au il qutta dt wi yeruh yeglb 'asaya yidrabhum yequm il 
 mara au ir ragil yiltibis fi dra'u walla fi riglu, au il mara yiltibis 
 gismiha kullu, u ba'dSn il wfihid minhum yi'ya. 
 
 XXXIY 
 
 Iza kan w^bid we huwa beyistibamma fi 1 hammam yikhabbat 
 bi rigllb, walla haga, fi 1 ard, we yekun waqtiba wahid min il 
 gUn fi 1 mahall illi huwa khabbat flh dib, yeruh waqtiba yiltibis 
 isb shakhsi da, u waqtiba, bi sabab ma libsu 1 g§,n, yibqa 'aiyan 
 fi gismu, wala ma yefuqshe min il 'aiya bta'u ilia n kan yeruh 
 yezflr shekb min il mashayikh ; we yimkin ma' kutri zyartu fi 
 1 mashS,yikh, yinsirif minnu 1 'aiya ; we ilia fib nas min il fuqaha, 
 min in n&s il 'ilimln, illi yekun 'anduhum ma'rifa taiyib i bi 1 
 kitaba, humma yighdarum yiktibii lu higab ; we yihmilu li nafsu, 
 we yimkin, bi sabab haml il hig&b dib, Kabbina yakhud bi yaddu 
 we yishfth we yinsirif minnu r rib dib. Wi 1 harlm rukbrln iza 
 kin wahda minhum nayma masal za'al^na min guzha ikminnu 
 miggauwiz 'aleba, au yekun 'aiyil min 'iyalha mit au min hadde 
 yekiLn yiqrab liha, u f waqtiba |teqiim min numba ^ mafzu'a, we 
 yimkin takhud moiyit ghasll wishsbiha au ghasll ideha au rigleba, 
 wi trnh hadfS,ha fi bgt ir raha wala tdastarshe, yequm yilbisha r 
 
 Adverbially, for taiyiba. ^ nomha. 
 
370 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 rlh walla 1 ginn ; we lamma yif hamum ahliha leinne dl 'aleha 
 rth. yequmu yakhdilha we yizauwariiha 1 mashayikh, wi sh sh§kh, 
 illi tistiraiyah. 'ala zyartu, tamalli tzCiru lamma yinsirif minha. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 Suknit il gftn teklin fi 1 jtiammamat au fi mahallat biydt il 
 adab au fi mahallat mahgura ma haddish yekun s^kinhum, ya 
 tkun suknithum fi 1 khala, ya'nt fi 1 gibal au fi 1 maghSrat ; u 
 minhum min il abmar u minbum min il iswid. Wi za kan il 
 insan yekun nayim fi bet mahgur me'aggaru, we biiwa r ragil 
 da yimkin yekun 'azib li wabdu — we ilia n kanit mara tkun 
 'azba li wahdiha — we li sabab il bet da yekun inhagar we min 
 gher suknit nas ^damiya yimkin yekHn il gan yiskunuh. We 
 hina n kan ir ragil ma yekunsbe 'arif inn il bet dih maskun, 
 yeaggaru we yi'azzil 'izalu ; we yimkin min auwil lela ma yebat 
 fih, we da bi sabab ma ykunshe waiylh 'aiyil wala mara, yequm 
 lamma yenam yequm yisma' takhbit fi 1 bet we liuwa nayim fi d 
 dalma ; u min khofu yequm min in nom yiwalla' lamda walla 
 sham'a ; u tauwe ma walla' il lamda yibusse ma yeUqish takbblt 
 wala Mga. Wi za tafa, we yinftm tanl marra, yimkin yebusse 
 yilaqi t takhbtt dar tanl ; yequm yiwalla' il lamda, we yetannu 
 qa'id 'ala helu tul il lei wala yshuf in nom bi 'enu lamma yedur in 
 nahar we yitla' 'ala kher. Wi za ma walla'she yimkin yigi lu 1 
 wahid minhum fi sifat kalb, walla f sifat quit, walla f sifat sab'e 
 walla dab'e walla arnab walla haga min il wuhiish. We yiqdar 
 yizhai- we yigl li bani adam fi sifat kulle ashj-a min il hiwSnat au 
 f sifat bant adam. We hina tauwu ma zuhur li r ragil au li 
 1 mara yequm yihbishu bi Idu au bi riglu ; yequm il wahid 
 minhum mafzu' min nomu ; u waqtiha iza kan yekun yi'raf 
 yiqra, yimkin yequm yitwadda we yisallt rak'iten u yiqra s 
 Samadlya talat marrat, we Syit il Kursl marra, wi yenam ; we 
 waqtiha iza kan flh sukkan min il gan fi 1 bet il mahgur yihbaqu 
 kulluhum. We 'amma iza kan wahid masalan 'auz yekhushshe 
 mahille bet il adab walla bet mahgur yequl: "A'uzu bi llahi 
 min ish shetan ir ragim;" u waqte ma dakhal ithafazi min 
 kulle h^ga bi sabab le innu ista'az bi llah min ish shetan u min 
 kulle gan; fe yitla' sagh salim ma yigra luhshe Ijaga. Wi f 
 shahre Ramadan, ya'nt bi sabab is siyam wi 1 adan foq il mawa- 
 din we qirayit il Qur'an fi 1 biyut kulle waqt, we tanniha 1 qiraya 
 dayra fi 1 gawami'— fe hina bi sabab kulle zalik, we 'attyit iz 
 zika kaman, yifdalu 1 gan masgilntn min auwul ramadan li akhru, 
 li ghayit il 'td iz zughaiyar. 
 
 1 S 473 c. 
 
EXERCISES ON THE SYNTAX 371; 
 
 XXXVI 
 
 Iza kan wahid m^sht fi 1 khala li wahdu fi bMd il aryaf 
 na,hyit ig Gtza au nahyit lihram au gherha, illi flhum nfi,s 'arab 
 min^ qatta'in it tariq beyiq'udum tamallt fi 1 khala 'ashan yilaqu 
 ■wahid yistafradft bu we yimsiklili in kan waiy&h hittit iLumg,ra 
 walla hittit humlr walla gahsha walla gamal walla a'ud ; iza kan 
 nSs min dol yilaqu wahid mi'ah min il hagat dt in kan min 
 hiwan^t walla min fulias walla min malbiis, yakhd-flha minnu we 
 yiqtilAh, wala yisma'u minnu kal^m lamma yequl luhum : " Fi 
 'ardukum, seyibunl ; mad^m khadtu 1 hftga betahtl," ilia n kSn 
 yimkin 'umru tawll ; wi n kan 'umru sughaiyar yequlu lu : " Ya 
 rigil ihna nsgyibak izzey ? Yimkin ternh tiftin li 1 hukftma 
 au truh tukhbus li ah&li 1 balad beta'tak, u ba'den il hukHma tak- 
 hud khabar, u humma yigum yakhduna wi jewaddilna 1 karak6n 
 we yisaffaruna 1 bahr il abyad au yewaddfina fi luman ig Glza 
 au f lum&n Tura. Ahsan bi 1 ahsan ihna mush Mzim nekhalli 
 lak ghub&rtya." U ba'den humma yidbahflh we yidfinuh we 
 yirdimu 'al@h we yeftitAh. Hina tauwe ma fStilh yuq'ud y6m 
 taMta arba'a 'ashara, 'ala zeye ma yuq'ud, u ba'den yitla' 
 'afrit, yibqa f sifat humar aw arnab au qutta au kalb au sab' au 
 dab' au nimr au asad au qird au nisn&s, ya'ni fi kafiit kulle 
 ashya ; we iza kan wahid mashl li wahdu fi 1 khala, we hilwa 
 yitla' fi sifat humSr, yeqim ir ragil yequm yirkabu we yeqil fi 
 'aqlu : " 'ala kulle Ml il humfir da yiwaddlnl li hadd il balad 
 beta'ti ; " we l&kin ma yi'rafuhshe leinne da 'afrtt ; yequm 
 baqat hHwa wi r rfigil rakib foq minnu yequm fi 1 auwul yibqa 
 tUl mitr, u ba'den yebuss ir rSgil yilaqih baqa tfilu talatt arba't 
 imtar ; u ba'den ir ragil iza kan yekun mi'ah sLkklna we 
 yitallahha min gebu, we yitalla' is silah min il bet beta' tdu, — 
 we humma- min 'adt il 'afrtt yekh^fu min is silah we min in 
 nSr, — wi 1 'afrtt lamma shaf ir ragil talla' is silah min gebu qam 
 qal li r r&gil : " I'mil ma'riif ma tidrabntsh w ana waddlk li 
 hadde bitak." U ba'den nin ba'de ma kan ti\l arba't imtar 
 baqa fi tul mitre wahid u wassal ir rSgil li hadd id dar beta'tu ; 
 we yiqammas zeyi 1 humfir illi yekun sahth we yeqiil : " Ya 
 rllgil, lau ma kanshe waiy^k is silah dih ana kunte tauwihtak we 
 kunte dihikte 'alSk." 
 
 U ba'dgn yekun huwa r ragil da walla wahid gheru mfishl 
 fi 1 khala u mi'ah barilda mi'ammara, we yitla' lu 1 'afrtt da huwa 
 nafsu, we yigi lu f sifat dab' au dtb, wi r ragil yeruh dSrib fth il 
 bariida yibqa 1 'afrit marid, we yibqa ttilu 'ashara tn^shar mitr ; 
 wi za kan wahid yiqdar yiqra 'aleh aySt il Kurst walla s 
 Samadlya, tauwe ma qaraha waqtiha 1 marid yelimme tfilu we 
 
372 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 yeruh fi halu. Wi 1 marid ma yiqdarshe yintiqil min matrahu 
 zeye ma kan 'afrit auwul ; ^ we tauwu ma yidrab wahid fth 
 wishsh, walla wishshen, yequlu n n&s leinniT yibqa fardit 
 bai'tiislia qadlma. 
 
 XXXVII 
 
 II kalbe lamma yuqaf we yi'auwi quddam Lara min dol 
 walla quddam bgt min dol yequlu n nas ill! yisma'uh yequlu : 
 "Ma lak ti'au'au? Ya tara rah yigra eh?" Wi yequlu li 
 nafsuhum : " yimkin hadde rah yemut hina fi 1 hara walla fi 1 
 bet illi hiiwa waqif quddamu." 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 Waqte wilad il kuttab ma yitla'um we yekunu 'auzln 
 yerauwahum biyuthum, sawa n kan fi Masr au fi 1 aryaf, auwul 
 ma yigu khargtn min bab il kuttab, yimkin yekunu wilad il 
 gan is sugaiyarin il ashqiya waqfin mistanniyinhum ; lakin fi 
 sifa tekun makhftya yektinum humma shefln bi 'enehum wilad 
 il kuttab we humma tal'tn, wi 1 wilSd ma yekuniish shefinhum ; 
 we hina d61 yigum yehibbum yishankaluhum we yeqiimu wilad 
 il kuttab yedflsuhum tahte riglehum yimauwituhum. 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 Iza kan mfit wahid wi ndafan yimkin lelitha yibqa bayin 'and 
 ahlu fi 1 bet illi huwa mat fih we yithaiya' luhum, leinne rtihu 
 lissa mauguda fi qalb il bet. Yequmu ahlu yegibum itnen 
 fuqaha au wlhid fiqi yiqra 1 Qur'an, u f wust it talat lay^li 
 humma yimkin yeshvifiih fi n nom, u mba'd it talat layali ma 
 yeshuf uhshe la fi z zahir ^ wala fi 1 batin ; ^ u ba'den il fuqaha 
 yakhdii ugrithum we yeruhu li halhum. We lakin il fikre dih 
 illi beyiftikiruh in nSs — leinnuhum yequlu yektln maugud 
 khiyal fi 1 bet — fi 1 q61 dih yekun min in niswan au min il 'iyal iz 
 zughaiyarin ; we amma r riggala yezinnu leinn il fikre dih da'if . 
 We amma iza kan ir ragil yekun qalbu khafif wi yequl : '"' ana- 
 shufte wahid khiyal," we yequl ilqol da li_ wahid min il muqriyin 
 au il fuqaha au il 'ulema, humma yequ'lu : " il khiyal da ma 
 yekunshe maugM min il maiyit illi mat ; da maugud min qable 
 ma ymut il maiyit;" we yisbitum leinne huwa dih ish shetan 
 beta' wahid kan itqatal fi 1 mahalle min qable sabiq.^ 
 
 1 As he could when he was an afreet before. 
 
 2 I.e. whether awake or asleep. 
 
 3 Only the spirits of those who have met with a violent death 
 are generally believed to roam about the earth. A Bedouin of 
 
EXERCISES ON THE SYNTAX 373 
 
 XL 
 
 Lamma n nas yeshilfu nigma we htya nazla min is sama 
 yeqiilft 'alelaa leinniha nizlit 'ala shetan haraqitu ; we amma 1 
 qSl il masbut leinniha tinzil 'ala z zar'e yimkin tihraqu, ya fi 
 gnena tihraq il faw&kih beta'itha avi is sagar betahha au tinzil fi 
 1 ard u tintifi. 
 
 XLI 
 
 II mezlyara fi awan waqt is sef lamma tqum titla' ba'd id 
 duhr fi 'izz il qaiyala lamma d dunya tibqa msahhada wi me- 
 walla'a zSyi n nar, we tibqfl lak il arde sukhna zSye sharart in 
 nar, tibussi tl&qi 1 mezaiyara dl titla' lak 'ala wishsh il ard 
 titnattat, u ba'den tibussi tlaqlha labsa izar abyad u labsa abyad 
 fi abyad ; u fih minhum illi 1 insan yilaqi Iha wilad qa'din gan- 
 biha walla f hudniha walla yekunum dayrin yil'abum hawalSha 
 wi hlya qa'da ; u ba'den, ya akhi, tebussi tlaqtba hatindah li 1 
 Wahid bi ismu illi huwa masmt 'al@h, wi tqul "Ya (fulan) ! " 
 bi hisse 'all qawi ; yequm il insan yerudde 'aleha 'ala hasab le 
 inniha nadahitu bi smu ; u shuwaiya yebussi yMqiha meqambara 
 we metambila, ideha rakhyaha ganbiha, wi tqul lu : " Da n 
 ummak ; ma tkhafsh ; " yeqilm il wahid yiqarrab 'aleha yilaqiha 
 'amm&lai titniqil min matrahha wala timshish 'ala rigliha 
 tilaqJha zeyi t taiyara 1 manftikha ; wi 1 wahid, iza kal lu agal 
 we 'umru tawil, yequm 3equl fi 'aqlu : " ya wad, da taiyib we 
 hly ummak kinit gat fi 1 khala ti'mil eh ? Da Ibatte, ya wad, 
 il mezaiyara illi n nas yeqidu 'aleha di." Witbussi tlaql gismu 
 irta'ab wi rta'ash we gittitu kulliha 'as'asit. U ba'den yakhud 
 ba'du u yigri ; wi tauwu ma giri titnattat warah zeyi 1 kura. 
 Qui iza kan hftwa ya'r'af- yiqra s Samadtya walla ayit il Kursl, 
 we qui tannu yiqra fiha we yigri lamma yedftr we yinfid minha 
 bi qasabtgn taMta ; we tauwe ma laqa nafsu bi'id 'anha yequl : 
 "il hamdu li W&h Rabb il 'alamtn illi Rabbuna nagganl minha 
 'ala kher." "Wi za kan wahid ma nafadshe minha blqMu n nas 
 yiqba^ Iha bizaz hadld, we yibqa Ihum shuwak wi t termisa 
 beta'ithum zeyi 1 ibar ; wi tauwe ma qarrab 'aleha linsan we ma 
 yigrlsh minha tequm tedummu 'ala sidriha, wi tbussi tlaqi sh shu- 
 wak dakhalit min sidru'til'it min dahru, u ba'den yiiqa' yemflt. 
 
 Giza told me he met in the desert the form of an English soldier 
 who fell while climbing one of the Pyramids. The eyes, he said, 
 were "mewalla'tn zeyi n nar." 
 
 1 8 145. 
 
 2 Yibqa by transposition. 
 
374 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 XLII 
 
 Fikr in nas lamma waliid yidrab wShid bi slah, ya'nl bi sef 
 au bi sikklna, we yiqtilu yequm 'ir rth beta' il maqttil yizhar fi 
 ssilali we yikhabbat fib yeqiil : " qatalnl (fulan) " ; wi n Mn is 
 silah fi betu yequm tul il Igl yikbabbat fib yeqille nom ishab il 
 bet ; yequmu yishsbakkfl li 1 qatil ill! huwa r ragil betabbum wi 
 yeq&lii lu : "Is silah beta'ak da tul il lei ma ykhallinash nenam ■ 
 hatqille numna Igb? Ma tsbil silahak min hina, ahsan yigt 
 wa^id def 'andina wi yenam fi 1 Igl fi qalb il bet, ya'ni yequm fi 
 1 lei we huwa nayim yisma' takhblt is silah we yimkin il 'afrit 
 yequl le inne fuMn qatalni ; fi 1 ahsan bi 1 ahsan timna' siMhak 
 mm 'andma, ahsan id def lamma yisma' k'alam ir rib yeruh 
 yikhbir il hukuma. Nihaytu sbuf lak tarlqa, ya tirmi s silah da 
 b 1 btr ya fi 1 bahr ; il maqsud sbuf lak tarlqa timshi 'aleha'eye 
 tariqt m kanit, ya immatan tegib barCida wi t'ammarha wi 
 tidrabha flh yequm yitla' ir rib hittit bartusha, wi 1 bartusha ya 
 nwalla' biba furn, ya nirmtha fi 1 khala, wala hadde wala mabdud 
 yequl 'alena haga wi n'ish salatln fi nafsina tul zamanna " ' 
 
YOCABULARY 
 
 TO THE WORDS CONTAINED IN THE EXERCISES 
 ON THE SYNTAX 1 
 
 Atlas satin 
 
 agal term, span of life 
 
 ag-har hfilf blind, purblind 
 
 aggar let on hire 
 
 agrab mangy 
 
 agrann inasmuch as, seeing that , 
 
 just at the moment that 
 agrlid hamng no hair on the 
 
 face 
 ahl (ahali) people 
 ahlan u sahlan welcome 
 adab good manners; bet il adab 
 
 closet 
 Adaliya a town in Asia Minor 
 arnab liare, rabbit 
 azinn = keinn 
 azrat loorse 
 asad lion 
 
 asar trace, relics 
 
 asl origin 
 
 a'iid small camel 
 
 a 'wag crooked 
 
 akhiz to blame 
 
 akhdar green 
 
 akhrag, ikhrag bring out 
 
 amana security; amant Allah 
 
 = billali 
 amir (umara) of a good family 
 amr command 
 amlas smooth, polished, 
 anis entertain' 
 awan ti7ne, season 
 aya verse of the Koran 
 &yis to risk 
 ay na'am certainly, yes 
 
 Ibra needle 
 
 it'akhkhar &e Zafe, behind; stand 
 
 back ( = it'akhir) 
 ittakka lean on, press 
 
 I ittakal 'ala trust in 
 itgabbar ^Zrt!/ the tyrant 
 ithaiya' get ready ; appear 
 ithaddit converse 
 
 1 The vocabulary also contains many of the words which 
 occur in § 583. Words already given in the vocabularies to the 
 exercises on the Accidence are excluded, as also many rendered 
 familiar by the examples. 
 
376 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 itdastar ask permission, say 
 
 "dastur" (dastiir) 
 itsaraf hfi spent ; depart 
 it'ashsha dine 
 itfadd be ended 
 itqalail meet 
 itqaddim be advanced 
 itkabbib be made round as a 
 
 ball, in balls 
 itlaff be lorapiped, up 
 itmashsha take a walk 
 itnataq be pronounced 
 itnattat jump, skip 
 itnaqal remuve one's self, be 
 
 removed 
 itwadda •perform one's ablutions 
 ittallab ask for 
 iht&r be beioildered, confused 
 iddaffa inarm one's self 
 iddaffar be plaited 
 idraf kind of pumpkin 
 irta'ab take fright 
 irta'ash tremble 
 izar cloak, shaiol 
 izzaiyar put on the izdr 
 izmint cement 
 izn pet-mission 
 ista'giz a^k pei'mission 
 istaghfar ask pardon 
 istaghla consider expensive 
 istahil deserve 
 
 istahras 'ala look after, see to 
 istahla find sweet, pleasant 
 istarda consent 
 ista'zin ask permission 
 ista'az/y to for refuge ( = 'az) 
 ista'raf bi make acquaintance of 
 istafrad be left alone 
 istaqrab consider near 
 
 istama' listen to 
 
 istawa he ripe, cooked 
 
 istigab tiear (a prayer) 
 
 istiraiyah to rest, repose 
 
 istiqam take up one's abode 
 
 issaqqa be soaked 
 
 issawa agree together 
 
 iskandarani Alexandrian 
 
 iswallt of Assouan 
 
 iswira bracelet, wristband 
 
 istabah bi meet in the morning 
 
 issaffa he strained 
 
 ishtaghal ivork 
 
 ishshauwim consider of ill omen 
 
 ishshakka complain of 
 
 iiti' siia, forgery, invention 
 
 iktasab gain, earn 
 
 ikhtar, ikhtar choose 
 
 ikhtasha he shy 
 
 Tlt&qa. find, meet 
 
 iltabis be clothed ; be possessed of 
 
 {a spirit) 
 intafa he extinguished 
 intaqal = itnaqal 
 intarash fall prone, on one's 
 
 face 
 ingada' ( = liter, indaga') lie on 
 
 line's side 
 inbagar be deserted, haunted 
 inhasad be envied, have the evil 
 
 eye cast on one 
 indaf be added 
 inzalam be irromjed, tyrannized 
 
 over 
 insaraf go aicay 
 insbal be carried, put, aicay 
 infadd be finished 
 inwahar be frightened 
 iyjik perchance 
 
 U 
 
 Usill regulations, custom, rule \ ummal of course, then 
 
VOCABULAEY 
 
 377 
 
 B 
 
 Bauwaba gate 
 
 bat, bgyit pass the night 
 
 bit armpit 
 
 batin inner, hidden 
 
 battikh water-melons 
 
 bagbl, baghla (bighal) mule 
 
 baKharl sailor 
 
 bakr ; il b. il abyad the White 
 
 Nile 
 badan body 
 badla suit of clothes 
 bara set free 
 
 baraka blessing, good fortune 
 baram go round, whirl 
 barMa, bariida gun 
 barttsha old slipper, shoe 
 barr shwe, bank, country 
 barq lightning 
 
 basat (basat) to please, spread 
 basit simple 
 basal onions 
 
 bashshar give -good news 
 hi' sell 
 ba'at send 
 ba'ir camel 
 bakht lucJc 
 
 bakhkh squirt, spit out 
 bakhkbar sprintde with incense 
 balata slab 
 
 bala' to swalloio 
 
 baligh mature 
 
 ball to wet 
 
 bamya, the esculent hibiscus i 
 
 ban appear 
 
 banzaber, benzoar stone; a thing 
 
 of great value or beauty 
 banntira a crystal vase or bottle 
 bet house ; sheath 
 bedingin egg-plant, aubergine 
 bSya' seller 
 blr well 
 
 biram (ibrima) earthen pot 
 birka ialce, marsh, pit 
 bizz breast 
 bishi' ugly 
 bikr virgin ; binte bikr a 
 
 girl 
 buhaq fumes 
 burg tower 
 burqu' veil 
 burnus lohite woollen hooded 
 
 cloak 
 bllz muzzle, snout 
 buqq inouth 
 bulad steel 
 buliigh maturity 
 bunduqt (dahab) ^4 carat (as 
 
 the Venetian sequin) 
 
 T 
 
 Tigin pan 
 
 tih go astray 
 
 taham accuse 
 
 tabaf present, give as a gift 
 
 tadwlra circle, circumference 
 
 tasqtya broth 
 
 taswira picture 
 
 tasbrtfa reception, levee 
 
 ta'mlra load ; 'pipeful 
 taqrtbi approximative 
 takbmin guessing, idea 
 tall hill, heap 
 ta.Taa,n price, value 
 tammim to complete 
 tanbil sit idly 
 teTUiisa, point ; teat 
 
 1 See Lane's " Modern Egyptians," ch. 
 
378 
 
 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 ti'ib get tired 
 
 til linen 
 
 tlla twisted rope 
 
 turba (turab), turba grave 
 
 tuql weight 
 tumna the eighth 
 qadah 
 
 part of the 
 
 Taiyar current 
 
 taiyara kite 
 
 tauwaf watchman, pjatrol 
 
 tauwil (balu) he patient 
 
 tablb physician 
 
 tabb heat {of the pulse 01 
 
 heart) 
 tabbil heat a drum 
 tabliya boa7xl, tahle 
 tati, hend down 
 tar revenge 
 
 tarablis a silk girdle or sash 
 tarah 176!! ripe 
 tarsha vomiting 
 tariqa manner 
 tashtash to fizz 
 ta'm flavour 
 tafash run away 
 taffa extinguish {fire) 
 taqa window, hole 
 taqiya cap 
 
 taqtaq crackle, cause to crackle 
 taqq hurst 
 
 taqm suit of clothes, harness 
 
 tal to reach 
 
 talab to demand 
 
 tal^q divorce 
 
 tama' greed 
 
 t&mi' covetous 
 
 tawi' ohey 
 
 ter birds 
 
 tisht hasin 
 
 tSs ; bahre tes exceedingly 
 
 tin Nile soil ; land 
 
 tof patrol 
 
 tubtab ; 'at tubtab Just as 
 
 wanted, apropos 
 ttibgl gimner 
 tuhur circumcision 
 Tura name of a village {the site 
 
 of a convict prison) 
 turya jiic/^rixe 
 tul ; tul ma as long as ; 'ala 
 
 till straight away 
 tumu' covet 
 tuw&la sofa, mattress 
 
 G 
 
 Gabr force, compulsion 
 
 gada' (gid'an) brave fine young 
 
 fellow, gaillard 
 gsi,rr pull, draw 
 garrab test, try 
 garras inform of, disgrace 
 gizzar (zz) butcher 
 gazar carrots 
 ga' be hungry 
 galas sit 
 eallis cause to sit 
 
 gama' collect, add 
 
 gama'a party, people 
 
 gamll beautiful 
 
 gan cjinn, genii 
 
 gawaz marriage 
 
 gayiz allowed, permissible 
 
 gesh army 
 
 gibs gypsum 
 
 giha direction 
 
 gidtla tress, plait, twist 
 
 siri run 
 
VOCABULAEY 
 
 379 
 
 girld palm branches 
 
 Giza (ig) name of a village {the 
 
 site of a convict prison) 
 gislm bulky 
 gild skin, hide, leather 
 
 gins, kind, variety 
 
 giihara jeioel 
 
 guhr hole 
 
 gurra track, footprints, spov 
 
 gurn mortar ; barn 
 
 GH 
 
 Ghaiyar to change 
 
 gMh be absent 
 
 ghatta 'ala cooer 
 
 ghagarl gipsy 
 
 ghadda give lunch to 
 
 ghadr pei-fidy 
 
 ghadwa lunch 
 
 ghartb strange ; a stranger 
 
 gharram to fine 
 
 gharqan drowned 
 
 ghazSl gazelle 
 
 ghazli of spun silk 
 
 ghasil washing 
 
 ghafal, ghifil to 
 
 ghafir watchman 
 
 ghala boil 
 
 ghalab conquer 
 
 ghant rich 
 
 gh&ya end ; li ghSya up to 
 
 gliet field 
 
 ghirim be fined, pay a fine 
 
 ghilib, ghulub be conquered, be 
 
 wearied 
 ghina loealth 
 
 ghubar{ya( = asar) trace, vestige 
 ghurab oroio 
 ghurba strange land 
 ghurbal large sieve 
 
 H 
 
 'S.'a.VLWva.-make easy 
 
 Mb fear 
 
 habash run against, fly at 
 
 habaq flee 
 
 hoMbfly at 
 
 h4g be excited 
 
 ha da see / 
 
 harab, hirib run away 
 
 haram the pyramid, pyramids 
 
 hazz shake 
 
 b^s be noisy, excited 
 
 halas talk idly 
 
 hals idle talk 
 
 bamm to interest, concern 
 
 hanna make happy 
 
 hilik, balak perish 
 
 Hind (il) India 
 
 bon mor'tar 
 
 H 
 
 Haiya give long life 
 hauwid turn a corner 
 hauwisb collect, hoard 
 habash Apyssinians 
 habba grain, little bit 
 hatab fuel 
 hadaf thi'oio 
 
 hadd^di of a blacksmith 
 
 haddit converse 
 
 haddftta tale, story 
 
 h&ra (hawarl) set of streets, 
 
 quarter 
 harat to plough 
 haras to guard 
 
380 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 haram (il) (sacred shrine of) 
 
 Mecca 
 haram tm'ong, sin 
 harlr siUc 
 harb loar, battle 
 harrar put, set, hold up 
 liarf edge 
 
 hazzam bind in a bundle 
 hasab 'ala look after 
 hasad to envy 
 hass to feel 
 Msh prevent 
 Lafaz keep, protect 
 hafl barefoot 
 Mfir hoof 
 haqq right, what is due ; fi haqqi 
 
 about, against, me 
 haktin doctor 
 Ml state, condition; 'ala kulle 
 
 hal anyhow, howeven" it may 
 
 be 
 hala state, position 
 halab to milk 
 halaq (hulqan) rings 
 halal lawful 
 
 halawa sweets ; pourboire 
 halfa a prickly reed-like weed 
 hama defend 
 
 hamad praise 
 
 hamar red colour 
 
 hamal bear, carry 
 
 haml carrying 
 
 hammala (of zir) stand 
 
 hantur victoria {carriage) 
 
 hannin cause to pity 
 
 Mya ; bi 1 Mya alive 
 
 het loall 
 
 hes ; min hesu kan however it 
 may be 
 
 hel ; qa'ad 'ala helu sit up 
 
 higab chartn, amulet 
 
 Hig&z Hijaz , pilgrimage 
 
 liirz protection 
 
 hiss sound, voice 
 
 Msab calculation 
 
 hisba account 
 
 Mia tridi, resource ; ma hiltflsh 
 htga he has no means, no- 
 thing 
 
 hilw siveet 
 
 hiwftn animal 
 
 hudn embrace 
 
 liusfim (husumat) hot summer 
 days 
 
 hurr (ilirar) free 
 
 hurma woman 
 
 D 
 
 Dauwar (d) cause to turn, turn 
 
 dauwib cause to melt, ^c. 
 
 dab melt ; be worn out 
 
 dabat to slaughter 
 
 dabbar contrive, arrange 
 
 dar (d) turn 
 
 daraga step, degree ; mmnent 
 
 dSrig current, colloquial 
 
 darra winnoto, scatter 
 
 dfis tread, i~un ('ala over) 
 
 dashsh grind, 
 
 da'a li bless 
 
 da'wa affair, laicsuit 
 
 dafa heat 
 
 daqn chin, beard 
 
 dakbal enter 
 
 dakhil inside 
 
 daklikhan e^nit smoke 
 
 dafan bwy 
 
 daffis bury 
 
 daqq (7?-;W; play {a mudcal in- 
 sti-ument) ; tattoo 
 
 dam (yidum) last, continue; 
 (yidim) cause to last, per- 
 petuate 
 
 damm blood 
 
VOCABULAEY 
 
 381 
 
 dawdya 
 
 diya midwife 
 
 dib -wolf 
 
 dibla a plain fingm-ring 
 
 diri hnow 
 
 diqtq ^owr 
 
 dimSgh liead, frrains 
 
 dimir a jacket (such as is won 
 
 hy sufragis and cavasses) 
 dim'a (dumu') a tear 
 dimma conscience 
 d6r story of a liouse 
 dura maize 
 durbesh dry clods 
 dun loiD, inferior 
 
 D 
 
 Daiyif entertain 
 
 dab' hyena, lion 
 
 da'lf weak 
 
 dfiif add, entertain 
 
 dalma darkness 
 
 damar foretell the future 
 
 damm collect, gather 
 
 dawa shine 
 
 def guest 
 
 dirs cog-wheel 
 Aiiira. plait, tress 
 dlqit il khulq impetuosity 
 dimn amongst 
 duhr woore 
 
 dufr nail {of the finger or toe) 
 dulma vegetables stuffed with 
 viince-meat 
 
 E 
 
 Ra'M merciful 
 
 rauwah go away 
 
 rabat il q61 agree 
 
 rabb lord, master 
 
 rabba educate, bring up 
 
 rati pound (weight) 
 
 ragab (for raqab) observe 
 
 ir Ragim the Stoned (Satan) 
 
 raggab (Upper Egyptian) = 
 
 raqab 
 ragha chatter (lit. foam at the 
 
 mouth) 
 raha rest ; bit ir raha closet 
 raghab wish for 
 raham have compassion on 
 raMya hand-mill 
 rahim merciful 
 rahma mercy 
 rahmSn compassionate 
 radam cover up with earth, ^c. 
 radi bad 
 
 radd reply 
 
 radda bran 
 
 razaq provide for 
 
 rasam draiv, delineate 
 
 ras head, head-piece 
 
 rashwa bribe, reward, 
 
 ra'ad to thunder 
 
 ra'd thunder 
 
 raqaba neck 
 
 raq be clear; get better (in health) 
 
 raqq groio thin 
 
 raqqa' to patch 
 
 raqwa spell, charm 
 
 rak'a bending of the knee in 
 prayer, prostration 
 
 rakkib fix, set up 
 
 rakba relax, let fall 
 
 ra'y opinion; 'ala ra'y accord- 
 ing to 
 
 righlf loaf 
 
 rih wind ; spirit 
 
382 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 ridi to consent 
 risi come to a decision 
 rismal capital 
 rlsha feather 
 rlf country, village 
 i-lq saliixi ; ghaiyar riqu 
 brealcfast on 
 
 rikab stirrup 
 
 riyal dollar, 20 piastres 
 
 rutan lingo, foreign tongue 
 
 rukilba a mount 
 
 rukh&m marble 
 
 rumi G^'eeJc 
 
 rumm&n pomegranates 
 
 Z 
 
 Zauwid increase 
 
 zabim customer 
 
 zad increase (neut.) 
 
 zatiina bracelet 
 
 zkA provisions for a journey 
 
 zaghriita shrill cry of joy 
 
 zarawiya ( = ballast) a large 
 
 earthen pot 
 zar' sowing ; cultivated land 
 za'al anger 
 
 zaffa bridal procession 
 zaqq push 
 zalabani seller of zalabya {a kind 
 
 of fritter) 
 
 zammar one 
 
 reed 
 
 zann grumble, scold 
 zawati belonging to < 
 zen = taiyib (dialect) 
 zifir greasy 
 zif t pitch 
 zita alms 
 zimiq get angry 
 zimil comrade 
 zina ornament 
 ziyada surplus, more 
 ziyara (ziyara) visit 
 zukhma a strap 
 
 who plays on a 
 
 Z 
 
 Zauwar take to visit 
 
 zabat control 
 
 zabit office/' 
 
 zabtlya principal police-office 
 
 zaghat to swallow 
 
 zahar ajipear 
 
 zar to visit 
 
 zar (zikr) repeating the name of 
 God (see Lane's " Mod. 
 Egypt," ch. xxiv.) 
 
 zalat p>ebbles 
 
 zann think, suppose 
 
 xw forgery, perjury 
 
 Sa'al ask 
 
 sabagh to dye 
 
 sabb^gh dyer 
 
 sahut prove, hold true 
 
 sabba' be seven days old 
 
 sab' lion 
 
 satr veiling (one's sins); pardon 
 
 sada plain, without sugar 
 
 sadaq tell the truth 
 
 sagan imprison 
 
VOCABULAEY 
 
 383 
 
 sahm arrow 
 
 s&c proceed 
 
 sarah rove, travel; go to one's 
 work 
 
 sa'ad, sa'ad 'ala vfike pros- 
 perous 
 
 sa'&da iirosperity ; Excellency 
 
 sa'id, si' id prosperous 
 
 safariya trip, expedition, cam- 
 paign 
 
 safaq take a bribe 
 
 safEar conduct on a journey 
 
 saq drive 
 
 saqa to loater, irrigate 
 
 saqsaq soak 
 
 saqqa soak {bread in broth) 
 
 sakin (sukkan) dioellimj, haunt- 
 ing, spirit 
 
 salata, salata salad 
 
 salaq boil 
 
 salam u sallim ! dear me I 
 
 salama safety 
 
 salamat greetings 
 
 salgam a kind of turnip 
 
 sallim deliver ; make safe 
 
 sama sky, heaven 
 
 sajnaxa, fruit, result 
 
 samm to poison 
 
 samma to name 
 
 sammar nail, fasten down 
 
 samn melted butter 
 
 sawa to equal 
 
 saw^rt cavalry 
 
 sSf sword 
 
 sidgh cheek 
 
 sigha jeioellery 
 
 sihr sorcery 
 
 sidgrt waistcoat 
 
 sidr breast 
 
 sidq truth 
 
 slra tale 
 
 sirri secret 
 
 sir m ah profligate 
 
 si'i (yis'a) go, take oneself to 
 
 si'id become pi-osp^rous 
 
 sikit be silent 
 
 sikin inhabit 
 
 sikkina knife 
 
 sikhtiyan morocco binding 
 
 siMh weapon, arms 
 
 simakh (il widn) orifice {of the 
 
 ear) 
 simm poison 
 siwa a cooking 
 su'al question 
 subfl' seventh day 
 sur viall 
 sur' reins; 'ala akhir sur' at 
 
 full gcdlop 
 sukhra, sukhra corvee 
 sukna habitation 
 snltaniya basin, bowl 
 
 S 
 
 Saiyad, seyM fisherman 
 
 sauwat to shriek 
 
 sabah be in the 7norning, ^c. 
 
 ■ (§561) 
 
 sabaMya following morning 
 
 sabar, subur be patient, loait 
 
 sabiya girl 
 
 sabbah wish good-morning 
 
 sath, sutiih. roof, terrace 
 
 sahd great heat 
 
 saM awake 
 
 s&iiib friend 
 
 sahh be proper, befit 
 
 sahha wake 
 
 saddar b^'ing out, put in front 
 
 sarlra determination, mind 
 
 sarakh, sarrakh to shriek 
 
 sarr to wrap 
 
 sarkha a cry, scream 
 
 saffir yellow colour 
 
384 
 
 THE SPOKEN AKABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 saffa strain, filter' 
 
 salih jiioiis 
 
 salla pray 
 
 sam to fast 
 
 Samadiya name of a cliapte.r of 
 
 the Koran 
 san'a profession 
 sanf class, kind 
 sed shooting, fishing 
 sef summer 
 siraya palace 
 
 sirlkh screeching 
 
 si'ldl native of Upper Eg!i2Jt 
 
 si(sa)nlya tray 
 
 sifa quality 
 
 siyam a fast 
 
 subh morning 
 
 subMya morning time, early 
 
 morning 
 sughr smaUness, youth 
 suhba bouquet 
 sflra face 
 
 SH 
 
 Sha' to 'wish 
 
 sha'am be of ill omen 
 
 she(ai)ya' send 
 
 she(ai)yil cause to carry 
 
 shabah image, reseinblance 
 
 shabb young, young man 
 
 shabba alum 
 
 shat&ra cleverness, skill 
 
 shataf iuash, rinse 
 
 shfttir clever 
 
 shutf a jlint-locJe 
 
 shahaq sigh 
 
 shahri monthly 
 
 shadd pull 
 
 shara buy 
 
 sharat make a condition 
 
 sharah make impression on, 
 
 affect 
 sbarara spark 
 sharaf honour 
 
 sharba draught of water, SfC. 
 shart condition 
 sharrab give to drink 
 sbarr evil 
 sharraf to honour 
 sharq East 
 sharmat tear to pieces 
 sMsh muslin 
 sha'r hair 
 shafa heal 
 shaqi rascal 
 
 shaqq to split 
 
 shaqq crack, crevice 
 
 shakar speak well of 
 
 shakkar thank 
 
 shakwa complaint 
 
 shakhs (sakhs) person 
 
 shal shawl 
 
 shaml Syrian 
 
 sbam'a a candle 
 
 shamla band 
 
 shamm to smell 
 
 shankal (shankil) trip up 
 
 shawir consult 
 
 she thing 
 
 shebada testimony 
 
 shel lifting up ; carrying cacay 
 
 shibi' be satisfied, satiated 
 
 shirit ribbon ; wick 
 
 shirik partner 
 
 shirwal loose trousers 
 
 shish an iron sjnke 
 
 shi'ir barley 
 
 shi'if! of tlie shape or form of 
 
 barley 
 shifa Jiealth 
 shikl fonn 
 shinisha a hole through a wall 
 
 (similar to a taqa) 
 shoha, fork 
 shuwesha small tuff of hair 
 
VOCABULAEY 
 
 385 
 
 'aiya 7naJce ill 
 
 'aiyat weep 
 
 'aiyid to feast (tr.) 
 
 'aiyil child 
 
 'aiyin ^ appoint 
 
 'au'au, 'auwa, to hark 
 
 'auwad compensate 
 
 'auwaq he long, delay 
 
 'abba fill 
 
 'atiya giving, gift 
 
 'attar druggist 
 
 '■a.ga.h please, suit 
 
 *agan knead 
 
 '^d to return 
 
 'S,d (in Upper Egypt) = baqa ^ 
 
 'ads lentils 
 
 'arts hridegroom 
 
 'arbid search 
 
 'ard honour ; fi 'ardak ! mercy 1 
 
 'arr to disgrace 
 
 'arsh throne 
 
 'arUsa hride ; a metal or wooden 
 
 ornament worn hy women over 
 
 the nose, supporting the veil 
 '4z seek refuge from 
 'azaq to till 
 
 'ftzib unmarried, widower 
 'aziz dear 
 
 'azzib torture, punish 
 'azzil remove (neut.) 
 'azm determination, energy 
 'asal honey 
 'as'is f/rope after 
 'Us soil, hespatter 
 'asar squeeze, press 
 'asba ('azba) hlach silk kerchief 
 
 (worn by women round tbe 
 
 head) 
 'asr the time of afternoon prayer 
 
 'as'as hecome rigid 
 
 'ashshish to nest 
 
 'afa give health and strength to 
 
 'afrat madden, frighten 
 
 'afrit devil, sprite 
 
 'afsb stuff, baggage 
 
 'afya health, strength 
 
 'aql reason, head, intelligence 
 
 'afw pardon 
 
 'al excellent 
 
 'alam world 
 
 'aliq foi'age 
 
 'alim learned 
 
 'alqa a heating 
 
 'allim teach; mark 
 
 'amal make, do; make as if,, 
 pretend 
 
 'imir ('ummar) inhabiting, fre- 
 quenting ; '^mir il bet name 
 given to the serpent guardian 
 of the house ivhere he has fixed 
 his abode 
 
 'amla act, deed 
 
 'ammi ignorant 
 
 'an raise 
 
 'awad a recompense, compensa- 
 tion 
 
 '§b vice, shame 
 
 'esh bread ; living, life 
 
 'elsi family 
 
 'en eye 
 
 'ibftda -worship 
 
 'ib&ra phrase ; matter 
 
 'ibb breast-pocket 
 
 'itir 'ala, stumble on 
 
 'itish be thirsty 
 
 'id festival 
 
 'igl calf 
 
 'iriq to sweat 
 
 1 Tbe lower classes often say 'annin for 'aiyin. 
 In its use as an adverb it is sometimes beard together with 
 
 baqa ('M baga). 
 
 2b 
 
386 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 'irsa weaneL 
 
 'irq vein; 'uruq il figl radish tops 
 
 'izal effects, furniture 
 
 'izz height, fulness, depth 
 
 'isha the time of evening prayer 
 
 'ishiq fall in love loith 
 
 'ilim know 
 
 'inaba a grape 
 
 'iid stick. (See §301.) 
 'uzuma invitation; banquet 
 '6m sioimming ; unfordahle 
 
 (water) 
 'uzr excuse 
 'usmalli Ottoman 
 'ufar dust 
 'uqba end ; recompense 
 
 Eatan tell tales, denounce 
 fatta broth, bread soaked in 
 
 iniJk 
 fattah emerge (of the sun) 
 Fattali Opener (God) 
 faliat dig 
 fahar dig 
 falil calf, young of a buffalo, ^c. 
 
 (larger than the 'igl) 
 faddan acre 
 
 faddad to silver, inlay with silver 
 f adi empty, disengaged 
 farag cliance, occasion 
 f arah joy 
 faras mare 
 f arash spread out ; furnish, stuff' 
 
 (chairs, &c.) 
 faram cut small, mince 
 farrat (fi) get rid of, " chuck" 
 farragh distribute ; empty 
 farrash sweeper; ageneral servant 
 farraq distribute, divide 
 farsh caypets, bedding 
 farqa' explode 
 
 faza' spring up) ; startle ; threaten 
 ia,zz jump up 
 f asqiya fountain 
 fasal to bargain 
 
 fass slice 
 
 fassas to shell, cut into slices 
 
 faq recover consciousness 
 
 faqas to hatch 
 
 fakir mindful 
 
 fakkar remind 
 
 fakharanl maker of pottery 
 
 f akhiira pottery 
 
 falaq to split 
 
 f am transient 
 
 fantaz deck out 
 
 fantaziya a show, parade 
 
 fitir pastry 
 
 figl radishes 
 
 fihim understand 
 
 fidil remain 
 
 fikr tlwught, idea 
 
 fikra thought, idea 
 
 fiqt, f Iql sclioolmaster (in a kut- 
 
 tdb), reciter of the Koran 
 filfil pepper 
 futur breakfast 
 fursha bru^h 
 furn oven 
 
 fusduq, fuzduq pistachio nuts 
 fukhkhar earthenivare 
 ful beans 
 full jasmine 
 
 Q 
 
 Qaiy&la mid-day heat 
 
 qabad to cash 
 
 qabfil, qubiil acceptance 
 
 qabbil to kiss 
 
 qatal kill ; strike (in dialect of 
 Upper Egypt) 
 
VOCABULARY 
 
 387 
 
 qatar that on which perspiration 
 
 has fallen 
 qatar run after, go with 
 qatam cut tvith teeth 
 qatta' it tariq highway rohber 
 qaht famine, hunger 
 q^d to light, Idmlle 
 qadam foot 
 
 qadar appointed period, destiny 
 qadah a dry measure (small 
 
 ■fraction of the ardahb) 
 qadr worth, power 
 qadd about, nearly 
 qaddim present, offer 
 qada do, auconipHsh 
 qaras to sting, pinch 
 qarMa cemetery 
 qaraq talk scandal, tell tales 
 qarr confess, tell tales 
 qarraya lamp (in form of a 
 
 bowl) 
 qarrab approach 
 qar' vegetable marrows 
 qarash crunch 
 qarqash crunch, munch 
 qarn horn 
 
 qarnabtt daulifiower 
 qaz§,n boiler, cauldron 
 qS,s to measure 
 qassim divide into parts 
 qasab sugar cane ; gold thread 
 qasaba a land measure 
 qasad intend 
 
 qasbsh straiv, stubble 
 qashshish, qashqish pick up, 
 
 gather, glean 
 qafash seize 
 qall be deficient, be little ; lessen 
 
 (tr.) 
 qallib tiLrn upside doion, stir 
 qammas to skip 
 qanS,ya small canal, stream 
 qftniln code of laios, rule 
 qandil cup or glass for holding 
 
 oil, used as a lamp 
 qSd fetter, shackle 
 qibil accept 
 qitSn cotton cord 
 qidir be able 
 qidra earthen pot 
 qirftt 24ih part of a fadddn 
 qirib be near ; be related 
 qirba ivater-sMn 
 qirt&s cone-sha'ped paper bag 
 qird monkey 
 qisma portion, fate 
 qishta cream^ 
 qisbr rind, bark, shell 
 qiyama day of resurrection 
 quta kind of tomatoes 
 qud"Clm arrival 
 qflra forehead 
 qurma log 
 
 qulla eaiihen water-bottle 
 qum^r gambling 
 qun' contentrnent 
 
 K 
 
 Kauwim heap up ; cut up into 
 
 pieces 
 kabab pieces of mutton or lamb 
 
 {roasted on skewers) 
 kabb^oar, upset 
 kattif tie the hands behind the 
 
 back 
 karaf smell out, sniff 
 karakSn police-station 
 
 karawgta sofa 
 
 karsh hurrying 
 
 karkaba noise 
 
 kasban gainer 
 
 kasr (in dahab kasr) = kham 
 
 raw 
 kassil be lazy 
 kashaf uncover 
 k^fa to reward 
 
388 
 
 THE SPOKEN ARABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 kafan shroud 
 
 kafE palm of the hand 
 
 kaffa suffice 
 
 kallif cost ; expend 
 
 kef ; 'ala kefak as you Wee 
 
 kela a drij measure, the twelfth 
 
 part of an ardahb 
 kaman, kem&n also, more, 
 
 again 
 kitlib boolc ; marriage contract 
 kit^ba writing 
 kitf shoulder ; hatte kitf Jmrry 
 
 away 
 kidib tell a lie 
 kidb a lie ; false 
 
 kirsh belly, paunch 
 
 kis bag, punse 
 
 kifaya sufficiency 
 
 kilma loord 
 
 kom lump, piece ; mound 
 
 kubbel brougham 
 
 kubr greatness ; old age 
 
 kuttab primary school 
 
 kuhl a black pigment for the eyes 
 
 kurst seat, throne ; §,yit il Kurst 
 name of the 266th verse of the 
 2nd chapter of the Koran 
 
 kuz mu/] 
 
 kuffiya shawl icorn round the 
 head 
 
 KH 
 
 Khabat strike, knock 
 
 khabar neios 
 
 khabaz bake 
 
 khabiz baking 
 
 khabas tell lies, slander 
 
 khabbat knock frequently 
 
 khatma a recitation of the 
 
 Koran, Koran reading 
 khatab betroth 
 kbataf snatch 
 khatba match-maker 
 khatt make lines, roivs 
 khatt (khutftt) line, furrow 
 khattat mdlte linen, furrows, 
 
 ridges 
 khatwa step 
 khadd cheek 
 kharag go out 
 kharag (yiklirig) distil 
 kharazan cane 
 kharaq to drill, pierce 
 kharr leak, fall in drops 
 kharraf cut into slices 
 khaiTaq perforate with holes 
 khazina treas2iry 
 
 khass groio thin, shrink 
 
 khasran losing/ lost 
 
 khaf to fear 
 
 khafE be light ; get well 
 
 khala desert, open space 
 
 VhsM free from 
 
 khalifa calipili, chief 
 
 khallas finish, scdisfy, '' do for,"' 
 
 " do •' 
 khallif beget 
 khamran drunk 
 khan bazaar 
 khayin treacherous 
 kher goodness ; good 
 khera choosing, choice 
 khibra experience ; ahl il khibra 
 
 expert 
 khilaf difference ; bi khlaf con- 
 
 trarily 
 khiyal sharloio 
 khod shallow, fordable 
 khviliis be fiyiished 
 khulkhal anklet 
 khunqa ivrist 
 
VOCABULARY 
 
 389 
 
 Labakh acacia Egyptiaca 
 
 lah (il fagr) to dawn 
 
 lazaq to stick (act.) 
 
 laff go round; put rouncl,ivrap up 
 
 laqa, \t.({a,find 
 
 laqah throio 
 
 lamm collect 
 
 Igiatl nightly 
 
 libba a Mud of necldace (see 
 Lane's " Mod. Egypt." Ap- 
 pendix A) 
 
 libda felt cap 
 
 lihiq reach, succeed, manage 
 'to 
 
 liziq to stich (neut.) 
 
 lizim be necessari/ 
 
 lissa still, not yet 
 
 lub3-a haricot beans 
 
 luqma bit, mouthful 
 
 luman convict prison, penal ser- 
 vitude 
 
 M 
 
 Maiyidl, mgvidi old com = one 
 
 para or fadda (= half a 
 
 mite) 
 maugM found, present 
 mablagh sum, amount 
 matar, natar rain 
 matlab buried treasure 
 m^gilr earthen basin 
 magli§,ra cave, cavern 
 magzflb lunatic, fanatic 
 mabr doioer 
 mahill, maball pilace 
 mahgftr deserted, haunted 
 mahrama a cloth of coarse 
 
 muslin embroidered in silJc or 
 
 gold threads 
 mahziizlya enjoyment 
 madfa' gun, cannon 
 madwid manger 
 madyafa guests' apartment 
 mara (yimrt) 'ala agree loith (of 
 
 food) 
 m^rid an evil jinnee of a poioer- 
 
 fal class 
 martaban an earthen pot 
 margah to sioing 
 margbfiba desire, fancy 
 marhaba ! welcome 1 
 
 marmar alabaster ; sbSsb mar- 
 mar muslin of a moire 
 pattern 
 
 masa be evening ; evening 
 
 masagh jewellery 
 
 masafa distance 
 
 masal example, proverb ; for ex- 
 ample 
 
 masalan/o?' example 
 
 masruf (pi. masartf) expenses 
 
 mashsba cause to go ; go 
 
 masbhad funeral 
 
 ma'rifa knowledge 
 
 ma'riif kindness, politeness 
 
 ma'na, mi'na sense, meaning 
 
 maqtaf basket (made of palm 
 leaves) 
 
 maqdur appointed, fated 
 
 maqra'a wand 
 
 ma'kul eaten, edible 
 
 makrusb hurried, out of 
 breath 
 
 maksab profit 
 
 makfi upset, upside doion 
 
 maklub 7nad (dog) 
 
 makhsts special, private 
 
 malih salt (adj.) 
 
 malbts dress, garment 
 
390 
 
 THE SPOKEN AEABIC OF EGYPT 
 
 mallfn millihne (about a 
 
 farthing) 
 malmiim collected together 
 malyan full 
 
 ma'mflr official representative 
 mamrfid ill 
 manab portion, share 
 man§,khir nose 
 m&ni' hindrance, obstacle 
 manfa'a advantage 
 manfiikh bloion, filled out hy the 
 
 wind 
 mankhul sieve 
 medauwar round 
 mezaiyara a demoness 
 mesafir travelling, traveller 
 mesabhad burning hot (of the 
 
 sun) 
 mesha'li executioner 
 meshakhlaqa, Icind of necklace 
 me'aknin loretched 
 me'allim teacher, foreman 
 mefaddad silver-plated 
 meqaula contract 
 meqambar huddled up 
 mekabbib in halls 
 
 melabbis bonbons 
 
 menaqqat spotted 
 
 mewahwig burning, on fire 
 
 mithazzim girded 
 
 mitl like, as 
 
 mityassar a good many 
 
 mihla delay, respite 
 
 mihr&t plough 
 
 mistaufi large, enormous 
 
 missaiyat of repute 
 
 miskof Russian 
 
 mi'akhza blame 
 
 miqdar quantity 
 
 milaya skeet, shawl 
 
 milih nice, good 
 
 mutt' obedient 
 
 mudir governor, directw 
 
 mudirtya province 
 
 Tawxz&q^ provided for, blest 
 
 mustba affliction 
 
 mu'takaf (nahw.) secret, hidden 
 
 mufrad alone, single 
 
 muqtada (nahw.) necessity, re- 
 
 guir&nent 
 muqrt reaA (man) 
 mulukhiya a species of malloio 
 
 N 
 
 Nauwar to light, throw light 
 
 on 
 nabash dig ; bury 
 nab bit sprout 
 nabbih 'ala give instructions 
 
 to 
 natt leap 
 naga save 
 
 nagaf chandeliers, lanterns 
 naggis consider unclean 
 nahab to plunder 
 nahas copper, copper vessel 
 nahya direction, side 
 nada call out 
 
 nad&ma repentance 
 
 nazar sight ; evil eye 
 
 nazra Ivolc ; evil eye 
 
 nasab to set up 
 
 nafad escape ; enter, pierce, pass 
 
 nafas breath 
 
 nafa' be of itse ; use, profit 
 
 nafakh inflate 
 
 n^fiq deceive, be a hypocrite 
 
 nafs evil eye, envy 
 
 naffad pas6' (tr.) through 
 
 naqis iranting, less 
 
 naqb hole 
 
 naqqat 7nark loith spots 
 
VOCABULAKY 
 
 391 
 
 nakif tease, loorry 
 
 nakhal sift 
 
 naml ants 
 
 nawa intend 
 
 nayib portion, lot 
 
 nitfa^iece, hit 
 
 nigis unclean 
 
 niMya end 
 
 nisa women 
 
 msnS,s monlcey 
 
 nisib, nasl'6 portion, share 
 
 nisMra sawdust, sliavi 
 
 nifs envy, spite 
 
 rAWof the Nile 
 
 nimr tiger 
 
 ntya intention; nlya khalsa 
 
 ntr KgrA^ 
 
 nuqra liole 
 
 nuql (iriec? fruits and nuts 
 
 (mekassarat) 
 mukhastya spur, goad 
 
 W 
 
 watt loio 
 
 wagad to find 
 
 ■wahsli mild animal 
 
 wahl, -vvahla mud 
 
 wada' sea 67ieZZs 
 
 wadda' taJce leave of 
 
 waxa-q paper ; leaves 
 
 wazifa duty 
 
 wassa' widen, maJce room 
 
 wassa to charge, order 
 
 wassal cause to amve, conduct 
 
 wasl receipt 
 
 waslish glide (as a serpent) 
 
 wa'ftya earthen bowl 
 
 wall saint 
 
 wiliya lady, old woman 
 
 walla' to light, burn 
 
 widn ear 
 
 wisikh dirty 
 
 wisil arrive 
 
 ■wishsh face, surface, shot 
 
 wilifa companion, mate 
 
 wil'a live coal 
 
 wust in the centre of, amidst 
 
 Y§,bis dry 
 
 yatlm orphan 
 
 yadd = id (§ 24, note) 
 
 yamant of Yemen 
 yamm, yamma, side 
 y&wir aide-de-camp 
 
INDEX 
 
 The numl'ers refer to the sections 
 
 Accent, 39 
 Accusative, 63 
 
 Direct object, 276-79, 288, 297, 
 546-57 
 Adjective — 
 
 Relative, 42 a, 44 
 
 Formation of, 43-45 
 
 Oumparison of, 47, 337-48 
 
 Multiplicative, 105 
 
 Distributive, 106 
 
 Numeral, 107 
 
 Substantive used aa, 296 
 
 Concord of, 316-30 
 
 Used as substantive, 331, 332 
 
 Used adverbially, 336 
 Adverb, 104, 244, "345, 581-2 
 Apposition, 289-95, 418 
 Article — • 
 
 Definite, 40, 124 (4 d), 248-52 
 
 Indefinite, 40, 247 
 
 Baqa, 560 
 
 39, 121 (Rem. d), 251, 257-9, 
 329, 382 
 
 Conditional sentences, 507-16 
 Conjunctions, 245, 571-80 
 Cons(mants — 
 
 Pronunciation of, 19, 20 
 
 Double, 22-4 
 
 Assimilation of, 25 
 
 Transposition of, 28 
 Contraction, 9 (Rem. c), 29-38 
 
 Dative, 63 6, 275, 288, 570 note 
 Diminutives, 42 c, 45 
 Diphthongs, 1, 8 
 Dual, 70-75, 307-14, 317, 468 
 
 Elision, 29 
 
 Feminine, 50-62, 458 note, 465-7. 
 
 See also under verb (concord) 
 Figures of speech, 585-93 
 Fractions, 108-9 
 
 Genitive, 63 b, 64- 
 Gerund, 504 
 
 , 254-74 
 
 Indibeot discourse, 517-21 
 Infinitive, 230-32, 497, 565 - 
 Interjections, 246, 683 
 Interrogative sentences, 522-27 
 
 Moods, 490-97 
 
 Nahwy, preface, appendix, andpassim 
 Negative particles, 153-60 
 Negative sentences, 533-45 
 Nouns^ 
 
 Formation of, 41, 42 
 
 Collective, 42 a (Rem. a), 322, 408, 
 461 
 
 Of unity, 42 a, 298, 305 
 
 Compound, 46 
 
 Gender of, 49-62 
 
 Declension of, 63 
 
 Verbal, 228-39, 297 
 
 Used absolutely, 288 
 
 Of multitude, 321, 462 
 Numerals, 92-110, 320, 349-61 
 
 Okdee of words, 315, 352-3, 360, 
 423, 584 
 
394 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Paktioifles, 498-503. See also acci- 
 dence under verb 
 Passive, ] 35, 505-6, 555 
 Plural, 76-91, 364 
 Prepositions, 240-43, 570 
 Pronouns — 
 
 Personal, 111-20, 362-75 
 
 Possessive, 121, 393-6 
 
 Demonstrative, 124, 406-22 
 
 Interrogative, 125, 423-8 
 
 Relative, 126, 429-37 
 
 Indefinite, 127, 128, 443-57 
 
 Distributive, 129, 438-42 
 
 Reflexive, 122-3, 397-405 
 
 Qam, 569 
 Qat'a, hiatus, 21 
 
 SiNGULAE, 298-306 
 Spelling, 1 (Rem. b) 
 Suffixes, 113-21, 367-8, 
 400 
 
 Tenses, syntax, 473- 
 
 376-92, 
 
 Vkkbs — 
 
 Triliteral, 130-221 
 
 Derivative, 161-81, 186-7, 195-6, 
 
 201, 207,212, 215, 226-7 
 Weak, 187-215 
 Strong, 133-86 
 Witii qat'a for one of tiie radicals, 
 
 187-9i 
 With w for one of the radicals, 
 
 192-202 
 With y for one of the radicals, 
 
 203-15 
 Defective, 216-21 
 Quadriliteral, 222-7 
 Concord with subject, 458-72 
 Expressing fear, surprise, &c., 
 
 528-32 
 Transitive and intransitive, 546-57 
 Impersonal, 558 
 Peculiar uses of, 559-69 
 Vocative, 121, 280-7 
 Vowels — 
 
 Pronunciation, 2-7, 16 
 Helping, 9, 10 
 Shortening of, 11, 13, 15 
 Lengthening of, 12 
 
 Wa, wi, we, 572-6 
 
 THE END 
 
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 Edinburgh <5r» London