Page 270 - The Rough Guide Phrasebook - Egyptian Arabic

es-sowā’een dōl
es-settat dōl

el hīwanāt dee
these/those drivers these/those women
HOW
these/those animals
When the gender of a demonstrative is uncertain, then
THE
either dee or da may be used:
dee/da ahsan momkin akhod dee/da?
that’s better can I have that one?
Possessives
LANGUAGE
Possessive adjectives are not separate words in Arabic; they
are in the form of suffixes that are added to the noun to
indicate the possessive. They are added either to a masculine
noun or to the construct form of a feminine noun
(see page 260).
WORKS

The possessive suffixes are:
-ee my -ha her
-ak your (m sing) -na our
-ik your (f sing) -koo your (pl)
-oo his -hom their

alamee tazkartak tazkartik
my pen your ticket your ticket
(said to a man) (said to a woman)
aarabayyitna bayt-hom
our car their house
Possession can also be expressed using btāa (of ). There are
different forms of btāa, depending on whether the object pos-
sessed is masculine or feminine. These forms are also used to
■ D e m o n s t r a t i v e s / P o s s e s s i v e s
express the possessive pronoun (mine, yours etc):

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