Page 278 - The Rough Guide Phrasebook - Egyptian Arabic

verb stem idd-
suffix
-ayt iddayt I gave, I have given
-ayt iddayt you gave, you have given (m sing)
HOW
-aytee iddaytee you gave, you have given (f sing)
idda he gave, he has given
THE
-it iddit she gave, she has given
-ayna iddayna we gave, we have given
-aytoo iddaytoo you gave, you have given (pl)
-oo iddoo they gave, they have given
‘To Be’
There is no present tense of the verb ‘to be’ in Arabic:
LANGUAGE
agaztak imta? (to man) ana min iskinderaya
when is your vacation? I’m from Alexandria
lit: vacation your (suffix) when lit: I from Alexandria
WORKS
el mat-haf el masree kebeer kitābak da?

the Egyptian Museum is big is this your book?
lit: the museum the Egyptian big lit: book your (suffix) this
In the past tense the verb ‘to be’ is as follows:
■ Ve r b s
ana kont I was
inta kont you were (m sing)
inti kontee you were (f sing)
howa kan he was; it was
hayya kānit she was; it was
ehna konna we were
intoo kontoo you were (pl)
homma kanoo they were
kanoo fayn homma? where were they?
kānit fayn? where was it?
Negatives are formed in the standard way (see page 279):
inti makonteesh you weren’t
homma makanoosh they weren’t
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RG New EGYPTIAN ARABIC How the L276 276 12/04/2006 16:46:16