Page 280 - The Rough Guide Phrasebook - Egyptian Arabic

The past tense of ‘to want’ is as follows:
kont aayiz I wanted (m)
kont aīza I wanted (f)
HOW
kont aayiz you wanted (m sing)
kontee aīza you wanted (f sing)
kan aayiz he wanted
THE
kanit aīza she wanted
konna aīzeen we wanted
kontoo aīzeen you wanted (pl)
kanoo aīzeen they wanted
The negative is:
makontish aayiz I didn’t want (m)
LANGUAGE
makontish aīza I didn’t want (f)
makontish aayiz you didn’t want (m sing)
makonteesh aīza you didn’t want (f sing)
makanshee aayiz he didn’t want
WORKS

makanitshee aīza she didn’t want
makonnash aīzeen we didn’t want
makontoosh aīzeen you didn’t want (pl)
makanoosh aīzeen they didn’t want
‘To Come’, ‘To Go’, ‘To Understand’
■ Ve r b s
The following are often used as alternatives to the usual
present tense:
come go understand
all m sing forms gī rīeh fāhim
all f sing forms gīya rīha fahma
all plural forms gīyeen rīheen fahmeen
For example:
ana rīeh inti fahma?
I’m going do you understand?
To make these negative, add the word mish before the
verbal form:

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RG New EGYPTIAN ARABIC How the L278 278 12/04/2006 16:46:16