Today we are covering Egyptian people. Specifically, how to talk about them in Egyptian Arabic.
This is Part Three of a five part series on how to talk about Egypt.
And before you get angry – no, today is not a racist post. In fact, we even wrote a post about how talk about racism in Egyptian Arabic.
Instead, treat today’s post as a reference guide. If you are a foreigner living in Egypt, it’s likely an Egyptian is going to ask you your opinion about their country. And a common topic is how well you get along with the people.
Egypt is full of cool people and jerks. Just like anywhere else. Whatever your opinion is – lots of good material today!
Today, Cleo Lingo will be explaining…how to talk about Egyptian people in Egyptian Arabic.
Egyptian People Vocabulary
As usual, we will go over some of the most important vocabulary.
These are the words you need to know if you want to talk about Egyptian people.
Egyptians. : elmasryeen.
.المصريين
People. : elnas.
.الناس
Egyptian people: elmasryeen.
.المصريين
The personality. : elshakhsya.
.الشخصية
The population. : elsokkan.
.السكان
Of course, talking about the people of Egypt (or the people of any country) is difficult.
Like any country, Egypt is super diverse….and even different, depending on where you go.
But knowing how to talk about Egyptians in Egyptian Arabic is a good skill to have.
Especially when you’re talking to Egyptians!
Egyptian People Example Phrases
We have divided out phrases about Egyptian people between “easy” and “advanced.”
This will be helpful to Egyptian Arabic learners of any level. 🙂
Easy Phrases About Egyptian People
Egyptians are great / amazing / wonderful. : elmasryeen kwaisen/ raw3a/haylen.
.المصريين كويسين/روعة/هايلين
All of these adjectives basically mean the same thing.
Here is another list of adjectives in Egyptian Arabic that might be useful.
Egyptians are late / loud. : elmasryeen byt2kharo/moz3geen.
.المصريين بيتأخرو/ مزعجين
Pay attention to byt2kharo. This is the verb form of “late.”
Last week we did meta5reen. This meant that Egyptians are literally late, in more of a descriptive, “adjective” form.
Byt2kharo from above, meanwhile, is a verb.
So a rough translation could be “Egyptians are always delaying.”
Egyptians are my friends. : elmasryeen so7aby.
.المصريين صحابي
The people in Egypt are cool. : elnas f masr gamdeen.
.الناس في مصر جامدين
جامد is definitely a slang Egyptian Arabic word you want to know.
You could also use it as a one word way to say “awesome / badass.”
The people in this city are crazy. : elnas fi elmadina de maganen.
.الناس في المدينة دي مجانين
Egyptians are usually dark (skin color). : elmasryeen ghaleban somr.
.المصريين غالبا سمر
Egyptian people are my favorite people (Lit: The Egyptians they are the most people I love them). : elmasryeen homa aktar nas ba7bhom.
.المصريين هما اكتر ناس بحبهم
Egyptians are very religious. : elmasryeen motadayneen gedan.
.المصريين متدينين قوي
What is the “Egyptian personality?” : eh hya elshakhsya elmasrya.
ايه هي الشخصية المصرية؟
Some pretty high level, metaphysical stuff.
Can an entire people really have a collective personality?
These are the existential questions that we ponder here at Cleo Lingo.
Or maybe I’ve just had too much coffee this morning.
I like the personality of Egyptians. : ana ba7b shakhsyt elmasryeen.
.انا بحب شخصية المصريين
The population in Egypt is large. : Elsokkan fi masr kteer.
.السكان في مصر كتير
How to count in Egyptian Arabic would help you out here.
Like….in case you want to count the population of Egypt for yourself.
Luckily we give you the answer below!
The personality of this country is amazing. : shakhsyt el balad de ra2e3a.
.شخصية البلد دي رائعة
Alright.
Time to get more complicated!
Advanced Phrases About Egyptian People
Now we will move to some more advanced phrases about Egyptian people.
These are basically the easy phrases from above, but with more information added.
Egyptians are nice because they are so funny. : elmasryeen lotaf 3alshan damhom khafef.
.المصريين لطاف علشان دمهم خفيف
Egyptians are great because they help anyone / anybody (Lit: any one). : elmasryeen kwaiseen awy 3lshan bysa3do ay 7ad.
.المصريين كويسين قوي علشان بيساعدو اي حد
Egyptians are wonderful (Lit. sweet) because they always laugh. : elmasryeen 7lwen 3alshan dayman byd7ako.
.المصريين حلوين علشان دايما بيضحكو
Ok, at this point, you’re surely questioning how accurate it is to say “Egyptians.”
We’ve mentioned this a few times now.
Yes, we get it: these are basically just stereotypes. Don’t take them too seriously.
But first and foremost, these phrases will make your Egyptian Arabic better.
And that’s what matters. 🙂
People in this country are difficult to trust (Lit: Difficult trust in the people in the country this). : sa3b taseq fi elnas fi elbalad de.
.صعب تثق في الناس في البلد دي
I do not have close friends in this country. : ana ma3ndeesh so7ab 2oraybeen f elbalad de.
.انا معنديش صحاب قريبين في البلد دي
Remember that with Egyptian Arabic, you have to “pluralize” the adjectives.
You have already seen this a couple times in today’s post. Still, now is a good time to explain it a little more.
In the phrase above, the adjective is “close.” And the noun (“friends”) is plural.
That means, because the adjective is attached to a plural noun, that it has to become plural as well.
The singular form of “close” is either قريب (masculine) or قريبة (feminine) depending on the gender of the noun.
But the noun here is plural. That means the adjective becomes plural as well قريبين .
(The) People here are like anywhere else. : elnas hena zai 7etta tanya.
.الناس هنا زي اي حتة تانية
Egyptian people are some of the nicest people I have met (Lit: The Egyptians from the nicest the people that I have met them). : elmasryeen men altaf elnas eli 2ablthom.
.المصريين من الطف الناس اللي قابلتهم
Egyptians are really funny and hard working (Lit: hard-working at the job). : elmasryeen damohom khafef w moghtahdeen f elshoghl.
.المصريين دمهم خفيف قوي ومجتهدين في الشغل
Egyptians always try to overcharge me. : elmasryeen dayman by7awlo ydaffa3oni aktar.
.المصريين دايما بيحاولو يدفعوني اكتر
This is one of the most common complaints of expats living in Egypt.
Luckily, if you know how to bargain in Egyptian Arabic, things can be a little easier for you. 😉
Egyptians know how to laugh at their problems well. : elmasryeen by3rafo yhazaro 3ala mashakelhom kwaiss.
.المصريين بيعرفو يهزرو على مشاكلهم كويس
Most Egyptians people are conservative, according to Western culture. : aghlab elmasryeen mo7afzeen belnesba lel saqafa elgharbia.
.اغلب المصريين محافظين بالنسبة للثقافة الغربية
This is also a good thing to know here.
بالنسبة basically means “according to…” / “in the opinion of…”.
The personality of most Egyptians is different than the people in my country. : shakhsyat aghlab elmasyreen mokhtalefa 3an elans fi baladi.
.شخصيات اغلب المصريين مختلفة عن الناس في بلدي
The personality of Egyptians is great. : shakhsyt elmasryeen 7elwa.
.شخصية المصريين حلوة
The Egyptian population is over 100 million people. : elsokkan fi masr aktar men meet million.
.السكان في مصر اكتر من مية مليون
The population growth of Egypt is actually one of the more serious long-term problems it is facing.
That’s because of the bad education, lack of resources, and massive amounts of desert that are hard to live on.
Check out this New York Times article for more information.
Common Questions To Ask
And now to some questions that you might ask Egyptians about themselves!
What is your opinion of Egyptians? : ra2yak eh f elmasryeen?
رأيك ايه في المصريين؟
Do you like (the) Egyptians? : bt7b elmasryeen?
بتحب المصريين؟
Again, remember, this is what you would say when you ask a male.
A female would be بتحبي (bt7bee).
What is a typical Egyptian like (Lit: The Egyptian the typical like what)? : elmasry eltaqledi 3amel ezai?
المصري التقليدي عامل ازاي؟
What are Egyptians like? : elmasryeen 3amlen ezay?
المصريين عاملين ازاي؟
Are you proud to be Egyptian? : enta fakhour enak masry?
انت فخور انك مصري؟
Thw whole “pride” thing is a tricky one.
I have noticed that Egyptians do tend to be a bit more “proud” than other people.
And I’m American, so that’s really saying something!
Example Conversation About Egyptian People
We didn’t include Franco Arabic for the last part.
We invite you to write down these sentences in Franco for a little practice.
Check out our post on how to use Franco-Arabic to write Arabic words if you need a little refresher!
What do you think about Egyptian people?
رأيك ايه في المصريين؟
Wow….that’s a hard question.
.واو…سؤال صعب
Well, is your opinion positive or negative?
طب رأيك ايجابي ولا سلبي؟
Definitely use the word طب at the beginning of sentences if you want to sound more fluent.
It’s basically a “filler word” while you think of your opinion.
Mostly positive. I think Egyptians are funny and always help me when I need something.
.فالاغلب ايجابي ..انا شايف ان المصريين دمهم خفيف ودايما بيساعدوني لو محتاج حاجة
And what do you not like about them?
و ايه مش بيعجبك فيهم؟
Sometimes they are hard to trust. And you don’t know if they are speaking seriously or joking.
.ساعات بيبقى صعب تثق فيهم. ومتعرفش هما بيتكلمو جد ولا بيهزرو
But people are like that everywhere (Lit.: But the people that at every place). Right?
بس الناس كده في كل حتة. صح؟
Yes. Egyptians are just people.
.اه ما المصريين ناس
Cultural Insight
A couple years ago I wrote a Quora answer to the question “What do foreigners think of Egypt / Egyptians?”
It’s something I heard from a German guy when I first moved to Cairo.
It’s one of the most succinct (and accurate, in my view) ways to describe Egyptians.
While I could describe it for you here, I’ll just link to my answer.
Let us know what you think.
…
Happy learning,
Cleo Lingo
