1. Who : “Meen” : مين؟
2. What : “Ay” : ايه؟
3. Where : “Fane” : فين؟
4. When : “Emta” : امتى؟
5. Why : “Lee” : لي؟
6. How : “EeZAY” : ازي؟
7. How much : “Beekehm” : بكم؟
…
1. Who? : “Meen?”
مين؟
Who is this? (when answering phone) : “Meen maa’ia?”
مين معايا؟
This literally translates to “Who is with me?”, but in understood as “Who is this?”
Cultural tip: usually in western culture, it is common to say your name once you pickup the phone. This is much more efficient and saves you time: “Hello, Mick talking.” or “Hi, it’s Alicia.”
Egypt, however, is not all about efficiency. Instead, Egyptians pick up the phone and start by saying “Alo”, followed by “Who is with me?” They will never reveal their name until the one who called says it first.
Who is that? : “Meen da?”
مين ده؟
Who are you? : “Enta meen?”
انت مين؟
Who is going to eat now? : “Meen heyYEHkol delWAW’ty?”
مين هياكل دلوقتي؟
…
2. What? : “Ey?”
ايه؟
What is this? : “Ey da?”
ايه ده؟
You will see this everywhere. All the way from literally not knowing what something is to disbelief at something someone just said.
What are you doing? : “Betaa’mel ey?”
بتعمل ايه؟
What are we going to do? : “Hanaa’mel ey?”
هنعمل ايه؟
You can also use “What?” alone as “I didn’t hear you, come again.”
This isn’t so polite, however, so stick with “Na’am” when you haven’t understood (which is also “Yes” in Standard Arabic).
نعم؟
Advanced slang: “Ey alkalaam?” (shortened to “eakkalam”) : ايه الكلام؟
This literally translates to “What’s the talk?”, but means “What’s up now?”
Where to pull this one out: you and your homies are hanging out and you want to ask about what the plan is for today. You can say “Eykkalam, haneamil aeh?” (What’s up now, what are we going to do?).
This phrase could also be used to ask “How was it?” Example: your friend goes inside a new restaurant to quickly check it out, and he comes back, you want to know what he saw/what his opinion is: “ay-kalaam?”
…
3. Where? : “Fane?”
فين؟
Where are you? : “Enta fane?”
انت فين؟
Where are you going? : “Enta rayeh fane?”
انت رايح فين؟
This is basically what you ask any bus driver if you aren’t sure about the route he is taking.
Do you know where this place is? : “Taw’ruff elmakan dah fane?”
تعرف المكان ده فين؟
Excuse me, where is ? : “Low samawht, fane ?”
لو سمحت, فين….؟
Extra: Where are you? : “FANEuck?”
فينك؟
Think about this one as follows: putting the question word “fane” then a word that means “you.”
This is all about suffixes/possessives (often the same thing in Egyptian). In this example we are not using the word “you” by itself (“Enta or Enty”), but we are using the letter “Kaf” that is used when talking to someone.
As a result, this becomes “FANEuck” for males and “FNAEick” for females
…
4. When? : “Emta?”
امتى؟
When are you going home? : “Hawtrooh alBAET emta?”
هتروح البيت امتى؟
When is the party? : “ElHAWFluh emta?”
الحفلة امتى؟
When did you eat? : “Enta awkelt emta?”
انت اكلت امتى؟
When are we gonna meet? : “HuhNEHTuhEHbll emta?”
هنتقابل امتى؟
Key words for answers:
Day : “Yome”
يوم
(To say days of the week, you always say “yome” followed by the name of the day.
Sunday : “Al Ahad”
الاحد
Monday : “Al itnane”
الاتنين
Tuesday : “elTEHlit”
التالت
Wednesday : “elAREba’a”
الاربعة
Thursday : “elkhaMEES”
الخميس
Friday : “elGOma’a”
الجمعة
Saturday : “elSEHbt”
السبت
Tomorrow : “BOKEraw”
بكرة
Yesterday : “imBAERuh”
امبارح
Day after tomorrow : “BAW’d BOKEraw”
بعد بكرة
Month: “SHAWhr”
شهر
Hour: “SAW’AW”
ساعة
Morning: “ihSOBH”
الصبح
Evening: “bihLAYL”
بلي؟
…
5. Why? : “LEE?”
لي؟
Why is that? : “Leah keda?”
لي كده؟
Why are you going so early? : “Leah hanROOH badry?”
لي هتروح بدري؟
…
6. How? : “EeZAY?”
ازي؟
How can I go to this place? : “EeZAY aROOH elmakan da?”
ازي اروح المكان ده؟
Can you show me how? : “Momkin TOWuhREEnee eeZAY?””
ممكن توريني ازي؟
Extra: How are you? : “EeZAYuck?”
ازيك؟
Like the previous example. Here, you just use the question word “how”, followed by the suffix “kuh” ( the letter “Kaf”) that indicates that you are talking to somebody directly (“YOU”). This then becomes Ezzayak for males and Ezzayik for females.
So much easier grammar than Fusha!
…
7. How much? : “BeeKEHM?”
بكم؟
How much is that? : “BeeKEHM daw?
بكم ده؟
All you need for your khan elkhalili experience. In fact, if you are a complete beginner to Egyptian Arabic, let this be the first thing that you learn how to say.
Prices and buying things is a tricky subject for a foreigner in Cairo. No use getting overcharged.
No, its too much! : “Laa’ da kiTEER OWee.”
!لا ده كتير اوي
No its too expensive. : “Laa’ da ghAWlee OWee!”
!لا ده غالي اوي
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