Introduction
She loves spending time with me……but she doesn’t return my phone calls. She loves laughing with me…..but her jokes at my expense come far too often. Everything is great…..until it’s not.
Basically, it’s complicated.
For all I know, the use of the word mish could very well be a relationship. It’s the word that Egyptians use to negate, and just like a love interest, it will drive you crazy. But here’s my opinion: mish is a cool little quirk of the Egyptian dialect. Its correct formation is so unlike anything we have in English, and writing down new combinations of negated, conjugated verbs is actually kind of fun.
Still, with the right verb, conjugated for the person doing it, and with suffixes added on, mish only has a tendency to complicate things. As a grammar concept, the word is quite easy to get a grasp of. Actual usage, though, is almost impossible to perfect.
But that’s OK. Nobody has ever completely mastered any language. In that spirit, today’s tutorial will give you the necessary overview, but won’t bog you down with a million examples. Having a fundamental grasp of how mish (مش) works is essential to learning Egyptian Arabic. After that, we trust you enough to go exploring for other “mish sandwiches” (this will make sense in a moment). It’s not a perfect guide, but with the almost infinite varieties, it never could be.
Lesson
Mish uses the letter “meem” and “shin”: مش. As stated before, it is used in Egypt to negate. A close approximation in English would be “don’t” or “didn’t” (depending, obviously, on the pronoun).
For states of being/emotions, you simply use mish followed by the main word.
Examples:
I am not hungry. : Ana mish gawehn.
انا مش جعان
You are not sad. : Entee mish zawulehnuh.
انا مش زعلان
They are not ready. : Homeuh mish gehezeen.
هما مش جاهزين
Simple enough, right? The confusion occurs when you start using verbs. This is where the weird (but much loved) concept of “mish sandwich” comes in. You tack on the “meem” at the beginning of the conjugated verb. The letter “shiin” goes at the end.
This is important to remember.
With the verb correctly conjugated (conjugations will be explained in a post), “meem” is added as the first letter, and “shiin” as the last.
This gets confusing with longer verbs, as the intonation of certain vowels changes ever so slightly. When suffixes in the form of one or two extra letters (which indicate objects) are added to the end, shit gets crazy.
Let’s start simple.
The most important example to learn immediately is “mawfeesh”: مفيش. It’s about as basic as you can get, but it’s everywhere in Egypt.
The word “fee” means “there is” or “there are.” The negative with mish would thus be “there isn’t” or “there are not.” And so how do you make a “mish sandwich” with “fee”(في)?
You guessed it! “Mawfeesh” (مفيش).
Take fee….في
add “meem” to the beginning…م
add “shiin” to the end….. ش
And shibam!! مفيش
Congratulations! You made your first mish sandwich. Look at you go! As an example of how widely accepted this is, I have not once heard an Egyptian use the “mish followed by main word” method. Not once. Saying “mish fee” just does not work. Don’t do it.
Let’s look at another example.
Let’s go with the verb love, or “yawheb”: يحب.
Keep in mind that Egyptian verbs (in present tense) usually begin with the letter “baa.” The base verb is thus “bawheb”: بحب.
So, “I don’t love” would be “mawbahebsh” مبحبش.
Now, let’s make things a little trickier.
Conjugate it for “she doesn’t love me.”
“Mawbahebsh”: مبحبش
Becomes “mawbithebsh” for “she doesn’t love”: مبتحبش.
But since it’s “me” (or “nee” as a suffix, in Arabic), it would thus become: “mawbithebneesh”: مبتحبنيش.
One more example with explanation.
“He doesn’t speak…..”
Speak: “yetkelim”: يتكلم.
Egyptian “speak”: “betkelim”: بتكلم.
He speaks: “beetkelim”: بيتكلم.
He doesn’t speak: “mawbeetkelimsh”: مبيتكلمش.
Again, the trouble comes with the extra syllables. You know how to say a verb with an object ending, but then you negate it, and suddenly your mouth needs to move slightly differently. It’s just…..weird. When you first start using mish, it seems easy, and you might even go a couple months before you find yourself scratching your head.
But it will happen.
And the mish sandwich doesn’t just work in the present. It happens in past tense, too (although future tense is a little more forgiving).
Here are some examples of common negated verb conjugations. These are all assuming you have a basic grasp of conjugating verbs already. We will be sending out a post on conjugation basics to help. 🙂
Some of these are just negated verbs. Some of them have suffixes (which indicate the “object” of the sentence) added in.
Past Tense
I did not travel.
مسفرتش
We did not go to…
مروحناش هناك
I did not call her.
مكلمتهاش
She did not see him.
مشفتنيش
Present Tense
I don’t know.
معرفش
We do not like him.
مبنحبهوش
They do not speak…
مبيتكلموش
She does not laugh…
مبتضحكش
As noted, the future negative in Egyptian Arabic is simpler. You add on “h” to the conjugated verb to indicate future (usually without the “b” like present), then say mish before.
Future Tense
I will not study.
انا مش هاذاكر
We will not see them.
احنا مش هنشوفهم
He will not know.
هو مش هيعرف
I will not hit him.
انا مش هضربه
Now for the important caveat. If you cannot figure out quickly enough how to correctly conjugate a “mish sandwich”, you can take the easy way out: “mish followed by the conjugated verb.”
True, about 80 percent of the time, it sounds weird to Egyptians. Saying “mish bawhebha” مش بحبها instead of “mawBAWhawBESH” مبحبهاشabout your ex-girlfriend isn’t all that common. But it works. Egyptians will know what you are saying, and you will have moved the conversation along instead of taking 45 seconds to correctly formulate the mish sandwich.
As the Egyptian gods would have it, the mish sandwich, while delicious, has given you a lifeline.
Besides “mawfeesh,” almost all verbs can be negated in this easier but slightly more awkward way. Keep that in mind.
Conclusion
The mish sandwich, like any significant other, is going to make you pull your hair out.
Most assuredly, you will go through the honey moon stage. You will start using it, will impress your Egyptian friends, and will learn more and more combinations. You will start to feel a badass, and as you practice your writing, you will giggle a little each time you are able to correctly formulate an excessively long word.
But like all relationships, the honey moon phase will end. You will come across mish sandwiches that just don’t sound right. You will start using one, and then realize that your stress on certain syllables is all wrong. Some guy names Ahmed will throw a mish sandwich at your face, and as a verb you once knew suddenly sounds foreign, you will cry as he switches to English.
Mish will make send you to the heights of ecstasy, but also to the lows of confusion, as you begin asking yourself the eternal question: “What went wrong?”
Such is love, right?
