How To Ride A Minibus In Egyptian Arabic

Riding a minibus is a rite of passage if you’re living in Egypt.

Scary? A bit.

Fun? Most definitely!

Today we are talking about how to ride a bus in Egyptian Arabic, along with all the vocabulary and example phrases you need to know.

Let’s get started!

How To Ride A Minibus In Egyptian Arabic: Vocabulary

A lot of the vocabulary you need to know can also be found in our post on riding a taxi.

Here are some of the most important words.

Mini bus. : Mini Bus.

.ميني باص

Driver. : Sawwa2.

.سواق

Directions. : etgahat.

.اتجاهات 

Streets. : shaware3.

.شوارع

Traffic. : moroor.

.مرور

Heavy traffic / crowded. : za7ma.

.زحمة 

Ticket / fee. : el2ogra.

.الاجرة

Bus station. : maw2af.

.الموقف

As you go through this post, we will link to some other articles with useful vocabulary.

Be sure to check them out for all the phrases you might want to know.

How To Ride A Minibus In Egyptian Arabic: Example Phrases

Here are some things you might say when talking about mini buses.

Something to keep in mind before getting started:

• Mini buses are super common in Egypt.
• They are typically cheaper than just about any other form of public transportation you might find.
• While mini bus drivers have a reputation for driving quite fast, they are actually quite good drivers with all the hustle and bustle that they have to navigate.
• Mini buses are, for the most part, safe. While you can never have a 100 percent guarantee with any form of transportation, the vast majority of mini bus rides will get you to where you’re going just fine.
• Most mini buses stop wherever there are people getting and and will basically stop where you tell them to.
• That said, there are main stops that mini buses tend to frequent, and you will see crowds of people waiting for them there.

This is all good information to remember if you are going to get a minibus in Egyptian Arabic.

I need to take a bus today. : mehtag akhod bus elnhrda.

.محتاج اخد باص النهاردة

Remember (and this goes for a lot of our posts): Egyptian Arabic is a gendered language.

Not only are nouns either feminine or masculine…

But verbs often are as well.

Check out these posts to help you out:

• Gender Of Nouns: Part One
• Gender Of Nouns: Part Two
• Present Tense Verbs In Egyptian Arabic (1-10)
• Present Tense Verbs In Egyptian Arabic (11-20)

All this is to say: if you are a female, the above verb would be  محتاجة / mehtaga.

The bus is fast and cheap. : el bus sare3 w rekhees.

.الباص سريع ورخيص

The bus drivers drive really fast. : sawa2en el bus byso2o bsor3a awy.

.سواقيين الباص بيسوقو بسرعة قوي

Mini buses are a great model of public transportation in Egypt. : el mini bus waselet mwasalat 3azema f masr.

.الميني باص وسيلة مواصلات عظيمة في مصر

Of course, mini buses are just one form of public transportation in Egypt.

There are people that like minibuses and there are people that don’t love it. : fe nas bt7b elmini bus w fe nas mesh bt7bo.

.في ناس بتحب الميني باص وفي ناس مش بتحبو

I know the directions and the destination. : ana 3aref el etgahat w el makan.

.انا عارف الاتجاهات والمكان 

There are a lot of cars on the street. : fe 3arbiat kter awy f elshare3.

.في عربيات كتير قوي في الشارع

The traffic is really bad today. : eldonia za7ma awy elnharda (lit: its too crowded today).

.الشوارع زحمة قوي النهاردة

Traffic in Egypt is one thing you should know how to complain about in Egyptian Arabic.

Here’s your guide to doing just that!

Can you slow down a little please? : momken thadi shwaya law sama7t?

ممكن تهدي شوية لو سمحت؟

To the side, driver! : 3ala gamb yasta.

.على جمب يسطى

This is perhaps the most important phrase to know when riding a minibus in Egyptian Arabic.

Say it whenever you want to get it.

It basically means “pull over here, driver.”

I will exit here. : hanzel hena.

.هنزل هنا

Two things here:

• The verb nazl literally means “to get down.” This is the verb you will use when exiting pretty much any form of transportation, this is what you will say.
• You see the letter ه / h here. Basically, you out this at the beginning of a verb in Egyptian Arabic to mean “going to…”. This is the biggest rule when using the Egyptian Arabic future tense.

Thank you. : shokran.

.شكرا

Questions To Ask

When riding a minibus, you are the person that will do most of the talking.

Here are some common questions.

Where are you going? : ray7 feen?

رايح فين؟

How much is the ticket? : bkam eltazkara?

بكام التذكرة؟

Where do I exit (get off)? : Anzel feen?

انزل فين؟

Can you tell me when I exit, please? : Momken t2oli anzel feen law sama7t?

ممكن تقولي انزل فين لو سمحت؟

Do you have change? : Ma3ak fakka? 

معاك فكة؟

Where do I sit? : A23od fen?

اقعد فين؟

Can I sit here, please? : Momken a23od henna law sam7t?

ممكن اقعد هنا لو سمحت؟

While these are the most common questions, there are always more you could ask.

Be sure to read up on the most common questions in Egyptian Arabic to be fully prepared.

Questions To Understand

As for the things a driver will ask you?

Here are just a few of the most important questions:

Where to? : Ray7 fen?

رايح فين؟

Where do you want to go? : 3ayz tro7 fen?

عايز تروح فين؟

The money please, folk? : El 2ogra ya 7adarat

الاجرة فين؟

That’s about it.

While there is always the possibility that they ask you something you don’t understand, you should be good as long as you can talk about:

1. Where you want to go
2. How much the ticket costs

And if you don’t understand?

That’s where knowing how get people to speak slowly to you in Egyptian Arabic comes in handy.

Example Conversation

Here is a question you might see on a minibus.

Pay attention to the phrases that are used and how the conversation develops.

This is a pretty typical chat on a minibus, and it’s one you would have a million times when riding them.

Hi, where are you going? : ray7 feen?

رايح فين؟

Dokki. : dokki

.زالدقي

Ok, I will get off at Tahrir Street. : tamam, hanzel f share3 elta7reer.

.تمام هنزل في شارع التحرير

Take a seat. : etfadal.

.اتفضل اقعد

How much is the ticket? : kam eltazkara?

بكام التذكرة؟

Five pounds. : 7amsa gneh.

.5 جنيه 

Ok here you go, one person from the 10. : ok etfadal , wa7ed mn el 3ashara.

.اوك اتفضل واحد من العشرة

You pay when you exit. : edfa3 w enta nazel ya basha.

.ادفع وانت نازل ياباشا

Ok, fine. : tayb, tamam.

.طيب تمام

…

OK, I will get off on the side here, driver. : hanzel 3ala gamb henna yasta.

.هنزل على جمب هنا ياسطى

And here is the ticket. : etfadal tazkara.

.اتفضل تذكرة

10, ok, here is your change. : etfdal ba2i el3ashra.

.اتفضل باقي العشرة

Thank you, peace be upon you. : Shokran, salamo 3aleko.

.شكرا سلامو عليكو

And upon you. : W 3alekom elsalam.

.وعليكم السلام

Culture Corner

Kind of a larger “culture corner” today.

There are basically two kinds of minbuses:

1) The old classic kind, that has a flexible fare based off of where you’re going

This has no written sign on it. The driver (and often the guy helping him calling out destinations and collecting payments) will usually divide the whole route between a few areas. Depending on where you are going to and where you exit, the fare will change.

This one is cheaper and more convenient if your trip is short.

2) The “nicer” one that is typically part of a transportation company

This minibus has a fixed fare. There will usually be a written sign at the stop and on the minibus telling you both the number and the route of that mini bus.

An example of this kind of minibus company would be mwaslat masr. This is often considered the best company in Egypt. Compared to other mini buses, mwaslat masr provides a premium service that is a bit more expensive than other.

…

Happy learning,

Cleo Lingo