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Egyptian
Colloquial
Arabic
Vocabulary
Matthew Aldrich
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© 2015 by Matthew Aldrich
The author’s moral rights have been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher.
Cover art: © Can Stock Photo Inc. / khvost
paperback: ISBN-10: 0985816082
website: www.lingualism.com
email: [email protected]
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Table of Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................................. iii
How to Use This Book ................................................................................................ v
Pronunciation ........................................................................................................... vii
1 Life and Death ......................................................................................................... 1
2 Family ...................................................................................................................... 5
3 Love, Marriage, and Sex ........................................................................................ 10
4 Names and Addressing People ............................................................................. 13
5 The Human Body and Describing People .............................................................. 15
6 Clothing, Jewelry, and Accessories ....................................................................... 33
7 The House ............................................................................................................. 40
8 Food and Drink ...................................................................................................... 52
9 Work ...................................................................................................................... 68
10 School and Education .......................................................................................... 74
11 Health and Medicine ........................................................................................... 83
12 Technology .......................................................................................................... 90
13 Getting Around ................................................................................................... 93
14 Around Town .................................................................................................... 102
15 Buildings and Construction ............................................................................... 103
16 Bank .................................................................................................................. 105
17 Post Office ......................................................................................................... 107
18 Books and Stationery ........................................................................................ 108
19 Shopping ........................................................................................................... 110
20 Restaurant ......................................................................................................... 113
21 Recreation and Relaxation ................................................................................ 114
22 Music ................................................................................................................. 123
23 Games and Sports ............................................................................................. 126
24 Travel and Vacations ......................................................................................... 133
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25 Government and Politics ................................................................................... 141
26 Crime and Justice .............................................................................................. 144
27 Money ............................................................................................................... 147
28 Business and Commerce ................................................................................... 149
29 Agriculture ........................................................................................................ 151
30 Military .............................................................................................................. 153
31 The Mind ........................................................................................................... 154
32 Feelings ............................................................................................................. 156
33 Personality ........................................................................................................ 158
34 Likes and Dislikes .............................................................................................. 159
35 Opinions and Agreement .................................................................................. 160
36 Desires and Intentions ...................................................................................... 161
37 Religion ............................................................................................................. 162
38 Language ........................................................................................................... 167
39 Countries and Nationalities .............................................................................. 174
40 Egypt ................................................................................................................. 180
41 Greater Cairo ..................................................................................................... 182
42 Earth and Space ................................................................................................ 186
43 Weather ............................................................................................................ 190
44 Animals .............................................................................................................. 196
45 Plant Life ........................................................................................................... 201
46 Colors ................................................................................................................ 203
47 Shapes, Sizes, and Measurements .................................................................... 205
48 Quantity ............................................................................................................ 207
49 Numbers ............................................................................................................ 208
50 Time .................................................................................................................. 216
51 Pronouns ........................................................................................................... 225
52 Question Words ................................................................................................ 227
53 Adverbs ............................................................................................................. 229
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54 Conjunctions ..................................................................................................... 234
55 Prepositions ...................................................................................................... 237
56 Verbs ................................................................................................................. 241
57 Adjectives .......................................................................................................... 247
Notebook ................................................................................................................ 252
Index ....................................................................................................................... 263
Introduction
Vocabulary, much more than grammar, is the key to effective communication in
Arabic. You need words to speak; you need words to listen and understand.
Knowing grammar inside and out won’t save you if you don’t have the right word to
plug into the structure. You can walk into a shop armed with grammatical structures
such as “I would like some __.” or “Do you have any __?”, but if you don’t know the
word for the thing you want, you may very well leave the shop empty handed. On
the other hand, if you walk into that same shop and simply say “sugar”, you’re
almost certain to get what went there for.
And without an extensive repertoire of vocabulary, you will understand very little
of what others are talking about. Spoken Arabic, to your foreign ears, will remain
little more than gibberish. But once you can understand the majority of what you
hear, something magical happens. The input becomes manageable--you will be able
to use contextual clues from what you do understand to guess the meaning of new
words and start to make rapid progress in Arabic.
It is therefore very important to build up a large store of words as soon as possible.
Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Vocabulary is an enormously effective means to this end.
By presenting practical words and phrases categorized by topic and arranged with a
logical flow, mental connections that assist in vocabulary retention are fostered. The
page layout in parallel columns of English translation, phonetic transliteration, and
Arabic script provides a variety of ways to study the vocabulary by allowing you to
cover columns and test yourself.
The accompanying MP3s, free to download from the Lingualism Audio Library at
www.lingualism.com, make up an invaluable part of the learning process, allowing
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you to hear and mimic native speakers’ pronunciation, pitch, intonation, and
rhythm. Additional study materials (Anki digital flashcards, enhanced MP3s, e-book)
are available separately from www.lingualism.com and provide even more powerful
tools for rapid vocabulary acquisition.
Although extremely important, vocabulary still only makes up one aspect of learning
a language. Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Vocabulary is the ideal supplementary tool
to reinforce vocabulary acquisition. However, it is not meant to be a stand-alone
course. It is expected that you have followed, are following, or plan to follow, a
course in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA). Alternatively, you may have studied
another dialect of Arabic, or Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), and are curious to
learn more about the ECA and tune your ears to the idiosyncrasies of this beautiful
dialect.
The author would like to thank Mido Ali, Mostafa Said,
and Mostafa El-Kassar for collaborating to provide
authentic Egyptian Arabic translations of the items in
this book, Lilia Khachroum and Patrick Baggett for
proof-reading the text, and Cameleons Group in Cairo
for recording the MP3s.
The MP3s can be downloaded for free
by accessing the Lingualism Audio Library at:
www.lingualism.com
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How to Use This Book
Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Vocabulary is made up of 57 thematic sections, each
dedicated to a different topic. Each section is numbered to facilitate references from
the index and the MP3s.
You may study the sections and individual vocabulary items in any order, or you may
work through the book systematically. It is encouraged that you mark up and
highlight the book as you use it. Make it your own. There is also a Notebook after
the last section where you can add in more words you have learned from other
sources.
Many words could logically belong to more than one topic. While some words do
appear in more than one section, to avoid superfluous repetition of words, most
appear only once. To your surprise, you might not be able to find common animals
such as cow and horse in the section “Animals”, for instance. This is because farm
animals appear in the section “Agriculture” instead. This might not be entirely
intuitive, so to solve this, an index appears at the back of the book with English
words arranged alphabetically alongside a reference to the number of the section
or sections in which a word appears.
For nouns and adjectives having an irregular plural form, the plural appears
in parentheses.
If a noun is listed in its dual or plural ([pl.]) form, this is indicated.
A noun ending in ـة is feminine, and a noun not ending in ـة is masculine. The
gender is marked [m.] and [f.] for nouns which do not follow this rule.
All countries, except those marked [m.] and all cities are feminine. Keep this
in mind as countries and cities are not marked [f.].
Only the masculine version of nouns denoting humans is listed when the
feminine equivalent can be formed by adding ـة. For example, مدرس mudarris
is a male teacher. A female teacher would be ةمدرس mudarrisa.
For the sake of consistency and simplicity, the masculine singular form is
used in expressions. You will need to use your knowledge of Arabic
grammar to produce the feminine or plural equivalents.
Some nouns are classified as collective nouns. An explanation of the usage
of collective nouns appears on page 59.
Some adjectives are invariable and are marked [invar.]. These do not have
a feminine or plural form.
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Each verb appears in its base form (its most basic form without any prefixes
or suffixes), which is the masculine singular past tense, literally “he did”;
however, the English translation appears in its standard citation form: “to
do”. In order to use a verb in a sentence, it must be conjugated.
Every verb is followed by small square brackets with a reference to its
corresponding table in the book Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Verbs, which
presents conjugation tables to model all the possible conjugated forms of
any verb in ECA.
The Arabic script reflects common spelling conventions used by Egyptians,
but with a couple of notable exceptions to facilitate reading: ـة and ـي appear
with dots, whereas most Egyptians leave off the dots (ـه and ـى).
A few words, which are vulgar or taboo, do not appear on the MP3s because
of their sensitive nature. These are marked with an asterisk (*).
If you place this PDF in the same folder with the MP3 files, you can activate
each section’s track by clicking on the section title number (in the yellow
box).
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Pronunciation Egyptian Colloquial Arabic is a spoken dialect with no official status or rules of orthography. Egyptians tend to borrow spelling conventions from Modern Standard Arabic with some accommodations to account for ECA pronunciation. Arabic script, however, is ill suited to show the actual pronunciation of ECA and the sound changes that occur when words are inflected. (For a treatment of these sound changes, see the book Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Verbs.) Even if you are comfortable with Arabic script, it is advised that you pay close attention to the phonetic transliteration to determine the exact pronunciation of words and phrases.
Consonants The following sounds are also found in English and should pose no difficulties for learners: examples b ب [b] as in bed bána بنى (build)
d د [d̪] as in dog, but with the tongue touching the back of the upper teeth
dáras درس (study)
f ف [f] as in four fāz فاز (win)
g ج [g] as in gas gíri جرى (run)
h ه [h] as in house hágam هجم (attack)
k ك [k] as in kid kal كل (eat)
l ل [l] a light l as in love líbis لبس (get dressed)
L ل [ɫ] a dark, velarized l as in yell; found only in the word هللا.
aLLāh هللا (God)
m م [m] as in moon māt مات (die)
n ن [n] as in nice nísi نىس (forget)
s س ث [s] as in sun sāb ساب (leave)
š ش [ʃ] as in show šakk شك (doubt)
t ت [t]̪ as in tie, but with the tongue touching the back of the upper teeth
taff تف (spit)
w و [w] as in word wárra ور ى (show)
y ي [j] as in yes yíktib يكتب (he writes)
z ز ذ [z] as in zoo zār زار (visit)
ž ج [ʒ] as in pleasure and beige; used in foreign borrowings and sometimes
written چ to distinguish it from ج [g]
žim جيم (gym)
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v p
ف
ب
[v] (sometimes spelled ڤ) and [p] (پ)
appear in some foreign borrowings, but may also be pronounced [f] and [b], respectively, by many speakers
seven ap پا ڤنس (7 Up)
The following sounds have no equivalent in English and require special attention. However, some exist in other languages you may be familiar with. r ر [ɾ] tapped (flapped) as in the Spanish
cara, or the Scottish pronunciation of tree
ráma رمى (throw)
ɣ غ [ɣ] very similar to a guttural r as in the French Paris, or the German rot
ɣāb غاب (be absent)
x خ [x] as in the German doch, Spanish rojo, or Scottish loch
xad خد (take)
q ق [q] like k but further back, almost in the throat, with the tongue touching the uvula
qād قاد (lead)
ɧ ح [ħ] like a strong, breathy h, as if you were trying to fog up a window
ɧáfar حفر (dig)
a voiced glottal stop, as if you had [ʕ] ع 3opened your mouth under water and constricted your throat to prevent choking and then released the constriction with a sigh
3írif عرف (know)
ʔ ء ق [ʔ] an unvoiced glottal stop, as [ʕ] above, but with a wispy, unvoiced sigh; or more simply put, like the con-striction separating the vowels in uh-oh
ʔíbil قبل (accept)
ʔá3lan أعلن (announce)
The following sounds also have no equivalent in English but are emphatic versions of otherwise familiar sounds. An emphatic consonant is produced by pulling the tongue back toward the pharynx (throat), spreading the sides of the tongue wide as if you wanted to bite down on both sides of your tongue, and producing a good puff of air from the lungs. ɖ ض [dˁ] emphatic d ɖárab رضب (hit)
ʂ ص [sˁ] emphatic s ʂamm صم (memorize)
ʈ ط [tˁ] emphatic t ʈáwa طوى (fold)
ʐ ظ [zˁ] emphatic z ʐann ظن (believe)
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Vowels examples a ـ [æ] normally as in cat (but with the
jaw not quite as lowered as in English); [a] as in stock when in the same syllable with ɧ or 3 (with the tongue lower than [æ]); usually [ɑ] as in father (but shorter) when in the same word as q, ɖ, ʂ, ʈ, ʐ, or, in most cases, r
kátab كتب (write)
ɧámla حامىل (I will fill)
mabá3š باعشم (he didn’t sell)
ɖárab رضب (hit)
ɣáʂab غصب (force)
ā ـ ا [æ:] / [a:] / [ɑ:] as with a above but longer
nām نام (sleep)
gā3 جاع (get hungry)
qād قاد (lead)
ē ـ ي [e:] as in play (but without the glide to [j])
malēt مليت (I filled)
ə [ə] as in ticket. In ECA, ə is inserted to avoid three adjacent consonants.
kúntə hína كنت هنا (I was here)
i ـ [ɪ] as in kid; [ɛ] as in bed when in the same syllable with ɧ or 3; when in the same word as q, ɖ, ʂ, ʈ, or ʐ, [ɨ] with the tongue pulled back a bit
3ílim علم (know)
biyíɧsib بيحسب (he calculates)
itʐāhir اتظاهر (protest)
ī ـ ي [i:] as in ski; [ɛ:] and [ɨ:] as with i above (but longer)
biygīb بيجيب (he brings)
biybī3 بيبيع (he sells)
3āqib عاقب (punish)
o ـ [o] as in know (but shorter and without the glide to [w])
torēn يْنت ْور (two bulls)
ō ـ و [o:] as with o above but longer nōm ن ْوم (sleep)
u ـ [ʊ] as in book; [o] as in know (but shorter and without the glide to [w]) when in the same syllable with ɧ or 3
yúʈlub يطلب (he orders)
inbā3u انباعوا (they sold)
ū ـ و [u:] as in moon; [o:] as in know (but without the glide to [w]) when in the same syllable with ɧ or 3
bitšūf بتشوف (you see)
manba3ūš انباعوشم (they didn’t
sell)
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1 Life and Death
life ɧaya حياة
to live 3āš [1h2] عاش
I live in Egypt, the mother of the world.
ana 3āyiš fi maȿr, umm iddunya.
ام عايش يف مرص انا
.الدنيا
Long live the king! yi3īš ilmalik !يعيش امللك
alive bi-lɧaya
3āyiš
بالحياة
عايش
to give birth to wilid [1s5] ولد
to be born itwalad [7s1] اتولد
birth wilāda والدة
newborn mawlūd (mawalīd) )مولود )موليد
baby
nūnu (nunuhāt)
bībi (bibihāt)
3ayyil ȿuɣayyar (3iyāl ȿuɣār)
نونو )نونوهات(
بيبي )بيبيهات(
عيل صغري )عيال صغار(
infant (who is still being breastfed).
raɖī3 (ruɖɖa3) )رضيع )رضع
to be breastfed, suckle riɖi3 [1s4] رضع
to breastfeed raɖɖa3 [2s2] رضع
toddler ʈiflə ȿ(u)ɣayyar (aʈfāl
ȿuɣār)
)اطفال صغري طفل
صغار(
diaper (UK: nappy) ɧafāɖa حفاضة
child (0-17 years old) 3ayyil (3iyāl)
ʈifl (aʈfāl)
عيل )عيال(
طفل )اطفال(
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well-behaved mitrabbi
muʔaddab
مرتيب
مؤدب
naughty, mischievous šaʔi (ašʔiya) اشقيا( شقي(
childish, immature 3ayyil (fi taȿarrufātu) (يف ترصفاته)عيل
mature(-acting) sābiʔ sinnu سابق سنه The second words listed below for ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ may be considered
disparaging in many contexts. You are advised only to use the first (standard) words.
boy walad, wād (awlād,
wilād) )اوالد، والد( ولد، واد
girl bint [f.], bitt [f.] (banāt) )بنت، بت )بنات
adolescent, teenager murāhiq مراهق
to grow up, get older kibir [1s4] كرب
person šaxȿ (ašxāȿ) )شخص )اشخاص
people nās [f. or pl.] ناس
young man šabb (šubbān) )شاب )شبان
young woman šabba شابة
man rāgil (rigāla) )راجل )رجالة
woman sitt [f.] ست
adult bāliɣ بالغ
adults, grown-ups kubār [pl.] كبار
young people, youth šabāb [coll.] شباب
young ȿuɣayyar (ȿuɣār) )صغري )صغار There is no common equivalent in Arabic for ‘middle-aged’. Instead, a more
precise description, such as ‘in one’s forties/fifties/sixties’ can be used.
in one’s fifties, middle-aged
fi -lxamsiniyāt (min il3umr)
من ) اتييف الخمسين
ر(العم
old kibīr (kubār) fi -ssinn
3agūz (3awagīz)
السنكبري )كبار( يف
(عواجيزعجوز )
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old man rāgil 3agūz
rāgil kibīr
راجل عجوز
راجل كبري
old woman sittə 3agūza
sittə k(i)bīra
ست عجوزة
ست كبرية
to age, grow old 3aggiz [2s1] عجز
Everyone gets old. kull innās bit3aggiz. كل الناس بتعجز.
childhood ʈufūla طفولة
in one’s childhood fi ʈ(u)fultu طفولتهيف
adolescence murahaqa مراهقة
youth šabāb شباب
in one’s youth fi šabābu يف شبابه
old age sinnə k(i)bīr سن كبري
birthday 3īd milād عيد ميالد
Happy Birthday! kullə sana wi -nta ʈayyib!
(lit. May you be well every year!)
!كل سنة و انت طيب
Thank you! (response to ‘Happy Birthday!’
wi -nta ʈayyib! (lit. ‘May you too be well!’)
و انت طيب!
Happy birthday and may you have many more!, … and many happy returns!
kullə sana wi -nta ʈayyib wi 3uʔbāl mīt sana ʔin šāʔ aLLāh! (lit. … and the same for 100 years, God willing!)
و كل سنة و انت طيب
سنة ان شاء ميةعقبال
!هللا
When is your birthday? imta 3īd milādak? ميالدك؟ عيد امتى
My birthday is in May. 3īd milādi f māyu. عيد ميالدي يف مايو.
age, life span 3umr (a3mār) )عمر )اعامر
all one’s life ʈūl 3umru طول عمره
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year sana (sinīn) )سنة )سنني
How old are you? 3andak kam sana? عندك كام سنة؟
I’m 20 years old. 3andi 3ašrīn sana. عندي عرشين سنة.
to turn __ years old tamm [1g3] __ sana تم __ سنة
He’s turning ten years old next week.
haytimmə 3ašar sinīn ilisbū3 ilgayy.
هيتم عرش سنني االسبوع
جاي.ال
I turned thirty last month.
tammēt talatīn sana -ššahr illi fāt.
متيت تالتني سنة الشهر
اليل فات.
a ten-year-old boy/child walad/wād/3ayyil/ʈiflə
3andu 3ašar sinīn
ولد/واد/عيل/طفل عنده
عرش سنني
a fifty-year-old woman sittə 3andaha xamsīn
sana سنة خمسنيست عندها
When were you born? itwaladtə ʔimta? اتولدت امتى؟ What year were you
born? itwaladtə sanit kām? ؟اتولدت سنة كام
I was born in 1980. itwaladtə sanit alfə tus3u
miyya w tamanīn.
الف تسع مية اتولدت سنة
.و متانني
death mōt موت
to die māt [1h1] مات
dead mayyit (amwāt) )ميت )اموات
death, passing wafāh (wafiyāt) )وفاة )وفيات
to pass away itwaffa [5d] اتوىف
deceased mutawaffi متويف
corpse, body gussa (gusas) )جثة )جثث
funeral ganāza جنازة
to bury dafan [1s2] دفن
to be buried itdafan [7s1] اتدفن
burial dafna دفنة
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coffin tabūt (tawabīt) )تابوت )توابيت
cemetary madfan (madāfin)
maqbara (maqābir)
مدفن )مدافن(
مقربة )مقابر(
grave qabr (qubūr) )قرب )قبور
gravestone, headstone šāhid (šawāhid) qabr شاهد )شواهد( قرب
to mourn ɧizin [1s4] حزن
mourning ɧuzn حزن
period of mourning muddit ɧuzn مدة حزن
to cremate ɧaraʔ [1s1] gussitu حرق جثته
cremation ɧaraʔ حرق
2 Family
(extended) family 3ēla عايلة
(immediate) family usra (usar) )ارسة )ارس
relative ʔarīb (ʔarāyib) )قريب )قرايب
I have some relatives that live in New York.
ana 3andi ʔarāyib 3āyšīn fi nyuyork.
انا عندي قرايب عايشني
.يف نيويورك
to be related to yiʔrab [1s4] li- لـ يقرب
Are you two related? huwwa -ntu ilitnēn
tiʔrabu l-ba3ɖ?
هو انتو االتنني تقربوا
لبعض؟
I’m not related to him. ana maʔrablūš. مقربلوشانا.
father abb (abbahāt)
wālid
اب )ابهات(
والد
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mother umm [f.] (ummahāt)
wālida
ام )امهات(
والدة
When in a possessive construction, اب abb becomes ابو abū-. But umm is
unchanged.
my mother and father ummi w abūya اابوي و امي
dad bāba [m.] بابا
mom (UK: mum) māma [f.] ماما
my mom and dad mamti wi babāya بابايا و مامتي
Hi, Dad! izzayyak ya bāba!
izzayyak ya ʔabi!
ازيك يا بابا!
ازيك يا ايب!
Where are you, Mom? fēnik ya māma?
fēnik ya ʔummi?
فينك يا ماما؟
فينك يا امي؟
parents ahl اهل
son, (male) child ibn (wilād, awlād) والد، اوالد( ابن(
daughter, (female) child bint [f.] (banāt) بنات( بنت( Do you have any
children? 3andak awlād? عندك اوالد؟
How many children do you have?
3andak kam walad? د؟كام ولعندك
to have (a child) xallif [1s1] خلف
They had triplets. xallifu talat tawāʔim. توائم خلفوا تالت.
siblings ixwāt [pl.] اخوات
brother axx (ixwāt wilād) )اخ )اخوات والد
When in a possessive construction, اخ axx becomes اخو axū-.
My brother and my friend’s brother came with me.
axūya w axū ȿaɧbi gum ma3āya.
اخويا و اخو صاحبي
.معايا جم
sister uxt [f.] (ixwāt banāt) اخوات بنات( اخت(
older brother axxə k(i)bīr اخ كبري
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younger sister uxtə ȿuɣayyara ةاخت صغري Do you have any
brothers or sisters? 3andak ixwāt? عندك اخوات؟
I have two older sisters and one younger brother.
3andi ʔuxtēn akbar minni wi ʔaxxe ʔaȿɣar minni.
خا كرب مني واختني اعندي
.صغر منياI’m the youngest in my
family. ana ʔaȿɣar fardə fi-lusra. رسةاال صغر فرد يفاا ان.
I’m the middle child/son. ana -laxx ilawsaʈ. انا االخ االوسط.
I’m an only child. ma-3andīš ixwāt. (lit. I
don’t have siblings.) .عنديش اخواتم
twin tawʔam (tawāʔim) )توأم )توائم
,tawʔam can refer to siblings in a multiple birth of any number (triplets توأم
quadruplets, etc.)
Are you two twins? huwwa -ntu -litnēn
tawʔam? م؟وأ هو انتو االتنني ت
I have a twin brother. 3andi ʔaxxə tawʔam. خ توأما دي عن.
half-brother axxə min abb
axxə min umm
اخ من اب
اخ من ام
half-sister uxtə min abb
uxtə min umm
من اب تاخ
من ام تاخ
He’s my half-brother. huwwa (a)xūya min
abūya. هو اخويا من ابويا.
husband gōz (agwāz)
zōg (azwāg)
جوز )اجواز(
زوج )ازواج(
wife zawga (zawgāt) )زوجة )زوجات
__’s wife mirāt- __ [f.]
issittə btā3it __ [f.]
مرات __
الست بتاعة __
His wife came with him. mirātu gat ma3ā.
issittə bta3tu gat ma3ā.
.مراته جت معاه
الست بتاعته جت معاه.
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8 | Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Vocabulary © Lingualism.com
Rather than using a single term meaning ‘step-‘ in Arabic, relationships are described.
stepfather gōz umm (lit. mother’s
husband) جوز ام
stepmother mirāt abb (lit. father’s
wife) مرات اب
stepbrother
ibnə gōz umm (lit. mother’s husband’s son)
ibnə mrāt abb (lit. father’s wife’s son)
ابن جوز ام
ابن مرات اب
stepsister
bintə gōz umm (lit. mother’s husband’s daughter)
bintə mrāt abb (lit. father’s wife’s daughter)
بنت جوز ام
بنت مرات اب
stepson
ibnə gōz (lit. husband’s son)
ibnə mrāt- (lit. wife’s son)
ابن جوز
ابن مرات
stepdaughter
bintə gōz (lit. husband’s daughter)
bintə mrāt- (lit. husband’s daughter)
بنت جوز
بنت مرات
grandfather gidd (gudūd) )جد )جدود
grandmother gidda جدة
my grandparents giddi wi gidditi و جديت يجد
grandpa giddu جدو
grandma tēta تيتة
great-grandfather abū gidd ابو جد
grandson ɧafīd (aɧfād) )حفيد )احفاد
granddaughter ɧafīda حفيدة
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9 | Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Vocabulary © Lingualism.com
grandchildren aɧfād [pl.] احفاد
uncle (father’s brother) 3amm (a3mām, 3imām) اعامم، عامم( عم( aunt (father’s brother’s
wife) mirāt 3amm مرات عم
aunt (father’s sister) 3amma عمة uncle (father’s sister’s
husband) gōz 3amma جوز عمة
uncle (mother’s brother) xāl (axwāl) اخوال( خال( aunt (mother’s brother’s
wife) mirāt xāl مرات خال
aunt (mother’s sister) xāla خالة uncle (mother’s sister’s
husband) gōz xāla جوز خالة
cousin (father’s brother’s
son) ibnə 3amm ابن عم
cousin (father’s brother’s daughter)
bintə 3amm بنت عم
cousin (father’s sister’s son)
ibnə 3amma ابن عمة
cousin (father’s sister’s daughter)
bintə 3amma بنت عمة
cousin (mother’s brother’s son)
ibnə xāl ابن خال
cousin (mother’s brother’s daughter)
bintə xāl بنت خال
cousin (mother’s sister’s son)
ibnə xāla ابن خالة
cousin (mother’s sister’s daughter)
bintə xāla بنت خالة
We’re cousins. iɧna wilād 3amm. احنا والد عم. The above example refers to two or more men/boys whose fathers are
brothers.
orphan yatīm (aytām) ايتام( يتيم(
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10 | Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Vocabulary © Lingualism.com
orphanage malgaʔ (malāgiʔ) aytām ملجأ )مالجئ( ايتام
to adopt itbanna اتبنى
adoption tabanni تبني
to be adopted ɧad itbannā [5d] (lit.
someone adopted him) حد اتبناه
I was adopted. ana mutabanni. يانا متبن.
an adopted son ibnə bi-ttabanni ابن بالتبني
adoptive parents ahlə bi-ttabanni هل بالتبنيا
birth parents walidēn [dual] والدين
ancestors, forefathers agdād [pl.] اجداد
descendents aɧfād [pl.] احفاد
3 Love, Marriage, and Sex
to love, be in love ɧabb [1g3] حب
love ɧubb حب
I love you! baɧibbak! !بحبك
darling ɧabīb حبيب
romance romansiyya رومانسية
to love passionately 3išiʔ [1s4] عشق
passion 3ašʔ عشق
lover 3āšiʔ (3uššāʔ) )عاشق )عشاق
date (romantic) mi3ād (mawa3īd) )ميعاد )مواعيد
to go on a date with __ xarag [1s3] ma3a __ fi
mi3ād خرج مع __ يف ميعاد
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263 | Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Vocabulary © Lingualism.com
Index
Numbers reference the section(s) in which a word or phrase appears.
a few 48 a lot of 48 abandon 56 abdomen 5 able to 56 ablution 37 abortion 11 about 53 above 55 abroad 24, 53 absent-minded 57 Abu Khaled 4 Abu Simbel 40 academy 10 accelerate 13 accelerator (UK) 13 accent 38 accept 56 accompany 56 accomplish 56 account 16 accountant 9 accusation 26 accuse, accused of
26 acne 5 acrobat 21 across from 55 act 21 action movie 21 actor 9, 21 adapter 7 add (up) 49 additional 57 address 17 adhesive tape 18 adjective 38 adjust 23, 56 administration 28 admire 34 admit 56
adolescence 1 adolescent 1 adopt(ed) 2 adoption 2 adoptive 2 adult 1 advanced 38 adverb 38 advertisement 19 advise 56 aerobics 23 affect 56 affix 17 Afghanistan 39 afraid 32 Africa 42 after 54 afternoon prayer 37 again 53 Agami 40 age (era) 50 age 1 Agouza 41 agree with 35 agreement 35 agriculture 29 Ahmed Orabi Street
41 AIDS 11 air 42 air force 30 air-conditioned 24 air-conditioner 7 airfare 24 airmail 17 airplane 24 airport 24 aisle 21 aisle seat 24 alarm clock 7 Al-Azhar 41
alcohol 8 Alexandria 40 Algeria 39 alias 4 alive 1 all 48 all day 50 Allah 37 alley 14 allow 56 Al-Mahalla Al-Kubra
40 almond 8 almost 53 alone 53 along 55 alphabet 38 already 53 also 53 altar 37 always 53 American 39 ancestors 2 ancient 57 and 54 angel 37 angry 32 animal 44 aniseed 8 ankle 5 anniversary 3 annoy(ed/ing) 32 answer 10, 56 answer the phone
12 ant 44 antenna (insect) 44 antenna (TV) 21 antibiotics 11 antler 44 anus 5
anyone 51 anything 51 anytime 53 anywhere 53 apartment 7 apartment building
15 apologize 56 app 12 appear 56 applaud, applause
21 apple 8 applicant 9 apply for 9 appointment 11, 28 appreciate 56 approve 56 apricot 8 April 50 Arab 39 Arab World 39 Arabic 38 Arabic classical
music 22 architect 4, 9 arctic 42 Argentina 39 argue 35 arid 43 arithmetic 49 arm 5 armchair 7 armpit 5 army 30 around 50, 53, 55 arrange 56 arranged marriage
3 arrest 26 arrival 24
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