Pronouns
Pronouns are short words that are used to replace nouns in spoken English and Arabic. They are used when both the speaker and listener know what noun they represent, for example if the noun has already been used in an earlier sentence. This makes our speech clearer and more concise. In this example, Ahmed and dog are the nouns and He and it are pronouns:
'ahmad Aanduh kalb wa huwwa biyitmashsha maAauh kul yoomaacHmad Aand-uh kalb wa huwwa biyitmashshY maAa[-uh] kul ywmThere are four main groups of pronoun:
- personal pronouns - I, me, mine, he, him, his etc
- demonstrative pronouns - this, that
- indefinite pronouns - somebody, anywhere
- relative pronouns - who, which, that
Personal pronouns
In English, there are four versions of the personal pronoun (he, him, his, himself): in Egyptian, there is an additional version (to him).
| English | Egyptian | Form |
| I, he | huwwahuwwa هـُوَّ | subject |
| me, him | -uh_uh ــُه | object |
| to me, to him | -luh_luh ـلـُه | indirect object |
| mine | milk-imilk_y مـِلكـي | posessive |
| myself, himself | nafsuhnafs-uh نـَفسـُه | reflexive |
In Egyptian, there are separate forms of
Subject pronouns
A subject is the noun that appears before the verb- the person or thing that is doing something.
'ana baahib 'aktibaacnaa baaHib aacktibThe subject pronouns are:
| English | Egyptian |
| I | 'anaaacnaa أناَ |
| we | 'ihnaiicHnaa إحناَ |
| you(m) | 'intaiicnta إنتَ |
| you(f) | 'intiiicnti إنتِ |
| you(pl) | 'intuiicntoo إنتوا |
| he/it(m) | huwwahuwwa هـُوَّ |
| she/it(f) | hiyahiya هـِيَ |
| they | hummahumma هـُمَّ |
Personal pronouns are not needed with perfect and x-imperfect verbs, as it is clear from the verb, but it is common to use them, especially for emphasis. They are often used with participles to make it clearer who is the subject.
Pronoun suffixes
You can attach a pronoun as a suffix to a verb, preposition or conjunction. It is normally an object pronoun (me, him) when attached to a verb and a subject pronoun (I, he) when attached to a preposition or conjunction.
| Element | English | Egyptian |
| verb object | I love her | 'ana baahibbahaaacnaa baaHibbaha أنا َ با َحـِبّ َهـَ |
| preposition subject | Do you have a lighter? | maAakwalaeAa?maAakwalaeAao? مـَع َكو َلا َعـَة؟ |
| conjunction subject | I think that you are wrong | 'ana 'aftikir 'innak Galtanaacnaa aacftikir iicnn-ak GaltaaN أنا َ أفتـِكـِر إنّ َك غـَلتاً |
The pronoun suffixes are:
| English | Suffix |
| me | -i_i ـِ |
| us | -na_na ـنَ |
| You(m) | -ak_ak ــَك |
| You(f) | -ik_ik ــِك |
| You(pl) | -kum_kum ـكـُم |
| Him/it(m) | -u_u ـُ |
| Her/it(f) | -ha_haa ـهاَ |
| Them | -hum_hum ـهـُم |
Possessive pronoun
Words like mine and hers are possessive pronouns: they are used on their own to represent something that you own. They are similar to possessive determiners, which are used together with the noun they represent, for example my book. In Egyptian arabic, the equivalent of a possessive pronoun is formed by adding a possessive suffix to the owning-word milkmilk مـِلك.
ilbiyt dah milkiiil-biyt dah milk-yReflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, himself)
Reflexive pronouns can be used after a noun or a verb. They are formed by adding a possessive suffix to the self-word nafsnafs نـَفس.
| English | Egyptian |
| I can look after myself | haaKud baali min nafsihaaKud baaly min nafs-y ها َخـُد با َلي مـِن نـَفسي |
| The man himself | ilraagil nafsuhiil-raagil nafs-uh ا ِلرا َجـِل نـَفسـُه |
| He did it by himself | huwwa Aaamalha binafsuhhuwwa Aaamal-ha bi-nafs-uh هـُوّ َ عا َمـَله َ بـِنـَفسـُه |
Demonstrative pronouns
These are the words that you use when you want to point at something.
| English | Egyptian |
| this (man) | dahdah د َه |
| this (woman, thing) | didy دي |
| those (men) | dooldwl دول |
| those (women,things) | deehdyh ديه |
If you want to use one of these together with a noun, rather than to replace the noun, for example this book, you would use a demonstrative determiner in English and a demonstrative adjective in Egyptian.
| Element | English | Egyptian |
| noun | how much is the book? | bikaam ilkitaab?bi-kaam iil-kitaab? بـِكا َم ا ِلكـِتا َب؟ |
| pronoun | how much is this? | bikaam dah?bi-kaam dah? بـِكا َم د َه؟ |
| adjective | how much is this book? | bikaam ilkitaab dahbi-kaam iil-kitaab dah بـِكا َم ا ِلكـِتا َب د َه |
Indefinite pronouns
These are words like anybody, something etc. In Egyptian, these are made up of two words, but they are used in exactly the same way as in English.
| English | Egyptian |
| somebody | haddHadd حـَدّ |
| anybody | 'ai haddaacy Hadd أي حـَدّ |
| nobody | wala haddwalaa Hadd و َلا َ حـَدّ |
| something | haagaHaagao حا َجـَة |
| anything | 'ai haagaaacy Haagao أي حا َجـَة |
| nothing | wala haagawalaa Haagao و َلا َ حا َجـَة |
| somewhere | makaanmakaan مـَكا َن |
| anywhere | 'ai makaanaacy makaan أي مـَكا َن |
| nowhere | wala makaanwalaa makaan و َلا َ مـَكا َن |
Relative pronoun
A relative pronoun forms a relative clause, which describes a noun in the main clause. The relative pronoun represents that noun within the relative clause. In this example, the who-clause describes man in the first clause and who replaces he in the second clause:
In English, there are three different relative pronouns, some of which have subject, object and possessive forms:
| Subject | Object | Possessive |
| who | whom | whose |
| which | which | whose |
| that | that |
The relative pronoun illiiil-ly ا ِلّي is used to represent that, who and which
Kushsh ilyimeen illi gayiKushsh iil-yimyn iil-ly gayy'ana Aaerif ilraagil illi saakin hinaaacnaa Aaerif iil-raagil iil-ly saakin hinaaAaarif raagil illi huwwa biytuh kibeerAaarif raagil iil-ly huwwa biyt-uh kibyrNote that illiiil-ly ا ِلّي is not used for whom:
'ana Aaarif raagil yimkin tuthu'' feehaacnaa Aaarif raagil yimkin tuthuqq fyhNote that, in English, that can also be a demonstrative pronoun, a demonstrative determiner or a conjunction.