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Decoding filler expressions in Egyptian Arabic

Fillers make Egyptian Arabic difficult for learners: bass, ya’ny, ba’a – words that don’t really change the meaning of the sentence. Here is a list.

Last updated: 2 months

Let’s check some of the most annoying expressions in for beginners because they are usually left untranslated.

Sometimes when I need to do something else for a little while, I watch Egyptian television, Egyptian discussions, movies, or even TV series (ู…ูุณูŽู„ู’ุณูŽู„ุงุช).

However, instead of getting some creative distraction, my brain usually gets overloaded because I encounter dozens of expressions that I unwillingly pay attention to resulting in getting lost in translation.

For this reason, I started to collect expressions in Egyptian Arabic.

What are filler expressions?

These little words don’t really change the meaning of the sentence if you simply disregard them โ€“ which is what I would recommend for beginners. Linguists call these words and expressions an expletivefillers. For German speakers: Fรผllwรถrter.

There is no point in translating these expressions literally, especially if your background is Classical or Modern Standard Arabic. In most cases, a filler has a syntactic role only but contributes nothing to meaning. They can also simply “fill” space or time, e.g. in English: so, also, then, hmm, รคhm, okay, …

Let’s look at an example in English:

Arabic is, I mean, like, totally easy to learn, you know?

Now delete I mean + like + totally + you know from the example above, and you will get a sentence that still makes perfectly sense: Arabic is easy to learn.

Please note that although they don’t really transport important information, they do have a function for native speakers. But it takes a long time to get a feeling for these words, to know how and in which situations you could use them.

Three words that are often parts of expressions in Egyptian Arabic

  1. ya3ni/ya’ni (ูŠูŽุนู’ู†ููŠ), literally: he/it means
  2. bass (ุจูŽุณู‘), literally:  just, only, but
  3. ba2a/baqa (ุจูŽู‚ู’ู‰), literally: to become; or as an : already. It can also convey the meaning of: “…why don’t you…”

Let’s dig deeper…

If you hear the following expressions, try to disregard them.

The literal translation won’t help you. Usually, they don’t convey any additional information. For this reason, I do not give a translation. If you progress, you will get a feeling when and use them.

Fillers with “ya3ni” (ูŠูŽุนู’ู†ููŠ)

ya3ni Tab3anูŠูŽุนู’ู†ููŠ ุทูŽุจู’ุนู‹ุง
ya3ni barDoูŠูŽุนู’ู†ููŠ ุจูŽุฑู’ุถูู‡
wallaahi, kamaan da ya3niูˆูŽุงู„ู„ู‘ู‡ูโ€ฆ ูƒูŽู…ุงู† ุฏูŽู‡ ูŠูŽุนู’ู†ููŠ
wakamaan da ba2a ya3niูˆูŽูƒูŽู…ุงู† ุฏู‡ ุจูŽู‚ู’ู‰ ูŠูŽุนู’ู†ูŠ
wana ya3ni-l7a2ii2aูˆูŽุฃูŽู†ุง ูŠูŽุนู’ู†ูŠ ุงู„ุญูŽู‚ููŠู‚ุฉ

Fillers with “bass” (ุจูŽุณู‘)

bassi kamaanุจูŽุณูู‘ ูƒูŽู…ุงู†
la2! bassi biy2ullakู„ุง! ุจูŽุณูู‘ ุจููŠู’ู‚ููˆู„ ู„ูŽูƒ
bassi Tab3anุจูŽุณูู‘ ุทูŽุจู’ุนู‹ุง

But watch out: The word ุจูŽุณู‘ is not always just a filler.

bass! (it can mean: enough!)ุจูŽุณู‘!
bass! (it can also mean: don’t! in the meaning of: stop that!)ุจูŽุณู‘!
wabass! (meaning: just)ูˆูŽุจูŽุณู‘!
2ultilak bassโ€ฆ (meaning: I was just saying…)ู‚ูู„ู’ุช ู„ูŽูƒ ุจูŽุณู‘

Fillers with “ba2a” (ุจูŽู‚ู’ู‰)

waba3deen ba2aูˆูŽุจูŽุนู’ุฏููŠู† ุจูŽู‚ู‰
la da yib2a kamaanู„ุง ุฏู‡ ูŠูุจู’ู‚ูŽู‰ ูƒูŽู…ุงู†

Watch out:

bassi ba2a! (meaning: enough! stop!)ุจูŽุณูู‘ ุจูŽู‚ู‰!
ghour ba2a! (meaning: go to !)ุบููˆุฑ ุจูŽู‚ู‰

Other filler expressions

da, ma huwwaุฏูŽู‡โ€ฆ ู…ุง ู‡ููˆุจูŽู‚ู’ู‰
mainta 3aarif Tab3anู…ุง ุงู†ูู†ู’ุชูŽ ุนุงุฑูู ุทูŽุจู’ุนู‹ุง
wa dah, 3ala fikraโ€ฆูˆูŽุฏูŽู‡โ€ฆ ุนูŽู„ูŽู‰ ูููƒู’ุฑุฉ
Sa7i7 el-kalaam daุตูŽุญููŠุญ ุงู„ูƒูŽู„ุงู… ุฏูŽู‡
Tabb ma dilwa2tiุทูŽุจู‘ ู…ุง ุฏูู„ู’ูˆูŽู‚ู’ุชููŠ
dilwa2ti Tab3anุฏูู„ู’ูˆูŽู‚ู’ุชููŠ ุทูŽุจู’ุนู‹ุง
wallaahi! kamaan da ya3niูˆูŽู„ู„ูŽู‘ู‡ู! ูƒูŽู…ุงู† ุฏู‡ ูŠูŽุนู’ู†ููŠ

If you know more (also from other Arabic dialects), please feel free to let me know – and I will add them.

Wanna continue reading? Here is more about Egyptian Arabic:

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pika
pika
1 year ago

I went to Egypt to learn Egyptian Arabic but it was soooo difficult. My dream is to speak Egyptian Arabic like an Egyptian but idk how to achieve that

ER
ER
7 years ago

My favorite filler: ูƒุฏุง

Can even be combined with other fillers to fill out awkard moments of silence. You mak a statement … nothing happens, like no reaction, because your listeners are unsure how to react, so you say ูƒุฏุง ูŠุนู†ูŠ. Your listeners repond with nodding and exclamations of ุตุญู‘ ูƒุฏุง and the situation is resolved. Akward moment of silence situation resolved!

Egyptian Arabic is a very melodious language (or dialect, not going into that). Fillers also serve a role in maintaining the melody of a replication.

Alif
Alif
7 years ago

egyptian arabic is NOT I repeat NOT arabic – it’s an absolutely rubbish ugly language whereas Arabic is butiful. Remember the Quran is written in the language of the people. Those people did not speak as egyptians do – logically therefore it’s impossible to call egyptian language arabic. you might as well say maltese is maltese arabic.

Abu Mustafa
Abu Mustafa
7 years ago
Reply to  Alif

That’s why it’s called ammiyah. Also it’s taken from Arabic but over time the words get changed to make it easier to say them. In my limited experience Arabs do not speak Fus’ha Arabic

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