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6 Key Patterns for Forming Adjectives in Egyptian Arabic
This article explains the basics of forming adjectives in Egyptian Arabic. It covers special cases like diminutive forms, adjectives derived from prepositions and places, and the common -aan pattern.
Adjectives in Egyptian Arabic have distinct features compared to Modern Standard Arabic.
This article focuses on the fundamental aspects of forming adjectives, covering various patterns, including seemingly diminutive forms, those derived from prepositions, and common irregular constructions.
An adjective (صِفةٌ) is a word that describes another word. Adjectives are masculine and feminine and take the singular and plural form – because they grammatically need to agree with the word they describe.
Small, short, thin: diminutive in form – but not in meaning
In Modern Standard Arabic, the word for small is صَغِيرٌ. In Egyptian Arabic, however, you don’t say Sagheer. You say Sughayyar. Why on earth is that?
This has to do with one of the distinctive features of Egyptian Arabic! The pattern that is used for certain adjectives is actually a diminutive form, for example, the word Sughayyar. A diminutive is a word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its core meaning, to convey the smallness of the object. For example: a book (كِتاب) – a booklet (كُتَيِّب).
That is weird because Egyptian Arabic is famous for speeding up Arabic and getting rid of everything that would lengthen speech acoustically.
What is crucial here: These words are diminutive in FORM – but not in MEANING! In fact, you don’t have any other option but to use the diminutive form if you want to express words such as small, short, or thin.
Some examples.
| translation | singular | pronunciation | plural | pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| small | صُغَيَّر | sughayyar | صُغَيَّرِين | Sughayyareen |
| near | قُرَيِّب | ‘urayyib min | قُرَيِّبِين | ‘urayyibeen |
| short | قُصّيَّر | ‘uSayyar | قُصَيَّرِين | ‘usayyareen |
| few | قُلَيِّل | ‘ulayyil | قُلَيِّلِين | ‘ulayyileen |
| thin | رُفَيَّع | rufayya3 | رُفَيَّعِين | rufayya3een |
Adjectives formed from prepositions
This blended form is typical for Arabic dialects. You use a preposition and add -aani: انِي
Some examples.
| translation | masculine | pronunciation | feminine | plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| upper | فُقانِي | fu’aani | fu’aaniyya | فُقانِيِين |
| lower | تَحْتاانِي | ta7taani | ta7taaniyya | تَحْتلنِيِين |
| front | قُدّامانِي | ‘uddamaani | ‘uddamaaniyya | قُدامانِيِين |
| back | وَرّانِي | warraani | warraaaniyya | وَرّانِيِين |
Irregular forms. When و comes into the game.
When you have a weak letter حَرْف الْعِلّةِ) in the root in the third (last) place, then usually the letter و pops up.
The same is true for words which have only two root letters, for example, the Arabic word for hand: يَد
Some examples.
| translation | masculine | pronunciation | feminine | pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| secondary | ثانَوِي | sanawi | ثانَوِيّة | sanawiyya |
| yearly | سَنَوِي | sanawi | سَنَوِيّة | sanawiyya |
| linguistic | لُغَوِي | lughawi | لُغَوِيّة | lughawiyya |
| manual | يَدَوِي | yadawi | يَدَوِيّة | yadawiyya |
Adjectives derived from places: اوِي
Usually Arabic students in Egypt are asked if they like soccer, in particular, if their favorite team is Ahli or Zamalek. In Arabic, the question is often: inta ahlaawi?
Grammatically speaking, we need to deal here with a Nisba adjective (نِسْبة): an adjective usually derived from place names.
In Modern Standard Arabic, you simply use the doubled letter ي resulting in مِصْرِيٌّ for Egyptian. In Egyptian Arabic, however, you oftentimes use the ending اوي instead.
Some examples.
| translation | masculine | pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Egyptian | مَصْراوِي | maSraawi |
| from Tanta | طَنْطاوِي | TanTaawi |
| people living in the desert | صَحْراوِي | Sa7raawi |
| Ahli fan | اَهْلاوِي | ahlaawi |
| Zamalek fan | زَمالِكاوِي | zamalkaawi |
The feminine form is formed by adding ة resulting in maSraawiyya (مَصْراوِيّة). The plural by adding ين resulting in Masrawiyyeen (مَصْراوِيِين).
There are some exceptions. Furthermore, sometimes the regular Nisba (نسبة) is used. For example, from Assiout: asyuuTi (اَسْيُوطِي) or Alexandrian: iskandaraani (اِسْكِنْدَرانِي)
Adjectives that never change: invariable adjectives
How do you say traditional dish?
Well, if we use the word أَكْلة for dish and بَلَدِي for traditional, do we need the feminine form of بَلَدِي then? No, we don’t!
This is because the word بَلَدِي is cemented and usually stays the same. In other words, you won’t have any agreement.
| traditional dish | أَكْلة بَلَدِي | akla baladi |
| bellay dancer | رَقّاصة بَلَدِي | ra”aaSa baladi |
| title of a famous movie | سَلَطَة بَلَدِي | SalaTa baladi |
The same is true for adjectives that were derived from place names. You often just use the masculine form although you would actually need the feminine form according to the rules.
A good example is Turkish coffee. The word coffee is feminine in Arabic; nevertheless, you use the masculine form of Turkish.
| Turkish coffee | ‘ahwa turki | قَهْوة تُرْكِي |
| elementary school | madrasa ebtidaa’i | مَدْرَسة اِبْتِدائِي |
| secondary school | madrasa sanawi | مَدْرَسة ثانَوِي |
| Arabic films | aflaam 3arabi | أَفْلام عَرَبِي |
| A German car | 3arabiyya almaani | عَرَبِيّة أَلْمانِي |
Adjectives ending in -aan: ان
You should definitely take a look at this pattern as it is very common in Egyptian Arabic. Many adjectives in Egyptian Arabic are formed by using the root (form I verb) and add the ending –aan: ان. They usually form the plural by using the ending –een: ين
Some examples and a short vocabulary list:
| translation | singular | pronunciation | plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| hungry | جَعان | ga3aan | جَعانِين |
| thirsty | عَطشان | 3aTshaan | عَطْشانِين |
| angry | غَضْبان | 3′aDbaan | غَضْبانِين |
| lazy | كَسْلان | kaslaan | كَسْلانِين |
| tired | تَعْبان | ta3baan | تَعْبانِين |
How to Form Plural Adjectives in Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic adjective plurals can be tricky. We analyze common patterns and show examples for both human and non-human nouns.
Other interesting articles about Egyptian Arabic and dialects:
- The Ultimate Guide to Arabic Dialect Dictionaries (Online & Print)
- Egyptian Arabic Slang: Youth Language and New Words from Social Media
- How to Find Arabic Videos with Subtitles on YouTube
- How to Say ‘Next’ and ‘Last’ in Egyptian Arabic
- How to Form Plural Adjectives in Egyptian Arabic
Wanna cite this article?
Drißner, G. (2020, March 10). 6 Key Patterns for Forming Adjectives in Egyptian Arabic. Arabic for Nerds. https://arabic-for-nerds.com/dialects/egyptian-arabic/tricky-things-about-the-adjective-in-egyptian-arabic/
Published: March 10, 2020
Please check the citation before use, especially if your style guide has local requirements.
Publication ISSN: 3055-1730
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That’s the first time I’m realizing that Egyptian Arabic makes use of many diminutive adjectives although I hear it around me all the time! Thank you for sharing this.
You mixed up the latin transcript of front and back. Thanks for the interesting stuff.
Many thanks! I have corrected it.