Essential Egyptian Arabic phrases: next and last

In Egyptian Arabic, knowing important phrases can improve communication.

This article explores two keywords – next and last – and how they are used in daily conversations.

Let us start with the Arabic word for “next”.

The word “next”

“Next” expressed by the word for “second”

We use an ordinal number here to express next. It is the word second: تانِي

Some examples:

the second year = the next year

the second time = the next time

the second day = the next day

Using an active participle

This is very common. You use the Arabic verb to come (جاء) and build the active participle (اِسْم الْفاعِل). And you need to pay attention to the gender and number.

Furthermore, you first need to add the definite article to the active participle and then harmonize the gender with the preceding noun.

Some examples.

Now, what about the word last? It is quite similar. Let’s see…

The word “last”

Option A: using a إضلفة-construction

Using aa5ir (آخِر )

You use the word aa5ir (آخِر ) and put it before the noun. In this application, you produce an إِضافة. You do not need to harmonize the gender or number. It is always آخِر.

Watch out: Although you want to express a definite construction (e.g. the last time), you don’t use the definite article in the second part of the construction.

Option B: using an adjective

Using a5eer (أَخِير )

This word is placed as an adjective after the noun which means it matches in gender and in number. Let’s see both options in action.

the last day

(the) last time

Using a relative pronoun

You will hear this very often. You use the verb فات after the relative pronoun which literally means: which has passed.

Some examples.

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