A study: “What” in Egyptian Arabic

In this article we are going to examine the use of the word “What” in Egyptian Arabic. (To read the counterpart article on “What” in Tunisian Arabic (to see similarities and contrasts) reference the IBL article A study: “What” in Tunisian Arabic.)

In Egyptian Arabic, “What” is Eh? / ايه؟.

IBL Contributor, Samar A., pronounces Eh?

Perhaps most commonly, you can see Eh show up in the popular Egyptian Arabic greeting: (m) 3aml eh? / عامل ايه؟ (f) 3amla eh? / عاملة ايه؟ which means something akin to, as a greeting, “What are you doing?”

Comparing to Standard Arabic

In Standard Arabic (Fos7a / فصحى), “What” is Ma / ما. So, the word in Egyptian Arabic has deviated substantially from Fos7a.

Gender and units

Unlike some Arabic dialects, like Tunisian Arabic, where the word for What is modified by some speakers based on the gender designation of the noun or units (singular or plural) being referred to, in Egyptian Arabic, this word, Eh? / ايه؟ doesn’t alter regardless of gender or units being described.

For example, in both of these instances, you can see how Eh? is used:

(singular) What is that?

Eh dh? / ايه ده؟

(plural) What are those?

Eh dol? / ايه ده؟

Samar A. pronounces Eh dh? and Eh dol?:

Responding

Eh? is used in response to people too. (E.g., If a child is trying to get a parent’s attention, the parent may say “What is it?” or “What do you want?”) In Egyptian Arabic, a common way to respond to someone trying to get one’s attention (of all ages) is the following, which means “What do you want?” (3ayz/3ayza/3ayzen means “Want”):

(m) 3ayz eh? / عايز ايه؟ (f) 3ayza eh? / عايزة ايه؟ (pl) 3ayzen eh? / ايزين ايه؟

Samar speaks 3ayz eh?, 3ayza eh? & 3ayzen eh?:

Another response-type phrase that uses “What” is “What happened?” — Feh eh? / فيه ايه؟

Samar speaks Feh eh?:

Compounding

Unlike an Arabic dialect like Tunisian Arabic, which commonly compounds its words (as in this example), the word Eh? doesn’t compound.

For instance, in Tunisian Arabic, you can ask the compound word Chesmek? / شاسمك؟ (Which is Chnowa / شنوا (“What”) and esmek / اسمك؟ (“Your name”) combined) for “What is your name?”. In Egyptian Arabic, you would ask, (m) Esmk eh? / اسمك ايه؟ (f) Esmek eh? / اسمك ايه؟. (If you were examining the Arabic script for the two preceding Egyptian phrases, you may have noticed that the spelling in both the masculine and feminine forms are the same. This is because in Egyptian Arabic there are hidden diacritics. (The use of diacritics occur more in Fos7a) So if one were to use the full diacritics, these phrases would be spelled slightly differently. But in conventional Egyptian Arabic, which uses much less diacritics, the words, when spelled using the Arabic script, are the same)

Samar A. speaks Esmk eh? & Esmek eh?:

Omitting Eh?

When translating some English phrases that use “What” into Egyptian Arabic, Eh / ايه doesn’t always show up. For example, in the phrase “That is what I said.” Dh ely ana 2olto. / .ه اللي انا قولته؟ is the translation. (No use of Eh / ايه)

• Dh = “That”
• Ely = “the thing”
• Ana = “I”
• 2olto = “I said”

Additional statements

What follows are some more statements that use Eh? / ايه؟.

What does everyone want to eat tonight?

3ayzen taklo eh enhrda? / عايزين تاكلوا ايه النهاردة؟

What movie do you want to watch?

(m) 3ayz ttfrg 3la film eh? / عايز تتفرج على فيلم ايه؟ (f) 3ayza ttfrgy 3la film eh? / عايزة تتفرجي على فيلم ايه؟

What time do you need to leave for the airport?

This phrase can translate using Eh / ايه as: (m) M7tag w2t 2d eh 3shan tro7 el matar? / محتاج وقت قد ايه عشان تروح المطار؟ (f) M7taga w2t 2d eh 3shan tro7y el matar? / محتاجة وقت قد ايه عشان تروحي المطار؟. But more commonly, Egyptian Arabic speakers would uses the following phrase which uses “When” (Emta / امتى) instead of “What”:

(m) Emta el mfrod tro7 el matar? / امتى المفروض تروح المطار؟ (f) Emta el mfrod tro7y el matar? / امتى المفروض تروحي المطار؟

What time is it?

In this phrase, Eh / ايه isn’t used. El sa3a means “The hour” and kam means “how much?”, in the context of time.

El sa3a kam? / الساعة كام؟

What did you say?

(m) 2olt eh? / قلت ايه؟ (f) 2olty eh? / قلتي ايه؟

In closing

Learning how “What” functions in Egyptian Arabic is a fundamental aspect of learning the Arabic dialect. For other IBL articles on Egyptian Arabic you may enjoy reading How to say “Hello” in Egyptian Arabic (18 ways to say “Hello” with recordings) and how to say “How are you?” in Egyptian Arabic. (1132 words with five ways to say “How are you?” in Egyptian Arabic with recordings)

For a broader catalogue of English to Egyptian Arabic translations you can access the Ithaca Bound Languages catalogue here —  IBL: Egyptian Arabic. (Over 700 pages of content with recordings along with over 3,500 translated statements)

We wish you a marvellous journey!