Egyptian Negation
Learning the Egyptian Negation is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you master it the more you get closer to mastering the Egyptian language. But first we need to know what the role of Negation is in the structure of the grammar in Egyptian.
Egyptian negation is the process that turns an affirmative statement (I am happy) into its opposite denial (I am not happy).
In Egyptian there are a few words for negation la لا,ma ما and لن lan. Lan is used to negate the future. In Egyptian slang they use the negation ma plus sh ما ش the word being negated put in between, like in French ne – pas (je ne parle pas), for example ma 3araf sh ما عرفش I don’t know, ma 3ali sh معلش , this is a very common phrase meaning It doesn't matter. Here are some examples:
| English Negation | Egyptian Negation |
| Negation | |
| he is not here | ho mesh hena - هو مش هنا |
| that is not my book | da mesh ketabi - دا مش كتابي |
| do not enter | metedekhelesh - متدخلش |
As you can see from the example above, the structure of the Negation in Egyptian has a logical pattern. Locate the Negation above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in Egyptian.
List of Negation in Egyptian
Below is a list of the Negation and negative expressions in Egyptian placed in a table. Memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your Egyptian vocabulary.
| English Negation | Egyptian Negation |
| I don't speak | ana mabetekelemesh - أنا مابتكلمش |
| I don't write | ana mabeketebesh - أنا مابكتبش |
| I don't drive | ana mabeso2esh - أنا مابسوقش |
| I don't love | ana mabe7ebesh - أنا مابحبش |
| I don't give | ana mabedish - أنا مابديش |
| I don't smile | ana mebebetesemesh - أنا مببتسمش |
| I don't take | ana mabekhedesh - أنا مابخدش |
| |
| he doesn't speak | ho mebitekelemesh - هو مبيتكلمش |
| he doesn't write | ho mabiketebesh - هو مابيكتبش |
| he doesn't drive | ho mabiso2esh - هو مابيسوقش |
| he doesn't love | ho mabi7ebesh - هو مابيحبش |
| he doesn't give | ho mabidish - هو مابيديش |
| he doesn't smile | ho mabibetesemesh - هو مابيبتسمش |
| he doesn't take | ho mabyakhedesh - هو مابياخدش |
| |
| we don't speak | a7ena mabenetekelemesh - احنا مابنتكلمش |
| we don't write | a7ena mabeneketebesh - احنا مابنكتبش |
| we don't drive | a7ena mabeneso2esh - احنا مابنسوقش |
| we don't love | a7ena mabene7ebesh - احنا مابنحبش |
| we don't give | a7ena mabenedish - احنا مابنديش |
| we don't smile | a7ena mabenebetesemesh - احنا مابنبتسمش |
| we don't take | a7ena ma benakhedesh - احنا ما بناخدش |
Negation and negative expressions have a very important role in Egyptian, therefore they need very special attention. Once you're done with Egyptian Negation, you might want to check the rest of our Egyptian lessons here: Learn Egyptian. Don't forget to bookmark this page.