Possessive Suffixes In Egyptian Arabic

Need to say who owns something?

Good, because today I'm going to explain how possessive suffixes work in Egyptian Arabic.

Learning these suffixes is essential to communicate ownership, and getting them right is a must.

The good news is that they're super easy to learn and follow the same easy-to-spot pattern.

Types of Possessive Suffixes

In Arabic, possession is indicated by adding special suffixes to a noun.

Unlike in English, where we use separate words like "mine," "yours," or "theirs," Arabic uses suffixes attached directly to the noun itself.

Here are the basic possessive suffixes in Egyptian Arabic:

Examples of possessive suffixes

Let’s see how these suffixes work by attaching them to some nouns.

We’ll start with words ending in a single consonant and then move on to those ending in two consonants.

Words ending with a single consonant

When a word ends with just one consonant, the possessive suffixes are attached directly without any modifications.

Let’s use the word kitāb (كتاب), which means “book”:

Another example is the word felōs (فلوس), meaning “money”:

Words ending with two consonants

When the word ends with two consonants, a short vowel is added before those suffixes that don’t start with a vowel.

Let’s take akl (أكل), which means “food”:

Another word that ends with two consonants is dars (درس), which means “lesson”:

Mastering possessive suffixes is a crucial step in becoming proficient in Egyptian Arabic.

By understanding how to apply these suffixes, you will be able to express ownership accurately, whether you’re talking about kitābī (my book) or felōsak (your money).

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