English packages many relations into the verb have: owning a house, carrying a key, having time, and having a coffee set aside for you. Everyday Lebanese usually builds these as possession sentences with a relational word plus a possessor suffix: عندي بيت “I have a house,” معي المفتاح “I have the key with me,” هاي القهوة إلك “this coffee is for you,” هاد الكتاب تبعي “this book is mine.”
There is no present-tense verb meaning have in these core patterns and no word corresponding to English am/is/are. The important choice is the relation: general possession or availability with عند, immediate company with مع, belonging or allocation with لـ, and explicit ownership or association with تبع.
The four-way choice
| Construction | Core question | Typical meaning |
|---|---|---|
| عند + suffix | What does this person have or have access to? | general possession, relationship, appointment, availability |
| مع + suffix | What is with this person now? | carried item, companion, immediately usable resource |
| لـ + suffix | Who is this for or assigned to? | belonging, share, entitlement, intended recipient |
| تبع + noun/suffix | Whose is it? | explicit ownership or association |
عندي شاحن بالسيارة، بس مش معي هون.
ʿinde shāḥen bis-sayyāra, bass mish maʿe hōn.
I have a charger in the car, but I don't have it with me here. (general possession versus immediate availability)
هاي القهوة إلك، وهاد الدفتر تبعي.
hāy el-ʾahwe ilak, w-hād ed-daftar tabaʿe.
This coffee is for you, and this notebook is mine. (allocation versus ownership)
English have does not force one Lebanese choice. The sentence must say what kind of connection holds in the situation.
عند for general possession and availability
Attach a possessor suffix directly to عند. The thing possessed normally follows and is often indefinite because it is being introduced.
| Possessor | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| I | عندي ʿinde | I have |
| you (m./f.) | عندك ʿindak / ʿindik | you have |
| he / she | عنده / عندها ʿindo / ʿinda | he / she has |
| we | عندنا ʿindna | we have |
| you (pl.) | عندكن ʿindkon | you all have |
| they | عندن ʿindon | they have |
عندي موعد مع الحكيم عالخمسة.
ʿinde mawʿed maʿ el-ḥakīm ʿal-khamse.
I have a doctor's appointment at five. (scheduled commitment)
عندها أختين ساكنين ببيروت.
ʿinda okhtēn sāknīn b-Bērūt.
She has two sisters living in Beirut. (family relationship; full human plural agreement)
عندكن مي باردة؟
ʿindkon mayy bārde?
Do you have cold water? (plural or polite service address)
No independent subject pronoun is required: the suffix already identifies the possessor. أنا عندي is possible when “I” is contrasted with someone else, but it is not the default translation of every English I have.
The full suffix inventory and less common uses are developed under possession with عند.
مع for what is with someone now
مع begins from accompaniment, “with.” With a suffix, it naturally describes an item on someone’s person, a companion, or a resource immediately available in the current situation.
معي المفتاح بالجيب.
maʿe l-miftēḥ bil-zhēb.
I have the key with me in my pocket. (current physical company)
معك وقت نمرق عالقهوة قبل الاجتماع؟
maʿak waʾet nimroʾ ʿal-ʾahwe ʾabel el-izhtimēʿ?
Do you have time to stop by the café before the meeting? (immediately usable time; male addressee)
معها بنتها اليوم، فما فيها تطول.
maʿa binta l-yōm, fa-ma fiyya ṭawwel.
She has her daughter with her today, so she can't stay long. (accompaniment)
The contrast can be true in one scene: عندي سيارة says a car is generally available to me; مش معي اليوم says it is not with me today. Neither sentence by itself proves legal ownership.
لـ for belonging, allocation, and entitlement
The independent Lebanese forms إلي، إلك، إله، إلها، إلنا، إلكن، إلهن predicate a relation “to/for someone.” In context that can be ownership, but it can also be an assigned share, an intended recipient, or a right.
هاي الغرفة إلنا لهالليلة.
hāy el-ghorfe ilna la-hal-lēle.
This room is ours for tonight. (temporary allocation)
هالشاي إلك؛ طلبتلك ياه بلا سكر.
hash-shēy ilak; ṭlabtlak yēh bla sokkar.
This tea is for you; I ordered it for you without sugar. (intended recipient)
إلها حق تعرف ليش تغير الموعد.
ila ḥaʾʾ tiʿraf lēsh tghayyar el-mawʿed.
She has the right to know why the appointment changed. (entitlement, not a physical possession)
Because إلك can mean “for you” as well as “yours,” use a stronger ownership expression when the distinction matters.
تبع for explicit ownership or association
Invariant تبع is the consistent urban Beirut production form in this guide. It follows an identifiable thing and then names or indexes the owner: المفتاح تبع رنا, المفتاح تبعي.
هاد اللابتوب تبع الشركة، مش تبعي.
hād el-lābtōb tabaʿ esh-shirke, mish tabaʿe.
This laptop belongs to the company; it isn't mine. (explicit ownership contrast)
هاي الكاسة تبع مين؟
hāy el-kēse tabaʿ mīn?
Whose glass is this? (ownership question with beginner هاي)
Common agreeing variants such as feminine تبعت occur for some Lebanese and other Levantine speakers (regional/social variation). They agree with the possessed item, not the owner. This page keeps invariant تبع rather than blending systems. Common Lebanese هيدا/هيدي may replace course-baseline هاد/هاي in the examples above (informal Lebanese alternative).
Build from short to expanded
Start with the relation and the item. Then add the detail that matters: type, location, time, or a relative clause.
عندي مفتاح.
ʿinde miftēḥ.
I have a key. (core possession sentence)
عندي مفتاح زيادة.
ʿinde miftēḥ zyēde.
I have an extra key. (noun phrase expanded)
عندي مفتاح زيادة بالدرج بالمكتب.
ʿinde miftēḥ zyēde bid-darzh bil-maktab.
I have an extra key in the drawer at the office. (nested location added)
This is still one present possession sentence. Do not insert بيكون merely because the English translation contains have or is.
Affirmative, negative, and time
General عند and مع possession use verbal-style ما for neutral negation. Predicative إلي and تبعي are nonverbal predicates and normally use مش.
عندي وقت هلق.
ʿinde waʾet hallaʾ.
I have time now. (affirmative availability)
ما عندي وقت هلق.
ma ʿinde waʾet hallaʾ.
I don't have time now. (negative availability)
الدفتر مش إلي؛ هو تبع رنا.
ed-daftar mish ile; huwwe tabaʿ Rana.
The notebook isn't mine; it belongs to Rana. (nonverbal ownership negated with مش)
To locate possession in the past, add كان. The possessor phrase itself does not change.
كان عندي وقت أكتر قبل ما بلش الشغل الجديد.
kēn ʿinde waʾet aktar ʾabel ma ballesh esh-shoghol el-zhdīd.
I had more time before I started the new job. (past possession with كان)
ما كان معها بطارية زيادة بالسفرة.
ma kēn maʿa baṭṭāriyye zyēde bis-safra.
She didn't have an extra battery with her on the trip. (past immediate availability)
Situational dialogue: one missing charger
معك شاحن للابتوب؟ بطاريتي خلصت.
maʿak shāḥen lal-lābtōb? baṭṭāriyyte khilṣit.
Maya: Do you have a laptop charger with you? My battery died. (current availability)
ما معي، بس عندي واحد بالمكتب.
ma maʿe, bass ʿinde wāḥad bil-maktab.
Rami: I don't have one with me, but I have one at the office. (مع versus عند)
هاد الشاحن تبعك؟
hād esh-shāḥen tabaʿak?
Maya: Is this charger yours? (explicit owner question)
لا، تبع نادين، بس قالتلي استعمله.
la, tabaʿ Nādīn, bass ʾāletle staʿmlo.
Rami: No, it's Nadine's, but she told me to use it. (ownership separated from current custody)
Common Mistakes
Inserting a present-tense copula
❌ أنا بكون عندي موعد اليوم.
Incorrect for neutral present possession — بكون adds a habitual or contextual meaning.
✅ عندي موعد اليوم بعد الضهر.
ʿinde mawʿed el-yōm baʿd eḍ-ḍoher.
I have an appointment this afternoon.
Using an independent pronoun instead of a suffix
❌ عند أنا مفتاح زيادة.
Incorrect — the possessor is expressed by the attached suffix in عندي.
✅ عندي مفتاح زيادة للباب التحتاني.
ʿinde miftēḥ zyēde lal-bēb et-taḥtēne.
I have an extra key for the downstairs door.
Confusing general possession with carrying something
❌ عندي جوازي بالجيب.
Unnatural for the intended immediate meaning ‘my passport is on me in my pocket’ — use معي.
✅ معي جوازي بالجيب الداخلي.
maʿe zhawēze bil-zhēb ed-dēkhle.
I have my passport with me in the inside pocket.
Treating custody as proof of ownership
❌ المفتاح عندي، يعني هو تبعي.
Incorrect inference — عندي may describe temporary custody.
✅ المفتاح تبع رنا، بس اليوم عندي.
el-miftēḥ tabaʿ Rana, bass el-yōm ʿinde.
The key belongs to Rana, but I have it today.
Key Takeaways
Use عند + suffix for general possession and availability, مع + suffix for what is physically or practically with someone now, لـ + suffix for belonging, allocation, and entitlement, and تبع when ownership or association must be explicit. Present possession needs no copula. Use ما with عند/مع, مش with إلي/تبعي, and كان to place the possession in the past.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Possession with عند plus SuffixA1 — Express having, availability, relationships, and past possession with عند and its personal suffixes.
- Possession and Accompaniment with مع plus SuffixB1 — Use مع plus a pronoun suffix for what someone has with them, immediate resources, companions, and several high-frequency Lebanese idioms.
- Belonging and Allocation with لـ plus SuffixB1 — Use the Lebanese لـ series to mark what is someone's, what is set aside for them, what they are entitled to, and what something is intended for.
- Analytical Possession with تبعB1 — Use تبع for analytic, contrastive, and predicative possession in urban Lebanese.
- Pronoun Suffixes after PrepositionsB1 — Use Beirut suffixed forms of مع، من، على، في، لـ, and بـ, including their irregular stems and verb-selected meanings.
- كان kān: be and becomeA2 — Conjugate Lebanese كان and use it for past states, marked nonpast meanings, habitual backgrounds, directives, and counterfactuals.