Degree expressions tell you how strong, weak, complete, sufficient, or limited something is. Everyday Cairene relies heavily on postposed قوي “very,” شوية “a little,” خالص “completely/at all,” and كتير “a lot.” These forms do not agree with the noun or subject when they function adverbially.
English normally puts very, quite, and too before an adjective. Egyptian often does the reverse: غالي قوي is literally “expensive very.” Learning the position together with polarity is crucial because مش غالي قوي “not very expensive” and مش غالي خالص “not expensive at all” make different claims. Review the noun–adjective boundary on adjective position.
A practical degree map
| Function | Common Cairene form | Example meaning |
|---|---|---|
| high degree | قوي، جدا | very |
| large amount/change | كتير | a lot, greatly |
| low degree | شوية | a little, somewhat |
| total degree | خالص | completely; at all under negation |
| sufficiency | كفاية | enough |
| comparison | أكتر، أقل | more, less |
| excess | زيادة عن اللزوم | too much, more than necessary |
جدا is common in educated speech, media, and formal Arabic (neutral educated/formal). قوي, pronounced ʾawi, is the central everyday Cairo intensifier (informal/neutral). Informal spelling often shows أوي, but this page consistently writes قوي.
Rule 1: put قوي and شوية after the scalar predicate
The adjective or other gradable expression comes first, then its degree.
الجو برد قوي النهارده.
il-gaww bard ʾawi n-nahārda.
The weather is very cold today.
الشنطة تقيلة شوية.
ish-shanṭa tiʾīla shwayya.
The bag is a little heavy.
المحطة بعيدة قوي عن هنا.
il-maḥaṭṭa baʿīda ʾawi ʿan hina.
The station is very far from here.
Putting قوي before the adjective merely copies English order. The ordinary sequence is predicate plus degree.
Rule 2: degree words do not agree
Compare adjective قوي/قوية “strong” with adverbial قوي “very.” The adjective agrees with its noun; the degree word stays fixed.
دي بنت قوية.
di bint ʾawiyya.
She’s a strong girl. (قوية is an agreeing adjective)
البنت دي تعبانة قوي.
il-bint di taʿbāna ʾawi.
This girl is very tired. (قوي is a fixed degree word)
الأولاد مبسوطين قوي بالرحلة.
il-ʾawlād mabsūṭīn ʾawi bir-riḥla.
The children are very happy about the trip.
Neither feminine تعبانة nor plural مبسوطين changes the degree form. English speakers who associate every post-noun word with adjective agreement often over-apply agreement here.
Rule 3: degree can measure events and feelings too
كتير and قوي can grade a change, feeling, or activity rather than an adjective.
الأسعار اتغيرت كتير السنة دي.
il-ʾasʿār itghayyarit ktīr is-sana di.
Prices changed a lot this year.
أنا بحب الشاي ده قوي.
ʾana baḥibb ish-shāy da ʾawi.
I really like this tea.
استنى شوية وأنا جاي.
istanna shwayya wi-ʾana gāy.
Wait a little; I’m coming. (to a man)
In the first two, degree measures change and liking. In the third, شوية measures duration rather than adjectival intensity. The same form receives its exact interpretation from the predicate.
Rule 4: خالص changes force with polarity
Affirmative خالص often means “completely.” After negation it means “at all,” strengthening a zero-degree claim.
المخزن فاضي خالص.
il-makhzan fāḍi khāliṣ.
The storeroom is completely empty.
السعر مش مناسب خالص.
is-siʿr mish monāsib khāliṣ.
The price isn’t suitable at all.
مابنامش كويس خالص في الحر.
ma-banāmsh kuwayyis khāliṣ fi l-ḥarr.
I don’t sleep well at all in hot weather.
The negative construction still depends on predicate type: مش with adjective مناسب, ما...ش with finite بنام. خالص intensifies the result; it does not create negation by itself.
Rule 5: قوي under negation means “not very,” not “not at all”
القهوة مش سخنة قوي.
il-ʾahwa mish sokhna ʾawi.
The coffee isn’t very hot. (it may still be warm)
القهوة مش سخنة خالص.
il-ʾahwa mish sokhna khāliṣ.
The coffee isn’t hot at all.
This minimal pair differs only in the degree item. The first lowers the degree; the second denies the property completely.
Rule 6: express sufficiency and excess with full predicates or phrases
كفاية can stand as a predicate or follow a quantity. زيادة عن اللزوم marks excess more reliably than translating English too with a single intensifier.
كده كفاية، ماتحطش سكر تاني.
kida kifāya, ma-tiḥoṭṭsh sukkar tāni.
That’s enough; don’t add any more sugar. (to a man)
الشنطة تقيلة زيادة عن اللزوم.
ish-shanṭa tiʾīla ziyāda ʿan il-lozūm.
The bag is too heavy—more than it needs to be.
عندنا وقت كفاية نراجع الورق.
ʿandina waʾt kifāya nirāgiʿ il-waraʾ.
We have enough time to review the paperwork.
The position of كفاية depends on whether it is the predicate “enough” or follows a noun quantity “enough time.” It is not an agreeing adjective in these frames.
Position changes focus scope
Postposed بس identifies which constituent is limited.
كريم بس حل سؤالين.
Karīm bass ḥall suʾālen.
Only Karim solved two questions. (nobody else did)
كريم حل سؤالين بس.
Karīm ḥall suʾālen bass.
Karim solved only two questions. (not more than two)
The quantity is identical, but بس after the subject restricts who participated, while بس after the number restricts the amount. This is a scope contrast, not free stylistic movement.
A degree and frequency exchange
كتير can ask about amount or frequency. The answer clarifies the intended scale.
بتشرب قهوة كتير؟
bitishrab ʾahwa ktīr?
Do you drink much coffee / drink coffee often? (to a man)
مش كتير؛ فنجان صغير مرة في اليوم.
mish ktīr; fingān ṣoghayyar marra fi l-yom.
Not much—one small cup once a day.
The reply supplies both quantity and frequency. Egyptian leaves the initial كتير underspecified because context usually resolves it.
Register and variation
Postposed قوي، شوية، خالص، كتير are central to everyday Cairo (informal/neutral). Formal MSA often uses جدًا، قليلًا، كثيرًا، تمامًا with its own case and tanwīn system (formal). Educated Egyptian speech freely code-switches some lexical items, but it does not add formal endings to ordinary Cairo sentences mechanically.
Alexandrian, Delta, Upper Egyptian, Bedouin, class, age, and community varieties have additional intensifiers and different preferences among قوي/أوي and other forms (regional/social). Advertising and dramatic performance often pile up degree expressions for effect (performance language); that is rhetoric, not the neutral grammar taught here.
Common Mistakes
Copying English pre-adjective order
❌ الأكل قوي سخن.
Incorrect in the neutral Cairo pattern—قوي follows the adjective.
✅ الأكل سخن قوي، استنى شوية.
il-ʾakl sokhn ʾawi, istanna shwayya.
The food is very hot; wait a little. (to a man)
Making adverbial قوي agree
❌ العربية غالية قوية.
Incorrect for ‘very expensive’—قوية describes a strong feminine noun rather than degree.
✅ العربية غالية قوي بالنسبة لميزانيتنا.
il-ʿarabiyya ghālya ʾawi bin-nisba li-mīzāniyyitna.
The car is very expensive for our budget.
Treating خالص as negation by itself
❌ السعر خالص مناسب.
Incorrect for ‘not suitable at all’—خالص intensifies; it does not supply negation.
✅ السعر مش مناسب خالص للميزانية دي.
is-siʿr mish monāsib khāliṣ lil-mīzāniyya di.
The price isn’t suitable at all for this budget.
Manufacturing a formal adverb from قوي
الجو حر قوي.
il-gaww ḥarr ʾawi.
il-gaww ḥarr ʾawiyyan
Pronunciation/register error—ordinary Cairene degree قوي has no invented MSA adverbial ending.
✅ المكان زحمة قوي بعد الضهر.
il-makān zaḥma ʾawi baʿd iḍ-ḍohr.
The place is very crowded in the afternoon.
Key Takeaways
- Everyday قوي، شوية، خالص، كتير normally follow what they measure.
- Degree words stay fixed; they do not agree like adjectives.
- خالص means “completely” affirmatively and strengthens “at all” under negation.
- مش...قوي lowers a degree, while مش...خالص denies it completely.
- Placement of بس changes whether the subject or quantity receives narrow focus.
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- Basic Manner and Degree AdverbsA1 — Describe how and to what degree something happens with fixed Egyptian words, phrases, and postposed intensifiers.
- Focus AdverbsB1 — Place كمان، بس، حتى, and بالذات around the constituent they add, limit, or mark as unexpectedly prominent.
- Attributive Adjectives Follow the NounA1 — Place Egyptian Arabic adjectives after their nouns and use definiteness to distinguish noun-phrase modifiers from predicates.
- Adjective Scope and Restrictive ReadingsB2 — Use definiteness, agreement, ordering, and paraphrase to show exactly which Egyptian Arabic noun or description an adjective modifies.
- Quantifier Scope and Floating كلّC1 — Control the meaning of every, all, whole, and not all through noun form, suffix agreement, and word order.