Mainstream Cairene uses one relative marker, اللي illi, for people and things of every gender and number. It corresponds to English who, that, or which only loosely: Egyptian first asks whether the antecedent is definite, then uses a gap or resumptive clitic inside the clause to show that antecedent's grammatical role.
This invariance is the system's central economy. اللي does not carry the masculine, feminine, singular, or plural distinctions expressed by formal الذي، التي، الذين; agreement on predicates and resumptive suffixes does that work elsewhere.
Rule 1: اللي itself never agrees
The everyday form remains اللي after a masculine person, feminine person, human plural, masculine thing, feminine thing, or nonhuman plural.
| Antecedent | Relative opening | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| الراجل | الراجل اللي... | the man who... |
| البنت | البنت اللي... | the woman who... |
| الناس | الناس اللي... | the people who... |
| الكتاب | الكتاب اللي... | the book that... |
| العربية | العربية اللي... | the car that... |
المحاسب اللي كلمنا جاي الساعة عشرة.
il-muḥāsib illi kallimna gāy is-sāʿa ʿashara.
The accountant who called us is coming at ten.
الدكتورة اللي كشفت عليا طمنتني.
id-duktōra lli kashafit ʿalayya ṭammanitni.
The doctor who examined me reassured me.
الطلبات اللي وصلت محتاجة توقيع.
iṭ-ṭalabāt illi wiṣlit miḥtāga tawʾīʿ.
The requests that arrived need a signature.
The last sentence has invariant اللي, but feminine singular وصلت، محتاجة reflects the common treatment of a nonhuman plural as one set. Human plural agreement would normally be plural.
Rule 2: definite antecedents normally license اللي
A common noun with الـ, a possessed noun, a proper name, an iḍāfa made definite by its possessor, or a demonstrative phrase is definite. Its modifying relative normally begins with اللي.
مفتاحي اللي ضاع كان عليه علامة حمرا.
miftāḥi lli ḍāʿ kān ʿalēh ʿalāma ḥamra.
My key that got lost had a red mark on it.
نادية اللي ساكنة في الدور التالت مسافرة بكرة.
Nādya lli sākna fi d-dōr it-tālit musāfra bukra.
Nadia, who lives on the third floor, is traveling tomorrow.
باب أوضة الأطفال اللي بيقفل بصعوبة محتاج يتصلح.
bāb ʾōḍit il-ʾaṭfāl illi byiʾfil biṣuʿūba miḥtāg yitṣallaḥ.
The children's bedroom door, which is hard to close, needs fixing.
In the last example, masculine باب controls بيقفل، محتاج. A long iḍāfa can create attachment ambiguity, so agreement and real-world meaning help identify the head.
Rule 3: the role inside the relative determines gap or resumption
اللي only links the clauses; it does not fill every grammatical role inside the relative.
| Role of antecedent inside relative | Cairene strategy | Shape |
|---|---|---|
| subject | gap | الراجل اللي وصل |
| direct object | resumptive suffix, productive baseline | الراجل اللي قابلته |
| prepositional complement | preposition + suffix | الراجل اللي اتكلمت معاه |
| possessor | noun + suffix | الراجل اللي ابنه سافر |
الولد اللي وصل الأول حجز لنا ترابيزة.
il-walad illi wiṣil il-ʾawwil ḥagaz lina tarābēza.
The boy who arrived first reserved a table for us.
الولد اللي قابلته تحت مستنيك بره.
il-walad illi ʾābiltu taḥt mistannīk barra.
The boy I met downstairs is waiting for you outside.
الولد اللي اتكلمت معاه بعت العنوان.
il-walad illi itkallimt maʿāh baʿat il-ʿunwān.
The boy I spoke with sent the address.
English leaves silent gaps in the last two translations. Cairene marks the direct object with ـه and the prepositional complement with معاه, literally “met him” and “spoke with him.”
Rule 4: near and far reference do not change اللي
Neutral Cairo uses ده، دي، دول for both nearby and more distant referents; هنا، هناك, gesture, and discourse supply distance. Put the relative after the complete definite phrase. اللي remains invariant.
الملف ده اللي هنا خلصناه امبارح.
il-malaf da lli hina khallaṣnāh imbāriḥ.
This file here is the one we finished yesterday.
الملف ده اللي هناك لسه ناقص توقيع.
il-malaf da lli hunāk lissa nāʾiṣ tawʾīʿ.
That file over there is still missing a signature.
The order is الملف ده اللي..., not formal preposed هذا الملف الذي.... See demonstrative order.
Rule 5: ordinary indefinite descriptions omit اللي
An indefinite antecedent normally takes its description directly. This is not casual deletion of اللي; it is a different construction licensed by indefiniteness.
بدور على مترجم يفهم المصطلحات دي.
badawwar ʿala mutargim yifham il-muṣṭalaḥāt di.
I'm looking for a translator who understands these terms.
المترجم اللي فهم المصطلحات بدأ الشغل.
il-mutargim illi fihim il-muṣṭalaḥāt bidiʾ ish-shughl.
The translator who understood the terms started the job.
The first phrase introduces any suitable translator; the second identifies an accessible one. Pragmatically marked اللي after an indefinite is attested when a speaker treats the description as specially identifying, but zero is the productive learner baseline. The indefinite relatives page develops that edge case.
A pointing and identification dialogue
أنهي واحدة فيهم صاحبة المكتب؟
ʾanhi waḥda fīhum ṣāḥbit il-maktab?
Which one of them owns the office?
الست دي اللي واقفة عند الباب.
is-sitt di lli wāʾfa ʿand il-bāb.
This woman—the one standing by the door.
اللي هناك ولا اللي جنبها؟
illi hunāk walla lli gambaha?
The one over there, or the one beside her?
The final turn uses headless اللي “the one who/that,” a related use covered separately. Distance changes the pointing expression, not the form of the linker.
Register and variation
(mainstream Cairene, informal/neutral) اللي is the productive form in conversation, messages, and much colloquial writing. (formal/MSA) الذي، التي، الذين and other inflected forms are appropriate in formal writing, news scripts, sermons, and deliberate code-switching; they are not “more correct” versions of everyday Cairo. (regional/social) Alexandria, the Delta, Upper Egypt, Bedouin communities, class networks, and age groups vary in particle pronunciation, resumption, and colloquial spelling. (performance language) song and drama may select formal or regional relatives to construct a voice.
Common Mistakes
1. Making اللي agree like the MSA paradigm.
❌ البنت التي شغالة هنا ساعدتني.
Register mismatch — التي is formal MSA, not the neutral Cairene linker.
✅ البنت اللي شغالة هنا ساعدتني بسرعة.
il-bint illi shaghghāla hina sāʿditni bisurʿa.
The woman who works here helped me quickly.
2. Adding اللي after an ordinary indefinite noun.
❌ محتاج فني اللي يصلح التكييف.
Incorrect in the neutral indefinite pattern — begin the descriptive clause directly.
✅ محتاج فني يصلح التكييف النهارده.
miḥtāg fanni yiṣallaḥ it-takyīf innaharda.
I need a technician who can fix the air conditioner today.
3. Putting an attributive demonstrative before its noun.
❌ دي العربية اللي واقفة بره بتاعتي.
Incorrect for attributive ‘this car’ — initial دي means ‘this is the car.’
✅ العربية دي اللي واقفة بره بتاعتي.
il-ʿarabiyya di lli wāʾfa barra bitāʿti.
This car parked outside is mine.
4. Stranding a preposition as English does.
❌ الكرسي اللي قعدت على مكسور.
Incorrect — على needs a suffix resuming الكرسي.
✅ الكرسي اللي قعدت عليه محتاج يتصلح.
il-kursi lli ʾaʿadt ʿalēh miḥtāg yitṣallaḥ.
The chair I sat on needs fixing.
Key Takeaways
- اللي is invariant across gender, number, humanness, and distance.
- Definite antecedents normally take اللي; ordinary indefinite descriptions normally use zero.
- Subject roles leave a gap. Direct objects normally use a resumptive clitic, while possessive and prepositional roles require one.
- Formal الذي، التي، الذين belong to a different register and agreement system.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Subject Relatives with الليB1 — Build subject relative clauses with an invariant linker, a subject gap, ordinary Cairene agreement, and independent tense and negation.
- Object Relatives and Resumptive CliticsB1 — Form Cairene object relatives by attaching a resumptive object clitic to the verb and matching it to the antecedent.
- Prepositional Relatives with ResumptionB1 — Keep an Egyptian preposition inside the relative clause and attach a suffix that resumes its antecedent.
- Clauses after Indefinite NounsB1 — Describe new or nonspecific Egyptian antecedents with a zero relative marker while preserving agreement and resumptive clitics inside the clause.
- Definiteness and Relative-Clause ChoiceB1 — Choose between اللي and a zero relative marker by tracking whether an Egyptian Arabic antecedent is definite, indefinite, or generic.