English uses have for ownership, access, physical custody, appointments, and available stock. Mainstream Cairene distributes those meanings among several stable frames. عندي places something in a person's broader sphere, معايا says it is currently with that person, بتاعي identifies an owner, and مفيش says that no relevant item exists or is available.
These are ordinary urban Egyptian forms (informal/neutral). Choosing the frame is not a matter of finding four synonyms for English have: each frame organizes the participants differently and therefore takes its own suffixes, negation, and time marking.
The four-way diagnostic
| Question | Productive frame | Core meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Is X in someone's general sphere? | عِنْد + person suffix | possession, access, time, appointment |
| Is X with someone now? | مَع + person suffix | current custody or accompaniment |
| Whose X is it? | بِتَاع + owner | ownership or association |
| Is any X available here? | فِيه / مَفِيش | existence or availability in a scene |
عندي مفتاح للمكتب، بس مش معايا النهارده
ʿandi miftāḥ lil-maktab, bass mish maʿāya n-naharda
I have a key to the office, but I don't have it with me today.
The sentence is not contradictory. عندي reports stable access; مش معايا denies current custody. English collapses both relations into have, but Egyptian makes the speaker choose a viewpoint.
عندي: broad possession and access
The substitution frame is عند + person suffix + noun: عندي، عندك، عنده، عندها، عندنا، عندكم، عندهم. The suffix identifies the person whose sphere contains the following item. The frame covers possessions, resources, scheduled commitments, ideas, and available time.
عندها خبرة كبيرة في تنظيم المؤتمرات
ʿandaha khibra kbīra fi tanẓīm il-moʾtamarāt
She has extensive experience organizing conferences.
عندنا ميعاد مع المهندس بعد الضهر
ʿandina mīʿād maʿ il-mohandis baʿd iḍ-ḍohr
We have an appointment with the engineer this afternoon.
Neutral possessor-centered lack wraps ما...ش around the suffixed form: ماعنديش، ماعندكش، ماعندوش. This construction is fixed even though عند is not an ordinary finite verb.
ماعندناش مساحة نحط فيها الدولاب الكبير
ma-ʿandināsh misāḥa niḥoṭṭ fīha d-dulāb il-kibīr
We don't have space to put the large wardrobe.
معايا: what is on hand now
The parallel custody frame is مع + suffix: معايا، معاك، معاه، معاها، معانا، معاكم، معاهم. It is natural for money, identification, documents, medicine, or anything currently carried or entrusted to someone. Because this is a nonverbal predicate, ordinary negation uses independent مش.
معاكي صورة البطاقة على الموبايل؟
maʿāki ṣūrit il-biṭāʾa ʿala l-mobāyl?
Do you have a photo of the ID on your phone? (to a woman)
العقد مش معاه؛ سابه في العربية
il-ʿaʾd mish maʿāh; sābu fi l-ʿarabiyya
He doesn't have the contract with him; he left it in the car.
Past and future are built around the whole predicate rather than by conjugating مع or عند. Use كان عندي / كان معايا for a past relation and حيبقى عندي / حيبقى معايا when future possession or custody must be explicit.
امبارح كان معايا المبلغ كله، بس صرفت جزء منه
imbāriḥ kān maʿāya l-mablagh kollo, bass ṣaraft gozʾ minnu
Yesterday I had the full amount with me, but I spent part of it.
بتاعي: identify the owner
بتاع does not mean general “have.” It links an item to its owner or classifies what it belongs to. After a masculine item use بتاع, after a feminine singular item بتاعة, and after a plural item commonly بتوع; the owner can be a noun or an attached suffix. With nonhuman plurals, feminine-singular بتاعة is also attested alongside بتوع. Thus اللابتوب بتاعي is “my laptop / the laptop is mine,” while الشنطة بتاعتي is “my bag / the bag is mine.”
اللابتوب ده بتاعي، والشنطة بتاعة زميلي
il-lābtōb da bitāʿi, wish-shanṭa bitāʿit zamīli
This laptop is mine, and the bag belongs to my colleague.
النسخة الأصلية مش بتاعتي؛ دي بتاعة المحامي
in-nuskha l-ʾaṣliyya mish bitāʿti; di bitāʿit il-moḥāmi
The original copy isn't mine; it belongs to the lawyer.
Here مش negates an ownership predicate. ماعنديش النسخة would instead say that the speaker lacks access or possession, without identifying the owner.
مفيش: no instance is available
Use fused مفيش when the relevant scene contains no item or when none is available. It does not carry a possessor suffix and does not agree with the following singular, plural, or mass noun.
مفيش ترابيزة فاضية جوه، بس فيه مكان في البلكونة
mafīsh tarabēza fāḍya guwwa, bass fīh makān fil-balkōna
There isn't a free table inside, but there is space on the balcony.
مفيش حبر في الطابعة، فمش حنعرف نطبع دلوقتي
mafīsh ḥibr fiṭ-ṭābʿa, fa-mish ḥaniʿraf niṭbaʿ dilwaʾti
There is no ink in the printer, so we won't be able to print now.
Past nonexistence is ماكانش فيه, not a past tense of مفيش. See مفيش and existential negation for attached forms such as مفيهوش.
Three everyday situations
At home, عندي دريل reports access to a tool even if it is stored elsewhere. At a security desk, البطاقة معايا confirms that the document is physically present. At a shop, مفيش المقاس ده means that the size is unavailable. Ownership becomes relevant only when someone asks whose item it is: ده بتاع مين؟
عندي دريل في المخزن، أجيبهولك بكرة
ʿandi drīl fil-makhzan, ʾagībhūlak bokra
I have a drill in storage; I'll bring it to you tomorrow. (to a man)
البطاقة معايا، أهي ممكن تشوف الاسم
il-biṭāʾa maʿāya, ʾahe momkin tishūf il-ism
I have the ID with me—here it is; you can check the name.
مفيش المقاس ده بالأسود؛ موجود بالأزرق بس
mafīsh il-maʾās da bil-ʾaswad; mawgūd bil-ʾazraʾ bass
That size isn't available in black; it is only available in blue.
A dialogue that solves a practical problem
أ: معاك كارت ندفع بيه؟ الكاش خلص
A: maʿāk kārt nidfaʿ bīh? il-kāsh khiliṣ
A: Do you have a card on you that we can pay with? We've run out of cash.
ب: معايا كارت، بس ده بتاع الشركة ولازم آخد إيصال
B: maʿāya kārt, bass da bitāʿ ish-shirka wi-lāzim ʾākhod ʾīṣāl
B: I have a card, but it belongs to the company, so I need to get a receipt.
The question is about immediate custody, the reply identifies ownership, and the card is then used to authorize a real payment—not merely named in isolation.
Register and variation
These four frames are mainstream Cairene (informal/neutral). Formal لديّ، يملك، بحوزة، لا يوجد occur in official writing, legal documents, announcements, and deliberate code-switching (formal/legal/MSA). They are legitimate register choices, but لديّ بطاقة can sound bureaucratic in an intimate conversation. Alexandrian, Delta, Upper Egyptian, Bedouin, class-, age-, and community-linked varieties may differ in suffix vowels and preferred possession strategies (regional/social); the production forms here are not claimed to be universal.
Common Mistakes
Inventing an English-style finite “have”
❌ أنا بملك وقت قبل القطر
Incorrect and register-mismatched for ordinary availability; ملك concerns ownership, not every English use of ‘have.’
✅ عندي وقت أشرب قهوة قبل القطر
ʿandi waʾt ʾashrab ʾahwa ʾabl il-ʾaṭr
I have time for a coffee before the train.
Using مش for neutral possessor-centered lack
❌ مش عندي إنترنت في البيت
Wrong for neutral broad lack; مش عندي would contrast where an already identified connection or device is located.
✅ ماعنديش إنترنت في البيت لحد بكرة
ma-ʿandīsh ʾinternet fil-bēt liḥadd bokra
I won't have internet at home until tomorrow.
Using عندي when immediate custody is the point
❌ الباسبور عندي في جيبي دلوقتي
Mismatched for ‘on me right now’; current physical custody favors معايا.
✅ الباسبور معايا في جيبي دلوقتي
il-bāsbūr maʿāya fi gēbi dilwaʾti
I have the passport in my pocket right now.
Treating مفيش as “I do not have” regardless of viewpoint
❌ مفيش الملف؛ هو عند المحاسب
Wrong for the intended known-file custody contrast; the file exists, but it is not with the speaker.
✅ الملف مش معايا؛ هو عند المحاسب
il-malaff mish maʿāya; huwwa ʿand il-moḥāsib
I don't have the file with me; the accountant has it.
Key Takeaways
- Use عند + suffix for broad possession, access, and resources; negate it with joined ما...ش.
- Use مع + suffix for current custody; negate that predicate with مش.
- Use agreeing بتاع to identify ownership, not as an all-purpose verb “have.”
- Use مفيش when no relevant item exists or is available in the scene.
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- Possession with عند، مع، and لـA1 — Choose عند for broad possession, مع for current custody, and لـ for ownership or belonging in everyday Egyptian.
- عند ʿand — haveA2 — Express Cairene possession and availability with suffixed عند, locate it in time with كان and بقى, and choose the right negative.
- مفيش: Existential and Possessive NegationA2 — Use مفيش for nonexistence and contrast it with فيه, ماعنديش, مش معايا, and inflected مفيهوش forms.
- Iḍāfa versus بتاعB1 — Choose between compact iḍāfa and the Egyptian analytic possessor بتاع, with agreement, suffixes, focus, and register.
- مش or مفيش?B1 — Use مش to deny a predicate of an established subject and مفيش to assert that no relevant person, thing, or resource exists or is available.