Everyday Cairene packages symptoms in several reusable frames: عندي + symptom “I have…,” حاسس بـ + sensation “I feel…,” an agreeing state adjective such as تعبان / تعبانة, and a body-part construction such as ضهري واجعني “my back hurts.” English normally makes the experiencer the grammatical subject; Egyptian often places that person in a suffix and gives the symptom or body part the central grammatical role.
This page teaches communication, not diagnosis. The expressions are ordinary (informal/neutral Cairene); technical terms used by clinicians and formal أشعر بـ، أعاني من belong to medical or MSA-influenced registers (professional/formal). Review body-part gender because it controls agreement in several pain frames below.
عندي + a named symptom
Use عند + pronoun suffix + symptom noun for conditions that Egyptian conventionally presents as something “at” the experiencer. The frame is productive with برد “a cold,” صداع “a headache,” كحة “a cough,” سخونية “a fever,” and many other named symptoms.
| Person | Frame | Example slot |
|---|---|---|
| I | عندي + symptom | عندي صداع |
| you (m.) | عندك + symptom | عندك كحة |
| she | عندها + symptom | عندها سخونية |
| we | عندنا + symptom | عندنا برد |
عندي برد وكحة من امبارح.
ʿandi bard wi-kiḥḥa min imbāriḥ.
I’ve had a cold and a cough since yesterday.
بنتي عندها سخونية، فمش حتروح المدرسة.
binti ʿandaha sokhūniyya, fa-mish ḥa-trūḥ il-madrasa.
My daughter has a fever, so she won’t go to school.
Neutral non-possession uses ما...ش around عند: ماعنديش “I don’t have.” Independent مش عندي is possible only when location or contrast is intended—roughly “it isn’t with me”—not as the default denial of a symptom.
ماعنديش حرارة، بس جسمي كله مكسر.
ma-ʿandīsh ḥarāra, bass gismi kollu mikassar.
I don’t have a fever, but my whole body aches.
حاسس بـ + sensation, or حاسس إن + clause
حاسس agrees with the experiencer: masculine حاسس, feminine حاسة, plural حاسين. A noun-like sensation follows attached بـ; a full proposition follows إن. The perfect verb حسّ reports an onset or bounded perception, while the participle describes a current state.
أنا حاسس بدوخة ومحتاج أقعد شوية.
ʾana ḥāsis bi-dokha wi-moḥtāg ʾaʾʿod shuwayya.
I feel dizzy and need to sit down for a bit.
هي حاسة إن نفسها قصير النهارده.
hiyya ḥāssa ʾinn nafas-ha ʾaṣīr in-nahārda.
She feels that she is short of breath today.
حسيت بوجع مفاجئ في ركبتي وأنا نازل.
ḥasset bi-wagaʿ mofāgiʾ fi rokibti wa-ʾana nāzil.
I felt a sudden pain in my knee as I was going down.
The preposition belongs to the frame: حاسس بـ + noun. With a clause, switch to إن rather than carrying بـ over mechanically.
The body part can be the grammatical center
In ضهري واجعني, ضهري is “my back,” واجع agrees with that masculine body part, and -ني marks the person experiencing the pain. With a feminine body part such as رجلي, the participle is feminine: واجعاني. A finite b-imperfect is also common: راسي بتوجعني.
ضهري واجعني من القعدة قدام الكمبيوتر.
ḍahri wāgaʿni min il-ʾaʿda ʾoddām il-kombyūtar.
My back hurts from sitting in front of the computer.
رجلي واجعاني ومش قادرة أمشي بسرعة.
rigli wagʿāni wi-mish ʾādra ʾamshi bisorʿa.
My leg hurts, and I can’t walk quickly.
راسي بتوجعني كل ما أبص للشاشة.
rāsi bitwigaʿni koll ma ʾaboṣṣ lish-shāsha.
My head hurts whenever I look at the screen.
English speakers often try أنا بوجع because “I hurt” has I as subject. That changes the roles: Egyptian بوجع would mean “I cause pain” in a suitable context. Preserve the experiencer suffix.
Change of state, duration, and action
جاله + symptom presents something as coming upon a person: جالي برد “I came down with a cold.” For duration up to now, بقال + suffix + period is an everyday frame. Treatment actions choose their own verbs: خد دوا “take medicine,” راح للدكتور “go to the doctor,” and كشف “get examined / see a doctor,” depending on context.
جالي برد بعد السفر وبقالي تلات أيام تعبان.
gāli bard baʿd is-safar wi-baʾāli talāt ʾayyām taʿbān.
I came down with a cold after the trip, and I’ve been ill for three days.
خدت الدوا بعد الأكل زي ما الدكتور قال.
khadt id-dawa baʿd il-ʾakl zayy ma d-doktor ʾāl.
I took the medicine after eating, just as the doctor said.
The health sense of تعبان is context-dependent: it can mean tired, unwell, or ill. A concrete symptom makes the intended reading clearer.
Three everyday situations
At home, a speaker can report a named symptom with عندي. At work, a current sensation with حاسس بـ can motivate a request. At a clinic, a body-part frame locates the pain while duration establishes its history.
أنا حاسة بصداع، ممكن أروح بدري؟
ʾana ḥāssa bi-ṣodāʿ, momkin ʾarūḥ badri?
I have a headache; could I leave early?
معدتي بتوجعني بقالي يومين، بالذات بعد الأكل.
miʿditi bitwigaʿni baʾāli yomen, bi-z-zāt baʿd il-ʾakl.
My stomach has been hurting for two days, especially after eating.
الولد مش تعبان، هو بس مانمش كويس.
il-walad mish taʿbān, huwwa bass ma-nimsh kuwayyis.
The boy isn’t ill; he just didn’t sleep well.
A clinic dialogue
إيه اللي واجعك، والوجع بدأ إمتى؟
ʾeh illi wāgaʿak, wi-l-wagaʿ badaʾ ʾimta?
What hurts, and when did the pain start?
زوري واجعني من امبارح، والنهارده جالي برد.
zūri wāgaʿni min imbāriḥ, wi-n-nahārda gāli bard.
My throat has hurt since yesterday, and today I came down with a cold.
This dialogue performs two practical actions: locating a symptom and establishing its onset. It does not treat واجعني as a word-for-word equivalent of every English use of hurt.
Register and social fit
عيان and تعبان are common in close conversation (informal/neutral). مريض، أعاني من، أشعر بألم are useful in formal reports or careful medical speech (formal/professional/MSA-influenced), but can sound distant in a family chat. Regional and community speech may vary in body-part vocabulary, vowel quality, and preferred illness terms (regional/social); this page keeps the mainstream Cairene production baseline.
Common Mistakes
Copying English “I am a headache” structure
❌ أنا صداع.
Incorrect—the named symptom normally enters the عندي frame.
✅ أنا عندي صداع.
ʾana ʿandi ṣodāʿ.
I have a headache.
Using the wrong negator with عندي
❌ أنا مش عندي حرارة.
Incorrect in the ordinary neutral frame—negate عند with circumfixal ما...ش.
✅ أنا ماعنديش حرارة.
ʾana ma-ʿandīsh ḥarāra.
I don’t have a fever.
Making the experiencer the pain verb’s subject
❌ أنا بوجع في ضهري.
Incorrect for ‘my back hurts’—the body part is central and the experiencer appears as -ني.
✅ ضهري بيوجعني.
ḍahri biyiwgaʿni.
My back hurts.
Forgetting feminine agreement with a body part
❌ رجلي واجعني.
Incorrect in the target frame—رجل is feminine, so the participle is واجعاني.
✅ رجلي واجعاني.
rigli wagʿāni.
My leg hurts.
Using formal clinical language as intimate small talk
✅ أشعر بألم في رأسي يا ماما.
ʾashʿor bi-ʾalam fi raʾsi ya māma.
I feel pain in my head, Mom. (valid formal/MSA-influenced wording; mismatched for the intended family chat)
✅ راسي بتوجعني يا ماما.
rāsi bitwigaʿni ya māma.
My head hurts, Mom. (ordinary Cairo)
Key Takeaways
Use عندي with named symptoms, حاسس بـ with sensations, حاسس إن before a clause, and a body-part plus واجعني / بتوجعني when locating pain. Preserve the experiencer suffix, match agreement to the body part, and label formal medical wording as a register choice.
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