Egyptian لسه can correspond to English still, not yet, or just. Those translations are not three unrelated dictionary meanings. In each use, لسه places the situation close to a relevant boundary: a state continues up to now, an expected event has not crossed its boundary, or a new event has only recently crossed it.
The form is central to mainstream Cairene (informal/neutral). Its interpretation comes from polarity, predicate type, aspect, and intonation—not from لسه alone.
The core contrast: continuing state versus unreached event
With an affirmative state or ongoing activity, لسه normally means “still.” With a negative event, it normally means “not yet” or “still not.”
المحل لسه فاتح؛ نلحق نجيب الطلب.
il-maḥall lissa fātiḥ; nilḥaʾ nigīb iṭ-ṭalab.
The shop is still open; we can still make it in time to get the order.
المحل لسه مافتحش؛ نستنى عشر دقايق.
il-maḥall lissa ma-fataḥsh; nistanna ʿashar daʾāyiʾ.
The shop hasn't opened yet; let's wait ten minutes.
This is the essential scope minimal pair. فاتح is an active participle describing the shop's current open state. مافتحش is a negative perfect event: the expected opening has not occurred. لسه frames both relative to the same change boundary.
Rule 1: لسه + state or ongoing activity means “still”
The host may be an adjective, participle, location phrase, or b-imperfect activity. In each case, the situation continues at the reference time.
أنا لسه تعبان من السفر، فهنام بدري.
ʾana lissa taʿbān min is-safar, fa-ha-nām badri.
I'm still tired from the trip, so I'll go to bed early.
داليا لسه في الاجتماع ومش باصة في الموبايل.
Dālya lissa fi l-igtimāʿ wi-mish bāṣṣa fi l-mobāyl.
Dalia is still in the meeting and isn't looking at her phone.
الأولاد لسه بيلعبوا تحت؛ نادي عليهم.
il-ʾawlād lissa biyilʿabu taḥt; nādi ʿalēhum.
The children are still playing downstairs; call them.
With the b-imperfect, لسه signals persistence of an activity already under way. It does not replace the aspect marker بـ.
Rule 2: لسه + negative clause means “not yet / still not”
لسه is not itself a negator. A finite verb still needs ماـ...ـش, a present predicate needs مش, and existence needs مفيش.
الفاتورة لسه ماوصلتش على الإيميل.
il-fātūra lissa ma-wiṣlitsh ʿala l-ʾēmēl.
The invoice hasn't arrived by email yet.
الأكل لسه مش جاهز؛ قدامه ربع ساعة.
il-ʾakl lissa mish gāhiz; ʾuddāmo rubʿ sāʿa.
The food isn't ready yet; it needs another fifteen minutes.
لسه مفيش رد من صاحب الشقة.
lissa mafīsh radd min ṣāḥib ish-shaʾʾa.
There still isn't any reply from the landlord.
English alternates not yet and still not according to viewpoint and emphasis. Egyptian can use the same لسه + negative structure for both. Sentence stress often decides whether the speaker sounds patiently expectant or increasingly frustrated.
The host still follows the choices mapped on the Egyptian negation overview; لسه adds an aspectual boundary rather than replacing that system.
Rule 3: with a fresh event or resultant state, لسه means “just”
An affirmative perfect or a state that has only recently begun can place the event immediately behind the boundary rather than before it.
محمود لسه وصل من المطار، سيبه يرتاح.
Maḥmūd lissa wiṣil min il-maṭār, sībo yirtāḥ.
Mahmoud has just arrived from the airport; let him rest.
إحنا لسه راجعين من الساحل والشنط ماتفتحتش.
ʾiḥna lissa rāgʿīn min is-sāḥil wi-sh-shonaṭ ma-tfataḥitsh.
We've only just got back from the coast, and the bags haven't been unpacked.
أنا لسه شاري اللابتوب من أسبوع وظهر فيه عيب.
ʾana lissa shāri l-lābtōb min ʾosbūʿ wi-ẓahar fīh ʿēb.
I only bought the laptop a week ago, and a defect has already appeared.
The translation just can hide two shades: very recent time and the speaker's judgment that the interval was surprisingly short. The last example contains both.
Position and scope
لسه normally comes before the predicate or negative clause whose time boundary it frames. A topic can precede it, as in الفاتورة لسه ماوصلتش. Turn-initial لسه can take broader scope over the proposition.
لسه عندنا تلات مكالمات قبل ما نقفل المكتب.
lissa ʿandina talāt mokālmāt ʾabl ma niʾfil il-maktab.
We still have three calls before we close the office.
الجزء الأخير لسه محتاج مراجعة من القسم القانوني.
il-gozʾ il-ʾakhīr lissa moḥtāg morāgaʿa min il-ʾism il-ʾānūni.
The final section still needs review by the legal department.
Sentence-final placement is possible in answers and repairs, but English order is not a mechanical template. Put لسه where it clearly frames the intended host.
Intonation and conversational force
By itself, لسه is a complete contextual answer. A level or falling delivery means “not yet.” A sharp rise can express surprise that something is continuing.
خلصت تعديل الصور؟ لأ، لسه.
khallaṣt taʿdīl iṣ-ṣuwar? laʾ, lissa.
Have you finished editing the photos? No, not yet.
لسه؟ أنا فاكر إنهم قفلوا من ساعة.
lissa? ʾana fākir ʾinnahum ʾafalu min sāʿa.
Still? I thought they closed an hour ago.
استنى، لسه! العربية جاية من الناحية التانية.
istanna, lissa! il-ʿarabiyya gāyya min in-nāḥya t-tānya.
Wait, not yet! The car is coming from the other direction.
The last use manages action: it withholds permission to move. A subtitle containing only wait can erase that boundary meaning.
Contrasts and register
دلوقتي means “now,” not “still.” حالا means “now/right away” and can reinforce recentness, but it does not itself express persistence. لحد دلوقتي “up to now” makes the endpoint explicit and often sounds more emphatic. خلاص points to a boundary already settled, so it naturally contrasts with لسه.
لسه بنجهز القاعة؛ لما نخلص هنبعتلك الصور.
lissa binigahhiz il-ʾāʿa; lamma nikhallaṣ ha-nibʿatlik iṣ-ṣuwar.
We're still preparing the hall; when we're done, we'll send you the photos. (to a woman)
Formal Arabic commonly uses ما زال for “still” and لم...بعد for “not yet” (formal). Educated speakers may code-switch to them in prepared speech or writing, but neutral Cairo conversation uses لسه. Regional, age, class, and community varieties may use cognate spellings such as لسا or vary the final vowel (regional/social). This page keeps لسه consistently. Performance can lengthen the final vowel to dramatize impatience (performance language).
Common Mistakes
1. Using لسه without a negator for “not yet.”
❌ الطلب لسه وصل.
Wrong for the intended meaning ‘the order hasn't arrived yet’ — affirmative وصل gives a recent-arrival reading.
✅ الطلب لسه ماوصلش للمخزن الجديد.
iṭ-ṭalab lissa ma-wiṣilsh lil-makhzan il-gidīd.
The order hasn't reached the new warehouse yet.
2. Copying English “not yet” order inside the verb.
❌ هي ما لسه خلصتش.
Incorrect segmentation and order — لسه precedes the complete negative word.
✅ هي لسه ماخلصتش مكالمتها مع البنك.
hiyya lissa ma-khallaṣitsh mokālmitha maʿ il-bank.
She hasn't finished her call with the bank yet.
3. Dropping the b- marker in an ongoing “still” clause.
❌ هو لسه يشتغل على النسخة.
Incorrect for the intended ongoing present — the ordinary continuing activity uses b-imperfect.
✅ هو لسه بيشتغل على النسخة النهائية.
huwwa lissa biyishtighal ʿala n-noskha n-nihāʾiyya.
He's still working on the final version.
4. Treating formal ما زال as the neutral conversational default.
ما زال المدير في الاجتماع.
mā zāla l-mudīru fi l-igtimāʿ.
The director is still in the meeting. (formal MSA-oriented wording)
✅ المدير لسه في الاجتماع ومش هيرد دلوقتي.
il-modīr lissa fi l-igtimāʿ wi-mish ha-yirodd dilwaʾti.
The director is still in the meeting and won't reply now. (neutral Cairene)
The formal sentence is grammatical in its own register; the correction is about choosing the stated Cairo baseline, not about declaring formal Arabic wrong.
Key Takeaways
- لسه frames a situation near a change boundary.
- Affirmative states and ongoing activities usually yield “still”; negative clauses yield “not yet.”
- A recent perfect event or fresh resultant state can yield “just.”
- لسه never replaces the negator required by its host, and intonation adds patience, surprise, or urgency.
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- لسه ما...ش: Not YetA2 — Express an expected event or state that has not happened yet with لسه plus the right Egyptian negative strategy.
- Egyptian Negation: A Decision MapA2 — Choose among verbal ما...ش, predicate مش, existential مفيش, negative commands, and focus-sensitive negation in mainstream Cairene.
- Active Participles as Current StatesA2 — Use active participles such as واقف، قاعد، نايم، and عارف as agreeing current, persistent, and result-oriented predicates.
- Basic Time and Place AdverbsA1 — Use common Egyptian time and place words in neutral, framed, and contrastive positions without copying English adverb order.
- خلاص: Completion, Enough, and ClosureA2 — Use خلاص to present a result as settled, stop an action, close a turn, or confirm a decision.