Adjective and Participle Government | Arabic (Egyptian) Grammar

An Egyptian adjective or participle can select a particular preposition just as a verb can. مهتم بـ means “interested in,” موافق على means “in agreement with/about,” and مسؤول عن means “responsible for.” The preposition belongs to the predicate’s valency: translating English in, with, or for word by word will often choose the wrong one.

This page uses mainstream Cairene Egyptian (informal). The safest learning unit is not isolated مهتم but the whole frame مهتم بحاجة / مهتم بيها. See participial adjectives for agreement and prepositional suffixes for the wider suffix system.

Rule 1: memorize the predicate and preposition together

The following frames are frequent, but their English translations hide the Egyptian choice.

Egyptian frame	Natural English	Literal cue
مهتم بـ	interested in	concerned/engaged with
مقتنع بـ	convinced by / convinced of	convinced with
موافق على	in favor of / agreeing to	agreeing on
مسؤول عن	responsible for	responsible about
زعلان من	upset with / because of	upset from
مستعد لـ	ready for / prepared to	ready toward/for

أنا مهتم بالمشروع الجديد بس مش مقتنع بميعاد التسليم

ʾana mihtamm bi-l-mashrūʿ il-gidīd bass mish moʾtaniʿ bi-mīʿād it-taslīm

I’m interested in the new project, but I’m not convinced by the delivery schedule.

المديرة موافقة على التعديل ومسؤولة عن تنفيذه

il-mudīra miwāfʾa ʿala t-taʿdīl wi-masʾūla ʿan tanfīzo

The manager agrees to the change and is responsible for implementing it.

These choices are lexical. موافق and مسؤول do not select their prepositions because agreement is physically “on” something or responsibility is literally “about” something. Historical metaphors help remember some frames, but present-day speakers store the combinations as conventional units.

💡

Make vocabulary cards with an open complement slot: مهتم بـ حاجة، موافق على حاجة، مسؤول عن حاجة. That records the grammar you actually need in a sentence.

Rule 2: the predicate agrees with its subject

The adjective or participle agrees with the person being described. Its prepositional complement does not control that agreement.

هو مهتم بيها وهي مهتمة بيه

huwwa mihtamm bīha wi-hiyya mihtamma bīh

He’s interested in her, and she’s interested in him.

الموظفين مسؤولين عن الفرع الجديد

il-muwaẓẓafīn masʾūlīn ʿan il-farʿ il-gidīd

The employees are responsible for the new branch.

In the first example, masculine مهتم agrees with هو, while feminine مهتمة agrees with هي. The suffixes do something separate: ـها refers to a feminine complement, and ـه to a masculine complement. Keeping those two agreement relations apart prevents a very common learner error.

Present-state negation uses independent مش, not verbal circumfixal ما...ش:

إحنا مش مستعدين للتغيير ده دلوقتي

ʾiḥna mish mistaʿiddīn li-t-taghyīr da dilwaʾti

We aren’t ready for this change right now.

Rule 3: suffixes attach to the selected preposition

When the complement is a pronoun, it attaches to the preposition. The table uses بـ, whose suffixed forms must be learned as a paradigm.

Person	Form	Cairene reading	Meaning
1sg	بيا	biyya	with/in me
2msg	بيك	bīk	with/in you
2fsg	بيك	bīki	with/in you
3msg	بيه	bīh	with/in him or it
3fsg	بيها	bīha	with/in her or it
1pl	بينا	bīna	with/in us
2pl	بيكو	bīku	with/in you all
3pl	بيهم	bīhum	with/in them

الفكرة جديدة وأنا مقتنع بيها أكتر من الأول

il-fikra gidīda wi-ʾana moʾtaniʿ bīha ʾaktar min il-ʾawwil

The idea is new, and I’m more convinced by it than I was at first.

Here بيها is one written word and completes the stored frame مقتنع بـ. Its spelling does not preserve a separate blank between preposition and suffix.

Rule 4: concrete space and abstract government remain distinct

A single scene can contain ordinary spatial relations and lexically governed complements:

المكتب قريب من المحطة وبعيد عن الزحمة

il-maktab ʾarīb min il-maḥaṭṭa wi-baʿīd ʿan iz-zaḥma

The office is near the station and away from the congestion.

قريب من profiles distance from a reference point. بعيد عن likewise treats the reference point as something separated from the subject. English happens to use from with far but not with near, so an English-based rule would fail on the first frame.

الشقة مناسبة لينا وقريبة من شغلنا

ish-shaʾʾa munāsba lena wi-ʾarība min shoghlena

The apartment suits us and is close to our workplace.

The natural translation “suits us” hides مناسبة لـ. A literal gloss “suitable for us” exposes the frame, but literal glosses are learning aids, not necessarily good English translations.

Rule 5: relative clauses keep the governed preposition

When the complement is the head of a relative, Egyptian repeats it with a suffix. English normally strands its preposition; Egyptian normally does not.

دي الخطة اللي كل الفريق موافق عليها

di l-khuṭṭa lli kull il-farīʾ miwāfiʾ ʿaleha

This is the plan that the whole team agrees with.

قابلت الزميلة اللي إنت مسؤول عنها

ʾābilt iz-zamīla lli nta masʾūl ʿanha

I met the colleague you’re responsible for.

The selected frames survive intact: موافق عليها and مسؤول عنها. The suffix agrees with the relative head, not with the adjective’s subject. The full system is developed on preposition stranding.

💡

In a relative clause, first recover the complete frame—موافق على الخطة—then replace the noun with the matching suffix: الخطة اللي موافق عليها.

Register and variation

Everyday speakers mix inherited Arabic adjectives, participles, and newer professional vocabulary. Formal writing may prefer معنيّ بـ “concerned with,” موافق على, or مسؤول عن in more elaborated clauses (formal), but formality does not license MSA case endings in ordinary Egyptian delivery. Cairo ـكو in forms such as بيكو is an everyday production model (informal); ـكم occurs in conservative spelling, formal code-switching, and some community styles.

Alexandrian, Delta, Upper Egyptian, Bedouin, class, age, and community repertoires can differ in vowels and in which lexical predicate sounds most ordinary (regional: Egypt). Those differences should be labeled locally; they do not make preposition choice freely interchangeable.

Common Mistakes

1. Choosing the preposition from the English translation.

❌ أنا مهتم في التصوير القديم

Incorrect in the Cairo frame taught here—English ‘interested in’ does not select في.

✅ أنا مهتم بالتصوير القديم من زمان

ʾana mihtamm bi-t-taṣwīr il-ʾadīm min zamān

I’ve been interested in old photography for a long time.

2. Letting the complement control adjective agreement.

❌ هي مسؤول عن الحسابات

Incorrect—the adjective describes a feminine subject and must be feminine.

✅ هي مسؤولة عن الحسابات كلها

hiyya masʾūla ʿan il-ḥisābāt kollaha

She’s responsible for all the accounts.

3. Separating a bound suffix.

❌ إحنا مقتنعين ب هم

Incorrect—the plural suffix must attach to بـ.

✅ إحنا مقتنعين بيهم بعد المقابلة

ʾiḥna moʾtaniʿīn bīhum baʿd il-muʾābala

We’re convinced by them after the interview.

4. Copying English preposition stranding.

❌ دي الوظيفة اللي هو مستعد

Incorrect for ‘the job he is ready for’—the selected لـ complement is missing.

✅ دي الوظيفة اللي هو مستعد ليها من سنين

di l-waẓīfa lli huwwa mistaʿidd leha min sinīn

This is the job he has been ready for for years.

5. Treating a formal synonym as a universal upgrade.

❌ المديرة مسؤولة بشأن الفرع

Incorrect government—formal بشأن ‘regarding’ does not replace عن after مسؤول.

✅ المديرة مسؤولة عن الفرع وبتبعت تقارير بشأنه

il-mudīra masʾūla ʿan il-farʿ wi-bitibʿat taʾārīr bi-shaʾno

The manager is responsible for the branch and sends reports concerning it.

Key Takeaways

Learn an adjective or participle together with its selected preposition.
Predicate agreement tracks the subject; a prepositional suffix tracks the complement.
Bound suffixes stay attached, and relatives resume the governed complement.
Formal vocabulary changes register, not the underlying valency of an unrelated predicate.

Now practice Arabic

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Arabic →