Egyptian عند ʿand organizes several meanings around a person or reference point. Spatially, it means “at/by”: عند الباب “by the door,” عند منى “at Mona’s place.” With an item as subject, it can locate custody: الورق عند المحاسب “the papers are with the accountant.” With a person first, عندي expresses possession, availability, scheduled commitments, or a personal state: عندي عربية، عندي وقت، عندي صداع.
English uses at, with, and have for these meanings. Do not translate those words separately. Learn the Egyptian construction as a relation centered on someone’s location, sphere, or possession.
The suffix paradigm
Bare عند takes a following noun. With a pronoun, the suffix attaches directly and the host supplies linking vowels. The third-person masculine form is عنده ʿandu, not a sequence of two free words.
| Person | Form | Cairene reading | Typical meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| me | عندي | ʿandi | at my place; I have |
| you (m.sg.) | عندك | ʿandak | at your place; you have |
| you (f.sg.) | عندك | ʿandik | at your place; you have |
| him | عنده | ʿandu | at his place; he has |
| her | عندها | ʿandaha | at her place; she has |
| us | عندنا | ʿandina | at our place; we have |
| you (pl.) | عندكم | ʿandukum | at your place; you have |
| them | عندهم | ʿanduhum | at their place; they have |
عندنا أوضة فاضية لو حبيت تبات.
ʿandina ʾōḍa fāḍya law ḥabbēt tibāt.
We have a spare room if you’d like to stay the night.
الملف عندها من امبارح، كلمها هي.
il-malaff ʿandaha min imbāriḥ, kallimha hiyya.
She has had the file since yesterday; call her.
Spatial proximity, someone’s place, and custody
عند locates something at a boundary or near a reference point. It does not necessarily mean “inside”; compare عند البيت “at/by the house” with في البيت “inside the house.” Before a person’s name, عند منى conventionally means “at Mona’s home/place” unless context supplies a workplace or station.
A spatial scene
أنا عند باب العيادة، وأختي جوه عند الاستقبال، والملف عندها.
ʾana ʿand bāb il-ʿiyāda, wi-ʾokhti guwwa ʿand il-istiʾbāl, wi-l-malaff ʿandaha.
I’m at the clinic door, my sister is inside at reception, and she has the file.
The three uses form one coherent scene: a landmark (عند باب), a service point (عند الاستقبال), and someone’s custody (عندها).
قابلني عند الكشك اللي جنب المحطة.
ʾābilni ʿand il-koshk illi gamb il-maḥaṭṭa.
Meet me by the kiosk next to the station.
سيب المفتاح عند البواب وإنت خارج.
sīb il-miftāḥ ʿand il-bawwāb wi-nta khārig.
Leave the key with the doorman when you go out.
English with the doorman tempts مع, but عند البواب profiles custody or location in his keeping. مع البواب can instead suggest accompaniment or simply “together with the doorman,” depending on context.
Possession, availability, and personal states
The construction extends naturally from “in someone’s sphere” to several English have expressions.
| Egyptian frame | Natural English | What عند contributes |
|---|---|---|
| عندي عربية | I have a car | possession/access |
| عندي وقت | I have time | availability |
| عندي ميعاد | I have an appointment | scheduled commitment |
| عندي صداع | I have a headache | experienced state |
| عندي سؤال | I have a question | discourse possession |
عندي سؤال صغير قبل ما نبدأ.
ʿandi suʾāl ṣughayyar ʾabl ma nibdaʾ.
I have a quick question before we start.
هي عندها صداع ومش قادرة تركز.
hiyya ʿandaha ṣodāʿ wi-mish ʾādra tirakkiz.
She has a headache and can’t concentrate.
عندك وقت نبص على الأرقام سوا؟
ʿandak waʾt niboṣṣ ʿala l-ʾarʾām sawa?
Do you have time for us to look at the figures together?
These are prepositional predicates, not conjugated verbs. Present time normally has no copula. In the past, كان عندي supplies the time frame; in the future, حيبقى عندي or context does.
عندي versus معايا
عندي gives broad possession, access, or availability. معايا says that something accompanies the speaker or is currently on hand. The two can overlap when the possessed item is present, but they are not interchangeable in every context.
عندي لابتوب في الشغل، إنما التابلت معايا في الشنطة.
ʿandi lābtōb fish-shoghl, innama t-tāblit maʿāya fish-shanṭa.
I have a laptop at work, but I have the tablet with me in my bag.
For this possession contrast, compare مع — with.
Negation depends on the construction
Possessive عندي has the common negative ماعنديش “I don’t have.” A purely locational phrase normally takes independent مش.
ماعنديش كاش، بس ينفع أدفع بالكارت.
ma-ʿandīsh kāsh, bass yinfaʿ ʾadfaʿ bil-kārt.
I don’t have cash, but I can pay by card.
أنا مش عند الدكتور؛ أنا مستنيه تحت.
ʾana mish ʿand id-doktōr; ʾana mistannīh taḥt.
I’m not at the doctor’s; I’m waiting for him downstairs.
The first denies possession. The second denies location. Do not replace both with one English-driven rule for not have/be at.
Lexical frames and compounds
Several high-frequency frames are best learned whole: استنى عند “wait at/by,” سيب حاجة عند حد “leave something with someone,” and من عند “from someone’s place/shop.”
جبت الجبنة دي من عند الراجل اللي في أول الشارع.
gibt il-gibna di min ʿand ir-rāgil illi fi ʾawwil ish-shāriʿ.
I got this cheese from the man’s shop at the start of the street.
Here من عند does not literally translate word for word into idiomatic English. It locates the source at a person’s place or establishment.
Relatives require a local complement
When the head noun is understood inside a relative clause, Egyptian normally keeps a resumptive suffix.
ده المحاسب اللي كل الفواتير عنده.
da l-muḥāsib illi koll il-fawātīr ʿandu.
This is the accountant who has all the invoices.
فاكر البيت اللي استنينا عنده وقت المطر؟
fākir il-bēt illi istannēna ʿandu waʾt il-maṭar?
Do you remember the house where we waited during the rain?
English leaves a location gap in the house where we waited. Egyptian states the relation locally with عنده.
Register
عند is the neutral form in Egyptian conversation and ordinary writing (informal/neutral). لدى “in the possession/presence of” and بحوزة “in the custody of” belong mainly to formal, legal, and journalistic language (formal/legal). They are appropriate in their registers but stilted in a casual exchange. Regional and social varieties can differ in suffix vowels; this page maintains the mainstream Cairene baseline.
Common Mistakes
Choosing في for every English “at”
❌ استناني في باب السينما.
Incorrect for waiting by the entrance; في suggests an inside relation.
✅ استناني عند باب السينما الساعة سبعة.
istannāni ʿand bāb is-sīnima s-sāʿa sabʿa.
Wait for me at the cinema entrance at seven.
Separating the suffix
❌ المفاتيح عند هو.
Incorrect—the pronoun must attach to عند.
✅ المفاتيح عنده لحد ما نرجع.
il-mafātīḥ ʿandu li-ḥadd ma nirgaʿ.
He has the keys until we return.
Stranding the relation in a relative
❌ دي الصيدلية اللي استنيت.
Incorrect for ‘the pharmacy where I waited’; the location must be resumed.
✅ دي الصيدلية اللي استنيت عندها بعد الشغل.
di ṣ-ṣaydaliyya lli istannēt ʿandaha baʿd ish-shoghl.
This is the pharmacy where I waited after work.
Defaulting to formal لدى
❌ لدي صداع ومحتاج أروح.
Grammatical formal Arabic, but mismatched with ordinary Cairene conversation.
✅ عندي صداع، فحروح أرتاح شوية.
ʿandi ṣodāʿ, fa-ḥa-rūḥ ʾartāḥ shuwayya.
I have a headache, so I’m going to rest for a bit.
Key Takeaways
Use عند for a landmark, someone’s place, or someone’s sphere of custody. Suffixed عندي extends to possession, availability, commitments, and personal states. Contrast broad possession عندي with current accompaniment معايا, use ماعنديش for negative possession, and keep suffixed عند inside relative clauses.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Pronoun Suffixes after PrepositionsB1 — Attach Egyptian pronoun suffixes to prepositions and choose the host-specific forms used after على، مع، في، من، and لـ.
- مع — withB1 — Use Egyptian مع for accompaniment, interaction, alignment, and current custody, with its full Cairene suffix paradigm.
- Possession with عند، مع، and لـA1 — Choose عند for broad possession, مع for current custody, and لـ for ownership or belonging in everyday Egyptian.
- Locative SentencesA1 — Express where people and things are with zero copula, precise location phrases, and the right contrast between location and existence.
- Having and Not HavingB1 — Choose among عندي, معايا, بتاعي, and مفيش by distinguishing possession, current custody, ownership, and availability.
- No English-Style Preposition StrandingB2 — Build Egyptian relatives and questions without dropping or stranding the preposition selected by the predicate.