لـ — for, to, and belonging to | Arabic (Egyptian) Grammar

Attached لـ connects something to a recipient, beneficiary, owner, intended user, or goal: بعت للمدير “sent to the manager,” جبت لماما “brought for Mom,” الكتاب ليا “the book is mine,” and رايح للدكتور “going to the doctor.” These meanings share an endpoint relation—something is directed, assigned, or belongs to the complement.

English for is especially dangerous because it also appears in “wait for” and “look for.” Egyptian says استنى حد with a direct object and دور على حاجة with على. Learn a lexical frame, not a translation. The goal-preposition comparison develops the directional choices further.

Rule 1: لـ marks a recipient or beneficiary

With transfer verbs, لـ introduces the person receiving something. With other actions it identifies the person who benefits.

بعت الصور للمدير قبل الاجتماع بنص ساعة

baʿatt iṣ-ṣuwar li-l-mudīr ʾabl il-igtimāʿ bi-nuṣṣ sāʿa

I sent the photos to the manager half an hour before the meeting.

عملت لماما شاي بالنعناع بعد الغدا

ʿamilt li-māma shāy bin-naʿnāʿ baʿd il-ghada

I made Mom mint tea after lunch.

The recipient can be a full noun, a proper name, or a suffix. Short لـ is never a free word in these constructions: لماما، لمريم، للمدير.

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Think “endpoint” rather than memorizing to/for. A recipient receives an item; a beneficiary receives the benefit; an owner is the endpoint of an ownership relation.

Rule 2: spelling changes before the article

Before an indefinite noun or name, add لـ directly: لطالب، لمريم. Before الـ, the article’s alif drops, leaving للـ: للمدير، للبيت، للمحطة. Writing لالمدير incorrectly preserves an alif that standard Arabic-script spelling removes.

الجواب ده لمريم والظرف الكبير للمدرسة

il-gawāb da li-Maryam wiẓ-ẓarf il-kibīr li-l-madrasa

This letter is for Maryam, and the large envelope is for the school.

خليت نسخة للعميل ونسخة للمكتب

khallet nuskha li-l-ʿamīl wi-nuskha li-l-maktab

I left one copy for the client and one for the office.

This orthographic joining is stable across registers even though casual messages vary elsewhere in spacing.

Rule 3: possession and intended use form prepositional predicates

In a present clause, لـ can assign ownership without a spoken “is.” A question with لمين؟ asks who something belongs to.

الجاكيت ده لمين؟ هو ليا ولا لأخويا؟

il-gāket da li-mīn? huwwa liyya walla li-ʾakhūya?

Whose jacket is this? Is it mine or my brother’s?

الأوضة الصغيرة للضيوف والحمام اللي جنبها ليهم

il-ʾoḍa ṣ-ṣughayyara liḍ-ḍuyūf wi-l-ḥammām illi ganbha lehum

The small room is for the guests, and the bathroom beside it is for them.

Negate these predicates with مش: الكتاب مش ليا “the book isn’t mine.” This is not a finite verb, so verbal ما...ش does not wrap it.

Intended use also takes لـ: مفتاح للباب الخارجي “a key for the outer door,” كوباية للشاي “a cup for tea.” Context distinguishes an owner, recipient, and purpose.

A spatial goal scene

لـ commonly directs movement toward a person, institution, or practical destination. Egyptian alternatives depend on the verb and kind of goal; this page teaches frequent Cairo uses rather than reducing all motion to one rule.

خرجت من البيت ورحت للعيادة ووديت التحاليل للدكتور

kharagt min il-bet wi-ruḥt li-l-ʿiyāda wi-waddet it-taḥālīl li-d-duktūr

I left home, went to the clinic, and took the test results to the doctor.

The first لـ marks the movement goal; the second marks the recipient. English uses to in both, but Egyptian goal choice can also involve على or a bare destination with particular motion expressions.

إحنا رايحين للمحطة بدري عشان القطر

iḥna rāyḥīn li-l-maḥaṭṭa badri ʿashān il-ʾaṭr

We’re going to the station early because of the train.

The suffix paradigm: لـ becomes ليـ

With a bound pronoun, لـ uses the forms ليا، ليك، ليه and so on. Most have a long e; first-person ليا is liyya.

Person	Written form	Cairene reading	Core meaning
1st singular	ليا	liyya	to/for me; mine
2nd masculine singular	ليك	lek	to/for you; yours
2nd feminine singular	ليكي	leki	to/for you; yours
3rd masculine singular	ليه	leh	to/for him/it; his
3rd feminine singular	ليها	leha	to/for her/it; hers
1st plural	لينا	lena	to/for us; ours
2nd plural	ليكو	leku	to/for you all; yours
3rd plural	ليهم	lehum	to/for them; theirs

Written ليه is also the common question word “why?” Context and intonation distinguish ليه؟ leh? “why?” from suffixed preposition ليه leh “to/for him.”

اشتريت لنفسي قهوة وجبت ليها عصير

ishtaret li-nafsi ʾahwa wi-gibt leha ʿaṣīr

I bought myself coffee and brought her juice.

The recipient phrase often cliticizes onto a verb in writing: جبتلها means “I brought something for her,” with the thing understood or expressed elsewhere. Both the preposition and its pronoun remain inside the same written complex.

بعتلهم العنوان على الواتساب قبل ما يتحركوا

baʿattilhum il-ʿunwān ʿala l-Wātsāb ʾabl ma yitḥarraku

I sent them the address on WhatsApp before they set off.

Rule 4: lexical frames override English

Learn these common frames as units:

Egyptian frame	Natural English	Important contrast
قال لـ	tell / say to	English tell takes a direct object
شرح لـ	explain to	recipient takes لـ
اعتذر لـ	apologize to	do not substitute من or مع
مناسب لـ	suitable for	beneficiary/fit relation

قلت للموظفة إني محتاج أغير المعاد

ʾult li-l-muwaẓẓafa ʾinni miḥtāg ʾaghayyar il-miʿād

I told the employee that I needed to change the appointment.

اعتذرت ليها وشرحتلها اللي حصل بهدوء

iʿtazart leha wi-sharaḥtilha lli ḥaṣal bi-hudūʾ

I apologized to her and calmly explained what happened to her.

By contrast, استنى takes a direct object in mainstream Cairo: استنيتها “I waited for her.” دور على means “look for.” English for does not make لـ correct in either frame.

Rule 5: recipient relatives keep a suffix

English can strand to: “the client I sent the file to.” Egyptian normally keeps the recipient marked inside the relative clause.

ده العميل الجديد اللي بعتناله الملف الصبح

da l-ʿamīl il-gidīd illi baʿatnālu l-milaff iṣ-ṣubḥ

This is the new client we sent the file to this morning.

دي البنت اللي عملتلها التورتة في عيد ميلادها

di l-bint illi ʿamiltilha t-torta fi ʿīd mīlādha

This is the woman I made the cake for on her birthday.

The recipient suffix attaches locally, often to the verb complex. Omitting it copies an English gap and leaves the Egyptian transfer frame incomplete.

Register and alternatives

Formal إلى “to” is common in official writing, news, and read MSA (formal). It can appear in educated Egyptian code-switching, but ordinary Cairo usually prefers لـ, على, or a bare goal according to the expression. أرسلت الرسالة إلى الإدارة is not ungrammatical; it is simply more formal than بعت الجواب للإدارة in conversation.

Alexandrian, Delta, Upper Egyptian, Bedouin, class, age, and community usage varies in goal choice and plural suffixes (regional: Egypt). Do not flatten those systems into one “slang” alternative; this page gives a consistent mainstream Cairo production model.

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When English says for, retrieve the Egyptian predicate: عمل لحد، استنى حد، دور على حاجة. Three English-identical glosses require three different Egyptian frames.

Common Mistakes

❌ بعت الصور لالمدير امبارح

Incorrect spelling—before الـ, write لـ + الـ as للـ.

✅ بعت الصور للمدير بعد الاجتماع

baʿatt iṣ-ṣuwar li-l-mudīr baʿd il-igtimāʿ

I sent the photos to the manager after the meeting.

❌ جبت ل ها كوباية شاي

Incorrect—the suffix attaches to لـ; after the verb this forms one written complex.

✅ جبتلها كباية شاي قبل الشغل

gibtilha kubbāyit shāy ʾabl ish-shughl

I brought her a cup of tea before work.

❌ استنيت لها قدام البنك

Incorrect for ‘waited for her’—استنى takes a direct object in mainstream Cairene.

✅ استنيتها قدام البنك ربع ساعة

istannet-ha ʾuddām il-bank rubʿ sāʿa

I waited for her in front of the bank for fifteen minutes.

❌ ده الشخص اللي بعت الرسالة

Incorrect for the intended recipient reading ‘the person I sent the message to’—the clause needs a recipient suffix.

✅ ده الشخص اللي بعتله الرسالة المهمة

da sh-shakhṣ illi baʿattilu r-risāla l-muhimma

This is the person I sent the important message to.

أرسلت المستندات إلى الإدارة المختصة

ʾarsalt il-mustanadāt ʾila l-ʾidāra l-mukhtaṣṣa

I sent the documents to the relevant department. (formal administrative wording)

بعت الورق للإدارة اللي فوق

baʿatt il-waraʾ li-l-ʾidāra lli foʾ

I sent the papers to the department upstairs. (ordinary Cairene)

Key Takeaways

لـ directs an item, benefit, ownership relation, intended use, or goal toward an endpoint.
It attaches in writing: لمريم; before the article, write للمدير, not لالمدير.
Learn ليا، ليه، ليها، ليهم as host-specific suffixed forms.
English for does not predict Egyptian: compare عمل لحد، استنى حد، دور على حاجة.

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