مين mīn asks for a person or group of people. It can fill the subject position—“who called?”—stay after a verb as its object—“you met who?”—follow a preposition, or identify a possessor. Its position follows its grammatical role and the speaker's focus; Egyptian does not insert do or invert an auxiliary as English does.
The answer expected by مين is human: a name, pronoun, kin term, role, or group. For a thing or action, use إيه instead. Formal مَن man belongs to MSA (formal); everyday Cairo uses مين.
Rule 1: subject مين comes before its predicate
When the unknown person is the subject, مين occupies the subject position. There is no second subject to invert with the verb.
حسام كلم المدير بعد الاجتماع.
Ḥosām kallim il-modīr baʿd il-igtimāʿ.
Hossam called the manager after the meeting.
مين كلم المدير بعد الاجتماع؟
mīn kallim il-modīr baʿd il-igtimāʿ?
Who called the manager after the meeting?
This statement–question pair replaces the known subject حسام with unknown مين. It does not move the verb.
مين وصل المكتب قبل الساعة تسعة؟
mīn wiṣil il-maktab ʾabl is-sāʿa tisʿa?
Who reached the office before nine?
When the identity, gender, and number are unknown, the verb commonly appears in masculine singular, the unmarked question form. The answer then shows its own ordinary agreement:
وصلت داليا قبل الكل.
wiṣlit Dālya ʾabl il-koll.
Dalia arrived before everyone.
وصلوا تلاتة من فريق المبيعات.
wiṣlu talāta min farīʾ il-mabīʿāt.
Three people from the sales team arrived.
The agreement difference is not formal VSO “partial agreement.” It reflects an unknown subject in the question versus a known feminine or plural subject in the answer.
Rule 2: object مين normally stays after the verb
An unknown direct object appears where an ordinary object would appear.
إنت قابلت مين في فرع إسكندرية؟
inta ʾābilt mīn fi farʿ ʾIskandariyya?
Who did you meet at the Alexandria branch?
المدير اختار مين للمشروع الجديد؟
il-modīr ikhtār mīn lil-mashrūʿ il-gidīd?
Who did the manager choose for the new project?
English fronts who and adds did. Cairo leaves مين after قابلت/اختار and keeps the perfect verb fully inflected. Because مين itself fills the object position here, no object suffix resumes it.
A sharply rising مين؟! can be an echo after surprise:
بتقول المدير اختار مين؟!
bitʾūl il-modīr ikhtār mīn?!
You're saying the manager chose who?!
Ordinary information مين is prominent but often closes in pitch. The echo widens the pitch range and challenges what was heard.
Rule 3: ask “whose” with بتاع مين or noun + مين
Cairene has no separate word equivalent to English whose. Analytic بتاع مين asks who owns or is associated with something.
الموبايل ده بتاع مين؟
il-mobāyl da bitāʿ mīn?
Whose phone is this?
الشنطة اللي عند الباب بتاعة مين؟
ish-shanṭa lli ʿand il-bāb bitāʿit mīn?
Whose is the bag by the door?
بتاع/بتاعة agrees with the possessed item, not the owner being asked about. Compact noun + مين is also common when the relationship is clear:
مفتاح مين ده على الترابيزة؟
miftāḥ mīn da ʿala t-tarābēza?
Whose key is this on the table?
دور مين يراجع الحسابات النهارده؟
dōr mīn yirāgiʿ il-ḥisābāt in-naharda?
Whose turn is it to review the accounts today?
These compact iḍāfa-like questions ask association as well as legal possession. Learn the whole phrase appropriate to the noun.
Rule 4: keep preposition + مين together in neutral questions
The simplest pattern places مين after its preposition.
إنت نازل مع مين بعد الشغل؟
inta nāzil maʿ mīn baʿd ish-shoghl?
Who are you going out with after work?
الرسالة دي جاية من مين؟
ir-risāla di gayya min mīn?
Who is this message from?
حجزت الكرسي لمين؟
ḥagazt il-korsi li-mīn?
Who did you reserve the chair for?
The one-letter preposition لـ attaches in writing as لمين. Longer مع، من remain separate words before مين.
Rule 5: fronted مين requires a resumptive preposition
Speakers can move مين to the left for early focus, contrast, or identification, but the preposition's grammatical role remains inside the clause as a suffixed form.
مين إنت نازل معاه بعد الشغل؟
mīn inta nāzil maʿāh baʿd ish-shoghl?
Who is it that you're going out with after work?
مين المدير بعتله نسخة من العقد؟
mīn il-modīr baʿatlo noskha min il-ʿaʾd?
Who did the manager send a copy of the contract to?
معاه and recipient ـله resume the fronted person. English can strand with or to; Egyptian normally keeps the relation overt. See resumptive pronouns.
Rule 6: مين اللي asks for identifying focus
مين اللي...؟ means roughly “who is it that...?” It presupposes that someone satisfies the following description and asks the listener to identify them.
مين اللي بلغك إن المعاد اتغير؟
mīn illi ballaghak ʾinn il-mīʿād itghayyar?
Who was it that told you the appointment had changed?
مين اللي واقف مع سلمى عند الاستقبال؟
mīn illi wāʾif maʿ Salma ʿand il-istiʾbāl?
Who is the person standing with Salma at reception?
This is not an MSA agreeing relative: اللي stays invariant. The construction is more identifying than plain مين بلغك؟, and it can carry contrastive or suspicious bias depending on stress.
Embedded مين keeps Egyptian order
An embedded identity question appears after verbs of knowing, remembering, asking, or finding out. It does not invert.
مش فاكر مين استلم الشحنة امبارح.
mish fākir mīn istalam ish-shoḥna imbāriḥ.
I don't remember who received the shipment yesterday.
اسألهم الاجتماع مع مين الأول.
isʾalhum il-igtimāʿ maʿ mīn il-ʾawwil.
Ask them who the first meeting is with.
The questioned subject or complement remains in the same Egyptian position it has in a direct question. English word order after who is not copied.
A confirmation exchange
مين اللي كلمك؟ شريف؟
mīn illi kallimak? Sharīf?
Who called you? Sherif?
لأ، اللي كلمني كانت نجلاء من الحسابات.
laʾ, illi kallimni kānit Naglāʾ min il-ḥisābāt.
No, the person who called me was Nagla from accounts.
The proposed name gives the first turn a confirmation bias. The answer corrects it and uses feminine كانت once the referent is known.
Register and variation
مين is mainstream Cairo (informal/neutral). Formal مَن belongs to MSA and formal recitation or prepared speech (formal). Alexandrian, Delta, Upper Egyptian, Bedouin, age, class, and community varieties differ in pronunciation, question particles, and contour (regional/social). News interviews may retain Egyptian مين inside otherwise formal vocabulary; that is structured code-switching, not random mixture.
Common Mistakes
1. Adding English do-support or inversion.
❌ عمل مين إنت قابلت؟
Incorrect — Egyptian does not translate English ‘did’ as a separate auxiliary here.
✅ إنت قابلت مين بعد المؤتمر؟
inta ʾābilt mīn baʿd il-muʾtamar?
Who did you meet after the conference?
2. Fronting every object مين.
❌ مين المدير اختار للمهمة؟
Unnatural as a neutral object question; fronting needs a focus structure and often resumption.
✅ المدير اختار مين للمهمة الصعبة؟
il-modīr ikhtār mīn lil-mohimma ṣ-ṣaʿba?
Who did the manager choose for the difficult assignment?
3. Stranding a preposition after fronted مين.
❌ مين إنت اتكلمت مع؟
Incorrect English-style stranding — مع needs a resumptive suffix.
✅ مين إنت اتكلمت معاه عن المشروع؟
mīn inta itkallimt maʿāh ʿan il-mashrūʿ?
Who did you speak with about the project?
4. Using formal مَن as the casual default.
❌ من حضر الاجتماع امبارح؟
Register mismatch — مَن is formal MSA, not the neutral Cairene human question word.
✅ مين حضر الاجتماع امبارح من الفريق؟
mīn ḥaḍar il-igtimāʿ imbāriḥ min il-farīʾ?
Who from the team attended the meeting yesterday?
Key Takeaways
- Subject مين comes before its predicate; object مين normally stays after the verb.
- Ask possession with بتاع مين or a compact noun + مين expression.
- Keep preposition + مين in place, or front مين and resume it with a suffixed preposition.
- مين اللي...؟ asks for focused identification; embedded مين keeps Egyptian order.
- The unmarked verb with unknown subject مين is commonly masculine singular; the answer shows the known referent's agreement.
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