علّم / بيعلّم ʿallim / biyiʿallim is a high-frequency Cairene Pattern II verb from the root ع-ل-م. Its central sense is “teach,” especially teaching a person some content or how to perform a skill. A second everyday sense is “mark, tick, or select,” often with على. Context and the complement frame—not the English gloss alone—tell these senses apart.
The doubled لّ is essential. Unvocalized علم hides it, but the verb here is ʿallim, not ʿalim. Pattern II is related to اتعلم “learn,” yet the two verbs reverse the event’s perspective: a teacher علّم someone; the learner اتعلم something.
Complete practical paradigm
Pattern II keeps the same stem through the paradigm and adds ordinary Egyptian person marking. The forms below are mainstream urban Cairene (informal/neutral).
| Person | Perfect | Bare imperfect | b-imperfect | ḥa-future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | عَلِّمْتْ ʿallimt | أَعَلِّمْ ʾaʿallim | بَعَلِّمْ baʿallim | حَعَلِّمْ ḥa-ʿallim |
| إنت | عَلِّمْتْ ʿallimt | تِعَلِّمْ tiʿallim | بِتِعَلِّمْ bitiʿallim | حَتِعَلِّمْ ḥa-tiʿallim |
| إنتي | عَلِّمْتِي ʿallimti | تِعَلِّمِي tiʿallimi | بِتِعَلِّمِي bitiʿallimi | حَتِعَلِّمِي ḥa-tiʿallimi |
| هو | عَلِّمْ ʿallim | يِعَلِّمْ yiʿallim | بِيِعَلِّمْ biyiʿallim | حَيِعَلِّمْ ḥa-yiʿallim |
| هي | عَلِّمِتْ ʿallimit | تِعَلِّمْ tiʿallim | بِتِعَلِّمْ bitiʿallim | حَتِعَلِّمْ ḥa-tiʿallim |
| إحنا | عَلِّمْنَا ʿallimna | نِعَلِّمْ niʿallim | بِنِعَلِّمْ biniʿallim | حَنِعَلِّمْ ḥa-niʿallim |
| إنتوا | عَلِّمْتُوا ʿallimtu | تِعَلِّمُوا tiʿallimu | بِتِعَلِّمُوا bitiʿallimu | حَتِعَلِّمُوا ḥa-tiʿallimu |
| هم | عَلِّمُوا ʿallimu | يِعَلِّمُوا yiʿallimu | بِيِعَلِّمُوا biyiʿallimu | حَيِعَلِّمُوا ḥa-yiʿallimu |
خالتي علمتني الخياطة وأنا في ثانوي.
khālti ʿallimitni l-khiyāṭa wi-ʾana fi sanawi.
My aunt taught me sewing when I was in secondary school.
هو بيعلم المبتدئين كل سبت في المركز.
huwwa biyiʿallim il-mobtadiʾīn koll sabt fil-markaz.
He teaches beginners every Saturday at the centre.
حنعلم الفريق الطريقة الجديدة قبل ما المشروع يبدأ.
ḥa-niʿallim il-farīʾ iṭ-ṭarīʾa l-gidīda ʾabl ma l-mashrūʿ yibdaʾ.
We’ll teach the team the new method before the project starts.
The learner is a direct object
With the teaching sense, the learner normally follows directly: علّم ابنه، علّمت الطلبة، علّمني. Do not insert لـ merely because English can say “give lessons to someone.” The content can follow as a second noun or as a bare imperfect describing the acquired action.
المدربة علمتنا الإسعافات الأولية في يوم واحد.
il-modarriba ʿallimitna l-ʾisʿāfāt il-ʾawwaleyya fi yōm wāḥid.
The trainer taught us first aid in one day.
أبويا علمني أصلح الحاجات الصغيرة بنفسي.
ʾabūya ʿallimni ʾaṣallaḥ il-ḥāgāt iṣ-ṣughayyara binafsi.
My father taught me to fix small things myself.
In the second example, ـني is the learner and أصلّح agrees with that learner. With a feminine learner, say علّمها تصلّح; with several learners, علّمهم يصلّحوا. This is the same-subject bare complement also found with اتعلم, but علّم adds the teacher as an external causer.
Object clitics and negation
The learner clitic attaches directly to the verb: علّمني، علّمها، علّمنا، علّمهم. With circumfixal negation, the entire verb-plus-object unit sits inside ما...ش. If a second content object is pronominal too, Egyptian has more complex two-clitic possibilities, but A2 learners can keep the content overt: علّمه الطريقة “teach him the method.”
صاحبي علمني اللعبة في القطر وإحنا مسافرين.
ṣāḥbi ʿallimni l-loʿba fil-ʾaṭr wi-ʾiḥna mosāfrīn.
My friend taught me the game on the train while we were travelling.
ماعلموهمش يستخدموا الجهاز من غير إشراف.
ma-ʿallimūhomsh yistikhdimu l-gihāz min ghēr ʾishrāf.
They didn’t teach them to use the device without supervision.
أنا ماعلمتهاش عربي؛ هي اتعلمته من زمايلها.
ʾana ma-ʿallimthāsh ʿarabi; hiyya itʿallimito min zamāyilha.
I didn’t teach her Arabic; she learned it from her colleagues.
Commands and social force
The positive commands are علّم ʿallim, علّمي ʿallimi, and علّموا ʿallimu. Negative commands are ماتعلّمش، ماتعلّميش، ماتعلّموش. A direct imperative assigns responsibility and can sound firm; ممكن تعلّمني...؟ is the ordinary polite request “Could you teach/show me…?”
ممكن تعلمني أغير إعدادات اللغة؟
momkin tiʿallimni ʾaghayyar ʾiʿdādāt il-logha?
Could you teach me how to change the language settings?
علموا المتدربين خطوة خطوة، وماتستعجلوهمش.
ʿallimu l-mitdarribīn khoṭwa khoṭwa, wi-ma-tistaʿgilūhumsh.
Teach the trainees step by step, and don’t rush them. (to several instructors)
The mark or select sense
علّم على + item means put a mark by it, tick it, or select it. In digital contexts it may mean select/check an option (informal/technical). This is a lexicalized sense of the same spoken verb, not a new conjugation. The preposition على is the most reliable diagnostic.
علم على الإجابة الصح بقلم أزرق.
ʿallim ʿala l-ʾigāba ṣ-ṣaḥḥ bi-ʾalam ʾazraʾ.
Put a mark next to the correct answer with a blue pen. (to one man)
علمت على الملفات اللي لازم نبعتها النهارده.
ʿallimt ʿala l-malafāt illi lāzim nibʿatha n-naharda.
I marked the files that we need to send today.
Without enough context, علّم الولد naturally invites the teaching sense “he taught the boy.” علّم على اسم الولد clearly means “mark the boy’s name.” English mark also means grade schoolwork, but Egyptian may choose صحّح “correct/grade” for that activity. Do not force every English sense of mark into علّم.
Participles, nouns, and the درس relation
The spelling معلّم can hide different vowels and lexical histories. معلّم miʿallim is an active noun meaning teacher in some settings and “master craftsperson/boss” in others (socially and occupationally marked). Neutral school “teacher” is often مدرّس modarris. The passive reading معلّم miʿallam occurs in expressions such as معلّم عليه “marked/selected.” Because unvocalized spelling does not distinguish them, the complement and context must do the work.
الاسم معلم عليه في الكشف، يبقى صاحبه وصل.
il-ism miʿallam ʿalēh fil-kashf, yibʾa ṣāḥbo wiṣil.
The name is marked on the list, so its owner must have arrived.
تعليم taʿlīm means education or teaching and is common in institutional phrases (formal/institutional). درّس / بيدرّس more specifically presents teaching a school subject or course: بيدرّس رياضيات. علّم foregrounds causing a learner to acquire content or a skill: علّم ابنه الحساب. Both can translate English teach, but their preferred frames differ.
A short dialogue
أ: مين علمك تعمل القهوة بالطريقة دي؟
A: mīn ʿallimak tiʿmil il-ʾahwa biṭ-ṭarīʾa di?
A: Who taught you to make coffee this way? (to one man)
ب: زميلي علمني، وهو اتعلمها لما كان شغال في كافيه.
B: zamīli ʿallimni, wi-huwwa itʿallimha lamma kān shaghghāl fi kāfēh.
B: My colleague taught me, and he learned it when he worked in a café.
The dialogue keeps teacher and learner roles separate with علّم and اتعلم.
Register and variation
Everyday Pattern II علّم / بيعلّم is shared widely in urban Egyptian (informal/neutral). Formal عَلَّمَ / يُعَلِّمُ has related morphology but different endings and syntactic style (formal/MSA). The noun معلّم varies especially strongly by occupation, generation, class, and community: it can be respectful, traditional, or occupational rather than a neutral synonym for every teacher (social/community variation). Regional Egyptian speech may shift short vowels, while the doubled consonant remains structurally important.
Common Mistakes
1. Losing the doubled middle consonant.
جدي علمني الشطرنج وأنا صغير.
giddi ʿallimni sh-shaṭarang wi-ʾana ṣughayyar.
giddi ʿalimni sh-shaṭarang wi-ʾana ṣughayyar.
Pronunciation error—علّم has a doubled l in the teaching verb.
✅ جدي علمني الشطرنج في الإجازة الصيفية.
giddi ʿallimni sh-shaṭarang fil-ʾigāza ṣ-ṣēfiyya.
My grandfather taught me chess during the summer holiday.
2. Adding لـ before the learner.
❌ علمت لابني السواقة.
Incorrect for the ordinary teaching frame—the learner is a direct object.
✅ علمت ابني السواقة في شارع هادي.
ʿallimt ibni s-siwāʾa fi shāriʿ hādi.
I taught my son to drive on a quiet street.
3. Making the skill verb agree with the teacher.
❌ هي علمت الأولاد تطبخ.
Incorrect—the embedded skill belongs to plural الأولاد, so use يطبخوا.
✅ هي علمت الأولاد يطبخوا فطار بسيط.
hiyya ʿallimit il-ʾawlād yiṭbokhu faṭār basīṭ.
She taught the children to cook a simple breakfast.
4. Dropping على from the mark/select sense.
❌ علم الإجابة الصح في الورقة.
Unnatural for the intended ‘mark the correct answer’ sense—use علّم على.
✅ علم على الإجابة الصح وسيب الباقي فاضي.
ʿallim ʿala l-ʾigāba ṣ-ṣaḥḥ wi-sīb il-bāʾi fāḍi.
Mark the correct answer and leave the rest blank.
5. Treating an MSA citation as neutral Cairene conversation.
المعلم يعلم الطلاب القراءة.
al-muʿallimu yuʿallimu ṭ-ṭullāba l-ʾirāʾata.
The teacher teaches the students to read. (valid formal MSA)
✅ المدرس بيعلم العيال يقروا واحدة واحدة.
il-modarris biyiʿallim il-ʿiyāl yiʾraw wāḥda wāḥda.
The teacher is teaching the children to read step by step. (ordinary Cairo)
Key Takeaways
- Pronounce the doubled لّ in علّم / بيعلّم.
- The learner is a direct object; content may be another noun or a bare verb agreeing with that learner.
- Use علّم على for “mark/tick/select,” and use context to distinguish it from “teach.”
- Keep علّم, اتعلم, and درّس separate: teach a learner, learn, and teach a subject/course.
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- Egyptian Pattern II فعّلB1 — Recognize Pattern II by its doubled middle consonant and learn its attested Egyptian meanings, stems, complement frames, and aspect forms.
- Forms II–V Pattern RelationshipsB2 — Compare the Cairene shapes and lexical relationships of Forms II, III, IV, and V without turning their semantic tendencies into rules.
- اتعلم itʿallim — learnA2 — Use اتعلم for acquiring knowledge and skills, with bare-verb complements, sources, clitics, commands, and the full Cairene paradigm.
- درس daras — studyA2 — Use درس / بيدرس for academic subjects, institutions, and careful examination while distinguishing study, revision, learning, and teaching.
- Two Objects and Clitic OrderingB2 — Build Egyptian verb complexes with a direct-object theme and a recipient, including negative and contrastive forms.
- Participles of Forms II–XB1 — Recognize and use Cairene active and passive participles from derived verb patterns without treating the grid as mechanically productive.