باع bāʿ — sell | Arabic (Egyptian) Grammar

باع bāʿ is the everyday Cairene verb “sell.” It is hollow, and its middle consonant appears through vowel alternation rather than as a stable written ي in every form: باع bāʿ, but بعت biʿt and بيبيع biyibīʿ. The imperative is بيع bīʿ. These stems are lexical facts of this verb, not a general permission to guess the vowels of every hollow verb.

The broader contrast with other hollow classes is explained on the hollow-verb overview; here the target is the practical باع lexeme.

The thing sold is a direct object. The buyer normally takes لـ, and the price normally takes بـ. That frame differs from English “sell someone something,” where the recipient can appear without a preposition.

Complete Practical Paradigm

Person	Perfect	Bare imperfect	b-imperfect	ḥa-future
أنا	بِعْتْ biʿt	أَبِيعْ ʾabīʿ	بَبِيعْ babīʿ	حَبِيعْ ḥabīʿ
إنت	بِعْتْ biʿt	تِبِيعْ tibīʿ	بِتِبِيعْ bitibīʿ	حَتِبِيعْ ḥatibīʿ
إنتي	بِعْتِي biʿti	تِبِيعِي tibīʿi	بِتِبِيعِي bitibīʿi	حَتِبِيعِي ḥatibīʿi
هو	بَاعْ bāʿ	يِبِيعْ yibīʿ	بِيِبِيعْ biyibīʿ	حَيِبِيعْ ḥayibīʿ
هي	بَاعِتْ bāʿit	تِبِيعْ tibīʿ	بِتِبِيعْ bitibīʿ	حَتِبِيعْ ḥatibīʿ
إحنا	بِعْنَا biʿna	نِبِيعْ nibīʿ	بِنِبِيعْ binibīʿ	حَنِبِيعْ ḥanibīʿ
إنتوا	بِعْتُوا biʿtu	تِبِيعُوا tibīʿu	بِتِبِيعُوا bitibīʿu	حَتِبِيعُوا ḥatibīʿu
هم	بَاعُوا bāʿu	يِبِيعُوا yibīʿu	بِيِبِيعُوا biyibīʿu	حَيِبِيعُوا ḥayibīʿu

The positive commands are بيع bīʿ, بيعي bīʿi, and بيعوا bīʿu. Negative commands use the second-person bare imperfect: ماتبيعش، ماتبيعيش، ماتبيعوش.

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Memorize باع bāʿ — بعت biʿt — بيبيع biyibīʿ — بيع bīʿ. Copying the vowel of قال or نام produces a form that does not belong to this Cairene verb.

The Perfect Has Two Stem Shapes

Third-person perfect forms preserve long ā: باع، باعت، باعوا. First person, second person, and “we” select short بعـ biʿ- before the subject suffix. This alternation creates a useful contrast between بعنا biʿna “we sold” and باعنا bāʿna “he sold us.” In the second form, ـنا is an object clitic attached to the long third-person stem.

باعت المكتبة النسخ القديمة بنص التمن.

bāʿit il-maktaba n-nosakh il-ʾadīma bi-noṣṣ it-taman

The bookshop sold the old copies for half price.

بعنا المكتب الكبير وخلينا المكتب الصغير.

biʿna l-maktab il-kibīr wi-khallēna l-maktab iṣ-ṣoghayyar

We sold the large desk and kept the small one.

Unvocalized بعت has another difficulty: it can be biʿt “I/you sold” or baʿatt “I/you sent,” from بعت baʿat “send.” The object and context normally settle the reading: بعت الكنبة favors “sold the sofa,” while بعت الإيميل favors “sent the email.” There is no honest spelling trick that removes every ambiguity from unvocalized Arabic.

Imperfect, Future, and Commands

All imperfect persons use the long بيع bīʿ stem. The b-imperfect can describe a current sales event or a regular occupation. The bare imperfect occurs under a licensing expression such as عايز or لازم. Joined حـ marks a future presentation.

المحل بيبيع قطع غيار أصلية.

il-maḥall biyibīʿ ʾiṭaʿ ghiyār ʾaṣliyya

The shop sells genuine spare parts.

مضطر أبيع الساعة عشان أسدد القسط.

moḍṭarr ʾabīʿ is-sāʿa ʿashān ʾasaddid il-ʾisṭ

I have to sell the watch so I can pay the installment.

حنبيع الأجهزة الزيادة بعد الجرد.

ḥanibīʿ il-ʾaghhiza z-ziyāda baʿd il-gard

We'll sell the surplus equipment after the inventory.

ماتبيعوش الأرض قبل ما تسألوا محامي.

ma-tibīʿūsh il-ʾarḍ ʾabl ma tisʾalu moḥāmi

Don't sell the land before you consult a lawyer.

The bare imperative بيع can look like the noun بيع “sale/selling.” Syntax identifies the command. In formal documents, related verbal nouns and formal inflection are common (formal), but ordinary conversation uses the Cairene system shown here.

Item, Buyer, and Price

The item is direct. Mark the buyer with لـ and the sale price with بـ. English can say “They sold me the flat for…,” but Cairene organizes that as “they sold the flat to me for….”

صاحب الشقة باعها لزوجين شباب بمبلغ معقول.

ṣāḥib ish-shiʾʾa bāʿha li-zawgēn shabāb bi-mablagh maʿʾūl

The owner sold the apartment to a young couple for a reasonable amount.

بعت اللابتوب لزميلي بأقل من سعر السوق.

biʿt il-lābtōb li-zamīli bi-ʾaʾall min siʿr is-sūʾ

I sold the laptop to my colleague for less than the market price.

With a suffixed buyer, لـ stays visible: باعهولي “he sold it to me.” The first suffix represents the item; ـلي represents the buyer/recipient.

الجار باعهولي بالأقساط ومن غير مقدم.

il-gār bāʿhūli bil-ʾaʾsāṭ wi-min ghēr moʾaddam

The neighbor sold it to me in installments with no down payment.

Object Clitics and Negation

Attach an object pronoun to the correctly inflected verb. In بعته biʿtu “I sold it/him,” the subject suffix ـت comes before object ـه. In a negative, final ـش closes the envelope: مابعتهوش ma-biʿtūsh.

كنت ناوي أبيعه، بس غيرت رأيي.

kont nāwi ʾabīʿo, bass ghayyart raʾyi

I was planning to sell it, but I changed my mind.

مابعناهمش عشان العرض كان قليل.

ma-biʿnāhomsh ʿashān il-ʿarḍ kān ʾalīl

We didn't sell them because the offer was too low.

The object is plural in the second sentence, so ـهم appears inside ما...ش. Writing the pronoun as an independent هم would wrongly turn it into a subject pronoun.

Participles and Result States

The active participle is بايع bāyiʿ, with بايعة bāyʿa and بايعين bāyʿīn. It can identify a seller or present a completed/committed sale from the seller’s perspective. The passive/result participle مبيوع mabyūʿ agrees as مبيوعة and مبيوعين and is especially useful for “already sold.” Negate these nominal predicates with مش, not finite ما...ش.

المحل بايع آخر قطعة لحد تاني.

il-maḥall bāyiʿ ʾākhir ʾiṭʿa li-ḥadd tāni

The shop has sold the last piece to someone else.

العربية دي مبيوعة، بس الإعلان لسه موجود.

il-ʿarabiyya di mabyūʿa, bass il-ʾiʿlān lissa mawgūd

This car is sold, but the listing is still up.

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Finite ماباعش means “he did not sell.” Participial مش مبيوع means “not sold.” The English word sold can translate either construction, so identify event versus state first.

A Short Dialogue

ـ حتبيع الكاميرا لمين؟ ـ لواحد من النادي لو وافق على السعر.

— ḥatibīʿ il-kāmira li-mīn? — li-wāḥid min in-nādi law wāfaʾ ʿala s-siʿr

‘Who are you going to sell the camera to?’ ‘To someone from the club, if he agrees to the price.’

The buyer question is لمين؟, literally “to whom?” English Who will you sell it? cannot be copied without the preposition.

Register and Variation

This is mainstream Cairene (informal/neutral). MSA has cognate بَاعَ / يَبِيعُ with formal inflection (formal), but ordinary Egyptian has no MSA case or mood endings. Alexandrian, Delta, Upper Egyptian, Bedouin, class, and community varieties can differ in prefix vowels and connected-speech realization. Such differences do not change the central Cairo contrast باع–بعت–بيبيع taught here.

Common Mistakes

❌ إحنا باعنا المعدات.

Incorrect for ‘we sold’: the first-plural perfect requires the short stem.

✅ إحنا بعنا المعدات لشركة صغيرة.

ʾiḥna biʿna l-moʿiddāt li-sharika ṣoghayyara

We sold the equipment to a small company.

❌ باع الزبون الجهاز بخمسة آلاف.

Incorrect role assignment for ‘sold the customer the device’: the buyer needs لـ.

✅ باع الجهاز للزبون بخمسة آلاف.

bāʿ il-gihāz liz-zabūn bi-khamsa ʾālāf

He sold the device to the customer for five thousand.

❌ مابعت هو ش لحد.

Incorrect: a direct-object pronoun and negative -ش attach to the verb.

✅ مابعتهوش لحد عشان محتاجه.

ma-biʿtūsh li-ḥadd ʿashān meḥtāgo

I didn't sell it to anyone because I need it.

هي بتبيع هدوم أونلاين.

hiyya bitibīʿ hodūm ʾonlāyn

hiya tabīʿu thiyāban ʿabra l-ʾintirnit

Pronunciation/register error: reading the sentence with MSA inflection and vocabulary changes its register.

Key Takeaways

Use long باع for third-person perfects, short بعـ before first/second/we suffixes, and long بيع in imperfects and commands.
Mark the sold item directly, the buyer with لـ, and the price with بـ.
Distinguish finite selling events from participial بايع / مبيوع states.
Context disambiguates unvocalized بعت “sold” from بعت “sent.”

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