فكر fakkar is the ordinary Cairene verb for directing thought toward something, considering a choice, or reaching a thought. It is a Pattern II verb with a doubled ك in pronunciation: unvocalized فكر must be read فَكَّرْ fakkar, not as a three-distinct-consonant Form I verb.
Its central frames are فكر في حاجة “think about/consider something” and فكر إن... “think/conclude that....” A directly attached person pronoun creates the important causative reading فكرني بـ... “remind me of....” English think does not tell you which Egyptian frame to choose; إن content clauses provide the larger clause pattern.
Complete practical paradigm
| Person | Perfect | Bare imperfect | b-imperfect | ḥa-future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | فَكَّرْتْ fakkart | أَفَكَّرْ ʾafakkar | بَفَكَّرْ bafakkar | حَفَكَّرْ ḥa-fakkar |
| إنت | فَكَّرْتْ fakkart | تِفَكَّرْ tifakkar | بِتْفَكَّرْ bitfakkar | حَتْفَكَّرْ ḥa-tfakkar |
| إنتي | فَكَّرْتِي fakkarti | تِفَكَّرِي tifakkari | بِتْفَكَّرِي bitfakkari | حَتْفَكَّرِي ḥa-tfakkari |
| هو | فَكَّرْ fakkar | يِفَكَّرْ yifakkar | بِيْفَكَّرْ biyfakkar | حَيْفَكَّرْ ḥa-yfakkar |
| هي | فَكَّرِتْ fakkarit | تِفَكَّرْ tifakkar | بِتْفَكَّرْ bitfakkar | حَتْفَكَّرْ ḥa-tfakkar |
| إحنا | فَكَّرْنَا fakkarna | نِفَكَّرْ nifakkar | بِنْفَكَّرْ binfakkar | حَنْفَكَّرْ ḥa-nfakkar |
| إنتوا | فَكَّرْتُوا fakkartu | تِفَكَّرُوا tifakkaru | بِتْفَكَّرُوا bitfakkaru | حَتْفَكَّرُوا ḥa-tfakkaru |
| هم | فَكَّرُوا fakkaru | يِفَكَّرُوا yifakkaru | بِيْفَكَّرُوا biyfakkaru | حَيْفَكَّرُوا ḥa-yfakkaru |
The doubling remains throughout the paradigm. Prefixes may form tight clusters in fast Cairo speech—بتفكر bitfakkar, حنفكر ḥa-nfakkar—but the doubled ك is not lost. The b-imperfect commonly presents thought in progress or repeated deliberation; the bare imperfect appears after modals, purpose expressions, and other licensers.
فكرنا في العرض يومين قبل ما نرد.
fakkarna fi l-ʿarḍ yōmēn ʾabl ma nirudd.
We thought about the offer for two days before replying.
أنا بفكر أغير مواعيد الشغل في رمضان.
ʾana bafakkar ʾaghayyar mawāʿīd ish-shoghl fi Ramaḍān.
I'm thinking of changing my work hours during Ramadan.
The last example uses a bare action complement after بفكر in natural conversation. With a heavier or more explicit noun-like action, بفكر في إني أغير... is also possible, but it makes the contemplated proposition more explicit.
في for a topic, إن for a conclusion
Use في when the following phrase is the topic or option under consideration. The pronoun attaches to the preposition: فكرت فيه “I thought about it,” not to the verb. Use إن when what follows is the content of a belief or conclusion.
بتفكر في إيه وإنت ساكت من الصبح؟
bitfakkar fi ʾēh wi-inta sākit min iṣ-ṣobḥ?
What have you been thinking about while sitting silent all morning?
فكرت فيه كويس، والوقت مش مناسب دلوقتي.
fakkart fīh kuwayyis, wi-l-waʾt mish munāsib dilwaʾti.
I thought it through carefully, and the timing isn't right now.
فكرت إن المحل قفل، بس لقيته لسه فاتح.
fakkart ʾinn il-maḥall ʾifil, bass laʾēto lissa fātiḥ.
I thought the shop had closed, but I found it still open.
In the last frame, everyday Cairo also often chooses افتكرت إن... or كنت فاكر إن... for “I thought/believed that....” فكرت إن... can suggest that a conclusion occurred to the speaker. The alternatives overlap, but they do not make فكر في interchangeable with فكر عن.
Thinking, remembering, and reminding
فكر في فلان means “think about someone.” افتكر فلان means “remember/recall someone.” With a direct object, فكر فلان بـ... means “remind someone of....” This is a valency change within an established lexical use, not permission to attach any object to “think about.”
فكرني بالورق قبل ما ننزل من المكتب.
fakkarni bil-waraʾ ʾabl ma ninzil min il-maktab.
Remind me about the paperwork before we leave the office.
الصورة دي فكرتني بأول شقة سكنا فيها.
iṣ-ṣūra di fakkaritni bi-ʾawwil shaʾʾa sakanna fīha.
This photo reminded me of the first apartment we lived in.
The second sentence has a nonhuman feminine subject الصورة, hence فكرتني fakkaritni. The attached -ني is the person who is reminded; the remembered content follows بـ.
Commands, negation, participles, and lexical limits
Commands are فكر fakkar, فكري fakkari, and فكروا fakkaru. Negative commands use ماتفكرش. Finite perfect and b-imperfect use ما...ش; future commonly uses مش حـ.
فكر كويس قبل ما تمضي على أي حاجة.
fakkar kuwayyis ʾabl ma timḍi ʿala ʾayy ḥāga.
Think carefully before you sign anything.
مابفكرش أسيب الفريق عشان خلاف صغير.
ma-bafakkarsh ʾasīb il-farīʾ ʿashān khilāf ṣughayyar.
I'm not considering leaving the team over a small disagreement.
مش حفكر في السفر غير لما أخلص المشروع.
mish ḥa-fakkar fi s-safar ghēr lamma ʾakhallaṣ il-mashrūʿ.
I won't think about traveling until I finish the project.
The active participle مفكر mifakkar occurs in uses such as مفكر إن... “under the impression that...” and مفكر نفسك مين؟ “who do you think you are?” (informal, often challenging). The same written form can also be read in learned vocabulary as “thinker” (formal/academic). A passive participle for “thought about” is theoretically buildable, but ordinary Cairo normally says حاجة فكرنا فيها rather than forcing a rare standalone form. By contrast, فاكر is the very frequent lexical state “remembering/thinking that,” not simply a transparent replacement for every form of فكر.
إنت مفكر إن السعر شامل التوصيل؟
inta mifakkar ʾinn is-siʿr shāmil it-tawṣīl?
Are you under the impression that the price includes delivery?
A short dialogue
فكرت في اقتراح سارة، ولا لسه؟
fakkart fi ʾiʾtirāḥ Sāra, walla lissa?
Have you thought about Sara's suggestion yet?
آه، وبفكر إننا نجربه أسبوع من غير التزام.
ʾāh, wi-bafakkar ʾinnina nigarrabo ʾusbūʿ min ghēr iltizām.
Yes, and I'm thinking we should try it for a week with no commitment.
Register and variation
The frames taught here are mainstream Cairene (informal/neutral). MSA فَكَّرَ / يُفَكِّرُ في is related but carries formal person and mood morphology (formal/MSA); copying its final vowels produces non-Cairene speech. تأمل “contemplate” and nouns such as مفكر “intellectual” are common in elevated media or academic discussion (formal/academic). Regional Egyptian speech can vary in prefix vowels and cluster realization (regional); the doubled ك and the core valency contrasts remain the important production targets.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English “think about” with عن.
❌ بفكر عن العرض الجديد.
Incorrect neutral Cairene valency—deliberate thought about a topic uses في.
✅ بفكر في العرض عشان المرتب أحسن.
bafakkar fi l-ʿarḍ ʿashān il-morattab ʾaḥsan.
I'm considering the offer because the salary is better.
2. Attaching a person as though “think about” were transitive.
❌ فكرتك طول اليوم.
This normally suggests “I reminded you,” not “I thought about you.”
✅ فكرت فيك لما عديت من قدام الكلية.
fakkart fīk lamma ʿaddēt min ʾuddām il-kulliyya.
I thought about you when I passed the college.
3. Using the MSA imperfect citation as ordinary Cairo speech.
❌ هو يفكر في المشكلة الآن.
Mismatched register for a neutral Cairene conversation; use the b-imperfect and Egyptian time adverb.
✅ هو بيفكر في المشكلة دلوقتي ومشغول بيها.
huwwa biyfakkar fi l-moshkila dilwaʾti wi-mashghūl bīha.
He's thinking about the problem now and is preoccupied with it.
4. Losing the doubled consonant.
فكرت قبل ما أرفض الطلب.
fakkart ʾabl ma ʾarfoḍ iṭ-ṭalab.
fakart ʾabl ma ʾarfoḍ iṭ-ṭalab
Pronunciation error—the Pattern II verb keeps doubled kk: I thought before refusing the request.
Key Takeaways
- Use فكر في for a topic or option and فكر إن for propositional content.
- فكر فيا means “think about me”; فكرني بـ... means “remind me of....”
- Keep doubled ك across perfect, imperfect, command, and clitic forms.
- Separate ongoing deliberation بيفكر, remembered belief فاكر, and the more restricted participial or learned uses of مفكر.
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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.
- في — in, at, and withinA1 — Use Cairene في for location, containment, time, and lexical frames, with its complete attached-pronoun paradigm.
- Content Clauses with إنB1 — Build Egyptian content clauses with إن, subject suffixes, independent aspect, and the clause patterns used after knowing, saying, hearing, and discovering.
- افتكر iftikir — remember; thinkA2 — Use افتكر for remembering and supposing, with its distinct perfect and imperfect stems, objects, and إن clauses.
- نسي nisi — forgetA2 — Conjugate final-weak نسي, choose objects and bare-verb complements, and distinguish forgetting events from the state ناسي.