جري giri is the everyday Cairene verb “run.” It is final-weak: the unsuffixed perfect ends in ـي, while suffixed perfect forms use ـيت with long ē, and plural imperfect forms lose the written final ي before ـوا. Its root is conventionally analyzed as ج-ر-ي, but the useful learner set is جري giri / جريت girēt / يجري yigri / جاري gāri.
English run covers physical running, operating a machine, managing a business, and flowing. Egyptian uses جري for physical running and several conventional extensions, but not for every English sense. A person بيجري, time بيجري, and work can be جاري; a person who manages a shop normally بيدير محل, not بيجري محل.
Core Practical Paradigm
| Person | Perfect | Bare imperfect | b-imperfect | ḥa-future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | جِرِيتْ girēt | أَجْرِي ʾagri | بَجْرِي bagri | حَجْرِي ḥagri |
| إنت | جِرِيتْ girēt | تِجْرِي tigri | بِتِجْرِي bitigri | حَتِجْرِي ḥatigri |
| إنتي | جِرِيتِي girēti | تِجْرِي tigri | بِتِجْرِي bitigri | حَتِجْرِي ḥatigri |
| هو | جِرِي giri | يِجْرِي yigri | بِيِجْرِي biyigri | حَيِجْرِي ḥayigri |
| هي | جِرْيِتْ giryit | تِجْرِي tigri | بِتِجْرِي bitigri | حَتِجْرِي ḥatigri |
| إحنا | جِرِينَا girēna | نِجْرِي nigri | بِنِجْرِي binigri | حَنِجْرِي ḥanigri |
| إنتوا | جِرِيتُوا girētu | تِجْرُوا tigru | بِتِجْرُوا bitigru | حَتِجْرُوا ḥatigru |
| هم | جِرْيُوا giryu | يِجْرُوا yigru | بِيِجْرُوا biyigru | حَيِجْرُوا ḥayigru |
The singular command is اجري igri; the plural is اجروا igru. Negative commands are ماتجريش and ماتجروش. The active participle agrees as جاري، جارية، جاريين gāri, gārya, gāryīn.
Running, Routes, and Chasing
With no object, جري describes the runner's movement. A location uses في, a direction can use ناحية, and a pursued person or vehicle follows ورا. English speakers often transfer run after as بعد, but ordinary Egyptian motion uses ورا here; compare the fuller treatment of ورا with pursuit.
الولاد جروا في الحوش لحد ما الجرس ضرب.
il-wilād giru fi l-ḥōsh laḥadd ma l-garas ḍarab
The kids ran around the courtyard until the bell rang.
جريت ورا الميكروباص، بس كان اتحرك خلاص.
girēt wara l-mikrōbāṣ, bass kān itḥarrak khalāṣ
I ran after the minibus, but it had already pulled away.
الكلب بيجري ناحيتنا؛ ماتفتحش البوابة.
il-kalb biyigri nāḥyitna; ma-tiftaḥsh il-bawwāba
The dog is running toward us; don't open the gate.
جري بالعربية means to drive fast or speed, literally “run with the car.” It is a conventional frame, not a claim that the car is a grammatical direct object.
بلاش تجري بالعربية عشان الطريق مبلول.
balāsh tigri bil-ʿarabiyya ʿashān iṭ-ṭarīʾ mablūl
Don't speed in the car—the road is wet.
Bare, Habitual, and Future Forms
The bare imperfect follows expressions such as لازم، عايز، عشان when the running is required, wanted, or purposive. The b-imperfect presents an actual ongoing run or a habit. Joined حـ places the event in the future.
لازم أجري آخر خمس دقايق عشان أخلص التمرين.
lāzim ʾagri ʾākhir khams daʾāyiʾ ʿashān ʾakhallaṣ it-tamrīn
I need to run for the last five minutes to finish the workout.
هي بتجري قبل الشغل تلات مرات في الأسبوع.
hiyya bitigri ʾabl ish-shoghl talāt marrāt fi l-ʾusbūʿ
She runs before work three times a week.
حنجري من أول الكوبري لو المطر وقف.
ḥanigri min ʾawwil il-kobri law il-maṭar wiʾif
We'll run from the start of the bridge if the rain stops.
Metaphor, Flow, and جاري
Several nonliteral uses are frequent and lexicalized. الوقت بيجري means that time is passing quickly. Water or another liquid can يجري “flow.” The participle جاري is especially common in professional and administrative language for an activity “currently under way.” These do not license every English use of run.
الوقت بيجري وإحنا لسه ماحجزناش القاعة.
il-waʾt biyigri wi-ʾiḥna lissa ma-ḥagaznāsh il-ʾāʿa
Time is flying, and we still haven't booked the hall.
المية جارية تحت الحوض من امبارح.
il-mayya gārya taḥt il-ḥōḍ min imbāriḥ
Water has been running under the sink since yesterday.
مراجعة العقود جارية، والرد النهائي يوم الخميس.
murāgaʿit il-ʿuʾūd gārya, wi-r-radd in-nihāʾi yōm il-khamīs
The contract review is under way, and the final response is due Thursday.
The last example is (professional/formal-leaning). In casual conversation, لسه بيراجعوا العقود “they're still reviewing the contracts” is often more natural. For a person physically running right now, finite بيجري is normally more conversational than جاري.
Valency, Object Clitics, and the Causative
Form I جري is intransitive. In جريت وراه, the suffix ـه attaches to ورا, not to the verb. If someone makes people run, Form II جرّى garra supplies a transitive causative and can carry an object suffix.
جريت وراها لحد باب العمارة عشان أديها المفاتيح.
girēt warāha laḥadd bāb il-ʿimāra ʿashān ʾaddīha l-mafātīḥ
I ran after her as far as the building entrance to give her the keys.
المدرب جراهم لفتين حوالين الملعب قبل الماتش.
il-modarreb garrāhom laffitēn ḥawālēn il-malʿab ʾabl il-mātsh
The coach made them run two laps around the field before the match.
The object suffix in جراهم belongs to the separate Form II verb. Do not manufacture an object form of intransitive جري merely because English can say run him ragged.
Negation and a Short Dialogue
Completed and b-imperfect clauses use ما...ش: ماجريتش، مابيجريش. Future clauses normally use مش حـ. A participial clause uses independent مش.
ماجريتش الصبح عشان ركبتي كانت واجعاني.
ma-girētsh iṣ-ṣobḥ ʿashān rukbiti kānit wagʿāni
I didn't run this morning because my knee was hurting.
ـ حتجري السباق كله؟ ـ لأ، حجري أول نص وبعدين همشي.
— ḥatigri s-sibāʾ kullu? — laʾ, ḥagri ʾawwil noṣṣ wi-baʿdēn hamshi
‘Will you run the whole race?’ ‘No, I'll run the first half and then walk.’
Register and Variation
Mainstream Cairo pronounces ج as g, so جري is giri (informal/neutral). Speakers from communities or regions with /dʒ/ or /ʒ/, and Cairenes reading formal MSA aloud, may realize the initial consonant differently. Formal MSA also has جرى / يجري (formal), but its morphology, syntax, and pronunciation are not the production model here. The administrative participle جاري readily participates in Egyptian–MSA style shifting; that makes it formal-leaning in some contexts, not “non-Egyptian.”
Common Mistakes
❌ أنا جري ورا الأتوبيس الصبح.
Incorrect first-person perfect: use the suffixed stem جريت.
✅ أنا جريت ورا الأتوبيس عند أول الشارع.
ʾana girēt wara l-ʾotobīs ʿand ʾawwil ish-shāriʿ
I ran after the bus at the beginning of the street.
❌ لازم بجري أسرع عشان ألحقهم.
Incorrect after لازم: this modal frame selects the bare imperfect, without b-.
✅ لازم أجري أسرع عشان ألحقهم قبل الملف.
lāzim ʾagri ʾasraʿ ʿashān ʾalḥaʾhom ʾabl il-malaf
I have to run faster to catch them before the turn.
❌ جريت بعد التاكسي عشان نسيت شنطتي.
Incorrect transfer of English ‘after’ for physical pursuit; Cairene uses ورا.
✅ جريت ورا التاكسي عشان شنطتي كانت جواه.
girēt wara t-tāksi ʿashān shanṭiti kānit guwwāh
I ran after the taxi because my bag was inside it.
❌ هو جريت في السباق امبارح.
Incorrect: third-person masculine perfect has final ـي, not suffixed ـيت.
✅ هو جري في السباق رغم إصابة رجله.
huwwa giri fi s-sibāʾ raghm ʾiṣābit riglu
He ran in the race despite his leg injury.
Key Takeaways
- Memorize جري / جريت / يجري / جاري; the final-weak alternation is part of the verb.
- Use ورا for pursuit and بالعربية for the lexicalized sense “speed in a car.”
- Choose bare, b-, and ḥa- imperfects by function, not as interchangeable English tenses.
- جاري has conventional flow and “under way” uses, while direct causation belongs to Form II جرّى.
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