خد khad — take | Arabic (Egyptian) Grammar

Everyday Cairene أخد ʾakhad covers the core idea “take” and many conventional extensions: receive something, choose transport, require time, take medicine, or make a decision. Its principal parts must be learned together: أخد / ياخد / خد / واخد ʾakhad / yākhod / khod / wākhid. The short command خد cannot be predicted safely from the English gloss or from the visible perfect.

This page gives the practical mainstream Cairo paradigm (informal/neutral). Formal أخذ / يأخذ / خذ (formal MSA) is related but belongs to another register and paradigm. Broader hamzated-verb theory is covered in أكل and أخذ.

The complete practical paradigm

The perfect uses أخد- before endings. The imperfect has long ā in singular forms; feminine singular and plural endings shorten or reshape the edge of the stem.

Subject	Perfect	B-imperfect	Bare imperfect
أنا	أخدت ʾakhadt	باخد bākhod	آخد ʾākhod
إنت	أخدت ʾakhadt	بتاخد bitākhod	تاخد tākhod
إنتي	أخدتي ʾakhadti	بتاخدي bitākhdi	تاخدي tākhdi
هو	أخد ʾakhad	بياخد biyākhod	ياخد yākhod
هي	أخدت ʾakhadit	بتاخد bitākhod	تاخد tākhod
إحنا	أخدنا ʾakhadna	بناخد binākhod	ناخد nākhod
إنتوا	أخدتوا ʾakhadtu	بتاخدوا bitākhdu	تاخدوا tākhdu
هم	أخدوا ʾakhadu	بياخدوا biyākhdu	ياخدوا yākhdu

أخدنا النسخة الأصلية من الموظفة ورجعناها بعد التصوير.

ʾakhadna n-noskha l-ʾaṣliyya min il-mwaẓẓafa wi-raggaʿnāha baʿd it-taṣwīr.

We took the original copy from the employee and returned it after photocopying.

هو بياخد اللابتوب معاه لما يشتغل برا.

huwwa biyākhod il-lābtōb maʿāh lamma yishtighal barra.

He takes the laptop with him when he works outside.

Use the b-imperfect for an ongoing, repeated, or characteristic event. Use the bare imperfect after a modal or in a proposal; it is not a second present tense.

ممكن ناخد الطريق الزراعي لو الصحراوي زحمة.

momkin nākhod iṭ-ṭarīʾ iz-zirāʿi law iṣ-ṣaḥrāwi zaḥma.

We can take the agricultural road if the desert road is congested.

💡

Store أخد، ياخد، خد، واخد as a lexical bundle. The productive person endings apply around those anchors, but no reliable English-based rule predicts the short command or participle.

Future, negation, and the irregular command

Future حـ joins the bare imperfect: حاخد، حتاخد، حياخد، حناخد. The first-person spelling حاخد represents ḥākhod, not two separately pronounced hamzas.

حاخد الورق للمحاسب بكرة الصبح.

ḥākhod il-waraʾ lil-moḥāsib bukra ṣ-ṣobḥ.

I'll take the paperwork to the accountant tomorrow morning.

Verbal negation encloses the finite verb: ماخدتش “didn't take,” مابياخدش “doesn't take.” An object suffix remains inside before final ـش.

ماخدتوش معايا عشان البطارية كانت فاضية.

ma-khadtūsh maʿāya ʿashān il-baṭṭariyya kānit fāḍya.

I didn't take it with me because the battery was dead. (masculine object)

The imperatives are خد khod to one man, خدي khodi to one woman, and خدوا khodu to a group. Attached objects follow the command directly.

خديه معاكي وجربيه في البيت براحتك.

khodīh maʿāki wi-garrabīh fi l-bēt birāḥtik.

Take it with you and try it at home at your leisure. (to one woman; masculine object)

خدوا بالكم من السلك اللي على الأرض.

khodu bālkum min is-silk illi ʿala l-ʾarḍ.

Watch out for the cable on the floor. (to a group)

The second is the lexicalized frame خد باله من “notice / pay attention to / watch out for.” Its possessor agrees with the attentive person; من introduces the danger or target.

💡

With an attached object, build one word outward from the verb: أخد + ها → أخدها, then place negative ـش last: ماخدهاش. English spacing is not a model for the Egyptian verb complex.

Argument frames: theme, source, goal, and carrier

Concrete أخد takes the thing directly. من marks where or from whom it was taken; a goal can use لـ or another normal goal phrase. مع + suffix highlights that someone carries the theme along.

سلمى أخدت المفتاح من البواب وطلعتهولنا.

Salma ʾakhadit il-miftāḥ min il-bawwāb wi-ṭallaʿithūlna.

Salma got the key from the doorman and brought it up to us.

English take and bring choose a viewpoint relative to a deictic center. Egyptian أخد emphasizes acquisition or movement away with the taker; verbs such as جاب and ودّى cover other directions. Do not choose solely from the English dictionary gloss.

Participles: possession and affected availability

Active واخد، واخدة، واخدين often presents a current resultant state: someone has taken, holds, occupies, or is on something. It is not simply a progressive replacement for بياخد.

ليلى واخدة الكارت معاها؛ كلمها قبل ما تدفع.

Lēla wākhda l-kārt maʿāha; kallimha ʾabl ma tidfaʿ.

Layla has the card with her; call her before you pay. (to a man)

Colloquial affected-state متاخد/متاخدة is common for something occupied or already claimed. Formal مأخوذ is a separate high-register choice.

الترابيزة دي متاخدة لحد الساعة عشرة.

it-tarabēza di mitākhda laḥadd is-sāʿa ʿashara.

This table is taken until ten o'clock.

Productive syntax versus stored collocations

Direct-object syntax is productive: a new object can replace الورق or المفتاح. Expressions such as أخد قرار “make a decision,” أخد دوا “take medicine,” أخد أجازة “take leave,” and duration الموضوع أخد ساعة must be learned as conventional frames. A theoretically possible combination is not automatically idiomatic.

الفحص أخد حوالي نص ساعة من غير انتظار.

il-faḥṣ ʾakhad ḥawāli noṣṣ sāʿa min ghēr intiẓār.

The examination took about half an hour, with no waiting.

For the larger lexical network, see خد collocations. A reference paradigm tells you how to inflect the verb; it cannot predict every noun that naturally combines with it.

Short dialogue

أ: أخدت الإيصال من الصيدلية؟

A: ʾakhadt il-ʾīṣāl min iṣ-ṣēdaliyya?

A: Did you get the receipt from the pharmacy? (to one man)

ب: أيوه، أخدته وححطه في الملف.

B: ʾaywa, ʾakhadtu wi-ḥaḥoṭṭo fi l-malaf.

B: Yes, I got it, and I'll put it in the file.

Register and variation

The page's forms are mainstream urban Cairene (informal/neutral). أخذ / يأخذ / خذ / مأخوذ belongs to formal writing, news, recitation, or deliberate code-switching (formal MSA). It is valid there, but mixing خذ into an otherwise relaxed Cairo paradigm is a register shift.

Alexandrian, Delta, Upper Egyptian, Bedouin, class-, age-, and community-linked speech may prefer different vowels, consonant realizations, or collocations (regional/social). Film dialogue can exaggerate خد! as a challenge or punchline (performance language); that staged force is not the neutral command.

Common Mistakes

1. Building the command from the perfect.

❌ أخد الشنطة وحطها جوه.

Incorrect for the intended command — أخد is the perfect citation form; the masculine command is خد.

✅ خد الشنطة وحطها في الدولاب.

khod ish-shanṭa wi-ḥoṭṭaha fi d-dulāb.

Take the bag and put it in the wardrobe. (to one man)

2. Copying English source marking.

❌ أخدت الورق عند السكرتيرة.

Incorrect for ‘took the papers from the secretary’ — the source is marked with من.

✅ أخدت الورق من السكرتيرة قبل ما تمشي.

ʾakhadt il-waraʾ min is-sikritēra ʾabl ma timshi.

I took the papers from the secretary before she left.

3. Leaving an object clitic outside negation.

❌ ماخدتش هو من المكتب.

Incorrect for ‘I didn't take it’ — a pronominal direct object attaches before final ـش.

✅ ماخدتوش من المكتب أصلا.

ma-khadtūsh min il-maktab ʾaṣlan.

I didn't take it from the office at all.

4. Importing the MSA command into neutral Cairo.

خذ الملف معك.

khudh il-malaffa maʿaka.

Take the file with you. (formal MSA; correct in its register)

✅ خد الملف معاك وإنت نازل.

khod il-malaf maʿāk wi-ʾinta nāzil.

Take the file with you when you go downstairs. (neutral Cairene)

Key Takeaways

Learn أخد / ياخد / خد / واخد as one irregular lexical bundle.
The thing taken is direct, من marks its source, and مع + suffix marks carrying it along.
Future حـ, negative ماـ...ـش, and object clitics attach to the verified stem.
Collocations such as أخد قرار and أخد باله من are stored frames, not automatic translations of every English take.

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