Cairene لقى laʾa means “find,” but its most useful frames go beyond locating a missing object. Speakers also find someone doing something, find a situation to be a certain way, and use تلاقيه... to offer a likely inference. Its final-weak bundle is لقى / لقيت / يلاقي / لاقي laʾa / laʾēt / yilāʾi / lāʾi.
This page uses mainstream urban Cairo (informal/neutral), where ق is /ʾ/. General final-weak morphology belongs on defective verbs; the forms here must not be copied blindly onto every verb ending in ى.
The complete practical paradigm
Before first- and second-person perfect endings, لقى uses لقيـ with long ē. Third-person feminine has short لقت laʾit, while plural لقوا loses the written ى. The imperfect uses the longer stem لاقي.
| Subject | Perfect | B-imperfect | Bare imperfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | لقيت laʾēt | بلاقي balāʾi | ألاقي ʾalāʾi |
| إنت | لقيت laʾēt | بتلاقي bitlāʾi | تلاقي tilāʾi |
| إنتي | لقيتي laʾēti | بتلاقي bitlāʾi | تلاقي tilāʾi |
| هو | لقى laʾa | بيلاقي biyilāʾi | يلاقي yilāʾi |
| هي | لقت laʾit | بتلاقي bitlāʾi | تلاقي tilāʾi |
| إحنا | لقينا laʾēna | بنلاقي binlāʾi | نلاقي nilāʾi |
| إنتوا | لقيتوا laʾētu | بتلاقوا bitlāʾu | تلاقوا tilāʾu |
| هم | لقوا laʾu | بيلاقوا biyilāʾu | يلاقوا yilāʾu |
لقينا مكان هادي نقعد فيه بعد الشغل.
laʾēna makān hādi niʾʿod fīh baʿd ish-shoghl.
We found a quiet place to sit after work.
كل مرة بلاقي حل مختلف لنفس المشكلة.
kull marra balāʾi ḥall mokhtalif li-nafs il-moshkila.
Every time, I find a different solution to the same problem.
Bare نلاقي follows a modal or purpose-like environment:
لازم نلاقي بديل قبل ما العقد يخلص.
lāzim nilāʾi badīl ʾabl ma l-ʿaʾd yikhlaṣ.
We have to find an alternative before the contract ends.
Future and the limited imperative
Future حـ joins the bare imperfect: حلاقي، حتلاقي، حيلاقي، حنلاقي.
حتلاقي البيانات كلها في آخر صفحة.
ḥatilāʾi l-bayānāt kollaha fi ʾākhir ṣafḥa.
You'll find all the information on the last page. (to one person)
Morphological imperatives لاقي lāʾi and plural لاقوا lāʾu exist, but “finding” is an outcome that cannot usually be commanded directly. Everyday instructions therefore prefer دور على “look for,” reserving imperative لاقي for marked challenges, games, or contexts where success is treated as controllable (marked/informal).
دور على اسمك في الكشف وقولي رقمك.
dawwar ʿala smak fi l-kashf wi-ʾulli raʾmak.
Look for your name on the list and tell me your number. (natural instruction, to one man)
This is an honest lexical limitation: having a possible imperative form does not make it the normal choice for every command.
Active participle لاقي: a current result state
لاقي، لاقية، لاقيين is extremely common when the subject currently has or cannot locate something. Negative مش لاقي often translates naturally as “can't find,” even though no modal verb appears.
أنا مش لاقي النظارة من الصبح.
ʾana mish lāʾi n-naẓẓāra min iṣ-ṣobḥ.
I haven't been able to find my glasses since this morning.
هي لاقية الشغل مناسب، بس المرتب قليل.
hiyya lāʾya sh-shoghl monāsib, bass il-murattab ʾalīl.
She finds the job suitable, but the salary is low.
The second example shades into evaluation: “she considers/finds the job suitable.” A general productive passive participle is not the conversational counterpart; use اتلاقى “was found” or موجود “present/available” according to meaning.
Direct objects and object clitics
The thing found is a direct object—no preposition corresponding to English for or on appears. دور على takes على because it means “search for”; لقى itself does not.
لقيت المحفظة بين الكرسي والحيطة.
laʾēt il-maḥfaẓa bēn il-kursi wi-l-ḥēṭa.
I found the wallet between the chair and the wall.
Before a direct-object suffix, use the appropriate clitic-bearing stem: لقيته laʾēto “I found him/it,” لقاها laʾāha “he found her/it.F.” Negative ـش follows the object.
مالقيتوش في المكتب، فكلمته على الموبايل.
ma-laʾētūsh fi l-maktab, fa-kallimto ʿala l-mobāyl.
I didn't find him at the office, so I called him on his mobile.
لقيتها في جيب الجاكت بعد ما دورت كتير.
laʾētha fi gēb il-gākit baʿd ma dawwart ktīr.
I found it in the jacket pocket after searching a lot. (feminine object)
Result complements: finding a situation
With لقى + object + predicate, the object is discovered in a state or activity. The predicate may be an adjective, participle, location, or person-marked bare imperfect.
رجعت البيت ولقيت الباب مقفول.
rigiʿt il-bēt wi-laʾēt il-bāb maʾfūl.
I got home and found the door locked.
دخلت المطبخ ولقيتها بتحضر العشا.
dakhalt il-maṭbakh wi-laʾētha bitḥaḍḍar il-ʿasha.
I went into the kitchen and found her preparing dinner.
The b-imperfect in بتحضر belongs to the activity already in progress when discovered. By contrast, a bare complement can occur in a prospective or repeated outcome frame, depending on the construction. Do not mechanically strip بـ after every instance of لقى.
لقى نفسه + predicate/activity means “found oneself...” and often presents an unplanned development.
لقيت نفسي بوافق قبل ما أفكر كويس.
laʾēt nafsi bawāfiʾ ʾabl ma ʾafakkar kwayyis.
I found myself agreeing before I'd thought it through.
Discourse تلاقيه: a likely inference
Second-person تلاقيه can grammaticalize into a stance frame: “you'll probably find that he...” or naturally “he's probably....” The literal discoverer is backgrounded, and the speaker offers a plausible explanation (informal/neutral).
ماردش لحد دلوقتي؛ تلاقيه نام بدري.
ma-raddish laḥadd dilwaʾti; tilāʾīh nām badri.
He hasn't replied yet; he probably went to bed early.
This is not certainty. Compare evidence-oriented شكله نام and open يمكن نام. The discourse use packages an inference as what the addressee would discover if the situation were checked. See evidence and inference.
Short dialogue
أ: لقيتي الشهادة القديمة فين؟
A: laʾēti sh-shahāda l-ʾadīma fēn?
A: Where did you find the old certificate? (to one woman)
ب: لقيتها جوه كتاب في الدولاب.
B: laʾētha guwwa kitāb fi d-dulāb.
B: I found it inside a book in the wardrobe.
Register and variation
لقى / يلاقي is ordinary Egyptian (informal/neutral). Formal Arabic commonly uses وجد / يجد (formal MSA); it is correct in formal prose and may enter educated speech, but it does not replace every participial or inferential Cairene use.
Alexandrian, Delta, Upper Egyptian, Bedouin, class-, age-, and community-linked varieties may differ in vowels and in the realization of ق (regional/social). Mainstream Cairo uses /ʾ/; /q/ or /g/ belongs to labeled formal, learned, or regional systems. Drama may heighten لقيت نفسي... for comic storytelling (performance language).
Common Mistakes
1. Attaching first-person ـت directly to لقى.
❌ أنا لقت المفتاح.
Incorrect — لقت is third-person feminine; first singular is لقيت.
✅ أنا لقيت المفتاح ورا المكتبة.
ʾana laʾēt il-miftāḥ wara l-maktaba.
I found the key behind the bookcase.
2. Copying the preposition from “look for.”
❌ لقيت على حل للمشكلة.
Incorrect — the thing found is a direct object; على belongs in دور على ‘search for.’
✅ لقيت حل عملي للمشكلة.
laʾēt ḥall ʿamali lil-moshkila.
I found a practical solution to the problem.
3. Using a separated English-style object after negation.
❌ مالقيتش هو في البيت.
Incorrect for ‘I didn't find him’ — the direct-object pronoun attaches before final ـش.
✅ مالقيتوش في البيت ولا في الشغل.
ma-laʾētūsh fi l-bēt wala fi sh-shoghl.
I didn't find him at home or at work.
4. Reading ق as /q/ in neutral Cairo.
هي لقت الورقة.
hiyya laʾit il-waraʾa.
hiya laqit il-waraqa
Pronunciation/register error — ordinary Cairene has /ʾ/ for both instances of ق here.
Key Takeaways
- Learn لقى / لقيت / يلاقي / لاقي as one final-weak bundle.
- The found theme is a direct object; دور على uses على because it means “search for.”
- لقى + object + predicate reports the state or activity discovered, while لقى نفسه presents an unplanned development.
- مش لاقي describes a current inability/result state, and discourse تلاقيه... offers a likely inference.
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