نام is the everyday Cairene verb for sleeping and going to sleep. It is hollow, from ن-و-م, with a crucial split: third-person perfect نام nām, suffixed perfect نمت nimt, and imperfect ينام yinām. Its active participle نايم nāyim describes the resulting state “asleep.” The full weak-class comparison appears under نام-type hollow verbs.
English often uses sleep both for an event and a state. Egyptian makes the viewpoint visible: بينام presents a habit or transition into sleep, while نايم normally says someone is already asleep. The distinction is grammatical and useful, not merely stylistic.
Complete practical paradigm
| Person | Perfect | Bare imperfect | b-imperfect | ḥa-future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | نِمْتْ nimt | أَنَامْ anām | بَنَامْ banām | حَنَامْ ḥa-nām |
| إنت | نِمْتْ nimt | تِنَامْ tinām | بِتِنَامْ bitinām | حَتِنَامْ ḥa-tinām |
| إنتي | نِمْتِي nimti | تِنَامِي tināmi | بِتِنَامِي bitināmi | حَتِنَامِي ḥa-tināmi |
| هو | نَامْ nām | يِنَامْ yinām | بِيِنَامْ biyinām | حَيِنَامْ ḥa-yinām |
| هي | نَامِتْ nāmit | تِنَامْ tinām | بِتِنَامْ bitinām | حَتِنَامْ ḥa-tinām |
| إحنا | نِمْنَا nimna | نِنَامْ ninām | بِنْنَامْ binnām | حَنِنَامْ ḥa-ninām |
| إنتوا | نِمْتُوا nimtu | تِنَامُوا tināmu | بِتِنَامُوا bitināmu | حَتِنَامُوا ḥa-tināmu |
| هم | نَامُوا nāmu | يِنَامُوا yināmu | بِيِنَامُوا biyināmu | حَيِنَامُوا ḥa-yināmu |
Do not average the stems into a nonexistent form. The perfect contrast نام / نمت and the long-ā imperfect must be stored together.
نمت بعد الفجر وصحيت على صوت التليفون.
nimt baʿd il-fagr wi-ṣiḥēt ʿala ṣōt it-telefōn.
I fell asleep after dawn and woke up to the sound of the phone.
أختي نامت عندنا عشان الطريق كان مقفول.
ʾokhti nāmit ʿandina ʿashān iṭ-ṭarīʾ kān maʾfūl.
My sister stayed the night at our place because the road was closed.
The perfect can report the onset “fell asleep,” the sleep interval “slept,” or—with a host/location—“stayed the night.” Context supplies the natural English wording.
Event or habit versus established state
Use b-imperfect for a recurring bedtime or for the process of falling asleep. Use the agreeing participle نايم، نايمة، نايمين when the relevant fact is the current state.
البيبي بينام أول ما العربية تتحرك.
il-bēbi biyinām awwil ma l-ʿarabiyya titḥarrak.
The baby falls asleep as soon as the car starts moving.
البيبي نايم دلوقتي، فاقفل الباب بالراحة.
il-bēbi nāyim dilwaʾti, fa-ʾfil il-bāb bir-rāḥa.
The baby is asleep now, so close the door gently.
هما نايمين من بدري ومش سامعين الدوشة.
humma nāymīn min badri wi-mish sāmʿīn id-dōsha.
They've been asleep for a while and can't hear the noise.
English is sleeping does not decide the form. Ask whether the clause profiles entry/habit (بينام) or the resultant state (نايم).
Bare, future, and commands
Bare imperfect follows licensing expressions: عايز أنام، لازم تنام. Future حـ joins the imperfect. Positive commands retain long ā: نام، نامي، ناموا. Negative commands use ماتنامش rather than negating the imperative itself.
محتاج أنام ساعتين قبل الوردية بالليل.
moḥtāg anām sāʿtēn ʾabl il-wardiyya bil-lēl.
I need to sleep for two hours before the night shift.
حنام في القطر عشان أوصل مرتاح.
ḥa-nām fi l-ʾaṭar ʿashān ʾawṣal mirtāḥ.
I'll sleep on the train so I arrive rested.
نامي شوية وأنا هرد على الباب.
nāmi shuwayya wi-ʾana ha-rudd ʿala l-bāb.
Get some sleep, and I'll answer the door. (to one woman)
ماتنامش والموبايل في إيدك.
ma-tināmsh wi-l-mōbāyl fi ʾīdak.
Don't fall asleep with the phone in your hand.
Valency, duration, and apparent objects
نام is intransitive. A duration can follow directly (نام تلات ساعات), على marks a surface, في a place, and عند a host. Any suffix belongs to the preposition: نمت عندهم means “I slept at their place”; ـهم is not an object of نام.
نمنا تلات ساعات على الكنبة في الاستراحة.
nimna talāt sāʿāt ʿala l-kanaba fi l-istirāḥa.
We slept for three hours on the sofa in the lounge.
مانمتش عندهم؛ رجعت بيتي آخر الليل.
ma-nimtish ʿandohom; rigiʿt bēti ʾākhir il-lēl.
I didn't stay at their place; I went home late at night.
Because the base verb has no direct object, it has no ordinary direct-object clitic. The derived causative نوّم nawwim means “put someone to sleep” and can take one: نوّمته nawwimto. That is a different verb, not an object-bearing version of نام.
نومته بالعافية بعد ما فضل يعيط.
nawwimto bil-ʿāfya baʿd ma fiḍil yiʿayyaṭ.
I finally got him to sleep after he kept crying.
Lexicalized expressions
نام في العسل describes someone who is oblivious to what is happening (informal/idiomatic). It does not literally describe a sleeping location. نوم is the common verbal noun “sleep,” while نومة can package one spell or manner of sleep; those nouns have their own collocations.
إحنا بنحاول نحل المشكلة وهو نايم في العسل.
iḥna binḥāwil niḥill il-moshkila wi-huwwa nāyim fi l-ʿasal.
We're trying to solve the problem while he's completely oblivious. (informal idiom)
A short dialogue
إنت صاحي ولا صحيتك من النوم؟
inta ṣāḥi walla ṣaḥḥētak min in-nōm?
Are you awake, or did I wake you up?
كنت نايم، بس خلاص صحيت ومش حنام تاني.
kont nāyim, bass khalāṣ ṣiḥēt wi-mish ḥa-nām tāni.
I was asleep, but I'm awake now and won't go back to sleep.
The dialogue contrasts past state كنت نايم, bounded awakening صحيت, and negated future مش حنام.
Register and variation
The forms here are mainstream Cairene (informal/neutral). Formal نامَ / ينامُ carries MSA inflection (formal/MSA). Regional varieties may differ in prefix vowels or preferred expressions for staying overnight (regional). رقد may appear in formal, religious, rural, or literary contexts with different lexical coloring; it is not the neutral Cairo replacement for نام.
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping long ā before the first-person suffix.
❌ أنا نامت على الكنبة بعد الشغل.
Incorrect first-person perfect—the suffix stem is نمت.
✅ أنا نمت على الكنبة من كتر التعب.
ʾana nimt ʿala l-kanaba min kotr it-taʿab.
I fell asleep on the sofa from exhaustion.
2. Using b-imperfect for someone already asleep.
❌ وطي صوتك، البنت بتنام جوه.
Wrong for the intended established state; بتنام profiles an event or habit.
✅ وطي صوتك، البنت نايمة جوه.
waṭṭi ṣōtak, il-bint nāyma guwwa.
Lower your voice; the girl is asleep inside.
3. Attaching an object directly to intransitive نام.
❌ نامته الساعة عشرة.
Incorrect if intended as “he slept”; an object requires the separate causative نوّم.
✅ نومته الساعة عشرة بعد الحكاية.
nawwimto s-sāʿa ʿashara baʿd il-ḥikāya.
I put him to sleep at ten after the story.
4. Omitting future marking in an independent prediction.
❌ إحنا ننام بدري بكرة.
Incorrect for a neutral independent future statement—bare ننام needs a licenser.
✅ إحنا حننام بدري بكرة عشان السفر.
iḥna ḥa-ninām badri bukra ʿashān is-safar.
We'll sleep early tomorrow because of the trip.
5. Negating the participle like a finite verb.
❌ هو مانايمش دلوقتي.
Incorrect neutral negation—the participle takes independent مش.
✅ هو مش نايم؛ هو بيقرا في أوضته.
huwwa mish nāyim; huwwa biyiʾra fi ʾōḍto.
He isn't asleep; he's reading in his room.
Key Takeaways
- Store نام / نمت / ينام as one hollow paradigm.
- Use b-imperfect for a sleep event or habit and نايم for the established state “asleep.”
- Base نام is intransitive; apparent pronouns attach to prepositions, while causative نوّم takes the sleeper as an object.
- Perfect, future, participle, and causative answer different viewpoint and participant questions; English sleep alone cannot choose among them.
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- نام nām-Type Hollow VerbsB1 — Conjugate Cairene نام–نمت–بينام and distinguish sleeping events, habits, and the participial state نايم.
- Hollow Verbs: Middle Radical و or يB1 — Understand how Egyptian hollow verbs alternate between long and short stems without forcing قال، باع، and نام into one vowel pattern.
- Participles of Weak VerbsB2 — Form and use Cairene participles such as رايح، شايف، and ماشي with correct agreement, negation, and discourse value.
- Active Participles as Current StatesA2 — Use active participles such as واقف، قاعد، نايم، and عارف as agreeing current, persistent, and result-oriented predicates.
- صحي ṣiḥi — wake upA2 — Conjugate final-weak صحي، distinguish becoming awake from being صاحي, and use causative صحّى with affected objects.