رجع rigiʿ / يرجع yirgaʿ is the everyday Cairene verb “return, go back, come back.” Which English direction sounds natural depends on the speaker’s viewpoint; Egyptian does not need separate verbs for go back and come back. The same verb also introduces a resumed or repeated event: رجع ينام “he went back to sleep,” a construction related to finite verb chaining.
Base رجع is normally intransitive. Doubled رجّع raggaʿ is the productive causative/transitive partner “return something, send or take someone back.” Ordinary writing omits the shadda, so the participant structure and spoken consonant length are essential.
Complete practical paradigm
| Person | Perfect | Bare imperfect | b-imperfect | ḥa-future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | رِجِعْتْ rigiʿt | أَرْجَعْ ʾargaʿ | بَرْجَعْ bargaʿ | حَرْجَعْ ḥargaʿ |
| إنت | رِجِعْتْ rigiʿt | تِرْجَعْ tirgaʿ | بِتِرْجَعْ bitirgaʿ | حَتِرْجَعْ ḥatirgaʿ |
| إنتي | رِجِعْتِي rigiʿti | تِرْجَعِي tirgaʿi | بِتِرْجَعِي bitirgaʿi | حَتِرْجَعِي ḥatirgaʿi |
| هو | رِجِعْ rigiʿ | يِرْجَعْ yirgaʿ | بِيِرْجَعْ biyirgaʿ | حَيِرْجَعْ ḥayirgaʿ |
| هي | رِجْعِتْ rigʿit | تِرْجَعْ tirgaʿ | بِتِرْجَعْ bitirgaʿ | حَتِرْجَعْ ḥatirgaʿ |
| إحنا | رِجِعْنَا rigiʿna | نِرْجَعْ nirgaʿ | بِنِرْجَعْ binirgaʿ | حَنِرْجَعْ ḥanirgaʿ |
| إنتوا | رِجِعْتُوا rigiʿtu | تِرْجَعُوا tirgaʿu | بِتِرْجَعُوا bitirgaʿu | حَتِرْجَعُوا ḥatirgaʿu |
| هم | رِجْعُوا rigʿu | يِرْجَعُوا yirgaʿu | بِيِرْجَعُوا biyirgaʿu | حَيِرْجَعُوا ḥayirgaʿu |
The perfect has rigiʿ- before first- and second-person endings and “we,” but shorter rigʿ- before the feminine and plural third-person endings. The imperfect is -irgaʿ-, not a mechanical copy of the perfect vowels. In mainstream Cairo, written ج is /g/, so every form here has g in romanization.
رجعت من البنك قبل ما الفرع يقفل.
rigiʿt min il-bank ʾabl ma l-farʿ yiʾfil.
I got back from the bank before the branch closed.
أختي بترجع البيت بالمترو أغلب الأيام.
ʾokhti bitirgaʿ il-bēt bil-mitro ʾaghlab il-ʾayyām.
My sister gets home by metro most days.
Returning from, to, and with
The source takes من: رجع من الشغل. A familiar destination can follow directly: رجع البيت، رجع المكتب. لـ can highlight an endpoint or institutional destination. Means and accompaniment use their ordinary prepositions: رجع بالمترو، رجع مع أخوه.
حنرجع للفرع بكرة عشان نمضي الورق.
ḥanirgaʿ lil-farʿ bukra ʿashān nimḍi l-waraʾ.
We'll go back to the branch tomorrow to sign the papers.
هو رجع من السفر ومعاه هدايا للكل.
huwwa rigiʿ min is-safar wi-maʿāh hadāya lil-koll.
He came back from the trip with gifts for everyone.
English forces come versus go according to viewpoint. Egyptian رجع simply profiles restoration to an earlier place or situation; context supplies direction.
Bare forms, commands, and negation
Bare أرجع، ترجع، يرجع appears after modals and subordinators. Future حـ joins it. Commands are ارجع irgaʿ, ارجعي irgaʿi, and ارجعوا irgaʿu. Negative commands use ماترجعش، ماترجعيش، ماترجعوش.
عايز أرجع قبل ما الطريق يزحم.
ʿāyiz ʾargaʿ ʾabl ma ṭ-ṭarīʾ yizḥam.
I want to head back before the road gets congested. (male speaker)
ارجعي بسرعة لو حسيتي إنك تعبانة.
irgaʿi bisorʿa law ḥassēti innik taʿbāna.
Come back quickly if you feel unwell. (to one woman)
مارجعناش نفس الكافيه عشان كان زحمة.
ma-rigiʿnāsh nafs il-kafēh ʿashān kān zaḥma.
We didn't go back to the same café because it was crowded.
The house spelling joins the circumfix: مارجعناش. A space after independent discourse ما would express another structure, not ordinary verbal negation.
Participle and sequential رجع
The active participle is راجع rāgiʿ, feminine راجعة rāgʿa, plural راجعين ragʿīn. It commonly presents someone on the return journey or committed to returning. Perfect رجع asserts the completed return; راجع presents the participant’s current trajectory.
مريم راجعة من الشغل ودقايق وتكون هنا.
Maryam rāgʿa min ish-shoghl wi-daʾāyiʾ wi-tkūn hina.
Maryam is on her way back from work and will be here in a few minutes.
When رجع is followed by a bare imperfect with the same understood subject, it marks resumption or repetition: رجع يذاكر “he started studying again.” This is not a second dictionary meaning to conjugate separately; ordinary رجع introduces a renewed event.
بعد المكالمة رجع يشتغل على التقرير.
baʿd il-mokālma rigiʿ yishtaghal ʿala t-taʾrīr.
After the call, he went back to working on the report.
In the fixed frame رجع في كلامه, the return is abstract: someone retracts a promise or reverses what they said. Keep في; English go back on cannot supply the Egyptian preposition mechanically.
رجع في كلامه بعد ما قرا العقد كويس.
rigiʿ fi kalāmu baʿd ma ʾara l-ʿaʾd kuwayyis.
He went back on what he said after reading the contract carefully.
Transitive رجّع and object clitics
To return a thing or send a person back, use doubled رجّع / بيرجّع raggaʿ / biyiraggaʿ. Its direct object can be a noun or clitic. This is the ordinary source of forms such as رجعته “I returned it/sent him back,” not the intransitive base.
رجعتله السماعات بعد ما جربتها.
raggaʿtillu s-sammāʿāt baʿd ma garrabtaha.
I gave him the headphones back after trying them.
المحل مارجعليش الفلوس على الكارت.
il-maḥall ma-raggaʿlīsh il-folūs ʿala l-kārt.
The shop didn't refund the money to my card.
A short dialogue
إنت راجع المكتب بعد الغدا؟
inta rāgiʿ il-maktab baʿd il-ghada?
Are you going back to the office after lunch?
آه، حرجع آخد اللابتوب وبعدين أروح.
āh, ḥargaʿ ākhod il-lābtōb wi-baʿdēn ʾarūḥ.
Yes, I'll go back, get the laptop, and then leave.
Register and variation
These forms are neutral mainstream Cairo (informal/neutral). عاد / يعود and fully inflected رَجَعَ / يَرْجِعُ occur in MSA, news, and deliberate formal code-switching (formal/MSA). Cairene ج is /g/; /dʒ/ or /ʒ/ can occur in learned, borrowed, performance, or non-Cairene speech, while other regional Egyptian communities have their own realizations (regional/social/performance). A different realization is not an error when it belongs to the speaker’s variety, but it is not this page’s production baseline.
Common Mistakes
1. Pronouncing Cairo ج as an imported sound.
هي رجعت من الجامعة بدري.
hiyya rigʿit min ig-gāmʿa badri.
hiyya ridʒʿit min il-dʒāmiʿa badri
Pronunciation/register error—mainstream Cairo has g in both instances of ج.
2. Giving intransitive رجع a direct object.
رجعت الكتاب للمكتبة قبل ميعاده.
raggaʿt il-kitāb lil-maktaba ʾabl mīʿādu.
rigiʿt il-kitāb lil-maktaba ʾabl mīʿādu
I returned the book to the library before it was due. The affected object requires doubled رجّع in speech.
3. Copying English direction into two Egyptian verbs.
❌ محتاج فعل تاني عشان أقول come back.
Incorrect analysis—رجع covers both ‘come back’ and ‘go back’; viewpoint comes from context.
✅ ارجع هنا لما تخلص المكالمة.
irgaʿ hina lamma tikhlaṣ il-mokālma.
Come back here when you finish the call.
4. Adding b- to the resumed action.
❌ بعد الراحة رجع بيكمل الشغل.
Incorrect in the compact resumption frame—رجع licenses a bare following verb.
✅ بعد الراحة رجع يكمل الشغل بهدوء.
baʿd ir-rāḥa rigiʿ yikammil ish-shoghl bihodūʾ.
After the break, he went back to finishing the work calmly.
Key Takeaways
- Learn رجع / يرجع as rigiʿ / yirgaʿ, with Cairene g.
- Base رجع is intransitive; doubled رجّع returns an object or sends someone back.
- رجع + bare imperfect presents a repeated or resumed action.
- راجع usually presents a current return trajectory, while perfect رجع asserts completion.
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