Mainstream Cairene ساب sāb covers three tightly related frames: leave a person or thing behind, leave something in a resulting state, and let someone do something. Its hollow alternation is ساب / سبت / يسيب sāb / sibt / yisīb. English uses both leave and let, but Egyptian keeps one verb and lets the complement structure distinguish the senses.
This page gives the everyday Cairo system (informal/neutral). General hollow classes are explained in hollow verbs; do not infer ساب's short vowel from جاب or another hollow verb.
The complete practical paradigm
The unsuffixed perfect has long ā. Consonant-initial endings select short سِبـ sib-. The imperfect has -sīb.
| Subject | Perfect | B-imperfect | Bare imperfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | سبت sibt | بسيب basīb | أسيب ʾasīb |
| إنت | سبت sibt | بتسيب bitsīb | تسيب tisīb |
| إنتي | سبتي sibti | بتسيبي bitsībi | تسيبي tisībi |
| هو | ساب sāb | بيسيب biyisīb | يسيب yisīb |
| هي | سابت sābit | بتسيب bitsīb | تسيب tisīb |
| إحنا | سبنا sibna | بنسيب binsīb | نسيب nisīb |
| إنتوا | سبتوا sibtu | بتسيبوا bitsību | تسيبوا tisību |
| هم | سابوا sābu | بيسيبوا biyisību | يسيبوا yisību |
سبنا العربية عند الميكانيكي ورجعنا بالمترو.
sibna l-ʿarabiyya ʿand il-mikānīki wi-rigiʿna bil-mitro.
We left the car at the mechanic's and came back by metro.
هو بيسيب الموبايل مقفول وقت المحاضرة.
huwwa biyisīb il-mobāyl maʾfūl waʾt il-moḥāḍara.
He keeps his phone turned off during the lecture.
Bare نسيب appears after a modal or in a proposal:
الأحسن نسيب النقطة دي لآخر الاجتماع.
il-ʾaḥsan nisīb in-noʾṭa di li-ʾākhir il-igtimāʿ.
It's better to leave this point until the end of the meeting.
Future, command, and participles
Future forms add joined حـ: حسيب، حتسيب، حيسيب، حنسيب. Commands are سيب sīb, سيبي sībi, and سيبوا sību.
حسيبلك المفتاح في ظرف عند البواب.
ḥasīblak il-miftāḥ fi ẓarf ʿand il-bawwāb.
I'll leave the key for you in an envelope with the doorman. (to one man)
سيبوا مساحة قدام الباب عشان الكراسي تعدي.
sību masāḥa ʾuddām il-bāb ʿashān il-karāsi tiʿaddi.
Leave some space in front of the door so the chairs can pass. (to a group)
Active سايب، سايبة، سايبين describes someone as leaving or having left a theme in a current relevant state. Passive/result مسيوب، مسيوبة، مسيوبين describes the affected theme as abandoned, unattended, or left as it is.
هو سايب شنطته في العربية وراجع يجيبها.
huwwa sāyib shanṭito fi l-ʿarabiyya wi-rāgiʿ yigībha.
He left his bag in the car and is going back to get it.
الأكل مسيوب برا التلاجة من بدري.
il-ʾakl masyūb barra t-tallāga min badri.
The food has been left outside the refrigerator for a while.
Frame 1: leave a theme or leave a place
With a direct object, ساب means leave something or someone behind. A location specifies where; لـ + recipient can specify who the item is left for.
نورا سابت الأوراق على مكتبي من غير ملاحظة.
Nūra sābit il-ʾawrāʾ ʿala maktabi min ghēr molāḥẓa.
Nora left the papers on my desk without a note.
With a place, ساب الشغل can mean “left/quit the job,” while ساب البيت means departed from or abandoned the home depending on context. For neutral physical departure without an affected object, مشي من or خرج من may be more precise.
ساب الشغل القديم بعد ما لقى فرصة أحسن.
sāb ish-shoghl il-ʾadīm baʿd ma laʾa forṣa ʾaḥsan.
He left his old job after finding a better opportunity.
Frame 2: object plus result complement
In ساب الباب مفتوح, the object الباب is left in the state مفتوح. The complement agrees with the object, not with the subject.
سابت الشباك مفتوح طول الليل.
sābit ish-shobbāk maftūḥ ṭūl il-lēl.
She left the window open all night.
سيب الترابيزة فاضية عشان نحط عليها الأكل.
sīb it-tarabēza fāḍya ʿashān niḥoṭṭ ʿalēha l-ʾakl.
Leave the table empty so we can put the food on it. (to one man)
English leave has the same broad construction, but English word order cannot supply Egyptian gender agreement: feminine الرسالة requires واضحة.
Frame 3: object plus bare verb means “let”
In the permission or noninterference frame, the person being allowed is a direct object, and the action follows as a person-marked bare imperfect. سابني أتكلم literally organizes “left me [to] speak.”
المدير سابنا نخلص العرض بطريقتنا.
il-modīr sābna nikhallaṣ il-ʿarḍ bi-ṭarīʾitna.
The manager let us finish the presentation our way.
سيبني أشرح اللي حصل من الأول.
sībni ʾashraḥ illi ḥaṣal min il-ʾawwil.
Let me explain what happened from the beginning. (to one man)
The lower verb agrees with the allowed participant: سابها تشرح “he let her explain,” سابهم يختاروا “he let them choose.” It has no بـ because ساب carries the temporal and aspectual frame.
Clitics and negation
Direct-object suffixes are especially common because both “leave” and “let” select an affected participant. Perfect سابها keeps the long stem; first-person سبتها uses short sib-. In negation, the suffix precedes ـش.
ماسبتهاش لوحدها؛ فضلت مستني لحد ما صاحبتها وصلت.
ma-sibthāsh liwaḥdaha; fiḍilt mistanni laḥadd ma ṣaḥbitha wiṣlit.
I didn't leave her alone; I waited until her friend arrived.
A negative command is ماتسيبش plus any object before final ـش:
ماتسيبهوش مفتوح وإنت خارج.
ma-tisībhūsh maftūḥ wi-ʾinta khārig.
Don't leave it open when you go out. (masculine object; to one man)
Short dialogue
أ: سبتلي نسخة من العقد؟
A: sibtili noskha min il-ʿaʾd?
A: Did you leave me a copy of the contract?
ب: أيوه، سبتها في الدرج اللي فوق.
B: ʾaywa, sibtha fi d-dorg illi fōʾ.
B: Yes, I left it in the top drawer.
Register and variation
ساب / يسيب is mainstream Egyptian (informal/neutral). Formal Arabic distributes these meanings among ترك “leave,” سمح لـ “allow,” and other verbs (formal MSA). They are valid formal choices, but there is no one-to-one formal substitute for every ساب frame.
Regional and social varieties may differ in vowels and in how freely ساب + object + bare verb expresses permission (regional: Alexandria, Delta, Upper Egypt, Bedouin; social/community). Drama can make سيبني! sound confrontational through pitch and volume (performance language); the same words can be a mild request among intimates.
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping long ā before first-person ـت.
❌ أنا سابت الورق على المكتب.
Incorrect — first singular uses the short hollow stem سبت; سابت is third-person feminine.
✅ أنا سبت الورق في ملف أزرق.
ʾana sibt il-waraʾ fi malaf ʾazraʾ.
I left the papers in a blue folder.
2. Adding بـ to the permitted action.
❌ سابني بتكلم مع العميل.
Incorrect for ‘let me speak’ — the lower action is a bare imperfect agreeing with the object.
✅ سابني أتكلم مع العميل لوحدي.
sābni ʾatkallim maʿ il-ʿamīl liwaḥdi.
He let me speak with the client by myself.
3. Failing to agree a result complement with its object.
❌ سبت الشنطة مفتوح.
Incorrect — the result adjective describes feminine الشنطة.
✅ سبت الشنطة مفتوحة عشان تنشف.
sibt ish-shanṭa maftūḥa ʿashān tinshaf.
I left the bag open so it would dry.
4. Separating the object from negative ـش.
❌ ما سبت ها ش هناك.
Incorrect — the verb, object suffix, and circumfixal negation form one written word.
✅ ماسبتهاش هناك بعد ما المكان قفل.
ma-sibthāsh hunāk baʿd ma l-makān ʾifil.
I didn't leave it there after the place closed.
Key Takeaways
- Learn ساب / سبت / يسيب as a hollow bundle with lexical vowels.
- A direct object can be left behind, followed by a result complement, or licensed to perform a bare-verb action.
- In the “let” frame, the lower verb agrees with the object: سابها تتكلم.
- Active سايب and result مسيوب describe current states; finite forms describe the event itself.
Now practice Arabic
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- 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.
- Weak Verbs with Object CliticsC1 — Attach Egyptian object pronouns to hollow and final-weak verbs without losing the correct stem or negation order.
- Direct-Object Suffixes on VerbsB1 — Attach Egyptian direct-object pronouns to past, imperfect, and negative verb hosts while preserving gender, clitic order, and discourse reference.
- Subject Control and Raising-Like PredicatesC2 — Distinguish intentional control complements from Cairene predicates that merely evaluate how a situation appears or turns out.
- Asking and Giving PermissionB1 — Ask for, grant, limit, and refuse permission in Cairene Arabic with forms matched to relationship, imposition, and setting.