سافر / بيسافر sāfir / biyisāfir is the ordinary Cairene verb “travel, go away on a trip.” It is traditionally called Pattern III and has the characteristic long ā after the first root consonant, but that label does not predict its meaning or complement frame. Learn the lexical set سافر، بيسافر، مسافر، سفر together.
The verb is intransitive. A destination is a place expression, transport normally uses بـ, and a companion uses مع. English travel to, travel by, and travel with provide useful semantic prompts, but Egyptian does not attach a destination as a direct-object pronoun to the verb.
The participle's schedule use belongs to the wider system explained under scheduled future reference.
Complete practical paradigm
The long vowel remains in most singular imperfect forms. Before plural ـوا, the final short vowel is lost and the cluster is heard in يسافروا yisāfru. In the perfect, third feminine سافرت is sāfrit, while first and second singular سافرت are sāfirt: spelling is identical, pronunciation and agreement distinguish them.
| Person | Perfect | Bare imperfect | b-imperfect | ḥa-future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | سَافِرْتْ sāfirt | أَسَافِرْ ʾasāfir | بَسَافِرْ basāfir | حَسَافِرْ ḥasāfir |
| إنت | سَافِرْتْ sāfirt | تِسَافِرْ tisāfir | بِتْسَافِرْ bitsāfir | حَتْسَافِرْ ḥatsāfir |
| إنتي | سَافِرْتِي sāfirti | تِسَافْرِي tisāfri | بِتْسَافْرِي bitsāfri | حَتْسَافْرِي ḥatsāfri |
| هو | سَافِرْ sāfir | يِسَافِرْ yisāfir | بِيِسَافِرْ biyisāfir | حَيِسَافِرْ ḥayisāfir |
| هي | سَافْرِتْ sāfrit | تِسَافِرْ tisāfir | بِتْسَافِرْ bitsāfir | حَتْسَافِرْ ḥatsāfir |
| إحنا | سَافِرْنَا sāfirna | نِسَافِرْ nisāfir | بِنْسَافِرْ binsāfir | حَنْسَافِرْ ḥansāfir |
| إنتوا | سَافِرْتُوا sāfirtu | تِسَافْرُوا tisāfru | بِتْسَافْرُوا bitsāfru | حَتْسَافْرُوا ḥatsāfru |
| هم | سَافْرُوا sāfru | يِسَافْرُوا yisāfru | بِيِسَافْرُوا biyisāfru | حَيِسَافْرُوا ḥayisāfru |
Commands are سافر sāfir, سافري sāfri, and سافروا sāfru. The active participle is مسافر، مسافرة، مسافرين. Although its traditional shape is morphologically an active participle, some dictionaries label it differently; in actual Egyptian syntax it agrees with the traveler and functions as a state or planned-motion predicate.
سافرت الغردقة مع صحابي بعد الامتحانات.
sāfirt il-Ghardaʾa maʿ ṣoḥābi baʿd il-imtiḥānāt.
I traveled to Hurghada with my friends after the exams. (informal)
هو بيسافر كتير عشان شغله.
huwwa biyisāfir kitīr ʿashān shoghlo.
He travels a lot because of his work. (habitual)
لازم نسافر قبل الزحمة.
lāzim nisāfir ʾabl iz-zaḥma.
We have to travel before the traffic gets heavy. (informal)
Rule 1: destination frames vary with the kind of place
City and familiar domestic destination names often follow directly: سافر إسكندرية، سافر أسوان. لـ is common with countries, broader destinations, and destination pronouns: سافر لإيطاليا، سافر لها. على occurs in some established travel expressions, while formal إلى belongs mainly to edited or deliberately formal speech (formal/MSA). Do not impose one preposition mechanically on every place.
أختي حتسافر لكندا آخر السنة لو الفيزا طلعت.
ʾokhti ḥatsāfir li-Kanada ʾākhir is-sana law il-vīza ṭilʿit.
My sister will travel to Canada at the end of the year if the visa comes through. (informal)
سافرت لها مرتين، بس عمري ما عشت هناك.
sāfirt laha marratēn, bass ʿomri ma ʿisht hināk.
I traveled there twice, but I've never lived there. (referring to a feminine country/place)
The pronoun in لها belongs to the preposition. سافرتها is not the ordinary Cairo way to say “traveled to it.”
Rule 2: transport uses بـ, not في
The means of transport normally follows بـ: بالقطر، بالعربية، بالطيارة، بالأتوبيس. في العربية locates someone inside the vehicle; بالعربية presents it as the means of travel.
بنسافر بالقطر عشان الطريق بالعربية متعب.
binsāfir bil-ʾaṭr ʿashān iṭ-ṭarīʾ bil-ʿarabiyya motʿib.
We travel by train because the drive is tiring. (informal)
هي سافرت بالطيران لأول مرة وهي عندها عشرين سنة.
hiyya sāfrit biṭ-ṭayarān li-ʾawwil marra wi-hiyya ʿandaha ʿishrīn sana.
She traveled by air for the first time when she was twenty. (neutral)
For the act of boarding or taking one vehicle, use ركب, not سافر: ركبت القطر الساعة ستة. The journey may then be described by سافرنا بالقطر. This division is lexical, not a tense difference.
Rule 3: مسافر often gives the current plan or away-state
مسافر can mean “traveling/leaving as planned” or “away on a trip.” It agrees for gender and number and takes مش, not ما...ش. This is why a present schedule often sounds more natural as أنا مسافر بكرة than a bare future-less imperfect.
المديرة مسافرة دبي بكرة الصبح وراجعة الخميس.
il-modīra mosāfra Dubayy bukra ṣ-ṣobḥ wi-rāgʿa l-khamīs.
The manager is traveling to Dubai tomorrow morning and returning Thursday. (workplace/neutral)
مش مسافرين العيد ده عشان التذاكر غالية.
mish mosāfrīn il-ʿīd da ʿashān it-tazākir ghālya.
We're not traveling this holiday because the tickets are expensive. (informal)
Finite negation remains ما...ش: ماسافرتش and مابيسافرش. Future negation is normally مش حيسافر. Because the verb is intransitive, pronouns usually attach to مع، لـ، بـ rather than to سافر itself.
ماسافرتش معاهم عشان جواز سفري كان منتهي.
ma-sāfirtish maʿāhom ʿashān gawāz safari kān mintahi.
I didn't travel with them because my passport had expired. (informal)
Lexical family and limits
The verbal noun سفر means travel; سفرة has lexicalized meanings including a trip in some contexts and a dining table in Egyptian, so do not treat every feminine ending as “one act of traveling.” Pattern II سفّر means cause or arrange for someone to travel/send someone away in established uses. Pattern III itself is not reciprocal: سافرنا simply means “we traveled.”
الشركة سفرت الفريق يومين قبل المؤتمر.
ish-shirka saffarit il-farīʾ yōmēn ʾabl il-moʾtamar.
The company sent the team two days before the conference. (professional)
A short dialogue
أ: مسافر لوحدك ولا حد جاي معاك؟
A: mosāfir liwaḥdak walla ḥadd gāy maʿāk?
A: Are you traveling alone, or is someone coming with you? (to one man)
ب: مسافر مع زميلي، وحنقابل الباقيين هناك.
B: mosāfir maʿ zamīli, wi-ḥaniʾābil il-bāʾiyyīn hināk.
B: I'm traveling with my colleague, and we'll meet the others there.
Register and variation
These forms are mainstream Cairo (informal/neutral). إلى and formal inflected سَافَرَ / يُسَافِرُ belong to MSA-oriented speech and writing (formal/MSA). Destination choice varies by place name, speaker, and region; Alexandria, the Delta, Upper Egypt, Bedouin-associated communities, and diaspora networks can prefer different prepositions (regional/community). Keep the labeled variation separate from the consistent Cairo baseline rather than calling one form universally obligatory.
Common Mistakes
1. Treating Pattern III as reciprocal.
❌ أنا وصاحبي سافرنا بعض.
Incorrect—سافر does not mean ‘travel each other.’
✅ أنا وصاحبي سافرنا سوا لأول مرة.
ʾana wi-ṣāḥbi sāfirna sawa li-ʾawwil marra.
My friend and I traveled together for the first time.
2. Using في for means of transport.
❌ سافرنا في القطر عشان نوصل بدري.
Wrong for the intended means reading—use بـ ‘by train.’
✅ سافرنا بالقطر عشان نوصل قبل الضهر.
sāfirna bil-ʾaṭr ʿashān nōṣal ʾabl iḍ-ḍohr.
We traveled by train so we'd arrive before noon.
3. Negating مسافر with verbal circumfixes.
❌ هي مامسافرةش الأسبوع ده.
Incorrect in the baseline—مسافرة is a participial predicate.
✅ هي مش مسافرة الأسبوع ده عشان عندها شغل.
hiyya mish mosāfra l-ʾusbūʿ da ʿashān ʿandaha shughl.
She isn't traveling this week because she has work.
4. Attaching the destination as a direct object.
❌ البلد دي سافرتها مرتين.
Nonbaseline for ‘traveled to it’—the destination pronoun follows لـ.
✅ البلد دي سافرت لها مرتين للشغل.
il-balad di sāfirt laha marratēn lish-shoghl.
I traveled to that country twice for work.
Key Takeaways
- Store سافر / بيسافر / مسافر as one lexical family; Pattern III does not supply reciprocity.
- Use natural destination phrases, بـ for transport, and مع for companions.
- Use مسافر for a scheduled departure or away-state, and negate it with مش.
- Keep prepositional pronouns on their prepositions; base سافر is intransitive.
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- Egyptian Pattern III فاعلB1 — Build Cairene Pattern III verbs with their characteristic long vowel while learning each verb's real meaning, vowels, and complement frame.
- Present Forms for Scheduled FutureA2 — Use the Cairene b-imperfect and motion participles for timetabled or arranged future events, contrasting them with ḥa- predictions.
- بـ — with, by, in, and atA1 — Attach Cairene بـ for instruments, means, prices, fixed adverbials, and lexical predicate frames without confusing it with مع or verbal بـ.
- Pronoun Suffixes after PrepositionsB1 — Attach Egyptian pronoun suffixes to prepositions and choose the host-specific forms used after على، مع، في، من، and لـ.
- راح rāḥ — go; leaveA2 — Use راح for movement, departure, planned motion, purpose chains, and informal narrative foregrounding in Cairene Arabic.