صحي ṣiḥi — wake up

صحي is the mainstream Cairene verb “wake up, become awake”: perfect صحي ṣiḥi, suffixed perfect صحيت ṣiḥēt, and imperfect يصحى yiṣḥa. Its final weak element changes shape across the paradigm, so copying endings from a strong verb will not work. The active participle صاحي ṣāḥi means “awake.”

There is a separate causative صحّى ṣaḥḥa / يصحّي yiṣaḥḥi “wake someone.” Ordinary unvocalized writing often hides the doubled consonant that distinguishes the causative, making the spokenForm and participant structure especially important. See Egyptian causatives for the wider participant pattern.

Complete practical paradigm

The perfect uses -ē- before consonant-initial person endings, short -y- before third-person vowel endings, and no written final weak consonant in صحي ṣiḥi beyond the final ي itself. The imperfect alternates singular -a, feminine -i, and plural -u.

Informal Egyptian writing also uses future هـ in forms such as هصحى. This page keeps حـ consistently; both spellings represent the same mainstream future marker, not different tenses.

Event, habit, and awake state

Perfect صحي presents a bounded change into wakefulness. B-imperfect بيصحى presents a repeated awakening or the event as it develops. Participle صاحي، صاحية، صاحيين presents the state after that change.

English wake up may also imply getting out of bed. Egyptian separates the two changes: صحي “became awake,” then قام من السرير “got out of bed.” Someone can be صاحي while still lying down.

Bare, future, and commands

Bare forms occur after modals and subordinators: لازم أصحى، لما تصحى. Future حـ joins the bare base. Commands are اصحى iṣḥa, اصحي iṣḥi, and اصحوا iṣḥu; negative commands use ماتصحاش / ماتصحيش / ماتصحوش.

The last sentence is potentially ambiguous in unpointed writing: the intended meaning is causative “don't wake the baby,” because البيبي is an affected object. In speech, the causative's vowel and doubled ḥ—tiṣaḥḥūsh rather than intransitive tiṣḥūsh—make the reading explicit.

Intransitive صحي versus causative صحّى

Base صحي is intransitive: the sleeper is the subject. Causative صحّى adds a causer and makes the sleeper a direct object. An attached suffix therefore belongs naturally to the causative: صحيته ṣaḥḥēto “I woke him.”

There is no ordinary direct-object clitic on the intransitive base. If an object appears, check whether the speaker is using the causative صحّى. This participant diagnostic is more reliable than the unvocalized spelling.

Negation and complements

Perfect and b-imperfect take ما...ش: ماصحيتش، مابيصحاش. The awake-state participle takes independent مش: مش صاحي. Common source phrases use من for a sound or cause and على for what one awakens to.

A short dialogue

Register and variation

صحي / يصحى and صحّى / يصحّي are neutral Cairene (informal/neutral). Formal استيقظ / أيقظ may appear in news, school prose, or deliberate code-switching (formal/MSA). Regional varieties can use other wake-up verbs or different vowels (regional). Teasing صح النوم is an informal formula said to someone waking late or finally noticing something; its social tone matters, so it is not a neutral command.

Common Mistakes

1. Conjugating the final weak verb like a strong verb.

2. Confusing becoming awake with being awake.

3. Omitting the causative when another person wakes the sleeper.

4. Treating wake up and get up as identical.

5. Using verbal negation on صاحي.

Key Takeaways

• Learn صحي / صحيت / يصحى as a final-weak paradigm with distinct singular, feminine, and plural stem shapes.
• Perfect and b-imperfect present awakening events; صاحي presents the resulting awake state.
• Base صحي is intransitive, while doubled causative صحّى takes the sleeper as a direct object.
• Becoming awake and getting out of bed are separate events: صحي versus قام من السرير.