قال ʾāl-Type Hollow Verbs | Arabic (Egyptian) Grammar

The high-frequency verb قال “say” represents a hollow pattern with three crucial stems: قَالْ ʾāl in third-person perfect forms, قُلْـ ʾol- in first- and second-person perfect forms and “we,” and قُولْ ʾūl in the imperfect and imperative. Mainstream Cairene pronounces written ق as /ʾ/, but the root remains ق-و-ل.

This page gives the productive inflectional pattern through قال. Meanings and short-stem vowels of other hollow verbs still require lexical verification; even a verb with a long ū imperfect need not copy every vowel of قال. Start with the hollow-verb comparison if the three major vowel types are not yet familiar.

Rule 1: choose the correct perfect stem by person

The long perfect stem occurs with third-person he, she, and they. The short ʾol- stem occurs before -ت، -تي، -نا، -توا.

Subject	Perfect	Romanization	Natural English
أنا	قُلْتْ	ʾolt	I said
إنت	قُلْتْ	ʾolt	you said (m.sg.)
إنتي	قُلْتِي	ʾolti	you said (f.sg.)
هو	قَالْ	ʾāl	he said
هي	قَالِتْ	ʾālit	she said
إحنا	قُلْنَا	ʾolna	we said
إنتوا	قُلْتُوا	ʾoltu	you said (pl.)
هما	قَالُوا	ʾālu	they said

هي قالت إن الطريق زحمة

hiyya ʾālit inn iṭ-ṭarīʾ zaḥma

She said the road was busy. (informal)

إحنا قلنا نفس الكلام امبارح

ʾiḥna ʾolna nafs il-kalām imbāriḥ

We said the same thing yesterday. (informal)

English keeps said unchanged across these persons. Egyptian encodes the subject in the stem-plus-suffix combination, so an explicit pronoun is optional unless discourse needs contrast or clarification.

💡

Do not treat قال as an unchanging past word. Memorize the split: third person قال، قالت، قالوا; other persons قلت، قلتي، قلنا، قلتوا.

Rule 2: build the b-imperfect from قول

The imperfect has long ū, written و. Person and gender are expressed by the ordinary Egyptian prefixes and endings.

Subject	B-imperfect	Romanization
أنا	بَقُولْ	baʾūl
إنت	بِتِقُولْ	bitʾūl
إنتي	بِتِقُولِي	bitʾūli
هو	بِيِقُولْ	biyʾūl
هي	بِتِقُولْ	bitʾūl
إحنا	بِنِقُولْ	binʾūl
إنتوا	بِتِقُولُوا	bitʾūlu
هما	بِيِقُولُوا	biyʾūlu

The b-imperfect can describe speech in progress or a repeated statement. Time context makes the difference:

هو بيقول العنوان دلوقتي

huwwa biyʾūl il-ʿunwān dilwaʾti

He's saying the address now. (informal; ongoing)

هو بيقول نفس الجملة كل مرة

huwwa biyʾūl nafs il-gumla kull marra

He says the same sentence every time. (informal; habitual)

This time-context minimal pair shows why بيقول is not simply an English present progressive or simple present. Egyptian leaves that distinction to discourse context.

Rule 3: bare imperfect, future, and commands keep the long stem

After عايز, لازم, purpose عشان, and other licensers, remove بـ but retain the person prefix. Join future حـ to that bare imperfect.

عايزة أقولك حاجة مهمة

ʿāyza ʾaʾullak ḥāga muhimma

I want to tell you something important. (informal, female speaker, to one man)

هو حيقول النتيجة بكرة

huwwa ḥa-yiʾūl in-natīga bukra

He'll say the result tomorrow. (informal/neutral)

The imperative also uses the long stem: masculine قول ʾūl, feminine قولي ʾūli, plural قولوا ʾūlu. Negative commands use ما...ش around the second-person imperfect without بـ.

قولوا رأيكم بصراحة

ʾūlu raʾyakum biṣarāḥa

Tell me what you think honestly. (informal, to several people; literally ‘say your opinion’)

ماتقوليش لحد لسه

ma-tiʾūlīsh liḥadd lissa

Don't tell anyone yet. (informal, to one woman)

There are no MSA indicative, subjunctive, or jussive endings on these Cairene forms.

Rule 4: learn the three complement frames

قال takes the content directly, introduces a recipient with لـ, and introduces many content clauses with إن. English tell someone uses a direct object for the listener, so attaching لـ is a major interference point.

Frame	Example	Meaning
قال + content	قَالْ اِلْحَقِيقَةْ	said/told the truth
قال + لـ recipient	قَالْ لِي	said to me / told me
قال + إن clause	قَالْ إِنُّهْ جَايْ	said that he was coming

The prepositional recipient attaches: قلتله “I told him,” قاللي “he told me.” A direct content object also attaches, and verbal negation surrounds the completed complex.

قلتهوله بهدوء

ʾoltuhūlu bihudūʾ

I said it to him calmly. (informal; literally ‘I-said-it-to-him’)

ماقلتهولوش بهدوء

maʾoltuhulūsh bihudūʾ

I didn't say it to him calmly. (informal)

This positive-to-negative pair keeps both clitics inside ما...ش. In ordinary speech, a simpler full noun phrase is often clearer when the referents are not already established.

💡

Map English say/tell onto Egyptian frames, not separate verbs: content is direct, the listener takes لـ, and a proposition commonly follows إن.

Participles and discourse

قايل ʾāyil is the active participle. In context it can present a currently relevant prior statement: هو قايل إنه جاي “he says/has said that he's coming.” It is not interchangeable with the b-imperfect in every sentence. The b-imperfect foregrounds an act or habit of saying; the participle often presents the statement as already on record.

هو قايل إنه جاي بعد الشغل النهارده

huwwa ʾāyil innu gāy baʿd ish-shughl in-nahārda

He says he's coming after work today. (informal; his statement is already on record)

Two-turn Cairene dialogue

أ: قلتلهم الاجتماع اتأجل؟

A: ʾoltilhum il-igtimāʿ itʾaggil?

A: Did you tell them the meeting was postponed? (informal, to one person)

ب: لسه، حقولهم لما يوصلوا

B: lissa, ḥa-ʾūlhum lamma yūṣalu

B: Not yet; I'll tell them when they arrive. (informal)

The answer uses first-person future حقولهم, one orthographic word containing حـ, the imperfect stem, and recipient -هم.

Register and variation

These forms are mainstream Cairene (informal/neutral). Formal MSA uses forms such as قَالَ، قُلْتُ، يَقُولُ with different final inflection and often /q/ (formal). Newsreaders, religious speakers, and performers may style-shift. Upper Egyptian, Bedouin, some rural, and community varieties may realize ق as /g/ or /q/; these are legitimate regional or social patterns. The written letter remains ق in all examples here.

Common Mistakes

Keeping قال before first-person -ت

❌ أنا قالت الحقيقة

Incorrect — first singular requires short-stem قلت, not third-feminine قالت.

✅ أنا قلت الحقيقة

ʾana ʾolt il-ḥaʾīʾa

I told the truth. (informal)

Copying English tell without لـ

❌ قلت هو الخبر

Incorrect — the recipient of قال is introduced by لـ or its attached form.

✅ قلتله الخبر

ʾoltillu il-khabar

I told him the news. (informal)

Omitting b- in a neutral habit

❌ هي تقول كده كل يوم

Incorrect for the intended ordinary Cairene habit — bare تقول is unlicensed.

✅ هي بتقول كده كل يوم

hiyya bitʾūl kida kull yōm

She says that every day. (informal)

Separating a recipient clitic

❌ ح أقول لهم بكرة

Incorrect house segmentation for the intended future with an attached recipient.

✅ حقولهم بكرة

ḥa-ʾūlhum bukra

I'll tell them tomorrow. (informal)

Adding MSA endings

هو بيقول الخبر

huwwa biyʾūl il-khabar

huwa yaqūlu al-khabara

Pronunciation/register error — ordinary Cairene has no MSA mood or case endings here.

Key Takeaways

Use long قال for third-person perfect forms, short قلـ before first/second/we suffixes, and قول in the imperfect and imperative. Then apply Egyptian بـ, bare imperfect, حـ, ما...ش, and clitic order. Keep content, recipient لـ, and إن clauses distinct, and label /q/ or /g/ realizations as register or regional variation rather than mixing them into the Cairene baseline.

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