Imperative Gender and Number Forms | Arabic (Egyptian) Grammar

Every everyday Egyptian imperative identifies its addressee as masculine singular, feminine singular, or plural. English says write! to all three, but Cairo Arabic contrasts اكتب iktib, اكتبي iktibi, and اكتبوا iktibu. Choosing the ending is part of the command, not an optional politeness detail.

The endings are regular enough to be useful, but the command stem may be strong, weak, or irregular. Learn كتب / بيكتب / اكتب, not an abstract ending by itself.

The agreement ending belongs to the command before any object pronoun. The next page on commands with object pronouns develops that ordering in detail.

The practical three-way paradigm

Addressee	كتب “write”	روح “go”	استنى “wait”	خد “take”
masculine singular	اكتب iktib	روح rūḥ	استنى istanna	خد khod
feminine singular	اكتبي iktibi	روحي rūḥi	استني istanni	خدي khodi
plural	اكتبوا iktibu	روحوا rūḥu	استنوا istannu	خدوا khodu

The broad generalization is masculine zero, feminine -ي, plural -وا. In weak stems such as استنى, the stem adjusts before the endings, so memorizing only “add -ي/-وا” is not enough.

اكتب اسمك ورقمك هنا.

iktib ismak wi-raʾamak hina.

Write your name and number here. (to a man)

اكتبي اسمك ورقمك هنا.

iktibi ismik wi-raʾamik hina.

Write your name and number here. (to a woman)

اكتبوا أساميكم وأرقامكم هنا.

iktibu ʾasāmīkum wi-ʾarʾāmkum hina.

Write your names and numbers here. (to a group)

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Hear the addressee before forming the verb: one man → bare command; one woman → feminine -ي; two or more people → plural -وا.

Rule 1: each command in a series repeats agreement

Agreement is carried by every imperative, even when the addressee stays the same.

روحي البيت، خدي الدوا، واستريحي شوية.

rūḥi l-bēt, khodi d-dawa, wi-starīḥi shuwayya.

Go home, take the medicine, and rest a little. (to a woman)

روحوا البيت، خدوا الدوا، واستريحوا شوية.

rūḥu l-bēt, khodu d-dawa, wi-starīḥu shuwayya.

Go home, take the medicine, and rest a little. (to a group)

English can leave the audience implicit across the sequence. Egyptian repeats feminine or plural marking because each verb is independently inflected.

Rule 2: object clitics come after the command ending

The feminine or plural marker belongs closer to the stem than an attached object pronoun. Compare اكتبيها “write it” and اكتبوها “write it, all of you.”

اكتبيها في رسالة وابعتيهالي.

iktibīha fi risāla wi-bʿatīhāli.

Write it in a message and send it to me. (to a woman)

اكتبوها في رسالة وابعتوهالي.

iktibūha fi risāla wi-bʿatūhāli.

Write it in a message and send it to me. (to a group)

Ordinary unvocalized spelling can hide the vowel sequence, but the order is stable: command stem + addressee ending + object/recipient material.

Rule 3: negative commands keep the same agreement contrast

The negative uses ما + second-person bare imperfect + ش, not the positive imperative stem. Feminine -ي and plural -وا appear inside the circumfix.

Addressee	Positive	Negative
masculine singular	اكتب	ماتكتبش
feminine singular	اكتبي	ماتكتبيش
plural	اكتبوا	ماتكتبوش

خدي المفتاح، بس ماتسيبيهوش في الباب.

khodi l-miftāḥ, bass ma-tisībīhūsh fi l-bāb.

Take the key, but don’t leave it in the door. (to a woman)

خدوا المفتاح، بس ماتسيبوهوش في الباب.

khodu l-miftāḥ, bass ma-tisībūhūsh fi l-bāb.

Take the key, but don’t leave it in the door. (to a group)

This contrast is genuinely difficult because plural -وا, object -ه, and negative -ش stack in one word.

Rule 4: distinguish a command from a future statement

استنوا هنا دلوقتي.

istannu hina dilwaʾti.

Wait here now. (to a group)

حتستنوا هنا بكرة.

ḥa-tistannu hina bokra.

You’ll wait here tomorrow. (to a group)

The first is an addressee-directed command. The second is an assertion with future حـ and second-person imperfect agreement. Adding or removing حـ changes mood and discourse function, not merely time vocabulary.

Formal MSA has additional imperative distinctions and formal vowel shapes (formal/MSA). They are legitimate in scripted, religious, or highly formal speech, but ordinary Cairene commands do not take MSA mood endings.

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When several suffixes stack, build outward: command stem → feminine/plural agreement → object clitic → recipient clitic. Negation, when present, surrounds the whole verbal complex.

A two-turn Cairo dialogue

أستنى هنا ولا أطلع فوق؟

ʾastanna hina walla ʾaṭlaʿ fōʾ?

Should I wait here or go upstairs?

استني هنا، وأنا حناديكي لما الدور ييجي.

istanni hina, wi-ʾana ḥa-nādīki lamma d-dōr yīgi.

Wait here, and I’ll call you when it’s your turn. (to a woman)

Common Mistakes

Using masculine singular for a woman

❌ اكتب رقمك يا منى.

Incorrect in the Cairene baseline—the feminine singular command needs -ي.

✅ اكتبي رقمك يا منى.

iktibi raʾamik ya Mona.

Write your number, Mona.

Marking only the first command in a series

❌ روحي البيت وخد الدوا.

Incorrect—the second command must also agree with the female addressee.

✅ روحي البيت وخدي الدوا.

rūḥi l-bēt wi-khodi d-dawa.

Go home and take the medicine. (to a woman)

Losing plural agreement inside negation

❌ ماتكتبش يا جماعة.

Incorrect for a group—the negative command needs plural -وا.

✅ ماتكتبوش يا جماعة.

ma-tiktibūsh ya gamāʿa.

Don’t write, everyone.

Putting an object before the agreement ending

❌ اكتبهاوا هنا.

Incorrect—the plural ending comes before the object clitic.

✅ اكتبوها هنا.

iktibūha hina.

Write it here. (to a group)

Adding b- to an imperative

❌ بتكتبوا أساميكم هنا.

Incorrect as a command—بـ makes this an imperfect statement or question.

✅ اكتبوا أساميكم هنا.

iktibu ʾasāmīkum hina.

Write your names here.

Key Takeaways

Commands distinguish masculine singular, feminine singular, and plural addressees.
Every command in a sequence repeats the appropriate agreement.
Feminine/plural agreement comes before attached object pronouns.
Negative commands retain agreement inside joined ما...ش.
Weak and irregular stems must be learned as attested Egyptian forms.

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