Lexicalized Short and Irregular Imperatives | Arabic (Egyptian) Grammar

Most Cairene commands relate transparently to a bare second-person imperfect, but a small, high-frequency group must be learned lexically. أكل / بياكل gives short كل “eat”; أخد / بياخد gives خد “take”; جاب / بيجيب uses suppletive هات “bring/get”; and جه / بييجي uses تعالى “come.” These are core everyday forms, not optional slang.

The inventory is deliberately conservative. A memorable command is not evidence that every verb in its root class has the same shortening. Store each exceptional command with its perfect, imperfect, feminine, plural, and negative forms. The regular system is reviewed under basic positive commands.

The practical inventory

Lexical set	Masculine singular	Feminine singular	Plural	Negative masculine
أكل / بياكل	كُلْ — kol	كُلِيْ — koli	كُلُواْ — kolu	مَاتَاكُلْشْ — ma-tākolsh
أخد / بياخد	خُدْ — khod	خُدِيْ — khodi	خُدُواْ — khodu	مَاتَاخُدْشْ — ma-tākhodsh
جاب / بيجيب	هَاتْ — hāt	هَاتِيْ — hāti	هَاتُواْ — hātu	مَاتْجِيبْشْ — ma-tgībsh
جه / بييجي	تَعَالَىْ — taʿāla	تَعَالِيْ — taʿāli	تَعَالُواْ — taʿālu	مَاتِجِيشْ — ma-tigīsh

The negative is not ما + positive command + ش. It uses ما + second-person bare imperfect + ش. That is why هات contrasts with ماتجيبش, and تعالى contrasts with ماتجيش: positive and negative members can come from different lexical stems.

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Learn an irregular command as a five-part set, not one isolated word: جاب، بيجيب، هات، هاتي/هاتوا، ماتجيبش.

Short commands from initial-hamza verbs

In كل and خد, the initial hamza and following long vowel of بياكل، بياخد are absent. The short command then takes ordinary feminine ـي and plural ـوا. Object clitics attach after those endings.

كل حاجة خفيفة قبل الدوا

kol ḥāga khafīfa ʾabl id-dawa

Eat something light before the medicine.

كلي الساندوتش قبل ما تنزلي

koli s-sandwitsh ʾabl ma tinzili

Eat the sandwich before you go out. (to a woman)

خدوا المفاتيح معاكم

khodu l-mafātīḥ maʿākum

Take the keys with you. (to a group)

خديها معاكي عشان ماتضيعيش

khodīha maʿāki ʿashān ma-tḍīʿīsh

Take it with you so you don’t lose it. (to a woman)

English has no addressee agreement on “eat” or “take.” Egyptian كلي، كلوا، خدي، خدوا mark the addressee even when no pronoun is spoken.

Suppletive هات and تعالى

هات is the ordinary command corresponding functionally to جاب / بيجيب “bring, get.” تعالى corresponds to جه / بييجي “come.” Their relationship is lexical rather than a productive sound rule, and both commands have normal feminine and plural endings.

هات الملف وتعالى المكتب

hāt il-malaf wi-taʿāla l-maktab

Bring the file and come to the office. (to a man)

هاتي اللابتوب وتعالي اقعدي هنا

hāti l-lābtōb wi-taʿāli oʾʿodi hina

Bring the laptop and come sit here. (to a woman)

هاتوا الكراسي وتعالوا بسرعة

hātu l-karāsi wi-taʿālu bi-surʿa

Bring the chairs and come quickly. (to a group)

Every command in a series repeats addressee agreement. English can leave “you” unexpressed once; Egyptian still marks feminine or plural on each verb.

Commands are not future statements

The imperative presents an instruction. A future statement uses حـ + imperfect, even when both sentences mention different times. The object remains attached in both forms.

هاتها دلوقتي

hāt-ha dilwaʾti

Bring it now.

حتجيبها بكرة

ḥatgībha bukra

You’ll bring it tomorrow.

This is the required time-context contrast: هاتها is not a shortened future. حتجيبها contains second-person imperfect agreement and future حـ.

Negative commands restore the bare imperfect

The positive-to-negative relationship is constructional, not simple affixation. With an object clitic, negative ـش comes last.

كلها قبل ما تبرد

kolha ʾabl ma tibrad

Eat it before it gets cold.

ماتاكلهاش لو ريحتها غريبة

ma-tākolhāsh law rīḥit-ha gharība

Don’t eat it if it smells strange.

ماتجيبهوش النهارده؛ هاته بكرة

ma-tgībhūsh in-nahārda؛ hātu bukra

Don’t bring it today; bring it tomorrow.

The last example contrasts negative تجيب with positive هات in one discourse. Masculine object ـه stays inside ماتجيبهوش.

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For negative commands, ignore the positive imperative stem and start from the second-person bare imperfect: تيجي → ماتجيش، تجيب → ماتجيبش.

Complement frames and politeness

هات takes the item directly: هات الفاتورة، هاتها. تعالى can be followed by a destination or a deictic phrase: تعالى هنا، تعالى عندنا. The bare command is normal among intimates or coworkers coordinating tasks (informal); with strangers, add من فضلك or use ممكن + bare imperfect.

من فضلك هات الفاتورة

min faḍlak hāt il-fātūra

Please bring the bill.

ممكن تجيبلي كوباية ميه؟

momkin tgībli kubāyit mayya؟

Could you bring me a glass of water?

The second request is not an imperative: ممكن licenses bare تجيبلي. It is often softer in service encounters.

Formal MSA has كُلْ، خُذْ، هاتِ، تَعَالَ and different agreement details (formal/MSA). Some shapes overlap, but ordinary Cairene pronunciation and negative ما...ش form a distinct system.

In conversation

أجيب معايا إيه؟

ʾagīb maʿāya ēh؟

What should I bring with me?

هات البطاقة وتعالى قبل المعاد بربع ساعة

hāt il-biṭāʾa wi-taʿāla ʾabl il-miʿād bi-rubʿ sāʿa

Bring the card and come fifteen minutes before the appointment.

Key Takeaways

كل، خد are short commands; هات، تعالى are lexicalized or suppletive.
Feminine and plural endings still appear on every command.
Negative commands use the second-person bare imperfect inside ما...ش.

Common Mistakes

❌ أكل حاجة قبل الدوا الصبح

Incorrect as a command — أكل is the perfect; the command is كل.

✅ كل حاجة قبل الدوا الصبح

kol ḥāga ʾabl id-dawa iṣ-ṣobḥ

Eat something before the medicine in the morning.

❌ جاب الملف دلوقتي

Incorrect as a direct command — جاب is the perfect, while everyday Cairene uses lexical هات.

✅ هات الملف دلوقتي

hāt il-malaf dilwaʾti

Bring the file now.

❌ تعالى هنا يا منى

Incorrect addressee agreement in the baseline — one woman takes تعالي.

✅ تعالي هنا يا منى

taʿāli hina ya Mona

Come here, Mona.

❌ ماتجيبشها

Incorrect clitic order — the object precedes negative ـش.

✅ ماتجيبهاش

ma-tgībhāsh

Don’t bring it.

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Regional and family repertoires may preserve additional command variants. Label a recurrent local form (regional/social); do not manufacture commands by analogy when the lexical imperative is uncertain.

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