Imperatives of Weak Verbs | Arabic (Egyptian) Grammar

Weak imperatives cannot be produced by deleting تـ and blindly keeping the rest of an imperfect spelling. The final vowel of ارمي “throw,” انسى “forget,” and اسعى “strive” interacts with feminine and plural endings; hollow قول “say” and روح “go” have stored stems; irregular تعالى “come” must simply be learned. The reliable unit is the attested masculine–feminine–plural command set.

These are mainstream Cairene forms. MSA imperatives such as اُدْعُ belong to formal recitation and writing (formal/religious); ordinary Cairo has ادعي idʿi. The basic command system is reviewed on Imperative Gender and Number Forms.

A practical imperative map

Lexical pair	Masculine singular	Feminine singular	Plural
رمى / بيرمي “throw”	ارمي irmi	ارمي irmi	ارموا irmu
دعا / بيدعي “pray”	ادعي idʿi	ادعي idʿi	ادعوا idʿu
مشي / بيمشي “walk, leave”	امشي imshi	امشي imshi	امشوا imshu
نسي / بينسى “forget”	انسى insa	انسي insi	انسوا insu
سعى / بيسعى “strive”	اسعى isʿa	اسعي isʿi	اسعوا isʿu
قال / بيقول “say”	قول ʾūl	قولي ʾūli	قولوا ʾūlu
راح / بيروح “go”	روح rūḥ	روحي rūḥi	روحوا rūḥu

ارمي الورق ده في الباسكت.

irmi l-waraʾ da fil-bāskit.

Throw this paper in the bin.

انسي اللي حصل وابدئي من جديد.

insi lli ḥaṣal wi-bdaʾi min gidīd.

Forget what happened and start again. (to a woman)

قولوا رأيكم بصراحة.

ʾūlu raʾykom biṣarāḥa.

Say what you think honestly. (to a group)

💡

Final-i verbs can make masculine and feminine singular commands sound identical: ارمي، ادعي، امشي. Final-a verbs preserve the contrast: انسى/انسي، اسعى/اسعي.

Rule 1: start from the bare second-person family, then verify the stem

The positive imperative lacks بـ and حـ. With final-i verbs, the second-person bare form already ends in -i, so the feminine ending merges with it. Plural -وا replaces the final vowel. With final-a verbs, masculine -a alternates with feminine -i and plural -u.

ادعي لأخوكي قبل العملية.

idʿi li-ʾakhūki ʾabl il-ʿamaliyya.

Pray for your brother before the operation. (to a woman)

ادعوا لكل اللي محتاجين مساعدة.

idʿu li-koll illi miḥtagīn musāʿada.

Pray for everyone who needs help. (to a group)

اسعي لهدفك خطوة خطوة.

isʿi li-hadafik khuṭwa khuṭwa.

Work toward your goal step by step. (to a woman; motivational/neutral-formal)

Rule 2: negative commands come from the second-person imperfect

Egyptian does not negate a positive imperative directly. Use ما + second-person imperfect + ش: ماترميش، ماتنسيش، ماتقوليش. The t-prefix stays because the negative command is built on the imperfect family. Plural agreement remains before -ش.

Verb	Singular negative	Plural negative
رمى	ماترميش ma-tirmīsh	ماترموش ma-tirmūsh
نسي	ماتنساش / ماتنسيش	ماتنسوش ma-tinsūsh
قال	ماتقولش / ماتقوليش	ماتقولوش ma-tʾulūsh
راح	ماتروحش / ماتروحيش	ماتروحوش ma-truḥūsh

The slash separates masculine from feminine when the forms differ. With final-i ترمي, masculine and feminine negative commands remain homophonous in mainstream Cairene.

Positive-to-negative pair

ارمي الكيس ده دلوقتي.

irmi l-kīs da dilwaʾti.

Throw this bag away now.

ماترميش الكيس ده، فيه حاجات مهمة.

ma-tirmīsh il-kīs da, fīh ḥagāt muhimma.

Don’t throw this bag away; there are important things in it.

Rule 3: object and preposition clitics precede negative -ش

With a direct-object verb, attach the object to the positive imperative: ارميه “throw it,” قوليها “say it.” In a negative command, the pronoun stays before final -ش: ماترميهوش، ماتقوليهاش. A prepositional complement behaves according to its own frame: ادعيله “pray for him.”

ارميه على الترابيزة.

irmīh ʿala t-tarabēza.

Toss it onto the table.

ماترميهوش قبل ما أسأله.

ma-tirmihūsh ʾabl ma ʾasʾalu.

Don’t throw it away before I ask him.

ادعيله يقوم بالسلامة.

idʿīlu yʾūm bis-salāma.

Pray that he recovers safely.

💡

The attachment order is command stem + agreement + object/complement material. In negation, add ما- outside the left edge and -ش last.

Rule 4: command versus future is an aspectual contrast

English throw it later and you will throw it later share vocabulary, but Egyptian distinguishes imperative ارميه from joined future حترميه. The weak stem stays recognizable; the clause type changes.

Time-context minimal pair

ارميه دلوقتي عشان نفضي المكان.

irmīh dilwaʾti ʿashān nifaḍḍi l-makān.

Throw it away now so we can clear the space.

حترميه بكرة بعد ما نصوره.

ḥa-tirmīh bokra baʿd ma niṣawwaru.

You’ll throw it away tomorrow after we photograph it.

Hollow and irregular weak commands

Hollow verbs often have short stored commands such as قول، بيع، شوف and longer feminine/plural forms قولي/قولوا، بيعي/بيعوا، شوفي/شوفوا. Do not infer every command by deleting the imperfect prefix: بيقول does not give يقول. High-frequency irregular جه / بييجي uses تعالى، تعالي، تعالوا “come,” not a mechanically generated command.

تعالوا هنا لما تخلصوا.

taʿālu hina lamma tkhallaṣu.

Come here when you’re done. (to a group)

These Cairene forms are (informal/neutral). Formal reading, religious recitation, Upper Egyptian, Bedouin, Delta, and other regional varieties may preserve other weak vowels or command lexemes; label them rather than mixing paradigms.

A two-turn Cairene dialogue

أرمي العلبة دي؟

ʾarmi l-ʿulba di?

Should I throw this box away?

لأ، ماترميهاش، حنحتاجها بعدين.

laʾ, ma-tirmihāsh, ḥa-niḥtagha baʿdēn.

No, don’t throw it away; we’ll need it later.

Common Mistakes

Adding b- to a positive command

❌ بترمي الورق في الباسكت.

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

✅ ارمي الورق في الباسكت.

irmi l-waraʾ fil-bāskit.

Throw the paper in the bin.

Using the masculine final-a form for a woman

❌ انسى الموضوع يا منى.

Incorrect in the Cairene baseline—the feminine command is انسي.

✅ انسي الموضوع يا منى.

insi l-mawḍūʿ ya Mona.

Forget the matter, Mona.

Negating the positive imperative instead of the imperfect

❌ ماارميش الورق هنا.

Incorrect—the negative command retains the second-person t-prefix.

✅ ماترميش الورق هنا.

ma-tirmīsh il-waraʾ hina.

Don’t throw the paper here.

Putting -ش before the object

❌ ماترميشها.

Incorrect—the object clitic precedes final negative -ش.

✅ ماترميهاش.

ma-tirmihāsh.

Don’t throw it away.

Importing the MSA دعا command

ادعي لجدتك.

idʿi li-gidditak.

udʿu li-jaddatika

Pronunciation error—the MSA masculine command and case ending do not belong in ordinary Cairene.

✅ ادعي لجدتك.