Questions & Answers about استنى دقيقة.
A good pronunciation is istanna daʔīʔa.
A few helpful notes:
- استنى sounds like is-TAN-na
- دقيقة sounds like da-ʔEE-ʔa
- In Egyptian Arabic, ق is usually pronounced as a glottal stop ʔ, not a hard q sound like in Modern Standard Arabic
So دقيقة is not usually daqiiqa in Egyptian speech. It is closer to da'ii'a.
استنى is an imperative, so it is a command: wait.
It comes from the Egyptian Arabic verb يستنى, which means to wait. In this sentence, it is telling someone to wait.
By default, استنى is the singular command used to address one male.
Other common forms are:
- استنى = to one man
- استني = to one woman
- استنوا = to more than one person
In fast everyday speech, learners may hear some flexibility, but these are the forms worth learning.