Questions & Answers about احنا عايزين نكسب الماتش.
Why is احنا used here instead of نحن?
احنا is the normal Egyptian Arabic word for we in everyday speech.
- احنا / إحنا = colloquial Egyptian we
- نحن = Modern Standard Arabic (formal/written)
So if you are learning spoken Egyptian, احنا is the natural choice. Using نحن in a sentence like this would sound much more formal or bookish.
Why is عايزين in the plural form?
Because the subject is احنا (we), and عايزين agrees with that plural subject.
Related forms are:
- أنا عايز = I want (said by a male)
- أنا عايزة = I want (said by a female)
- احنا عايزين = we want
For an all-female group, you may also hear عايزات, but عايزين is extremely common as the default plural in everyday Egyptian speech.
Is عايزين really a verb?
Not exactly in the strictest grammatical sense. Historically and grammatically, عايز is more like an active participle/adjectival form meaning something like wanting. But in Egyptian Arabic, it functions very much like a normal verb meaning to want.
So learners can safely treat:
- عايز = want
- = want