المقص مع طباشير الترزي.

Roughly: el-maʔaṣṣ maʿa ṭabāshīr et-tarzi.

A few notes:

• المقص is commonly pronounced something like el-maʔaṣṣ in Egyptian, with ق often becoming a glottal stop ʔ.
• مع can sound like maʿa or a shorter maʿ in fast speech.
• الترزي is pronounced et-tarzi, not el-tarzi, because ت is a sun letter, so the l of الـ assimilates.

Because Arabic normally leaves out the present-tense verb to be.

So in Egyptian Arabic, a sentence like this can simply be:

• المقص مع طباشير الترزي

And the meaning is understood as:

• The scissors are with the tailor’s chalk or
• The scissors are together with the tailor’s chalk

If you wanted the past, then you would use a verb such as كان.

مع basically means with.

In a sentence like this, it often shows:

• physical togetherness
• association
• sometimes location in the sense of is with

So here it does not necessarily mean only accompanied by in an abstract way. It can also mean that the scissors are physically together with the tailor’s chalk.

Because this is an idafa structure, often called a possessive or construct phrase.

In طباشير الترزي:

• طباشير = chalk
• الترزي = the tailor

Together, the phrase means the tailor’s chalk.

In Arabic idafa:

• the first noun usually does not take الـ
• the second noun can be definite
• the whole phrase becomes definite because the second noun is definite

So طباشير الترزي is correct, while الطباشير الترزي would not be the normal structure for this meaning.

It often looks plural to learners, but in usage it can function more like a collective or mass noun meaning chalk.

A single piece of chalk is often:

• طبشورة

But طباشير can be used for chalk in a general sense, especially in a phrase like طباشير الترزي, which is best understood as tailor’s chalk rather than forcing a strict English-style singular/plural idea.

Grammatically, مقص is treated as a singular noun in Arabic, even though English uses the plural-looking word scissors.

So in Arabic, you would normally use singular agreement with it.

For example:

• المقص جديد = the scissors are new

Not plural agreement.

This is a very common difference between English and Arabic.

Because ت is a sun letter.

With sun letters, the l sound of الـ is not pronounced, and the next consonant is doubled in pronunciation.

So:

• written: الترزي
• pronounced: et-tarzi

This happens with many words in Arabic, not just this one.

It is a very common everyday word in Egyptian Arabic for tailor.

A learner may also know the Modern Standard Arabic word:

• خيّاط

In Egypt, ترزي sounds natural and colloquial. So if you are learning Egyptian Arabic specifically, this is a useful word to know.

Only if you want a different meaning.

• مع = with, together with
• في = in
• عند = at, by, in someone’s possession

So if the idea is that the scissors are together with the tailor’s chalk, مع is the right choice.

If you changed the preposition, the sentence would no longer mean exactly the same thing.

Not in normal Egyptian Arabic.

Egyptian Arabic does not use the case endings you may have seen in Modern Standard Arabic, such as:

• -u
• -a
• -i

So in everyday Egyptian speech, you just say:

• المقص مع طباشير الترزي

without adding formal endings.

Yes, Arabic word order can change for emphasis, but the given order is natural and straightforward.

This version:

• المقص مع طباشير الترزي

is a simple neutral way to say it.

If you moved things around, the meaning might stay similar, but the focus could shift. For a learner, the given order is a good default pattern to remember for short present-tense sentences.