الولد بيشبه ابوه.

A common Egyptian pronunciation is il-walad biyishbah abūh.

A few helpful sound notes:

• الولد = il-walad
• بيشبه = biyishbah
• ابوه / أبوه = abūh

Also, the ل in الـ is pronounced here, because و is not a sun letter.

الـ is the definite article, like the in English.

So:

• ولد = a boy / boy
• الولد = the boy

In this sentence, the speaker means a specific boy, so الولد is used.

بيشبه means he resembles / he looks like.

You can think of it roughly like this:

• بـ = present-tense marker in Egyptian Arabic
• يـ = he
• the rest comes from the verb يشبه / شبه, related to resemblance

So بيشبه is the normal Egyptian way to say he resembles or he looks like.

In Egyptian Arabic, بـ is very commonly added to a verb to show the ordinary present tense.

So:

• بيشبه = he resembles / he looks like
• without بـ, يشبه sounds more like Standard Arabic, or it may fit different contexts rather than everyday Egyptian present tense

This بـ is one of the most important features of Egyptian verb forms.

Because Arabic usually attaches short possessive pronouns directly to the noun.

Here:

• أب / ابو = father
• ـه = his

So:

• أبوه / ابوه = his father

This is very normal in Arabic. You do not need a separate word for his.

Some family words change shape when a suffix is attached. Father is one of them.

So you will often see:

• أب = father
• أبوه = his father
• أبوك = your father
• أبويا = my father

It is best to learn these as common patterns rather than trying to force everything into the bare form أب.

Because بيشبه already contains that meaning. It means resembles or is like in the sense of similarity.

So the structure is simply:

• الولد = the boy
• بيشبه = resembles
• ابوه = his father

In other words, Arabic is using a verb equivalent to resemble, not a verb plus a separate word like like.

Yes, but it is a different structure.

• الولد بيشبه أبوه = The boy resembles his father
• الولد زي أبوه = The boy is like his father

Both can be natural, but بيشبه is specifically the verb to resemble, while زي is the separate word like.

Yes. أبوه is the more careful spelling, with the hamza.

In casual Egyptian writing, people often leave the hamza out, so ابوه is extremely common too.

Both represent the same word.

Not exactly. In Egyptian Arabic, شبه without بـ is usually understood as past tense.

So:

• الولد بيشبه ابوه = The boy resembles his father
• الولد شبه ابوه = The boy resembled his father or looked like his father

For the normal present meaning, بيشبه is the expected form.

Usually it strongly suggests resemblance in looks, but it can also be broader depending on context.

It could refer to:

• face or body features
• expressions
• voice
• behavior or mannerisms

If the situation is about appearance, listeners will usually understand it that way first.

A Standard Arabic version would be الولد يشبه أباه.

Compared with the Egyptian sentence:

• Egyptian: الولد بيشبه ابوه
• Standard Arabic: الولد يشبه أباه

Main differences:

• Egyptian uses بـ for the present tense
• Standard Arabic does not
• the word for his father appears in a more formal grammatical form in Standard Arabic

Here are two common changes:

• البنت بتشبه أبوها = The girl resembles her father
• الولاد بيشبهوا أبوهم = The boys resemble their father

Notice that the verb changes with the subject:

• بيشبه = he resembles
• بتشبه = she resembles
• بيشبهوا = they resemble