القطة اللي تحت البيت بتخاف من الكلب وبتطلع فوق العربية اول ما تشوفه.

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Breakdown of القطة اللي تحت البيت بتخاف من الكلب وبتطلع فوق العربية اول ما تشوفه.

• بيت: house
• عربية: car
• و: and

Questions & Answers about القطة اللي تحت البيت بتخاف من الكلب وبتطلع فوق العربية اول ما تشوفه.

What does اللي mean here?

In Egyptian Arabic, اللي is the everyday relative word for who, that, or which. It is used for all genders and numbers.

So القطة اللي تحت البيت means the cat that is under the house, or more naturally, the cat under the house.

In Modern Standard Arabic, you would see different forms such as الذي or التي, but Egyptian Arabic normally just uses اللي.

Why is there no word for is in اللي تحت البيت?

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

So اللي تحت البيت is literally something like that under the house, but it means that is under the house.

This is very normal in Arabic:

• هو تحت البيت = he is under the house
• القطة تحت البيت = the cat is under the house

Why are the verbs feminine in this sentence?

Because القطة is a feminine singular noun, so the verbs agree with it.

That is why you get:

• بتخاف = she is afraid
• بتطلع = she goes up / climbs
• تشوفه = she sees him/it

If the subject were masculine, you would usually get forms like:

• بيخاف
• بيطلع
• يشوفه