بقالنا ساعة في المترو، ولسه ما وصلناش المحطة.

We have been on the metro for an hour, and we still have not reached the station.

Breakdown of بقالنا ساعة في المترو، ولسه ما وصلناش المحطة.

• ال: the
• و: and
• يوصل: to arrive
• لسه: still

Questions & Answers about بقالنا ساعة في المترو، ولسه ما وصلناش المحطة.

What does بقالنا mean here, and how is it built?

بقالنا is a very common Egyptian Arabic way to talk about how long something has been going on.

It is made of:

• بـ
  • قال
• plus نا = for us / we have been

So بقالنا ساعة means we’ve been ... for an hour.

In this sentence, it introduces a duration that started in the past and is still continuing now.

Other examples:

• بقاله يومين = he has been ... for two days
• بقالك كتير هنا؟ = have you been here long?
• بقالهم سنة متجوزين = they’ve been married for a year

This structure is extremely common in Egyptian Arabic.

Why is it ساعة and not a plural form?

After expressions like بقالنا, Egyptian Arabic often uses the time word directly:

• بقالنا ساعة = for an hour
• بقالنا يوم = for a day
• بقالنا أسبوع = for a week

For one hour, ساعة is exactly what you expect.

If the number changed, the form would change too:

• بقالنا ساعتين = we’ve been ... for two hours
• بقالنا 3 ساعات = for 3 hours

So ساعة is singular simply because the duration is one hour.

Why does the sentence use في المترو? Does that mean in the metro or on the metro?