انا قاعد في المطبخ من الصبح، وهي قاعدة قدام الكمبيوتر بتشتغل.

I have been in the kitchen since morning, and she is sitting in front of the computer working.

Breakdown of انا قاعد في المطبخ من الصبح، وهي قاعدة قدام الكمبيوتر بتشتغل.

• انا: I
• هي: she
• ال: the
• في: in

Questions & Answers about انا قاعد في المطبخ من الصبح، وهي قاعدة قدام الكمبيوتر بتشتغل.

Why are قاعد and قاعدة used here? Do they literally mean sitting?

Yes. Literally, قاعد means sitting for a masculine subject, and قاعدة means sitting for a feminine subject.

In Egyptian Arabic, though, these words often do more than just describe posture. They can also help express an ongoing situation, a bit like be + -ing in English.

So:

• أنا قاعد في المطبخ = literally I am sitting in the kitchen
• but naturally it can also feel like I’m staying / I’ve been in the kitchen

And:

• هي قاعدة قدام الكمبيوتر بتشتغل = she’s sitting in front of the computer, working

So here قاعد/قاعدة keep their literal sense of sitting, but they also help create the feel of an ongoing scene.

Why is it أنا قاعد but هي قاعدة?

Because قاعد changes for gender:

• قاعد = masculine
• قاعدة = feminine

So:

• a male speaker says أنا قاعد
• a female speaker says أنا قاعدة
• هي قاعدة because هي refers to a woman/girl

This kind of agreement is very common in Arabic.

Why is there no separate word for am/is in the sentence?