معايا عشر كتب.

A natural Egyptian pronunciation is:

maʿāya ʿashr kotob

A few notes:

• معايا = maʿāya
• عشر = ʿashr
• كتب = kotob

The sound ع is the tricky one for English speakers. It is a deep, throaty sound made in the back of the throat. If you cannot say it perfectly yet, that is normal.

معايا literally means with me.

In Egyptian Arabic, this is a very common way to express possession, so معايا عشر كتب literally feels like:

With me [are] ten books

but in natural English it means I have ten books.

Because Arabic usually does not use a direct verb like English have in sentences like this.

Instead, Egyptian Arabic often uses expressions like:

• معايا = with me
• عندي = at me / I have

So possession is often expressed through a preposition plus a pronoun, not a separate verb.

Because the me part is already built into معايا.

The ending -يا tells you the speaker is me / I. So:

• معايا = with me
• معاك = with you (to a male)
• معاكي = with you (to a female)

You could add أنا for emphasis, but it is not necessary.

Because معايا is a colloquial Egyptian form.

In Modern Standard Arabic, you would more likely see something like:

• معي عشرة كتب
• or لديّ عشرة كتب

So this sentence is clearly dialectal, especially Egyptian in feel.

In Egyptian Arabic, numbers often appear in a shortened colloquial form when they come directly before a noun.

So:

• عشر كتب is a natural Egyptian way to say ten books

In more formal Standard Arabic, you would usually see عشرة كتب.

So the short answer is:

• عشر = normal colloquial Egyptian form here
• عشرة = more formal / Standard-style form

Because كتب is the plural of كتاب.

• كتاب = book
• كتب = books

This is a broken plural, which means the inside pattern of the word changes rather than just adding an ending.

In Egyptian pronunciation:

• كتاب is often kitāb
• كتب is often kotob

Because after numbers like three through ten, Arabic normally uses a plural noun.

So:

• عشر كتب = ten books

That part is actually similar to English, since English also says ten books, not ten book.

Yes, absolutely.

Both can mean I have ten books, but there is a slight difference in feel:

• معايا عشر كتب often suggests I have ten books with me / in my possession
• عندي عشر كتب is often a bit more general: I have ten books

In many everyday situations, both are perfectly natural.

Because the sentence means ten books, not the ten books.

So the noun is indefinite:

• كتب = books
• الكتب = the books

If you added الـ, the meaning would change.

Yes, in normal informal Egyptian writing, it is usually written as one word:

معايا

Learners sometimes want to separate it because it feels like مع + something, but in everyday writing it is commonly written together.