Unit 1 · Hello and who are you?

My, your, his: endings on the noun

Capitals mark the emphatic letters, 3 is ع and 7 is ح, and ' is the glottal stop that Cairo uses for q.

Possessives are endings glued onto the noun. From esm (name) you get esmi (my name), esmak (your name, to a man), esmik (your name, to a woman), esmo (his name) and esmaha (her name). The same endings go on anything you own: kitaabi (my book), kitaabak (your book), 'alamo (his pen). A feminine noun ending in -a brings back a t before the ending, so saa3a (watch) gives sa3ti (my watch) and sa3tak (your watch). For groups there's -na (our), -ku (your) and -hom (their).