مع
Arabic
Etymology
Cognate with Ugaritic 𐎎𐎓 (mʿ). Compare Hebrew עם (ím / ʕím).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ma.ʕa/
Audio: (file)
Preposition
مَعَ • (maʕa)
- with, together with, accompanied by, in the company of
- in the estimation of, in the eyes of, in the opinion of
- in spite of, despite, even with
- Synonym: بَيْدَ (bayda)
- مَعَ البَرْدِ، ذَهَبْتُ
- maʕa al-bardi, ḏahabtu
- Even with the cold, I [still] went
- toward, in relation to
- pro, for, advocate of, supporting
- have
Usage notes
مَعَ • (maʕa) is used to mean "to have" when the object possessed is small and on the possessor's person. The possessor is expressed as the object of the preposition.
Inflection
| base form | مَعَ (maʕa) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal-pronoun including forms | |||||
| singular | dual | plural | |||
| m | f | m | f | ||
| 1st person | مَعِي (maʕī) | مَعَنَا (maʕanā) | |||
| 2nd person | مَعَكَ (maʕaka) | مَعَكِ (maʕaki) | مَعَكُمَا (maʕakumā) | مَعَكُمْ (maʕakum) | مَعَكُنَّ (maʕakunna) |
| 3rd person | مَعَهُ (maʕahu) | مَعَهَا (maʕahā) | مَعَهُمَا (maʕahumā) | مَعَهُمْ (maʕahum) | مَعَهُنَّ (maʕahunna) |
Derived terms
- مَعًا (maʕan, “together”)
Descendants
- Gulf Arabic: مع (maʕa)
- Hijazi Arabic: مع (maʕ)
- Maltese: ma’
- Moroccan Arabic: مع (mʕa)
- Tunisian Arabic: مع (mʕa)
Gulf Arabic
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /məʕə/
Preposition
مع • (maʕa)
- with, together with, in the company of
- Synonym: ويا (wiya)
- (by extension) to have
- Synonym: عند (ʕind)
- pro-, for, advocate of, supporting
Usage notes
Unlike other prepositions, مع (maʕa) can be used with the verb negation particle ما (mā) (as well as the regular preposition negation particle مو (mū)), especially in its inflected forms.
Inflection
| base form | مع (maʕa) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal-pronoun including forms | |||
| singular | plural | ||
| m | f | ||
| 1st person | معاي (maʕāy) | معانا (maʕāna) | |
| 2nd person | معاك (maʕāk) | معاچ (maʕāč) | معاكم (maʕākum) |
| 3rd person | معاه (maʕā) | معاها (maʕāha) | معاهم (maʕāhum) |
Hijazi Arabic
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /maʕ/, /maʕa/
Preposition
مع • (maʕ)
- with, together with, in the company of
- حروح معاك ― ḥarūḥ maʕāk ― I will go with you
- in spite of, despite
- toward, in relation to
- pro, for, advocate of, supporting
Inflection
| base form | مع (maʕ) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal-pronoun including forms | |||
| singular | plural | ||
| m | f | ||
| 1st person | معاي (maʕāya) | معانا (maʕāna) | |
| 2nd person | معاك (maʕāk) | معاكي (maʕāki) | معاكم (maʕākum) |
| 3rd person | معاه (maʕā) | معاها (maʕāha) | معاهم (maʕāhum) |
Moroccan Arabic
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mʕa/
Conjunction
مع • (mʕa)
- as (at the same instant that)
- مع جيت، مشى ينعس. ― mʕa jīt, mša yinʕas ― As I came, he went to sleep.
Preposition
مع • (mʕa)
- with, together with, in the company of
- ماش نخرج معاه. ― māš nuḵruj mʕāh ― I will go out with him.
- pro, for, advocate of, supporting
- آنا مع البارصا فهاد الدوري.
- ʔāna mʕa l-bārṣa f-hād ed-dawri
- I am supporting FC Barcelona in this tournament.
Inflection
| base form | مع (mʕa) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal-pronoun including forms | |||
| singular | plural | ||
| m | f | ||
| 1st person | معاي (mʕāy, mʕāya) | معانا (mʕāna) | |
| 2nd person | معاك (mʕāk) | معاكي (mʕāki) | معاكم (mʕākum) |
| 3rd person | معاه (mʕāh) | معاها (mʕāha) | معاهم (mʕāhum) |
South Levantine Arabic
Etymology
The expected Levantine form is مَعْ (maʕ) due to the loss of Arabic's final short vowels, but the consonants ع، ح (ʕ, ḥ) are prone to gaining or maintaining a paragogic /-a/ when word-final. This created two Levantine free variants, مَعْ (maʕ) and مَعَ (maʕa). For comparison, this phenomenon also manifests in حَـ (ḥa, “going to”), from رَحَ (raḥa), a variant of رَح (raḥ), and is synchronically the reason for the variation between North Levantine Arabic تَعْ (taʕ) and تَعَا (taʕa, “come!”), as the original ending /-a/ has been reanalyzed as a paragogic artifact of the ع (ʕ) and is therefore more readily deleted.
When final long vowels became short, the variant مَعَ (maʕa) was able to be reanalyzed as مَعَا (maʕa), which changed its morphology and allowed it to inflect identically to how a word like بلا (bala, “without”) lengthens its final vowel when an enclitic pronoun is attached: بلاك (balāk), مَعَاك (maʕāk).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /maʕ/, [maʕ]
Audio (Jerusalem): (file)
Preposition
مع • (maʕ)
Inflection
(variant A):
| base form | مع (maʕ) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal-pronoun including forms | |||
| singular | plural | ||
| m | f | ||
| 1st person | معي (maʕi) | معنا (maʕna) | |
| 2nd person | معك (maʕak) | معك (maʕek) | معكم (maʕkom) |
| 3rd person | معه (maʕo) | معها (maʕha) | معهم (maʕhom) |
(variant B):
| base form | معا (maʕa) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal-pronoun including forms | |||
| singular | plural | ||
| m | f | ||
| 1st person | معاي (maʕāy) | معانا (maʕāna) | |
| 2nd person | معاك (maʕāk) | معاك (maʕāki) | معاكم (maʕākom) |
| 3rd person | معاه (maʕā) | معاها (maʕāha) | معاهم (maʕāhom) |
Tunisian Arabic
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mʕa/
Preposition
مع (mʕa)
- with, together with, in the company of
- تحبشي تجي معايا؟ ― tḥibbši tji mʕāya? ― Would you like to come with me?
Inflection
| base form | مع (mʕa) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal-pronoun including forms | |||
| singular | plural | ||
| m | f | ||
| 1st person | معايا (mʕāya) | معانا (mʕāna) | |
| 2nd person | معاك (mʕāk) | معاكم (mʕākum) | |
| 3rd person | معاه (mʕāh) | معاها (mʕāha) | معاهم (mʕāhum) |
Urdu
Etymology
Borrowed from Arabic مَعَ (maʕa).
Pronunciation
- (Standard Urdu) IPA(key): /mə(ʔ)/
Preposition
مَع • (ma') (Hindi spelling मअ) (literary)
Further reading
- “مع”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
- “مع”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
- Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “مع”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
- Platts, John T. (1884) “مع”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
- S. W. Fallon (1879) “مع”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co., page 1103
- John Shakespear (1834) “مع”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC