“Kayn” for “There Is”

Lesson objective

In this lesson, you will learn how to say that a person or thing is present or available.

Meaning of “kayn”

The words kayn, kayna, and kaynin are participles of the verb to be. They are commonly used to mean there is, there are, or someone is present.

Affirmative forms

English	Darija
There is — masculine singular	kayn
There is — feminine singular	kayna
There are — plural	kaynin

Negative forms

English	Darija
There is not — masculine singular	ma-kayn-š
There is not — feminine singular	ma-kayna-š
There are not — plural	ma-kaynin-š

Examples

kayn Driss f ḍ-ḍar. — Driss is at home.

weš kayn l-ma f l-qr3a? — Is there water in the bottle?

ma-kayn-š Tom f l-qhwa. — Tom is not at the café.

kayna l-makla f t-tlaja. — There is food in the refrigerator.

kaynin bzzaf d l-ktub fuq ṭbla. — There are many books on the table.