Ways to say it
| Arabic | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| كل | kull | /kull/ | Egyptian Arabic |
| كُلّ | kull | ||
| جَمِيع | jamīʕ |
كل means all or every and is used before a noun or with a pronoun ending. It is the word you will hear and read most often, as in هذا كل ما لدي, that is all I have.
Which one should you use?
كُلّ (kull) often means every when it comes before a singular noun and all before a plural or definite noun. جَمِيع (jamīʕ) is more often used for all of a whole group, especially with plural nouns and it can come after the noun to stress that the whole group is meant.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Modern Standard Arabic the word is كُلّ (kull). In Egyptian Arabic the most common way to say all is كُل, with a short vowel closer to the o in short.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
كُلّ is usually followed directly by a noun in the genitive case, forming a possessive pair. To say all of it or all of them, attach a pronoun ending to كُلّ instead of using a separate word.
How do you pronounce it?
It is pronounced /kull/, with a doubled l at the end held slightly longer than a single one.
Did you know?
- The word كُلّ is a direct linguistic relative of the Akkadian word kalûm, which has been used in the Middle East for thousands of years.
- In Arabic, the concept of 'all' is often expressed through a possessive construction, where the word كل functions like a possessor of the noun that follows it.
- The term جَمِيع can be moved to a position after the noun it describes to add a layer of rhetorical emphasis, a technique not commonly used with the word 'all' in English.
Examples in context
- هذا كل ما لديThat is all I have.كل here means all, giving that is all I have.Tatoeba #7859115 by Ahmed_Waleed, translation #43122 by autuno
- هذا كل ما املكIt's all I have.كل again means all, in it is all I own.Tatoeba #7859118 by Ahmed_Waleed, translation #1904479 by Spamster
- هؤلاء كل ما لديThese are all I have.كل stays the same even though the subject هؤلاء, these, is plural.Tatoeba #7859117 by Ahmed_Waleed, translation #1475499 by khurios2000
- 314 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Ahmed and Nour are at a restaurant deciding what to order.
- أحمد Ahmedكل الناس بتحب الأكل ده.kull el-nas bit-hib el-akl dah.All people love this food.
- نور Nourفعلاً، كل الأكل هنا حلو.fe'lan, kull el-akl hina helw.Really, all the food here is good.
- أحمد Ahmedنطلب كل الأصناف اللي في المنيو؟notlob kull el-asnaf el-li fil menu?Shall we order all the items on the menu?
- نور Nourلا، مش كل ده يا أحمد!la, mish kull dah ya Ahmed!No, not all of that, Ahmed!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “all” translations and entries كل, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries كل, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
