What does “مالوش لزوم” mean in Egyptian Arabic?

مالوش لزوم is Egyptian Arabic for “there’s no need for it.” It bundles the possessive preposition لُه (luh, “it has”) inside the classic Egyptian negation frame ما…ش and pairs it with لزوم (luzūm, “necessity”) — producing a phrase that feels warmer and more natural than the MSA equivalent لا داعي لذلك. Egyptians reach for it when brushing off an offer, declining a favour, or reassuring someone not to go to any trouble.

The construction is ما-لُه-ش (mā-luh-sh): ma- wraps around luh with the suffix -sh, giving مالوش — “it has none/nothing.” Add لزوم and the literal read is “it has no necessity,” which idiomatically means “don’t bother.” You’ll also hear مالهاش لزوم for a feminine referent and مالهمش لزوم for a plural one — the same three-way agreement the Lisaan Masry dictionary records for the base form. In the clip, a husband on his first day back at work after the wedding (and then, one year on) gently refuses his wife’s offer to make breakfast: خلاص مالوش لزوم — “forget it, there’s no need” — using the phrase twice in quick succession, each time paired with مش عايزه اتعبك (“I don’t want to tire you out”), which together capture the affectionate-but-firm Egyptian wave-off.