What is the Continuous Form

Another grammar lesson here. The distinction between the present form and present continuous is fairly simple. Present continuous is what you are doing right now versus present tense is speaking in generalities.

I go surfing
versus
I am going surfing

The beauty with Egyptian arabic is the continuous form doesn't require memorizing a bunch of new words it just using some existing structure. We already learned how to use verbs in the past and future. In Egpytian Arabic you don't need to to distinguish with specific words to give different meanings, its built on context.

ana baakal ice cream can mean I eat ice cream or I am eating ice cream depending on how the question was asked. The same aspect applies in the past and future tenses of it.

ana haakal = I will eat/be eating
ana akalt = I ate/was eating

So for most verbs we just have to use our existing framework; however there are some that have a participle form. I just learned what a participle was recently and its when a verb takes an adjective form. For example.

The vase broke
The vase blue
vs
The broken vase
The blue vase
THe vase has broken
The vase has blue

Notice how in one case its a verb and you can't replace it with an adjective, but in the other, it is able to. This is what makes a certain word a participle. Lets return to arabic now.

going = raya7
understanding = fahem
gay = coming
2a3ed = sitting
na2em = sleeping
wa2ef = standing

For these forms we have to treat it a little differently. They aren't verbs even though we frequently use it to describe an action. The reason for this is they describe a state rather than an action. When we are eating. It is actively happening and will come to a more near term end. When I say ana 2a3ed. It happens right now its my state. Its describing something happening to me physically in some mechanism. This is different than actions like playing a sport or eating food. Those are external facing. I don't have the perfect explanation for this, but lets look at how we owuld use it in the language.

Ana baroo7 el gim. I am going to the gym (but not actively)
Ana aroo7 el gim. I am going to the gym (leaving now)
ana ha2a3ed. I will sit/be sitting (happening in near term future)
ana hakoon 2a3ed. I will be sitting (just give me a moment)

At the end of the day the nuance is mall and likely will only fully make sense when you speak with enough native speakers. For now treat them as exceptions for the continuous form and just know you treat the form like its an adjective since its a participle rather than treat it like a verb.