انا اللي بعرف It’s me who knows

Another post on a common expression.

You’ll know the relative pronoun اللي (illi/@lli, and its variants يلي yalli and الـ l-), and if you don’t, you should read this post. The equivalent to ‘it’s X who Ys’ in English is expressed literally as X illi Y. Note that the verb (Y) agrees with the pronoun, whereas in English we usually use the third person form invariably. Note as well that the first vowel of illi/@lli is, like the vowel of the definite article, usually dropped following a vowel:

هي اللي كسرتو
hiyye lli kassarəto [SYR]
It was her who broke it
She’s the one that broke it

هو اللي بعرف الطريق
huwwe lli bi3raf iTTarii2 [PAL]
It’s him that knows the way
He’s the one that knows the way

Note that unlike English it can be combined with imperatives – this sentence works in response to someone telling you تيسر tyassar ‘get out of here, go, leave’:

انتي اللي تيسري!
2inti lli tyassari!
You’re the one who [should] get out of here!
You get out of here!

This is the literal meaning of the expression. But this structure is also commonly used as a very affirmative response to a question which affirms that you do  For example:

 انت بتعرف الطريق ع الحارة؟ انا اللي بعرفها. عشنا فيها عشرين سنة بعدين انتقلنا
2ənte bta3ref @TTarii2 3a l7aara? / 2ana lli ba3rəfa! 3əshna fiyya 3əshriin səne ba3deen @nta2alna [SYR]
Do you know the way to the neighbourhood? / Of course I do! We lived there twenty years and then moved.

It might be easiest to understand the meaning here as ‘better than most!’ The implication is that the second speaker knows the way very well, because – as he says – he lived there for twenty years.

بتعرف ابو اللول؟ – انا اللي بعرفو
bta3ref 2abu lluul? – 2ana lli ba3rfo! [SYR]
Do you know Wa2el? – Of course I know him!

Here the implication is that you know Wa2el (nicknamed abu lluul) very well indeed, perhaps because you went to school with him or are very close friends with him. Here again ‘better than most!’ might work to express the meaning as well. But this construction isn’t limited as the title of this post might suggest to just the first person or to the verb بعرف. For example:

ما منلعب؟ – نحنا اللي منلعب
maa mnəl3ab? / nə7na lli mnəl3ab!
Are we [you] not card players? / Of course we are!

Here the implication is not only that you play cards but that you play cards a lot.

بتحب الملوخية؟ ولو انا اللي بحبها
bit7ibb limluukhiyye? / walaw, 2ana lli b7ibbha! [PAL]
Do you like mulukhiya? / I love it!

And here ‘I don’t just like it – I love it!’ might be a nice idiomatic translation.