October 2nd, 2009 11 comments
How fast time flies when you're having fun! A common question you hear after weekends or holidays is, "How was the holiday?", and a common answer is, "It went too fast". We have an Arabic conversation of this sort and we make it sound so simple while we go through the vocabulary.

  5.0/5 (6 votes)


11 Comments
azeem2000 says
Fri 2nd Oct 09@09:18 pm

ÈÓÑÚÉ is actually an adverb here. It is describing the verb ÊÐåÈ .

ÃÓÝ from (ááÃÓÝ in the dialogue) is a good verb to know. It is used for 'I'm sorry'.

ÃäÇ ÃÓÝ. ÃÊßáã ÇááÛÉ ÇáÚÑÈíÉ ÔæíÉ ÝÞØ
(I'm sorry. I only speak a little Arabic.)


Moshaya says
Fri 2nd Oct 09@09:33 pm

Great info Azeem,
Just to note that ÃÓÝ (asaf) with a à means regret or sorrow, whereas ÂÓÝ (Aasef) with an  means sorry
azeem2000 says
Fri 2nd Oct 09@09:51 pm

I thought the difference between ÃÓÝ and ÂÓÝ is similar to I'm sorry. and Sorry! in English. That ÂÓÝ is the Imperative form and just gives it a stronger meaning.

I've heard and used ÃäÇ ãÊÃÓÝ as well.
Desmond says
Sat 3rd Oct 09@09:32 am

The word "ba'd" is more interesting and more difficult than it might seem at first glance. Three points need to be made here:
(1) "Ba'd" occurs in some very useful adverbial phrases, e.g. "ba'd bukra" (the day after tomorrow), "ba'd qaliil" (after a while), "ba'd sa'a" (in an hour's time) and "laysa ba'd" (not yet).
(2) A clearly audible epenthetic vowel ("a") is inserted between "ba'd" and "qaliil" and between "ba'd" and "sa'a", but there is no epenthetic vowel between "ba'd" and "bukra".
(3) When "ba'd" is followed by "a" it sounds like the hamzated verb "bada'a" (he began), which also crops up in this lesson in another guise. The phonetic similarity between the verb and the preposition may constitue a pitfall for the unsuspecting beginner, who will find it hard to distinguish between "bada'a" and "ba'd" + "a" unless he is already familiar with the typical environments in which the words in question occur.
Moshaya says
Sat 3rd Oct 09@02:11 pm

ÂÓÝ can be a verb or an adjective. If it is pronounced (aasef) then it is an adjective, if it is (aasaf) it is a present tense verb. The following examples will demonstrate ÂÓÝ as an adjective

ÃäÇ ÂÓÝ – åí ÂÓÝÉ – åã ÂÓÝæä

If you’re looking at the verb then the easiest thing to do with ÂÓÝ is to study it from the root. The root is the past tense verb which is ÃÓÝ (Asefa), and if you wanted to change it to a first person present tense verb you add à to beginning as you usually do, but because there is already an à at the beginning it changes to  to become ÂÓÝ
e.g.
ÖóÑóÈó (Past tense) – ÃÖÑÈ (First person present tense)
Ãóßóáó (Past tense) – Âßá (First person present tense)
ÃóÓóÝó (Past tense) – ÂÓÝ (First person present tense)

Just remember you can’t say ÃäÇ ÃÓÝ to mean ‘I’m sorry’. It has to be ÃäÇ ÂÓÝ.
You can say ÃäÇ ÃÓÝÊ to mean ‘I was sorry’ but ‘I’m sorry’ is ÃäÇ ÂÓÝ
azeem2000 says
Sat 3rd Oct 09@08:56 pm

Thanks Moshaya!
plop says
Wed 7th Oct 09@03:27 pm

great discussion - might be of help to identify the type of verb you are giving the root of - type 1, 2 etc.. - than comprehension might be even better
salaam wa shukran jaziilan achii
isawhalen says
Fri 9th Oct 09@02:39 am

I have no idea where to begin this? I'm from the U.S. and am very interested in the arabic language
Mwanafunzi says
Fri 9th Oct 09@09:08 am

Hello Isawhalen! You are not alone--we are all from different parts of the world, and what unites us is our interest in this language. There is something for every learner on this website, I think. If you are totally new to this, then I would suggest that you begin by studying this and the earlier Beginner-level lessons (navigate to Lessons and then to Beginner, where you will find about 90 lessons just waiting for you) until you gain enough confidence to go onto the Lower-Intermediate level, which is about where I am at the moment. It should be fun. Welcome, and good luck!
rabiu says
Sun 7th Mar 10@11:36 am

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Ehab says
Sun 7th Mar 10@12:04 pm

This link should tell you all what you need about the subscription schemes: http://www.arabicpod.net/user/membership_comparison
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