December 4th, 2009 8 comments
In today's not so complex lesson we teach you how to describe things or people using uncomplicated vocabulary. The dialogue is very colloquial and the vocabulary very common so you are likely to recognize some of it when listening to "non-classical" Arabic. If you don't listen to this lesson, you could lose out on many useful phrases. La taqooloon maa 7ad'artakum!

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8 Comments
Adnanyu says
Sat 5th Dec 09@04:28 pm

im interested in one thing,it probably doesent have anything to do with this lesson ... why in coloquial people say for example , bhebak , instead of uhibuk , why is that B in front of the word? and with the egyptian , D , or DE?
Desmond says
Sat 5th Dec 09@06:58 pm

I think I can answer Adnanyu’s question about “bi-”. “Bi-” is one of several clitic particles that are used as aspectual markers in Arabic dialects. In Egyptian Arabic “bi-” indicates the durative aspect, but in Syrian Arabic it indicates futurity. The Syrian particle “bi-” corresponds to “ha-” in Egyptian Arabic (cf. G. E. Booij et al. (eds.), Morphologie: Ein internationals Handbuch zur Flexion und Wortbildung (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2004), p. 1746).

“Rah” (ﺮﺡwink, which is a derivative of “rayih” (going), and which expresses futurity in the first sentence of “Complex program”, belongs to the same grammatical category as “bi-”. It is apparently used in more or less the same way in the Syrian and urban Kuwaiti dialects (cf. Kristen E. Brustad, The Syntax of Spoken Arabic: A Comparative Study of Moroccan, Egyptian, Syrian and Kuwaiti Dialects (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2000), p. 241). According to Brustad, the future particles “b-” and “rah” are not used interchangeably in Syrian dialects. One particle expresses futurity plus intentionality, while the other one expresses futurity without intentionality.
Moshaya says
Sun 6th Dec 09@10:59 am

Couldn’t have given a better answer than Desmond but just to add/clarify that in a lot of colloquial dialects, when the letter baa È is added to a present tense verb, it gives a present continuous meaning, so the word be7ebak ÈÍÈß can be translated literally to I’m loving you...

A few other examples:

ÈÃÊÛÏì – I’m having lunch
ÈÃáÚÈ ÇáÈáÇíÓÊÔä – I’m playing the playstation
ÈÃÏÑÓ Ýí ÇáÛÑÝÉ – I’m studying in the room
tijo says
Sun 6th Dec 09@01:52 pm

this is tijo again...from the land of diversity called india....another of my silly questions...the colloqial word bes or bas used in this lesson means but here..isnt it more commonly used for lie "thats enough" or "not more"...and can bikaifak be used as a'ala kaifak..once again..just love you guys...wish i could join your lessons..but unfortunately very far away..your doing a grea tob by connecting people and their languages.in just a month i have improved my arabic A LOT....to all those reading this,please advice this site to all interested...its one of my favorites(im a language freak).i know four languages(i know im showing off).could anyone tell me the word for pharmacist(im doing my bachelors in pharmacy)
Desmond says
Sun 6th Dec 09@02:20 pm

Hello tijo! Birds of a feather flock together. I’m fascinated by languages, too. There are at least two words for 'pharmacist': 'saydalaaney' (ﺼﻴﺪﻻﻨﻲwink and 'saydaley' (ﺼﻴﺪﻠﻲwink.
Sun 6th Dec 09@06:53 pm

Hi tijo,
It’s wonderful that we’ve all connected here from different parts of the world to learn Arabic. I wanted to help answer your question. I think ‘bas’ is commonly used to mean “That’s enough”. For example, if a child is being naughty and causing a fuss, you can say Bas – ÈÓ – Enough!

Or if someone is pouring drink in your glass, you can say bas to also mean enough. Hope this helps
Ehab says
Sun 6th Dec 09@10:45 pm

Shukran Desmond and Shukran ArabicLover, Just to comment on BAS, it is actually used in both scenarios, when someone is saying (enough/stop) and also it is used to say (but), again to emphasise (bas) is used just in colloquial Arabic and not in fu97a (classical Arabic).
tijo says
Mon 7th Dec 09@07:25 am

ÔßÑÇ
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