Beginner - No phone line

Can one use إتصال for a phone connection?

@durruti, yes إتصال can mean phone connection, but give us a context or sentence in English and we'll let you know if إتصال is the best word to use in Arabic :)

@Moshaya انا آسف لم أرد عاجلا. مثلاً: أريد أن أتصلك، و لكن الهاتف لاعند إتصال

To be honest I don't know if عند is the correct term to express if a phone "has" a connection and I forget if I am supposed to use لا، ليس، أو ما to negate عند? Please help me through the grammar labyrinth! : )

@durruti, in that context the best way to say that particular sentence is (لكن الهاتف ليس فيه خط). I understand why you have constructed sentence that way, it is said slightly differently in Arabic. In Arabic we say (the phone does not have line in it - literarily). Notice in that context (line) should be used, and also notice the use of (عند) is not preferred in objects (phone, car, ship..), like (the car has strong engine) could be said in the street as (السيارة عندها محرّك قوي) but really the better way of saying that is (السيارة فيها محرك قوي). On the contrary if you are talking about a living thing then using (عند) is more appropriate, like (الرجل عنده عضلات كبيرة- the guy has big muscles) or (الزرافة عندها رقبة طويلة the giraffe has a long neck). Hope you see the point.

Thank you - sorry for butchering your language : )

@durruti
الزرافة لها رقبة طويلة
is another way to say 'the giraffe has a long neck'

Translation of ‘have / has’ when it means ‘to possess’ or ‘to own’ to Arabic is tricky!

لدى is used when - you have it AND you are carrying it at the moment
هل لديك قلم
Do you have a pen?

عند is used when – you have it, but you are NOT carrying it at the moment
هل عندك سيّارة
Do you have a car?

لـِ is used for - permanent relationship or parts of the body
هل لك أطفال
Do you have children?
سيّارتي لها أربعة أبواب
My car has four doors

In communications, the concept of signal is important. So, I'm quite interested to hear the vocabulary in Arabic.

In english, signal is a generic stream of information. It can be something electrical on a copper cable... a fiber optic cable, sound i.e. a pressure wave in air, or a radio wave.

The transmissions medium is unimportant when using the word signal.

When telecom folks use the word "line", these days, they usually mean a cable... usually copper.

In telecom equipment, we have relatively "dumb" computer equipment to handle "lines" because it is only about converting something physical, i.e. the line, into something with meaning (information) - signals.

Then when it comes to information processing, there are smarter components for handling them, cpus and digital signal processors (dsps). Dsp's are very specialized cpus who are excellent at running mathematical formulas... eg. summation of a bunch of numbers multiplied by their coefficients. In the end, these specialized cpus or DSPs are used for doing things like speech recognition, echo cancellation, or video transcoding, i.e. from one resolution to another.

Obviously this is a beginner lesson, but it would be nice to get these words into Arabic for a more advanced lesson. For example, how would one say digital signal processor.

I think digital = رقمية
and now signal = حرارة
What is processor? How about a cpu?

There are a lot of other words that I could ask, but this would be a good start.

Well, Jenkki loves communications I can see that. The word (حرارة) is very specific for the telephone line. The generic word for (signal) is (إشارة), so you could say (لا توجد إشارة) to mean (there is no signal) but that could be for a satellite signal, a mobile phone signal or any other type of signal.
The word (إشارة) is what you use in Digital Signal Processing, so you would say (معالجة الإشارات الرقمية), and the processor is (مُعالِج). We could dedicate a lesson to talk about things like CPU, DSP and DIP ... in Arabic, I love these topics as well :)

Hi! There was an interesting note at the end of this lesson with regard to the word "land line". Apparently this is called "7'a66 al-3ar9'y" (khaTT al-3arDii). On the other hand, when we talk of lines of LATITUDE and LONGITUGE on the surface of the globe, do we not also say "KhaTT al-3ard" and "khaTT aT-Tuul" respectively? As I sail onboard ships, these terms would be really nice to know.

Sorry, I meant LONGITUDE

Hey hokedho, that is actually a good point. Try to listen carefully to the phrase (al7'a6 alar9'y الخط الأرضي) which is (the land line), and you will notice it is (ar9'y أرضي) from (ar9' أرض) which is (land) and not from (3ar9' عرض) which is (width). So latitude in Arabic is (7'a6 al3ar9' خط العرض), and am sure that explains the whole thing now.

Thanks very much Ehab. I now see the difference. I suppose where two different words sound so very similar, we will just have to make the extra effort to ensure that they are pronounced even more precisely.

As salaamu alaykum, i think i understood in the dialogue that you guys are in saudi arabia ... is that so ? I'm in jeddah untill december and i'd love to meet you if possible ... ma3 salaama !

@TariQ le dall, we're actually based in London

السلام عليكم و رحمه الله و بركاته,
can I ask a couple of grammatical questions? I can see in Arabic, we can say like ' I think+I forgot+I　pay.'.
And we need to put'أن’to conbine words... Then what is the difference between 'أن’ and 'أني’? Can I use it interchangeably? Or is there a rule?
And regarding vinod's comment, does'هل’work with every type of interrogative sentence?

Thanks in advance,
ta7yaati :-)

@Kurumi

هل is an interrogative particle. It is used when the answer to a question is either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
أ is another interrogative particle. (There is no space between أ and the first word)

هل هو جديد؟
أهو جديد؟
Is it new? (It may be noted that the answer to this question is either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’)

If it is a multiple choice question, use أ as the interrogative particle (Do not use hal in such cases) with the conjunction ‘or’ in the sentence.

If it has more than two options, use أو as the conjunction ‘or’.
If it has only two options, use أم instead of أو

أهو جديد أم مستعمل؟
Is it new or used?

ولّا substitutes أم in the spoken language.

Other questions are formed by using the appropriate interrogative pronouns like what, who, when, where, how, how many, how much, which, etc.