Intermediate - What does she look like

There's an error in the transcript: Bay9’aa2 aw samraa2? is translated as Is she tall? As tall as me?

It should be translated as white or dark?

Please correct it.

In the present instance the meaning of the colour adjective ﺃﺒﻴﺾ (‘abyad) is not particularly clear. Is the woman “white” (like a Norwegian) as opposed to “black” (like a Zulu) or “brown” (like an Indian)? Or is she simply “fair-complexioned”. The adjective “fair-complexioned” is applied to women whose skin is exceptionally light.

“White” may have negative connotations. A woman’s face may be white because she is very ill or very frightened. I suspect that in the case under consideration the woman is fair-complexioned, not white.

I should have expressed myself somewhat more precisely. I do not believe the woman is fair-complexioned, but I suspect that in the present instance the adjective 'abyad means "fair-complexioned".

Hi there,

Is there a reason that in "Random Word" the pronunciation button is not available any more?

Regards, Tau

@ tau

That's very odd, tau. I can see the button on my screen, and it works.

@Desmond

You are right. If I log in via Opera, I see the button, and it works. In Firefox, probably one of the add-ons is blocking it. Thank you!

@ tau

I use Firefox too, but so far it hasn't caused any trouble.

I didn't think white or black was used by arabs. I thought arabs used terms like light skined or dark skined.
white is mostly used to refer to europeans and black to refer to sub saharan africans. Most arabs see themselves as simply arabs who are light or dark skined.

@ jayrag

Precisely, jayrag. That's why I'm inclined to think that in the present instance "white" is a mistranslation.

kayf in lesson one is translated 'how'. This lesson translates as "what". My arabic dictionary translates as "how",with madha for what.
Ed

Sorry, cancel the question. You explain this in your narrative.
Ed

So far no one has taken up the challenge Ehab and Mohamed pose at the end of this lesson.
I am still struggling with sentence 3, but here is what I have worked out so far: "Ehab, are you interested in George's wife? - Hey, I'm not interested in George's wife! - XXX - But why did you ask me about her height, the colour of her eyes and her hair, as if you were interested in her? - I am not interested, Mohamed! You are being a trouble-maker (easy, this was in English). - Ehab, don't be shy, tell the truth. - Some other time. - Who is George? - George is your friend."

Thank you for this lesson, guys. It was fun and I am finally beginning to understand the explanations in Arabic.

One comment about the term "her eyes". You used عيونها
but, at least in one of my Arabic classes, they insist that we use the dual form of eyes "عينان", so "her eyes" would become "عينانها"... I'm sure it's just a more classically correct point... but just checking if I got the pronoun ending correct here? I could be wrong on this generally, in which case, please correct me.

@ Karen, interesting the way you translated (بالمناسبة) you used (Some other time) while it actually means (By the way).
@Jenkki, people in the street don't use the dual form of Arabic that often, instead they use the plural, and that is why we used (عيونها) in the lesson to reflect how things are said in Arabic. However, your right the dual form should be used, though it should be (لون عينيها) instead of (عينانها) because it is i9'aafah and the mu9'aaf ilayh takes (yaa) in the dual form, you probably know that.
Hope that helps

Thank you for pointing out the mistake, Ehab. I must have been subconsciously hoping for a sequel to this story. ;-)

Thanks Ehab! Have to admit that I still have plenty to understand about the rules of Arabic grammar. I have listened to your lesson about i9'aafah but I don't remember the part about mu9'aaf ilayh (مضافِلي (sp?))... but perhaps I will remember it now. So, I guess your point is that in an idaafah (i.e. noun1 + noun2, where noun1 is the possession, noun2 is the possessor) the possessor is the mudaaf ilayh, and in dual form it should end in a ي.

So, I'm still not sure if I got this straight... if I need to say "my eyes are blue"... is this an idaafa?, and would it be correct to say "عيناني زارقوان"?

@ jenkki

If you want to say "the colour of my eyes is blue" you'll have to use an 'idaafa, but if you leave out the word for "colour" you'll just have an "X is Y" pattern. There is an 'idaafa in Ehab's text because what Ehab says literally means "the colour of her eyes is honey".

An 'idaafa construction consists of at least two nouns. In a complex 'idaafa there may be three or more nouns.

Incidentally, the adjective "'asalyy" could have been rendered literally in the audio transcript. "Honey-coloured eyes" is perfectly normal English.

@ jenkky

If you look at the transcript of the podcast entitled "Lost child" you'll find a sentence where the colour of a person's eyes is described without an 'idaafa.

It follows therefore that we can choose between two syntactic patterns when we want to describe the colour of a person's eyes in Arabic:

(1) His / her (etc.) eyes are + COLOUR ADJECTIVE
(2) The colour of his / her (etc.) eyes is + COLOUR ADJECTIVE.

In both cases the copula (to be / kaana) is omitted when the statement refers to the present. In (1) there is no 'idaafa, but in (2) the 'idaafa is mandatory.

Danke, ya Desmond! Ich muss die Verlorene Kind wiederhören...

By the way, I think the proper term for "normal english" which you are referring to above is "nominative". i.e. the nominative case. Right?

@ jenkky

Da ich augenblicklich mit Arbeit überhäuft bin, komme ich erst heute dazu, Ihre Frage zu beantworten. I could continue in German, but I’ll switch back to English. The nominative case has nothing to do with “normal English”. The nominative case is the case of the subject of a finite verb. In the German sentence “Der Student liest das Buch” the noun phrase “der Student” is in the nominative case. In Arabic the nominative case is called haala (ﺤﺎﻠﺔ) al-raf’ (ﺍﻠﺮﻓﻊ), and a noun in the nominative case is said to be marfuu’ (ﻤﺮﻓﻮﻉ).