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Thanks

hi there? quick question could you also say "la Adre"(لا ادر) for i don't know in this sentence. would it make sense.

Excellent jamalbintil, yes you can say لا أدري instead of ما أعرف

They both mean I don't know, ما أعرف is a little more colloquial

very practical again - great job guys - i have a problem with the following phraseأريده فقط أن يكون قصير
it is the word yakuun i cannot place in the context -

Yakoon means (to be),, so, saying (ureeduhu AN YAKOON) means (I want it TO BE).
Hope you find it easier now.

ليس ما قال الحلاق كيف تريد قصتك

Why didn't the barber say 'How would you like your haircut?' instead of 'the haircut'?

thanks...

Dear PatrickShamus,

You might be able to guess the answer to your question if you have a look at the text presented in the podcast entitled “Buying a toothbrush”. “Kayfa turiid al-qassa?” and “Ay khidma?” are stereotyped questions asked by hairdressers and shopkeepers. “Kayfa turiid al-qassa?” corresponds to “How would you like your hair cut?” (or, less commonly, “How would you like your haircut?”), while “Ay khidma?” corresponds to “What can I do for you, sir?” or “What can I do for you, madam?” When shopkeepers ask such questions they never think about word-choice or grammar. They simply behave like parrots, mindlessly repeating word sequences which they have heard thousands of times, and which have been passed on from generation to generation.

The word sequences under discussion are virtually immutable. You would probably be somewhat bemused if a native speaker of English were to modify the constituents of these set phrases. Imagine how you would react if your hairdresser were to say *“How do you wish the haircut?” or if a local shopkeeper were to say *“Which service, sir?”

This brings us to the next question. Why do native speakers of English and Arabic frame their questions differently? The answer is perfectly simple. Arabic and English have evolved independently of each other, and it would be a miracle if native speakers of Arabic and English used identical turns of phrase. If you go through all the podcasts systematically you’ll notice that Arabic speakers often use nominal constructions in cases where English speakers would normally use verbs or verb phrases, and these deep-seated tendencies are reflected in the stereotyped phrases used by hairdressers and shopkeepers. The noun ﺨﺩﻤﺔ (service) corresponds to the verb “do”, just as the noun ﻗﺼﺔ (cut) corresponds to the verb “cut”.

Why do the Arabs prefer nouns, and why do the English prefer verbs? I can’t answer this question, and I don’t think anyone can. The vagaries of human language remain shrouded in mystery.

استاذي

شكرا جزيلا

The Arabic verb 'cut' is close to the Arabic word 'story'...but it's rather easy for English speakers to memorize this verb, to 'cut', sounds just like the English word. Is this word a cognate in English or vice-versa or just a coincidence?

Dear Vladimer,

I don’t think there’s any connection between ﻗﺼﺔ and the English verb “cut”. “Cut” comes from a Middle English verb “cutten”, and “cutten” is probably of Scandinavian origin. “Kutte” is a Norwegian word meaning “cut”, and “kuti” is an Old Icelandic word denoting a small knife. If “cut” is pronounced with a northern English accent it sounds rather like the first syllable of the French noun “couteau” (knife), but “couteau” is not a Scandinavian word brought to France by Norse invaders. It comes from the Latin noun “cultellus”, which is a diminutive of “culter” and means a small knife.

The Arabic words for “cut” and “story” may be homographs, but they aren’t homophones. When ﻗﺼﺔ means “he cut” it is pronounced “qassa”, and when it means “story” it is pronounced “qissa” or “gissa”. “Qassa” sounds rather like the French verb “casser” (to break), but “casser” comes from the Vulgar Latin verb “quassare”, which means “to shake” and “quassare” comes from the Classical Latin verb “quatere”.

So, if I got it straight, cultellus means knife in Latin, and you use it to cut the queso, that means cheese in spanish. So when I say: quién comió el queso, I'm actually saying: who ate the cheese, but in spanish. So ﻗﺼﺔ and cut have different roots.

“Cultellus” is the diminutive of “culter”. “Culter” means knife, “cultellus” small knife (cf. K. E. Georges, Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch). “Culter” and “cultellus” are not related to ﺴﻜﻴﻦ or ﻤﺪﻴﺔ, which are probably the commonest Arabic words for “knife”.

I think it’s highly unlikely that the English verb “cut” is related in any way to Arabic words belonging to the same semantic field. The same goes for the English noun “cheese” and its Arabic counterpart ﺠﺒﻦ. “Cheese”, like Ger. “Käse” and Sp. “queso”, comes from “caseus”, which in classical Latin was also used as a term of endearment (meus molliculus caseus).

شكرا جزيلا Desmond. I had no intention to be ironic or anything of the kind; I actually find very interesting your comments. So I thank your answer. مع السلامة

I didn't take umbrage at your comment, soyjuanmartin. I was just a bit puzzled.

This is amazing. My barber is Lebanese, and now I can speak Arabic with him when getting a haircut Good job, guys!