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Great lesson with a lot of great vocabulary: thanks guys.

Is there a difference between using

مكتب
ماءدة [sorry; can't get the stroke under the ء - I mean ma-i-da]

طاولة [had not heard of this until your podcast]

for table?

@climacus,

مكتب is an office type of desk. Literally it's the area where someone writes on. Often people use this word to refer to the office at work. It's an interesting pattern because of you take the last 3 letters, it's made up of the 3 letter root and the following examples will hopefully explain the rest

كتب Wrote
مكتب Office desk

لعب Played
ملعب Area of play e.g. football pitch

ضرب Hit
مضرب Something that you hit with i.e. racket


مائدة means table and sometimes food but it's usually meant for a dining table etc

طاولة is the general word for table

If you search these Arabic words on Google images then you will see the variations of tables depending on the word

Thanks Moshya: very helpful and much appreciated. I did wonder why I had heard مكتب for office and table/desk -- now it is clear. And the 3 letter patterns in Arabic can be very helpful.

Thanks again.

Could go a little slower

Often one of the first Arabic words learned by foreigners arriving in eastern Saudi Arabia is "shway." It appears to be the same word as "bishweesh" presented in this lesson, with most of the sounds left out. "Shway" is often said twice for emphasis. For instance, a passenger in a speeding taxi might implore the driver, "Shway shway," in an attempt to get the driver to slow down.

Nice lesson.. Bishweesh does not sound Turkish. But we say bisht-bisht in street language to call someones attention. Maybe it is the origin of the word