Let's talk in Arabic

Pronouns

noreply@blogger.com (Niji) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:01:00 +0200

الْضَّمَاْئِرُ

Pronoun belong to the category of "nouns". Pronouns in Arabic have genders, numbers, and grammatical case and they are always definite nouns. Anyway, there are 6 categories for Arabic pronouns :

1) Subject Pronouns For Singular
Singular pronouns are words such as "I", "You", "She", "He", e.t.c.

المفرد Singular
I	(أنا) - Ana
You - Masc	(إنت) - Enta
You - Fem	(إنتي) - Enti
He	(هو) - Huwwa
She	(هي) - Hiya

NOTE : Arabic distinguishes between a male "you" (enta) and a female "you" (enti).

2) Subject Pronouns For Plural
Plural pronouns are words such as "We", They" and "Them".

الجمع Plural
We	(احنا) - Ehna
You	(انتو) - Entu
They	(هم) - Hum

Examples for (1) and (2)
NOTE : there is no equivalent of the English "Verb to be" such "Am", "Is" and "Are" in Arabic. So you can make simple sentences and question without any "verb to be".

- Ana Yusoof
I (am) Yusoof

- Huwa Kareem
He (is) Kareem

- Hiya min masr
She (is) from Egypt

( rest...will update soon)

Verb To Have

noreply@blogger.com (Niji) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:59:00 +0200

The equivalent of the English verb "To have" is expressed by using the word "Andi". The pattern for them is demonstrated in the following examples by changing the appropriate possessive pronoun (notice the letters written in Red):

1) Positive Statement

عند Have (Root Verb)
I (أنا)	عندي	Andi	I have
We (احنا)	عندنا	Andina	We have
You - Masc (إنت)	عندك	Andak	You have
You - Fem (إنتي)	عندك	Andik	You have
You - Plural (انتو)	عندكو	Andaku	You have
He (هو)	عنده	Andu	He has
She (هي)	عندها	Andaha	She has
They (هم)	عندهم	Andahum	They have

2) Negative statement by putting "Ma" at the beginning + verb "To have" with appropriate pronoun + "Sh" at the end. Let see the pattern bellow :

عند Have (Root Verb)
I (أنا)	ماعنديش	Ma Andish	I haven't
We (احنا)	ماعندناش	Ma Andinash	We haven't
You - Masc (إنت)	ماعندكش	Ma Andaksh	You haven't
You - Fem (إنتي)	ماعندكش	Ma Andiksh	You haven't
You - Plural (انتو)	ماعندكوش	Ma Andakush	You haven't
He (هو)	ماعندوش	Ma Andush	He han't
She (هي)	ماعندهاش	Ma Andahash	She hasn't
They (هم)	ماعندهمش	Ma Andahumsh	They haven't

Examples:
1) Andak ashab?
Do you have friends? - عندك اصحاب

2) Ana andi meshkela
I have problems - انا عندي مشكله

3) Lau andaku sur hatuha hina
If you guys have photos, bring them here - لو عندكو صور حطوها هنا

Present Tense

noreply@blogger.com (Niji) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:02:00 +0200

In this lesson, we are going to learn about verbs, the present tense particularly. Verbs in Arabic Amiya have tree different forms only. These are Present, Past and Imperative. A typical practice is to memorize the three forms of each verb.

1) Simple Present Tense
Now we will focus on the present form/tense. Like in French and many other languages, the verb changes according to the subject and it's different to compare with English and Bahasa Malaysia. The pattern most verbs follow in the present tense is demonstrated in the following examples (notice the letters written in Red):

لعب Play (Root Verb)
I (أنا)	ألعب	Il'ab	I Play
We (احنا)	نلعب	Nil'ab	We Play
You - Masc (إنت)	تلعب	Ti'ab	You Play
You - Fem (إنتي)	تلعبي	Til'abiy	You Play
You - Plural (انتو)	تلعبوا	Til'abu	You Play
He (هو)	يلعب	Yil'ab	He Plays
She (هي)	تلعب	Til'ab	She Plays
They (هم)	يلعبوا	Yil'abu	They Play

How do we use the Simple Present Tense?
A) the action happens all the time, or habitually in the past, present and future or the statement is always true.
-Ana akol bil lail (I eat at night) - اناأكل بلليل

B) General questions
- Tishrab eih? (What do you want to drink?) - تشرب إيه

C) Giving directions or making suggestions
- Timsyi min hena - (You could walk from here) - تمشي من هنا

2) Present Continuous Tense
Turn "Simple Present" to "Present Continuous" by putting "Bi" before present verb.

Bi + Present Verb
ب + نلعب

How do we use the Present Continous Tense?
A) For action happening exactly now
-Ana basrab al-qahwah (I'm drinking coffee) - أنا باشرب القهوة

B) Questions for current action
- Enta bi-ta'mil eih? (What are you doing right now?) - إنت بتعمل إيه

Meat

noreply@blogger.com (Niji) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:54:00 +0200

Meat and Poultry - اللحم و الدواجن
1) Lamb - (Daanee, kharof) - ضاني , خروف
2) Beef - (Lahm baqaree) - لحم بقري
3) Rabbit - (Araanib) - أرانب
4) Chicken - (Firakh, Dujaaj) - دجاح , فراخ
5) Liver - (Kibda) - كبدة
6) Brains - (Mukh) - مخ
7) Pigeon - (Hamaam) - حمام
8) Duck - (Batt)- بط
9) Sausage - (Suguq) - سجق

Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Niji) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:16:00 +0200

If you have any questions about Colloquial Arabic (Ammiya), please do not hesitate to leave your words using the comment's form provided below. You can ask either in English language or Arabic or Bahasa Melayu.

Good luck & Haz sa3ed.

Color

noreply@blogger.com (Niji) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:52:00 +0200

1) Red - (Ahmar) - احمر
2) Blue - (Azrak) - أزرق
3) Green - (Akhdar) - أخضر
4) Gray - (Rumadee) - رمادي
5) Orange - (Burtuqalee) - برتقالي
6) Yellow -(Asfar) - أصفر
7) Pink - (Wardee) - وردي
8) Black - (Aswad) - أسود
9) Blue-black - (Asmaar) - أسمر
10) Light-black - (Kuhli)
11) Brown - (Bunni) - بني

Extra:
1) Light - (Fatih) - غامق
2) Dark - (Ghamiq) - فاتح

Parts Of The Body

noreply@blogger.com (Niji) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:50:00 +0200

Face -
1) Hair - (Sha'ir) - شعر
2) Eyebrow - (Hagib) - حاجب
3) Eye - (Ain) - عين
4) Nose - (Manakhir) - مناخير
5) Cheek - (Khad) -خد
6) Mouth - (Buk) بوك -
7) Lips - (Syifah) - شفاه
8) Tongue - (Lisan) - لسان
9) Ear - (Udun) -اذن
10) Skin - (Gild) - جلد
11) Teeth - (Sinan) - سنان
12) Bread - (Lehya) -لحية
13) Moustache - (Syanab) - شنب
14) Sideburn - (Sawalif) - سولف

Body
1) Hand
2) Elbow

Making negative sentences

noreply@blogger.com (Niji) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:41:00 +0200

There are a few ways of forming negative.

1) By putting "Ma-" and "-sh" either side of the simple present verb. It gives the meaning of " Don't " for statement.

Ma a'kulsh bil lail
I don't eat at night - انا ماأكلش بلليل

2) By putting "Ma-" and "-sh" either side of the simple present verb, also can be used for instruction, "Don't do that"

Ma ta'kulsh keda
Don't eat like that (you, masc) - ماتأكلش كده

3) By putting "Ma-" and "-sh" either side of the present continuous verb. It gives the meaning of " Not doing".

Ma biya'kulish dil wakti
He is not eating right now - هو مابيأكلش دالوقت

4) By putting "Ma-" and "-sh" either side of the past verb and it gives the meaning of " Didn't "- (to deny)

Ma akaltish embarikh
I didn't eat yesterday - مااكلتش إمبارح

5) By putting "Mesh" either side of the simple present verb. It gives the meaning of " Don't " for statement, same like 1st method above. So you can choose either one of them that you like most and much easier to pronounce, there is no different.

Mesh a'kul bil lail
I don't eat at night - انا مش أكل بلليل

6) By putting "Mesh" before Noun and it gives the meaning of " Not".

Ana mesh mu'alim
I'm not a teacher - انا مش معلم

7) By putting "Mesh" with the adjective and it gives the meaning of " Not".

Ana mesh tawil
I'm not tall - انا مش طويل

8) By putting " Mesh" before present verb with "Ha" at the beginning to deny for future

Ana mesh ha-rouh mattar buqra
I won't go to the airport tomorrow - انا مش هاروح المطار بكرة

9) By putting " Balaash" in front of present verb for instruction

Balaash ta'kul
Stop eating, don't eat (you, masc) - بلاش تأكل

So, let's see some sample sentences from arabic songs about this lesson. You need to listen to the pronunciation by arabic songs and repeat what you hear to get the pronunciation right.

" Habeby begad mesh 3arf a2olk eh " - (Tamer Hossny - Arrab Kaman)
My dear, seriously i don't know what to say - حبيبى بجد مش عارف اقولك ايه

" Mesh 2ader ab3id 3anak tani habibi " - (Samo Zain - Mesh adeer)
I can't leave you again my dear - مش قادر ابعد عنك تانى حبيبى اه حبيبى

Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Niji) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:31:00 +0300

Dialects
Arabic is often thought of as having separate "spoken" and "written" forms. The spoken being the various dialects of 20 or so Arabic-speaking countries, and the the written being the standard Arabic thought in schools and educated Arabs. It's important to learn Colloquial Arabic since the most conversations take place in the colloquial language or it's called in Arabic as "Amiya" and of course the most written materials is in Standard Arabic. Thus, don't get shocked if someone (Egyptian) don't understand what you say in Standard Arabic, even with good Arabic grammar, since it's only used in formal writing or formal event.

Standard Arabic plays alots with different pronouncations for every words and it makes people let it be in simple way by ignore most of the difficult words to say. Some of the words just changed by the way of pronouncations only, but others it's totally a new word .

History
The Egyptians slowly adopted the Arabic language following the Arab-Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century AD. Up till then, they were speaking Egyptian in its Coptic form. For more than three centuries, there existed a period of Coptic-Arabic bilingualism in Lower Egypt. This trend would last for many more centuries in the south. Arabic may have been already familiar to Egyptians through pre-Islamic trade with Bedouin Arab tribes in the Sinai and the easternmost part of the Nile Delta. Egyptian Arabic seems to have begun taking shape in Fustat, the first Islamic capital of Egypt, and now part of modern-day Cairo. The variety of Arabic spoken by the Muslim military troops stationed in Fustat was already different from Classical Arabic[10], which in part accounts for some of the unique characteristics of the Egyptian dialect.

One of the earliest linguistic sketches of Egyptian Arabic is a 16th century document entitled Daf` al-'iṣr`an kalām 'ahl Miṣr ('The Removal of the Burden from the Language of the People of Egypt') by Yūsuf al-Maġribi. It contains key information on early Egyptian Arabic and the language situation in medieval Egypt. The main purpose of the document was to show that while the Egyptians' vernacular contained many critical "errors" vis-à-vis Classical Arabic, according to Maġribi, it was also related to Arabic in other respects. With the ongoing Islamization and Arabization of the country, Egyptian Arabic slowly supplanted spoken Egyptian. Local chroniclers mention the continued use of Coptic Egyptian as a spoken language until the 17th century AD by peasant women in Upper Egypt. Coptic is still the liturgical language of the Egyptian Coptic Church.