Egyptian Arabic Lesson 17

Say hi to him for me!

Vocabulary
Verbs

Nouns

to greet

sallim yisallim ala

to send

bacat yibcat

to show

warra yiwarri

to happen

aal yial

to enjoy oneself

inbasa yinbisi

to prefer

faal yifaal

to drive crazy

gannin yigannin

to play

licib yilcab

to sing

anna yianni

to run

gara yigri

to swim

to go for a walk, stroll

itmaa yitmaa

aam yi uum

to dance

raa yuru

Other Words

those
as soon as
for example

by the way
never, at all
sometimes
together
without

dool
awwil ma

card

kart

neighbor

gaar giraan

chick

katkuuta

mountain

gabal gibaal

guys, youths

abaab

club

naadi

sports

riyaaa

football (soccer)

kurit ilqadam

team

farii

basketball

kurit issalla

chess

aranj

backgammon

aawila

cards

kutiina

free time

wat ilfaraa

sea

bar

beach

blaaj

masalan
ala fikra

abadan
sacaat
maca bac
min geer

Expressions and Proverbs

Dance for the monkey in his country. (Curry

favor with those in authority no matter how annoying they are.)

uru lilird fi dawlitu

row him into the sea and he comes back with a irmiih fi lbar yilac wifi buu
fish in his mouth. (He is always lucky.)

To dance is to lose dignity.

He came out of his clothes. (He got really angry.)

samaka.

irra na
ilic min huduumu

Dialogue Assignment
1) Write a dialogue in which you show pictures of your family to a friend, tell a little about them, and discuss writing letters to
them.
2) Work with a partner and discuss a few of their different hobbies using as many words as possible.
Drills
1. Change all nouns to pronouns. Translate the resulting sentences.

.
.
.

2. Read the following sentences with pronouns, and tell a partner a plausible context in which this sentence would make sense
indicating who or what the pronouns might refer to.

.
.

.
.

3. Answer the following questions with complete sentences.

4. Ask and answer the following questions in Arabic.

Do you prefer climbing mountains or playing cards?
Did you enjoy yourself at Amiras or did she drive you crazy?
Why did you decide to study Arabic?
What do you do in your free time?
5. Translate into EA.
How long has your brother been in America?
John is the smartest student in the class.
e man I met yesterday in the city sold me his watch.
How long will your sister stay in Egypt?
He is taller than me.
e letter I sent to my father got lost in the mail.
I met a girl who lived in Egypt for 3 years.
We bought cucumbers and tomatoes to make a delicious soup.
I never saw her.
She left without me.

6. Make the item in the first sentence more than the one in the second.
Answer: . . Example: Prompt: .

. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
7. Choose a noun and use the adjectives below in the superlative to say that the noun is the biggest in the class, the smallest in the city,
etc. Use the hints in parentheses if you cant think of ideas yourself.
Answer: . Example: Prompt:

)(city, Middle East

)(student, class
)(language, department
)(teacher, university
)(girl, family

)(book, library
)(building, city
)(city, state
)(area, country
)(yoghurt, country

)(word, lesson

8. Make the second sentence into a relative clause that modifies a noun in the first sentence. Make sure you understand the
resulting sentence.
Answer: . . Example: Prompt: .

. .
. .

. .
. .
. .
. .
. .
. .

EA 17 Language Notes
1. Verbs with Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns
Verbs like and can take both direct and indirect objects or either one alone. Either of these objects may be a noun or
a pronoun. For example:

. I wrote to him.
. I wrote it.

. I wrote a letter to Mahmoud.

. I wrote to Mahmoud.
. I wrote a letter.

As in English, when these objects come in the order direct object-indirect object, a preposition is placed before the indirect
object, usually li-. If both of the objects become pronouns, both (including the preposition) are placed on the end of the
verb:

.
.

I read it to him.
I wrote it to her.

If the verb is negated, the negative ... surrounds the entire thing:

I didnt read it to him.

2. e Preposition as a benefactive.
e preposition is used to mark the indirect object of a verb as we saw in the above section. However, it is also often used
with verbs that dont take indirect objects with what is known as a benefactive meaning: doing something for someone else,
as in: he bought me a shirt, he baked her some cookies, she filled out the form for him. Just as with as an indirect object
marker (above), this is attached to the verb if it has a pronoun attached. For example:

I want that newspaper. Could you buy it for me?

e verb in the text of this lesson takes its regular object after the preposition , but it takes an optional benefactive
object with , thus:

. I will say hi to her for you.

. She says hi (to you).
. ey said hi to him yesterday.

! Say hi to him for me! (to a male)

! Say hi to them for me! (to a female)
! Say hi to her for me! (to a group)

3. Here is the conjugation of a typical Form VIII Hollow verb.

Imperative

a- Imperfect

bi- Imperfect

Plain Imperfect

Perfect

Pronoun

Imperative

a- Imperfect

bi- Imperfect

Plain Imperfect

Perfect

Pronoun

ayirtaa

biyirtaa

yirtaa

irtaa

huwwa

atirtaa

bitirtaa

tirtaa

irtaait

hiyya

irtaa

atirtaa

bitirtaa

tirtaa

irtat

inta

irtaai

atirtaai

bitirtaai

tirtaai

irtati

inti

artaa

bartaa

artaa

irtat

ana

ayirtaau

biyirtaau

yirtaau

irtaau

humma

atirtaau

bitirtaau

tirtaau

irtatu

intu

anirtaa

binirtaa

nirtaa

irtana

ina

irtaau

Verbal Noun
Active Participle

irtiyaa
mirtaa