Some Illustrative Examples from Linguata Arabic (2)

What is your name? (w) mā huwa ismuki*?

إسمك؟ هو ما

*More usually ismek or ismik in spoken dialects.

mā (ما) = ‘what’; how; huwa = lit. ‘he, it’; -k(a) and –ki are possessive endings meaning ‘your’ singular, masculine and feminine respectively. The brackets indicate that the –a tends to disappear.

Fine (lit. ‘By the grace of God’), and you? al ḥamdulillāh, wa ’anta?

الحمد لله وأنت؟

ḥamd (حمد) = praise; allāh (لله) = ‘God’; wa (و)= ‘and’; ’anta = ‘you’ (masc.).

What time does it open? matā yaftaḥ?

متى يفتح؟

matā = when; yaftaḥ = 3rd Person singular Present of fataḥa, open (فتح)

What time does it close? matā yaghluq?

متى يغلق؟

yaghluq ( يغلق) Present tense of ghlaqa, to close (غلق)

Pleased to meet you tasharafna

تشرفنا

From sharufa (شرف) = to be highborn, noble, etc; tasharafna = it is/was an honour to me.

Excuse me (to get past) (m) ‘an idhnika (m)

عن إذنك

‘an = of, from; idhn = permission; idhnika = your permission (m.)

Please (m) lau samaḥt

لو سمحت

lau (لو) = if; samaḥt(a) (سمحت) Past tense, 2nd singular(masc.) from samaḥa (سمح) = to allow, let

How are you? kayfa ḥāluk(a)? kayfa ḥāluki?

كيف حالك

kayfa (كيف) = how; ḥāl (حال) = state, condition; plus possessive endings for ‘your’ (masc. and fem.)

How much does this cost? mā thamanu hadha

ما ثمن هذا؟

mā (ما) = ‘what’; thaman (هذا) = price, cost; hadha (هذا) = this

Can you help me please? lau samaḥt, hal yumkinuka musā‘adatī

لو سمحت هل يمكنك مساعدتي ؟

hal (هل) = interrogative particle introducing a question; yumkin = it is possible; yumkinuka = it is possible for you ( -ka = attached pronoun ‘you’); musā‘ada (مساعدة) = assistance ( a verbal noun from root sā‘ada سعد help); -tī : when an ending is added to a tā’ marbūta (ة) the ‘t’ is sounded, i.e. ة changes to ت. In this case the ending is the possessive –ī = my.

I am trying to learn Arabic ana ’uḥawilu ’an ’ata‘allamal-lughal-‘arabīya

أنا أحاول أن أتعلم اللغة العربية

ana = I; ’uhawil = 1st person, present tense of ḥāwala, to try; an = to (particle); ’ata‘allam(a) = 1st person present subjunctive tense of yata‘allam, to learn; lugha = language (لغة).

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