introduction to gulf arabic
DESCRIPTION
an introduction to the dialects of Gulf ArabicTRANSCRIPT
C O L L O Q U I A L
A R A B I C
O F T H E G U L F
A N D S A U D I A R A B I A
C O N T E N T S
INTRODUCTION , p 1
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK 3
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE •* 8
UNIT 1 Expressions of quantity; Orders and requests; 'Please'. 18
UNIT 2 The Arabic equivalent of 'the'; The 'dual'; The plural. 22
UNIT 3 'How much/many?' Prices; Numbers 1-10; Greetings. 30
UNIT 4 Simple descriptive sentences; Noun-adjective phrases; Some other types of adjective. 40
UNIT 5 Numbers 11 to 1,000,000; Age; Telling the time; Personal pronouns; 'Who?' and 'What?' 49
i
REVIEW UNIT I 61
UNIT 6 Expressions of place; The verb: past tense. 6£ UNIT 7 Past-tense verbs: verbs beginning with a glottal stop;
Past-tense verbs: 'hollow' verbs; T o say that';, 'To ask whether'; li'ann: 'because*; Expressions of manner; Further expressions of time. 76
UNIT 8 Noun-phrases; The elative adjective; Word order. 89 UNIT 9 Past-tense verbs: 'doubled' verbs; Past-tense verbs:
'weak* verbs; Time conjunctions; Ordinal numbers; Months. 100
UNIT 10 Relative clauses; Demonstrative pronouns; Demonstrative adjectives; The negative in equational sentences; 'Somebody' and 'nobody'. 112
vi CONTENTS
REVIEW UNIT II 425
UNIT 11 The imperfect verb: basic forms; The imperfect verb: different stem-types; Review of verb forms; The uses of the imperfect.
UNIT 12: Verb strings; The imperative: strong verbs; The imperative: other types of verb; The negative imperative.
UNIT 13 The present participle; The passive participle. UNIT 14 The derived themes of the verb: CaCCaC, CaaCaC,
tiCaCCaC and tiCaaCaC. 178 UNIT 15 The verbal noun; Co-ordinated negatives;
Compound adjectives; 'Self. 194
131
146 163
REVIEW UNIT III 207
UNIT 16 The derived themes of the verb: aCCaC, inCaCaC, iCtaCaC and istaCCaC; Conditional sentences. 213
UNIT 17 Quadriliteral verbs; To wish/want' and 'to prefer'; Verbs with double objects. 228
UNIT 18 Diminutives; Uses of dbu and umtn; 'How big!' etc.; 'So-and-so'; Forms of personal address; Exhortations. 239
UNIT 19 Verb strings involving kaan/yikuun; More conjunctions; 'As if; Expressions meaning 'I think'; 'Some' and 'each other'; adverbs in -an. 251
UNIT 20 Texts. 264
ANSWER-KEY
APPENDICES
270
316
I N T R O D U C T I O N
WHO IS THIS/BOOK FOR? x
This book has been written for anyone who needs to acquire a solid working knowledge 67 the education 'colloquial Arabic spoken' in an area extending from Basra in southern Iraq, down through Kuwait, Bahrain, eastern Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the" United TArab Emirates and Oman. No previous knowledge of Arabic is assumed. The emphasis is on the acquisition of a working knowledge; therefore, language items needed at the major points of social contact between Gulf Arabs and western residents are given prid6 of place. Teachers, engineers, businessmen and others who need to be able to communicate in spoken Arabic in schools, offices, shops, markets and construction sites should find this book highly useful'. Grammatical explanation is given only where it serves some clari-ficatory purpose, and much of the book is given over to examples and exercises of a'type which the writer hopes the learner will find relevant in coping with day-to-day living in the Gulf. Some* reading texts also deal with'the customs and beliefs common \o the area.
WHAT IS 'GULF ARABIC?
It is estimated that Arabic is spoken as first language by some 150 to 200 million people, living in a vast geographical area which extends from Morocco to Oman along a west-east axis, and as far south as northern Nigeria and southern Sudan. Pockets of Arabic speakers can be found in such farrflung places as Soviet Central Asia and Zanzibar. Clearly, in such a large area, there is bound to be considerable dialectal diversity, certainly comparable to the differences between what in Europe are considered separate languages: Italian and Spanish, Polish and Russian or Dutch and Standard German. The factor which unites the speakers of this
abel of dialects is the Arabic literary language, which shows "rtually no regional variation, and fs used for all written com-
2 INTRODUCTON
munication throughout the Arab world: The subjee>X)f- this bppk is-the educatedspoken (not written)*Arabic of one fairly large area - the Arabian Gulf - in which, despite minor dialectal variants which may be specific to the particular states which lie along it, there is such a commonality of usage that it is possible to describe a single set of language forms which will be completely understood in every part of it. This set of language formsjs what will henceforth be referred to as 'Gulf Arabic' - a variety of Arabic which "refers not so much to the Arabic spoken in.any one state, but to a variety which is.increasingly used by Gulf Arabs, from different Gulf states when they converse, with each other ana" wjth.putsiders. In its sound system, grammar and vocabulary,, 'Gulf Arabic* represents a kjryi of distillation of .the common .features of all Gulf dialects, whilst avoiding the peculiarities of any one,^ea. It also shows the influence of-literary,, Arabic in its .vocabulary because-its users', tentj. to be well-educated. From the foreigner's,point pf view,, this,type of spojcen Gulf Arabic is likely to be the most useful. Most of the data and examples which werq collected, for* tru § bookjcome, in fact, from Bahrain- but where justifiedj a npte of important alternative forms is'made. j lJt
The western resident will find that even.a modestknpwledgei of Gulf Arabic will .hugely repay the effprt expended tq acquire it. The Arabs are extremely proud of their linguistic heritage, and feel flattered-and impressed by westerners interested, enough to have tried to learn their language. From a personal point of view, too, it is very satisfying to be able to make .sense, out of the babble of unintelligible speech which surrounds one from the moment of arrival at the airporti Apart front its-practical value,'Gulf Arabic provides a good jumping-off point for "the further study of the Arabic language and its culture, should the-learn'er feel-inclined. Linguistically, 'Gulf Arabic is relatively close to literary Arabic, while, culturally, what remains oi 'Bedouin society provides a modern-day insight into the value's and social conditions which gave birth to Islam. t« >
H O W T O U S E T H I S B O O K * ' \ '
*" i*
THE PRONUNCIATION GUIDE,
When learning to speak any language, it is important' tp get a feeling for what'it should sound like, and to imitate the sounds and rhythms of the language as closely as possible, howeVer odd they may seem at first: To help youm this, some preliminary^pronun-ciation exercises haye been provided at the beginning of the tape which accompanies thistpurse*. Before you begin to work through the course proper [ play through these exercises several tirnes with the written version of them in front of you. Tjfe first time you play the tape, just listen carefully, and mentally'repeat the Arabic'to yourself. Then listen again arid repeat aloud. It doesn't matter1 a't this stage that you dbn't'tinderstahd'the words - the idea is simply to get used to what the consonants 'aiid vowels of Gulf Arabic
sound like. ' ft
THE TAPE " * . " t
A large amount'of the, Arabic exercise material has been recorded on tape. Exercises on tape-are marked D. These exercises, at the same time as providing *a model of Gulf Arabic speech for those learning the language dutsidelhe area, can be exploited in a number of ways (e.g. as practice in listening"comprehension"without the help of the written version). If you don't have the tape (or«ven if you do), it's a"good idea to get hold of a native speaker* of Arabic from the Gulf to help you with' pronunciation*. This will .obviously be easier for those learning in the Gulf itself, but should pose no problem for anyone' living within reach of a British' university'or college: over the last few years there has been an enormous student influx into Britain from the Gulf area, and in my experience they are only too willing to trade help in Arabic for English conversation.
Above all, remember that it is pointless mastering the grammar
-232 i.'-j»*:*«jra-A¥ >*r1WK*i'5tr-Air
4 HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
and vocabulary of this fascinating language'if you cannot make a passable shot at pronouncing it correctly. The difficulties in this have been greatly exaggerated. Whenever you possibly can, practise speaking the language to Gulf Arabs. Get them to correct your pronunciation and use of words ruthlessly. But one word of warning - impress on those who help you that it is Gulf, pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary that you are trying to master, not Literary Arabic or some other well-known dialect of Arabic "such as
Egyptian .t
THE UNITS
Work through the Units in the order they are presented. Each Unit .contains a number of grammatical points, and is structured so that at the end of each piece of grammatical explanation and example there are related exercises for practice. Before you move on to the next grammatical point in the Unit, complete the exercises for the point you think you'ye mastered! These exercises generally provide generous practice on the point just covered together with material 'recycled' from previous Units.
At the end of each Unit there is a Vocabulary Summary of all the new words which occur in that Unit - you will need to consult this as you do the exercises. Many of the exercises involve translation. When you have checked your answers to an exercise in the Answer-Key,'it is a good idea (and it doubles up on practice!) to use the Key as an exercise-itself, and translate it back into the other language. Try as far as possible to learn the vocabulary - at least those words you consider most useful for your purposes - as you go along. Vocabulary learning is always the most difficult part of learning a language (even one's own), and this is particularly true of an 'exotic' language like Arabic. The vocabulary in the book (about 1,500 words) should suffice for all practical purposes.
A couple of hints on,vocabulary learning: try writing down individual words on small-pieces of paper on cards, Arabic on one side and English on the other, with perhaps an example of the Arabic word in use in a phrase or sentence on the Arabic-side. A pack of 50 or so of these, secured with an elastic band, can be-fitted easily into handbag or pocket and gone through in any idle moment. Examples:
^
Arabic side
glaaspA. -aat
glaas chaay
„ gaam irnperf. yiguum
1 gaam u raaH 2 gaam yiakil
*
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK 5
English side
glass
a glass of tea
to get up; to start
1- He got up and went 2 He smarted to eat
;
Another possibility is.to group wprds in your own vocabulary book according to useful criteria or 'areas' of. life'/The words can be grouped in clusters. Examples:
farriash 'cleaner'
kaatib 'clerk'
muhandis 'engineer'
najja'ar a~alu 'carpenter' 'potatoes'
naaTuur 'watchman'
la" Ham bagar jbeef
malfuuf 'cabbage'
9ciamil 'labourer'
stmich 'fish'
Extra 'spokes' can be added to these wheels as new< 'jobs' or 'kinds of food' are learnt. Such an arrangement provides a ready way bf revising and associating words in groups* according to whatever factors are important for the learner, and they are a great help to the memory. The Vocabulary Summaries at the end.of each Unit are arranged alphabetically so as to make looking words up easier - but this ordering is not meant to be a recommendation about how to learn them! '
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO LEARN?
The answer to this question depends on many factors - among them how thoroughly you want to learn the language, whether you are a quick learner of languages in general, etc. As an average
T,F.----' J"BU-J;&' |ii!|l„UiUi!.UJL.U. i II • Mir*!*'" ii Miria-ihi iliiTi
6 HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
figure, I should say you should spend between 3- and 5 hours per course Unit, all of this preferably within the same week at a rate of up to an hour per day. Some Units, particularly from Unit 7 on, may take somewhat longer than this rough estimate. In addition, there are three Revision Units which, if you have properly mastered the material in the five regular Units which precede each of them, yod should be able to cover in between \ and 2 hours. Given a "rhodicum of application, it should be possible for the average learner to acquire a basic working knowledge of Gulf Arabic from this course, in about 6 months.' It cannot be too strongly emphasised that in language learning, as in the acquisition of any skill", practice is everything: take .every opportunity you can to talk'to and listen to Arabs, however little you understand at first.
THE APPENDICES C
The Appendices provide a quick,means of reference on a number oflcnotty points of potential confusion to the learner of Gulf Arabic. Like speakers of all languages, Gulf Arabs-show variability jn their speech. Just as the same Cockney speaker otEnglish may say 'bo'le' or 'bottled (depending perHaps on whether he's trying to 'talk proper'!),-so Gulf Arabs vary between different pronunciations of the same word. The word for 'child', for example, may be pronounced by the same speaker as jdahil or ydahil, where j and y are both acceptable and commonly used; 'I filled' may be tirdst or trdst, in one case with an -i-. and in the other without; 'she told m&' may be gdalat I'd or gaaldt Hi, involving variation in which syllable is stressed/ In all these cases, and many more, there is no change in meaning signified by the variation - indeed the speakers themselves are seldom aware of it. But to a foreign learner this.apparent instability can be confusing. It is, however, something which one has to learn.to live with, and it is reflected in this book in the fact that I have deliberately allowed variation of the types exemplified in the Appendices to occur in the body of the text - to do otherwise would be to falsify tiie facts of the language and imply consistency where its opposite is the rule. The Appendices provide a. quick check on the main points in the' language where variation occurs, and should be regularly consulted until you are clear on where possible confusion may arise.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK 7
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE TEXT » , i
adj. adjective adv. adverb conj. conjunction f. feminine fig. figurative use imp. imperative /
irnperf. impe'rfect (tense) intrans. intransitive verb lit. literally " * m. masculine " "' n. noun p. past (tense) pass. part, passive participle pi. plural prep. preposition pres. part, present participle pron. pronoun s. singular trans. transitive verb v. verb v.n. verbal noun * signifies that a noun ending in
-a is feminine and has' a final 'hidden' -r
n
HOEjagtttmijjff^wfiffli
P R O N U N C I A T I O N G U I D E
This guide is intended to help you acquire a reasonably accurate Arabic pronunciation, and to introduce you to the system of spell-1
ing used in the book. It should be used in conjunction with, the accompanying tape-recording and/or the help of a native speaker of Gulf Arabic. The, pronunciation model aimed -"at is that of an educated speaker.
CONSONANTS
<. The consonants have been divided into three, groups: Group 1 contains those (a majority) which should give you no trouble - they are more or less identical to English equivalents; Group 2 contains those'which, from some point of view, are slightly different from their standard English equivalents, but which are similar to sounds found in regional English accents or in well-known European languages; Group 3 is the difficult group which contains sounds not found in English or common European languages, and which usually take some time to master. For the benefit of interested linguists, the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) value of each letter of the transliteration is given in square brackets.
Group 1
letter b P ch f 8 h
IPA [b] [p] [t/] ffl [g] [h]
hints on pronunciation b in 'bottle' p in 'apple'. ch in 'church'. fin 'foot'. g in 'gap' h in 'hit'. In Arabic, unlike English, h can occur as the last sound of a word.
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 9
} k m n s sh w y z
[*] M [my [nl [s] [/] [w] [y] M
j in "'jet' or g in 'barge*, ck in 'tack' o'r'c' in 'car',
•m'in 'miss-' ' n in "'nap', s in 'see-Vc ' n 'tee', sh in 'shoot', 'cash', w in 'how', 'win'. -y in 'boy', 'yet', zjn 'zither', 'haze'.
Group 2
ra
d t
th dh I
Ml it]
[e] [3] [i]
the "glottal stop. This sound is heard ,in the Cockney pronunciation of 'butter' ('bu'er') or the Glaswegian pronunciation of 'water.' ('wa'er'), where the t drops and is replaced by a cat,ch in the voice. In Arabic, this sound can occur at the beginning as well as in the middle of a word, as it does in German (e.g. in words like 'Achtung'). These sounds are similar to d and t in English 'day', 'tag', except-that the point of contact of the tongue-tip is the back of the upper teeth, not the gums as in English, th as jn 'thin',, 'bath'.
rth as in 'the', 'soothe'. N
1 as in English 'limb', 'bill' (i.e. 'light' 1). In a few. Arabic words, the commonest of which is alldah 'God', the 1 is 'dark' like the I in 'field'.
Group 3
Sh
X H
[Y] Parisian 'guttural'.r as in 'grand'. Sounds similar to the sound of gargling. Scottish ch in 'Loch Ness'. This and 9 are probably the most difficult sounds in Arabic for Europeans. H is a
r S T D
M [Sj HI r*i [dh]
10 PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
•voiceless sound similar to the Jhoarse expulsion of breath sometimes made by people breathing on spectacle lenses before cleaning them! It is produced from the extreme back of the throat i (the pharynx), and there is a feeling of constriction jn the muscles of the throat when > producing this,soun.d,
9 [1] _ 9 is the voiced cqunterpajt of H. Like H, it is produced by constricting Tthe passage of air at the back of the throat, but in this case the' vocal chords vibrate. 9 is like the sound made by someone being strangled, like the Italian trilled r in 'ragazza'. the,so-called 'emphatic' consonants. The position of the tongue is as for their non-emphatic counterparts s i d dh, but the tongue should be flattened and broadened in the ^ mouth so that the mouth cavity feels 'filled*. At the same time, there is a feeling of muscular
, tension' in the mouth and constriction (as for H and 9) at the back of the throat. The result is a duller, heavier sound for S"TlD DH compared^ with stddh. Consonants in neighbouring syllables tend to become 'emphatic' under the 'influence of these sounds,
[q] this sound, which is not common in colloquial speech, is an 'educated' variant of g. It is a voiceless sound similar.to the final consonant in 'hock' except that it is produced from further back in the mouth - from the uvula, to be exact.
D Pronunciation practice: consonants
Using the accompanying tape, practise pronouncing the consoriants in initial, medial and final position. In words of more than one syllable, the stressed vowel is marked superscript, e.g. d.
initial
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 11
metiial .final ' . f. !
Group 1 b p (often replaced
byfc) ch
{ • h
k m n s sh w y z
Group 2 •
d t th dh I ('ligh't') / ('dark')
Group 3 Sh X H 9 r S T D DH 1
b*'as t
pdrika 'i
chalb faar 'goal hilwa jibin kariim mdsliirC ninsa samtif-shaaf wdlad ydahil ziydara
*' 'dkaf *
dazz tigdul thai] dhii libdas1
laTiif
ghdsal xdali Harp ,9draf rayydal SabdaH Tabiib Ddrab DHuhur qur'dan
gdbil (does not
occur) bichar safdr bdgar
•sdahir .hujuum bukra jamiil sdnad jdasim fdshal ndwas shlyar kaaziino
sd'al
bddla bitri thaldatha hdadhii sdiaf alldah
i bdghal ndxal bdjiar bq9l\r barlid bdSal bdaTil rdDi HdaDHra mlnTpqa
galab .,
sdmach sdlaf ^ bdayig karah thai} i Jdrak sdalim gdlan •» naas mish gdalaw ddray bddriz *
(does not occur)
•fariid mukaanddt * turdath fuldadh jamiil gdbil
bdlagh taarlix fdraH ddfa9
,- kathlir » xaldaS JoalaaiiiT 'arD -HdafiDH fartiq
• ^ m ^ ^ ^ l ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ i ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
«f gg J*iwTiat.ttt3 agffA*jgsyam'*ar.
12 PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
'DOUBLED* CONSONANTS
Consonants sometimes occur 'doubled' in Arabic: that is, the same consonant occurs twice in a word without an intervening,vowel. It is important when pronouncing such doubled consonants to increase the length of time over which the consonant sound is produced to approximately twice that of the single' consonant. Thus sdllaf 'to lend' is pronounced as two syllables sal-laf. Try the following contrastive exercise:
single ddxal sdlaf mdra fdham HdSal
^doubled* ddxxal' sdllaf mdrra fdham HdSSal
Now practise pronouncing the following words which contain « J. LI. J! __ . -'doubled' consonants:
mu9dllim ddshsha rayydal
muddrris ddzza gaSSdab
<L muHdssin Hdggah baggdal
muldbbas Sdxxa shaghghdal
VOWELS y
Gulf Arabic vowels present no particular problem to an English speaker. There are three types of vowel: short vowels, long vowels and diphthongs:
short: a i o u > long: aa ii oo uu
diphthongs: ay aw
As the name implies, a* long vowel (like a 'doubled' consonant) lasts longer than a short one:' in English, 'cat* contains a short 'a* and 'cart' contains a long one. This distinction in vowel-length is made in the spelling system used in this bobk by writing the long vowels as a doubled version of the short vowel. The precise phonetic value of any vowel (what it sounds like) depends to a large extent in Arabic on the consonants which surround it, and on its position in the word. There is also a certain amount of dialectal
PRONUNCIATIONTGUIDE 13
variation within the Gulf area. The notes belo'W reflect'the commonest type of pronunciation..
letter IPA hints on pronunciation a [e] Like the 'e' in Southern English 'bed', this
value of 'a usually occurs between any .two Group 1 or 2 consonants, e.g. jdbal [dsebel], cham [t/em], sdmach [semct/]. It occurs at the end of words-whose last consonant is from Group 1 or 2: sdna [sene], ddlla [delle],
[a] Like Northern English 'a' in 'cat'. This value of 'a occurs whereverg/r, x, H% 9 or q precedes or follows a: baHar [bahar] xast [xast]. Word-finally, after these same consonants, the same value of a occurs: lugha [luYa].,. *
[o] Like the vowel in English 'sob'. This value occurs whenever a precedes or follows S T D DH,, and in a few words when it occurs next to r or 'dark' /: Tabiib [tnbi.b] maHdTTa [mohD«D] rabb [robb].
aa [D:] In,Bahrain and Qatar aa almost always has the ,or sound of the vowel in English 'father,', [a:] whatever the consonant environment. In other
partS'Of the Gulf, it only has this sound when S T D or DH occur next to it - otherwise it is similar to the vowel in Southern English 'pair', e.g.Saab = [So:b] in all dialects, but baab = [bo:b] in Bahrain, [ba:b] in Eastern Saudi Arabia, Kuwait.
' [i] Similar to 'i' in 'bit', unless at the endof a
word. When i occurs next to one of the consonants S T D DH it has a rather 'dull' sound. Thus i in Tibb 'medicine' sounds somewhat like the southern English pronunciation of the vowel in 'tub',
[i] At the end of a word, i has the value of 'e' in 'be', e.g. in bdyti [beyti] gtiuli [gu:li].
" [i:] Similar to the long vowel in 'seem'.
'JUT SxMK#e&t&mmM4l^^^
•;>rr: i •w~d&-3
14 PRONUNCIATION GUIDE!
OO
U MU
ay
aw
or [oo]
[v.]
to] on [e:]
In the* middle'of a "word, o sounds like the vowel in 'cot': 96gub [9ogub]. At* the* end of z.> word, it is like the 'o' in 'so': kaaziino [kD:zi:noo]". f Like the long vowel in the Welsh pronunciation of 'no', d'r an extended version of the southern' English vowel in 'Dore'. Like 'u' in northern English 'pub', ^cup'. •.The vowel in the German 'gut' ('good') is similar. ,% i Like the diphthong in English 'bay', or, in some speakers-' speech, more like the pure vowel in the French 'cle' ('key) but longer. Like the ""diphthong in 'mouth'.
Pronunciation practice: vowels
Vowel* a
1
aa
i (non-final) i (final) ii o oo •<
u
uu
ay
consonant environment* Groupil and 2 •consonants only ghx H9q
t S'TDDHand sometimes r and'/
non-emph*atic emphatic
-
*'
i
chdlb fdrsha 'ghdsal bdHar Sdbar
'alldah goal kdatib bint Tibb1
bind Hun 96gub yoom Soob hum Subb byuut
•Sufduf bayt Tayr
•\ examples sdmd6K< 'dkal ndxal
>bdlagh' 'Ddrab >DHdbi-raaH rayyaah siff' Sifir Tdbxi siim to thobr* HooD kubar Tub9dan yigdul xuTuuT baHrdyn bayD
thai} dazz 9draf qdniar bdTal rabb. shaaf Sdafi Hibir Dirba busTi fiik kaqzttno goola Soot muhub ytDrub yiruuH&un maHDHuuDH sayf Sayf
PRONUNCIATION-GUIDE1' l5i
aw ndwas t gdalaw xdlliSaw HurDdw
9dwwar HifDHaw
SYLLABLE-TYPES 'AND STRESS" •' *" " ' . * „"*
The stressed syllable in individual words of more than one-syllable is marked superscript a throughout the text. When wprds are strung together tororm seVrtencesV these, word-stresses 'are rnain-tained, bu,t, obviously, the meaning'wnich a speaker wishes fo give his sentence leads him*fo stress some'.words mdre than others t An exhaustive treatment pf sentence-stress Is beyond "thd scope df this book, but you1 will not gof far'wrong if you simply copy", quite slavishly, the examples given" in' the" exercises. Gradiialfy you will acquire a feel for the rhythmic patterns of Arabic sentences-through listening and practice. Word-stress in-Arabic depends on syllable structure. There are Jwo kinds'of syllable: shortish),and long (lo). In the examples;below?,G andgY stand^pr 'consonant' and 'yoweP. In general, all, Arabic syllables,.must start.with a,C, and,]all syllables must have a V in them. ., ^ „ , j v K*
short syllables CV or CCVV smicha CVC Hijra
sdbab shirbat
example smi-cha Hij-ra sa-bab shir-bat-
syllable structure CCV-CV (sh-sh) CVC-CV (sh-sh) CV-CVC (sh-sh)
.CyC-CVQ (sh-sh)
Three-syllables (all short): * bdraka ba-ra-ka CV-CV-CV (sh-sh-sh) wardgdk wa-rag-tik CV-CVC-CVC (sh-sh-sh) sim9dthum sim-9at-hum CVC-'Cvb-CVC (sh-sh-sh) shardbna sha-rab-na CV-CVC-CV (sh-sh-sh)
long syllables C W o r CCVV CVVC or CVVCC
CVCC
gdalat shgdalat guuluuh muDdadd baHrdyn simd9t
gaa-lat shgaa-lat guu-luuh mu-Daadd baH-rayn si-ma9t
CW-CVC CCVV-CVC •cvy-cvyc c v - c w c c CVC-CVCC CVTCVCC
(lo-sh) "(lo-sh) (lo-lo) (sh-lo) (sh-lo) ( s h »
,Jffi.v$zmMF- •":•*''
16 PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
From these examples it can be seen that stress is assigned on the following basis:
(i) If the word contains one long syllable only, that syllable must be stressed: gdalat, shgdalat, muDdadd, baHrdyn, simd9t.
(ii) If the word contains two long syllables, the last one is stressed: guuluuh.
(iii) If the word contains no long syllable, t^en: (a) the ante-penultimate(syllable is stressed in words of three or more 'open' syllables (i.e. which end in a vowel): bdraka (b) the penultimate syllable is stressed in words of two syl:
lables: smfcha, Hljra, sdbab and in three-syllable words if the penultimate syllable is 'closed* (i.e. e ids in a consonant): wardgtik, sim9dthum, shardbna.
These rules may appear unduly complicated at this stage, and there is 'no point in learning them by heart -» a 'feel' for where stress should occur will come with practice. There is in fact a certam amount of variation in the placement of stress in certain words and types of phrase in any case (see Appendix E).
Stress exercise
2 short syllables:
Hljra, slm9at, shfsmik, Hllba, fitna, gdlam
3 short syllables:
(i) all 'open'
bdraka, xdlaga, HdTaba, wdraga, gdlami
(ii) penult, 'closed'
simd9na, Dardbtik, Hijrdthum, tirdstah, shuwdndar
2 syllables, first one long:
rdayiH, kdanaw, shdafat', mdaltik
2 syllables, both long:
guulduh, shaafdok, xaayfiin, HaaTTUn
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 17
2 syllables, second one long: * t
mudiir, baHrdyn, ghashmdrt, 9ishriin
3 or more syllables, at least one long: •,
kuwaydyyfin, balaaliiT, yismaHHun, /nudarrisfin, tistahliktin, insiHdab, shifndahum, Hadddada, isti9laamdatt mu9taqaddatah
U N I T 1
l.I EXPRESSIONS OF QUANTITY
took at the way the Arabic words for 'cup', 'glass', 'tea' and 'coffee'*are combined to form phrases:
UNIT'1 ' l§
glaas 'glass' finjdal 'cup'(Arab-styte)
chaay gdhwa
'tea' 'coffee'
glaas chaay 'a glass of tea' finjdal gdhwa 'a cupkpf coffee'
Now memorize the following words:
sandawiich ddrzan nuSS ddrzan kdylo nuSS kdylo buTil
'sandwich' 'dozen' 'half-dozen 'kilo' 'half-kilo* ibottle'
burtugdal IdHam simich, Haliib bayD jlbin
'orange' 'meat'' '.fish' 'milk* 'eggs' 'cheese'
Exercise, 1.1
Translate the following phrases:
1 a half-kilo of meat 2 a bottle of milk 3 a dozen eggs 4 a kilo offish 5 half-a-dozen oranges 6 a cheese sandwich
In phrases of quantity of this type, no Arabic words for 'a* and 'of are needed. Note that when the first word of the phrase ends in •a, for example guT9a 'piece, chunk', a final -/, is added to it before the second word. This -t is in fact a so-called 'feminine' ending, and most Arabic nouns ending in -a have this 'hidden' -t which shows up in 'quantity' phrases (and other types which we shall meet later). Such words are marked * in the vocabulary summaries. Some examples of phrases involving -/:
guT9a nftfa Hdbba,
'a piece' 'a bit,'
•'a grain*
guT9at IdHam jiitfat xubuz Hdbbat 9aysh
'a piece of meat' 'a bit of bread' t
'a grain of rice*
Words like bayD' 'eggs's arid -simich ''fish' -are called -'collective/ nouns: that is, they.denote 'eggs! or 'fish' in general. If we wish to talk about 'one egg' or 'a fish', we add the -a feminize endjng to form the so,-cal!ed 'unit noun':
bayD simich xubuz
eggs; 'fish' t
'bread'
'* 3, bdypa simicha xubza
'an eggj 'a fish'" 'a loaf-
1.2 ORDERS AND REQUESTS *-
In Arabic, as in English, we camask people to do things'by giving them one-word orders. For example, when addressing male speakers, the following forms-are^used:
9aT jiib saww ruuH
'give!' 'bring!' '-'make!,' 'go!'
If the person addressed-is female', an -i is added:
9dTi <give(f.)!' i AK , , jiibi 'bring(f.)!' sdwwi lmake(f.)!' ruuHi *go(f.)!'
To say 'give me!', we add the"suffix*-ni ('me') directly to these command words, which become 9dTni and 9a7Yim*respectively*. Note that the feminine ending -(' is lengthened (and hence stressed) when -ni is suffixed to it. To say 'bring me!' ''make (for) W ! ' we need to add pot -ni but Hi (or liyyi) ('to, for me') to the command words'- Compare:
9dTnil9aTtini give me p and
sawwisdwwi Hi (or liyyi) 'make (for) me!'
20 UNIT 1
1.3 'PLEASE'
Orders of the kind shown above are made more polite by adding the Arabic equivalent of 'please': min fdDlik (or min fdDlak) to men, and minfdDlich (or min fdDlach) to women. Thus: '
saww Hi finjdal gdhwa min fdDlak (to a man) ' sdwwi Hi finjdal gdhwa minfdDlich (to a woman)
The normal way of politely addressing a person by name, or calling his attention is to use the word yaa ('oh') followed by his/her name:
yaa 9dli, jiib Hi nuSS kdylo simich-min fdDlak 'Ali, bring me half-a-kilo of fish please' yaa zdhra, 9aTlini nitfat xubuz min fdDlich 'Zahra, give me a' bit of bread please' ( " i i
The Arabic for 'thank you'<is shukran.
Exercise 1.2
Read aloud and translate the following requests:
yaa dHmad, saww liyyi glaas chaay min fdDlak. yaa Idyla, 9aTiini nitfat simich min fdDlach. yaa mHdmmad, ruuH jiib Hi guuTi jigdara min fdDlik. yaa 9abddllah, 9dTni finjdal gdhwa min fdDlik. yaa sdlwa, ruuHi jlibi Uyyi ddrzan burtugdal min fdDlich.
Exercise 1.3
Ask a man to do the following:
to bring you half-a-kilo of meat; to give you a bit of cheese; to go and make you a cheese sandwich.
Ask a woman to do the following:
to make you a cup of coffee; to go and get you a glass of milk; to go and bring you a dozen eggs
UNIT 1 21
Exercise 1.4
Imagine you are shopping and ask politely for the following items. Use the vocabulary summary for this UniJ to help. you.
(male shopkeeper) a box of matches a packet of salt a bottle of cooking oil a bit of lettuce a half-kilo of rice a packet of butter-a quarter-kilo of tomatoes
(female shopkeeper) a bag of potatoes a kilo of onions a packet of soap a quarter-kilo of sugar a kilo of dates a piece of meat
•a glass of water
VOCABULARY SUMMARY dalu bdSal bayD burtugdal bdTil chaay chibriit chiis ddrzan dihin mm fdDliklch finjdal
gdhwa glaas guT9a* guuTi Hdbba" Haliib jlbin jigdara* jdb(i) kdyh IdHam
'potato (es)r
'onion(s)' 'egg(s)' 'orange(s)' 'bottle'' 'tea* 'matches* 'bag' 'dozen' 'cooking oil* 'please' '(small) coffee-'cup' 'coffee' 'glass' 'piece' 'box, packet, tin' 'grain' 'milk' 'cheese' 'cigarette' 'bring!* 'kilo' 'meat'
maay milH nltfa* nuSS raggi rub9 ruuH(i) sandawtich saww(i) simich Saabuun shdkkar shukran shwdyya* tdmar TamdaT uu or wi xast xtibuz yaa zibid 9aT(i) 9aysh 9inab
'water' 'salt' 'a bit' 'half 'water-melon 'quarter* 'go!' 'sandwich' 'make, do!' 'fish' 'soap' 'sugar' 'thank you' 'a little, a bit 'dates' 'tomato(es)' 'and' 'lettuce' 'bread' 'hey, oh' 'butter' 'give!' 'rice' 'grape(s)'
.
U N I T 2
2.1 THE ARABIC EQUIVALENT OF 'THE'
The Arabic for 'the' is //, and it is placed, as in English, beforp its J noun:
gtaas, (a) glaas' il-glaas< the glass ingliizi (an) English(man) M-ingliizi the Englishman muhdndis (an) engineer , it-mukidndis* the engineer
When it is placed before'some nouns, its / assimilates (that is, becomes the same sound asJ'W the first letter of that'nouir, e.g: I suujg 'market' is-'suug 'the market' (not*il-sudg). When fhis'fissim- I ilation occurs, it is important to hold the dojuble consonant for what seems to an English ear an unnaturally longtime. Assimilation'of f / occurs before nouns which'begin with:
tthd'dhznsshS D T DH,n I
but does not'occur before nouns which begin with; **
bpchjxHkggh9qmhwy
Thus we have* is-sayydard the gar, iT-Tayydara the-aeroplane'/but il-baab the door and il-Jariidcf the newspaper.
> . Exercise 2.1
Make the following nouns definite, assimilating the / where necessary. Be careful about pronunciation, holding the doubled letters twice as long as single letters. *
mudiir boss sammdach fisherman farrdash servant gaSSdab butcher rayydal man muddrris "teacher pooliis policemen 9dam.il worker sikirtiir. secretary shdrika company, firm'
When, in Arabic, w£<wish tojalk ab,out twp of a,thing (rather than three or more), we use.a special form of,the plural cajled the 'dual'* To form the dual pf a noun, the suffix-c^n js}added to it. Thus we have rayydal 'a*man' rayyaaldyn ttwo^men', il-b,aab .the cjoor i7-baabdyn 'the two,doors'.*If the noun ends in^a^the 'hidden' ~t which we noted in Unit Kin phrases like guTVatddHam 'a piece of meat', again"appears: -j
shdrika 'a company*1 '* <• '""'* sharikatdyn 'two tompanies^ "* ' ' ** guT9at laHam 'a piece of meat' >J
guT9atdyn IdHam 'two pieces'df ' '' " '!
me,at' '*' t " y » is-sayydard '* Jthe car** - I i ' is-sayyaaratdyn **tb'e two dars'1 * *- >
If the noun ends in (", e.g^ingllizi 'English', -yy- is inserted,between the -i and the s'uffix-ayn: ' •. „ *
il-ingliizi il-ingliiziyydyn
miSri miSriyydyn
'the Englishman 'the two Englishmen 'an Egyptian' 'two Egyptians'
'*, Exercise 2.2 ii
(
Change the following nouns into the correct dual form. Remember that the stress must' fall on -ayn long syllable* in each'word.
shdrika ddrzan guT9a baHrdyni guuTi jigdara glaas
'a company' 'a dozen' 'a piece; 'a Bahraini* 'a packet' 'a cigarette' 'a glass'
js-sikirttir il-muhdndis is-smkha il-mukdan il-finjdal il-mikdaniki il-bayt
as it is the last
Uhe secretary' 'trje engineer' 'the fish' 'the place' .'the* cup' 'the mechanic' 'the house'
rf
ft
24 UNIT 2
2.3 THE PLURAL
In Arabic, nouns form their plurals (that is, more than two) in two basic ways: by adding a suffix, or by changing the vowel pattern" within the word. In English, most nouns form their plurals by the first method - we simply add -s or -es - and there are only a few nouns like 'mouse' and 'louse' which form their plural througn vowel'change. Arabic is unlike English in that a very large number of nouns - certainly the majority - form their plurals by vowel changes rather than suffixation. The nouns which pluralise by ads-ding a_ suffix can be divided into ..three groups-according to the suffix used, and examples are provided below,. r4ouns which pluralise by internal vowel change - the so-called 'broken' plurate - do so according to a variety of different patterns! The problem for the beginner is that you cannot predict by* looking at the singular of a noun which of the plural patterns applie§ to it: it is,best to learn what the plural of each noun is at the time you learn the singular. At first this may seem a daunting task, but in fact the number of plural patterns in common use is relatively small, and the problern will diminish as you progress.
i
Plurals by suffixation
1 The suffix -iin
Many nouns denoting professions and occupations, particularly those which begin with the prefix mu-, form their plurals this way: The -(in suffix is only used with nouns denoting human beings. Examples:
muddrris muhdndis muqdawil muHdssin mikdaniki shiirTi SdHafi
'teacher' 'engineer' 'contractor' 'barber* 'mechanic* 'policeman' 'journalist'
mudarrisiin muhandisiin mitqaawiliin muHassiniin mikaanikiyyiin shurTiyyiin SaHafiyyiin
'teachers' 'engineers' 'contractors 'barbers' 'mechanics' 'policemen' 'journalists'
Notice that if the singular ends in -i, -yy- is inserted before the -iin suffix, just as it is before the -ayn 'dual' suffix.
•!
UNIT 2 25
2 The suffix -aat
This suffix is the feminine^equivalenrof -iin, and is used whefe-a wholly female group is being referred to. (-iin is used .where the group is mixed male and female). Thus?
mudarrisa 'female'teacher' mudarrjsaa'
shurTiyya 'policewoman' _ shurTiydat
The same suffixes, are used for the plurals of nouns denoting na
tionality or origin:'
kuw&yti 'Kuwaiti' kuwaytiyyiin ^ 'Kuwaitis' kuwaytiyya 'Kuwaiti woman' kuwaytiyydat 'Kuwaiti
women'
'female teachers'
^policewomen*
3 The suffix -iyya,
There are a few nouns, again denoting professions or occupations; which pluralise by adding the suffix-iyya. Most of them are borrowings from other languages, e.g.
'driver' draywiliyya 'drivers' draywil sikirtiir Idofar
'secretary' 'layabout'
sikirtiiriyya loofarlyya
'secretaries* 'layabouts'
4 The suffix -aat with inanimate nouns
In addition to the use of -aat noted above, it is also used to pluralise many inanimate nouns. Some of these have the feminine ending -a, while many others are foreign.borrowings. Examples:
sayydara shdrika baaS sandawdch kdylo
'car* 'company' 'bus' 'sandwich' 'kilogram'
sayyaardat sharikdat baaSdat sandawiichdat kaylowdat
'cars 'companies' 'buses' 'sandwiches' 'kilograms'
l !
*^v*mr.nwcxt^iMt&^.KE&TirW**rT?J'ft
26, UNIT 2* '
'Broken' plurals ' •'
A particularly striking feature of Arabic is its system'of/roots-anti -vowel patterns, which cdnstitute the- 'bricks and mortar,' \>f> the language. To the root k t fc,„which-has4hetbasic meaning*'writing", .different vowel patterns can be applied to form words which modify this basic meaning in (mostly) predictable ways.
For example, we can derive:
Pattern kitdab 'book; < CiCaaC =* Nouri •• J U" kdatib 'clerk, one, who writes' CaaCiC = Age"nt' NoUh mdktab 'office, place where maCCaC = Noun of Place ,
maktuub writing is done;
'written, letter' maCCuuC= Passive Participle
;
Npte that the root consonants always remain-in the same order. To "rhak'e the plural of most nouns, a new vowel pattern is applied to the root consonants of the singular 'forim Thus kitdab has the
"plural kutub, kdatib the plural kuttdab (note the doubling,of the middle consonant), mdktab has makdatib and* maktuub has ma-Uaatiib. Some of the commoner plural patterns are exemplified below.
1 Singular CaCCaaC pi CaCaaCiiO
2 Singular CaaCiC pi. CujCCaaC \
These two patterns always denote jobs, professions, occupations: '
farrdash xabbdaz sammdach najjdar gaSSdab rayydal xdadim kdatib 9damil Hdakim tdajir zdari9
ESS^i^&greSTJgggd
1 faradriish 1 xabaabiiz 1 samaamiick I najaajiir 1 gaSaaStib 1 rayaayiil !
/ xuddddni 1 kuttdab-1 9ummdql 1 Hukkdam 1 tujjdar I zurrda9
'servant' 'baker' tfisherman> 'carpenter' 'butcher' 'riian' ''servant' 'clerk* 'worker' 'ruler' 'merchant' 'farmer*
UNIT 2 . 27
Some common patterns which apply to many 'different Singular patterns:
•t * $
3 The plural pattern aCCaaC
wdtad lawtaad *bby* qisim I a^sdam 'septidn,, de£t. gdlam Idgldam 'pen' j suugj aswdag 'n\arket' filim I afldam 'fifm' ' kuub Jakwdab -'cup* ^
4 The plural pattern CuCuuC
shayx I shuyuux 'sheikhl sayf I suyuuf 'swbrd'" ° fits I fuluus' 'money'
"Sdff 7 Suf'uuf "'class-room, row' bdyt I buydut 'house'1
gdlb Iguluub &-»**'
5 The plural pattern CaCaaCiC:
ddrzan ddftar ddxtar mdSna9 mdblagh mdktab
I dardazin / iafdadr •I daxdafir •I maSdani9 4 rt}abdaligh
,'hmakdqtib
</
'Heart'
dozen. 'notebook' 'physician' 'factory' 'sum of money' •office; desk'
Exercise 2.3 ,a
Practise reading aloud-'the requests below, and translate them into English: }
1 jiib Hi d-ddftaA-2 ruuH il-mdktab min fdplakl * 3 sdwwi liyyi sanddwiichdyn jtbin min fdDlichX 4 9dTni gdlaml 5 xudh is-sayydara u ruuH\ 6 ruuH il-xabbdaz uu jiib Hi xubzdynll xudh il-fuluus\ 8 saww Hi finjdal gdhwa yaa dHmad\ 9,9dTni l-akwdabl 10 ruuH il-SaSSdab uu jiib'liyyi kaylowdyn IdHaml 11 ruuH il-baytl? 12 ruuH il-mudiir min fdDlak u jiib liil-kutub\
Note (nos 1, 9, 12) that when il follows a word ending in a vowel, its i is dropped. |
28 UNIT 2
Exercise 2.4
Taking sentences 1, 7, and 11 in Exercise 2.3 as your model, tell someone male to:
I Take tHe sugar! 2 Go to the barber! 3 Bring me a little water! 4 Take the sandwiches! 5 Go to the market, please! 6 Bring me the note6ooks! 7 Take two bottles of milk! 8 Go to the two Englishmen!
Tell someone female to:
9 Bring the pens please! 10 Take two packets of cigarettes! II Go to the doctor! 12 Take a bit of rice! 13 Bring the cups! 14 Bring the two books please! 15 Go to the women teachers!
VOCABULARY SUMMARY
baabiabwdab baaS(aat) baHrdyni(yyiin) bayt/buyuut ddftarldafdatir ddxtarldaxdatir drdywil(iyya) farrdashlfaraartish
filimlafldam filslfuldus gdlamlagldam galblguluub gaSSdabl
gaSaaSiib Hdakiml
Hukkdam ingliizi(yyiin) jariidaljardayid kdatib/kuttdab kitdablkutub
'door' 'bus' 'Bahraini' 'house' 'notebook' 'doctor' 'driver' 'servant,
cleaner' 'film' 'money' •pen' 'heart' 'butcher'
'ruler; referee
'English (man) 'newspaper' 'clerk' 'book'
kuublakwdab kuwdyti(yyiin) loofar (iyya)
'mdblagh! mabdaligh mdktablmakdatib maktuubl
makaatiib mdSna9lmaSdani9 mikdaniki (yyin) miSri (yyiin) muddrris'(iin) mudiir(iin)" muhdndis(iin) muHdssin(iin) muqdawil(iin)" mukdan(aat) najjdarlnajaajiir pooliis(iyya) qisimlaqsdam rayydallrayaayiil
'cup' 'Kuwaiti' 'layabout* t
'sum of money' * 'office; desk' 'letter'
'factory-'mechanic' 'Egyptian' 'teacher' 'boss, director 'engineer' 'barber' 'contractor' 'place, spot' 'carpenter' 'policeman' 'department' 'man'
sammdachl samaamiich
sayf/suyuuf
sayydara*! sayaaylir t
sikirtiir(iyya) suuglaswdag SaffiSufuuf
SdHafi(yyiin) shdrika* (aat)
'fisherman'
'sword; seashore'
'car' '
'secretary* 'market' 'classroqm;
row' 'journalist' 'company,
•firm'
shayxlshuyuux shurTi(yyiin) tdajirltujjdar Tayydara* (aat) wdlad/awldad
'•xdadimlxudddani xabbdazl
xabaabtiz xudh(f. xudhi) zdari9/zurrda9 9damill9ummdal
UNIT 2 29
'sheikh' 'policeman' 'merchant' 'aeroplane' 'boy' 'servant'*
•'baker'
'takeV ,t 'farmer'" "worker, !i, labourer*
MDUMK&
U N I T 3
3.1 'HOW MUCH)MANY>' f . "]
cftomis the Gulf Arabic "word *for 'how much/many*, and it is used with.singu/or nouns: * \ -1
chdm'Haliibl chdm rayydal! cliam kdylo!
'How much .milk^'i 'How many men?' 'How manykilos?'
>>-* The words Hast (used mainly in'Bahrain) and^u (used,elsewhere) .both mean''there is/are', and they are often 'used with cham in questions:
chdm sayydara hdst! chdm qtsim hdstl chdm jibin fill
'How many cars are there?' 'How many departments are thfere?' 'How many workers are there?'
If the answer to such questions as these is that 'there isn't/aren't any', the negative word maa ('not') is used: maa hast, maa fii. There is also a third possibility, which is used only in negatives: maa mish. All three of these phrases may occur before or after the noun. Thus, in reply to;
chdm ndas hdstl 'How many people are there?'
all of the following are possible negative replies:
mda hdst ndas I ndas mda hdst mda fii ndas I ndas mda fii "There aren't any people' mda mish ndas I ndas mda
mish
Note that, although the noun which follows cham is in the singular (except for collective nouns like Haliib, jtbin and naas which have no singular), the noun which follows maa hastlfii/mish is in the plural:
chdm rayydal fill rayaaytil mda fii host chdm gldas! mda hdst glaasdat
'How many men are there?' "There aren't any' 'How many glasses are there?' 'There aren't any'
:
UNVTCV 31 it
It 15 possible tb say mda hdst rayydal, md$ hdst gldas, using -the singular noun, but this would »be'interpreted as '{hej-e'is not a single. . : (e,g.''there is not a single man^who can do that') or as1
a contradiction of \statement that there was a, man, glass in,some place' or other, e.g. „ „ s
hThereVft man insidef(a foom)' v*'No there'isn't' "• ** **'
A: hdst rayydal.;ddaxit B: Id, mda hdst rayydal
***
Exercise 3.1
Translate the following short exchanges .using maa hdstlfiil mish:
1 How many notebooks' are there? "*" There' aren't a'ny* notebooks' at all. •<
2 How many policemen a;e there? _ ,* There aren't any at all. '"
3 How much meat is there? There isn't any meat.
4 How many women are there? There are no.wpmen.- e *
5 How many bottles are there? i
There aren't any bottles at all.
Exercise 3.2
Look'at the following exchange:
fii IdHam! Id, mda fii il ydom
or
Ts tnere any meat? 'No', there isn't any
today'*
ay, fii 'Yes, there js*
Now translate the following exchanges,' (maa)fii, (maa) hast and maa mish. *
s r a ^ ^ Z E E s s s m i
32. UNIT 3
'l Js1 there any bread? Yes there is.
2 Are there any onions?' No, there aren't today.
3 Are there any people here? No, there aren't any here today.
4 Are there any teachers there? Yes, there are.
5 Are there any doctors here? No, there aren't. *i
3.2 PRICES
When asking the price of something, use bi chdm ('for how much') rather than simple cham. Look at these examples: ,'
'How much is bread?1 v "• (lit: 'the bread for how much?') 'How much is a kilo of meat?' (lit: 'the meat for how much the"
kilo?') 'How much is a bottle of" milk?' 'How much is a sack of cement?'
il-xiibuz bi chdm!
il-ldHam bi chdm il-kdylo!
il-Haliib bi chdm il-buTil! is-smlit bi chdm il-xdysha!
Exercise 3.3
Translate:
1 How much is a dozen eggs? 2 How much is a bottle of cooking oil? 3 How much is a kilo of oranges? 4 How much is a packet of cigarettes? 5 How much is a bag of potatoes? 6 How much is a box of matches? 7 How much is a sack of rice? 8 How much is a bottle of Pepsi? 9 How much is a glass of tea?
10 How much is a kilo of prawns?
*•
<
UNIT. 3 33
3.3 NUMBERS 1-10
The numbers-1-10 have both a masculine >nd,feminine form m Gulf Arabic, as follows:
Masc. wdaHid ithndyn thaldath drba.9 xams sitt sab9 thamdan tis9 9dshar
Fern. wdHda thintdyn thaldathaft) drba9a(t) xdmsa(t) sitta(t) sdb9a(t) thamdanya(t) t
tis9a(t) t
9dshra(t)
.< 'one** J 'two' 'three' 'four' 'five* 'six' 'seven' 'eight;, 'nine' 'ten'
A peculiarity of Arabic is ihat feminine numbers are used to enumerate masculine nouns, and masculine numbers -to enumerate feminine nouns! Nouns can be feminine either by meaning) e.g. bint 'girl', uxt 'sister',, umm 'mother', or feminine by grammatical category, and ending ip -a, e.g. shdrika 'company', sayydara Icar' or, in a few cases which have to be "learnt by heart, by contention, e.g. riiH 'wind'. Some examples:
xdms sayyaardat 'five cars' xdmsa rayaaylil 'five men' thaldath bandat 'three girls'1 9dshra kutub 'ten books' drba9 niswdan 'four women' sdb9a mudarrisdn ''seven teachers'
If the plural of a masculine noun begins with a vowel, the 'hidden' ' (in brackets in the list above) is sounded for each pronunciation:
sittat awldad (not sitta awldad)
thamdanyat ayydam
'six boys' sdb9at dshhur, 'seven months'
'eight days' thaldathat anfdar 'three persons'
The words for 'one' and 'two' are exceptional in two ways. Firstly, tr»ey normally follow the noun they enumerate, and secondly, they are of the same gender as the noun they follow. Thus:
wdlad wdaHid 'one boy' bint wdHda 'one girl'
.v,y.v*-»
34 UNIT 3 I
As. we saw in 2.2, we would normally translate* 'two bWs' and'two girls' by using the 'dual' form waladdyn, bintdyd.' Sometimes, however,*itkndyn and thintdyn are usecl with th^'normal plural,of these words. Thus: > s * '
waladdyn ) ,t , bintdyn '} , . , , '"* awldad ithndyn \ twoh°ys' bandat thintdy]n \ « * ° . P ' ^ ^
Numbers are often used in conversation with" the noun they, enumerate omitted: •'• *
cham rayydal hast! xdmsa (understood; rayaayiit) cham bint fii! '' thaldath (understood: bandat)" cham muddrrisa has't!
thintdyn •cham wdladfH% wdaHid
The'phrase cham wdaHid! (lit. 'how many one?') js often used when asking about how many there ate of somethingYalready referred to: ' ' '
X fii kutub wdayid ihni 'There are a lot of books here' cham wdaHid fii! _ 'How many (exactly)?'
'How many'men are there?' 'Five.'' ' „ 'How many $rls are there?' 'Three.7 ' ' * 'How many women teachers ".are there1?' J
s l<
'Two.*' t 'How many- boys are there?' 'One.' c -
Exercise 3.4 J *' *
Read and translate the following dialogue. Practise reading it aloud, paying special attention to the stressed syllables:
- hast cham kdatib fish-shdrika! - Hs9a kuttdab - uu cham sikirtiir! - hast sin sikirtiiriyya - nzdyn, hast faraariish bd9ad! - ay wdllah, fii faraariish ihndyh -uu dray willyya . . . cham fii! - wdllah, maa mish draywiliyya ii-Hiin
nzayn'. \ . uwfii^ummddl!1" ay ndfarn' „ k, cham yvdaHidfii! 9dshra
UNIT*3 35
" (i1 "
A ,*
Exercise 3.5 ! • . *?•
Translate into Arabic:'
How many boys are there m the class? iT. J '. i ... i. Nine. ( • • How many days are trtere in'the'Veek? * Seven. t *" How many,roonjsi are there m Jhe.,house? Five rooms' and two bathrooms. ' * How many engineers areHhere in the company? There aren't any. * ' * How much money is there irr the wallet? Seven dinars.
3.4 GREETINGS
Greeting somdone in Arabic cart be a somewhat'elaborate business, particularly"in'the Gulf. As in English, there" are standard formulas roughly equivalent to 'How d'ybu do?', 'How are you?', 'Pleased to meet you', etc. but in Arabic there are-a much larger nunibe'r °f them, and they vary with tfae degree1 of formality bf the situation. We note here only the commonest and most usefiri expressions.
At the most formal end of the scale, especially when greeting a number'of people,in a group/say on entering-a room or office), one says:
is-saldam Paldykum
to which the reply is;
«« 9aldykum is-saldam
'Peace be upon-you'
'And peace be 'hpbrf 'you'
j
n
*a
m
% UNIT 3
Less formally, especially with friends and acquaintances, one says: j
fdhlanl 'Welcome! Hello! Hi!'.
or
dhlan wa sdhlanl
to which the reply may be:
dhlan biik/biichl ) dhlan marHdbal yaa hdlal
'Welcome! Hello! Hi!'
The last of these three has a particularly 'Gulf flavour.. ^ After the initial .exchange, jane asks abput the, person's health:
\chayfil Haal! ) ('How is the state?;) chayf Hdaliklich! > 'Hotf are you?' ('Howis*your state?') shloonaklach! ) ('What is your colour?'}
A number of replies are possible, which may be us'ed singly dr in combination:
il Hdmdu lilldah bixayr i zayn ) dllah yisdtmjk/ich
'Praise be to God'
'Good'
'God save you!'
After replying to the-enquiry after one's health^.one then in turn asks after the enquirer's health. It is quite cpmmon for the greeting sequence to go on for some time, with the same questions about the other person's health being repeated in different forms! The following might be a typical informal sequence:
dhlan, Uhlan yaa mHdmmadl
yaa fidla, yaa jdasim! c&ayf Hdalak?
il Hdmdu lilldah, zayn. shldonak! bi xayr. shldonak into.! dllah yisdlmik
Hello, Muhammad!"
Hello, Jasim! How are you?
Praise be to God! Well! How are you? Well! How are you! God save you!
UNIT 3 37
When taking leave of someone, one normally says:. . f
ft amdan illdah 'In the safe-keeping of God'
to which the reply is usually:
ma9a s-saldama 'farewell\(Iit. 'with security,')
Exercise 3.6 Dialogue:*'At the butcher's': 9ind il-gaSSdab
Read aloud the following" dialogue and 'translate it: r «
Customer: is-saldam 9aldykum Butcher: wa 9aldykum is-saldam C: il-yoom fii IdHam bdgar? B: ay nd9amfii. J
C: il-kdylo bi cham!' r* B: dinaardyn uu nuSS. - > C: nzdyn,'9dTni nuSS^kdylo min fdDlak. B: inshdallah. -. . . u fii. shay bd9ad! C: hast dajdaj! B: la, dajdaj il-yoom mda mish. bdachir inshdallah. C: nzdyn. fi amdan illdah^ B: md9a s-saldama.
%i<-
Exercise 5.7
Using the dialogue above as a model; im'agine you are 9ind H bagdal - at the greengrocer's. Make questions along the following lines:
(a) Are there any -(b) How much per (c) Give me
today? - are they?
(d) And do you have any ?
1 (a) onions (b) bag (c) a bag (d) potatoes 2 (a) apples (b) kilo (c) half a kilo (d) oranges* 3 (a) eggs (b) dozen (c) two dozen (d) grapes 4 (a) milk (b) bottle (c) three bottles (d)' cheese 5 (a) rice (b) sack (c) four bags (d) sugar
'"'i AM""'i?iJiJtiiiriJlWiliiWir''Ji'ITTIITJ .._• II 'in
38 UNIT 3'
VOCABULARY SUMMARY
dhlan wa' sdhlan
alldah amdan drba9 ay bdachir bdgar baggdall
bagaagiil. bd9dd
bintibandat bdTil/bTdala chani
bi chflm chayf "ddaxil 'dajdaj J diinaarl
danaaniir fi fii ghdrsha*!
aghrdash yaa hdla
hast hundak HaallaHwdal,
il-Hamd lilldah
Hammdam(aat)
il-Hiin
'welcome*
'God' "security' ' 'four' 'yes' 'tomorrow' 'cows, cattle* 'greengrocer'
'more;-as well; still; yet'
'girl' 'bottle' 'how much,
many?' 'for how much?' 'how?' 'inside' 'chicken* 'dinar'
'in, at' 'there is/are' 'bottle'
'hello, welcome'
'there is/are' 'over there' 'condition,
state' 'Praise be to
God' 'bathroom,
toilet' 'now'
Hljra*lHtjar 'ihni * inshdallah Into
ithndyn la , maa maa mish *
! mdra*lniswdan mdrHaba' bil-mdrra* md9a s
mlHfaDHa*! maHdafiDH
naas ndfarlanfdar nd9am nzayn riiH(i.)lriydaH rubydan saldam
saldama*- " sab9' sitt smiit subuu9l
asaabli9 shdharldshur shloon thaldath thamdan tis9 umml
ummahdat
t
'room' 'he-re' 'God willing' 'you' (masc. sing.)
'two- ' 'no" 'not' 'there isn't/ aren't*
'woman* 'welcome* 'at all' 'with*-'wallet' £
'people' 'person' '* 'yes' 'OK, right' 'wind' 'prawns* ''peace,
tranquillity' 'safety* 'seven' -. 'six' 'cement' 'week'
'month' 'how?' 'three* 'eight* 'nine' v
'mother'
' UNIT 3 39
uxtlaxawdat wdaHid wdayid xams bi xayr
'sister' 'one' 'a lot, many' 'five' 'good, well'
xdysha'J xiydash yoomlayydam il-ypom zayn(iin) '9dshdr ("
'sack' 'day* 'today' 'good' ''ten'' '
i t
U N I T 4
4.1 SIMPLE DESCRIPTIVE SENTENCES
In Arabic, there is no equivalent of 'is' and 'are' in equational sentences of the type 'The office is big', 'The house is empty'; one J simply says:
it-mdktab kabiir il-bayt xdali
But where the noiin which the adjective describes is feminine, dual, | or plural the adjective must agree with the'noun as in the following basic scheme:
Singular
Dual/Plural
ir-rayydal zayn il-mdra zdyna ir-rayyaaldyn zayniin ir-rayaayiil zayniin il-maratdyn zayniin in-niswdan zayniin
'the man is good' "The woman is good/ "The two men are good*-'The men are good' 'The two women are good' 'The women are good'
It can be seen from these" examples that zayn, and other adjectives like it, add a final -a when they qualify a feminine noun, and the plural suffix -iin (which we saw in Unit 2) when they follow dual or plural nouns. As we saw earlier, many nouns have 'broken' plurals - and the same is true of many adjectives. Substituting the adjective kabiir pi. kibdar into the above examples, we get:
Masc. sing. ir-rayydal kabiir Fern. sing. il-mdra kablira Dual ir-rayyaaldyn kibdar Plural in-niswdan kibdar
'The man is old' 'The woman is old* "The two men are old* "The women are old'
kibdar not kabiinin is used in the dual/plural. Whether an adjective behaves in the plural like zayn or kabiir cannot be predicted from the form of the singular: as with the noun, it is wise to learn the plural form at the same time as the singular.
Note that the feminine examples given so far have involved nouns which are feminine by meaning (3.3) What about those (mostly ending in -a) which are feminine by grammatical category, like
shdrika, sayydara, Hijra! In the singular, such nouns behave exactly like mdra:
ish-shdrika kabiira il-Hijra zdyna
But in the dual/plural, the adjective may either be plural or feminine singular. Thus:
'the company is big' 'the room is trice.' *
Dual
Plural
ish-sharikatdyn kabiira )'the two" companies are ish-sharikatdyn kibdar S big' il-Hijar zdyna i il-Hijar zayniin S
'the rooms are nice'
It is important to note that, in general in Gulf Arabic, noun duals and plurals like 'companies', 'roorns' -.that,is, inanimate-objects - may be considered grammatically plural or feminine singular, and may hence have adjectives and verbs which are either plural or feminine singular. This applies whatever the gender of the noun in the singular. Thus one may (not only) say ish-sharikatdyn kabiira/' kibdar, where shdrika is feminine in its singular form, but also il-aswdag kabiira/kibdar 'The markets are big', where the singular suug 'market' is'grammatically masculine singular.
Exercise 4.1
Transl'ate the following into Arabic: t
I The kettle is old 2 The chairs are new 3 The houses are large 4 The children are* happy 5 The rooms are small' 6 The two brothers are tall 7 The woman is fat 8 Th'e coffee is good 9 The milk is cheap 10 The buses are empty II The wallet is expensive 12 The two men are tired
Exercise 4.2
In the following sentences, substitute the nouns supplied for the noun in the model sentence, making necessary adjustments to the adjective to make it agree with the new
:
42 UNIT 4
noun. Then translate into English the septences you have' formed.
1 il-bayt jadti'd 'The house is new' •» il-Hijra I il-buyuut-i il-mudarrisdat I il-farrdash
2' il-gdhwa ghdalya. 'The coffee is expensive' is-saayydara I il-kdtub / il-jibin I il-chaay
3 in-niswdan aghniyda 'The women are rich' il:mudtir I il-bintdyn 1 il-mdlikit I il-waladdyn
;* i. S
i
4.2 NOUN-ADJECTIVE PHRASES. *
In noun phrases like 'a^new palace'., .'a spacious room', 'good mep', the, adjective follows the noun rn.Ara.bic, agreeing in number and gender as described above. gender as described, above.
gdSir jadiid Hijra' wdasl9a rayaaydl zayniin
*a new palace.' 'a spacious •roorri' - , " 'good nien^^v^VV^^r
If these phrases are made definite, i-.e. 'the newvp^IaceV*te. ,~the definite article il is put before both the noun anq^t^adjectivg.-Thus the literal English translation of the Arabic for 'the newpalace' is 'the-palace-the-new':
il-gdSir il-ja'diid il-Hljra l-wdasi9a ir-rayaayiil iz-zayniin
'the new palace' 'the spacious .room' 'the good men'
Note that where the noun ends in a vowel, as with feminine nouns like Hijra, the i of the following il is elided.
The defined adjective can stand alone in much the same way as in English: *
-fii noo9dyn, kabiir uu Saghfir.
- nzayn, 9dTni l-kabiir
'There are two kinds, big and small'
'OK, give me the big one'
UNIT 4, 43
Exercise 4.3' >
Readtaloud and translate into English:
1 il-awldad iT-Tiwdal 2 iT-Tayydara s-sarti9a 3 baaS xdali 4. ish-shams Hdarrat 5 buyuut 9atlija' 6 Jl-baadat il-kibdart 1 tujjdar agfyniyda 8 9dTni 1,-glaasdyn i!-kabiira min fdDla,k\ 9 mda hast ktitub raxiiSa ihni 10 fii xdmsat aqsdam jiddad fish-shdrika , * j
Jili-Exercise 4.4 «i < *i
Translate into Arabic, and say aloud:
1 A good mechanic 2 The boss sis- late 3 To'day is'cold 4 The new office 5 The woman is rich 6 A cheap watch 7 The food is delicious & The old palace 9 A new secretary. 10 The big problem
4.3 S0MR^THER;TYPES OF ADJECTIVE
(a) Relative &(jectiyes
These are formed by adding -iyy to certain nouns. In pause position (that is, at the end of a" phrase or sentence) -iyy is shortened.to i:
ddaxil 'inside' '* ddaxiti(yy) 'interior' xdarij 'outside' xdariji(yy) 'exterior' rdsam 'formality' rdsmi(yy) 'formal, official' mtSir 'Egypt' miSri(yy) 'Egyptian' 'l-kwdyt 'Kuwait* kwdyd(yy) 'Kuwaiti' *»
The feminine and dual/plural form of the relative adjective shows •a and -tin added to the -iyy:
if-wizdara d-daaxillyya "The Ministry of the Interior' ll-gamdarik il-miSriyya 'The Egyptian Customs and
Excise' zuwwdar rasmiyytin 'Official visitors'
44 UNIT 4
(b) Colour adjectives
Most adjectives which denote colours or 'physical defects' (blind, deaf, dumb, etc.) are formed according to the pattern below:
masc. dHmar dxDar dbyaD d9ma
fern. pi. Hdmra Humur of Humrdtan XdDra XdDur or XuDrdan bdyDa biiD or biiDdan 9dmya 9umy or 9umydan
'a red car' 'the white house' 'the blind (people)'
'red' 'green' 'white' 'blind'*
Examples: sayydara Hdmra il-bdyt il-dbyaD il-9umydan
(c) Stative adjectives (
There are a great many adjectives of this class which' denote temporary physical states/and are formed as below:
masc. fern. pi. 9aTshdan 9aTshdana 9atshaaniin or 9aTdasha yuu9dan yuu9dana yuu9aantin or yuwda9a ta9bdan ta9bdana ta9baan(in or ta9daba barddan barddana bardaaniin or bardada
'thirsty' 'hungry' 'tired' 'cold*
sdlma wdayid, ta9bdana
ir-rayaayiil 9aTshaaniin'
barddan il-yoom
'Salma is very tired'
'The merf are thirsty'
'I'm feeling cold today'
Note that barddan refers to how a person feels; the adjective bdarid, from the same root, is used to describe liquids, food or things which are cold, e.g.
jiib Hi bdarid),
il-yoom bdarid dkil bdarid
'Bring me a cold drink* (lit: 'a cold') 'Today is cold' 'cold food'
UNIT 4 45
(d) Adjectives which precede the noun
There are very few. adjectives which precede the noun they qualify. The most important is xoosh 'nice, good' which is used in exclamatory phrases of the following kind, and takes no feminine or plural endings:
xoosh wdlad\ xdosh drdywil intl
xdosh shdyl
'Good boy!' 'What a good driver
you are!' 'What a-nica thing!'
Exercise 4.5
•Pronunciation practice: read aloud and translate, checking, unfamiliar words in the Vocabulary Summary of this unit where necessary.
il-gdSir il-9atlij binydan 96od*wdayid. lih ('it has') baabdyn xaarijiyya'uu 9drba9a biibdan daaxiliyya. il-HHTdan mdalih ('belonging to it') btiD uu d-daraariish mdalih min jdam dSfar uu dzfag
Exercise 4.6
Pronunciation practice: read aloud the sentence below and translate it, then make appropriate substitutions using the cue words to make similar sentences.
wdllah yaa 9dli, dna (T)
shwdy yuu9dan. . .
wdayid 9aTshdan . bdarid min fdDlak gldas chaay kdub rfiaay guuTi bdbsi ruuti jibin sandawtich IdHam 9dysh uu simich
. jiib Hi
46 UNIT 4
Exercise 4.7
j "
Read aloud and translate the following dialogue:
- chayf Hdalik yaa dHmad! ,J - dllah yisdlmik. chayf Hdalik int! - ana walldahi il-yoom ta9bdan. . . ^ laysh! r " - li'dnn fiishi^ghul rfdayid.
Now substitute in*the,dialogue forta9bdan and fii shughuh wdayid different adjectives and differentreasons:
upset — because the car's broken down TV's ' , fridge's washing-machine's
happy— because'* there's no work today T
there's hd school tb'day today is a holiday
vthe weather's cool
i
Exercise 4.8,
Translate into Arabic^
*1 I'm cold and hungry. . . Is there any food? a 2 Fatma and Ahmad are tired because there was a lot of
•work today* ' 3 The machine's broken down.-. . Is there a mechanic'
here? ' v * " 4 Why is the boss angry? 5 The house is white hi colour and has a green roof. 6 Give me the red shirt and the white shoes. 7 The Ministry of the Interior is a big white building. 8 The British Embassy is in the old quarter. 9 The National Bank is a small building which has (lih) a
large black door. 10 The Egyptian ambassador is a very nice man (use
xoosh).
VOCABULARY SUMMARY
dbyaDfbiiD, dHmartHumdr, dkil(aat) dswad/suud dSfar/Sufur axlixwdan * dxDarlxuDur dzraglzdrug d9ma/9umydan bdarid
barddan(iin) baablbiibdan binyaan ddaxili
dariisha*/ dardayish
farHdan(iin)t
firiij/firgdan
gdSir/guSuur gumrukl
gamdarik ghdali ghdni/aghniyda ghassdala*(aat)
ghuuri
Haa'iTIHHTdan Haarr jaqm jadiid/jiddad juuti kabiirlkibdar kursilkardasi ladhtidh
'white I -*'red' v 'food' \ *,*• 'black'v
'yellow'" 'brother' 'green' 'blue* 'blind' 'cold (weather,
manner)' 'cold (feeling)' 'door' 'building' 'internal,
interior' 'window'
'happy' 'quarter (of a
city)' 'palace' 'Customs'
'expensive' 'rich' 'washing
machine' 'kettle, tea
pot' 'outer wall' 'hot' 'glass (sheet)' 'new' 'stioes' 'big, old' 'chair' 'delicious'
t* ur ft laysh li'ann lopnlalwdan jriathn/'amtddn mit'dxxir
t mushkila*! mashdakil'
npo9lanwda9 qadiim •
qamiiSI qumSdan
rdsmi raxiiS sda9a*(aai) safiir(sufarda sagflsuguuf sarii9Isirda9 SaghiirlSighdar tShams (f) shay/ashyda shughul!
asjighdal ta9bdan(ii) tilivizyuun(aat) Taqs
TawiillTiwdal TifillaTfdal thalldaja* (dat) wdasi9 -
wdllah > walldahi >
' wizdara* (aat) xdati xdariji
. - T UNH\4 *7 j
t
'>hy?'^ . 'because' 'colour.' •,,* •H\ 'late' 'problem'
*• , 'type, kind' { , 'old (of
things)'" 'shirty f
'official' l 'cheap' • 'watch' 'ambassador' 'roof 'fast, speedy' 'small, young' 'sun' 'thing' 'work, job' *
'tired' 'TV 'cljmate,
weather' 'tall, long' 'child' 'fridge' 'roomy,
spacious'
'By God!'
'ministry' 'empty' 'external,
exterior'
48 UNIT 4
xarbdan 'broken down* xoosh 'nice, good' yuu9danl 'hungry'
yuwda9a zdayirlzuwwdar 'visitor' za9ldan(iin) 'angry, upset'
9atiijl9itdqg
9aTshdan(iin) 9ood 9&Tla*l9uTal
'old, anciepj: (of things)'
'thirsty'-'big,'large" * 'holiday, day I "off
i
U N I T 5
5.1 NUMBERS 11 TO 1,000,000
The numbers'from 11 to 20 are formed according to a pattern which, literally translated, means 'one-ten', 'two-ten', 'three-ten', etc. Beyond 20, me pattern is 'one-and-twenty', 'two^and-twenty*, 'seven-and-forty', etc.
iHdd9shar ithnd9shar thalaathtd9shar arba9td9shar xamstd9shar sittd9shar saba9td9shar thamantd9shar tisa9td9shar 9ishriin wdaHid u 9ishriin ithndyn u 9ishriin thalaathiin arba9iin xamstin sitttin sab9iin thamaaniin tis9tin miya
'eleven' 'twelve' 'thirteen' 'fourteen' 'fifteen* 'sixteen' 'seventeen' 'eighteen' 'nineteen' 'twenty'
"twenty-one' 'twenty-two', etc. 'thirty' 'forty' 'fifty' 'sixty' 'seventy* 'eighty' 'ninety' 'one hundred'
Unlike the numbers 1—10, those from 11 onwards do not show a gender distinction: they are indeclinable. Any noun which follows them is always grammatically singular, although its meaning is obviously plural.
Examples:
xdms u 9ishriin sdna ithnd9shar bint WdaHid u sittiin diindar u nuSS
'twenty-five years' 'twelve girls' 'sixty-one and a half dinars'
' 4, \
I'
a -ftWH
I ' 50 UNIT 5
Note that when a noun follows miya, the 'hidden-*' of the.femimne shows up, just as we had in Unit 1 ('expressions of quantity'),
nitfat xubuz
from nitfa, 'a bit', so we have
miyat xubza t
and likewise
'a bit of bread'
a hundred loaves' » *
mtyafmdrra miyat fils
'a hundred'times' 'a hundred fils'
Where mrya stands on. its'own, or is part of a componnd^ntimber, the / does not appear: '"
- c/iam 9damil hdstfi sh- >" 'How many workers are .there shdrika! c • in the company?*
- miya "»* ^ 'A hundred' *'
Compound numerals from 100 to 200 are formed as "follows:
miya u wdaHid miya il ithndyn miya u ithnd9shar H-mtya il thaldath u 9ishriin
'a hundred and one' 'a hundred and two', etc.* *, 'a hundred and twelve' "• 'a hundred and twenty-three',
etc.
'Two hundred' is miyatdyn (the'dual), but there is no plural fbrm for miya in '300', '400', etc. Thus:
drba9 miya u xams u 9ishriin diindar
miyatdyn u tis9 kdylo sttt imydt ndfar
'425 dinars'
'209 kilos' •'600 persons'
Note in this last example that miya 'becomes Jimya where, it 'is preceded by a number ending in a double consonant:' this is" to avoid three consonants in a row, which is not normally allowed in Gulf Arabic. 'One thousand' is alf. 'Two thousand' is o£ course alfdyn, and the plural of "alf is aaldaf:
sittat aaldaf sdna t(s9at aaldaf kitdab
'6000 years' '9000 books'
UNIT5 51
Since, as,'we have seen aboye, numbers over 11* have the noun in the singular! so alf remains in, the singular if, the number in which it appears is ll,000,pr,m6re:
1 *r '£11,000 Sterling' '20,000 miles'
iHdd9shar dlfjindy istdrlin 9ishriin dlf mayl,* ^
Years are expressed as follows: *
fi sdnat dlf u tis9'imyd u 'in 1981.' * wdatfid u thamaaniin t
y 'One million' is milyoon, #and its plural is milaayiin.
Exercise 5.1
Translate into Arabic:
1 50 kilos of p"otat6es' 2 46 bags'of cement 3 360 miles" * 4- 60,000 people .,. 5 200,000 dinars
•
- « « ,
6V in" 1976" T in 1966 8 750 fils * • 9 200 sacks of rice
10 39 years, ll^months >
Exercise 5.2
Read aloud and translate the following dialogue:
- bi cham il-bayD il-ydom! - xams imydt fils id-ddrzan.
Using-the same format, ask and answrer questions on the price of things in the market:
1 oranges - 100 fils a kilo 6 tea - 70 fils a quarter 2 onions - 55 fils a kilo 7 dates'- 900 fils a kilo 3 fish - 350 fils a kilo 8 tomatoes - 50 fils a bag 4 bananas - 175 fils a dozen 9 potatoes -r 80 fils a sack 5 cabbage - 125 fils each 10 radishes - 12 fils a bundle
('the one*)
52 UNIT 5
5.2 AGE
The phrase for asking a person's age is chdm 9umriklch! (literally 'How much is your life?'). The answer is 9umri . . . sand 'I'm . . . years old' (lit. 'My life is'. . . years'). Since many older Gulf £ Arabs are not sure exactly "when they were born, one oftenhears exchanges of the following type:
- yaa- 9dli, chdm 9umrik il-Hiinl
- wdllah 9umri Hawdali sitttin sdna. r
'5.3 TELLING THE TIME
'How old arejou now Ali?'
'About sixty.'
e
. . . u rub9
. . . u nuSS
. . . u thilth
Examples:
is-sda9a iHdd9shar u rub9 is-sda9a thaldatha u nuSS is-sda9a sitta u thilth
'Quarter to. ilia 'except':
are expressed using
'Quarter past. . . (Lit:' and a quarter') l
'Half past. r. (Lit:' and a half) 'Twenty past. . . (Lit: ' and a third')
'Quarter past twelve' 'Half past three* 'Twenty past six'
'Twenty to. . .' are expressed by .the preposition
'The word for 'a watch,; 'a clock' and 'an hour' is the same in Arabic - sda9a. 'What time is it?' is chdm is-sdaQa! The answer is is-sda9a. . . 'It's . . . Oj'clock'. The feminine form of the cardinal numbers is used:
is-sda9a xdmsw 'It's five o'clock' is-sda9a thintdyn 'It's two o'clock'
For eleven and twelve, the indeclinable iHdd9shar and ithnd9shar are used.
Times between full hours
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'UNIT 5 '53
is-sda9a 9dshra ilia thilth is-sda9a tis9a ilia rub9
'Twenty to ten' 'Quarter to nine'
'Five to/past.•. .' and 'ten to/pa^t' are expressed using u and ilia, but the masculine form of the number is "used. The word for 'minutes', dagdayig (sing, dagiiga) is not usually used in colloquial speech:
is-sda9a xdmsa u'xdmS is-sda9a 9dshra ilia 9dshar
,Five past five' 'Ten to ten'
'Twenty-five to/past. . .'*involves*the*use of nuSS: one says 'and a half and five'*for thirty-five minutes past the hour, and 'and a half except five' for twenty-five'minutes past the hour:
is-sda9a drba9a u miSS u xams is-sda9a thamdanya u ndSS ilia xams
'Twenty-five to fiye' 'Twenty-five past eight'
When it needs to be specified which part of the day is being referred to one uses thes following expressions: iS-SubH (or SabdaHan) 'in the morning*,'bd9ad iDH-DHuhur^ 'in,the afternoon', il-masda (or masda'an)''in the evening', bil-layt'at nighty These expressions are used more or less as their English equivalents, 'the evening* beginning about 5.00 p.m., and 'the morning* beginning at sun-up. It is worth noting, however, that there are, other' modes of timekeeping in the Gulf region: the westerner is unlikely nowadays to meet anyone who sets his watch by Muslim Sun-time, according to which the day begins with sun-up and ends with sun-down, but he may well meet the words iDH-DHiHa 'the forenoon', il-gayiiuld
noon-time' il-9dSir 'mid-afternoon', aifd il-mughdrb 'the even-,ng'- These words refer to parts of the day which we do not normally distinguish, and are still in common use: iDH-DHiHa refers to the jate morning'from about 9.00 a.m. to noon, while iS-SubH is really early morning'; il-gayuula refers to the early part of the afternoon from noon to about 3.00 p.m, and the late afternoon is il-9dSir (3.00 to 5.00 p.m roughly)v.. il-mughdrb comes after il-9dSir and means the period from sun-down to when daylight has faded completely. The truly black part of the night is il-layl. These expressions Were a means of measuring the passage of time before patches were common, but are still often used.
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54 UNIT 5 <
Exercise 5.3 ,
Translate (the following fihrases, which are responses to the. 'question: ' ^ s
'"•* - * $ il-mdw9id fis"-sda9q chdm!' •*At what tirrie is the appointment?' 1 fis-sda9d wdHda u nHSStbd9qd iDH-DHuhur 2 fis-sda9a ti§9a ilia thilth SabdaHan-$ H-9dSir is-sda9a drba9a 4* fis-sda9a thamdanya u ndSS il-masda ' f, 5 iS-SubH is-sda9a sdb9a Wrub9 " <
Exercise 5.4 '
'Someone asks you chdm is-sda9a! Refer to your watch and. answer: '
. . . . ©
5.4 PERSONAL PRONOUNS \ \ •'
The most common.forms of the personal pronouns used in the Gulf are as below. Note tha( a sex distipction is made in the 2nd person singular. ana T ihta 'you' "(rhasc. "sing) inti 'you' (fern, 'sing*) huwwa 'he* hiyya 'she'
iHna
intu
humme
we'
'you' (comm.pl.)
'they' (comm.pl.)
UNIT 5 55
The forms given here are the* most/dfalectally''neutral', and-the learner is advised to use these. However, there is a' greatdeal of variation from" dialect 1:0 dialectand" many variants wjll.be encountered, ani 'is a*feminine fofmi^r 'I' used by' sqthe '(uneducated) women; ihtay 'you' (fem.sing) and inlaw (comm.pL)!may be heard as alternants to inti aijd intu; and ){rn is heard,in* the Lower, Gulf as a feminine form of hdnjma. There .are other less common variants besides these. '.,*••• * H
Generally speaking, -as will become clear through the examples spread through the followirfg units; the 'independent'-personal pronouns listed* above are used for emphasis' only -'-in 'Arabic, sentences like 'I'go**, 'she sat down's consisfof'a yerb"only, which contains an ending signifying"1'!* ?ihd 'she'.'The independent personal pronouns are used- when one • wishes for some reSson to emphasise riho was invblved in'ah-actibh', e.g. *I go (not hhfi)\ 'it was she who sat'dowh (ribt someone!else)'.
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These independent personal pronouns are matched by a set of 'dependent'* personal pronouns \vhich perform a function in'Arabic equivalent to tffat otthe object pronouns and possessive a'djectives in English. Thus in Ara'bic *him/his", 'us/otlr', 'them/thesis trans* lated by the'same-word. In only one case o*oes Arabic make a distinction - between 'me' and 'my'.
-i -ni -iklak -ichlach -ah -ha
na 'us/our'
'you/your (pi.)'
'them/their (pi.)'
my 'me' 'you/your (m.s.)" kum
'you/your (f.s.)' 'him/his7its (m. nouns)' _hum
'her/her/its (f. nouns)' As noted previously, -ikj-ak and -ichl-ach are freely variable. These suffixes are attached directly to verbs, nouns, and prepositions: 9°T 'give(m.s.)! + ni 'me' 9dTni -'give me!.' kitdab 'book' + i 'my' k'itddbi 'my book' 9ind 'with, at' + ik *you(m.)' 9indik 'you'hive'(lit:.
'with you')
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