Making Out in Arabic. Fethi Mansouri, Ph.D.
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QUESTIONS
The easiest way of asking a question in Arabic is to use a question word at the beginning of the phrase or sentence, e.g.:
| What’s this? | maa haadha? |
| Which man? | ayyu rajul? |
| Which lady? | ayyatu imra’a? |
| Who are you? | man anta? |
| Why did the girl leave? | limaadhaa kharajat al-bintu? |
| When did the plane land? | mataa habatat at-taa’ira? |
| Where did he buy a shirt? | ayna ishtaraa qamiis? |
An affirmative sentence (statement) may be turned into an interrogative one (question) by means of the word hal, e.g.:
| The boy ate | akala al-waladu |
| Did the boy eat? | hal akala al-waladu? |
NEGATION
Negation is expressed differently for nominal as opposed to verbal sentences.
When negating nominal and adjectival phrases, laysa or one of its variants is inserted after the noun or pronoun to which it refers, e.g:
| I am not angry | lastu ghaadiban (literally “not I angry”) |
Laysa combines with the personal pronouns as follows:
| I | lastu |
| You (singular, masculine) | lasta |
| You (singuar, feminine) | lasti |
| He | laysa |
| She | laysat |
| We | lasnaa |
| You (plural, masculine) | lastum |
| You (plural, feminine) | lastunna |
| They | laysuu |
In addition, there are four verbal negation words used according to the tense of the verb, e.g.:
| laa | present | laa ashrab | I’m not drinking |
| lan | future | lan ashrab | I won’t drink |
| lam | past | lam ashrab | I didn’t drink |
| maa | past/continuing | maa sharibtu | I haven’t drunk |
What’s Up? 1
Hello.
marhaban
How are you?
kayfa l-haal?
I’m fine.
bikhayr
OK, I guess.
al-umuur ’aadiyya
Not very common in Arabic.
So-so.
laa ba'sa
Things are busy.
anaa mashghuul jiddan
Things are hard.
al-awdaa’ sa’ba
How have you been?
kayfa anta?
I’ve been fine, thank you.
anaa bikhayr, shukran
What’s new?
hal min jadiid?
What have you been doing?
maadha kunta taf’al?
Nothing much.
laysa kathiiran
Literally, this means the situation (conditions) is not as good as it should be.
Nothing special.
laa shay’ yudhkar
I haven’t seen you around for a while.
lam arak fi l-mintaqa mundhu fitra
Yes, it’s been a long time.
na’am, laqad mada waqtun tawiil
Have you been around?
Hal kunta fi l-mintaqa?
What are you doing here?
maadha taf’al hunaa
How’s Peter / Mary doing?
kayfa haal Peter / Mary?
He’s / she’s fine.
innahu / innaha bikhayr
Anything new with Peter/