Hi everyone!

Today we’re going to talk about a distinctively Arabic construction, the 2iDaafe (إضافة)The broad outlines of the Syrian system are more or less the same as they are in fuS7a. But as usual there are some differences in forms and usage that you need to be aware of.

What is an 2iDaafe?

The 2iDaafe is used to express all sorts of relationships between different nouns and translates most uses of the possessive ‘s, ‘of’ and juxtaposition of nouns in English. I won’t spend too long talking about the general semantics here because they’re more or less the same as their fuS7a counterparts. Note that only the last noun can carry the definite article, and that this makes the whole structure definite or indefinite:

كتاب أحمد
ktaab 2a7mad
Ahmad’s book

غرفة النوم
ghirfet innoom
the bedroom

آخر الشارع
2aakhar ishshaare3
the end of the road

كيس نايلون
kiis naaylon
plastic bag

عاصمة الأردن
3aaSmet il2irdon
the capital of Jordan

مكتب بريد
maktab bariid
post office

Form of the noun

The absence of case markings and tanwiin means that most nouns have exactly the same form whether they are in 2iDaafe or not. The feminine suffix ـة, however, becomes -et (not -at as in fuS7a). Note that both -e and -a become -et:

مكتبة
maktab-e
bookcase

مكتبة بابا
maktab-et baaba
dad’s bookcase
ضيعة
Dee3-a
village

ضيعة ام الطنافس
Dee3-et 2imm iTTanaafes
the village of Umm al-Tanafis

There are two exceptions to this. With مرة mara ‘woman, wife’, the form is -t, and with words with only two root consonants, it is -at:

مرة
mar-a
woman

مرت محمد
mar-t im7ammad
Muhammad’s wife
لغة
lugh-a
language

لغة الأم
lugh-at il2umm
mother tongue

Note as well that the words for ‘father’ and ‘brother’ usually lose their double b and gain an -u in 2iDaafe (the other three of the ‘five nouns‘ aren’t really used):

أخ
2akhkh
brother

أخو أحمد
2akh-u 2a7mad
Ahmad’s brother
أب
2abb
father

أبو سامية
2ab-u saamiya
Samia’s dad

Stacked 2iDaafe

A string of possessors can be stacked:

بيت أبو أحمد
beet 2abu 2a7mad
Ahmad’s dad’s house

باب بيت أخو سامية
baab beet 2akhu saamiya
the door of Samia’s brother’s house

When the second noun isn’t really a possessor but has a more adjective-like function (a material, for example), stacking is not usually possible: speakers feel that a structure like *kiis naaylon 2a7mad for ‘Ahmad’s plastic bag’, for example, implies an independent connection between Ahmad and the plastic. The easiest way of solving this dilemma is to use the word تبع taba3 to attach a possessor to a definite 2iDaafe:

الكيس النايلون تبع أحمد
ilkiis innaaylon taba3 2a7mad
Ahmad’s plastic bag

شهادة السواقة تبع مريم
shahaadet liswaa2a taba3 maryam
Mariam’s driving licence

2iDaafe and the demonstrative

The 2iDaafe presents a bit of a problem for demonstrative structures, as we briefly noted last time. هالـ hal- ‘this’ typically replaces الـ. For many (although not all!) speakers, however, this is impermissible in the middle of an 2iDaafe structure. For these speakers, the solution is generally to prefix hal- to the whole 2iDaafe, which is made definite as usual:

هالكيس النايلون
halkiis innaaylon
this plastic bag

هاللغة الأم
hal-lughat il2umm
this mother tongue

That’s all for now! Next time we’ll (finally) move on to the most important part of speech: verbs.

Hi everyone! Another fuS7a to shaami redux post. Today we’ll be talking about demonstratives: ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘those’.

While in some respects the Syrian system here resembles that of fuS7a, it diverges enough that it probably needs to be looked at piece by piece. We’ll start with the demonstrative pronouns, which will look fairly familiar, and then move on to other things that have no fuS7a counterpart.

Demonstrative pronouns

The independent demonstrative pronouns are as follows:

Masculine

Feminine

Plural

هاد
haad
this one (m.)

هاي
hayy
this one (f.)
هدول
hadool
these ones
هداك
hadaak
that one (m.)
هديك
hadiik
that one (f.)

هدوليك
hadoliik
those ones

These forms are most commonly used on their own, and typically (although not exclusively) translate structures of the kind ‘X one‘. Note that they can refer to people (in which case the translation usually requires an extra noun: ‘this guy’, ‘that woman’ etc):

هادا مجنون
haada majnuun
this guy’s mad!

هي غريبة
hayy ghariibe
this one’s weird

Hal-

The usual way of expressing ‘this X’ or ‘that X’ with a noun is to use the prefix هالـ hal-, whose l- assimilates like the definite article. It has no distinct gender or number forms:

هالبيت
hal-beet
this/that house

هلمرة
hal-marra
this time
هلزلمة
haz-zalame
this guy

هالناس
han-naas
these people

Note that unlike il-hal- can attach to the beginning of an 2iDaafe construction, a number or some other expression of quantity:

هالشوية الفرش
hash-shwayyt ilfaresh
this bit of furniture

هلتلت أشخاص
hat-tlatt 2ashkhaaS
these three people
هالغرفة النوم
hal-ghirfet innoom
this bedroom

Independent forms + a noun

Occasionally the full pronoun forms are used after a noun marked with hal- or – like fuS7a – used before or after a plain definite noun. All these structures are usually used for emphasis or contrast:

هالبيت هاد
hal-beet haad
this
house

هاد البيت
haad ilbeet
this house
هاي المرة
haay ilmarra
this time

هالناس هدولة
hannaas hadoole
these people

heek

Syrian also has a form هيك heek, usually meaning ‘like this’ or ‘like that’, which corresponds to fuS7a هكذا. This is a very widely used form:

مشيت هيك
mshiit heek
I walked like this

رفاع ايدك هيك
rfaa3 2iidak heek
lift up your hand like this
ما تحكي هيك
maa ti7ki heek
don’t talk like that

راحت هيك
raa7et heek
she went like that

Occasionally heek means ‘this’, usually in reference to a situation. Note the difference between the following:

أحسن من هيك
2a7san min heek
better than that/this [situation]

أحسن من هداك
2a7san min hadaak
better than that one

heek can be used with an indefinite singular or plural noun to mean ‘such Xes’, ‘Xes like this/that’:

هيك ناس
heek naas
people like that

هيك شغل
heek shighel
work like that

That’s all for today. Next time we’ll be looking at the 2iDaafe construction.

Hi everyone!

Continuing today with our fuS7a to shaami reboot, I’d like to briefly introduce the independent pronouns. If you’ve studied fuS7a, the distinction between independent and attached pronouns (which we’ll cover in another post) will not be new to you.

The system

Syrian has eight distinct pronouns. Their independent versions are as follows:

Singular

Plural
أنا
2ana
I, me

نحنا
ni7na
we, us

انتي
2inti
you (f.)

انت
2inte
you (m.)
انتو
2intu
you (p.)
هو
huwwe
he, him
هي
hiyye
she, her

هنه
hinne
they, them

This is a simpler system than fuS7a. As I noted in the post on singular and plural, there are no distinct dual forms to worry about: the plural covers any number other than ‘one’. Syrian also makes no gender distinctions in the plural, with straightforward second person and third person plural forms.

Uses

The functions of these pronouns are much the same as they are in fuS7a. For the most part, they serve to express contrast. For example, when the topic changes in an exchange like the following:

كيفك؟
kiifak?
how are you?

أنا منيح. انت كيفك؟
2ana mnii7. 2inte kiifak?
I’m good. How are you?

More broadly, they are used after suffixed pronouns or verb suffixes to emphasise the identity of the suffix, with stress placed on the pronoun:

بحبني أنا
bi7ibbni 2ana!
he loves me (not you)!

سرك انتي!
sirrek 2inti!
it’s your secret (not mine)
رحت أنا
ri7et 2ana
I went

بشتغل أنا
bishtighel 2ana
I
’ll get a job (as well as you)

In final position, they can also be used in a trailing way, giving a sort of afterthought feel:

بحبك أنا
b7ibbak 2ana
I love you, I do

مجنون هو
majnuun huwwe
he’s mad, he is

They are also used in various contexts where English also uses a pronoun on its own. For example:

مين راح؟
miin raa7?
who went?

أنا
2ana
me

 

Hi everyone!

In the last few posts I’ve been working my way back through our fuS7a to shaami series and trying to update it. Today, though, I’ll be taking a break from that in order to do something a bit more advanced: a video transcription. Specifically, we’ll be looking at a clip from the Syrian TV series بقعة ضوء (Spotlight). I’ve uploaded the scene, complete with Arabic subtitles, below. This way, you can follow exactly what they’re saying in Arabic – hopefully allowing you to develop your listening skills. You can then work your way through the transcription and translation below. You can find the rest of the episode here if you feel like seeing how it plays out.

Today’s scene takes place between a traffic policeman (شرطي shirTi) and the driver of a minibus (مكرو mikro, pl. مكاري makaari). These are ubiquitous (often under the name سرفيس sarfiis) in many Arabic-speaking countries. This driver is probably taking fares along a set route (خط) every day, picking people up as he drives. The policeman, meanwhile, is looking for any possible excuse to slap him with a fine for a ‘violation’ (مخالفة mukhaalafe) of traffic regulations.

 

Transcription


أعطيني وراقك لشوف

2a3Tiini wraa2ak la-shuuf
Papers!

لشوف la-shuuf: literally ‘so I can see’, commonly tagged on to commands.

ليه سيدي؟
lee siidi?
What for, sir?

ماشي تمانين. لك اذا مو خايف على روحك خاف على أرواح هالبني آدمين اللي راكبين معك
maashi tmaaniin. lak 2iza muu khaayef 3ala roo7ak khaaf 3ala 2arwaa7 halbani 2aadmiin illi raakbiin ma3ak!
You were doing 80! Even if you don’t care about yourself, have a thought for the people riding with you!

ماشي – ‘going’, ‘moving’. Note that it’s not made expressly past here. The tense is provided by the context.

بني آدم bani 2aadam: ‘person’, ‘human being’ plural بني آدمين bani 2aadmiin.

هلق أنا ماشي تمانين؟
halla2 2ana maashi tmaaniin?
Oh, I was doing 80, was I?

أنا ماشي تمانين؟ – this combination of question and intonation is slightly tricky to render into English directly. We would probably say something like ‘oh, I was going eighty, was I?’ but most of the rhetorical force comes from the tone.

يا سيدي ماشي ستين. ممنوع الميكروباص يمشي ستين بقلب البلد
yaa siidi maashi sittiin. mamnuu3 ilmikrobaaS yimshi sittiin ib2alb ilbalad
Man, you were doing 60. Minibuses aren’t allowed to do 60 in the city centre.

يا سيدي – an idiomatic usage, not intended to mean ‘sir’ (unlike the bus driver’s use of it). Introduces some kind of assertion.

ممنوع يمشي – ‘it’s illegal’ or ‘it’s forbidden’ + subjunctive

أعوذ بالله. أنا ماشي ستين؟
2a3uuzu billaa. 2ana maashi sittiin?
God forbid! You think I was doing 60?

أعوذ بالله – ‘I take refuge in God’. Often used to repudiate a suggestion dramatically: ‘you want to go back and live with your parents?’ ‘أعوذ بالله’

لنفترض إنك ماشي أربعين. ماشي الحال؟ ستة كيلومتر لقدام مكتوب يافطة طويلة عريضة: انتبه مدارس
li-naftareD 2innak maashi 2arba3iiin. maashi l7aal? sitte kilomitr la-2iddaam maktuub yaafTa Tawiile 3ariiDa: 2intabeh madaares
Let’s assume that you were doing 40, OK? 6km down from here there’s a huge sign saying Pay attention: schools!

لنفترض – this is a fuS7aism, obviously. ‘Let’s assume that’.

ماشي الحال – OK? A longer version of ماشي here

ستة كيلومتر – note that the special independent form of the number (sitte) is used before an invariable kilometr, instead of say ست كيلومترات.

مكتوب – acting like an existential verb here: ‘there is written’. As a result, it doesn’t agree with يافطة

طويل عريض – a common collocation meaning ‘long and wide’

ولا ما بتعرف تقرا كمان؟ ولا مفكر ما في غيرك بهالبلد؟ أعطيني وراقك لشوف!
willa maa bta3ref ti2ra kamaan? willa mfakker maa fii gheerak bhalbalad? 2a3Tiini wraa2ak lashuuf!
Or do you not know how to read either? Or do you think you’re the only one that matters? Papers, now!

الله يسامحك يا سيدي. أنا ماشي أربعين؟
2aLLa ysaam7ak yaa siidi. 2ana maashi 2arba3iin?
God forgive you, sir. Are you really saying that I was going 40?

الله يسامحك – often used to (passive?)-aggressively respond to an unjust claim by someone else

طيب عشرين. وما بنزّلهن ولا كيلومتر واحد. هات وراقك لشوف
Tayyeb 3ishriin. w maa bnazzilon wala kilomitr waa7ed. haat iwraa2ak la-shuuf.
Fine, 20. And I won’t go down any further! Give me your papers!

ما بنزلهن ولا  كيلومتر واحد ‘and I won’t go a single kilometre lower’, literally ‘I won’t lower them [the 20kmh] by a single kmh’.

يا سيدي حتى عشرين مو ماشي!
yaa siidi 7atta 3ishriin muu maashi!
Sir, I wasn’t even going 20!

حتى عشرين – note that this part of the sentence is brought to the front to give it contrastive stress. ‘Not even twenty was I going!’

يعني بدك تفهمني إنو وقت صفرتلك كنت واقف؟
ya3ni biddak itfahhimni 2inno wa2et Saffartillak kint waa2ef?
You’re trying to tell me that when I signalled to you you’d stopped?

بدك تفهمني – literally ‘you want to make me understand’

وقت – ‘when’ here

صفرتلك – ‘I whistled to you’

اي نعم كنت واقف
2ee na3am kint waa2ef.
Yes, I’d stopped.

اي نعم – a more assertive version of ‘yes’, like ‘that’s right.

ها! لقينا المخالفة! الوقوف ممنوع! هات لنشوف. ليش كنت واقف؟
haa! la2eena lmukhaalafe! ilwuquuf mamnuu3! haat la-nshuuf. leesh kint waa2ef?
Aha! There you have it! It’s illegal to stop here! Go on then – why had you stopped?

لقينا المخالفة – ‘we’ve found the violation (of the law)’

هات لنشوف – ‘give for us to see’. The لنشوف here is similar to the use above.

سيدي مو انت صفرتلي؟ بدي وقف. بعدين بتكتبني مخالفة
siidi muu 2inte Saffartilli? biddi wa22ef. ba3deen ibtiktibni mukhaalafe.
Sir, you signalled to me! Of course I’m going to stop. You’d have written me up otherwise.

مو انت صفرتلي؟ – using muu like this (or mish in other dialects) signals that this is a rhetorical question. ‘Didn’t you whistle to me? [we both know you did]’

بدي وقف – biddi here marks future or intention. It doesn’t mean ‘I want’.

بعدين – literally ‘afterwards’, but in this structure signals ‘as a result’.

كتبني مخالفة – note mukhaalafe is an object here like in ضربني سكينة ‘stabbed me’ (‘hit me a knife’)

من جهة بدي اكتبك مخالفة بدي اكتبك مخالفة. بس ليش بدي اكتبك مخالفة ليش؟ إلا ما تلتقى
min jihat biddi 2ikitbak mukhaalafe biddi 2ikitbak mukhaalafe. bass leesh biddi 2ikitbak mukhaalafe, leesh? 2illa ma tilta2a
I’m certainly going to write you up one way or another. But for what reason? There must be something…

من جهة – also commonly found as من ناحية, this is used to reassure someone that something will happen. It’s common to hear for example من هالناحية لا تاكل هم ‘on this point, don’t worry’. But here of course it’s not meant to be reassuring.

إلا ما تلتقى – literally ‘it will certainly be found’. The word 2illa ma means ‘surely’, ‘certainly’, ‘must’ and combines with a subjunctive. التقى is the passive of لقى ‘find’ (one of those verbs that has a form VIII passive).

عيار الدواليب مزبوط
3iyaar iddawaliib mazbuuT
The tyres are fine.

عيار الدواليب – the ‘gauge of the wheels’

نظامي سيدي نظامي
niZaami siidi niZaami
They’re all in order, sir.

شغل لشوف هالغمازات حبيبي
shaghghel la-shuuf halghammaazaat 7abiibi
OK, pal, let’s see the indicators.

شغّل – turn on, causative of اشتغل ‘work’

حبيبي – here obviously patronising or macho, meaning something like ‘pal’

يمين. يسار. يمين. يسار. بسرعة معي! يمين. يسار. يمين. يسار. بس. نظاميات
yamiin. yasaar. yamiin. yasaar. bsir3a ma3i! yamiin. yasaar. yamiin. yasaar. bass! niZaamiyyaat!
Right. Left. Right. Left. Quickly! Right. Left. Right. Left. Enough! They’re in order…

نظاميات – this is a plural feminine adjective. Some speakers use these more consistently than others, but they can almost always be replaced by normal plurals with ـين.

شغللي المساحات لشوف. لفوق. لتحت. لفوق. لتحت. خليك تشغل متل ما بقللك! فوق. تحت.
shaghghilli lmassaa7aat la-shuuf. la-foo2. la-ta7et. la-foo2. la-ta7et. khalliik itshaghhel mitel ma b2illak! foo2. ta7et.
Let’s see the wipers. Up. Down. Up. Down. Keep doing what I tell you! Up. Down.

تلاتة أربعة تحت. اتنين تلاتة أربعة لفوق. تحت تلاتة أربعة. آخر مرة تلاتة أربعة
tlaate, 2arba3a, ta7t. itneen, tlaate, 2arba3a, la-foo2, ta7t, tlaate, 2arba3a. 2aakher marra tlaate 2arba3a.
Three, four, down. Two, three, four, up, down, three, four. One more time! Three, four.

.بس وقفهن. نظاميات المساحات
bass. wa22ifhon! niZaamiyyaat ilmassaa7aat.
That’s enough. Turn them off! The wipers are in order too.

نظاميات المساحات – note the order. It’s quite common to delay the topic of a sentence like this until after the predicate. Sometimes this is emphatic, but not really here.

أعطيني الضو لشوف. عالي. واطي. أسرع أسرع حبيبي.عالي. واطي. نظاميات
2a2Tiini DDaww la-shuuf. 3aali. waaTi. 2asra3, 2asra3 7abiibi. 3aali. waaTi. niZaamiyyaat.
Let’s see the lights. High beam! Low beam! Faster, faster, pal. High beam! Low beam! They’re in order too.

لزيق ع البلور ما في. برادي ما في
lizzee2 3alballoor maa fii. baraadi maa fii.
No stickers on the glass. No curtains.

لزيق commonly means ‘tape’, but probably refers here to stickers (obviously illegal to have on car windows).

برادي – plural of برداية birdaaye ‘curtain’. Many مكاري of this kind have curtains. Apparently this is illegal too.

قداح مارش لشوف قداح. دعاس. اطفي
i2daa7 maarsh la-shuuf i2daa7. id3aas. 2iTfi.
Turn that engine on. Gun the engine. OK, turn it off.

قداح – imperative of قدح, literally ‘to spark’. مارش is from French marche.

دعاس – imperative of دعس, ‘press down’, ‘stamp on’, but in a driving context to hit the accelerator.

العمى بقلبو مبين عليه منضف الطرمبة
l3ama b2albo mbayyen 3alee mnaDDef liTrimba!
Bloody hell, seems he’s even cleaned the fuel pump…

العمى بقلبو – lit. ‘blindness in his heart’. A common and fairly mild expression of surprise at someone’s behaviour.

مبين عليه – ‘he’s clearly’, ‘seems like’, combined with a participle (as we can see). Used to express an inference.

آخر مرة شعللي الضو. عالي واطي. مع بعض
2aakher marra shaghghilli DDaww. 3aali, waaTi. ma3 ba3eD
One more time, give me the lights. High beam, low beam. Together.

عالي واطي واطي واطي
3aali, waaTi, waaTi, waaTi
High beam, low beam, low beam, low beam.

شو مبين عليك نظامي كتير
shuu, mbayyen 3aleek niZaami ktiir
Well, seems like you’re a very law-abiding fellow.

شو – a common sentence-opener. Something like ‘well’, doesn’t translate to English ‘what’ here.

مبين عليك – same use as above. ‘Seems you’re very نظامي’

اي لا تواخذونا سيدي مشان الله
2ee laa twaakhzuuna siidi mishaan 2aLLa
I’m very sorry, sir.

لا تواخذونا مشان الله – lit. something like ‘don’t take exception to us (= ‘me’) for God’s sake’, although مشان الله here doesn’t have quite the same connotation as its English equivalent. لا تواخذونا is a common apology.

خلونا نمشي. خلونا نتيسر. الركاب ضاجو
khalluuna nimshi. khalluuna nityassar. irrikkaab Daaju
Now please can we go? Please can we get out of here? The passengers are getting upset!

خلونا – he could also have said خلينا.

نمشي, نتيسر – both mean ‘leave’. تيسر, literally ‘have it easy’, seems to originally have been a way of avoiding saying ‘روح’ because that word sometimes refers to ‘death’. Nowadays it’s a common word for ‘leave’.

ضاج – Daaj/yDuuj means ‘get annoyed’, ‘get upset’.

ها! قلبك ع الركاب؟ لو قلبك ع الركاب ما بتمشي تمانين بقلب البلد
haa! 2albak 3arrikkaab? law 2albak 3arrikkaab maa btimshi tmaaniin ib2alb ilbalad!
Ha! You’re worried about the passengers, are you? If you were worried about the passengers, you wouldn’t have been going 80 in the city centre!

قلبك على – ‘you care about’ (lit. ‘your heart is on’)

لو… ما – note the syntax here. There is no equivalent to English ‘were’, and ‘wouldn’t’ is simply expressed with a normal muDaare3 form.

سيدي قلنالك كنا واقفين
siidi 2ilnaalak kinna waa2fiin.
Sir, I’ve already told you we weren’t moving.

قلنالك – you may have noticed that he quite frequently refers to himself in the first person plural (and so does the officer). This is quite common. The exact connotations are a bit tricky to pin down.

لا تواخذني نسيت. لا حولا ولا قوة إلا بالله. لك شو هالنهار هاد؟
laa twaakhizni nsiit. laa 7awla wa laa quwwata 2illa billaa. lak shuu halinhaar haad?
I’d forgotten. My God, what a day…

لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله – a common fuS7aism. Literally ‘there is no power or strength except through God’, but generally used to express disapproval or frustration.

شو هالنهار هاد – lit. ‘what is this day?’, but again a straightforward expression of frustration.

مبين عليك جديد ع الخط انت ما؟ مو مشكلة.
mbayyen 3aleek ijdiid 3alkhaTT 2inte maa? muu mishikle
New on the route, are you? Well, no problem…

الخط – the specific route that the minibus runs on

ما؟ – a tag question (he could also have said مو هيك)

ها! لقيتها. أكيد ما معك زمور
haa! la2eeta. 2akiid maa ma3ak zammuur.
Aha! I’ve got it! I bet you haven’t got a horn.

لقيتها – a common expression for ‘I’ve got it’

أكيد ما معك – literally ‘surely’, but used to express a high-probability assertion (‘no way do you have…’)

في سيدي في
fii siidi fii.
I have, sir.

في – literally ‘there is’, but used as a short response (في معي زمور).

هات لشوف. سمّعنا
haat la-shuuf. sammi3na.
Go on then. Let’s hear it.

سمعنا – ‘let us hear it’, causative of سمع

يا لطيف! يا لطيف. قل ولله أحد
yaa laTiif! yaa laTiif! qul waLLaahu 2a7ad.
Oh my God! Goodness gracious me.

يا لطيف, قل ولله أحد – both common expressions of shock

معقول هادا الزمور بتزمر فيه بقلب البلد؟
ma32uul haada zzammuur bitzammer fii b2alb ilbalad?
Surely you’re not using that horn in the city centre?!

معقول – this is a very common idiomatic use. It literally means ‘reasonable’ or, I suppose, ‘imaginable’, but is commonly used to introduce questions like the one above. The effect is to heavily imply that it isn’t reasonable: ‘is it reasonable to use that horn’ > ‘surely you’re not using that horn’

هادا الزمور – note that this is the mubtada2 and is referred back to by the ـه in فيه.

زمّر – beep or honk a horn, from زمور.

معقول هادا زمور سيارة؟ هادا زمورك؟
ma32uul haada zammuur sayyaara? haada zammuurak?
Was that even a car horn? Was that your horn?

لا مو هادا الزمور اللي عم زمّر فيه بنص البلد
laa muu haada zzammuur illi 3am zammer fii bniSS ilbalad
No, that wasn’t the horn that I use in the city centre.

لكان أنو زمور بتزمر فيه بقلب البلد؟
lakaan 2anu zammuur bitzammer fii b2alb ilbalad?
Which horn are you using, then?

لكان – I’ve already done a post on this here. It means something like ‘in that case’ or ‘if what I’ve suggested is wrong, then’:

أنو – ‘which’.

قرّب سماع سيدي قرّب
2arreb smaa3 siidi 2arreb
Get in close, sir, so you can hear.

قرب سماع – ‘come close and hear’. This is a double-verb construction. Both verbs are imperatives.

وهاي الوراق سيدي
w haay liwraa2 siidi
And here are my papers.

هاي – ‘here are’.

That’s all for today. If you want to keep up with this and other translation/Arabic-related content, follow me on Twitter at Chris Hitchcock (@chm3na).

Hi everyone!

In this post we’re going to talk briefly about adjectives. If you know your basic fuS7a and have read the last two posts on nouns and number, how adjectives work should come fairly naturally to you. The main difference is that they make far fewer distinctions than in fuS7a. As we will see, not only do they have no case marking, but they also have a far simpler number system than either their fuS7a counterparts or, in fact, than Syrian nouns.

Adjective forms

Adjectives in Syrian have a fairly simple three-way system of masculine, feminine and generic plural. Even better, in most cases these forms are entirely regular. The vast majority of adjectives have a feminine form produced by adding ـة -a/e and a plural formed by adding ـين -iin:

Masculine Feminine Plural
مثقف
musaqqaf
educated
مثقفة
musaqqaf-e
مثقفين
musaqqaf-iin
وقح
wi2e7
rude
وقحة
wi27-a
وقحين
wi27-iin

A small list of very common adjectives with singulars on f3iil or fa3iil have broken plurals on f3aal. Almost all f3iil or fa3iil adjectives, with the exception of قديم 2adiim ‘old’, have plurals of this kind:

Masculine Feminine Plural
خفيف
khafiif
light
خفيفة
khafiif-e
خفاف
khfaaf
كبير
kbiir
big
كبيرة
kbiir-e
كبار
kbaar
رقيق
r2ii2
thin
رقيقة
r2ii2-a
رقاق
r2aa2

2af3al adjectives of ‘colour and defect’ have feminines on fa3la (sometimes fa3le) and plurals on fi3el (although some have irregular plurals):

Masculine Feminine Plural
أسود
2aswad
black
سودا
sooda
سود
suud
أهبل
2ahbal
idiot
هبلا
habla
أهابل
2ahaabel

A handful of adjectives, mostly loanwords, are invariable for gender or number: سادة saada ‘black [coffee]’, كحته ka7te ‘stingy’, طازة Taaza ‘fresh’, etc.

You may occasionally encounter adjectives with the feminine plural suffix ـات -aat. But these are almost never compulsory. We might talk about them again in a later post.

Using adjectives

Adjectives always agree with their noun for number (singular or plural) and, in the singular, gender. Dual nouns typically trigger plural agreement:

يوم كبير
yoom ikbiir
a big day
المشكلة كبيرة
ilmishikle kbiire
the problem is a big one
ناس مثقفين
naas musaqqafiin
educated people
شغلتين صغار
shighilteen izghaar
two small things

When attached to a definite noun, an adjective will also agree for definiteness by adding الـ il-, which changes shape exactly as it does with nouns:

اليوم الكبير
ilyoom likbiir
the big day
الناس الشاطرة
innaas ishshaaTra
clever people

Note that – as in fuS7a, although this is a point that is often not very well taught – a definite adjective standing alone can take the meaning ‘the X one’ (see my previous post here):

الكبيرة
likbiire
the big one (f.)
الميسورين
ilmaysuuriin
the well-off (people)

That’s all for today. If you want to keep up with this and other translation/Arabic-related content, follow me on Twitter at Chris Hitchcock (@chm3na).

Hi everyone!

In this post we’ll be looking at how Syrian handles ‘number‘: singulars, plurals, duals etc.

Plural

The plural of a noun is used to refer to two or more of that noun – unlike fuS7a, which uses plurals for three or more and uses its dual form for two. Syrian plurals are formed in a dizzying range of ways. Although there are patterns, the only reliable solution is to learn them as you encounter their singulars. Still, it’s worth briefly looking over the options, if only so you can recognise them when they pop up.

The sound masculine (ـين -iin) and sound feminine (ـات -aat) are used as in fuS7a: they pluralise masculine and feminine participles and nouns derived from adjectives (respectively), and -aat is also used as a catch-all plural for words that can’t form any other kind of plural because their shape is not amenable to a broken plural:

معلم
m3allem
teacher (m.)

معلمين
m3allm-iin
teachers (m. or mixed group)

معلمة
m3allme
teacher (f.)

معلمات
m3allm-aat
teachers (f.)
اقتصاد
2iqtiSaad
economy

اقتصادات
2iqtiSaad-aat
economies

The suffix ـة -a/e, as well as forming the feminine of various words, can also be used to pluralise many nouns referring to professions, especially those with the patterns fa33aal or fa33iil. Plurals in ـة are not non-existent in fuS7a but are much less common:

نجار
najjaar
carpenter

نجارة
najjaar-a
carpenters
لعيب
la33iib
player

لعيبة
la33iib-e
players

A handful of nouns referring to body parts that come in twos are pluralised with ـين -een, which looks like (and presumably historically is) the dual suffix. Note, however, that the meaning is plural. This suffix behaves unusually in 2iDaafe, as we will see in a subsequent post:

رجل
rijel
leg

رجلين
rijl-een
legs
ايد
2iid
arm

ايدين
2iid-een
arms

Finally, many, many nouns have broken plurals. Contrary to popular belief, broken plurals are not entirely irregular – they are mostly dependent on the shape of the singular. But since there are many irregularities, and many cases where a singular could plausibly take either of two patterns, it’s easiest just to learn them as they occur:

ولد
walad
child

ولاد
wlaad
children
بنك
bank
bank

بنوكة
bnuuke
banks

كتاب
ktaab
book

كتب
kitob
books
مغربي
maghirbi
Moroccan

مغاربة
maghaarbe
Moroccans

 

Dual

As I noted above, Syrian does still have a dual form, although it’s mostly confined to nouns (rather than there being distinct adjective, verb etc forms). It is straightforwardly produced by adding the suffix ـين -een. Final ـة -e/a becomes -t- when the suffix is added:

شب
shabb
guy

شبين
shabb-een
two guys
مكتبة
maktabe
bookcase

مكتبتين
maktabt-een
two bookcases

Nouns referring to body parts that form their plural with -een have a dual in -teen instead:

رجل
rijel
leg

رجلتين
rijil-teen
two legs

The dual tends to be used to explicitly express that there are ‘two’ of something – that is, in exactly the same way that we use the word ‘two’ in English.

That’s all for today. Next time we’ll look at adjectives. If you want to keep up with this and other translation/Arabic-related content, follow me on Twitter at Chris Hitchcock (@chm3na).

Hi everyone!

In the last few posts we looked at the ‘phonology’ of Syrian Arabic (its inventory of sounds, its stress systemcorrespondences with fuS7a and sound changes caused by adding suffixes). It’s now time to consider some different types of words and how they interact with one another.

In this post, I will be talking about the most basic building block of any sentence: the noun. Specifically, I’ll be talking about three fundamental properties of the noun and how they work in Syrian: case (or more accurately word endings), gender, and definiteness. I’m going to leave number (singular, plural etc) for a later post in order to save space.

Case

The most obvious difference between fuS7a and Syrian is that the case/definiteness suffixes (-un, -an, -in, -u, -a, -i) are simply not present. Similarly, the masculine sound plural and dual are always ـين -iin and ـين -een respectively, and do not change for case:

Syrian fuS7a
درب
dareb
path
درب
darbun
معلمين
m3allmiin
teachers
معلمون
mu3allimuun
شخصين
shakhSeen
two people
شخصان
shakhSaan

 

Note that nouns ending in a defective root consonant, which in fuS7a interact in a complicated way with case and definiteness markers, invariably end in a normal vowel. This applies both to ‘inherited’ and ‘borrowed’ vocabulary:

Syrian

fuS7a

قاضي
qaaDi
judge

قاضِ
qaaDin
judge
مستشفى
mistashfa
hospital

مستشفى
mustashfan
hospital

Gender

As in fuS7a, most feminine nouns are explicitly marked as such with the suffix ـة (the taa marbuuTa). This is pronounced -a after the sounds T D S Z q 7 3 kh gh 2 and after most (but not all) -r. Elsewhere it is pronounced -e:

مدينة
mdiine
city
BUT طريقة
Tarii2a
way
غريبة
ghariibe
strange (f.)
BUT بطة
baTTa
duck
شفرة
shafre
razor
BUT متأخرة
mit2akhkhra
late (f.)

 

The sequence ـاة is commonly pronounced -aat, although some people say it -aa:

حياة
7ayaa(t)
life
صلاة
Salaa(t)
prayer

Note as well the following feminine words that show the shift to -e despite having a different suffix originally:

Syrian fuS7a
دنيا
dinye
world
دنيا
dunya
world
شتى
shite
winter, rain
شتاء
shitaa2
winter

 

There are a handful of words that are feminine despite having no feminine marker. Most of these are also feminine in fuS7a (شمس shams ‘sun’, سما sama ‘sky’, أرض 2arD ‘ground’ and حرب 7arb ‘war’). They also include مي mayy ‘water’, دكان dikkaan ‘shop, stall’, سكين sikkiin ‘knife’ and for many speakers بلد balad ‘country’, طريق Tarii2 ‘way’ and درب dareb ‘path’.

Definiteness

The definite article is الـ il- (not al-), with a helping vowel. It assimilates to all the same consonants as its fuS7a equivalent, and sometimes to ج j. Before consonant clusters it is usually pronounced li:

الدرب
id-dareb
the path
الجو
ij-jaww or il-jaww
the weather
العين
il-3een
the eye
الولاد
liwlaad
the kids

For the most part definiteness works as it does in fuS7a. As well as words marked definite in English, it is also used to mark generics and abstract nouns, in concept names, etc. There are, however, a few exceptions, which we’ll discuss in a later post.

That’s all for today. Next time we’ll look at singular, dual and plural and how they work in Syrian. If you want to keep up with this and other translation/Arabic-related content, follow me on Twitter at Chris Hitchcock (@chm3na).

Hi everyone!

In the last few posts we have looked at various aspects of Syrian phonology (its sound system, its stress system) and how these aspects correspond to fuS7a. Before moving on to various other bits of grammar, we need to briefly consider how sounds interact with grammar more broadly (morphophonology). Specifically, I’m going to talk about two very commonly applied rules that you will encounter all the time when dealing with suffixes: lengthening of final vowels and deletion of almost-final vowels.

Lengthening

The first rule should be relatively familiar to you. When a suffix beginning with a consonant is attached to a word ending in a final vowel, that vowel is lengthened. This also triggers a stress shift in line with the usual rules:

اشتري
shtiri
buy [something]

BUT اشتريها
shtirii-ha
buy it
خلايا
khalaaya
cells
BUT

خليانا
khalayaa-na
our cells

نسيو
nisyu
they forgot

BUT

نسيوهن
nisyuu-hon
they forgot them

 

The suffix ـه ‘him’/’his’ causes this same lengthening and stress shift. Although it is written with an -h, however, this suffix is not usually pronounced with a consonant at all. The only sign that it is present is the stress and length shift:

اشتري
shtiri
buy [something]

BUT

اشتريه
shtirii
buy it

 

The most common pronunciations of fuS7a have this feature. Even if you have been taught that final ـي ـو ـا are ‘long’ (they are usually transliteratedī -ū -ā, for example), you will probably already be pronouncing them shorter than their stressed counterparts. There is a long debate over exactly how to analyse this process, which happens in almost all dialects, but for our purposes ‘lengthening’ seems as good an explanation as any.

Vowel deletion

When a suffix beginning with a vowel is added, an unstressed e or o in the preceding syllable will be deleted:

كاتب
kaateb
writer (m.)

BUT كاتبة
kaatb-e
writer (f.)
بتدرب
bitdarreb
you (m.) train
BUT

بتدربي
bitdarrb-i
you (f.) train

In some cases the e or o is already preceded by a consonant cluster. In these cases, deletion still occurs, but a helping vowel often has to be inserted to break up the new cluster:

بتكتب
btiktob
you (m.) write

BUT بتكتبي
btikitb-i
you (f.) write
مبجبج
mbajbej
bleary (m.)
BUT مبجبجة
mbajibj-e
bleary (f.)

 

Note that this process does not apply to fuS7a nouns and adjectives. Consider this ‘inherited’ and ‘borrowed’ pair:

مختلفة
mikhtilf-e
different (f.)

BUT مختلفة
mukhtalif-e
different (f.)
متغيرة
mitghayyr-a
has changed (f.)

BUT

متغيرة
mutaghayyir-a
variable (f.)

Nor does it apply when it would result in a string of three identical consonants:

قرر
qarrer
decide (m.)!

BUT

قرري
qarrir-i
decide (f.)!

 

That’s all for now. If you want to keep up with this and other translation/Arabic-related content, follow me on Twitter at Chris Hitchcock (@chm3na).

Hi everyone!

In the last two posts we have been looking at the ‘phonology’ of Syrian Arabic (its inventory of sounds and its stress system). Before going on to look at other bits of the grammar, I wanted to write something about correspondences with fuS7a.

Beginners’ dialect classes often teach spoken Arabic as a sound-substitution game: apply a few sound changes to the fuS7a words you know and hey presto! – you’re speaking 3aammiyye. This is a terrible idea. For one thing, constantly translating in your head is no path to fluency. But more importantly, the vocabulary used in speech is not simply a modified version of fuS7a vocabulary. You can’t predict whether a fuS7a word will have a direct Syrian counterpart. Nor can you predict exactly how a counterpart that is used will be pronounced. You have to learn Syrian vocabulary as a system in its own right.

With this massive caveat looming over the post, however, I think it is worth briefly looking at some common relationships between fuS7a words and their Syrian counterparts, if only to help you get your bearings in a new (but related) sound system. To do this, we have to make a distinction between two broad sets of words:

  • Inherited words that have undergone complex sound changes relative to their fuS7a cognates.
  • Borrowed words that have entered the spoken language via the written language.

Inherited words

‘Inherited’ words make up the ‘core’ vocabulary of Syrian Arabic. These are words that have been around in Syrian for a long time and that have clearly undergone a long process of sound change vis-à-vis their fuS7a counterparts.

As we already know, the letter ق is usually pronounced 2 in these words. The interdentals thdh and DH are generally replaced by t, d and D, and the hamza ء usually disappears:

Syrian

FuS7a

قال
2aal
he said

قال
qaala
he said

تلاتة
tlaate
three

ثلاثة
thalaatha
three

ضهر
Daher
back

ظهر
DHahr
back
راس
raas
head

رأس
ra2s
head

 

Short i u generally merge to i and the fuS7a diphthongs aw ay are usually replaced by oo ee:

Syrian

FuS7a
مشكلة
mishikle
problem

مشكلة
mushkila
problem

كنا
kinna
we were

كنا
kunna
we were
تور
toor
bull

ثور
thawr
bull

 

The suffix ـة, always pronounced -a in fuS7a, is pronounced -e after some letters. We will look at this in more detail in another post:

Syrian

FuS7a
دورة
doora
turn

دورة
dawra
turn

مشكلة
mishikle
problem

مشكلة
mushkila
problem

 

Borrowed words

‘Borrowed’ words are words taken from fuS7a. The most obvious examples of this belong to the realm of higher-register or technical vocabulary coined in fuS7a and then used in speech. Nouns and adjectives of this kind are subject to only very limited adaptation, with the pronunciation of ـة changing and the interdental sounds th dh DH often pronounced s z Z:

Syrian

FuS7a
ثقافة
saqaafe
culture

ثقافة
thaqaafa
culture

عناية
3inaaye
care

عناية
3inaaya
care
ذرة
zurra
atom

ذرة
dhurra
atom

 

Use with caution

The way I’ve characterised these two categories above heavily implies a clear line between higher-register and lower-register vocabulary. It is true that most higher-register words use the fuS7a-style pronunciation. The problem is that since at least the advent of mass education, fuS7a influence on the spoken language is so pervasive that plenty of everyday lower-register words show at least some fuS7a-esque features:

Syrian

FuS7a
تذكر
tzakkar
remember

تذكر
tadhakkara
remember

عذر
3izer
excuse

عذر
3udhr
excuse
الظاهر
iZZaaher
it seems that

الظاهر
aDHDHaahir
the appearance

Remember that you can only rely on this distinction so far in practice, and that there is absolutely no substitute for learning vocabulary as it is actually used!

Hi everyone!

In my last post we looked at the sounds of Syrian Arabic broadly defined. In this post we will look at two other important phonological features: the stress system and the helping vowel.

Stress

Stress is the emphasis placed on a particular syllable above others. The Syrian stress system (and the system of Eastern dialects more broadly) is more or less identical to the one you were probably taught for fuS7a. I won’t spend too much time on it because it should be fairly familiar. The rules should be applied in order:

  1. The final syllable will be stressed if it has a long vowel: مفتاح miftaa7 ‘key’, شفتوه shiftuu ‘you saw him’.
  2. If the final syllable cannot be stressed, a penultimate (second-to-last) syllable will be stressed if it has a long vowel: طناجر Tanaajer ‘pots’.
  3. If neither the final or penultimate syllable can be stressed, the antepenultimate (third-to-last) syllable will be stressed: مكتبة maktabe ‘library’, مسكت masaket ‘she caught’.

There are a few examples of irregular stress that we’ll discuss in the relevant places.

The helping vowel

The helping vowel  (sometimes called an ‘epenthetic vowel‘) is used to break up difficult-to-pronounce consonant clusters. I write this vowel as a superscript e in final syllables and as i elsewhere, since it is pronounced just like these vowels in those contexts. Note, however, that it is never stressed. Stress falls exactly where it would fall if the epenthetic vowel wasn’t there. Compare the actual stress placement on the left to the placement we would expect if the helping vowel was stressable on the right:

Correct stress

  Expected stress
خوفت
khawwafet
I scared [someone]
NOT

*khawwafet

يسجنك
yisijnak
he imprisons you

NOT *yisijnak
بتكتبو
btikitbo
she writes it
NOT

*btikitbo

 

Which consonant clusters are usually or always broken up, which are optionally broken up, and which are rarely or never broken up varies between speakers. It would be too complicated to attempt a comprehensive description here, and I suggest, as always, trying to imitate the native speakers around you. Note, however, that final consonant clusters that are difficult for English speakers (sr and sm, for example) are reliably difficult for Syrians too:

ضرب
Dareb
hitting

حمص
7imeS
Homs
مصر
maSer
Egypt

شفت
shifet
I saw

The helping vowel never breaks up a doubled consonant. The only exception to this is the maaDi suffix -t, which can be separated from a stem-final t by the helping vowel:

بعتت
ba3at-et
I sent

بتت
bit-et
I stayed the night

Note, however, that when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added – or when the following word begins with a vowel – the helping vowel is dropped from final clusters. Similarly, when the next word begins with a consonant cluster, the helping vowel often shifts into the space between the words:

ضرب
Dareb
hitting

BUT ضربي
Darb-i
‘hitting me’

شفت
shifet
I saw

BUT شفتك
shift-ak
‘I saw you’
مصر
maSer
Egypt
BUT

مصر الحلوة
maSr il7ilwe
‘beautiful Egypt’

In the middle of a word, the system is simpler. The vowel always appears after the first consonant of a cluster:

بتكتبي
btikitbi
you write

أدوية
2adiwye
medicine
شفتكن
shifitkon
I saw you

مشكلة
mishikle
problem

 

That’s all for now. If you want to keep up with this and other translation/Arabic-related content, follow me on Twitter at Chris Hitchcock (@chm3na).