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).