Dirrscolloquiale 00 Dirrrich
Dirrscolloquiale 00 Dirrrich
Dirrscolloquiale 00 Dirrrich
HORACE W„ CARFEMTEEI
DIRR'SCOLLOC^UIAL
EGYPTIAN ARABIC
GRAMMAR
FOR THE USE OF TOURISTS
TRANSLATED BY
W. H. LYALL, M.A.
BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD
WITH VOCABULARY
HENRY FROWDE
LONDON, EDINBURGH, GLASGOW
NEW YORK AND TORONTO
1904
OXFORD : HORACE HART
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
2^:::^;?6^^t-Zci^^
PREFACE
There are of course many aids to the study of colloquial
Arabic, especially the dialect of Egypt. I mention here only the
excellent publications of Spitta Bey, Hartmann and Vollers, to
r/ \
iv PREFACE
able, and are almost always left out in writing ^ Reading the
chrestomathy slowly aloud will accustom the student to the sound
of the language. The c i^en) and the hamza must never be slurred
will soon see that all its different forms have in reality but one
conjugation. It really is not very difficult to initiate oneself into
4. j\lesopota7nia.
5. 'Iraq (Babylonia).
6. Western Arabia (the Higaz).
7. Southern Arabia (Yemen and Hadramfit).
8. Eastern Arabia (Bahren and 'Oman).
9. Central Arabia (Negd, &c.).
10. The Arabic of the Bedawin forms a class by itself.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS
The Alphabet
THE ALPHABET.
I. THE CONSONANTS.
Name.
COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
Name.
THE VOWELS 3
a, a, ^ by -^ {f^^^) '•
kutiih, books.
Long vowels, on the other hand, must be written :
see!
The diphthongs ^« and ei appear in Arabic, but are usually
found as and /(written ^ and Jl) : e. g.j^ hair = her, goodness ;
^^"^j clay.
j»j5
The diphthongs oi, in, id also occur, but rarely, as moiye, water ;
*
: e. g. i^Xt^
There are two distinct sounds attached to ', a sharp one and
a smooth one. The former appears in 'udhul, come in 1 qdl 'Hhrug,
he said, Go out ! Again, when no vowel follows it : mamur, official,
'ahmed, Ahmed's son. Often, however, the two vowels are con-
tracted into one, and the hiatus of the hamzd disappears : e.g. md
'rd/s', ydhmed=yd 'ahmed, Oh Ahmed 1
Kli th, s, properly like the English th, but more often pronounced
as a /: t.g. j^ ketir, much; j^ tor, ox. Sometimes pronounced
like s.
J
r, as in English : e. g. J*.|, ( j4;) rdgil, man ;
^c '/rz/j know ;
^j^ J, a sharp s: e. g.
J^ ^^j-j, he saw.
beside ;
^liil imfdtah, it has been opened.
5 ^, a soft ^, but always distinctly audible : e. g. i_^ ;^/r/^, he
fled, escaped ; j^ sahr, month.
fi in fill ',
da in darab.
^ Spitta Bey gives copious matter on the influence of the consonants on the
pronunciation of the vowels in his Grammar.
8 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
{b) The semi-long syllable, which ends in either a long vowel or
a diphthong, or else in a short vowel with a final consonant
e. g. Id, lau, yd, 'il mfiil, rab in darah.
{c) The long syllable, which ends either in a short vowel followed
by two consonants, or in a long vowel with one final consonant
e. g. 'lit vsxfiilt; mar in homdr ; ndr ; 'id in said.
The Accent falls as follows :
over ihem ~
vowels occur they have a horizontal line placed
e. g. dardbnd, he has struck us.
If a long vowel has the accent it has the circumflex accent
over it : e. g. qalil, few ; darabHh ^ they have struck him ; sd/nd,
Thus every vowel which has the accent bears either ^ or '.
of the feminine, reject the z and shorten the d into a : in fact that
have struck him, and ddrabii they have struck, are only distinguishable by
the accent.
GRAMMAR.
LESSON I.
edddr, the house ; essams, the sun ; essultdn, the Sultan (instead of
daughter.
bint elmalik.
"^
There no longer exists in modern Arabic any real declension. We shall
learn the weak remnants from the classical language in the course of the lessons.
THE ARTICLE AND THE GENITIVE II
Vocabulary. — bdb, pi. bibdn, gate, door^; kalb, p\. ki/db, dog;
binf, pi. band/, girl, daughter ; muftdh, pi. mafdtih, key ; habib, pi.
ahbdby friend, lover ; waidd, pi. wildd, boy ; 'a;z(/, with, chez ;
Exercises.
Where {/en at the end of the sentence) (is) the key ? In front
of the garden gate. The children of the friends. The bo) 's friend.
The garden gates. The dog is with the girl's friend. The man's
boys. The friend's daughters. A door-key. The key of the
door. The dog is in front of the house door {bdb elbet). The
garden is in front of the house {bet). The key of the wardrobe
(jnuftdh diildb elhudum) is in front of the door.
LESSON II.
(iii) The names of those parts of the human body which occur in
duplicate : '///, eye ; widn, ear ; id, hand ; ?-igl, foot.
''dndoh ^, he has ; 'andihd, she has ; 'anduhum, they have ; rdgil, pi.
pi. ashdb, friend, master, owner ; sdhbe, pi. sahbdt, friend (fem.)
Exercises.
'dndl 'es. el 'es 'dndi. hdt hittet"" 'es. elwildd butii enniswdn,
kildb habibi (of my friend). elkildb butit habibi. elmdra betd'ei
The dog is with the men. The dogs (are) in front of the threshold
of the house. The girls are in front of their friend's (fem.) house.
LESSON III.
same time : thus 'iden, two hands ; riglen, two feet ; erriglen, both
the feet ; nobaien, twice (from 7ioba, a time) ; sehren, two months ;
vide Conjugation.)
14 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
The feminine substantives in a, a, e, if they form their plural
regularly, take di as the termination : e.g. hikdyd^ story, pi. hikdydt]
bdsawdi', agd, eunuch, pi. agdwdi ; but brins, prince, pi. brinsdi]
hawdga, gentleman, Mr., pi. hawdgdt (form of address to Europeans).
Names of relationships and grades of society, old and new
borrowed- words, also take dl in the plural: e.g. 'ab, father, pi.
'arbagiyd.
The rules for the formation of the irregular plural cannot be
given here, and if given would only perplex the beginner. The
plural of every substantive in the Vocabularies has been given.
Vocabulary. — kitdb, pi. Miub, book ; inedine, pi. mudun, town
heme, pi. hiyam, tent; gabdl, pi. gibdl, mountain; husdn, pi. hel,
horse ; ydm, pi. 'lydm, day ; 'ah \ pi. 'ihwdn, 'ihwe, brother ; kebir,
great, large ; zugdiyar, little, small ; tawil, pi. iuwdl, long ; hunt, I
was; kunt, thou wast; kUnti (fem.), thou wast; kdn, he was;
kdnet, she was ; kunnd, we were ; kiintu, ye were ; kdnu^ they were.
The Comparative is expressed by 'an with the positive : kebir 'an,
greater than.
A Question, especially a direct one, is usually expressed by an
interrogative tone only: e.g. elwaldd kdn hene ? Was the boy
here?
Ward, behind ;
qussdd, opposite ; we, and (closely connected
with the word following ; it elides its vowel before another vowel
e.g. wiJine, and we); ft, in {el loses its vowel after yz*, and / is
Exercises.
wdga. waldd elbdsa tawil (taller) 'aft ehvaldd, elh hifndh (whom
we saw) embdreh. sufi (I saw) errdgilen. elbdsawdt kdnu filme-
dine. hmfi qussdd bdb elbet embdreh. huwe (he is) nemsdwl.
ihne (we are) nemsawiye. elkildb kdnu fi bet elbdsa. bint elha-
wdga kdnet figgenene betd^et eTdgd. elnuqaliye kdnu filbet. ahil
'Ibint kdn embdreh fi bet ettdgir. bet elbdsa kebir 'an bet eTdgd.
bint elmdr'a kdnet fen .^ kdnet filbet (in the house, at home).
LESSON IV.
where the substantive has the definite article it takes the article
too: e.g. a good boy, wdlad tdiyib) the good boy, elw'dldd
black).
2. For the dual see above.
3. In the plural the form of the adjective depends on whether
the plural is regular or irregular.
The regular plural is always followed by the plural of the adjec-
tive : e. g. muslimdn sdlihin, pious Moslems ; bdlawdt 'uzdm,
powerful pashas ; hikdydt kuwaiyisin, pretty stories.
eyes ;
qilldl malydmn or malydne, filled water-bottles.
The adjective used as a predicate agrees with its substantive both
in number and gender ; however, irregular plurals even in this
case may take the feminine singular of the adjective : errdgil tdiyib,
the man is good; elmdra taiyibe, the woman is good; eggdrye
THE ADJECTIVE 17
MASC. SIXG.
l8 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
girl was here ? She is ^
a good girl. The thieves are in the prison
{kabshdne). We were in the eunuch's garden. These girls are
pretty. The pasha's boys are big. Mr. All's house is very big ;
LESSON V.
* We shall not in future put the present tense of the verb 'to be' in
brackets ; it is to be omitted in translation.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS 19
hd, her.
the meaning.
2. That in the case of a word ending in two consonants a vowel
must be placed before the suffix (if this latter begin with
a consonant) for the sake of euphony: this vowel receives
the accent, which frequently converts it into a long vowel:
e. g. higl, work, business ; suglihd ; suglmd ; suglilkum ;
sugliihum -.
ahawdt, sister ; I'nsdfi, pi. nds, man, mankind, people {inonde) ; 'id,
sand, pi. sanawdt or sinin, year ; mar a, pi. niswdn, fiiswe, woman
bahr, pi. bihdr, sea, the Nile ; nahr, pi. anhdr, river ; da, da, fem. <//,
pi. dol, this, these (placed after the substantive with the article : e. g.
enndhr da, this river ; el 'ayddi dol, these hands ; it often combines
with the substantive to form one tonic group, in which the original
accent is changed : e. g. elmirdya, the mirror ; elmirdyd-di, this
mirror) ; di'lwaqt, dilwdqte, now fen ? where ?
;
(mostly placed at
end of sentence).
Exercises.
ahawdtkum fen ? errdgil-dd dtwal min ahuya ^ enndhr -da
dsgar min ennil (the Nile). fih gdmV (mosque) filbaldd da?
walddi 'dndak yd hawdga ? Id (no), huwa mus (not) ^dndl, huwa
'and 'HhtJ. min (of) e'nhi qabile (tribe) inte ? da kitdbt ana (this
is my book). da mus kitdbak inte, da kitdboh hHwa. aMh fm?
dmirdyafen? abUkfen? hHwa dilwdqte'dndi. fihndsfilbet
da? Id, mdfis. enndhr wdrd elbaldd (place, town). dilwdqt
enfidhr ward?id.
LESSON VI.
he saw thee, but sd/itd, sd/kum, sdfhum, he saw us, you, them.
On appending the suffixes J, ak, ik^ oh the form fd'il loses its i
'dla, upon, over, becomes 'ale: e.g. 'aleya; 'alek', 'al^h', 'alena;
'alekum ; 'alehum,
IJ, for, to, forms liye, for, to me ; lak (fem. lik) ; loh {luh) ; lihd ;
1
Kdn liye, kdn lak, kdn loh, kdnfc liye, &c., I had, thou hadst, &c. yekiln
22 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
*
That, those ' is dikhd, dukhd {dukhdwa), fern, dikhd {dikhdya),
pi. diikhdmma.
If da, di, dikhd, ddl, &c., precede the substantive, '
is ' or '
are
must be supplied : e. g. errdgil da, this man ; errdgil dikha, that
man ; but da rdgil, this is a man ; da errdgil, this is the man ;
ahS, fern, ahi, pi. ahom, there he is, she is, they are ! {le, la,
les voila) ; ddi, look there ! combines with the pronominal suffixes
from me 1
'
He who (substantival) is e'lli or vmi e. g. e'lli (or ?nin) kdn
' :
Each, every, kUlle min : e. g. every one who wants anything from
me, k^lli juin 'duz se minni.
The one that, elli : what I want to tell you, e'lli hiddi baqul lak.
'
Whoever, whatever '
h ay: e. g. li 'ay sdbab kdn, whatever the
reason may be ; ay hdga kdn, whatever it may be.
village ; Ich elbdldd, pi. HyHh elbaldd, head man of the village,
sheikh ; wdliden, parents ; fars, sofa ; ld??iba, lamp ; seggdde, pi.
liye,yekun lak,yekihi loh, I shall have, thou wilt have, &c. E.g. Uye kdn bet
Jibaldd di, I had a house in this place.
^ *
To, in, into ' may be omitted after verbs of motion.
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS 23
Exercises.
esseggdde iaht el-fdrs. hott (place, put) elldviba 'attarabeze.
ana sdkin filbet dd. elbaddH'' dolnmifen? md kUniis (I was not)
filbet ellelddi. huwa sdkm filbet beid' esseh, seh elbaldd mdt nun
hdf. min hilwa, e'lli kdn hene ? kull errigdl 'and esseh. dd seh
bdl'adna. wdlidenak fen? ddhal bet elbdsa. sdfir elmasr.
errdgil e'lli sdfir embdreh ahuye. elhawdgdt dot min ? aho mdr-
haba ! ahom I kdriH fm teme'lli ? adini (here I am) rigit
(I have returned) min sdfari (my journey).
Each man entered the house of the village sheikh. Put ijiott)
the carpet under the sofa. These goods are from here, and those
are from Cairo. Yesterday my brother set off (for) Syria {bildd
essdm). Where are my parents ? Is this man your village sheikh ?
LESSON VII.
a man who was here. If, however, the substantive is definite (so
his wife ; elbiyut butund, our houses ; elheme betd'ethum^ their tent.
The Numerals from i-io run as follows :
3, r teldt^ teldtd
9, 1 iis'a, th'at
means the numeral one : e. g. wdhid rdgil, a man, but rdgi'l wdhid,
one man.
For the formation of the dual see Lesson III. After the numerals
from 2-10 the substantive is in the plural.
The forms are used indiscriminately ; before a vowel, however,
a form ending in a consonant is usually employed : e. g. silte ntswe,
in Lesson V, with the single exception of the ist pers. sing., of which the
accusative is m: e.g.gardhiT, he has wounded me tdfak, he has seen you. To ;
lay special stress on the accusative the full form of the personal pronoun may be
added : e.g. gardhni ana ; sdfak hite.
NUMERALS 25
sdgare, pi. asgdr, and sagardi, tree; kds, pi. kasdt, cup, goblet;
Exercises.
istdra 'dla kisoh elkiidb ill'i gdboh {gdb = he brought) liggdr (to
the neighbour). Ml U
me) fingdn qdhwe ao (or) kubbdyet
(give
embdreh i>'
send' in buttioh.
LESSON VIII.
pi. suiiih, roof; <5^'f<f, pi. biiada, distant (from = 'an) ; fdqdm^ upper
tahld?it, lower ; harrdniy outer ;
guwdm, inner ; z'^wrj saknin^ we
Exercises.
a very rich man ; he owns {loh) three houses in the middle of the
town. She was in the cellar for a space of six hours (see Note i
LESSON IX.
J rub' ,,
arbd'
•i- hums ,, ahmds
|- suds „ (2j^(i!f
i sub' „ fzj-^^'
i /ww;z ,, atmdn
•i ius' atsd'
.,
e. g.wdhid wdhid, one by one they came by two's, gum etnen elnen, ;
r/^/, pi. drgul, foot ; r«/^ rndsi^ he went on foot ; dna, inte^ huwa
'd'uz, I, you, he wishes, wants ; /, what ? (usually at end of sen-
tence) ; dahdlt^ I entered (with accusative) ; /«, if (always with the
past tense, see Conjugation); inn, that (this conjunction unites
with the pronominal suffixes : e. g. he said that you had been with
him, qdl innak kunii 'dndoh ; I saw that he killed the man, su/t
yekun It, yekHn lak, yekHn loh, &c., I shall have, thou wilt have,
he will have.
Exercises.
gdni (came to me) waldd md su/los abdddn (whom I had never
seen). ana dahdlt el'oda e'lli kdntifihd, aho bet rdbi' fissikke di.
ana 'd'uz (I want) innak tegib-li (you give me) qirlen (two piastres).
gd he'ne (came here) eVdldy etteldiin. hdmast agzd' min arbahtdlar.
ddhala (they entered) eggenene ieldtd teldtd. ana kunie fi masr
marraien, webukra Idzirnm asdfir hendk (there) mdrra idnye (again).
bUkra nekun 'ande habibak, temfnd (you will see us) hendk. Idziinni
^ i.e. the generic name, the name of the species ; the name of the single
specimen formed from the collective name by the addition of the feminine
is
termination a, a ox c: thus Wr
the hair, "sdra a hair ; nahl the date-palm,
ndJile a date-palm.
30 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
rub' mm elmdhlag (sum of money) da. ana Hnte fi bet habib'i
mUddet nusse sd'a. sd'a wenuss (an hour and a half). essd'a
wdhde wenuss (half-past one o'clock). teHnu bUkra 'and ahbdbkum ?
Id {no) yd hawdga nekun filmedine.
Where were you .? We were in the pasha's gardens for the
space of two and a half hours. And where will you be to-morrow }
I have four children, two boys and two girls. Every fourth man
died. I was in Egypt for (a space of) two years. They went out
of the house one after the other [fzli'u mm elbet). Where are my
children ? Two of them are in your room {etnen minhum .). . .
LESSON X.
get {gtt), I came; gel, fem. gefl, thou camest; gd, he came;
gdt, she came ; gfnd, we came ;
gttu, ye came ; gum, they came.
Vocabulary. — diwa, yes ; naam, yes ; nd'am ? (interrogative),
I beg your pardon (what did you say) ? end am, certainly, of course !
locutions it has the present after it) ; arilh, I go ; teruh, thou goest
biddJ, btddak, biddoh, I wish, thou wishest, he wishes; mUmkin,
possible ;
ger mUmkin, impossible.
Exercises.
dilwdqie get min 'and ahuya. da errdgil elli lilftoh embdreh.
ihne saknin filbet dlli qussdd eggabdl. abuk rdh fen ? rdh 'ande
habiboh ^
bila sakk (without doubt). hdt-li elkitdb betd'i. huwa
foq edduldbfi 'ddetl. Id budde terHh 'and elhakim (doctor). gum
^ The insertion of ^and is necessary here ; without it the sentence would mean
that his friend went.
THE VERB 31
personal '
one ' can be rendered) rddi (pleased). hiddak e? Mddi
aruh el'iskendenye, Idzimtii aHn hendk bUkra. suft^ kdm (several)
yd waldd) who was here ? Your sister was here, Sir, she wants
years. The carpet is under the sofa. Put [hott) the lamp upon
the table i^aitarabeze) ^
or upon the cupboard i^adduldb) \ Put your
hand into your pocket {geb). Give me my books, my lamp, and
my carpet.
LESSON XI.
Arabic verbs :
From the Simple Form of the verb several Derivative Forms are
derivative forms.
There are Iwo simple Tenses, the Perfect (or past tense) and the
Present (or future).
There are two Moods, the hidicative and the Imperative.
There is only one Voice, viz. the Active, since the Passive can be
but the 3rd pers. sing, of the past tense : e. g. kdtab, he has
written; sirib, he has drunk; sUkut, he has been silent. (It
verbs are not really in the infinitive, though so translated for the
sake of brevity.)
The past tetise of these three forms (the/a'a/, fiil, 2.Yi^fuul forms)
is as follows :
The past tense of the Jiil and the fu'ul forms is conjugated in
almost the same manner, except that before vowel terminations
they frequently drop their second vowel.
nizil, descend.
makdtiby letter ; in (iza, laii), if (always has the perfect after it) ;
elhusdn (horse) ///z lUftoh, mus (is not) lilbt. dardbte bdgletak
{bagle, pi. bigdl, mule) le? nasdht elkitdb elli kdn fi duldb'i? rdh
filqdhive (cafe) weld ^
lirib hdga (and not drank something = and
drank nothing). h'ribnd fingdnen qdhwe. sirbet kubbdyet mdiye.
^
If two sentences are connected and the second one is negative, ' not ' in
in fidilt (if you stay) hene viuddei seneien teldtd (two or three years)
Has he copied the letter ? Yes, he has copied it. Where have
you been ? Last year I was in Suez ; and next year I shall be in
Rosetta {rasid). She has been silent, but he has told me all {qdl H
kuUoh). Have you drunk sherbet ? No, we have drunk wine and
a cup of coffee. Give me wine, water and a glass. Did you stay
long {zamdn tawil) ? Yes, we stayed five hours. If you write the
letter come {iddla) to me i^dndi). What is that house which lies at
LESSON XIL
Present — Imperative — Participles and Infini-
tives — be.
The following are the Present Forms of the verb : yif'il, yi/'al,
yu/'id {yi/'td). The second vowel (i. e. the one between the
second and third radicals) is changed in the present of most verbs ;
but no definite rules can be given for the change. In this book
(as in the majority of grammars and dictionaries) the present vowel
is given after every verb : e. g. kdlab, u, write (present, yUktuh) ;
tikiuh
36 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
We repeat here what has been already stated : the pronominal
I', e.g. dardbni^ he has struck me (the accent is altered just as with
of some action in the past ; the Present treats of some action not
yet finished, and it may be translated by the Present, Future, or
Imperfect.
To express an ivimediate present the letter b {be) may be affixed
take ;
fdtah, a, open ; nddah, a, call (to somebody li) ; kdsar, i,
break.
Vocabulary. —lahm, meat ; hittet lahm, a piece of meat; Idhme
masluq, boiled meat ; Idhme mdswi^ roast meat ; duhdn, tobacco
sirib edduhdn, smoke (tobacco) ; hdsfs^ hemp (for smoking) ; hashish,
Exercises.
here ? The locksmith is going to open the door. Call this youth
(that) he may open the garden gate (translate simply by Present).
Call this gentleman, he knows Arabic {fieyfraf el 'drabi). Where
does the baker live .? He lives in that house. Have a little
patience. Oh girl ! Has he wounded you with a knife ? Coffee-
and tea-drinking [lurb elqdhwe wessdy) do harm {yedUrr). Give
me a piece of roast meat, a glass of wine, and then {bdden) a cup
of coffee and a cigarette {si'gdra). You have wounded him. He
has opened it {-oh). We have written it. They write. Have
patience (sing.). Have patience (plural). You have broken it (you
in plural). You (plural) are breaking it. We have caught hold of
him. They will catch him.
LESSON XIII.
often formed from the present with the prefix 'ammdl, fem. 'a?nmdle,
^ Here fem. because lalune maslHq is collective, by hitte one single morsel is
indicated.
- The interrogative particle s {h) is added when an affirmative answer is
expected.
38 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
pi. 'ammalin^ shortened to 'avi?na, 'am, ma : e. g. 'dmma ariih^ I am
in the act of going ; 'am akdlltmoh, I am speaking to him ; ma
'dktub elgawdb, I am writing the answer.
The immediate Future, the intention of doing something and
being on the point of doing something are expressed by the
present preceded by rath, rah, fem. rd'ihe, rdhe, pi. raihtn, rahin,
or by rah (unaherable) shortened to ha : e. g. rah yisrab, he is on
the point of drinking ; rah dnzil, I am going to go down imme-
diately ; ha tVmil e? What are you going to do now ?
kdnu nddahu lilhadddm Idmmd ddhal elqauwds, they had called the
servant when the cavass (consular servant) came in.
thus md darahiShl or ?}id darab/os, I have not hit him ; mdyimsikuhl ',
kinne, pi. kdnain, daughter-in-law ; 'ala sdn, min sdn, for, because ;
Exercises.
rdk dfdal hendk teldt iydm. ifdal he'ne, Idzim tiktibli (for me)
gawdb libne'dmmi" (= li'ibne). in ridit (if it is agreeable to you)
ab'dt lak (I send you, from bdai) hadddmi. baztinn (I think) hiye
md katabe'll elgawdb id. mdnis fdkir (remember) kilmdtoh (kilnie,
pi. dt, word). Id yd sidi dii mus bet ahiiyd. simit (hear)
elhdbar ? Id md simi'tos (= ?}id simi'tohs). md qibilnds (receive)
between this and jud yimsikiis, they will not take hold. The context alone
must supply the meaning.
^ 11 is used to form the dative.
40 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
elgawdb. 'iza gd maktub 'ala sdni (for me) iqhdloh. ab'dt lak
Send me, Sir ; I will do it. He has not done it. You have not
hurt (wounded) him. In summer (fissef) there is no {nid/is) water
We have not wounded him. I have not opened it. She has not
written You are not writing (participle). They have not done
it.
LESSON XIV.
mill wife hiiu hem? ihne he'ne min teldta sinin. harragnd (drive
out) elhardmiye min elbet. ieharrdgni min hetak ? diwa, itld {till
pi. -171). 'dllaq (hang up) hudtimi (my clothes) ! ettarabeze maksHra,
yisalJdhhi (repair) min ? ii'azzilii (move) ?nin betkum^ dii sahih
(right, true) ? diwa, nedzzii minnoh, yisdllahoh ennaggdr. kdilar
qdhwe (increase = take more, drink more) ! sellini 'dla (greet)
habiboh. md iikattdrs moiye ! md tigrahiiKs. md tihalldss elkildb
repair it. Have you greeted {se'llim 'aid) your teacher .? We have
moved from this house they are going ; to show us a house oppo-
site the mosque perhaps [riibbama) I
; shall live {sdkan, u) there
LESSON XV.
in. Form.
The IIL form is obtained by inserting a long d between the first
and second radicals of the simple verb (the second vowel is always i).
PERFECT. PRESENT.
kdtik, I have corresponded akdiib, I shall correspond
kdlibl, fern, kdtibti tikdiib, fem. tikdtibi {tikdib'i)
Monday ;
ydm etteldte, Tuesday ;
yotn efdrbd, Wednesday yom ;
too high.
Exercises.
ahhdrni bilkitdbe, ifinohyigi (he will come) bukra. Idzimni 'alqalil
gum' a 'aldsdn (for) essiigle da. hunt dkttb, 'alagdfle simihl{simi'l,
{iza kUnte biddak tifdllim efdrabi) you must stay at least two years
in Egypt. This house is too small for me, I must have {Jdzimni)
a larger one. It is not possible for you to copy this letter for me
(translate : you copy . . .). Give her {gib liha) at least some paras
[fadda, no plural) for her child. I met {qdbil, with accusative) my
friend yesterday. Excuse me {sdmih, with accusative), Sir, I did
not know it. He is governor (of) Damietta [dimydi),
LESSON XVI.
IV. Form.
The IV. form is obtained by prefixing an a and dropping the first
ahbdrt dhbir
ahbdrt, fern, ahbdrti tihbir, fern, tihbir'i
ahbdrjid nihbir
ahbdriu tihbiru
ahbdru yihbiru.
*
Wish, want,' is often expressed by bidd with the suffixes :
tidraboh.
The auxiliary verb '
ought ' is either translated by Idzim in (with
tell the clerk he ought to copy out the letter, qHl lilkdlib, yinsah
elgawdb.
46 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
*
They say, it is said,' can be rendered in Arabic by yequlu
e. g. The king is said to be dead, yequlu in elmalik mat.
Exercises.
qill (tell) lilhadddm yirdgga' eTdfs (things, luggage) e'lli hddoh
{had, take) mi'n hene. ha ' dhhirak minnoh (about it). essd'a
[It'and^^ . .).
. Tell the donkey-boy he ought to come back to-
morrow. The governor is said to have gone away (to) Keneh
{qene) on the last of last month (ahir essdhr elmddi). What do you
want to do ? We must {Idzimnd) tell him of {^afi) this affair i^amr,
pi. 'umilr). It is all the same to me {di zay bd'doh 'dndi). We
have spoken about {/i) literature {^ilm elkutiib). We have tired our
camels, they must rest a little {Idzim yistarihii suwdye). That does
not please me.
^ From now on we shall not write the dative of the personal pronoun separate
from the verb.
r. FORM 47
LESSON XVII.
V. Form.
Conjugation,
perfect. present.
ifahhdrt, I have been delayed afdhhar
it'ahhdrt, fem. if ahhdrti tifdhhar, fern, ii't'ahhdri
ifdhhar, fem. it'ahhdret jyifdhhar, fem. tifdhhar
it'ahhdrnd iiifdhhar
ifahhdrtu tifahhdru
Wdhharu yifahhdru.
fect) ; 'ala 'Udr/ dii, 'a/a 'Vsuriit dol, under this (these) cQndition(s).
48 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
Exercises.
magddrs afduwad 'alhdwa ; eddiinyd hdrre mufdttis (the weather
is stifling hot). ezdy (how) elhdwa (weather, air, climate) ? elhdwa
mdlih. 'ala 'ssdrt da magddrs afdal hene dktar (any more).
itfassdhu (go a walk) werdhu (go) lindhyet elbdhr. ana miCduwid
(participle oiif duwady alasurb edduhdn, mdyedurrims {darr,yedurr,
do harm). lau kunie hassallim, hmnd sdfirnd sdwa sdwa (we
would have gone away together). h^rd/setitbuh {coo^), yd wdldd?
md'rd/s dtbuh ilia (except) kdm akl ( = a few dishes). taqdddum
masr zdhir (clear) ; masr iiqdddamet iemellt, min muddet Mohammed
Alt, bdsd elkebir. ifaTsdmt asu/ak (I hoped to see you) bukra,
Idkin le'znnak tesdfir bilwabur Mm sd'a qahle tuliT essams, itfdddal
LESSON XVIII.
Conjugation,
perfect. present.
i/kCiiibi atkdiib
itkdiibt, fern, itkatibti titkd/ib, fern, tilkdtbl
itkatibtu titkdtbu
itkdtbu yitkdtbu.
dhar, fem. iihra, pi. fihar, other : elkitdb eldhar, the other book.
*
Other than, another than '
is gir : e. g. another book than this,
Exercises.
ana arafoh min hurnetetoh. misikm min 'idl wefarrdgni 'ala
have been corresponding {itkdtibnd) for four years. Why are you
quarrelling and fighting ?
LESSON XIX.
VII. Form.
always has two ^'s, and the present two z''s : e. g. inkdsar, yinkisir^
be broken, be beaten (in battle); inkdtab^yinkitib, be written.
Conjugation,
perfect. present.
inkasdrt ankisir
ifikasdrty fem. iiikasdrfi tinkisir, fern, tinkisiri
inkasdrna ninkisir
inkasdriii iinkisru.
inkdsarU yinkisrii.
be drunk (passive).
Vocabulary. — qudddm wiss el'dlam, before the eyes of the
people; dna md-li? What has that to do with me? aho, ahi,
ahSm (ahtim)y here he is, she is, they are (/<?, la, les voild)', min
/adlak, be so good as to ... ; elli loh "and (lit. what to him is),
possessions : e.g. your possessions which are with me, elli lak 'dndi
bdrik li, wish good luck to some one ; ahuh, uhte'hd, his like, her
like (one of a pair) : e.g. hilwa rdgil md loh ahuh fiddHnyd, he
is a man without his like in the world ; bdgla, pi. bigdl, coll. bagl,
mule ; humdr, pi. hamir^ donkey ; hammdr, pi. hamvidrin, donkey-
boy ; gdmal, pi. gimdl, camel ; hegin, pi. hUgun^ dromedary, riding-
camel ; gammdl, pi. gammalin, camel-driver ; bi-su'Ube, hardly,
scarcely (with difficulty); kull (invariable), each, every; ddhil^
gHway inside, in ; kohl, a black dye for the eyelids ; iftgdrah [min)^
be wounded (by) ; insdrab, yinsirib, be drunk, be drinkable
inbd'at, yinbVit, be sent ; intdbd, yintibi', be printed ; inhd7naq,
yinhimiq, become angry ; ifibdsat (pronounced imb . .
.),
yinbisit^
rejoice.
E 2
52 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
Exercises.
liye 'dndak hamsin fddda, e'lli lukum 'andind kdm (how much) ?
with you) twelve dollars {riydl). Where was this letter written ?
It was written in Alexandria. This book was printed in Cairo.
Do you know the new {gedid, fem. gedidii) street? Have you sent
the messenger for the doctor ? No, Sir, he has not yet been sent
I will send him now. The thieves were caught {inmdsak, i) in the
doctor's garden. I wish you good luck, Oh men ! You only owe
me a few paras {pnXy^bess, after paras = fddda). I\Iy brother's
house has been burnt (inhdraq, i). Don't come in, Sir ; there are
{/ih) ladies inside {gmva).
LESSON XX.
VIII. Form.
examine.
Imperative : istdgal, fem. istdgU, pi. istdglu.
saal, a, ask (an after) ; tanbiil {ia??ibal), lazy, idle {/i, at, in)
Exercises.
AH. da ger mumkin, huwa min dhle sues, bd'rafoh min hudumoh.
hallim (let me) aftikir luwdiye ; lissa md'rd/s iza kdn yimkinm
(if it is possible for me ; from dmkan, yimkin, be possible), yd
waldd, 'is'al 'an bet ettdgir. rUh wdrsa emtagdr westif (and look)
*ala 'Imurgdha, ^lli 'imilhd 'alasdn waliidi. istdgll dktar, yd bint,
intt tdnbald ft kdlli hdga. qdrrab elkursi 'dndl. dbil 'Ihdl qurdiyib
min elahrdm. itrikib'^ elMgun dol tul yojii (the whole day) md
ii'bus (or elhUgun itrikibU).
If {iza kdn with pres.) any one [wdhid) asks something (Mga)
of God {min alldK), he will not deny it him {md yimnahhds). We
have worked very hard (=very much). The garden gate is opened
at seven o'clock and shut at eleven. This man is not trustworthy,
he is always praising himself {iftdhar, i) but he never works (never
z= abdddn). He earns much money. I shall earn still more {kdmdn
ziyddd). Ask for the workshop of the locksmith, and see i^tlf) if
LESSON XXI.
PERFECT. PRESENT.
iJmarret, I have become red ahmdrr
ihmarret^ fem. ihmarrefi tihmdrr, fem. tihmdrri
ihmarr, fem. iJimdrret yihmdrr, fem. tihmdrr
ihmarrend nihmdrr
ihmarreiu tihmdrru
ihmdrru y ihmdrru.
Participle : viihmirr^ reddish ; misfirr, yellowish ; viihdirr,
greenish ; mizriqq, bluish.
Infinitive : very rare.
The following are conjugated similarly : iMdrr, be (or become)
green (shoot of trees) ; isfdrr, be yellow, become yellow ; izrdqq,
be blue, become blue.
The X. form takes ista as a prefix. The meaning is best shown
by the examples. The conjugation is very simple.
PERFECT. PRESENT.
istahsint, I approved of asidhsin
istahsint, fem. istahsind iistdhsin, fem. Hstahsinl
use, apply).
In like manner are conjugated : isfdqrab, consider near ; isfdb'id,
56 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
consider distant, consider improbable; tstd'gib, find striking,
wonder at.
winter ;
/asl, ^\./usul, season ; stmdl, north ;
gunub, south ; sarq,
east ;
garb, mdgrib, west ; simdllj northern ; sdrqJ, eastern ; magrdbi,
pi. miigdrbe, of a western race ; gdrbi, western ; hibr, ink ; nuss,
Exercises.
In autumn the leaves turn (become) red. Can you stand the
climate {Jidwd) of Egypt ? Yes, I stand it very well. When you
copy this letter use {fiod= take) black ink. Who can endure this
are looking for a house. There is a house {fih bet) for sale (Jilbt)
not far from here (77ius be'id min hene). It need not be a whole
house ijmis Idzim i7i7iohyekun bet) ; I want only a few rooms.
^ Here the collective noun "idgar is treated as feminine. (See Lesson XXIII
Laws of Agreement.)
THE QUADRILITERAL VERB 57
LESSON XXII.
PERFECT. PRESENT.
iarbist, I have bolted atdrbis
iarbist, fem. iarbisti h'ldrbis, fern, iiiarbisi
iarbistu . titarbisu
iarbisu yitarbisu.
the same as the original form from which they are derived, and
only here and there have the old accusative termination art : e. g.
Exercises,
LESSON XXIII.
PERFECT. PRESENT.
maddei amidd
maddet, fern. maddeTi temidd, fern, tern iddi
—
Note. The perfect always has the vowel a ; the present, a, i or
u. If the present vowel is a the prefix of the 3rd pers. sing. masc.
is yi : e. g. kabb, yekiibb, pour out, upset ; zann, yeziinn, believe,
think ; laff, yeliff, wrap up ; lamm, yeltmm, gather, pick up ; but
sahh, yisdhh, be correct.
Similarly are conjugated : hatt,yeh6fl, place, put down ; kahh, u,
cough ; bass, u, look ; haVs, u, come in ; habb, z, love, like ; mass, i,
the grocers sell vegetables ; sitt Ushur Mlset, six months have been
completed ; e?iJids beti'raf, people know, it is known.
If on the other hand the verb precedes the subject the verb is
came to me. The broken plural, however, can here also be treated
as a feminine singular, or even as a plural : e. g. gdt-ni as/idbi,
my friends came to me ; iirikibet elhuguti, the camels have been
ridden (or itrikibu elhugun) ; sahbunl elgd/ara, the watchmen have
escorted me.
Vocabulary. — zir^ large porous pitcher ; fdl 'dla, pass by ;
nihd'itoh, at the end, finally ; viuddelhii, at the same time ; hos, pi.
Exercises.
the dog will not do anything. Stretch out imdddid) your hand.
Have you shut [sakk, u) the door.? The girl said {qdl or qdlet
elbinf) that she {innehd) would come back soon (^an qarib).
LESSON XXIV.
The Verbs dlif^.
PERFECT. PRESENT.
'ahddi 'dhod
'ahddt, fern. 'ahddH idhod, fern, iahodi
'dhad, fern, 'dhadet ydhod, fem. idhod
^ahddn'i ndhod
^ahddtvt tdhSdu
'dhada yahSda.
62 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
Imperative : hod, hodi, hodu.
The Active Participle is quite regular, with the exception of:
'dkal, eat, and 'dhad, take, when it is wdkil and wdhid.
The student may conjugate 'dkal, eat ; present,_>'i£^«/ ; impera-
tive, kul, &c. ; 'd??iar, yu 'mur, command.
Derived forms of the dli/^ verbs.
II. Form : 'dggar,ye'dggar, hire ; ' dhhar yi dhhar delay, retard
,
,
;
IV. Form : not found, except in muzi, good for nothing fellow.
VIII. Form: itldhid {ittdhad),\)Q i2i\itn', present, yi//d/iid; itidhad^
unite (infinitive, ittihdd^ unity) ; ittdkil^ be eatable.
X. Form : istd 'zin, ask permission ; istdhil, be worthy.
Vocabulary. — ithdssis, diminish, lessen ; mestdhdivi, official (sub-
stantive) ; viekt'dbd^ wriiing-desk ; s'dbdb, cause ; mue'llif, composer,
author ; kef^ desire, wish, caprice ; 'dla kefnd, as we please ; tariq,
pi. turuq, way ; sd/ar, pi. as/dr, journey ; wdkil, wdkla, waklm,
eating ; mdkul^ eaten, eatable ; 'akl and wakly food ; Jidnnin 'dla,
have pity on.
Exercises.
Sir, have pity on this poor man and give him {gibloh) some
(a fe\\=:kdm) paras {/ddda). Have you fed the mules? Yes, Sir,
THE VERBS ALIF"^ 63
but the horses have not yet been fed. The messenger is late, he
must spend the night in Suez (spend the night = hat, yibdi). Do
as you please ! Do not eat too much ( = kdttar) melon ; it does
harm to {darr, with ace.) the health {essdhhii). The food is not
eatable, give me some roast meat. He said {^qdt) that the steamer
would (will) be late. The author of this book is Ibn Sdid. I did
not catch {Iihiq, a) the boat ; it went off {rdh) five minutes before
my arrival {wusul). You (your visit has) have given me much
pleasure ^ : I hope you will come back again soon {^an qariU).
Wait a moment {istdiind suwdiye), until {Idinmd) the steamer goes
i^-dh.yeruJi),
LESSON XXV.
The Verbs w'^.
PERFECT. PERFECT.
wazdnt, I have weighed wiqift, I have stood
wazdnty fem. wazdnil wiqift, fern, wiqiftl
wdzan, fem. wdzanet iviqif, fem. wiqfet
ivazdnnd wiqifnd
wazdntu wiqifiu
wdzanii wiqfu.
In the Present the w is generally changed to ^ : e. g. from
wdzan weigh.^
PRESENT.
'auzin
tuzi7t, fem. tuzini
yuzi'n, fem. iuzin
nuzin
tuzinu
yuzinu.
Infinitive: istu'db.
Exercises.
by) 'al/iagar (stone, rock) dii. ^uzinu cssaiidilq da, helhett hiliua
ieqil^ 'ala 'Igimal. iitafaqnCi, nesdfir bUkra sdiva sdiva, wFaidlsam
nihdssal masr'^ ba'd kdmyom. elbehera di wds'a w^gawita (deep),
md m'qddrs ni'addihd (cross over it) hila felilke {^Vfelaik, boat).
Here you are, you have honoured me ! Please come in and sit
down {qa'ad,yiq'od, imperative liq'ud). Hi, boy, bring some coffee
and the pipes i^i^id, pi. 'Iddn) ! Where have you been the whole
time ? I was at home, my children were ill. Light a fire ! I feel
cold {ana harddti). This street has been widened, because it was
too {biziydde) narrow {ddiyiq). Mend (set in order = wdddab) the
lock {kdlwi) of the door. IMy head is aching. He has hurt his foot
{vigdrahet rigloh), and now it is paining him very much. Does
the description of the garden please you ? Have you set your
watch in order ? We have now agreed to buy {imtiri) the house
and the garden together. When was Mohammed AH, the Great
Pasha, born ?
LESSON XXVL
A. The Verbs w^ and y.
Verbs which have either 3.zv ov Sijy as the middle radical of their
roots will be dealt with here.
•
There are many verbs which originally were w"^ or y"^ verbs in
which the azva or the aya has become contracted into d: e.g. qdl,
speak, from qdwal ; sdr, become, from sdyar. We cannot go into
these verbs at any length here, but the following points may be
noted :
— If suffixes beginning with a consonant follow the verbal
stem, awa becomes zi, aya becomes z : e.g. qzdt, I said; szrt,
*• '
Too' must be supplied.
^ The full name of Cairo is j?iasr elqdhira '
the Victorious.'
F
65 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
PERFECT.
quit, I said sirt, I became nimt, I slept
quit, fern. qHlli sirt, fem. sirtl nimt, fem. mmii
qdl, fern, qdlet sdr, fem. sdrei ndm, fem. ndmet
qulna sirnd nimnd
qultu sirtu niintu
qdlu sdru
PRESENT.
aqul, I say asir, I become andm, I sleep
IMPERATIVE.
qui, quiz, qulu,
PARTICIPLE.
In the case of the w"^ verbs, if the w is not in the tonic syllable
it changes into hamzd, if it is in the tonic syllable into y \ e. g.
*duz, fem. 'duze, pi. 'duzin ; and rdk, u, go, the participle of which is
away; sdh, i, let go, let loose; viin zdmdn, since a long time;
hdrah, a, flee ; sdraq, a^ steal ; mdblag, sum of money ;
qdm, it, rise
Exercise.
filmisd (in the evening) mdsrdbs dbdddn say, surb essay yimnd'nl 'an
enjiom (sleep). indah hyilsuf ettawil (the tall Joseph) ; beyiqdar
yebuss min essibdk, likonoh hilwa tawil. 'duze ii'mili e, yd bint
ana 'duz aftikir asloh, lissd mcirdfl iza 'dndi waqt *dla sdn essHlgl
da, dna bahdf min elMmma, hawalmd (round about us) fih
mustdnqd (swamp), wedilwdqt eddHnyd Mrre keiir. yd hawdga^
ti'ibnd fiUulii wennuzHl (infinitives of 110" and of nizil) eggibdl ;
ihna gu'dnin (pi. oi gu'dn, hungry) we' aisdnin (pi. of 'alsan, thirsty)
wendsdnin (sleepy); wedilwdqte waqt elmizigSrno (time of the
midday siesta, from Italian mezzogiornd), hdrabet elharamiye min
elhabshdne (prison).
Exercise.
emhdreh effendmd (Khedive) iggduwiz wdya wdhde vmi bandt
sultan bildd ettiUrk, yd hawdga, gd-ni elyoni (to-day) hadddmak
weqdlli 'innak saiyibtoh hila sabab (without reason), da sahih ?
auwdlan, yd sidi, biddi araf mm hadritak (your presence ; polite
busy). md bidddks tiin (^an, ye in, send for) ettarabeze mi7i 'and
LESSON XXVII.
Verbs with y as the final Radical (y^).
The Perfect goes either like gdrd, he has run, or Hke rtdi, he
agreed, was content.
PERFECT.
garet (als
70 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
andm /) ; sdhha, yesdhhi, awaken ; sdlla, yisdlli, amuse, {hallik,
III. Form : nddd, yenddi, call out publicly (part, menddiy public
crier).
nature.
V. Form : itrdbba, ytirdbbl, be brought up, be educated; tssdlla,
poetry.
Exercise.
beti (ahl elbet, the family). astigni 'an eVdfle da (this luggage)
ahibb (=1 prefer) idhod essanduq da. hdimnil (load, with two
accusatives) elgdmal elhdlm (pi. ahmdl, burden) da. errih hddd
(quiet down, only used of the wind). elbet elli yimbim {yinbinl)
dilwdqte 'ala Idn elmehdfiz. iltaqet errigdl e'llt sdalic 'dmiak ? Id
LESSON XXVIII.
wVi, yua, take care; imper. u'd, tii\ part. wSi^ careful; sdwd^
yiswd, be worth ; kdwd, yikwi, iron clothes.
Derived Forms.
II.Form: ivdddd, yezidddi, bring, lead; wdrrd. yewdrri, show'.
III. Form sdwd,yesdwJ, be worth.
:
itrdwa,yitriwi, be watered.
X. Form: istdhd,yistihi, be alarmed; mistihi, well-behaved.
'dda, give, and gd, come, specially should be mentioned here.
PERFECT.
72 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
Imperative : di, give ; and from another root gib, gtbt, gihu.
'dgt. nigi.
Exercise.
itwili eVcividvie (turban, pi. 'amaim). elwaldd da yiwaddik
eggdmi', insdwd elldhm e'lli gibioh-lak? Vmil mdruf warrini
eVahrdm. qdl-li sdhib elloqdnda, yinsd/u fi Igdu (on the horizon).
md tistihis ti'mil kidd ? nisit {msl, forget) adduwar sdati dilwdqti
wdqfe (it has stopped). ti^ibtefirrukub (riding) elhegm.
ketir
LESSON XXIX.
tann {dann) ; tan — RULES OF SYNTAX.
'
To continue,' '
to go on,' are expressed in Arabic by iaim
{dann) with the suffixes : e. g. He goes on writing, huwa ddnnoh
kdtib.
*
Just now,' '
this instant,' may be translated by tau, tdwi, with
the participle : e. g. inte tau gal, you are arriving this very moment.
3. kull, the whole, each, all, every ; kidl^ sahr, every month
kiill^ Sana, each year ; hdl e/imu, all the people ; kuH essima, the
e7i7ids kiilMhtun, all the people ; elbei kuUoh, the whole house.
Two accusatives follow verbs of making, finding, considering,
filling and dividing (for '
show' and '
give '
see note to last lesson) :
qdhwe, fill the cup with coffee ; iqsim (from qasam, i, divide) erragif
teldte hitat, divide the loaf into three pieces ; bazHnnoh rdgil battdl,
Exercise.
LESSON XXX.
Prepositions —Useful Phrases, etc.
Having given a number of prepositions scattered throughout the
lessonswe will here devote some attention to particular ones ^ It
must be remembered that the prepositions are capable of combina-
tion with the suffixes : e. g. qudddmi, in front of me ; 'dtidak, with
you ; 77id 'ales, never mind, excuse me.
We here give several prepositions in combinations differing from
the English usage
bi, by, with, in, at ; bisukkar, with sugar ; bitturki, in Turkish
bilinglizJ, in English ; bikdm, for how much ?
It corresponds with our '
have '
(in sense of possession).
'an : saal 'an, ask after ; kasaf'an, seek for ; isiagnd 'an, be able
to do without ;
gasb 'an, against one's will ;
gasb 'dnni, against
my wish.
'ala : 'a/a '/gdz, by gas ; 'ashmd/, to the left ; 'a/a Uyeniin, to the
right ; sa'b 'a/a, unpleasant, difficult for ; hardm 'a/a, forbidden for
sah/ 'a/a, easy for ; 'eb 'a/eJi, shame upon you, for shame ; 'a/a ku//i
ha/, in any case ; 'a/a kefak, at your pleasure ; 'a/a '/gaib, by heart
'a/a zdnni, according to my ideas, as I think.
qui/oJi, if you see him, tell him ; /au kunte mftoh, kunte qu/ti/oh, if
I had seen him, I should have told him ; /au lufioh, kunt ista'gibt,
if you were to see him, you would be astonished ; negatively
/au-/a i7i kunte lufioh, ?7id kilntis ista'gibt.
Exercise.
altagil 'ala 'Igdz. loh kam 'dndi? loh 'dndak arid' a qiiriVs
(pi. of qirl, piastre), ^eb 'alek, dardbie elwalad edddif da. 'ala
zdfmJ hiiwa sdfir embdreh, ' anddkse fulus ? 'dndi kdm qirs bess.
basset viin esstbbdk. lau sdfirt waydyd, kunte firihte ketir. uitii
(to each of us) 'alrin fddda. nehditoh wisibiCi (arrive) _/t?'^ rds
bdrra, outside.
ben, between : bhii weben wdhid, between me and between some
one else ; ben elkursi w^beti eiiarabeze, between the chair and
the table.
76 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
hi, be, by, with, at ; with the suffixes b^ {biyd) ; bak, fern, bik ;
fSq, on, upon, above, upstairs, over foq min, above ; foq 'an, :
higher than min foq, from above e. %.foq min essagardt dol, over
; :
gHwa, inside.
li, sign of dative, to, for ; lilhadddm, to the servant ; with the
suffixes li (Jiyd), lak, fern, lik ; loh, fem. Idhd ; Bid, lukiim, lHhum
(these forms also do duty for our verb 'have': li bet, I have a
house) ; Ithddd, until.
via' a, vid, mi\ with : with suffixes mVdyd, vii'dk, mi'dh, and
so forth ; md'a zdlik, in spite of.
min, from, out of, than, since ; doubles its ;/ in a manner similar
to 'an (q. v.) ; also its n assimilates itself like the / of the article :
wFbdss elkdlb min taht elfars, and the dog looked out from under
the sofa.
till, during : till elyom, all through the day.
wa, wi (in oaths) by : e. g. wi?inabi. By the Prophet
wqya, with ; waydyd, with me.
ward, behind.
PREPOSITIONS, CONJUNCTIONS, PHRASES, ETC. 77
Hang up on 'dllaq bi
Stick to liziq bi
By permission biVizn
Rice with meat ruzze billahTTi
Introduce to 'drraf bi
Give an order for wdssd bi
In pencil biqdlam rums
In the Soudan fi bildd essuddn
In my whole life till '6m7'i
accusative)
Towards your parents' house 'ala bet dhlik
Swear by hilifbi
By God 1 billdhi!
In Arabic hiTdrahi
Out of the house mill clbet
Call to nddah li
came to me.
Idmma 'Ihakim simi' kidii, qdl lihadddmoh, hdt essi'kkine, When the
doctor heard that, he said to his servant : Give the knife.
ddhalu eVetjim rigdl 'ala 'Iqddi, The two men went in to the
judge.
bass elwdhid 'ala 'Ibdhr weqdl ettdni : qum yd habibi Idzimnd
neruh^ The one looked out over the sea, and the other said : Rise
up,Oh my friend We must be off.
!
gum lilbir, weqdl err e is, e'Ui 'atldnyisrab, They came to the well
qdletloh elbint id die yd 'amm, ana 'duze 'uqd, The girl said to him :
elbandt gum 'ala bdb elbusldjt, The girls came to the garden-gate.
simVt innak 'd'uz tiliiri husdn, I have heard that you want to buy
a horse.
'irbiit kailile tdiyib 7nm sdn mdyusqutse se/eymkhi'r,'Q\ndi every-
thing well together so that nothing falls and gets broken.
hotte seggdde 'aleh 'alasdn dq'od viiiWi, Place a carpet upon it so
that I may sit comfortably.
ihtirUu in md yisriqiilind se, Take care that no one steals
Health.
izdy hdlak ? ezdyak ? How do you do ?
Stories.
I.
*
kdn rcigil rfiziq biwaldd
(There) was (a) man he was blessed with (a) child
wefirih-boh ^.
II.
not warm yourself over (any) thing : and not have you seen
And afterwards they ate and they drank and they made merry
III.
Short Anecdotes.
Translated from Wied's Turkish Grammar *.
embdreh.
yesterday.
remaining.
afddllak viadyun.
I remain to you debtor.
^
wefidil yediiqq elbdb Idkin
and he remained (he knocks) knocking (at) the door, but
fi'IbeL
in the house.
bdb elbet.
I was at your place ago some days, and not thou wast
filbeL
in the house.
diwa ahddtoh.
Yes, I took it.
^
sdlldmtSloh ?
Did you give it to him ?
lidiyi sdbdb ?
For what reason ?
92 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
qidtill hSdoh Idkin vidqultilis
You said to me, take it, but you did not tell me :
*
halletoh yiqrdh ? Id!
You let him he reads it ? No!
elhawdga dihik.
md qdlldks
STORY OF THE PRINCE IN LOVE 93
'dsara sinin /(fit ibn elmalik
ten years, passed (passing) by the son of the king
his heart. He went away to the house ill. (She) there followed
^^
gdradik tifallimi 'and elmedllime
your desire (is that) you learn (at) from the mistress ^
viedllinit ^^
elkittdn, qdlet-ldhd yd Mnfi
The mistress of linen. She said to her : Oh my daughter
afterwards you will die She said to her : No, I will not die.
rdh
96 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
ben edMfr welldhm, qdm natdshd
between the nail and the flesh, now he took it out
wetalldhd {wetalldhhd). ^^
qdmet elbinte qSi'de 'ala helhd
and made it come out. Now the girl sitting upright
the garden. Met them the rose and the jasmine. The son
elmelik qdl lilwazir bdlak elwdrde
of the king said to the vizier do you remember the rose
sittukdn ?
of Sittukan ?
take it. Then went his mother to her. She said to her :
the house. Then went away the mother of the king's son.
Good, take it (to her). Then she went she went up to her.
the pigeons have eaten or not yet ? Said to her the slave
dead and wrap him up in seven shrouds and lead him round
the town and say to the people they do not bury him except
me ammimii '^^
'amdne lamm 'amut kaffini
has imposed upon me an obligation : when I die wrap me up
into the palace belonging to the girl and they left him
weqdlet-loh
and said to him :
^
yinaffis-hd w^ydhfi lidddye Hgrei-hd,
In anger.
STORY OF THE RHYMESTER AND HIS SON 103
a hen you eat it. Then he went into the country he found
ketir ?
104 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
fekassiboh^. ihtd-loh 'lyaMdi Tasrin makbUb
and he gained it ^. Gave him the Jew the twenty mahboubs
weqdl-loh iddle warrini hetak dhqa Mill
and said to him : Come, show me your house then every
* That is : He made the Jew bid up to twenty mahboubs and then concluded
the bargain (see note onkdssiU).
^ ' it ' = the tg<g.
STORY OF THE RHYMESTER AND HIS SON 105
^^
ennas elfuqara bdqat iiqra fih. f^gi
the people the poor and now they read in it. Then went
with hand one, and threw him to the ground. He fell down
hitet mdt. fifdtoh 'Iwdled wesdjir.
(in) pieces^ (and) died. Then left him the boy and journeyed.
the boy and sealed. Then they covered for him the court
she did not conquer him (she) more. Now the king
-^
elwdlad di ^Ihing wesufdh mehdggib
this boy the narcotic and look at him (if he) bears a talisman
the hen rolled up. They went they fetched the instruments,
does so.
112 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
qdl-luhum tdiyib warrum 'it^at hdgdt wan!
He said to them : Good, show me the three things and I
^®
warrdhUm-loh. w?qdl-luhum ifrisu
(and) showed them to him. And he said to them : Spread out
the three after it. They ran, and he struck the carpet
minhd. u
114 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
now ? Shall I bring you cooked stuflf hot (that) you eat ?
the goblet and said to it : Fill thyself with stew with meat.
the carpet brought her into the castle. Stood the son
dates, one its dates red and one its dates yellow.
beneath the palace and called and said : Here are the dates
.{ we'atilhum
They bought from him sixteen c dates and gave them
yellow she ate them the two batches of eight. Came out
a
= What is the matter ?
^ i. e. The horns cannot be cut with saws.
STORY OF THE RHYMESTER AND HIS SON 117
II. Amsai.
Proverbs.
2. 'hmd mill hem ivesdiyib iniii Hear from here, and let out from
hene. here. (In at one ear, out at
the other.)
10. elnidrldb illi fiha 7'dyism The boat which has two captains
iigraq. in it w^ill sink. (Too many
cooks, &c.)
11. basal bihdmsa walla bihdmsa An onion for five (paras) or for
basal. five (paras) an onion. (Six
of one, &c.)
12. eldgld min eTsetdn. Haste is of the devil.
SONGS 119
III. Mawawil.
Songs.
expressions of time =
it is, ago, e. g. yibqa teldt 'lydin, it is three
days, three days ago {il y a trois jours). *j. =^ wassd-k, has
commissioned thee; hoh =
bi-oh, with it. 8. habb, yehibb, love,
11.
III.
yisal 'ala bet elhawdga, thereupon he asked further after the gentle-
man's house ive/idil yindah 'alkildb, and he continued to call the
;
IV.
dtim. 7. And even if. 8. For viin rihet (see 5). 9. tail,
look down upon from above. Here fem. of the participle tdlil
(elision of the i and shortening of the a into a). 10. itqdlih from
qdlib {qdlab), turn round. 11. i. e. The physic of which he was
in need. 12. Participle of 'tsig, love. 13. murdfiq {??ie . . .),
I. ARABIC-ENGLISH.
II. ENGLISH-ARABIC.
vowel is the same as that of the Perfect the Present prefix alone
is given ; if a change of vowels takes place the Present form is gwoi
in full. Finally, the student should be careful to differentiate
between masculine substantives ending in a (e. g. hddd, nddd^ hdwa)
and feminine substantives ending in a, a and e (5 in classical
Arabic).
I. ARABIC-ENGLISH VOCABULARY
NOTE.
The order of the letters is as follows: A/i/'(A, E^ /, 0, ^in-
cluded), B, D and D, F, G, G (c), H, B, H, '
(c), ^, L, M, N, Q,
R, S and S, S, 7^ and T, W, F, Z.
B.
(intr.).
bd',yebi\ sell.
inn^ so that.
<5(iW, a, send.
insdn^ pi. nds, mankind, people.
(5^(5, pi. (5J<$^;z {abwdb), door,
inte, fern, intl, thou, you (sing.).
gate, chapter.
iniu, you (pi.).
(^t2V, after.
isfdrr,yisf., become yellow.
bd'de-md, afterwards.
iskenderiye, Alexandria.
badd7i, pi. abddn, trunk of the
islam, Mohammedanism. human body.
ism, pi. cisdrnz, name. bdden, then, afterwards.
istdbdd,yistdbdi, begin. ^(To-/^, pi. bigdl, mule.
istahdmma,yist., bathe (intr.).
pi. bihdr, sea.
(^<7/^r,
bi, in, with, by, at ; also sign of darb, pi. durub, blow.
present. ^^rr, 2/, damage.
bibdn, see bdb. dduwar,yid., turn, turn round.
biddl, instead of. dduwar 'ala, look for.
gd^l, pi. -iy(n, coming, future. gi'zdn, pi. of gSz, spouse, hus-
galtd igdlid), ice, ice-cream, band, pair.
hasardi, insects.
H. ham, herbs, grass ; hemp pre-
/^^'^^^, Abyssinia. pared for smoking.
MdasI, Abyssinian. hdtab, firewood.
/ladd, t, love, like. halt, 0, put, place.
/ladid, pi. ahbdh, friend, lover. hawdlen, round about.
hadddd, pi. -f«, blacksmith. hdydif), life.
hiirma, pi. Mram, woman, old her, pi. hiydr, good, blessing.
woman. hiyam, see /zflvz^.
hdle, pi. ^^Az/, aunt (maternal). 'aiydn, pi. -in, ill, sick.
hdlis, pi. -f>z, finished, thoroughly, '^'zs i^dwuz, 'auz, pi. *duzifi),
K 2
132 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
'd?}iil,yi% do. ulama, see 'dlim.
'amm, \A.a'md?)i, uncle (paternal). ulum, see 'ilm.
//, to, for (expresses the dative). OT^'M. pi. ?.'J7/M', king.
134 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
mdluviy known; (adv.) of course, mendil, pi. menddil, pocket-hand-
certainly. kerchief.
viebi\ sale. N.
medduwar, round, turned. ndam, yes ; what do you say }
ndddif^yi'n., clean.
?m/as, breath. Q.
ndjr, pi. -m, useful. qaad, 0, sit, sit down.
naggdr, pi. -in, carpenter. qdbil,yiq., meet.
nahdr, pi. -at, day (as opposed (7^<5/, before.
to night). ^(7^^^, size, form, quantity.
nahle, bee ; collectively, 7iahl, qddtj pi. quddh, judge.
bees. qadim^ pi. ^/^^;^z, old, ancient.
iiahr, pi. anhdr, river. qd/tle, pi. qaivdfil, caravan.
suq, pi. aswdq, market, bazaar. sugl, pi. dsgdl, business, work.
surba, soup.
hiruq, sunrise.
sab'dn, pi. -z;/, satiated. hirtit, see lart.
wall, pi. widdh, governor, ruler. _>'^/«, pi. aiydm (ly'dm), day
ivdlld, or. (twenty-four hours).
ivdra, behind.
ivdraq, pi. aurdq, leaf, sheet of
paper, paper. zdhar, a, appear.
ivdrde^ rose ; collectively, ward, zdhre, pi. dzhdr^ flower ; col-
approximate, bittaqrib.
April, abril \ nisdn. B.
Arab, 'drabi ; collectively, 'drab ;
back, dahr, pi. duMr.
'drab, pi. bdni 'drab. bad, battdl, pi. -in\ rddl, pi.
brother, 'ah, pi. 'ihwdn, 'ihwe (in Cairene, viasrJ, pi. fjiasdruwe.
construction, 'ahil). Cairo, /7z^j-r ; ;7z^j-r elqdhira.
brother-in-law (a man's), sahr, calf, 'z^/, pi. *z/^z^/.
pi. -dL
E. entrance (way in), diihuL
each, kull^ ivdhid. envelope, zarf, pi. zuruf.
ear, widn, pi. oddn or iuddn. envelope, laff, i.
L 2
148 COLLOQUIAL EGYPTIAN ARABIC GRAMMAR
eye-lash, rems, pi. remus, figure, siira, pi. suivar.
fore-arm, dird\ pi. ddni. gate, bauwdbe, pi. -^/; (5^(5, pi.
fraud, hidd' ;
gus. get up, ^^/;z, yequm.
free, horr, pi. 'ahrdr, gift, 'atiye, pi. ^atdyd.
Fre n ch feransdwi.
,
girdle, hizd?n, pi. -tf/.
gold, ddhab.
good, /^/y/<^5 pi. -zVz ; mdlih, pi.
muldh.
gain, -^/'j'z'<5, /. goodness, /ad/, pi. <7/^(^/.
L.
J. ladder, se'llim, pi. seldlim.
jacket, zaketta ;
(waistcoat), m- lady, J-///, pi. -^/.
derl ;
(ladies), antdri. lake, be her a, pi. -^/; 3/r^^, pi.
letter (of the alphabet), /^^r/; look, ^^, z^ ; (5^^^, z^ ; ndzar, ii.
like, 0^.
lime, ^/r. M.
line, ^«//, pi. hutut. machine, jndkina, pi. -^/.
lion, ^j-a^, pi. ?/jz/^; j^i^'a, pi. IMahometan (subs.), muslim^ pi.
subii'a. -z;/.
oh j'^!
oil, zei. P.
old (things), qadfm, pi. ^//c?/?? pack up, hdzam, i.
oipen,/d/a^, a, fiahl.
wdiyi's. viandziL
prevent, mdnd, a (from = 'ajt). queen, malikd.
price, tdman, pi. aimdn. question, sudl, pi. ^j'z7^.
pride, Mbriyd.
prince, brins ; 'amir, pi. 'umara. R.
print, /^(5«', «. rags, kUhnd.
probably, (5a"m ;
gdliban. rain, ;z^7(7r {mdtar), pi. amtdr,
proclamation, z''/(f«, pi. -dt. rain, ndfar, u.
rein (bridle), ser, pi. siyHr. river, ;7^/^r, pi. anhdr\ bahr.
lepice,/in'^, a; inhdsat,yinbisit. roast, sdwd.yilwi.
relate, hdkd,yihkt. roasted, mdlwi.
relation, qarib, pi. qarat'b. rob, ndhab, a.
remain,//^//, a. robber, hardmi, pi. -f^^.
yi'st. masdtir.
restrain, mdnd, a (from = 'a7i). ruler (sovereign), vielik ; sultdn.
sin, hatiye, pi. hatdyd. son, V<5«, pi. 3«';zf; waV^z^, pi.
think, ifidkar^yifiikir.
thirst, 'i/^j. translate, tdrgam.yit,
throw, rdma^yirmi.
thunder, rdd. tribunal, mehkame, pi. mahdkim.
Thursday,_>'^;;^ elhamis. trousers (Arab), sarwdl, pi. i^^'nz-
tooth, Sinn, pi. estid?t; (molar), uncle, 'am?n, pi. dmdm ; /zj/, pi.
very, ketir ;
^(iwJ ; giddan. moiye.
vile, ^a;2z, pi. zyfVz ; qabih, pi. we, f^WfZ, f^;^^? {ahna).
quhdh. weak, ^^'^/^ pi. du'a/a.
village, /^^, pi. kufur ; 3^7^'</,
weather, hdwd; dmiya.
pi. bildd. wedding, gawdz.
vinegar, hall. Wednesday, j>^^/;z eUdrbd,
violet, benafsdg. week, gilm'a, pi. gumd,
visit, zdr.yezur. weigh, zdn,yezin.
\iz., yd'ni.
welcome, mdrhaban ; dhlan we-
voice, ^<?/, pi. aswdt. sdhlan.
well (water), bi?', pi. (5zyffr (fern.),
wine, ;zt'(5/V.
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