shida3wah

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Today's word shida:wah is a contraction of two words, shinu meaning "what (is)"
and ad-da:wah or "the invitation."

The literal translation "what's the invitation?" doesn't mean much, but judging
by the way the phrase is used in a conversation, it equates to "are you serious?"

In spoken Kuwaiti, many words are contracted - and they tend to be heard often.
Here are more examples:

• shtabii is a contraction of shinu and tabii

• shitsawii is a contraction of shinu and tsawii

• shraay-ik is a contraction of shinu and raay-ik 

The above are all questions addressed to a male. In the table below,
the same questions are asked to a female. Note the different endings.

شتبين	shtabiin	What do you want?
شتسوين	shtsawiin	What are you doing?
شرايچ	shraay-ich	What do you think?
شوف	shuuf	Look
مكياجها	makyaaj-haa	Her makeup