al-2ijtimaa3











Winslow Homer, 'A Temperance Meeting' (1874)

























"mikhaalif if I go out for a walk?" she asks her father.

"maa :ind-ii maani:" her father replies. "In fact, make yourself useful, wadd-ay the bucket wiyaa-ch and get water."

She nods. "raaH arja: as soon as I can."

Her father grimaces. "Don't think this means I'm giving you permission to have a 'ijtimaa: with that boy."

The girl reddens.

"Your little brother will chaperone you," the father adds. "raaH ychayyik that it's just water you're getting."

"I can take care of myself!" the girl says hotly.

"Amen to that," says the father.


مايخالف
mikhaalif Do you mind
ودي !
wadd-ay ! Take ! (>f)
وياچ
wiyaa-ch With you (>f)
 راح ارجع
raaH arja: I will return
راح يچيك
raaH ychayyik He will check


In Arabic there are only two verb tenses, present and past.

In the present tense, the verb conjugations are almost always regular. Look at the table below where the verb "to check" or chayyik has been conjugated into its eight different forms. 


اچيك
achayyik I check
تچيك
tchayyik You check (>m)
تچيكين
tchayyikiin  You check (>f)
تچيكون
tchayyikuun You check (>pl)
نچيك
nchayyik We check
يچيك
ychayyik He checks
تچيك
tchayyik She checks
يچيكون ychayyikuun They check


To conjugate almost any verb into the present tense, remove the highlighted word chayyik and replace it with a verb of your choice.

Some examples of how to conjugate verbs from previous posts are here and here.