shtabii?

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

The word shida3wah is a contraction of two words, shinuu meaning "what (is)" and ad-da3wah 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 shinuu and tabii

• shitsawii is a contraction of shinuu and tsawii

• shraay-ik is a contraction of shinuu 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?