maabii

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

It seems that I may have a weakness for the voice of actor Matthew McConaughey. Something that T. is less than happy about.

"widd-ich that you are married to Matthew McConaughey?" he asks one day.

"No!" I laugh. "Not after his last Oscars' speech! Why do you ask? Do you want to have a second wife or something?"

Cue a long, awkward pause.

"maabii," he says. "Anyway, 7abiibtii, it's not legal to marry virtual assistants. Yet."

ودچ	widd-ich	Do you wish (>f)
مابي	maabii	I don't want (that)
حبيبتي	7abiibtii	Darling

murii7

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

When I started learning to read Arabic, I was horrified to discover that most words are written without some of their letters.

Once upon a time, Arabic words were actually written with all their letters, but the language gradually evolved to include just consonants and long vowels - aa, ii, uu.

So what happened to the short vowels, a, i, u? And how can people read their own language when some of the letters in each word are simply not there? 

The situation is far from being murii7. I might need istiraa7ah from learning. Even the people closest to me tell me "akhidh-ay raa7t-ich!" 

So raa7 artaa7 and tell you the secret to understanding written Arabic, in spite of its missing letters.

If you look at today's word, and then at the table below, you'll notice that the first four words have something in common; they all contain the letter r and the letter 7. This is called a root. Any words with those same consonants have a similar meaning.

The root r-7 is always related to comfort, resting, relaxation.  A good root to know if ever I need to defend my taste for laziness.

مريح	murii7	Comfortable
الستراحة	al-istiraa7ah	A break, rest area
اخذي راحتچ	akhidhay raa7t-ich	Relax! (>f)
راح ارتاح	raa7 artaa7	I’m going to relax

mashruu3

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

t3arfuun 3an Silk City ?

Recently, the buzz around this 25 billion Kuwaiti dinar mashruu3 has all but vanished into the ether, but a recent drive along the north coast of Kuwait indicated that al-shughul on the Boubyan Island site is in full swing.

In other words, armed soldiers stopped our car and asked us politely to nchaywur.

Still, there is no sign that the City will be even vaguely functional any time soon. So if you happen to visit Kuwait in 22nd century and someone asks you and yours "What are mashaarii3-kum this weekend?" undoubtedly some big shot investor is hoping you'll say:

"We're all going to madiinaat al-7ariir of course!"

تعرفون	t3arfuun	Do you know (>pl)?
عن	3an	About
مشروع	mashruu3	Project
الشغل	ash-shughul	Work
نچيور	nchaywur	We make a u-turn
مدينة الحرير	madiinat al-7ariir	Silk City

7ilm

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

How do you make a wish in Arabic?

Say you're speaking to a boy and you ask him:

widd-ik 7ilm-ik yit7aqaq ?

or:

"Would you like your dreams to come true?"

widd-ik means "would you like" with the suffix –ik is used when talking to a male.

The same goes with the word for 'dream', 7ilm. If you want to say 'your dream' when talking to a male, once again, you add on the masculine possessive to make 7ilm-ik.

So when you want to express you and your, referring to a male,  always add ik to the end of the verb or noun. Example:

halaa mu7ammad, shlawn-ik? 

or:

Hi Mohammad, how are you?

A word of warning: if you’re aiming your question at a female and you use the suffix -ik they'll be a lot of chuckling. I cannot count the times that I've got mixed up and referred to boys with the female possessive and vice versa.

So when speaking to females, use the possessive -ich. How does that look in a sentence? widd-ich 7ilm-ich yit7aqaq?

Finally, if you're asking two or more people the same question, use the possessive -kum:

Theyab wa kayt, widd-kum 7ilm-kum yit7aqaq...?

ودك	widd-ik	Would you like (>m)
ودچ	widd-ich	Would you like (>f)
ودكم	widd-kum	Would you like(>pl)