yawman maa

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Tarek Al Ghoussein, K-Files Series (2013)

I dream that fii l-mustaghbal, some of the epic architectural projects promised for Kuwait will be completed for all to enjoy. And that maybe hadhaak al-yawm there will be a new city in the Middle East with a mosque, a synagogue and a church standing shoulder to shoulder.

Coming back down to earth, the most immediate of my hopes is that fii yawman maa there might eventually be some water in this swimming pool.

في المستغبل	fii l-mustaghbal	In the future
هذاك اليوم	hadhaak al-yawm	One day
بخذلي	bakhidh-l-ii	I will get (lit. I will get to me)
بليستيشن ٤	blaystayshin 4	Playstation 4

az-zuwaarah

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Every Thursday, or yawm al-khamiis, a Kuwaiti will either host or attend a zuwaarah. An afternoon will be spent catching up with everyone's news and eating, eating, eating. 

While I'm far from Kuwait, maa azuur anybody. I will spend my yawm al-khamiis "studying" Kuwaiti Arabic by watching hit Kuwaiti television series "zuwaarat al-khaamiis." Accompanied by a giant box of Kleenex.

Check out the pilot:

يوم الخميس	yawm al-khamiis	Thursday
ما ازور	maa azuur	I do not visit

raayi7

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Ahmadi, Kuwait

How do you say you're going to do something?

In Kuwaiti Arabic you can express actions that you're about to do using verbs:

raaH aruuH - I am going

Add on the preposition li followed by the noun of a place, such as al-maktabah and you've got yourself a sentence. raaH aruuH li l-maktabah.

Note the slight contraction. In speech, the al gets shortened to a single l sound when placed after a preposition. So instead of saying li al-makabah you say "lil maktabah" which is much easier to pronounce. 

But who goes that often to the library? You want to be able to say that you're off to the market (suug) or the shops (dukkaan) to pick up a few things. In which case:

raaH aruuH li s-suug.

raaH aruuH li d-dukkaan.

So where did the extra s and d come from? Read about it here.

To express actions that you're on the cusp of doing, you can also use adjectives as the Kuwaiti guy below does, which you're more likely to hear in conversation.

رايح	raayiH	I am going (m)
رايحة	raayHah	I am going (f)
لي المكتبة	li l-maktabah	To the library
كنتاكي	kintaakii	Kentucky Fried Chicken

al-ma3ra'9

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

"shinu :ind-ich this evening?" he asks me.

"No plans," I reply.

"Would you like to go to a ma:raD tonight? I was walking by the street with all the ma:aariD on the way home from work. I saw this incredible sculpture in the window, and I asked the gallerist if could see illi ma:aruuD."

"But ..." Long pause. Disbelief. "But you don't like ma:aariD," I say, but promptly swallow the rest of my words.
Why am I ruining a moment I've dreamt of for so long - the day I don't have to drag him to a ma:raD, but end up being the one to get invited?

Doing a 180, I beam, grab his arm and utter the eternal word: "yalla!"

شنو	shinu	What
عندك	:ind-ik	Do you have (>m)
عندچ	:ind-ich	Do you have (>f)
الي معروض	illi ma:aruuD	The one displayed
معاردض	m:aariD	Galleries
يا الله	yalla	Let’s go
ما رحتي	maa riHtay	you (>f) didn’t go
معرض الكتاب	ma:raD al-kitaab	the book expo
طايفچ	Taayfich	it passed you (>f)
نص	nuS	half
عمرچ	:umrich	your (>f) life

a9rif

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Nuria is a self-confessed car crash. One too many privileges later, she has wound up in group therapy. The group's title: Overspenders' Anonymous.

This is her explanation to the group as to what's going wrong:

"raaH aSrif today just like Saraft yesterday. Even aS-Sarraaf at the store says Sarf-ii is ridiculous.  I really should take his advice because al-maSruuf that I get every month just isn't enough to cover my habit.  I keep on hoping that the government will roll out a surprise birthday bonus but they've been tight recently. You would think aS-Sarf is fun but it's become a curse. My spending batteries are maSruufah."

I should introduce Nuria to the Kuwaiti guy below.

راح اصرف	raaH aSrif	I will spend
سرفت	Saraft	I spent
الصراف	aS-Sarraaf	The cashier
صرفي	Sarf-ii	My spending
المصروف	al-maSruuf	The allowance
مصروف	maSruufah	Spent, flat (f)
بسرعة	b-sir:ah	Quickly

اصرف	aSrif	I spend
تصرف	tSrif	You spend (>m)
تصرفين	tSrifiin	You spend (>f)
تصرفون	tSrifuun	You spend (>pl)
نصرف	nSrif	We spend
يصرف	ySrif	He spends
تصرف	tSrif	She spends
تصرفون	ySrifuun	They spend

mufiid

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Thanks to the laziest of weekends, the extra sleep faad-naa.

Because the long ceaseless hours of work last week maa kaan mufiid. And McDonalds lunches had just about finished us off. How did it happen?

"Where do you want to have lunch?" he had asked.

"Somewhere mufiid," I would reply.

And then he takes me exactly where I am afraid he is going to take me. The pearly gates of McDonalds swing open before us.

"maa min-ik faayidah," I grumble. 

فادنا	faad-naa	It helped us
كان مفيد	kaan mufiid	It was helping
ما منك فايدة	maa min-ik faayidah	Thanks for nothing (>m)
الفوائد	al-fuwaa’id	The benefits
مافي فايدة	maafii faayidah	It’s not helpful

nawm

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Due to today's end of week fatigue, this post will be a little meditation on sleep, or nawm. 

What do you say when you realise it's midnight and that "award-winning film" you're watching still has three and half hours' of running time? raaH anaam.

Or when the persistent person is calling (again) and your friend has already turned in? gaa:id yinaam (or gaa:dah tinaam if speaking of a girl).

Finally, there's a handy saying in Arabic that means "each to his own":

راح انام	raaH anaam	I'm going to sleep
قاعد ينام	gaa:ad yinaam	He is sleeping
شبعت نوم؟	shaba:t an-nawm?	Did you get enough sleep?
كل واحد	kul waaHid	Each person
ينام	yinaam	He sleeps
على	:alaa	On
اليمب	al-yamb	The side
إلي	illi	That
يريحا	yiriiHaa	He relaxes

juutii

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

I don't really like juuaatii so much but ana jaahizah to admit their power
over me. It all began when my mother would tell stories about her child-
hood in South America - conditions were tough, and among other things,
her parents couldn't afford to buy her shoes. This left it's mark: whenever
my sister and I would play barefoot in the garden, she would tell us to
put on shoes fawran or "immediately."

Years later, I began to travel. It was then that I noticed all the abandoned
shoes in the world. Some were mashed-up and left at the side of the road
bas others were barely scratched. It stirred my curiosity - but not much more.

Then, one afternoon as I was walking in Barcelona's old town, I happened
upon a shoemaker's workshop. maadrii why but I couldn't peel myself away.
I must have been standing at the workshop door for an eternity because the man
stopped his work and waited for me to say something.

These days albis an apron and sit beside the shoemaker with a last and knife
in hand. I won't recount how many plasters were required in that first week
(or even now), only that making something that takes care of you and yours -
possibly for life - seems entirely worth the trouble.

جواتي	juuaatii	Shoes
انا جاهز	ana jaahiz(ah)	I’m ready (m/f)
بس	bas	But
مادري	maadrii	I don’t know
اي	ay	Which
البس	albis	To wear (lit. I wear)

kursii

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Today we're going to talk about chairs, or karaasii.

A little chair-talk is often very mufiid. How might you say, for instance,
"pull up a kursii" or "is this kursii free" in Kuwaiti Arabic?*

After all, the chair is the very threshold to a social life.

It's no surprise then, that a kursii was named after Barcelona, possibly
one of Europe's most sociable mudin. Believe it or not, al-mudayl of the
Barcelona Chair is over 80 years old:

It was designed in 1929 to show off the levels of creativity and innovation
taking place in Barcelona at the time. The humble designer of the Barcelona Chair
also happened to be one of the founders of modern architecture, Mies van der Rohe,
who probably spoke about as much Catalan as I do, and even less Spanish.

Mies van der Rohe based al-mudayl of the kursii on the rather debonair karaasii
of the Roman Emperors:

Despite the glacial perfection of its shakl, the Barcelona Chair is something that
even design gurus would never dream of putting in their home. Most will be found
gracing the lobbies of corporate empires in London or New York, and for better
or worse, they sort of say: "stay back - and simply gaze at me."

Many people who visit Barcelona would probably struggle to correlate this
plush, meticulously polished number with a city that is wild, fun, and to put it
mildly, a little rough around the edges.

That is, until you began to see the playfulness in its arched legs.
Or the stand-back-look-at-me austerity of Barcelona's other landmarks:

كرسي	kursii	Chair
كرسيين	kursiiayn	Two chairs
كراسي	karaasii	Chairs (three - ten)
مدينه	madiinah	City
مدينتين	madiintayn	Two cities
مدن	mudin	Cities (three - ten)
المديل	al-mudayl	The design
شكل	shakl	The shape

*
"pull up a chair" - isHab-l-ik kursii (>m), siHbii-l-ich (>f)
"is this chair free" - al-kursii faaDHii?