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