+A+Temperance+Meeting+(Noon+Time).jpg) |
| 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.
