firqah

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

When Dana was a child she had more sha3ar than now (ya3anii she could have salvaged global baldness) but looking mithil a member-in-waiting of the Jackson 5 proved useful in awkward social situations.

Here's how it worked: join a new school half way through the year? Hide behind hair. Don't want to get picked for football? Hide behind hair. See that boy she likes? Grow a fringe - and ikhtif-ay!

Today she has less reason to hide. Hell, she's a CEO.  But if when shopping she happens to spot firqat miami at The Avenues Mall, she promptly returns to that prepubescent misti7yah self. 

شعر	sha3ar	Hair
يعني	ya3anii	Like / it means
مثل	mithil	Like / similar to
اختفي!	ikhtif-ay!	Disappear (to a female)
فرقة	firqah	Group
مستحي، مستحية	misti7ii, misti7yah	Shy (m/f)

nimt

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Everything was boring today: daakhl the apartment, barah in the city,
fawg on the roof terrace, ta7at at the beach.

al-bidaayah of the day involved me doing taxes. I think this set the mood for as-saa3aat al-yaayah and a9-9araa7ah, I was looking forward to an-nihaayat al-yawm.

Then someone offered me a na9ii7ah. Whenever he feels bored, he does nothing. 

It seemed contradictory. I was already doing as little as I possibly could. But no, actually I was running around in search of a thrill to relieve the gloom. So I stopped. I lay face down on my bed. And at 3pm, nimt.

nafs al-laylah, the situation flipped 180 degrees. I woke feeling everything, susceptible to the slightest detail, and in a cheerful mood to boot. Boredom goes hand in hand with exhaustion. When I told my friend this, he was pleased that I had listened, for once.

"You who never takes my advice! Ha, zayn tsawiin!" he chuckled.

داخل	daakhl	Inside
برة	barah	Outside
فوق	fuug	Up
تحت	ta7at	Down
البداية	al-bidaayah	The start
الساعات الياية	as-saa3aat al-yaayah	The following hours
الصراحة	a9-9araa7ah	Honestly
النهاية اليوم	an-nihaayat al-yawm	The end of the day
نصيحة	na9ii7ah	Advice
نمت	nimt	I slept
نفس اللية	nafs al-laylah	That same night
زين تسوين	zayn tsawiin	Good for you! (>f)

khayaar

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

I have this theory: own ashaa2 qaliilah, but make what you do have yikuun shay muthmin.

It's somewhat a mustawaa 3aalii that often I cannot and do not live up to.

But biduun maa tguul that when naskin in 50m2 of space, maa 3ndi-naa khayaar illaa minimalism!

اشاء قليلة	ashaa2 qaliilah	Less things
يكون شي مثمن	yikuun shay muthmin	Be something precious
عالي	3aallii	High
بدون ما تقول	biduun maa tguul	It goes without saying
نسكن	naskin	We live
ما عندنا خيار الا	maa 3ndi-naa khayaar illaa	We don’t have a choice except for
واطي	waa6ii	Low

m3aqad

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Learning Arabic from scratch is tough, mwaafqiin? An alphabet full of dots and flicks, reading and writing min al-yamiin lay al-yisaar, words that change depending on whether they are mudhakar or mu2anath or jam3 and a pronunciation that is, for me at least, m3aqad ... the temptation to give up learning is huge.

And the biggest trap of all is having an international language as a mother tongue.

bayn fatrah wa fatrah, I feels this way. But atdarrab a little bit every day and because of this, I discover that agdr agul akthar min maa a'6in. So when doubts pile up, I remember that a7san min maa asawii shay.

Being British, I come from a culture where making ghala6 when speaking a language is a no-no. I believe that in Kuwait, it's nafs ash-shay. So al-fikrah of speaking in front of others is still somewhat of an obstacle.

But, after thirteen years of learning French, I remember each and every ghala6, the laughs they provoked, and the fact that being mortally embarrassed at times was part of the bittersweet learning curve of doing something important.

موافقين	mwaafqiin?	Don’t you (pl) agree?
من اليمين لي اليسار	min al-yamiin lay al-yisaar	From the right to the left
مذكر	mudhakar	Masculine
مؤنث	mu2anath	Feminine
جمع	jam3	Plural
معقد	m3aqad	Complicated
كبير	kbiir	Huge
بين فترة و فيترة	bayn fatrah wa fatrah	From time to time
اتدرب	atdarrab	I learn
قدر اقل اكثر من ما اظن	agdr aguul akthar min maa a'6in	I can speak more than I think
احسن من ما اسوي شي	a7san min maa asawii shay	Better than doing nothing
غلط	ghala6	A mistake
نفس الشي	nafs ash-shay	The same thing
الفكرة	al-fikrah	The idea