ighniyah

You know that trust levels in your relationship are not doing too badly when your other half yaghanii to you, totally out of tune, and constantly - even when you're practically begging him to stop.

It was a different story during our first dates. Even in the car with music blasting, when aghanii the lyrics and made a fool of myself, he never joined in, preferring to remain silent, brooding. Mysterious.

So one day, again in the car, a Pink Floyd ighniyah came on and I dared him to make tajrubah at singing it. He laughed because he knew I'd made it my personal mission to get him to sing, and at the choice of igniyah, he said, ya3jib-nii tafkiir-ich.

Encouraged, I cranked up the volume and sure enough, as soon the chorus kicked in, it was like a plug had been pulled: ghanaa and ghanaa and ghanaa.

Although I've grown quite fond of the warbling, I don't tend to protest as much when, in the car, he switches from the music station to the BBC.

Arabic	Pronounced?	English
أغني	aghanii	I sing
غنيت	ghanayt	I sung
يغني	yaghanii	He sings
غنى	ghanaa	He sung
تجربة	tajrubah	an attempt
يعجبني تفكيرج	ya3jib-nii tafkiir-ich	I like the way you think (>f)