Showing posts with label past tense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label past tense. Show all posts
shagayt-ik!
shagayt-nii is a phrase that can
be used in a few different situations. It might mean a triumphant “I beat you”
but it could also mean “I wore you out.”
The root sh-g creates words that suggest “tearing.”
That’s why when your dress gets caught somewhere and you hear that
ominous sound, you can say, nafnuuf-ii
inshag (“my dress is torn”).
in3izamt
If you want to use the passive voice in
Kuwaiti, you often add the sound "in" to the first-person verb in the
past tense.
Sounds like gibberish? Let's use an example.
To say "I invited someone to my party" is 3izamt a7ad 7aflit-ii.
This is called the active voice, because you're the one taking the action. In
the driver's seat. Pedal to the medal (yuck, I know).
If however, the situation was reversed and someone invited you, well in
English you'd say "I was invited" wouldn't you? This is called the passive voice. Why?
Because you didn't lift a finger - instead someone else came over, took action and you just sat there. Passive.
And how to say it in Kuwaiti?
Clue: it's today's word.
There's a third and final way to express how you ended up spending your weekend dancing awkwardly to Ricky Martin remixes. If you want to reveal who exactly invited you, then you'd simply say:
"Theyab 3azam-nii."
"Theyab 3azam-nii."
shiba3tay
You'll have noticed that many of the adjectives featured on Kuwaiti Word a Day are in the masculine form. There is no particular reason for this, only for the sake of consistency and because you can easily make the feminine form by adding -ah on the end of masculine adjectives.
When it comes to verbs, making the feminine form requires a little more work. Let's take today's verb "to have enough" as our example.
If you're talking to a male who's piling food on his plate and you want to tell him 'you are going to get full,' you'd say raa7 tishba3. If however, you're talking to a female, you add an -iin onto the end of the verb, to make tishba3iin.
Most verbs in Kuwaiti follow this same rule. 'Do you want salt?' when said to a male is tabii mil7?
When the same question is said to a female, you'd say tabiin mil7?
This is the rule for the present tense. To get the feminine version of the verb in the past tense requires adding a different sound onto the masculine form. It's more like an -ay sound.
So if you ask a male, 'have you had enough food for fu6uur?' you'd say shiba3t? If you asked a female that same question you'd say shiba3tay? And here we arrive at today's word.
shiba3tay is a statement to a girl - 'you're full' but use the exact same word, add a question mark and shiba3tay? becomes a question - 'are you full?' Easy.
In the past tense, you can also use the pronouns -ik (for a male), -ich (for a female) and -kum (for a group. For example, bas-ik kafiyah? means "have you had enough?" (>m).
Asking shiba3tay? when a female guest refuses a second helping of your home-cooked machbuus is not the only way you can use the verb. It can refer to having enough of anything, sleep included.
shiba3tay nawm? - 'did you have enough sleep?' - the Kuwaiti prince asks Sleeping Beauty as she rises from her bed.
3alaa gawlat...
If my husband wasn't already employed as a game designer, I think he would have got a job as a comedian, since he's already one part-time. As soon as he wakes in the morning, his routine begins.
"3alaa gawlat Gollum: 'good morning my precious'," he says in Gollum's creepy and decidedly unromantic voice.
As he pours coffee beans into the grinder, I can see the cogs in his brain ticking. He is just dying to say it. So he does. "3alaa gawlat Tony Montana, 'say hello to my little friend.'"
With that, he grinds the beans madly to dust.
"3alaa gawlat Freddie Mercury, 'another one bites the dust!'"
"bas!" I wail, covering my ears. (bess)
He holds up his hands as if to say, no more. But as he puts on his jacket and prepares to leave, I'm treated to another: "ِ3alaa gawlat The Terminator, 'hasta la vista, baby'."
staanast?
staanist bi l-wiikind? is a classic a conversation starter on your first day back of work. But mind who you ask - especially when a colleague comes into the office wearing a look of death. Then their answer is going be about as far from "kaan 3ajiib" as possible.
staanistay bi l-wiikind? the chipper intern asks her boss as the stern-eyed lady swoops onto her desk, dumps her YSL bag, disarms her bluetooth, tablet, iPhone, spritzes her wrists with Chanel No. 5 then slumps into her leather seat with a pout. The rest of the workers silently cringe at the intern's naivety. Because they know what's coming.
The boss lady growls at her intern "Fun? laa wa aallah," she sneers, before lighting up a cigarette. "It should have been a nice peaceful getaway ma3a my husband, and only ma3a-h, but as always, mother insists on joining us. Then that ungrateful man cancels at the last minute, so I ends up going on holiday ma3a-haa."
The intern bites her lip, struggling to think of an appropriate reply, but before she does the office door bursts open to reveal a fur-clad lady who is the spitting image of the boss lady, only a generation older.
"7abiibtii ('darling') forgive me barging in on you at work, but I was passing by and wanted to know if you'd join me next weekend for another trip. Seeming as we had so much fun bi l-wiikind."
The boss lady goes pale. And the intern pipes up: "Looks like the weekend maa khala9!"
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Arabic
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Pronounced?
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English
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ستانست بالويكند؟
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staanist bi l-wiikind?
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Did you have fun at the weekend? (>m)
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ستانستي بالويكند؟
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staanistay bi l-wiikind?
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Did you have fun at the weekend? (>f)
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ستانستوا بالويكند؟
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staanistaw bi l-wiikind?
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Did you have fun at the weekend? (>pl)
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لا والله
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laa wa aallah
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not really
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كان عجيب
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kaan 3ajiib
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it was amazing
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ما خلص
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maa khala9
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is not over yet
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معه
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ma3a-h
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with him
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معها
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ma3a-haa
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with her
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معهم
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ma3a-hum
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with them
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