3aa2ilt-ii

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

I live in Barcelona but 3aa2ilt-ii saakniin in England and Kuwait.

cham 9aar-lii living here? Close to three sniin now. al-ayaam tarki’9!

barshaluunah is a great place to live, but ta3jib-nii always? 3ala 7asab.

It's like algebra: if on a given (D)ay there are a greater number of (T)opless women on the beach relative to freshly grilled (S)ardines, then yimkin laa.

عائلتي	3aa2ilt-ii	My family
ساكنين	saakniin	Lives (pl)
چم صارلي	cham 9aar-lii	How long have I been
سنة سنتين سنين سنة	sanah santayn sniin sanah	1 year 2 years 3 - 10 years 11+ years
الايام تركض	al-ayaam tarki'9	Time flies
برشلونة	barshaluunah	Barcelona
تعجبني	ta3jib-nii	Do I like it
على حسب	3ala 7asab	It depends

shtabii?

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

The word shida3wah is a contraction of two words, shinuu meaning "what (is)" and ad-da3wah or 'the invitation.' The literal translation "what's the invitation?" doesn't mean much, but judging by the way the phrase is used in a conversation, it equates to "are you serious?"

In spoken Kuwaiti, many words are contracted - and they tend to be heard often. Here are more examples:

• shtabii is a contraction of shinuu and tabii

• shitsawii is a contraction of shinuu and tsawii

• shraay-ik is a contraction of shinuu and raay-ik 

The above are all questions addressed to a male. In the table below, the same questions are asked to a female. Note the different endings.

شتبين	shtabiin	What do you want?
شتسوين	shtsawiin	What are you doing?
شرايچ	shraay-ich	What do you think?

dawaam

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

In the Middle East, the arrival of Ramadan typically sparks excitement.

Whether believer or agnostic, fervent or private, kil man mistaanis. Dinners are feasts. dawaamaat are slashed. And the television broadcasts the best soaps and da3aayaat of the year.

That said, almost everyone has a disaster qu9ah from Ramadan.

Of course, not drinking and eating for hours can be kha6ar if not practised with care. Perhaps the trickiest thing about Ramadan is not the actual fasting, but exercising self-control when it is time to eat and drink.

So when dinner or fu6uur comes (or the time to break fast) it may be tempting, almost unavoidable, to gorge on water or Vimto or whatever - to make up for all the holding back.

But the body doesn't tend to agree, and if you aren't careful, instead of laying jokes at dinner you might end up blowing chunks.

كل من مستانس	kil man mistaanis	Everyone is happy
دوامات	dawaamaat	Work hours
دعايات	da3aayaat	Adverts
قصة	qu9ah	Story
خطر	kha6ar	Danger

khift

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Flying on planes is my least favourite thing fi l-3aalam.  Thankfully, most of the time, I have a sympathetic seatmate. His rule is: idha khift-ay, hold onto iid-ii.

The thing is, when 6ayaarat-naa comes into contact with a spell of ma6abaat hawaa2iyah, I grip his arm so tightly that he struggles to eat his complimentary peanuts.

في العالم	fi l-3aalam	In the world
اذا خفتي	idha khift-ay	If you get scared (to a female)
يدي	iid-ii	My arm
طيارتنا	6ayaarat-naa	Our plane
مطبات هوائية	ma6abaat hawaa2iyah	Turbulence

way3!

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

There is only one word in Arabic for "the" which is al or ال.

However, when Arabic is spoken: words beginning with "sun" or shamsiyah letters change the sound of the al slightly.

Here are the sun letters:

ﺕ

ﺙ

ﺩ

ﺫ

ﺭ

ﺯ

ﺱ

ﺵ

ﺹ

ﺽ

ﻁ

ﻅ

ﻝ

ﻥ

t

th

d

dh

r

z

s

sh

9

'9

6

'6

l

n

If a word begins with the letter "n" like the word naf6, when you add the definitive article al to the beginning of the word, its sound changes. It becomes an-naf6.

Another word of the day was sufrah, dining area, so when you say "the dining area" you say as-sufrah. And so on.