maa y9iir

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

I live in Barcelona but :aa'ilt-ii saakniin in England and Kuwait.
cham Saar-lii living here now? Close to three saniin now.
al-ayaam tarkiD!

barshaluunah is a great place to visit and even better place to live,
but ta:jib-nii always? :ala Hasab.

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	:aa’ilt-ii	My family
ساكنين	saakniin	Lives (pl)
كم صارلي	cham Saar-lii	How long have I been
سنة سنتين سنين سنة	sanah santayn saniin sanah	1 year 2 years 3 - 10 years 11+ years
الايام تركض	al-ayaam tarkiD	Time flies
برشلونة	barshaluunah	Barcelona
تعجبني	ta:jib-nii	Do I like it
على حسب	:ala Hasab	It depends
يمكن لا	yimkin laa	Maybe not
تبي تشوف	tabii tshuuf	Do you want to see
بنات	banaat	Girls
متفصخين	mitfaSkhiin	Naked
على البحر	:al-bahr (contraction of :ala al-bahr)	At the beach

shida3wah

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Today's word shida:wah is a contraction of two words, shinu meaning "what (is)"
and ad-da:wah 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 shinu and tabii

• shitsawii is a contraction of shinu and tsawii

• shraay-ik is a contraction of shinu 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?
شوف	shuuf	Look
مكياجها	makyaaj-haa	Her makeup

shiba3t

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

In the Middle East, the arrival of Ramadan typically sparks excitement.
Whether believer or agnostic, fervent or private, kul man mistaanis.
Dinners are feasts. dawaam are slashed. And the television broadcasts
the best soaps and da:yaat of the year.

That said, almost everyone has their disaster quSah from Ramadan.

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

So when futoor 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 al-jism 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	kul man mistaanis	Everyone is happy
دوام	dawaam	Work hours
دعيات	da:yaat	Adverts
قصة	quSah	Story
خطر	khaTar	Dangerous
لما اخيرا	lemaa akhiiran	When finally
الجسم	al-jism	The body

ti9arwa3t

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Flying on planes is my least favourite thing fil-:aalam.  Thankfully, most of the time,
I have a sympathetic seat mate. His rule is: idha khift-ay, hold onto iid-ii.
The thing is, when Tayaarat-naa comes into contact with a spell of maTabaat hawaa'iyah,
I grip his arm so tightly that he struggles to eat his complimentary peanuts.

في العالم	fil-:aalam	In the world
اذا خفتي	idha khift-ay	If you get scared (to a female)
يدي	iid-ii	My arm
طيارتنا	Tayaarat-naa	Our plane
مطبات هوائة	maTabaat hawaa’iyyah	Turbulence

naf6

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

There is only one word in written Arabic for "the" (which is al or ال). The exception is in spoken Arabic: words beginning with "sun" or shamsiyyah 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

S

D

T

DH

l

n

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

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

  

ويع	way:	Ew!
منتهية	mintahiyyah	It is finished, gone past
صلاحيتة	SalaaHiittah	Its use-by date
صار	Saar	It became

asti7ii

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

When Dana was a child she had more sha:ar than now (ya:anii she could have
salvaged global baldness) but looking mithil a member-in-waiting of the Jackson 5
proved useful in awkward social situations. 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 returns to that
prepubescent mistaHiyyah self. 

شعر	sha:ar	Hair
يعني	ya:anii	Like / it means
مثل	mithil	Like / similar to
اختفي!	ikhtif-ay!	Disappear (to a female)
فرقة	firqah	Group
مستحي، مستحية	mistaHii, mistaHiyyah	Shy (m/f adj.)
تقدر	tigdr	Do you want to
تسجلي	tsajil-ii	Record for me
صوتك	Sawt-ik	Your voice (to a male)
مابي	maabi	I don’t want to

*firkat miami were a Kuwaiti singing sensation from the nineties,  charming many

kuwaitiyyaat (Kuwaiti girls) and making shiyaab (old men) say: "Taa: hadhool,

maa yastiHuun :ala wayih-hum!" ("Look at them, they have no shame!")

zayn tsawii

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Everything was boring today: daakhl the apartment, barah in the city,
fuug on the roof terrace, taHat at the beach. al-bidaayyah of the day
involved me doing taxes. I think this set the mood for as-saa:aat al-yaayah
and aS-SaraaHah, I was looking forward to an-nihaayat al-yawm.

Then someone offered me a naSiiHah. 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 tswaiin!" he chuckled.

داخل	daakhl	Inside
برة	barah	Outside
فوق	fuug	Up
تحت	taHat	Down
البداية	al-bidaayyah	The start
الساعات الياية	as-saa:aat al-yaayah	The following hours
الصراحة	aS-SaraaHah	Honestly
النهاية اليوم	an-nihaayat al-yawm	The end of the day
نصيحة	naSiiHah	Advice
نمت	nimt	I slept
نفس اللية	nafs al-laylah	That same night
تذكر هذا	tdhakr hadhaa!	Remember that!
كليتي	kalayt-ay	You ate (to a female)
ريول خروف	riyuul kharuuf	Sheep’s feet
ولله	waallah	Wow

mustawaa

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

I have this theory: own ashaa' aqal, but make what you do have
yikuun shay muthmin. It's somewhat a mustawaa :aalii that often
I cannot and do not live up to.  But biduun maa tguul that when
naskin in 50m2 of space, maa :indi-naa khayaar illaa minimalism!

اشاء اقل	ashaa’ aqal	Less things
يكون شي مثمن	yikuun shay muthmin	Be something precious
عالي	:allii	High
بدون ما تقول	biduun maa tguul	It goes without saying
نسكن	naskin	We live
ما عندنا خيار الا	maa :indi-naa khayaar illaa	We don’t have a choice except for
واطي	waaTii	Low

aakram-kum aallah

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

Learning Arabic from scratch is tough, muwaafqiin? 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 mu'anath or jem: and a pronunciation that is, for me at least,
mu:aqad ... the temptation to give up learning is waayid.

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

bayn fatrah wa fatrah, it feels like this. But atdarrab a little bit every day and,
because of this, I discover that agdr agul akthar min maa aDHin. So when doubts pile
up, I remember that aHsan min maa asawii shay.

Being British, I come from a culture where making khaTaa' with 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 an obstacle. But, after thirteen years of learning French, I remember my akhTaa',
the laughs they provoked, the fact of being mortally embarrassed at times, was part of the
bittersweet and necessary learning curve of doing something that's important.

موافقين	muwaafqiin?	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	mu’anath	Feminine
جمع	jem:	Plural
معقد	mu:aqad	Complicated
كبير	kabiir	Huge
بين فترة و فيترة	bayn fatrah wa fatrah	From time to time
اتدرب	atdarrab	I learn
قدر اقل اكثر من ما اظن	agdr agul akthar min maa aDHin	I can speak more than I think
احسن من ما اسوي شي	aHsan min maa asawii shay	Better than doing nothing
خطآ ، اخطاء	khaTaa’, akhTaa’	A mistake, mistakes
نفس الشي	nafs ash-shay	The same thing
الفكرة	al-fikrah	The idea