Learn the top five Arabic phrases teachers want to hear
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| Hella: Hello and welcome to ArabicPod101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Arabic. |
| Musto: I'm Musto, and thanks again for being here with us for this beginner series lesson. |
| Hella: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of All About Arabic. Hella, here. |
| Musto: Hi. It's Musto. In this lesson you will learn five phrases from Hella, and they're all in Egyptian dialect! |
| Hella: Yes. Expressions are better used with a dialect. |
| Musto: In this lesson, you will learn how to express that something is not possible. |
| Hella: You will achieve showing extreme like or dislike for anything. |
| Musto: Also, you will learn how to end a bargain. |
| Hella: By the end of this lesson, you will be able to tell someone you will get the check. |
| Musto: And finally, by the end of this lesson, you will know how to show surprise and exclamation, and ask for continuation. But before we get to the phrases... |
| Musto: Now for the phrases. We'll give you Hella's top five phrases first, then we'll explain these in more detail, give you the proper usage, and also explain in what situations you can use these phrases in so you don't embarrass yourself. Hella's top five phrases are... |
| Hella: Phrase number one, في المشمش |
| Musto: "Impossible!" "No way!" |
| Hella: Phrase number two, موت |
| Musto: "A lot," "Extremely." |
| Hella: Phrase number three, يفتح الله |
| Musto: "No deal." |
| Hella: Phrase number four, على حسابي |
| Musto: "It's on me." |
| Hella: And phrase number five, يا سلام |
| Musto: "Oh, really?" "Seriously?" "Is that it?" "Continue." |
| Hella: Now did you recognize any? |
| Musto: Well, let's hear them again slowly. |
| Hella: Phrase number one, في المشمش |
| Musto: "Impossible!" "No way!" |
| Hella: Phrase number two, موت |
| Musto: "A lot," "Extremely." |
| Hella: Phrase number three, يفتح الله |
| Musto: "No deal." |
| Hella: Phrase number four, على حسابي |
| Musto: "It's on me." |
| Hella: And phrase number five, يا سلام |
| Musto: "Oh, really?" "Seriously?" "Is that it?" "Continue." |
| Musto: Hella, I have to say, this is a very interesting choice. Why did you choose these phrases? |
| Hella: They are simple, but the meaning each one holds is very important. Plus they are all expressions. If you try to break them apart, the meaning is so different. |
| Musto: So by using an expression, I show people that I know my way around the language. |
| Hella: Yes, and that's the fun part. People will respond to you in a very nice, funny way, when you use them. Plus, when bargaining, for example, the salesman is more likely to give you a real good price and not a touristic one. |
| Musto: That I can assure our listeners is true. These small expressions tend to make them feel you are more at home here, not just visiting and going away, so they will want to win you as a customer by giving you even a better price. |
| Hella: And the other phrases can be used with friends and colleagues and it will be real cool to see their reactions. |
| Musto: I believe that sometimes expressions can deliver the message much better than a thousand words. |
| Hella: It is so true. Especially with a language like Arabic. We are fond of sayings, proverbs, and expressions. I think it has to do with our ancestors and their poetic lifestyle. |
| Musto: Yes! Through my experience with my friends here, I noticed most of the time, they will use an expression of any kind instead of a direct word. It can turn into an expression war. It's a lot of fun! |
| Hella: These phrases are your gateway to this fun world, so let's get started. |
| Musto: Now it's time to take a closer look into these words and phrases. |
| Hella: The first phrase is في المشمش . |
| Musto: I love this word, guys! It's so popular. It's one of the first I heard when I arrived here. It's a very funny way of saying, "Impossible!" or "No way!" |
| Hella: I assume you know what it means if we try to break it? |
| Musto: Yes. It doesn't make any sense at all. في ال means "in the" and مشمش means "apricot". |
| Hella: That's why it's a good idea not to try to break the phrases sometimes. It's a really funny and cool expression that can be used anytime with anyone. Not formally of course. For example, Musto, are you going to study five hours today? |
| Musto: في المشمش |
| Hella: Ok! Yes, you seem to get the hang of it. |
| Musto: Good. So we can move on to the second phrase. |
| Hella: موت |
| Musto: Well, I should have said word, as it seems. |
| Hella: موت when used in any phrase, it means "extremely." That is extremely good, bad, nice. Whether you like something or extremely hate it, it's the word to use. |
| Musto: Can you give me an example with a sentence? |
| Hella: Sure. الفلم كويّس موت or البيتزا غالية موت . |
| Musto: The movie is extremely good. The pizza is extremely expensive. |
| Hella: أنا بحبّ العربي موت |
| Musto: I extremely love Arabic. |
| Hella: Good job, Musto! |
| Musto: I'm a bit afraid to ask. Where does it come from? It sounds familiar to me, but I don't think it can be what I'm thinking of. |
| Hella: I think it is. The word literally means "death." It's like saying "I love it to death limit" or "I hate it to death limit." That is why it is translated as extremely. |
| Musto: And it's ok to use with anyone? |
| Hella: I would say not in formal occasions, but that already applies to most slang expressions. |
| Musto: Right. So what's our third phrase? |
| Hella: يفتح الله |
| Musto: I use it when I'm bargaining with a salesman and I don't like the price. At the end, I will just say, يفتح الله |
| Hella: Which, in this case, means "No deal" or "I don't like it. I'm out of here.' |
| Musto: Funny enough, they tend to give me the best price after this phrase. It seems to show them I'm serious about not buying with that price, and I'm about to leave. As they don't like to lose any customer, so they give me the best price. |
| Hella: That's how it works. The phrase literally means, "May God open," which works as "May God provide another chance for both of us" or something like "I leave before it gets worse." It's one of my most favorite phrases. |
| Musto: Can I use it in any other situation? |
| Hella: Well, yes. It doesn't only have to be bargaining. It could be something related to work or an invitation to do something and you disagree on how it's done or where you're going. |
| Musto: Now, moving on to the fourth phrase. |
| Hella: على حسابي |
| Musto: I love using this word. It means "It's on my account," or simply "It's on me." |
| Hella: Very nice and friendly. We tend to offer to pay the check or the bill a lot, but this one has the most serious yet casual tone, in my opinion. |
| Musto: Could you repeat it again please? I can hear two letters that makes it a bit tricky. |
| Hella: على حسابي |
| Musto: على حسابي . Got it. Thanks. Now we can move on to the final phrase. |
| Hella: My most favorite. يا سلام |
| Musto: Another word that I hear so many times in different situations. |
| Hella: It's very popular and common. It could even be used with anyone, even your boss. Of course, it's more informal, but don't worry if you end up using it in a formal situation. |
| Musto: From what I've noticed, and I mostly use it, it means "Oh really?" and, funny enough, it could be showing wonder or even being sarcastic. |
| Hella: Yes. It all depends on your intonation and, of course, your facial expression, if it's face to face. On the phone, it really show as well. |
| Musto: And when someone is telling an interesting situation or story, and he stops a moment or tells a part that is really exciting or surprising, people would say يا سلام , too. |
| Hella: Here it works as both "Oh, really?" and "Please, go on." So it could mean "continue" as well. |
| Musto: And if I'm saying something like, "I saw Shakira last month." The first reaction is يا سلام. |
| Hella: Which in this case means "Seriously?" "Really?" or "No kidding?" and also "continue." |
| Musto: What does it mean literally? |
| Hella: يا is a calling article. For example يا موستو . It's a tool we use a lot. سلام means "peace". |
| Musto: So we are saying "Oh, peace?" |
| Hella: That's why always stress not trying to break the expressions. Use them as they are, but it's not a bad idea to know what the mean separately, too. |
| Musto: I agree with that. Well, those are Hella's top five phrases. Remember you can leave us a comment on this lesson. |
| Hella: So, if you have a question or some feedback, please leave us a comment. |
| Musto: It's very easy to do. Just stop by ArabicPod101.com... |
| Hella: ...Click on "Comments"... |
| Musto: ...Enter your comment and name... |
| Hella: ...And that's it! |
| Musto: No excuses! We're looking forward to hearing from you. |
| Hella: Thanks, everyone, for listening. مع السّلامة |
| Musto: Bye! |
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