Learn about modern-day Egyptian architecture and plural adjectives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Judith: Hello. Absolute Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 19, “Seeing Tall Buildings in Egypt.” |
| Natasha: Hi, my name is Natasha and I’m joined here by Udah. |
| Judith: Hello everyone and welcome back to ArabicPod101.com. |
| Natasha: What are we learning today? |
| Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to describe people. |
| Natasha: This conversation takes place on the street in Cairo. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Majah and Julia. They are speaking informal modern standard Arabic. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Natasha: هل تعرفين تلك المجموعة؟ |
| Natasha: :أي مجموعة؟ |
| Natasha: المجموعة التي فيها النساء الشقراوات. إنهن يلوحن |
| Natasha: لا أعرفهن |
| Natasha: حسنا. ربما يلوحن للرجل الطويل القريب منا. يبدون سياحا |
| Natasha: هل أنت مستعدة للذهاب إلى البيت؟ |
| Natasha: نعم، دعيني فقط آخذ صورة لتلك البنايات العالية. إنها جميلة |
| Natasha: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Natasha: هل تعرفين تلك المجموعة؟ |
| Natasha: :أي مجموعة؟ |
| Natasha: المجموعة التي فيها النساء الشقراوات. إنهن يلوحن |
| Natasha: لا أعرفهن |
| Natasha: حسنا. ربما يلوحن للرجل الطويل القريب منا. يبدون سياحا |
| Natasha: هل أنت مستعدة للذهاب إلى البيت؟ |
| Natasha: نعم، دعيني فقط آخذ صورة لتلك البنايات العالية. إنها جميلة |
| Natasha: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Natasha: هل تعرفين تلك المجموعة؟ |
| Natasha: Do you know that group? |
| Natasha: :أي مجموعة؟ |
| Natasha: Which group? |
| Natasha: المجموعة التي فيها النساء الشقراوات. إنهن يلوحن |
| Natasha: The group with the blond women. They are waving. |
| Natasha: لا أعرفهن |
| Natasha: I don’t know them. |
| Natasha: حسنا. ربما يلوحن للرجل الطويل القريب منا. يبدون سياحا |
| Natasha: Oh, maybe they are waving at the tall man next to us. They look like tourists. |
| Natasha: هل أنت مستعدة للذهاب إلى البيت؟ |
| Natasha: Are you ready to go home? |
| Natasha: نعم، دعيني فقط آخذ صورة لتلك البنايات العالية. إنها جميلة |
| Natasha: Yes. Oh, let me just take a picture of those tall buildings. They are beautiful. |
| Natasha: هل تلك البنايات حديثة؟ |
| Natasha: Those modern buildings? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay. What about architecture, does our big city look just the same as here? |
| Natasha: A visitor to most Arab nations will see many examples of traditional Arab architecture. It is a highly ornate style carefully crafted to help the air flow through the building to combat the extreme heat. Of course, as with all Muslim art, the decorations do not incorporate natural images but tend to focus on calligraphy and geometric patterns. Oddly, some of the best examples of this area in Granada, Southern Spain, which used to be part of the Arab empire. |
| Judith: In the oil-rich gulf states, things are done differently. The fact that money is not a problem means that towering glass skyscrapers appear overnight. |
| Natasha: Another fact is that these gulf cities have been well-planned and are designed to be traversed by car rather than on foot. This can make these new cities feel a little intimidating and boring for western visitors, especially in contrast with the narrow haphazard streets of North African and Levantine cities. |
| Vocabulary and Phrases (running time 2:30, preparation time 10 min.) |
| Judith: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Natasha: مجموعة |
| Judith: Group. |
| Natasha: مجموعة |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: الَتي فيه |
| Judith: In which. |
| Natasha: الَتي فيه |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: شقراء |
| Judith: Blond. |
| Natasha: شقراء |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: لوح |
| Judith: To wave. |
| Natasha: لوح |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: طوِيل |
| Judith: Tall, as in a person is tall. |
| Natasha: طوِيل |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: بدا |
| Judith: To look like. |
| Natasha: بدا |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: مستعد |
| Judith: Ready. |
| Natasha: مستعد |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: بيت |
| Judith: House or home. |
| Natasha: بيت |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: دعيني |
| Judith: Let me. |
| Natasha: دعيني |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: بِنَاء |
| Judith: Building. |
| Natasha: بِنَاء |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: عالي |
| Judith: Tall or high. |
| Natasha: عالي |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: حديث |
| Judith: Modern. |
| Natasha: حديث |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Natasha: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase we’ll look at is "alqariibi minnaa". |
| Judith: It means “next to us.” |
| Natasha: min-na is the preposition meaning with the possessive -na ending for “us.” min-na therefore means “from us.” |
| Judith: In English, you say “A picture of those tall buildings.” However, the literal translation of the Arabic is “A picture of for those tall buildings.” The preposition is "li" “for.” |
| Natasha: Don’t be confused by such details, preposition use varies greatly between languages. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Natasha: The focus of this lesson is adjectives in the plural. The plural of adjectives works like the plural of nouns, that is adjectives relating to feminine words get the ending -aat for plural. And other adjectives get the ending -iin. |
| Judith: Unfortunately, just like nouns, there are also irregular plurals for adjectives and this concern some of the most common adjectives, and these concerns some of the most common adjectives. |
| Natasha: And here is something crazy, nouns for things get the normal plural ending but they are then treated as if they were in feminine singular. |
| Judith: So an adjective period with plural things will end in -a, it won’t get a plural ending. |
| Natasha: You see this in "albinaayaatu al´aalyatu" to tall buildings. The word for buildings is plural. But then the word for tall is singular feminine, it ends in -a. Same for "jamiila" and "Hadiitha" because they still refer to buildings. That just about does it for today. |
Outro |
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| Judith:See you next week! |
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