Learn about the regular past tense and the language most learned by Arabs in school
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natasha: Hello, It’s me Natasha. |
| Judith: Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 6, “The Story of My Life in Arabic.” Hello and welcome to ArabicPod101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Arabic. |
| Natasha: I’m Natasha, and thanks again for being here with us for this Absolute Beginner Season 1 lesson. |
| Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about the past. This conversation takes place at Muhammad’s house. |
| Natasha: The conversation is between Julia, who has just arrived, Majah, Muhammad, Ahmed and Khalid. |
| Judith: This dialogue uses informal Modern Standard Arabic. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Natasha:آه، ها هي جوليا! مرحبا جوليا! كيف أنت؟ |
| Natasha:أهلا مها! أنا بخير ،الحمد لله. مرحبا محمد، عيد ميلاد سعيد! |
| Judith:شكرا لك |
| Natasha:أهؤلاء أصدقائك؟ |
| Judith:نعم. أنت تعرفين مها، و هذا أحمد. |
| Judith:فرصة سعيدة. |
| Natasha:فرصة سعيدة. |
| Judith:وهذا خالد. |
| Judith: Hello, Julia. How are you? |
| Natasha:أنت تعرف الإنجليزية! كيف تعلمت الإنجليزية؟ |
| Judith:درست الإنجليزية في الجامعة و عملت في دنفر لبعض الوقت، و سافرت أيضا إلى أُستراليا. |
| Natasha:جميل! |
| Natasha: Now, slowly. |
| Natasha:آه، ها هي جوليا! مرحبا جوليا! كيف أنت؟ |
| Natasha:أهلا مها! أنا بخير ،الحمد لله. مرحبا محمد، عيد ميلاد سعيد! |
| Judith:شكرا لك |
| Natasha:أهؤلاء أصدقائك؟ |
| Judith:نعم. أنت تعرفين مها، و هذا أحمد. |
| Judith:فرصة سعيدة. |
| Natasha:فرصة سعيدة. |
| Judith:وهذا خالد. |
| Judith: Hello, Julia. How are you? |
| Natasha:أنت تعرف الإنجليزية! كيف تعلمت الإنجليزية؟ |
| Judith:درست الإنجليزية في الجامعة و عملت في دنفر لبعض الوقت، و سافرت أيضا إلى أُستراليا. |
| Natasha:جميل! |
| Natasha: Now, with translation. |
| Natasha:آه، ها هي جوليا! مرحبا جوليا! كيف أنت؟ |
| Natasha: Ah, there’s Julia. Hey, Julia. We were worried. How are you? |
| Natasha:أهلا مها! أنا بخير ،الحمد لله. مرحبا محمد، عيد ميلاد سعيد! |
| Natasha: Hey, Majah. I’m fine. Thanks to God. Hello, Muhammad. Happy birthday. |
| Judith:شكرا لك |
| Natasha: Thank you. |
| Natasha:أهؤلاء أصدقائك؟ |
| Natasha: Are these your friends? |
| Judith:نعم. أنت تعرفين مها، و هذا أحمد. |
| Natasha: Yes, you know Majah, and this is Khalid. |
| Judith:فرصة سعيدة. |
| Natasha: Nice to meet you. |
| Natasha:فرصة سعيدة. |
| Natasha: Nice to meet you. |
| Judith:وهذا خالد. |
| Natasha: And that is Ahmed. |
| Judith: Hello, Julia. How are you? |
| Natasha: Hello, Julia. How are you? |
| Natasha:أنت تعرف الإنجليزية! كيف تعلمت الإنجليزية؟ |
| Natasha: Oh, you know English. How did you learn English? |
| Judith:درست الإنجليزية في الجامعة و عملت في دنفر لبعض الوقت، و سافرت أيضا إلى أُستراليا. |
| Natasha: I studied English at university. And I worked in Denver for a bit. I have also travelled to Australia. |
| Natasha:جميل! |
| Natasha: Nice. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay, maybe we should talk a bit about the language knowledge in the Arab world. For example, how common is it that people learn English? |
| Natasha: Most Arab study English at school. |
| Judith: Is there a second most common language? |
| Natasha: Usually, it’s French. Nowadays, a lot of students are actually learning both, English and French at school. |
| Judith: Nice, how about other languages? For example, Spanish. Are a lot of people learning Spanish? |
| Natasha: Not really. You can learn Spanish at the university. But at school, it’s not possible. |
| Judith: How about other Muslim languages like Turkish or Persian, Indonesian. Are these popular? |
| Natasha: I would say no. Maybe, like, Turkish and Persian people just learn it in order to work with it because there’s a lot of business between Turkey and Syria and the Persian is…because a lot of people from Iran come to Syria to visit the holy places. |
| Judith: Not also that all Arabs have to learn modern standard Arabic at school because the regional dialect can be quite far from that like completely different languages. |
| Natasha: I would say, for me, it was easier because the Syrian dialect is very close to the standard Arabic. So it makes it really easier. |
| Judith: Yeah, I think if you come from, say, Morocco or from Iraq, then the local dialect is farther away. |
| Natasha: Yeah. They basically speak more French Arabic than real Arabic. |
| Judith: Okay. |
| Natasha: Yeah. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Natasha: ها |
| Judith: Here or this. |
| Natasha: ها |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: هؤلاء |
| Judith: These. |
| Natasha: هؤلاء |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: أصدقاء |
| Judith: Friends. |
| Natasha: أصدقاء |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: الإنجليزية |
| Judith: English language. |
| Natasha: الإنجليزية |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: تعلم |
| Judith: To learn. |
| Natasha: تعلم |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: درس |
| Judith: To study. |
| Natasha: درس |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: عمل |
| Judith: To work. |
| Natasha: عمل |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: لِ |
| Judith: For. |
| Natasha: لِ |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: بعض |
| Judith: Some. |
| Natasha: بعض |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: وقت |
| Judith: Time. |
| Natasha: وقت |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: سافر |
| Judith: To travel. |
| Natasha: سافر |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: أيضا |
| Natasha: Also. |
| Natasha: أيضا |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Judith: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word we’ll look at is… |
| Natasha: "'a" |
| Judith: In the previous lesson, we said that you could start a yes-no question with "hal". Instead of "hal", you can also start it with a simple "'a". |
| Natasha: With syllable words like "wa". |
| Judith: And. |
| Natasha: "li". |
| Judith: For. |
| Natasha: "bi" |
| Judith: With. |
| Natasha: …are combined in the next word in Arabic writing. So don’t be surprised if you hear it in spoken Arabic too. For example, you’re much more likely to hear "biSadiiqii" rather than a clear cut "bi Sadiiqii". |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Natasha: The focus of this lesson is the regular past tense part one. Arabic does not have an infinitive for like, to be or to do. Instead, what you’ll see in dictionaries is the equivalent of he was or he did in the past tense. |
| Judith: The past tense is the most regular tense in Arabic and all other forms are derived from it. Let’s look at the singular forms today and we’ll cover the rest next time. |
| Natasha: The form you’ll see in the dictionary or in our vocabulary list might be دَرَسَ. |
| Judith: To learn. But really, it means he learned. |
| Natasha: This is the base form. It usually consists of three consonants. Each separated by an “A” sound. The final “A” is not spoken in an informal speech. So it’s just "daras". |
| Judith: Natasha, can you please give us the singular forms of "darasa"? |
| Natasha: daras-t(u). |
| Judith: I learned. |
| Natasha: daras-t(a) |
| Judith: You learned, talking to a man. |
| Natasha: daras-ti |
| Judith: You learned, talking to woman. |
| Natasha: daras-(a) |
| Judith: He learned. |
| Natasha: daras-at |
| Judith: She learned. |
| Natasha: The final vowels of "darastu", "darasta" and "darasa" can be left out in an informal speech. |
| Judith: You’ll find that Arabic often has a different form for when you’re talking to a woman. But these forms are slowly becoming less common. |
| Natasha: The other verbs in the vocabulary list behave just like "darasa". In fact, all verbs get to say main things in the past tense. Arabic is easier than Spanish in that regard. |
| Judith: That just about does it for today. |
Outro |
|---|
| Judith:Listeners, do you know the reason flashcards are so popular? |
| Natasha: It’s because they work. |
| Judith: We’ve taken this time-tested studying tool and modernized it with My Wordbank flashcards. |
| Natasha: Learn vocabulary using your eyes and ears. |
| Judith: It’s simple and powerful. Save difficult and interesting words to your personal vocabulary list called My Wordbank. |
| Natasha: Master words in your My Wordbank by practicing with flashcards. |
| Judith: Words in My Wordbank come with audio, so you’ll learn proper pronunciation. |
| Natasha: While you learn to recognize words by sight. |
| Judith: Go to ArabicPod101.com now and try My Wordbank and flashcards today. Okay, see you next week! |
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