Learn about Egyptian Arabic honorifics
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: Does Egyptian Arabic have honorifics? |
| Nora: And how do you speak politely in Egyptian Arabic? |
| Michael: At ArabicPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Karen and Heba are meeting in a department store. Karen arrives first, but she can't find Heba. She calls her on the phone and asks, |
| "Where are you?" |
| حَضرِتِك فين؟ (ḥaḍretek fīn?) |
| Dialogue |
| Karen Lee:حَضرِتِك فين؟ (ḥaḍretek fīn?) |
| Heba El-Hawwary:.أَنا جَنب كاوْنتَر الاِستِعلامات (ʾanā ganb kāwntar el-esteʿlāmāt.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Karen Lee:حَضرِتِك فين؟ (ḥaḍretek fīn?) |
| Michael: "Where are you?" |
| Heba El-Hawwary:.أَنا جَنب كاوْنتَر الاِستِعلامات (ʾanā ganb kāwntar el-esteʿlāmāt.) |
| Michael: "I'm next to the information counter." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Many languages have honorific speech as a whole different level of speech. Arabic honorifics are much easier than that. Much like English, Modern Standard Arabic and almost all Arabic dialects have certain words and titles that you can add to sentences to make your speech sound more polite. In this lesson, we'll focus on the Egyptian dialect. First, let's take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Karen says, "Where are you?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Nora as Karen Lee:حَضرِتِك فين؟ (ḥaḍretek fīn?) |
| Michael: The first word, which happens to be the most important one in this lesson, is |
| Nora: حَضرِتِك (ḥaḍretek) |
| Michael: which is the honorific way to say "you." Next, we have |
| Nora: فين (fīn) |
| Michael: meaning "where." All together, it translates to "Where are you?" Now, let's take a look at our second sentence. Do you remember how Heba says, "I'm next to the information counter?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Nora as Heba El-Hawwary:.أَنا جَنب كاوْنتَر الاِستِعلامات (ʾanā ganb kāwntar el-esteʿlāmāt.) |
| Michael: Let's take a look at the words one by one. First, we have |
| Nora: أنا (ʾanā) |
| Michael: meaning "I am." Then, we have |
| Nora: جَنب (ganb) |
| Michael: meaning "next to." Then we have |
| Nora: كاوْنتَر (kāwntar) |
| Michael: meaning "counter." This English word is used as is in Egyptian Arabic. Lastly, we have |
| Nora: الاِستِعلامات (el-esteʿlāmāt) |
| Michael: meaning "information." Literally, Heba says, "I am next to the counter of information." Now, let's go back and talk about the details. An important thing to know about the word |
| Nora: حَضرِتِك (ḥaḍretek) |
| Michael: is that it is gender specific. In this case, Karen is talking to Heba, who is a woman. That's why she used the word |
| Nora: حَضرِتِك (ḥaḍretek) |
| Michael: Had Karen been talking to a male, she would have to say |
| Nora: حَضرِتَك (ḥaḍretak) |
| Michael: which is "you" but in masculine honorific form. Another thing worth mentioning is that Heba is older than Karen, which prompts Karen to use honorifics when she speaks to Heba. Heba replies in regular non-honorific speech, so there are only two levels, regular and honorific. However, many other situations require using honorific pronouns. If you just met someone in a formal setting, even if they are the same age, it reflects greatly on your character to use honorific pronouns. Another useful word to use in a formal setting is |
| Nora: أُستاذ (ʾostāz) |
| Michael: meaning "Mr." You say this word before a person's name, whether it is someone you are talking to or a third person. Note: unlike English, you use this word followed by the person's first name, not their last name, to address them or talk about them to someone else. It's a bit strange to add Mr. to someone's first name, but last names in general are only used in paperwork and are rarely ever used to address someone. Much like the previous word, this also has a feminine version |
| Nora: أُستاذة (ʾostāzah) |
| Michael: meaning "Ms." This one doesn't discriminate between married and single women. You can use it in both cases! Let's try to showcase these words in a commonly used sentence. |
| Nora: أُستاذَة ناديَة، حَضرِتِك مِحتاجَة أَيّ حاجَة تانيَة؟ (ʾostāzh nādyah, ḥaḍretek meḥtāgah ʾaī ḥāgah tānyah?) |
| Michael: meaning "Ms. Nadia, do you need anything else?" This is a good sentence to use if you are helping a client with something and you want to make sure that they have been fully helped. |
| Summary |
| Michael: In this lesson, we have seen how using a few polite words and incorporating them in your speech can help leave a great first impression on the people you meet. Older people will definitely appreciate you going out of your way to use these words. |
| If you feel like you said a word that offended someone or did not meet the level of politeness that should've been used, always say |
| Nora: أَنا آسِف. (ʾanā ʾāsef.) |
| Michael: meaning "I'm sorry" then try to correct your level of politeness. However, using the words you learned in this lesson should help you avoid embarrassing situations! |
| Review |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Karen says "Where are you?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Karen Lee:حَضرِتِك فين؟ (ḥaḍretek fīn?) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Nora as Karen Lee:حَضرِتِك فين؟ (ḥaḍretek fīn?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Karen Lee:حَضرِتِك فين؟ (ḥaḍretek fīn?) |
| Michael: And do you remember how Heba says "I'm next to the information counter?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Heba El-Hawwary:.أَنا جَنب كاوْنتَر الاِستِعلامات (ʾanā ganb kāwntar el-esteʿlāmāt.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Nora as Heba El-Hawwary:.أَنا جَنب كاوْنتَر الاِستِعلامات (ʾanā ganb kāwntar el-esteʿlāmāt.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Heba El-Hawwary:.أَنا جَنب كاوْنتَر الاِستِعلامات (ʾanā ganb kāwntar el-esteʿlāmāt.) |
| Expansion |
| Michael: In some languages, not only pronouns, but also verbs change when the level of politeness changes. This doesn't exist in Arabic, which makes navigating politeness a much easier and more fun task. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Nora: !سلام (Salām!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide