Learn how to count in Egyptian Arabic
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Intro |
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| Michael: How do you count things in Egyptian Arabic? |
| Nora: And how is it different from Modern Standard Arabic? |
| Michael: At ArabicPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben and Farida are in a store buying drinks for a party. Ben says to the shop clerk, |
| "Two bottles of Pepsi, please." |
| .إزازتين بيبسي لَوْ سَمَحت (ʾezāztīn bībsī law samaḥt.) |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee:.إزازتين بيبسي لَوْ سَمَحت (ʾezāztīn bībsī law samaḥt.) |
| Farida Fahmy:.وأَنا عايِزَة تَلات أزايِز مَيَّة، لَوْ سَمَحت (waʾanā ʿāyzah talāt ʾzāyez mayyah, law samaḥt.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee:.إزازتين بيبسي لَوْ سَمَحت (ʾezāztīn bībsī law samaḥt.) |
| Michael: "Two bottles of Pepsi, please." |
| Farida Fahmy:.وأَنا عايِزَة تَلات أزايِز مَيَّة، لَوْ سَمَحت (waʾanā ʿāyzah talāt ʾzāyez mayyah, law samaḥt.) |
| Michael: "And I would like three bottles of water, please." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you'll learn how to count things in Egyptian Arabic. Counting is one of the most important things to learn when you get started with a new language. It is used in a wide range of topics making it pretty much unavoidable. Let's start by taking a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Ben says, "Two bottles of Pepsi, please?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Nora as Ben Lee: .إزازتين بيبسي لَوْ سَمَحت (ʾezāztīn bībsī law samaḥt.) |
| Michael: In this case, Ben and Farida are in a store, so they will need to mention the number of items they buy, and, eventually, they will have to pay at the cashier. Numbers numbers numbers. First off, Ben wants two bottles of pepsi. Here, we are counting bottles. Ben wants two bottles, so he had to use the dual form of the noun meaning "bottle". Since the dual form already includes the meaning of duality, there is no need to write the number 2. Thus, 2 bottles simply is |
| Nora: إزازتين(ʾezāztīn) |
| Michael: while the singular form is |
| Nora: إزازة(ʾezāzah) |
| Michael: Then, he specified that they are 2 bottles of pepsi by adding the type of drink, which is |
| Nora: بيبسي (pepsi) |
| Michael: meaning pepsi, right after the noun. Then, he ends his request with |
| Nora:لَو سَمَحت (law samaḥt) |
| Michael: meaning "please." Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. Do you remember how Farida says "And I would like three bottles of water, please?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Nora as Farida Fahmy:.وأَنا عايِزَة تَلات أزايِز مَيَّة، لَوْ سَمَحت (waʾanā ʿāyzah talāt ʾzāyez mayyah, law samaḥt.) |
| Michael: Farida decides that she wants 3 bottles of water. Here, we notice that the plural form |
| Nora: أزايز (ʾazāyez) |
| Michael: meaning "bottles" is used. Before the noun comes the counting number |
| Nora: تلات (talāt), |
| Michael: meaning "three." After the count and the noun, comes the type of bottle ordered, which happens to be a bottle of water |
| Nora: مَيَّة (mayyah) |
| Michael: meaning "water." So all in all, "three bottles of water" would be: |
| Nora: تَلات أزايِز مَيَّة (talāt ʾazāyez mayyah) |
| Michael: You may choose to say |
| Nora: أنا عايزَة (ʾanā ʿāīzah) |
| Michael: meaning "I want" in the beginning of the order sentence like Farida, but it is not necessary, as we have seen in Ben’s sentence. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: In Arabic, numbers have gender. In Modern Standard Arabic, the gender of the number changes according to the counted object. Thankfully this link between the gender of the number and the gender of the counted object doesn’t exist in Egyptian Arabic, which makes for a much easier counting experience, so let’s discuss Egyptian Arabic specifically. In Egyptian Arabic, as in the dialogue, the rule is that if you are counting Arabic origin nouns, like 3 bottles, 4 bottles, 5 bottles, up to 10, the number will be in the masculine form, |
| Nora: تَلات أَزايِز، أَربَع أزايِز، خَمَس أَزايِز (talāt ʾazāyez, ʾarbaʿ ʾzāyez, ḫamas ʾazāyez) |
| Michael: On the other hand, if you are counting 11 or more of the object, like 15 bottles, 25 bottles you use the feminine form of the digits part of the number, so you would say |
| Nora: خَمَستاشر، خَمسَة وعشرين (ḫamastāšr, ḫamsah ūʿšrīn) |
| Michael: The second and last thing you need to know about counting objects, is that you use the dual form of the noun when you count 2 of the object, plural form of the noun if you count 3 to 10 of the object, and you use the singular form when you count more than 11 of the object. So 2 years is |
| Nora: سَنَتين (sanateīn) |
| Michael: while 6 years is |
| Nora: سِت سِنين (set senīn) |
| Michael: and 66 years is |
| Nora: سِتَّة و سِتّين سَنَة (settah we settīn sanah) |
| Michael: That means that knowing the singular, dual, and plural forms of nouns is essential to be able to count freely. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson you learned how to count objects in Egyptian Arabic. Unlike Modern Standard Arabic, where you have to always care about the gender of the counted nouns, in the Egyptian variant you just have to care for the quantities. When counting up to ten objects, you need to always use the masculine form of the number. When counting more than ten objects, you need to always use the feminine form of the number. Then when it comes to the form of the counted noun, you use the dual form of the noun when you count 2 of the object, the plural form of the noun if you count 3 to 10 of the object, and you use the singular form when you count more than 11 of said object. |
| 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 Ben Lee says "Two bottles of Pepsi, please?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Ben Lee: .إزازتين بيبسي لَوْ سَمَحت (ʾezāztīn bībsī law samaḥt.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Nora as Ben Lee: .إزازتين بيبسي لَوْ سَمَحت (ʾezāztīn bībsī law samaḥt.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Ben Lee: .إزازتين بيبسي لَوْ سَمَحت (ʾezāztīn bībsī law samaḥt.) |
| Michael: And do you remember how Farida Fahmy says "And I would like three bottles of water, please?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Farida Fahmy:.وأَنا عايِزَة تَلات أزايِز مَيَّة، لَوْ سَمَحت (waʾanā ʿāyzah talāt ʾzāyez mayyah, law samaḥt.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Nora as Farida Fahmy:.وأَنا عايِزَة تَلات أزايِز مَيَّة، لَوْ سَمَحت (waʾanā ʿāyzah talāt ʾzāyez mayyah, law samaḥt.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Farida Fahmy:.وأَنا عايِزَة تَلات أزايِز مَيَّة، لَوْ سَمَحت (waʾanā ʿāyzah talāt ʾzāyez mayyah, law samaḥt.) |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: When buying vegetables and fruits in Egypt, we don’t ask for "5 apples" or "3 lemons." We use kilos. Since kilos aren’t of Arabic origin, we only use it in the singular form, which means that the number used to count it will be in the feminine form. So, you would normally ask for |
| Nora: تَلاتَة كيلو مانجَة (talātah kīlū māngah) |
| Michael: meaning 3 kilos of mango. Local produce is cheap and people usually buy big quantities without worry. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Nora: !سلام (Salām!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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