Learn some common Egyptian Arabic idioms
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Intro |
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| Michael: What are some common Egyptian Arabic idioms? |
| Nora: And how are they used? |
| Michael: At ArabicPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Karen is chatting with her neighbor, who uses an idiom Karen is unfamiliar with. So she asks her neighbor, |
| "What does "light blood" mean?" |
| يَعني إيه "دَمُّه خَفيف"؟ (yaʿnī ʾeīh "dammuh ḫafīf"?) |
| Dialogue |
| Karen Lee:يَعني إيه "دَمُّه خَفيف"؟ (yaʿnī ʾeīh "dammuh ḫafīf"?) |
| Randa Rizk:.يَعني ظَريف (yaʿnī ẓarīf.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Karen Lee:يَعني إيه "دَمُّه خَفيف"؟ (yaʿnī ʾeīh "dammuh ḫafīf"?) |
| Michael: "What does "light blood" mean?" |
| Randa Rizk:.يَعني ظَريف (yaʿnī ẓarīf.) |
| Michael: "It means "to be funny."" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you'll learn about Egyptian Arabic idioms. Idioms are groups of words that represent a meaning that is not evident from looking at the words themselves. A good example for this is the English "a piece of cake," meaning that something is very easy. We usually use idioms to emphasize the message we try to deliver to the listener. Let’s get started by taking a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember what idiom Karen asks about? |
| (3 seconds) |
| Nora: دَمُّه خَفيف (dammuh ḫafīf) |
| Michael: As we heard, the literal meaning of this phrase is "light blood," but it's used to indicate someone or something that is funny or witty. If you are the life of the party and your friends think you're funny, then congratulations, you have light blood! At least in Arabic. You can use the word |
| Nora:ظَريف (ẓarīf) |
| Michael: instead, to mean funny, but the idiom is much more commonly used than this adjective. On the other hand, what do you think dull people who aren’t very funny would be called? If you guessed "heavy-blooded," then you guessed right! |
| Nora: دَمُّه تقيل (dammoh tʾīl) |
| Michael: literally means "he is heavy-blooded," but translates as "he is dull or uninteresting." |
| Michael: Idioms are an important part of using a language. Even if you are content with using simpler expressions, you need to at least be able to understand commonly used idioms. Let’s look at some more idioms that describe people. |
| Nora: بالُه طَوِيل (baloh ṭawīl) |
| Michael: literally "his mind is long." This one is not very easy to guess from its components, but |
| Nora: بال (bal) |
| Michael: means "mind" and |
| Nora: طَوِيل (ṭawīl) |
| Michael: means "long." The actual meaning, though, is "he is patient." Then, we have a slightly easier to guess idiom |
| Nora: قَلبُه أَبيَض (ʾalboh ʾabyaḍ) |
| Michael: literally "his heart is white." Obviously, no heart is white in color, but, inside this idiom, the color indicates something else. |
| Nora: قَلب (ʾalb) |
| Michael: means "heart, while |
| Nora: أَبيَض (ʾabyaḍ) |
| Michael: means "white." Together as an idiom, it means "he is kind." A fun part about idioms is that many of them have opposites. For example: |
| Nora: بالُه قُصَيَّر (baloh ʾoṣayyar) |
| Michael: meaning "his mind is short." In this case, it holds an opposite meaning, namely "he is impatient." Then, we have |
| Nora: قَلبُه إسوِد (ʾalboh ʾeswed) |
| Michael: literally meaning "his heart is black." As you may have guessed, it means "he is unkind" and also, depending on the context, sometimes means "he is unforgiving." |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Asking what certain words or expressions mean is crucial when studying a new language, especially if you want to master idioms that you're not familiar with. Do you remember the word Randa used to explain the idiom? It’s |
| Nora: يَعني (yaʿnī) |
| Michael: You use it before you say the explanation or synonym of the word or expression in question. It is also used to ask what something means. For example, you can ask |
| Nora: يَعني إيه دَمُّه تقيل؟ (yaʿnī ʾeīh dammoh tʾīl?) |
| Michael: meaning "What does ‘he is heavy-blooded’ mean?" So the way that you use it here is by asking |
| Nora: يَعني إيه (yaʿnī ʾeīh). |
| Michael: Then, you follow it with the word or expression you are inquiring about. That’s it, you have a full question—in which case, your Egyptian friend would answer |
| Nora: يَعني غِلِس (yaʿnī ġeles) |
| Michael: meaning "It means ‘dull’." Wrapping up: to ask what something means, you use the expression |
| Nora: يَعني إيه (yaʿnī ʾeīh) |
| Michael: followed by the word or expression you want to ask about. Then, when someone answers the question, they will say |
| Nora: يَعني (yaʿnī) |
| Michael: followed by the explanation or a simpler synonym. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Idioms vary drastically between different Arabic dialects and variants. When you learn a new idiom, it is a good idea to check whether that idiom translates similarly to Modern Standard Arabic and other dialects because, most of the time, it won’t! Get ready to use the questions that you learned in this lesson a lot! |
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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