Learn how to use comparative and superlative adjectives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ArabicPod101.com This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 18 - Use Your Arabic to Get a Better Price at the Market! Becky Here. |
| Nora: I'm Nora. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives, and some expressions that will be useful when you’re shopping for food. The conversation takes place at the butcher. |
| Nora: It's between John and a butcher. |
| Becky: The speakers are strangers, so they will be using formal Standard Arabic. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| جون: أهلاً. أريد إثنان كيلومن اللحم, لو سمحت. |
| الجزار: هناك لحم محلي و لحم برازيلي. أيهما تفضل؟ |
| جون: أيهما أرخص؟ |
| الجزار: البرازيلي أرخص, لكن المحلي أحلى. |
| جون: كم ثمن البرازيلي؟ |
| الجزار: أربعون جنيهاً للكيلو. |
| جون: حسناً, سآخذ إثنان كيلو منه. |
| الجزار: ثمانون جنيهاً. |
| جون: تفضل. شكراً. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| جون: أهلاً. أريد إثنان كيلو من اللحم, لو سمحت. |
| الجزار: هناك لحم محلي و لحم برازيلي. أيهما تفضل؟ |
| جون: أيهما أرخص؟ |
| الجزار: البرازيلي أرخص, لكن المحلي أحلى. |
| جون: كم ثمن البرازيلي؟ |
| الجزار: أربعون جنيهاً للكيلو. |
| جون: حسناً, سآخذ إثنان كيلو منه. |
| الجزار: ثمانون جنيهاً. |
| جون: تفضل. شكراً. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| John: Hi. I want two kilos of meat, please. |
| The Butcher: There is local meat and Brazilian meat. Which do you want? |
| John: Which one is cheaper? |
| The Butcher: Brazilian meat is cheaper, but local meat is better. |
| John: How much is the Brazilian one? |
| The Butcher: Forty pounds a kilo. |
| John: Ok, I'll take two kilos of that. |
| The Butcher: That will be eighty pounds. |
| John: Here you go. Thank you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Nora, probably one of the most popular images of the Arab World is a colorful and crowded souk. Do you have any good recommendations for visiting a souk? |
| Nora: If you want to really enjoy a سوق (suuq) (or the local market), keep in mind that in Egypt and the Middle East in general, bargaining skills are very important. You will learn how to haggle through practice, and it’s also good to closely watch when locals bargain to see how they do it. |
| Becky: When is the best time to visit a souk? |
| Nora: Go on a Friday only if you want the full experience, because the souks are busiest after Friday prayer. Other than that, go on a weekday when it's less crowded. |
| Becky: Also taking a local with you on your first trip to the souk is always a good idea, because only they are able to tell if you are getting a good price, and how much things should be on average. |
| Nora: That’s right. You don't want sneaky street sellers to take advantage of the fact that you're not a local, do you? |
| Becky: (laughs) I guess we don’t! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Nora: كيلو [natural native speed] |
| Becky: kilo |
| Nora: كيلو[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: كيلو [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: لحم [natural native speed] |
| Becky: meat |
| Nora: لحم[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: لحم [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: أيهما [natural native speed] |
| Becky: which one (of two) |
| Nora: أيهما[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: أيهما [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: رخيص [natural native speed] |
| Becky: cheap |
| Nora: رخيص[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: رخيص [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: كم [natural native speed] |
| Becky: how much |
| Nora: كم[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: كم [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: جنيه [natural native speed] |
| Becky: pound |
| Nora: جنيه[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: جنيه [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: ثمن [natural native speed] |
| Becky: price |
| Nora: ثمن[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: ثمن [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: حسناً [natural native speed] |
| Becky: OK |
| Nora: حسناً[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: حسناً [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: منه [natural native speed] |
| Becky: from it/from him |
| Nora: منه[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: منه [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last.. |
| Nora: سآخد [natural native speed] |
| Becky: I'll take |
| Nora: سآخد[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: سآخد [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Nora: لو سمحت (law samaḥt) |
| Becky: meaning "(If you) please" |
| Nora: The expression law samaht literally means “If you allow." |
| Becky: In a conversation it means "please" and you can put it before or after a request. |
| Nora: It implies politeness and gives a very good impression, so use it whenever you can! |
| Becky: You can also use this expression on its own if the place is crowded and you want to pass through, like you would say "Excuse me." Nora, can you give us an example using this expression? |
| Nora: Sure. For example, you can say.. لو سمحت, اريد أن أمر. (law samaḥt, āurīd ʾan ʾamur.) |
| Becky: ..which means "I want to pass through, please." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Nora: أيهما (ʾayyuhumā) |
| Becky: meaning "which" |
| Nora: This expression literally means "which one of them." It’s made up of two parts: أي (Ay) meaning "which" and هما (huma) meaning "the two." |
| Becky: You can use this expression to ask the question "Which one is better, or bigger, or cheaper?" |
| Nora: Yes, and that would be أيهما أفضَل\ أكبر\ أرخص؟ (ayyuhuma afdal/akbar/arkhas?) |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next expression? |
| Nora: سآخذ… (saʾāḫuḏ...) |
| Becky: meaning "I'll take.." You use this expression when you decide on buying something. |
| Nora: The expression itself is in the future tense. You can also use it in a restaurant to give your order to the waiter. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Nora: For example, you can say.. سآخُذ ثلاثة كيلومن التفاح. (saʾāḫuḏ ṯalāṯah kīlū min altuffāḥ.) |
| Becky: .. which means "I'll take 3 kilos of apples." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives, and some expressions that will be useful when you’re shopping for food. |
| Nora: The most important expressions we need to learn to navigate the loud Arab souk are the ones related to numbers, counting kilos, and prices. |
| Becky: The Arab world uses kilograms, not pounds, to weigh things. Also unlike many countries in the world, you don’t buy apples per apple, you buy it per kilo, especially in Egypt and countries that grow their own vegetables and fruits. As for meat and chicken, you ask for a certain weight, like half a kilogram, for example. Let’s see some of the most common words that you are likely to need in the souk! |
| Nora: دَجاج (daǧāǧ) |
| Becky: “chicken” |
| Nora: لَحم بَقَري (laḥm baqarī) |
| Becky: “beef” |
| Nora: موز (mūz) |
| Becky: “bananas”. Let’s take a look at how to use these kinds of words in combination with the word “kilogram” in Arabic. |
| Nora: the word كيلو (kiilu) meaning “kilogram” is originally a foreign word, so it has no dual or plural form. You just put an ordinal number before the word “kilo” and that’s how you count them, for example واحِد كيلو (wahid kiilu) |
| Becky: “One kilogram” |
| Nora: إثنان كيلو (ithnaan kiilu) |
| Becky: “Two kilograms” |
| Nora: ثلاثة كيلو (thalaatha kiilu) |
| Becky: “Three kilograms” |
| Nora: Adding the item that you want after this combination will give you the phrase “(number) kilo of (item).", for example ثلاثة كيلو طماطم (Thalaatha kiilu tamatem) |
| Becky: “Three kilograms of tomatoes.” That’s pretty easy. Next, let’s discuss comparative forms and superlative forms in Arabic. |
| Nora: Let’s consider the adjective in the dialogue رخيص (rakhiis) meaning “cheap.” |
| Becky: Many adjectives take this form, so we’ll use it as an example. |
| Nora: First, we get the stem of the adjective, which is رخص then we add an أ (A) in the beginning of it and we get أرخص (arkhas) |
| Becky: Forming this is very simple and it has no irregular forms. Let’s take a look at some common adjectives. What is the comparative/superlative form for “sweet” in Arabic? |
| Nora: The stem is حلى, and the comparative form becomes أَحلى (ʾaḥlā) |
| Becky:What is the comparative/superlative form for “short” in Arabic? |
| Nora: The stem is قصر, and the comparative form becomes أَقصَر (ʾaqṣar) |
| Becky: What is the comparative/superlative form for “expensive” in Arabic? |
| Nora: The stem is غلى, and the comparative form becomes أَغلى (ʾaġlā) |
| Becky: Listeners, you can find some more examples in the lesson notes, so be sure to check them! |
| Nora: The good news is that in Arabic, the comparative form is also the superlative form! You understand which one is intended through the context. |
| Becky: Let’s see an example of comparative form. |
| Nora: For the comparative form, the general sentence structure looks like this:جون أطول من محمد. (John atwal min Muhammad.) |
| Becky: meaning “John is taller than Mohamed.” |
| Nora: The way to spot a comparative form is the word من min found after the comparative form. It can mean many things, but when it’s placed after a comparative form, it means “than” as in “taller than..." |
| Becky: Let’s see an example of the superlative form. |
| Nora: For example, آشلي أطول فتاة أعرفها (ashly atwal fataah a’refuha.) |
| Becky: “Ashley is the tallest girl I know.” Just like English, when we find a noun after this form, it means that it’s a superlative form and sets it apart from the comparative meaning. |
| Nora: Another way to tell them apart is if this form has a defining ال (Al-) in the beginning. For example ماريا هي الفتاة الأطول في الفصل (Maria hiya al fataatu al atwal fi al fasl.) |
| Becky: Which means “Maria is the tallest girl in class.” |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Nora: إلى اللقاء (ʾilaā al-liqaāʾ) |
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