Learn how to use verbs of ability
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ArabicPod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 19 - Talking About Your Hobbies in Arabic. Becky here. |
| Nora: I'm Nora. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use ability verbs to talk about what you're good at and what you can't do. The conversation takes place at a coffee shop. |
| Nora: It's between Maha and John. |
| Becky: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal Standard Arabic. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| مها: اخبرني عن هواياتك يا جون. ماذا تفعل في وقت فراغك؟ |
| جون: ألعب كرة السلة أحياناً في عطلة نهاية الاسبوع. |
| مها: أنا لا استطيع لعب كرة السلة لأني قصيرة جداً. |
| جون: ماذا تفعلين في أوقات فراغك إذاً يا مها؟ |
| مها: همم. أنا أجيد السباحة و أحبها كثيراً. |
| جون: حقاً؟ فلنذهب إلى الشاطئ معاً في الصيف إذاً! |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| مها: اخبرني عن هواياتك يا جون. ماذا تفعل في وقت فراغك؟ |
| جون: ألعب كرة السلة أحياناً في عطلة نهاية الاسبوع. |
| مها: أنا لا استطيع لعب كرة السلة لأني قصيرة جداً. |
| جون: ماذا تفعلين في أوقات فراغك إذاً يا مها؟ |
| مها: همم. أنا أجيد السباحة و أحبها كثيراً. |
| جون: حقاً؟ فلنذهب إلى الشاطئ معاً في الصيف إذاً! |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Maha: You never told me about your hobbies before, John. What do you do in your spare time? |
| John: I sometimes play basketball on the weekends. |
| Maha: I can't play basketball because I'm very short. |
| John: What do you do in your spare time then, Maha? |
| Maha: Hmm. I'm good at swimming and I like it a lot. |
| John: Really? Let's go to the beach together in summer then! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Nora, do people play a lot of sports in the Middle East? |
| Nora: Actually, competitive sports are very popular in the Middle East. Championships and tournaments are held monthly and a lot of people get involved. |
| Becky: There are also many Olympic champions from the Middle East, right? |
| Nora: Right, for example the boxer Karram Gaber from Egypt and the runner Habiba Ghribi from Tunisia |
| Becky: Do schools have sports clubs? |
| Nora: Unlike countries that have sports clubs and activities in universities and schools, Egyptians usually go to sports clubs. That's where everybody does sports in Egypt and the Middle East in general. |
| Becky: How do you say “Sports Club” in Arabic? |
| Nora: النادي (Al-nādii) |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Nora: هواية [natural native speed] |
| Becky: hobby |
| Nora: هواية[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: هواية [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: فراغ [natural native speed] |
| Becky: spare (time) |
| Nora: فراغ[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: فراغ [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: كرة السلة [natural native speed] |
| Becky: basketball |
| Nora: كرة السلة[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: كرة السلة [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: استطيع [natural native speed] |
| Becky: I can |
| Nora: استطيع[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: استطيع [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: قصير [natural native speed] |
| Becky: short |
| Nora: قصير[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: قصير [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: أجيد [natural native speed] |
| Becky: I'm good at.. |
| Nora: أجيد[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: أجيد [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: السباحة [natural native speed] |
| Becky: swimming |
| Nora: السباحة[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: السباحة [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: الشاطئ [natural native speed] |
| Becky: beach |
| Nora: الشاطئ[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: الشاطئ [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And lastly.. |
| Nora: معاً [natural native speed] |
| Becky: together |
| Nora: معاً[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: معاً [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: اخبرني عن (iḫbirnī ʿan) |
| Becky: meaning "Tell me about.." This is a very general phrase to ask someone about something. |
| Nora: It’s usually used to ask about personal information or past experiences. |
| Becky: You can put whatever you want to ask about, usually a noun, after this expression and you will get a complete sentence. Let’s give an example! |
| Nora: Sure. Here is a very simple one.. إخبرني عن نفسك. (ʾiḫbirnī ʿan nafsik.) |
| Becky: ..which means "Tell me about yourself." |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Nora: ماذا تفعل (māḏā tafʿal) |
| Becky: meaning "What do you do.." This question is used to ask about habits and things someone does regularly. |
| Nora: Like, for example, what someone does on the weekend, during spring break, or when they wake up. |
| Becky: This expression can’t be used like the English "What do you do?" to ask about someone's occupation, though. Nora, can you give us an example? |
| Nora: For example, you can say.. ماذا تفعل في عطلة نهاية الأسبوع؟ (māḏā tafʿal fī ʿuṭlaẗi nihāyaẗi al-ʾusbūʿ?) |
| Becky: .. which means "What do you (usually) do on the weekend?” Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Nora: فلنذهب إلى.. (falnaḏhab ʾilā..) |
| Becky: meaning "Let's go to", This is a nice way to suggest an outing or an activity to someone. |
| Nora: It doesn't imply that you are interested in the person you're talking to in any way, so use it whenever you want and don't be afraid! Here is an example .. فلنذهب إلى السينما يوم السبت. (falnaḏhab ʾilā al-sīnimā yawm al-sabt.) |
| Becky: .. which means "Let's go to the cinema on Saturday." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use ability verbs while mastering expressions you can use to talk about what you’re good at and what you can’t do. |
| Nora: Let’s start with the expression that allows you to say that you can do something or you are good at something. أستطيع طهي أكل مصري. (astatii’ tahy akl misry), where أستطيع means “I can” |
| Becky: There are two combinations for this expression. It can be followed by the noun form of a verb, as in the example we’ve just seen. |
| Nora: Or it can be followed by أن (an) meaning “to” and a conjugated verb |
| Becky: The conjugated verb symbolizes the present tense form. Its first, second, and third person classification depends on the subject of the sentence. |
| Nora: This means that astatii’ will follow the same conjugation as that verb. |
| Becky: For example, let’s consider “can” with the verb “to do” |
| Nora: For the masculine second person it is تستطيع أن تفعل (tastatii’ an taf’al) |
| Becky: meaning “you can do” |
| Nora: For the masculine third person: يستطيع أن يفعل (yastatii’ an yaf’al) |
| Becky: “He can do” and so on. |
| Nora: The alternative expression is “being good at something." Here, we will use the verb أجيد (ujiid). |
| Becky: this expression can only be followed by a noun, or the noun form of a verb. |
| Nora: Right, for example أنا أجيد كرة القدم. (ana ujiidu kurat al qadam.) |
| Becky: which means “I’m good at soccer.” Now let’s take a look at negation. The easiest way to say that you can’t do something or that you’re bad at something is to negate what we’ve just learned. Let’s talk about how to negate verbs in the present tense. |
| Nora: It’s very simple. Let’s consider the verb أستطيع (astatii’), which we just mentioned and which means “I can.” You just add the two-letter word لا (La) before the verb in the present tense form, and you’re done! |
| Becky: Can you give us an example? |
| Nora: أنا لاأستطيع أن أذهب هناك بمفردي (ana la astatiiú an athhaba hunak bimufradii.) |
| Becky: which means “I can’t go there alone.” It’s that easy, and the same applies for second, third person, masculine or feminine, singular, or plural. Let’s also take a look at the other expression, the one meaning “being good at something” |
| Nora: Again, if you want to say that you’re not good at something, you just have to add the two-letter word لا (La) before أُجيد (ugiid), for example, أنا لا أجيد السباحة. ana la ugiidu al sibaahah. |
| Becky: “I’m not good at swimming.” |
| Nora: other words you could use with the expressions we just saw are كُرَةُ القَدَم kuraẗu al-qadam |
| Becky: meaning “soccer” |
| Nora: كُرَةُ السَلَّة (kuraẗu al-sallah) |
| Becky: “basketball” |
| Nora: الطَهي (al-ṭahī) |
| Becky: which means “cooking.” Let’s wrap up this lesson with a couple of sample sentences |
| Nora: جون يُجيد اللُّغَةَ العَرَبِيَّة. ǧūn yuǧīd al-lluġaẗa al-ʿarabiyyah. |
| Becky: "John is good at Arabic." |
| Nora: أَنا لا أَستَطيعُ قِراءَةِ اللُّغَةِ اليَابانِيَّة. (ʾanā lā ʾastaṭīʿu qirāʾaẗi al-lluġaẗi al-yaābāniyyah.) |
| Becky: "I can't read Japanese." |
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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