Learn how to ask questions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| May: مرحباً اسمي مي |
| Danya: و أنا دانيا |
| Timothy: Timothy here! Beginner Lesson #4 – Do you have a Pen? Hi, my name is Timothy and I’m joined by May. |
| May: مرحباً بكم. Hello, everyone. |
| Timothy: And Danya. |
| Danya: أهلا بكم في ArabicPod101.com. Welcome to ArabicPod101.com. |
| Timothy: In the last lesson, we learned how to ask what something is. Let’s review. |
| May: ما هذا؟ |
| Timothy: What is this? |
| Danya: هذا قلم. |
| Timothy: That is a pen. |
| May: ما هذا؟ |
| Timothy: What is this? |
| Danya: هذه حقيبة |
| Timothy: “That is a purse.” That wasn’t so complicated. But if you forgot the difference between using هذا and هذه, you may want to review the grammar used in previous lessons. Check out the grammar bank in the learning center at ArabicPod101.com. There, you’ll find a detailed write-up of the grammar points used in our podcast with lots of example sentences and clear explanations. May, what are we talking about today? |
| May: Before class the other day, I realized I didn’t have a pen, so I borrowed one from Danya. |
| Danya: This is a casual polite conversation in standard Arabic. |
| Timothy: Okay, let’s focus on how to ask someone if they have something you need. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| May: هل معك قلم آخر؟ |
| Danya: آه...لحظة من فضلك...نعم, خذي هذا. |
| May: شكرا. سوف أرده لكي بعد قليل |
| Danya: لا تقلقي. يمكنك أن تبقيه معك. |
| Eric: One more time with the translation. |
| May: هل معك قلم آخر؟ |
| Timothy: Do you have another pen with you? |
| Danya: آه...لحظة من فضلك...نعم, خذي هذا. |
| Timothy: One moment please. Yes, take this. |
| May: شكرا. سوف أرده لكي بعد قليل |
| Timothy: Thanks! I will give it to you in a little while. |
| Danya: لا تقلقي. يمكنك أن تبقيه معك. |
| Timothy: Don’t worry, you may keep it. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Timothy: So you just let her keep your pen? Is it common to let people keep your pen? I mean, I always make sure that I get mine back. |
| Danya: That’s because you’re stingy. |
| Timothy: Oh, come on. |
| Danya: No, I’m just kidding. Seriously though, a lot of times it becomes a question of courteousness. |
| Timothy: How so? |
| May: I personally find it inappropriate to request something like a pen back. I mean, unless it’s something really dear to you and you can’t let it go, I wouldn’t think it’s polite. |
| Timothy: Yeah, but if you lend something to someone, won’t you want it back? |
| May: Sure you would! I guess it’s just a cultural difference. In the Middle East, that might be considered ungenerous or stingy. |
| Timothy: Is that only with lending things or… |
| Danya: Well, Middle Easterners tend to be very generous. So, for example, if you’re invited for a meal at someone’s house, don’t be surprised at how much food they’ll make. Even if you’re one person, they’ll make big amounts. |
| May: That is, of course, to show generosity. |
| Danya: Right. I guess it is a cultural difference. I mean, when I first came here to the States and at my college, I would see my colleagues or classmates and we would be standing in a group together and talking, and one of them one time was eating cookies and she just didn’t offer anyone in the group and I thought that was rude. And not that I was hungry or anything but I just would find it more polite and appropriate to offer the people in the group sort of what you’re eating, especially if you’re talking to a person one-on-one…. |
| Timothy: Right. |
| Danya: …and you’re eating, you want to make sure you offer them even if you don’t really know the person. |
| Timothy: So did you ask? |
| Danya: I didn’t ask. |
| Timothy: You didn’t ask for any cookies? |
| Danya: No. |
| Timothy: Man, I would have asked. |
| Danya: No. As I said, I wasn’t really hungry… |
| Timothy: Right. |
| Danya: But just that very concept, I just wasn’t used to it because in Syria or Jordan where I lived, if you’re eating something and you’re standing talking to someone… |
| Timothy: Right. |
| Danya: …you usually just offer. |
| Timothy: You’re just going to offer. Okay. |
| Danya: Yeah. |
| May: Yeah. Generosity is just expected in our culture. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Timothy: Okay. So let’s move on to the vocab now. First word… |
| May: مع |
| Timothy: With. |
| May: مع |
| Timothy: And then we have… |
| May: لحظة |
| Timothy: Moment. |
| May: لحظة |
| Timothy: And then there’s… |
| May: أرد |
| Timothy: I return or I will return. |
| May: أرد |
| Timothy: And then we have… |
| May: بعد |
| Timothy: After. |
| May: بعد |
| Timothy: And then… |
| May: قليل |
| Timothy: While. |
| May: قليل |
| Timothy: And the next word… |
| May: تبقي |
| Timothy: To keep. |
| May: تبقي |
| Timothy: The next word we have is… |
| May: آخر |
| Timothy: Another. |
| May: آخر |
| Timothy: And the next word. |
| May: من فضلك |
| Timothy: Please. |
| May: من فضلك |
| Timothy: And finally we have… |
| May: يمكن |
| Timothy: It is possible. |
| May: يمكن |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Timothy: Great. Let’s have a look at the usage for some of these words and phrases. What’s the first word? |
| May: مع |
| Timothy: With. |
| May: تحدثت مع صديقي. |
| Timothy: I spoke with my friend. |
| Danya: مع can also mean “to have” as in “I have a pen.” |
| May: Yes, but in that case, the emphasis is on you having the pen physically with you. |
| Timothy: Okay. So can we have that in Arabic? |
| Danya: معي قلم. |
| Timothy: “I have a pen”, or “I have a pen with me.” The next word we’re going to use in a sentence is… |
| May: لحظة |
| Timothy: “Moment.” |
| May: انتظر لحظة و أعود. |
| Timothy: “Wait! One moment and I’ll be back.” Now, with the word… |
| May: أرد |
| Timothy: “I return” or “I will return.” |
| May: سأرد لك الكتاب غداً. |
| Timothy: I will return the book to you tomorrow. |
| Danya: The verb أرد could also mean “to answer or respond” as in the following example… |
| May: سأرد على الهاتف. |
| Timothy: “I will answer the phone.” Our next word is… |
| May: بعد |
| Timothy: After. |
| May: الحقلة تبدأ بعد الرابعة. |
| Timothy: “The party starts after 4: 00.” The next word is… |
| May: قليل |
| Timothy: “While.” |
| May: صديقي سيأتي بعد قليل. |
| Timothy: “My friend is coming in a little while.” |
| Danya: In the context of our dialogue, the word قليل means “while.” However, it is usually used to mean “little” or “small in amount.” |
| Timothy: Okay. So in this case, it means like a small amount of time. |
| Danya: Right. |
| Timothy: A little while. |
| Danya: Uh-hmm. |
| Timothy: Okay. Can we get another example? |
| May: الطعام قليل |
| Timothy: “The food is little”, like there’s not much food here. Now we have the word… |
| May: تبقي |
| Timothy: To keep. |
| May: هل تريد أن تبقي الكتاب؟ |
| Timothy: “Do you want to keep the book?” Next word is… |
| May: آخر |
| Timothy: Another. |
| May: أراك يوماً آخر. |
| Timothy: “I will see you another day.” Now we have the phrase… |
| May: من فضلك |
| Timothy: Please. |
| May: انتظريني من فضلكِ. |
| Timothy: “Wait for me, please.” |
| Danya: Actually, most of the time we say من فضلك. |
| Timothy: Isn’t that a regional variation? |
| May: No, not really. It is used everywhere, even in the news. |
| Timothy: Grammatically speaking though, is it correct? |
| May: Yeah. There is no difference between من فضلك and من فضلكِ. |
| Danya: Yeah. Usually the vowels on the end of the words aren’t really stressed. |
| Timothy: Okay. |
| Danya: Because the end vowels change depending on the grammar of the sentence. |
| May: Yeah. So to avoid mistakes and speaking faster more easily, people just don’t use grammatical endings. |
| Danya: Yeah, it doesn’t look good if you try to use them and them make a mistake. |
| Timothy: Okay. So since everyone uses the shorter form, let’s hear it again. |
| Danya: If you’re talking to a man, you would say من فَضلَك. |
| Timothy: Let’s hear that again. |
| May: من فضلَك |
| Timothy: “Please”, when addressing a man. |
| May: من فضلَك |
| Timothy: And when addressing a woman? |
| May: من فضلِك |
| Timothy: “Please”, when addressing a woman. |
| May: من فضلِك |
| Timothy: Finally, let’s look at the word… |
| May: يمكن |
| Timothy: “It is possible.” |
| May: هل يمكن أن أتحدّث إليك؟ |
| Timothy: “Is it possible to speak with you?” |
| Danya: يمكن can also mean “being able to.” For example… |
| May: يمكن لسارة أن تتكلم العربية. |
| Timothy: “Sarah is able to speak Arabic.” Okay. Let’s move on to today’s grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
| Timothy: Today’s grammar point is object suffixes. An object is a word that receives the action of a verb or a preposition. Can we get an example? |
| May: جون يأخذ القلم. |
| Timothy: “John takes the pen.” |
| Danya: Here, the pen is receiving the action of the verb. So pen is an object. Let’s hear another example. |
| May: جون يضع القلم على الطاولة. |
| Timothy: “John puts the pen on the table.” |
| Danya: This sentence has two objects. The pen is receiving the action of the verb, so it’s an object, and the table is the object of the preposition on. |
| Timothy: So basically, in sentences like “I give it to her”, “it” and “her” are the objects. |
| Danya: That’s right. |
| Timothy: Great. So like we said, today’s grammar point is object suffixes. An object suffix is an ending to a word that means “it”, “me”, “him, or “her.” |
| Danya: Instead of being separate words like in English, Arabic attaches object pronouns to the end verbs in prepositions. |
| Timothy: Can we get an example from the dialogue? |
| Danya: يمكنك أن تبقيه معك. |
| Timothy: “You may keep it with you.” |
| Danya: يمكن |
| Timothy: “It is possible.” |
| Danya: يمكنك |
| Timothy: “It is possible for you.” |
| Danya: يمكنك أن |
| Timothy: “It is possible for you to…” |
| Danya: تبقيه |
| Timothy: “…keep it..” |
| Danya: معك |
| Timothy: “With you.” |
| Danya: يمكنك أن تبقيه معك. |
| Timothy: You may keep it with you. |
| May: This example has three object suffixes in it. |
| Timothy: Let’s start from the end. |
| May: معك is formed from the preposition مع or with, and its object “key” or “you.” |
| Timothy: So the two English words “with you” are run together to make one word in Arabic, معك “with you.” |
| Danya: When you just said “with you”, it didn’t sound like two words to me. |
| Timothy: Yeah. I guess we run words together in English, too. I guess the only real difference is when you write the words in Arabic, you actually connect them. |
| Danya: Yeah, I guess so. |
| Timothy: Next example? |
| Danya: تبقيه |
| Timothy: “You keep it.” |
| May: تبقيه is formed from the verb تبقي or “you keep” and its object “who” or “at.” |
| Timothy: Okay. And the last example? |
| Danya: يمكنك. |
| Timothy: “It is possible for you.” |
| May: يمكنك is formed from the verb يمكن or “it is possible” and its object “key” or “you”, it is possible for you. |
| Timothy: All right. For a complete table of object suffixes, make sure to stop by ArabicPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. Now let’s show how we can use object suffixes to help us learn Arabic. |
| Okay, you’ll need your learning partner for this exercise. First, ask your partner if they have something. |
| May: هل معك دولار. |
| Timothy: “Do you have a dollar with you?” |
| Danya: نعم معي دولار. |
| Timothy: “Yes, I have a dollar with me.” Now, ask for the object. |
| May: اعطني الدولار من فضلك. |
| Timothy: “Give me the dollar, please.” |
| Danya: خذيه. |
| Timothy: “Take it.” Don’t forget to be polite. |
| May: شكراً |
| Timothy: “Thanks.” |
| Danya: عفواً |
| Timothy: “You’re welcome.” Let’s hear that conversation again straight through. |
| May: هل معك دولار. |
| Danya: نعم معي دولار. |
| May: اعطني الدولار من فضلك. |
| Danya: خذيه. |
| Timothy: Let’s hear what that would sound like with a feminine object. First, what are we asking for? |
| May: مجلة |
| Timothy: Magazine. |
| May: هل معك مجلة. |
| Danya: نعم معي مجلة. |
| May: اعطني المجلة من فضلك. |
| Danya: خذيها. |
| May: شكراً. |
| Danya: عفواً. |
| Timothy: Great. Now let’s see how the conversation would go if it were with a man. |
| May: هل معكَ دولار. |
| Timothy: نعم معي دولار. |
| May: اعطني الدولار من فضلَك. |
| Timothy: خذيه. |
| May: شكراً |
| Timothy: عفواً. |
| Timothy: So in this conversation, there are three words that changed, depending on the speakers and the object being talked about. |
| May: Yes. If you’re talking to a woman, you’ll use معكِ “with you” and من فضلِك“please.” |
| Danya: And if you’re talking to a man, you’ll use معكَ “with you” and من فضلَك “please.” |
| Timothy: And how does it change from object to object? |
| May: If you’re talking about a masculine object like dollar or euro or any form of currency, you’ll use خذيه, “take it.” |
| Danya: But if you’re talking about a feminine object like a magazine, then you’ll use خذها“take it.” |
| Timothy: Masculine object talking to a man. |
| May: خذه |
| Timothy: Masculine object talking to a woman. |
| May: خذيه |
| Timothy: Okay, feminine object talking to a man. |
| May: خذها |
| Timothy: Feminine object talking to a woman. |
| May: خذيها |
Outro |
| Timothy: Okay, thank you. That’ll just about do it today. Make sure you stop by ArabicPod101.com and check out the detailed write-up in the PDF. Read what others have to say about the lesson and please leave us a comment. |
| May: إلى اللقاء |
| Timothy: Until next time. |
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