Learn how to use comparatives and superlatives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ArabicPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 19 - How Green is Egypt? Becky Here. |
| Nora: السلام عليكم. I'm Nora. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to form comparatives. The conversation takes place in Mohammed's classroom. |
| Nora: It's between the teacher, Mohammed, and his classmate Mariam. |
| Becky: The speakers are in school, so they’ll be using informal Egyptian Arabic. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| المدرس : تفتكروا ايه هى انضف دولة فى العالم ؟ |
| محمد : ممممم...فرنسا ؟ |
| المدرس : تخمين كويس. فرنسا هى عاشر دولة فى قايمة انضف عشر دول. |
| مريم : هى مصر انضف من فرنسا ؟ |
| المدرس : لأ للأسف مصر مش من ضمن قايمة انضف عشر دول . خمنوا تاني |
| محمد : ممكن تديلنا أى اشارة . |
| المدرس : هى فى امريكا الجنوبية . |
| مريم : انا عارفة ! كولومبيا هى انضف دولة فى العالم ! |
| المدرس : صح ! برافو عليكى . انت اذكى طالبة فى الفصل . |
| مريم: لأ يا استاذ الأيفون بتاعى هو اذكى طالب فى الفصل . |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| المدرس : تفتكروا ايه هى انضف دولة فى العالم ؟ |
| محمد : ممممم...فرنسا ؟ |
| المدرس : تخمين كويس. فرنسا هى عاشر دولة فى قايمة انضف عشر دول. |
| مريم : هى مصر انضف من فرنسا ؟ |
| المدرس : لأ للأسف مصر مش من ضمن قايمة انضف عشر دول . خمنوا تاني |
| محمد : ممكن تديلنا أى اشارة . |
| المدرس : هى فى امريكا الجنوبية . |
| مريم : انا عارفة ! كولومبيا هى انضف دولة فى العالم ! |
| المدرس : صح ! برافو عليكى . انت اذكى طالبة فى الفصل . |
| مريم: لأ يا استاذ الأيفون بتاعى هو اذكى طالب فى الفصل . |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Teacher: What country do you think is the cleanest country in the world. |
| Mohammed: Ummm... France? |
| Teacher: That is a good guess. France is 10th on the top 10 list. |
| Mariam: Is Egypt cleaner than France? |
| Teacher: No, unfortunately Egypt did not make the top 10 list. Keep guessing. |
| Mohammed: Can you give us a hint? |
| Teacher: It is in South America. |
| Mariam: I know! Colombia is the cleanest country in the world! |
| Teacher: That is correct! Great job. You are the smartest student in the class! |
| Mariam: No, teacher, my iPhone is the smartest student in the class. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Nora, is technology at school common in Egypt and in the Arab world in general? |
| Nora: Just like everywhere else in the world, technology is on the rise in the Arab world. Many students have cell phones, iPods, and laptops. |
| Becky: Those devices can have an impact on the classroom environment... |
| Nora: That’s true, and using a cell phone for personal reasons in class can still get you in trouble, but many schools are incorporating computers and mobile devices into their educational programs to keep up with the increasingly technologically-savvy world. |
| Becky: Is Wi-Fi common in schools? |
| Nora: In many places, it’s common for students to go to Internet cafes to use Wi-Fi for both educational and entertainment purposes. |
| Becky: What’s the Egyptian Arabic pronunciation for “iPhone”? |
| Nora: أَي فون It’s the same word transliterated in Arabic letters. |
| 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: انضف [natural native speed] |
| Becky: cleanest/cleaner |
| Nora: انضف[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: انضف [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: تخمين [natural native speed] |
| Becky: (you) guess |
| Nora: تخمين[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: تخمين [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: اوروبا [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Europe |
| Nora: اوروبا[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: اوروبا [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: اشارة [natural native speed] |
| Becky: hint |
| Nora: اشارة[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: اشارة [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: عارفة [natural native speed] |
| Becky: knowing |
| Nora: عارفة[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: عارفة [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: اذكى [natural native speed] |
| Becky: smartest |
| Nora: اذكى[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: اذكى [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: دولة [natural native speed] |
| Becky: country |
| Nora: دولة[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: دولة [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Last we have.. |
| Nora: للأسف [natural native speed] |
| Becky: unfortunately |
| Nora: للأسف[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: للأسف [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 word is.. |
| Nora: انضف |
| Becky: meaning "cleanest" |
| Nora: This is the superlative form of the word نظيف which means "clean." Note that if you put the word min من after this expression, you can form the comparative form. |
| Becky: Can it be used in any context? |
| Nora: In Egyptian Arabic, it can be used to describe almost anything from cars to watches to food, but it shouldn't be used when describing people! It might be taken as an insult to the person being compared to! |
| Becky: That’s good to know! Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Nora: Sure. For example, you can say.. المعادي أنضف حتة في مصر. |
| Becky: ..which means "Maadi is the cleanest area in Egypt." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Nora: تخمين |
| Becky: meaning "(you) guess" |
| Nora: This is the imperative form of the verb "to guess." |
| Becky: You can use this word whenever you want someone to guess the answer to a question. |
| Nora: Forming a sentence with this structure is very easy. Simply put the word خمن before a sentence! |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Nora: Sure. For example, you can say.. تخمين حلو! |
| Becky: .. which means "Good guess!" Okay, what's the next word? |
| Nora: اوروبا |
| Becky: meaning "Europe" |
| Nora: Most country names end in an alef ا vowel in Egyptian Arabic. |
| Becky: That makes things a bit easier! Can you give us an example? |
| Nora: We have aspania for “Spain”, italia for “Italy” and also continents, like aasia for “Asia”. |
| Becky: However, not all countries follow this rule. |
| Nora: Right, as is the case with el bortoġal, meaning “Portugal”, and el yaban, which means “Japan”. |
| Becky: Listeners, keep in mind that in Egyptian Arabic, like in Standard Arabic, almost all country names are feminine nouns. Nora, can you give us an example using the word “Europe” in Arabic? |
| Nora: Sure. For example, you can say.. أوروبا قارة كبيرة. |
| Becky: .. .which means "Europe is a big continent." |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use comparatives and superlatives in conversation. |
| Nora: It’s simple! In Arabic, there are elative forms of adjectives that are used for both comparatives and superlatives. |
| Becky: Elative adjectives are invariable and take three regular forms. |
| Nora: Yes, they are أفعَل (afʿal), أفعى (afʿa) and أفعلّ (afʿl) |
| Becky: Let’s see them one by one. |
| Nora: The first one, أفعَل (afʿal), is the most common form. |
| Becky: Can you give us some examples for this, Nora? |
| Nora: كبير (kibiir) meaning “big” becomes أكبر (akbar) |
| Becky: which can mean both “bigger” and “biggest” |
| Nora: سهل (sahl) meaning “easy” is أسهل (ashal) |
| Becky: which can mean both “easier” and “easiest” |
| Nora: طيب (ṭayyib) meaning “nice” is أطيب (aṭyab) |
| Becky: which can mean both “nicer” and “nicest” |
| Nora: The second form is أفعى (afʿa) which corresponds to adjectives that end in ـي (-i) or ـو (-w). |
| Becky: Let’s give some examples for this form. |
| Nora: For example, حلو (ḥelw), meaning “sweet” or “nice” becomes أحلى (aḥla) |
| Becky: Which can mean both “sweeter” and “sweetest” |
| Nora: غالي (ġaali) meaning “expensive” becomes أغلى (aġla) |
| Becky: Which can mean both “more expensive” and “most expensive”. |
| Nora: The third form is أفعلّ (afʿl) which corresponds to adjectives with a doubled root, which are verbs that have doubled letters, like lazza (لذّ), which means to “become delicious” |
| Becky: Please give us an example from this third form too. |
| Nora: لذيذ (laziiz) meaning “delicious” becomes ألذ (alazz) |
| Becky: “more delicious” and “most delicious”. Nora, is there an irregular form? |
| Nora: Yes, the adjective meaning “good” كويس (kwayyis), which becomes أحسن (aḥsan) |
| Becky: meaning “better” and “best”. Now let’s talk about how to form a comparison between two things in Arabic. |
| Nora: To do that, you use the elative adjective followed by the preposition من (min). For example القميص ده أغلى من ده. |
| Becky: “This shirt is more expensive than that one.” |
| Nora: حسين أطول مني . |
| Becky: “Hussein is taller than me.” |
| Nora: To form a superlative, comparing one thing to multiple other things, you can use the elative adjective followed by an indefinite noun. This usage is the most common in informal speech. For example هو أصغر ولد . |
| Becky: “He's the youngest boy.” |
| Nora: القاهرة أكبر مدينة في مصر. |
| Becky: “Cairo is the biggest city in Egypt.” |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check the lesson notes for more examples and explanations. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Nora: مع السلامة |
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