INTRODUCTION |
In this lesson, we’ll cover an extremely important phrase: “Where is the bathroom?”. |
GRAMMAR POINT |
In Egyptian Arabic, “Where is the bathroom?” is: |
feen el ḥammām? Most of the time, this expression is used when you are invited to someone’s home. |
Let’s break it down: |
(slow) feen el ḥammām? |
Once more: |
feen el ḥammām? |
فين الحمام؟ |
The first word, feen, means “where”. |
(slow) feen |
feen |
The next words, el ḥammām, mean “the bathroom.” |
(slow) el ḥammām. |
el ḥammām. |
Let’s hear the whole question one more time. |
(slow) feen el ḥammām? |
feen el ḥammām? |
You can also say “toilet” in English instead of ḥammām. |
(slow) toilet |
toilet |
It will be: |
feen el toilet? |
(slow) feen el toilet? |
feen el toilet? |
فين التويليت؟ |
・ |
If you are looking for the ladies’ room, just take the phrase we just learned feen el ḥammām? remove the el and add this at the end - el settaat. It will sound like this: |
feen ḥammām el settaat? |
Let’s break it down: |
(slow) feen ḥammām el settaat? |
Once more: |
feen ḥammām el settaat? |
فين حمام الستات؟ |
el-settaat can be translated as “the women”. |
(slow) el settaat. |
el settat. |
Let’s repeat the whole question. |
(slow) feen ḥammām el settaat? |
feen ḥammām el settaat? |
فين حمام الستات؟ |
・ |
If you are looking for the men’s room, just replace the word settaat which means “women” with reggaala which means “men”. |
feen ḥammām el reggaala? |
Let’s break it down: |
(slow) feen ḥammām el reggaala? |
Once more: |
feen ḥammām el reggaala? |
فين حمام الرجالة؟ |
reggaala means “men”. |
(slow) reggaala |
reggaala |
Let’s hear it one more time: |
(slow) feen ḥammām el reggaala? |
feen ḥammām el reggaala? |
・ |
Let’s hear both of the sentences one more time: |
feen ḥammām el settaat? |
feen ḥammām el reggaala? |
・ |
In Egypt, it may not always be easy to find a toilet. If you are on the street especially, you will definitely want to ask: “Where is the nearest toilet?” In Egyptian Arabic that is translated as: |
feen ‘a’rab ḥammām? |
Let’s break it down: |
(slow) feen ‘a’rab ḥammām? |
Once more: |
feen ‘a’rab ḥammām? |
فين أقرب حمام؟ |
The new word in this sentence is ‘a’rab translated in English as “the nearest”. |
(slow) ‘a’rab |
‘a’rab |
Let’s hear the whole sentence again. |
feen ‘a’rab ḥammām? |
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