Saturday

Ya Reit يا ريت - if only

This phrase looks strange because it contains يا which is usually put in front of someone's name when talking to them. This يا however is just part of the phrase. يا ريت has several different translations. It all just depends on the context. It can mean "if only", "hopefully", "I wish", and other meanings that have to do with wishful thinking. In MSA it is pronounced and written as يا ليت (ya leit) and means the same things.

Example Sentences:

1. يا ريت تعجبكن الصور (ya rayt t'ajibkun assuwar) - Hopefully you guys like the pictures
2. يا ريت كنا نضل صغار (ya rayt kinna ndall izghaar)- If only we had stayed young

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would like to ask, in that sentence you use نضل to mean 'we stay' right? Do you use that word to mean 'we stay at some place' as well?

Thank you in advance, and I would like to express my deepest gratitude for your hard work that you've put into your blog, really your blog has done wonders to my spoken Arabic. Thank you very much.

-Huda

The Arabic Student said...

You are welcome. :) And yes, نضل can mean to stay at a place too. خلينا نضل هون = Let's stay here.

Er said...

You sounded like a PROFESSOR, not a STUDENT...

Thanks for teaching me..

Anonymous said...

Hi there

Just wanted to add something concerning previous question

ضل=

*to stay,to remain(in any place)
*to continue,keep on ....

انا ضليت بالبيت=ana Dallet bel-bayt
=I stayed at home

بيضل يحكي=byeDall ye7kee=He goes on talking

يا ريت

يا ريت=can be translated also as
"I wish that....I hope that ....

يا ريت شتت امبارح!!=ya reet shattat embaare7=If only it had rained yesterday!!

ياريت كنت بقدر=ya reet kont ba2dar=I wish I could



Enjoy!!!
Czarek

Aaron G Myers said...

Hey just stumbled across your site today. Looks great and if I ever move on from Turkish to Arabic, I will certainly stop back by. Like what you are doing with the videos.

Anonymous said...

انا فعلاً سعيد اني وجدتُ هذا البلوغ! فيديوك يساعدني كثيراً إذ تستعمل الفصى والشامي! سوف أبقى أن أشاهد الأشياء التي تفعل! شيء آخر أريد أن أعرف...تعرف الفصى والشامي أيضاً او أي تعريف الحسن! بدي أحكي النوعان من العربيي ولكني أعرف الفصى حسن من الآخرى لكني أظن أني رح اضل الفصى معظم الوقت ولكن الشامي نفس الوقت!