Arabic Saying: Hit the Iron while it's Hot

I am subscribed to the Jordan TV channel RoyaTV on YouTube.  They put up a lot of stuff so I don't watch it all, but today I happened to click on a clip titled على رأي المثل : اضرب الحديد وهو حامي. The show is called على رأي المثل ('ala ra'i almathal) which is how you say in Arabic "as the saying goes".  They go around and ask people what a saying means.  This is absolutely perfect for those learning Arabic.  You get a bunch of different people talking about what common Arabic sayings mean to them.  Since the channel is Jordanian the responses are in Jordanian and Palestinian dialect, but these sayings mean the same thing everywhere.  The saying in this clip is "hit the iron while it's hot". 

اضرب الحديد و هو حامي يعني ما تأجلش الموضوع. ساويه هسا او... يعني ما تأجلوش ساويه هسا
Hit the iron while it's hot means don't postpone the issue.  Do it now or... I mean don't postpone it.  Do it now.

(The ش at the end of تأجل is there to negate it.  This is used in Palestinian dialect.  ساويه means do it.  هسا means now.  It comes from هذه الساعة and in some places is said with an ع. هسع.)

اضرب الحديد و هو حامي يعني... تفوت بموضوع او... مش شرط موضوع بس... يعني حعطيك مثل.  يعني مثلا صار في مشكلة او اشي.  تروح تحكي مع الانسان بالمشكلة او بتفوت بالموضوع على طول قبل ما يبرد الموضوع.  لا؟  مش هيك؟  ما بعرف.
Hit the iron while it's hot means... enter into an issue or... it doesn't have to be an issue but... I mean I'll give you an example.  I mean for example, (if) there is a problem or something, go talk with the person about the problem or enter into the issue right away before the issue gets cold.  No?  That's not it?  I don't know.

(The phrase here مش شرط means "it doesn't have to be".  A شرط is a condition or a term in an agreement.  In حعطيك the ح indicates future tense.  على طول means "right away".)

دق الحديد و هو حامي... اذا ناويت... اي واحد اذا ناوى يعمل شغلة و فيها خير و توكل على الله يعملها على طول

Hit the iron while it's hot... if I intended... anyone if he intended to do something and it's good (he should) rely on God and do it right away.

(دق is a dialect word for hit.)

لما يضرب الحديد و هو حامي يعني لازم يعمل اشي و لساته بمحله. بوقته
When someone hits the iron while it's hot it means that one should do something while it's still in its place.  In its time.

بظن المثل بيحكي انه لما يكون عندك فرصة على طول تستغلها و ما انه ما منستنى.  ما منستنى لاشياء تصير انه عشان احيانا الاشياء ما بتتحسن.  فانه على طول لما يكون في فرصة منستغلها منشان احتمال تكون احسن فرصة.
I think that the saying says that when you have an opportunity, take advantage of it right away and don't... we don't wait.  We don't wait for something to happen because sometimes things don't get better.  So, right away when there's an opportunity we take advantage of it because it might be the best opportunity. 

(The word يستغل means "to take advantage of an opportunity".  Young people use the word انه in Jordan a lot.  It's a filler a lot of the time.  Like the word "like" in the US.  Literally it means "that".  رجائي قواس has a comedy bit making fun of this.)

دق الحديد و هو حامي معناته بس يجي بحياتك فرصة كبيرة او انه حتى لو فرصة صغيرة يعني خذها و انت واثق من حالك و احتمال تطلع انه فرصة كبيرة و بتغير بحياة الواحد
Hit the iron when it's hot means whenever a big opportunity comes into your life or, even if it's a small opportunity, I mean, take it and be sure of yourself and it's possible that it will turn out to be a big opportunity and (it could) change a person's life.

(The word تطلع here means "to turn out to be".)

يعني لحق الموضوع و هو يعني بالقمة تبعته.  يعني اذا كنت متخانقة مع حدا و بدك تعمل اشي استغل الفرصة و اعمل الاشي الي بدك تعمله
It means catch the issue while it is, I mean, at its pinnacle.  I mean if you were fighting with someone and you want to do something, take advantage of the opportunity and do the thing that you want to do.

يعنى انا و سها تخانقنا... صح؟  بروح بحكي معها دغري عشان ضربت الحديد و هو حامي
If Suha and I were fighting... right?  I (would) go talk with her right away so that I hit the iron while it's hot.
             

Jordanian FemaleShow You Tube Channel

I think I stumbled on this You Tube channel because it is part of a channel I subscribe to called Tahsheeshat تحشیشات (which is also worth visiting by the way).    This channel is called FemaleShow and it is done by a Jordanian girl named Teema.  Rajae Qawwas a Jordanian comedian also makes appearances as he does in this episode.  This stuff has a pretty high production quality and it's great for learning Levantine dialect.  There are subtitles and the stories are actually entertaining.  They're pretty modern and not conservative which is nice.

I've taken my favorite episode and written out some of the things they say along with the time that they are said.

رجائي.  خلصو الحجج.  ما يضل إشي أحكي لأهلي.  ما هو حل من حلين.  يا منخطب, يا منترك.

Rajae, the excuses have run out.  There’s nothing left that I can tell my family.  The solution is one of two things.  Either we get engaged or we break up.

Here ما هو just means "it's". ما is not a negation here. Also, the two يا's here, the first one means "either", the second one means "or".  That's how "either, or" is done in Levantine dialects.  Also often times they'll put إمّا after the يا. Like يا إمّا منخطب يا إمّا منترك.  Same thing.

أنا مش انسان حقير بده يوقّف عقبة بطريقك. 1:30

I’m not a lowlife who wants to stand as a obstacle in your path.

بده - This can either mean "he wants to" or "he's going to".  You have to figure it out from context. Here either one works.

حقير - This is MSA and dialect.  It means lowlife.

طبعاً هلق بده يضبّطها بس أنا متأكدة ما رح يلاقي وحدة زيّ بتحبه.  أنا كتير حلوة يعني... جمال بدوي و عيون عليا. 5:53

Of course now he’s going to fix her (get with her), but I’m sure that he won’t find anyone who loves him like I do.  I’m very beautiful… Beduin beauty and ‘Alia’s eyes.

 زيّ - means مثلي , "like me"

I'm not sure who exactly 'Alia is, but the saying means that she has pretty eyes.

بدي أطلب منك طلب بس أنا عارف أنه ممكن يكون محرج شوي 6:04

I want to ask you for something but I know that it might be a bit embarrassing.

محرج - embarrassing 

لا أنا ما منحرج.  عادي

No, I don’t get embarrassed.  No problem.

عادي - this means "normal", but is used often to mean "no problem" or "don't worry".

لا مأنا خايف أنك تتوتري

No, I’m afraid that you will get stressed.

The م at the front of انا means, "it's just that I'm" here.  You can really just get rid of the م and the sentence means the same thing.  

لا أنا كتير هادية و ما بتوتر

No, I’m very calm and I don’t get stressed.

رهيب. رهيب.  بدي مكبس

Great.  Great.  I need a stapler.

لا ماما نسیت تعملي ساندويش اليوم باجي معكم 7:22

No, Mom forgot to make me a sandwich today.  I’ll come with you.

بدك تضل تعرض كتير يعني؟  و جدي عنده جبل و بعرفش مين عنده طيارة.  خلاص.  وفّرلي الحكيات هذول لحدا يكون مهتم بالموضوع لأني أنا مش مهتم نهائياً بالموضوع.  و خلينا نتغدى و إسكت و إدفع 10:00

You want to keep BSing?  My grandpa has a mountain and I-don’t-know-who has a plane.  Whatever, save all this talk for someone who cares about it because I really don’t care about it.  And let’s have lunch and be quiet and pay.

عرض - means "to present", but here "BSing" is better. 

بعرفش مين - literally "I-don't-know-who", or "so and so"

نهائياً - at all

رجائي يا رجائي, رجائاً! بيكّفي تتصل فيّ. يعني أنا تعدّيت هاي المرحلة و عن جد عن جد بتمنالك تشعر نفس الشعور و تتعداها انت كمان.  خلينا نكون أصدقاء أحسن.  13: 20

Rajae, oh Rajae.  Please!  Stop calling me.  I mean I’ve put this stage behind me and I really really hope that you’ll feel the same feelings and put it behind you too.  It’s better if we’re just friends.

The guy's name, رجائي sounds like رجائاً (please), so it's a play on words.

 تعدّى - means "to pass", "to cross", but here it means "to put something behind you", which is pretty much the same thing.

 عن جد - really 

       

Palestinian Jokes Explained in English

So there's this show on the Jordanian TV channel Roya (رؤيا) called نكت شوارع (Street Jokes) where this guy Mohammad Lahham (محمد لحام) goes around to different locations and asks people to tell him a jokes. There have been 2 seasons of the show thus far and he's been to many places in both Jordan and Palestine. I'd like to see the show branch out to Lebanon and Syria in the future. For me, the ability to understand jokes in a foreign language is the epitome of mastering the language which is why I really like to watch Arabic comedy and joke shows. They have the hardest type of speech to understand.

One thing I've noticed from watching shows like this is that every country has a city whose people they consider stupid and who they make fun of in jokes. In Palestine it's people from الخليل (Hebron), in Jordan it's people from الطفيلة (Tafilah), and in Syria it's people from حمص (Homs). I can't remember which Lebanese city gets made fun of, but they make fun of people from Homs too. This is all in fun though, they don't really consider the people from these places dumb. It's like old Polack jokes in the US. No one really thinks all Polish people are stupid.

For this post I've taken a few jokes from the Ramallah episode of Street Jokes. I realize that explaining jokes makes them not funny, but this is about learning the language better. The jokes are told in Palestinian dialect and they aren't so easy to understand, but having the text makes it easier.



1.

في واحد بيشعر حاله كلب. فراح عند الدكتور النفساني. يقله يا دكتور أنا بشعر حالي كلب. قاله كيف تشعر حالك كلب؟ قاله لما أحك حالي... بضل أحك في حالي زي الكلاب, بضل أعوي زي الكلاب. قاله الدكتور من ومتى تشعر حالك كلب؟ بيقله من و أنا جرو

There was a guy who thought he was a dog so he went to the psychiatrist.
He says to him, "Doctor, I feel like I'm a dog."
He said to him, "How do you feel like you're a dog?"
He said to him, "When I scratch myself... I'm always scratching myself like dogs, I'm always barking like dogs."
The doctor said to him, "How long have you felt that you are a dog?"
He says to him, "Since I was a puppy."

The hard part of this joke for me was understanding how he was saying "how long" at the end of the joke. I knew it had to be something like that from context. The way he says it sounds like "min wemta" من ومتى. Instead of "mata" متى (MSA) or "emta" امتى (most other Levantine dialects and Egyptian).

جرو - puppy
حك - to scratch
عوى - to bark
ضل - to keep on doing something, to stay

2.

في أربعة سمر سمر سمر. حطو عليهم حذام أحمر. ليش؟ عشان دعاية لكيت كات

There were four very dark guys. They put a red belt around them. Why? For a Kit Kat ad.

The kid says حذام. I'm assuming he means حزام for belt.

دعاية - advertisement, commercial
حط - to put

3.

مرة جاجة تحممت بشامبو جونسون. باضت بيضة بلا قشرة

Once a chicken took a bath with Johnson shampoo. It laid an egg without a shell.

Often jokes will start with مرة which is "one time" or "once". In Palestinian and Jordanian they say جاج or جاجة instead of دجاجة. This joke may have gone over some heads. It's a pun. The word قشرة means "shell" and also "dandruff". On shampoo bottles it will say ضد القشرة (anti-dandruff). So when the chicken took the bath with the shampoo it got rid of the egg shell, not the dandruff.

بلا - without
قشرة - shell, dandruff
باض - to lay an egg

4.

واحد بيضل يحط بالشامبو دودة. ليه؟ لأنه مكتوب عليه دعه لثواني معدودة

A guy kept putting a worm in the shampoo. Why? Because it had written on it, "Leave it for a few seconds." (Leave it for a few seconds with a worm.)

The reason this joke is funny is because the word معدودة (a few) sounds just like مع دودة (with a worm).

5.

مرة واحد خليلي بيبيع في دكانة فإجا واحد صيني بده يشتري 10 قناني كولا. الاول الصيني بيقله يسشتينسشتينسشتينسش كولا؟ و الخليلي بيقله بدك 10 قناني شو؟

Once a guy from Khalil was selling in his shop. A Chinese guy came and wanted to buy 10 bottles of cola. First the Chinese guy said to him (Chinese impression) cola? The Khalili says, "You want 10 bottles of what?"

This is funny because the only thing that the Khalili didn't understand was the word "cola" which the Chinese guy said in Arabic/English. Somehow he understood all the Chinese.

دكانة - a shop
إجا - to come
قناني - bottles

6.

الخاروف لما تقطع رجليه شو بيصير؟ غيمة

What does a sheep become when you cut off its legs? A cloud.

Pretty self explanatory. A sheep is fluffy like a cloud. :)

List of Best Levantine Dialect Lessons

This list includes the best Levantine dialect (Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian, Palestinian) lessons that I've done on this site over the past few years. The lessons are all taken from Arabic media, mostly TV shows, that way you hear how the words are actually said and you get them in context.

Just a side note, if you're learning Lebanese, for example, the Syrian lessons will still help you and vice versa. The Levantine dialects are so similar that there is a ton of shared vocabulary and the pronunciations are nearly the same.

*Updated April 18, 2012*

Syrian:

Lesson from the TV show بقعة ضو (Spotlight)
Lesson from جميل و هناء (Jamil and Hanaa)
"From your mouth to the gates of heaven"
Children Song اسناني واوا (My teeth hurt)
Comedy from فزلكة عربية (Fazlaka Arabia)
Children Song بابا تليفون (Dad! Phone!)
Another lesson from بقعة ضو (Spotlight)
"Don't talk about me"
Lesson from الحب المستحيل (Impossible Love)
Lesson from عليا (Aliya)
"Have a little shame"
"What can I tell you"

Lebanese:

Lesson from اجيال (Generations)
Lyrics from "This Car Won't Run" by Fairouz
Lesson from Dr. Hala
Lesson from جويل (Joelle)
Lyrics from Dominique Hourani song معقول مش معقول
Jokes from اهضم شي (The Nicest Thing)
Lyrics from ختيار على العكازة (The Old Man on the Cane) by Faris Karam
Lyrics from الواوا (The booboo) by Haifa Wehbe
Haifa Wehbe talks about her love for Hasan Nasrallah
Lyrics from Libnani by عاصي الحلاني
Lyrics from Ouf Ouf by Nelly Makdessi

Jordanian:

Lesson from Jordanian comedy group بث بياخة
Bedouin folk song by Fu'ad Hijazi

Palestinian

Palestinian Jokes Explained in English

This guy really wants a visa!

This guy Alaa Wardi (علاء وردي) wrote this song about being bored in Saudi Arabia and wanting to leave but not being able to get a visa. It's pretty funny. And no offense to anyone from Saudi Arabia. I wrote out the lyrics, translation, and some explanations. He's singing in Jordanian dialect.




انا علاء وردي قاعد بالسعودية
باكل بشرب بنام و عالفيسبوك بسهر (الله يلعن هالفيسبوك)
من كثر ما انا قرفان كتبت هالاغنية
كمان 8 اغاني زيها و كبيتهن بالزبالة

I am Alaa Wardi here in Saudi Arabia
I eat, I drink, I sleep and I stay up all night on Facebook. (God curse this Facebook.)
Because I'm so bored I wrote this song.
And 8 other songs like it that I threw in the trash.

- The word قاعد literally means "sitting", but in Jordanian, Iraqi, and Saudi dialects it isn't used to always literally mean sitting down. For example, انت قاعد تشرب؟ doesn't mean "you're sitting down drinking?". It really just means, "you're having a drink?". قاعد is thrown in in various places. So, he doesn't literally mean he's sitting in Saudi Arabia. He just means he's there.

- The word بسهر (bashar) has 2 meanings. It can mean "to stay up late" or "to be partying at night", like a "soiree". The word has both of those connotations. Here he means that he stays up all night on Facebook. Also he is sarcastically saying that he "parties" on Facebook.

- قرفان is "bored".

- To كب something in the trash (زبالة) means "to throw it in the trash".


يا شباب انقذوني
يا شباب طلعولي فيزا
يا شباب حلقولي شعري
و قبل ما انجن

Guys, save me.
Guys, send me a visa.
Guys, they cut my hair.
Before I go insane.


صارلي 9 شهور قاعد بالرياض
و مش شايفلي بنت من زمان
كان بدي روح على كندا بس ما طلعلي فيزا
قاللي روح ايراني معفن قلتإله (كس اختك)

I've been here in Riyad for 9 months.
I haven't seen a girl in a long time.
I wanted to go to Canada but they didn't give me a visa.
He told me, "Get out of here you stinking Iranian." I told him, "Go fuck yourself."

- من زمان - "for a long time"


يا شباب انقذوني
يا شباب طلعولي فيزا
يا شباب النجدة النجدة
و قبل ما انجن
انجن!


وصلت الفكرة

Guys, save me.
Guys, send me a visa.
Guys, help, help.
Before I go insane.

You get the idea.

Jordanian Dialect Lesson

I mentioned the You Tube comedy channel بث بياخة (bathbayakha) a while back and in this lesson we'll be disecting one of their songs. It's in Jordanian dialect, but this dialect is very similar to the other Levantine dialects (Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian) so if you're learning one of those, then this lesson will help you. One simple way to distinguish Jordanian dialect from the other dialects in the Levantine family is from the way they pronounce the letter qaf ق . They pronounce it as "g" as in "goal" just like the Gulf and Iraqi dialects. You'll notice that a lot in this song. I wrote the translated lyrics in blue so you can pick them out more easily from among the explanations.

• اسمعيني - Listen to me

• فتحي دينيكي- Open your ears
  

He says اسمعيني because he is talking to a girl. He would say اسمعني if he were addressing a guy. And دينيكي is literally "your two ears". They don't use the plural of ears when referring to a person's ears. They use the dual. In MSA "your (2) ears" is أُذُنَيكِ. In many dialects they change ذ to د or ز. You can see that they changed the ذ to a د in this case.

• انا و انتي صارلنا سنين متجوزين و بنينا عيلة من يوم عرسي و انا متاكد ان حياتنا شنق ليلة - You and I have been married for years and we've built a family. From my wedding day I was sure that our life would be great.

صار means here "it has been". Another example would be قديش صارلك بلبنان -"how long has it been for you in Lebanon". صارلنا is literally صار لنا -"it has been for us". It isn't all one word, but most of the time it is typed that way. I know I used to get very confused by stuff like that, thinking that the little add-ons were part of the root of the word. "I can't find the 4 letter root صرلن anywhere!!!"

عيلة is عائلة which means family in MSA.

شنق ليلة is a phrase I had to ask about. It's specifically Jordanian. It literally means "choking the night", but figuratively it means "awesome" or "really great".

• كل شي كان عسل حتى لو انك ماكلي بصل - Everything was honey even if you ate onion.

This is a figurative phrase. Not literal, obviously. It's just a way to say how nice his life was. That is... before... she did something terrible!

• بدي منك تسمعيني اكمل كلمة ككلمة - I want you to listen to me say what I have to say.

Literally اكمل كلمة is literally "complete a word" but "let me say what I have to say" gets the idea across better.

• بتذكر بعد العرس لما رن جرس البيت فتحتي الباب حكيتي كلمة لواحد ازعر قد الحيط - I remember after the wedding when the doorbell rang and you opened the door and spoke to some lowlife.

The word is تذكر. So, I remember would be بتذكر and you remember would be بتتذكر. Don't think that the ت in the word in the sentence indicates "you". It's just part of the word. The word رن is just like our word "ring". It's an onomatopoeia which is when a word sounds like its meaning.

ازعر is a negative word to refer to a guy. I chose to go with "lowlife". قد الحيط is something that confused me and I asked several places about it. Everyone told me that it means someone who is really big which is what you would get when you thought about the definition. It literally means "as big as the wall". However, that doesn't make sense here as the guy she sees at the door isn't huge. Maybe he's just exaggerating like in the rest of the song. But I have it from many sources that قد الحيط refers to someone who is very large.

• عامل حالي مش عارف بس انا فاهم كل الطبخه - I pretended like I didn't know, but I understand everything that's happening.

عامل حالي is how you say "I pretended to be". I pretended not to see would be عامل حالي مش شايف . "I make my condition not the seer."

انا فاهم كل الطبخة - I understand everything that's going on. "She's cooking something up." الطبخة is used in kind of the same way we'd use it in English. طبخة is literally a plate of food or something being cooked.

• صاير وضعك مش طبيعي شو؟ شايفتيني لطخة؟ - You've changed. What? Do you think I'm stupid?

صاير وضعك مش طبيعي - "Your condition has become unnatural" is a literal translation, but "you've changed" sounds better.

شايفتيني - You see me

لطخة - stupid

بتخونيني - You betray me.

Also could be translated as "you cheat on me".

• كومستير - I found you out.

I had to ask about this one too. This is a word that is shouted in Arabic hide and seek, which is called غُمَيضة, when you find someone. It makes sense to call the game that because the root غمض means "to close your eyes". كومستير is not an Arabic word and it must have been taken from somewhere else. We don't yell that in the US when playing hide and seek as far as I know. The word sounds Italian to me. Anyone know?

• شفتك لما دخلتي عند ابو سامح تبع الخضرا - I saw you when you went into Abu Samih's vegetable shop

ابو سامح تبع الخضرا - Literally, this is "Abu Samih of the vegtables" تبع is a strange word. My book - الكتاب تبعي

• وزنلك كيلو بطاطا و انا عارف كان نفسك خضرا - He weighed a kilo of potatoes for you and I knew you wanted vegetables.

نفسك means "you want". This is used a lot in Egyptian, but I haven't heard it in other Levantine dialects. I was surprised to hear it in Jordanian.

• و مرة عالاشارة لما اجاكي ذاك الشب بده يبيعك حبة علكة تعطر تمك تروي القلب - And one time at the stop light when that guy came up to you. He wanted to sell you a piece of gum to freshen your breath and quench your thirst.

تعطر تمك - means literally "to give your mouth a good smell". The noun عطر means "perfume" and it's believe that's where we got the word "odor" which has come to mean "a bad smell" even though in Arabic it means a good one. If you didn't know that عطر meant "perfume" you could have just typed it into Google and looked at the images.

The root روى is MSA and means "to quench thirst". I don't think I've ever heard that gum "quenches thirst" in English, but you get the idea. "To satisfy you" might be better.

الاشارة - stoplight

ذاك الشب - that guy

• قلتيله شكراً حبيبي. حبيبي؟؟؟ - You said to him "Thank you, habibi." Habibi???

Habibi literally means "my love", but it can be used in a very platonic way which is how the girl was using it. Something similar in English would be "thanks, hunny". It can be meant for your boyfriend or anyone at all. The singer of the song just gets jealous very easily :).

• مالك؟ مش عارف. بظن في اشي محلق بزوري - What's wrong with you? I don't know. I think there's something stuck in my throat.

You'll notice that he says إشي instead of شي . You can distinguish that someone is Palestinian or Jordanian if they use إشي . I was standing in line at the airport and heard a girl taking on her phone in Arabic and she used this word. I asked her, انت فلسطينية مو هيك؟ (you're Palestinian, right?) and she was so surprised that I knew that :P.

محلّق بزوري - stuck in my throat

• جاجة ورا ثلاجة و جاجة راكبة دراجة و جاجة ورا جاجة وين؟ فوق الثلاجة و جاجة - A chicken behind the fridge and a chicken riding a bike and a chicken behind a chicken. Where? On top of the fridge. And a chicken.

There is no deeper meaning to that chicken stuff. :) The guy singing is just supposed to be random and funny. I thought it meant something or was a joke only Jordanians would understand but after asking around, nope.

• و انت كمان يا صاحبي واقف معي شو ما يصير بتخاف علي اكيد و ع مرتي اكتر بكتير. اكيد! - And you, my friend always stand with me no matter what happens. You worry about me, for sure, and about my wife so much more. For sure!

بتخاف علي - means more like "you look out for me"

• كان لازم و انا مسافر و انا بعيد قلبي اتطمن من بعد العيشة معك بكون حمار لو ما بتعلم - I had to make sure when I'm traveling and far away that my heart is at ease. After living with you I'd be a donkey if I didn't learn.

The و here doesn't mean "and". It means "when". You'll hear people say انا و صيغر . It doesn't me "me and little". It means "when I was little".

There's a saying that says التكرار يعلّم الحمار (repetition teaches the donkey). So if he didn't learn from all the times she's "cheated" on him, he'd be a donkey.

إتطمن means "at ease". Often someone will say طمّني عليك. It means, let me know how it's going. Literally "put me at ease about you". In MSA الإطمئنان is tranquility, peace of mind, calmness.

• اضطريت اوصي صاحبي بغيابي يضل معكي و بالليل جنبيكي نام يحط ايده حواليكي - I'm forced to instruct my friend in my absence to stay with you and at night to sleep next to you and put his arm around you.

اوصي means to entrust, charge with, etc.

ضل or in MSA ظل means "to stay".

ولو - Naturally!

ولو can be translated different ways. Here, "naturally" is a good translation. You might also put "of course". It's often used in the following situation. If you ask someone for help (some money or something) and they feel offended that you thought they might not help you they could say طبعاً بساعدك ولو "of course I'll help you". I've heard this word used many many times and still have trouble pinning down a good definition and exactly where to use it. There really isn't a perfect equivalent in English.

• حواليكي؟ حواليها؟ - Around you? Around her?

• بتخونيني - You betray me.

• فيثاغورس - Pythagoras

Because it's a love triangle and Pythagoras is the triangle guy in math.

Levantine Arabic - to happen صار

The word صار is one of the most important words to understand in Levantine Arabic because it is used all the time. It's used in all the Levant countries, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, but least used in Jordan. The word is used to mean "to happen" and also has to do with time in some sentences. The example sentences should clear up the word for you. You will also hear the form of this word صاير (saayir) for example in the sentence شو صاير which means the same thing as شو عم بيصير. It's present tense.

Example sentences:
1. شو عم بيصير = What's going on?
2. رح كون جمبك شو ما صار = I will be by your side no matter what happens.
3. قدي صارلك بلبنان؟ = How long have you been in Lebanon?
4. صارلك شهرين غايب عني = You've been away from me for 2 months.

How to Hit on Arab Girls تلطيش

Here are a few phrases you can try out on Arab girls. All but the last one are Lebanese but they will be understood by all Arabs. Don't get mad at me if they don't have the desired effect, but in most cases the girl will think it's cute and smile or laugh since you're a foreigner. However, if it's an Arab guy saying it the result won't be the same. There's a big chance they'll get slapped or at the very least ignored. Use with caution :P. The Arabic word for phrases like this is تلطيش which is "cat calling". The word غزل is "flirting".
The comic says, on the right "Lebanese flirting: You see how big the moon is? That's how much I love you". On the left: "Our flirting (meaning Saudi): I swear I'll punch in the stomach anyone who says your name."

• انت بتتأكلي بلا ملح (Inti btitakli bila milih) - You could be eaten without salt.

This phrase sounds dumb in English, but it's actually something that's said in Lebanon. It's like, "you're so sweet" or something. The idea is that she tastes so good you don't need to put salt on her to eat her. The connotation isn't sexual as it might be taken in English.

• حلو جسمك. شو اسمك؟ - (Helu jismik. Shoo ismik?) - Your body is nice. What's your name?

It's cool because it rhymes. Not as cool in English. :)

• رح جبلك لبن العصفور (Rah jiblik laban al'asfoor) - I will bring you birds' milk

So the idea with this one is that since birds don't have milk you're basically saying "I'll do the impossible for you" or "I'll do anything for you". I think this is used in countries outside the Arabic world as well because I read it on a Russian site. Needless to say it definitely wouldn't be understood in English speaking countries.

• تقبريني (tu'burini) - Bury me

This one is a phrase of endearment. It's like saying "I'd die for you" or "you're to die for". You can even use it to address someone. You can say to your girlfriend or someone you love يا تقبريني which would be like "oh one who buries me".

• شو هالجسد يا اسد (Shoo hal jasad ya asad) - What a body you lion!

Another rhyming one. Saying lion here is like calling a girl a fox in English.

• شو هالنطة يا بطة (Shoo hal nuttah ya battah) - What's this bouncing you duck!

A girl with a big chest and big butt is called a بطة (duck) in Arabic slang. If you look at a picture of a rubber ducky you can see why.

• شو هالطعجة يا نعجة (Shoo hal ta'je ya na'je) - What a swagger you ewe (female sheep).

This is just like the two above it. It's a cat call. I wouldn't call it a pick up line. It's something some Arab guys will say as a girl is walking by. This one is used in Jordanian and I'm not really sure if it would be understood elsewhere, so if you have a female Jordanian friend try this out and see what she says. :)

Omar Abdallat: Deer Balak Ablaadak

When I was in Jordan I took taxis wherever I went.  They're really cheap compared to taxis in the US and they're everywhere.  I don't see the need to own a car if you live in Amman.  Anyway, sometimes the taxi drivers would have music playing and if I told them I was learning Arabic they would always try to test me by asking me what the song playing on the radio was saying.  Usually I could only pick out words and phrases, especially if the song was Jordanian.  Lebanese and Egyptian songs I can understand without too much trouble, but Jordanian, Gulf, and Iraqi songs I have trouble with, especially if they are poetic songs with a real meaning.  Pop songs are pretty simple most of the time.  I don't feel very discouraged by finding songs difficult to understand though.  I can rarely understand what songs in English are saying the first time I listen to them.  Songs put emphasis on strange syllables and lengthen and shorten words in order to go with the rhythm of the song which makes understanding everything difficult even for native speakers of the language. 

Here is one of my (now) favorite songs that I heard in a taxi in Amman.  It's sung by Omar Abdallat (عمر عبداللات) who specializes in singing songs about Jordan, things like the police, the cities, Bedouins, King Abdullah, and basically anything praising the country.  The song is called Deer Balak Ablaadak (دير بالك ع بلادك) and means something like "look out for your country."  The song is very bagpipe heavy like a lot of the national music in Jordan.  I found that rather strange but I guess it's a relic from the British mandate there.  When you go to the Roman ruins around the country there are usually a few people playing bagpipes for tips.  The lyrics are posted below the song.  Enjoy!



حيو سيدنا حيوه الأردن ما في زيو
دير بالك عبــــلادك بـالعلالي خليها
زي ما بتحب ولادك جـواة عيونك خبيها

قولوا الله قولوا الله
ألاردن حلو يا ماشاالله

يا عماني ويا زرقاوي ويا معاني ويا بلقاوي
يا عقباوي ويا ربداوي ويا كركي ويا ماداباوي
يا طفيلي ويا عجلوني ويا جرشي ويا مفرقاوي


أردنية هاشمية مملكتنا هية هية
هية الحب وهية الخير ودير بالك عليها


هالله هالله يا محلاك هالله هالله والله روحي فداك

اردني وراسي عالي وبالعلالي عليناه وعاللالي ولالي ولالي وعليناه

اهواه وافداه سبحان اللي سواه

هو عشقي هو دمي وروحي ونبضي وقلبي وهمي

هو ابويه هو امي وخيي وجدي وخالي وعمي كبار صغار

احرار انغار

وهاي الاردن اغلى دار اهواه وافداه عشقي نبض قلبي دمي روحي معاه

اردن يا حبيب القلب مهما الدرب يوديني

لو لفينا شرق وغرب غيرك ما يملى عيني

قولوا الله قولوا الله
ألاردن حلو يا ماشاالله


يا عماني ويا زرقاوي ويا معاني ويا بلقاوي
يا عقباوي ويا ربداوي ويا كركي ويا ماداباوي
يا طفيلي ويا عجلوني ويا جرشي ويا مفرقاوي


أردنية هاشمية مملكتنا هية هية

هية الحب وهية الخير ودير بالك عليها

حيو سيدنا حيوه الأردن ما في زيو


Vocab List:

• زي ما بتحب اولادك (zay ma bitheb awladak) - like you love your children
• جواة عيونك خبيها (joowaat ayoonak khabiiha) - inside your eyes hide it (Jordan)
• لو لفينا شرق و غرب (low leffeyna sharq oo garb) - if we turned (searched) east and west
• غيرك ما يملى عيني (gheyrak ma yamla aini) - (no one) else but you fills my eye

Levantine Arabic: Words and Phrases

- right away - على راسي ('ala rasi) or على عيني ('ala 'aini)

- please - دخيلك (dakheelak)

- the guys are waiting for us - الشباب ناطريننا (al-shabab naatreena)

- the door is closed - الباب مسكر (al-bab msakkir)

- if only (I wish) - يا ريت (ya rayt)

- ice cream - بوظة (booza)

- give it here, let's see - هات لشوف (haat lashoof)

- God give you health - الله يعطيك العافية (allah ya'teek al-'aafia) and الله يعافيك (allah y'aafeek)

- turn on the A/C - شغّل مكيف الهوا (shaggil mkayyif al-hawa)

- turn off the light - طفي الضو (taffi al-daw)

- loosen the screw - رخّي البرغي (rakhkhi al-burghi)

- pretty young girl (teenage - 25) - فرفورة (farfoora)

- cat - بسينة (bsayni)

- totally lost (like a deaf guy at a wedding) - زي الأطرش بالزفة (zay al-atrash bil-zeffi) 

Trip to Jordan

It's been a while since I've posted and the reason for that is that I've been vacationing in Jordan for a month and a half and the internet at the hotel was slower than dial-up. I saw a lot of the tourist stuff. I went to Petra البتراء, Jerash جرش, Um Qais ام قيس, Aqaba العقبة, and The Dead Sea البحر الميت. All of them were amazing, but what was even better than the sightseeing was the chance to practice Arabic. Everyone is really happy to speak with you, but sometimes you run into the problem of them wanting to speak English and you wanting to speak Arabic since most people have at least basic English. There were positives and negatives to the trip as far as my language learning goes. Something positive was that I was mistaken for being Lebanese almost every time I entered a taxi and any time I started a conversation. I imagine that is due to all the LBC I watch. If the other person started the conversation it would usually be in English because until I start talking I don't look like someone who speaks Arabic. On the flight home the Jordanian man next to me who I was speaking Arabic with asked me if I was from the West Bank or Jordan because he couldn't tell. It makes all the hard work you put into learning a language worth it when someone mistakes you for being a native speaker even when you don't look like you're "from around these parts". I mean I don't exactly look Arab. I'm pretty much the most pasty white person you'll ever meet (Irish and German decent) and I have a lot of freckles.

The negative part of the trip is that now I realize that I still have a lot of studying to do before I can understand everything being said. The Jordanian dialect is like a mix of Iraqi, Palestinian, and Bedouin. They use بدي (I want) but most people pronounce the ق as a 'g'. There were some people I could understand easily and others with whom I was totally lost. Most of the times I was lost were when I was talking with less educated people, and I suppose it's this way wherever you go. When you learn a language your teachers are most likely very educated people as are all the news anchors and media personalities you listen to. Even in soap operas that are in dialect the speech is usually very proper and without too much slang so that Arabic speakers from other areas can watch and understand. The language you learn is, more often than not, the language spoken by people who have college degrees. This is good in a way since you are learning the "proper" way to speak the language, but bad in that you're not getting exposure to less educated ways of speaking. Even when teachers speak in their dialect I find that it's an educated form of the dialect and very different than what is spoken by the poor and uneducated. I'm not really sure how to get exposure to this kind of language aside from living in a few Arabic countries for a while since you can't really find the slang of the streets on TV or online.

All in all I am very pleased with my time in Jordan. It's a great country and even though it is in smack dab in the center of the Middle East and is surrounded by countries plagued by violence it has an extremely low crime rate and the government takes preventing terrorism very seriously. When we went to eat in a 5 star hotel the taxi dropping us off was wiped with a cloth on the steering wheel and the dashboard. We asked the taxi driver why they did that and he told us that it was to test for traces of explosives. Jordan realizes that terrorism is bad for tourism.

Introduction to Levantine Arabic

Levantine Arabic is spoken in the Levant region which is composed of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan. The dialect isn't as different from Egyptian as it is from, say, Iraqi or Gulf Arabic. A few important facts about the Levantine dialect are,

1. Levantine Arabic changes the ق to a ء in most words.
2. ة is changed to ي in most words.
3. The word عم adds -ing to the verb after it.
   
4. The letter ب is added before present tense verbs in most cases. This basically just makes the words flow together better.
   

Here's a list of some high frequency words in the Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, and Palestinian dialects. Since it's really not very helpful to just see a list an not know exactly how to pronounce the words I've made a video of the correct pronunciations of the words along with sentences to show their uses in context.

• What - ايش/شو

شو بدك؟ - What do you want?
ايش عم بيصير؟ - What's going on?

• Where - وين

لوين رايح - Where are you going? (said to a male)

• Why - ليش

ليش ما بترد على جوالك؟ - Why don't you answer your cellphone?

• When - إمتى

إمتى رح ترجع من شغلتك؟ - When are you returning from your job? (basically, when are you coming home from work)

• Who - مين

مع مين عم تحكي - Who are you talking with?

• How - شلون/كِيف

كيف الأجوا الرمضانية - How is the Ramadan atmosphere?

• How much - قًدّيش

قديش الساعة؟ - What time is it?

• Now - هَلّق

هلق انا صرت جاهز - Now I'm ready. (literally, now I've become ready)

• Good - مْنيح

الجو اليوم مش منيح - The weather today is not good.

• Tomorrow - بُكْرة

بكرة رح بتشوفيني - Tomorrow you will see me. (said to a female)

• Yesterday - مْبارِح

وَصَلْتْ مبارح - I arrived yesterday

• Also - كمان

و شو كمان؟ - And what else?

• Only - بَس

بس بدي اشرب الحليب - I only want to drink milk.

• But - بَس

بس ما عرفت إسمه - But I didn't know his name.

• Not - مش

شكلها مش بطال - She doesn't look bad. (مش بطال means "not bad")

• Still - لسة

لسة عم ببرم عليه - I'm still looking for him

• Outside - بَرّا

برا البيت - Outside the house

• Inside - جوّا

جوا قلبي - Inside my heart

• With - مع/وَيّا

عم بحكي وياهن - I'm talking with them.

• Which/Who - إللي/يللي

يللي بيلبس القميص الأصفر - The one who is wearing the yellow shirt.

• To be able to - فيّ

ما في اركض بسرعة - I can't run fast.

• In order to/for/because of - عَشان

عشان خاطري فكري شوي - for my sake think a little bit

• After that - بَعْدين

رح أروح لعند الحكيم و بعدين رح أرجع لعندك - I'm going to go to the doctor and after that I will return to your place. (عند means the "house" or "place of" in this case. حكيم in MSA means "wise man", but in Levantine it means "doctor".)