This is a post about some ways to say ‘seem’ and express conclusions about people without saying يبدو (although as with many fuSHa expressions this does sometimes appear in speech as a more formal alternative to the phrases given below).
كإنو ka2énno
This word literally means ‘as if’ (like the fuSHa ka2anna) and is one of the 2ukhawaat 2inna, which in 3aammiyye basically means you can attach pronouns to it (ka2énni, ka2énnak…). Like 2énno, however, the third person masculine form (ka2énno) often appears regardless of the gender and number of the subject. It can also appear quite freely in different positions, including at the end of a sentence and on its own. Its use in the meaning ‘as if’ was covered in this post.
The use we’re talking about here, though, is to mean ‘it seems like’. You can use this to express conclusions in a slightly more polite (I suppose indirect) way than stating them directly. This is a fairly clear extension of the former meaning:
بغض النظر عن الفكرة اللي بدك توصلها .. كأنك تفاعلت زيادة شوي
bighaDD énnaZar 3an élfékra lli béddak twaSSélha… ka2énnak @tfaa3alt @zyaade shwayy
Regardless of the idea you’re trying to put across, it seems like you’ve overreacted a bit
عم دور على كتاب لنزار قباني بس كإنو مو موجود عندك؟
3am dawwer 3ala ktaab la-nizaar qubbaani bass ka2énno muu mawjuud 3éndak?
I’m looking for a book by Nizar Qobbani – but it looks like you don’t have anything by him?
اي كإنو
ee ka2énno
Yeah, it seems that way.
Note that in Palestine, this version is not pronounced ka2inno but kinn-o (while ka2inno is used for the normal meaning ‘as if’).
مبين mbayyen
Mbayyen is a useful word we haven’t discussed here much before. It’s the participle of the verb bayyan, and it literally means ‘clear’ or visible:
لسا مو مبين
léssa muu mbayyen
It isn’t clear yet
اغراضي مبينة شي؟
ghraaDi mbayyne shi?
[Is my bag open in such a way that] you can see my stuff? [= are my things clear/visible]?
مبين عليك خايف
mbayyen 3aleek khaayef
You’re clearly scared
مو مبين عليك عمرك
muu mbayyen 3aleek 3émrak
You can’t tell how old you are/you don’t look it [i.e. that old]!
The fixed feminine form mbayyént- allows addition of pronoun suffixes and means ‘X is obviously…’:
مبينتك مرضان يا حرام
mbayyéntak marDaan yaa 7araam!
You’re obviously ill, you poor thing!
مبينتك وانتي صغيرة مشكلجية
mbayyéntek w2énti zghiire méshkéljiyye!
You [were] obviously a troublemaker when you were small!
In an extension of some of these later meanings, mbayyen is often used to express conclusions drawn from your environment in a way which it would be unnatural or rude to in English with ‘clearly’. This overlaps with the use of كإنو given above (for some speakers – there seems to be some dialectal difference here):
عم دور على كتاب لنزار قباني بس مبين انو مو موجود عندك؟
3am dawwer 3ala ktaab la-nizaar qubbaani bass mbayyen 2énno muu mawjuud 3éndak?
I’m looking for a book by Nizar Qobbani – but it looks like you don’t have anything by him?
شكلو, هيئتو sheklo, hé2to
shekl- and the less common hé2t- are used with pronominal endings. Both literally mean ‘X’s shape is’ and typically translate nicely as ‘he seems…’ or ‘he looks…’ or ‘he sounds’… (etc):
شكلك تعبانة
sheklik ta3baane
You look tired
It can also have a broader meaning of ‘seems like’ similar to those above:
هلق اخر الشهر قابض منيح هيئتك لهيك نازل كترة كذب ونفاق
halla2 aakher éshshahr 2aabeD @mnii7 hé2tak laheek naazil kétret kézb wnifaaq
It’s the end of the month and you’ve put a nice little sum in your pocket [= at the end of the month you’ve been paid good], seems like that’s why you’ve come here with so much lying and hypocrisy
مواليد 2002 وكاتبه الخيانه تاتيك من اقرب الناس شكلو ابوها مسح طيور الجنة
mawaaliid alfeen w@tneen wkaatbe ‘alkhiyaane ta2tiik min 2aqrab annaas’ sheklo 2abuuha masa7 Tyuur éj-Janne
Born in 2002 and she writes [= has written] ‘betrayal always comes from those closest to you’ – looks like her dad deleted Tuyuur al-Janna
الظاهر éZZaaher, يظهر yaZhor
Literally الظاهر (éZZaaher) means something like ‘what appears [to be the case]’ or ‘the situation as it appears’ (cf its meaning in Islamic theology) but this fixed participle is also used to mean ‘it seems’, is the (also fixed) fuSHa يظهر yaZhor. Both of these are fuSHaisms. Syntactically they can either be used with sheklo or are followed (as in fuSHa) by énno:
الظاهر انو انت من جماعة الحكي مش الفعل
éZZaaher énno énte mén jamaa3t él7aki mésh élfa3l
It seems that you’re a talker, not a doer [= from the group of talk not the deed]
الاستاذ يظهر مو سمعان بهاد الحديث
él2éstaaz yaZhor muu sam3aan b-haad él7adiis
It seems that sir has not heard of this hadith