The goal of #TeamMaha is to make the process of learning and speaking Arabic a bit less maddening for you all, whether that be through offering language study advice, detailed vocabulary and grammar notes, or a bit of much-needed comic relief. I focus mainly on Egyptian dialect here, but you’ll find some Levantine and Modern Standard Arabic posts as well. I, the author, am an Arabic-English translator currently based in Cairo, Egypt. ...
دي حاجة ودي حاجة “Dee haga w dee haga“ Actually means, “Those are two different things.” In the sense of: “I’m nervous about getting my visa renewed here in Egypt because when I was living in Europe they were very strict about paperwork!” And because official procedures are a whole different ball game in Egypt versus Europe, you’d say طب دي حاجة ودي حاجة – literally, ‘Well, this is a thing and this is a thing.” ...
We often instinctively reach for filler words when struggling to string sentences together in a foreign language. These are some of the filler words that I hear most often each day that Egyptian Arabic learners can start using right away to make their speech sound more natural. This post does come with two warnings attached: one, don’t depend on يعني too much because it will harm your capacity for quick-thinking in Arabic / you will start to sound like the Egyptian equivalent of a valley girl, and two, these words WILL make their way into your English speech patterns if you get really good. ...
As we all know, literally no one on the planet speaks Modern Standard Arabic as their native language, and as such, using MSA in normal, daily sounds unnatural and strange. Following is a list of words that FusHa learners often use in conversation while transitioning to colloquial Arabic that are quite abrasive on Egyptian ears. What I’m really trying to say is: you literally sound like you are reciting Canterbury Tales right now. Stop. Please. ...
أنا بموت فيك “Ana bamoot fiik” (‘fiiky’ when said to a girl) “I love you! / You are so great!” If you’ve been searching for a phrase at just the right crossroads of creepy and disturbing to let your loved ones know that you appreciate them, this one’s for you!
يستعبط استعباط رهيب “yasta3bat isti3bat raheeb“ aka, something to the effect of: “He really tried to pull the wool over our eyes” Potent combination of my favorite verb form, Form IX, and most ridiculous grammar structure, المفعول المطلق. [Yasta3bat is a great word that usually means someone is playing dumb. A synonym would be يستهبل and the roots of these verbs, عبيط and اهبل, mean stupid/idiot.]
يا ولاد الجزمة “ya welad eg-gezma“ Similar to, but different from, ‘bastards.’
!يا حاج “Ya hagg!“ “Hey, person that appears to be over fifty years old and thus most likely visited Mecca to perform the Hajj once.” Why yes, those 21 words DID just condense themselves into two syllables.
تشرب سجارة؟ “tashrab sigara?” “Do you want a cigarette?” I cannot fully express to you all how confusing this one is the first time you hear it.
طيازهم تقيلة “teyazhom ta2eela“ Basically means, ‘they’re lazy.’ So accurate tho.