Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ArabicPod101.com. Keeping Fit in the Arab World. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 22 - Becky Here.
Nora: I'm Nora.
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use adverbs of frequency and the past continuous, and how to talk about being in shape The conversation takes place in a park.
Nora: It's between John and Maha.
Becky: The speakers are friends, so they will use informal Arabic. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
جون: كنت أمارس الرياضة دائماً عندما كنت في أمريكا.
مها: ماذا عن الآن؟
جون: أذهب إلى النادي أحياناً. أنا مشغول جداً هذه الأيام.
مها: أنا أريد أن أمارس الرياضة باستمرار أيضاً ولكن..
جون: ولكن ماذا؟
مها: الواقع أنني لا أذهب إلا نادراً لأني كسولة جداً.
Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
جون: كنت أمارس الرياضة دائماً عندما كنت في أمريكا.
مها: ماذا عن الآن؟
جون: أذهب إلى النادي أحياناً. أنا مشغول جداً هذه الأيام.
مها: أنا أريد أن أمارس الرياضة باستمرار أيضاً ولكن..
جون: ولكن ماذا؟
مها: الواقع أنني لا أذهب إلا نادراً لأني كسولة جداً.
Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation
John: I used to work out all the time when I was in America.
Maha: What about now?
John: I go to the sports club sometimes. I'm very busy these days.
Maha: I want to work out frequently too but...
John: But what?
Maha: Actually I rarely go, because I'm very lazy.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Becky: Nora, is Physical Education important at schools in Egypt and in the Middle East in general?
Nora: Unlike many other countries that rely on schools for Physical Education, most public schools don't give much attention to activities other than studying and classes.
Becky: What do children and people in general do?
Nora: Children have to resort to sports club for sports. That said, many sports clubs don't require memberships, but in the long run it's cheaper to have a membership in a sports club and it gives you many privileges.
Becky: That makes sense.
Nora: If you are in the Arab world short-term, it's better to get a gym membership instead of a sports club one because they are more private and you can find them on almost every street in the Arab world.
Becky: That’s a good tip. What’s the Arabic word for “gym”
Nora: It’s very simple, it’s جيم (jem)
Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Nora: كنت [natural native speed]
Becky: I used to
Nora: كنت[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Nora: كنت [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Nora: الرياضة [natural native speed]
Becky: sports
Nora: الرياضة[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Nora: الرياضة [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Nora: عندما [natural native speed]
Becky: when
Nora: عندما[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Nora: عندما [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Nora: الآن [natural native speed]
Becky: now
Nora: الآن[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Nora: الآن [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Nora: النادي [natural native speed]
Becky: the sports club
Nora: النادي[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Nora: النادي [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Nora: مشغول [natural native speed]
Becky: busy
Nora: مشغول[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Nora: مشغول [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Nora: أيضاً [natural native speed]
Becky: as well, neither
Nora: أيضاً[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Nora: أيضاً [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Nora: الواقع [natural native speed]
Becky: reality
Nora: الواقع[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Nora: الواقع [natural native speed]
Becky: And lastly..
Nora: كسول [natural native speed]
Becky: lazy
Nora: كسول[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Nora: كسول [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is..
Nora: عندما (ʿindamā)
Becky: meaning "when"
Nora: This word is very important, not only in talking about past habits, but also in talking about future actions and hypothetical actions.
Becky: This means that it can be followed by a past, present, or future tense verb. Nora, can you give us an example using this word?
Nora: Sure. For example, you can say.. سأتصل بك عندما أصل إلى الفُندُق. (saʾattaṣil bika ʿindamā ʾaṣilu ʾilā al-funduq.)
Becky: ..which means "I'll call you when I get to the hotel." Okay, what's the next phrase?
Nora: هذه الأيام (haḏihi al-ʾyaām)
Becky: meaning "these days"
Nora: Hadihi' means “these,” and al'ayyam means “the days.” Think of it as an idiom meaning "lately."
Becky: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Nora: Sure. For example, you can say.. أنا مكتئب حقاً هذه الأيام. (ʾanā muktaʾibun ḥaqqan haḏihi al-ʾayyām.)
Becky: .. which means "I'm really depressed these days." Okay, what's the next phrase?
Nora: لأني (liʾannī)
Becky: meaning "because I.."
Nora: This expression is very compact, as it consists of three parts, ل meaning “because,” أن meaning “that,” and ي meaning “I” or “me.
Becky: It's used to explain reasons. It is usually followed by a verb or an adjective. Can you give us an example?
Nora: Sure. For example, you can say.. سأخرج لأني أشعر بالملل. (saʾaḫruǧu liʾannī ʾašʿuru bilmalal.)
Becky: .. which means "I'll go out because I'm feeling bored." Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use adverbs of frequency and the past continuous. In Arabic, the way to distinguish the normal present tense from the present continuous tense is by looking at the adverb of frequency used in the sentence.
Nora: This means that the present tense and the present continuous tense are exactly the same in Arabic.
Becky: Let’s see the most common frequency adverbs in Arabic. For example, what’s the Arabic for “always”?
Nora: دائِماً dāʾiman
Becky: “often” and “usually”?
Nora: “often” is غالِباً (ġaliban) and “usually” is عادَةً (ʿādaẗan)
Becky: “sometimes”?
Nora: أَحيْاناً (ʾaḥyānan)
Becky: and “rarely”?
Nora: نادِراً (nādiran). It’s not always the case, but please notice that all of these usually take a ما after them, then the verb.
Becky: Ok, could you give us some sample sentences with these adverbs of frequency?
Nora:Yes, for example عادَةً ما اَستَحِم قَبلَ أَن أَنام. (ʿādaẗan mā astaḥim qabla ʾan ʾanām.)
Becky: Which means “I usually take a shower before I sleep.”
Nora: Here is another نادِراً ما أَتَحَدَّث مَع جَدّي. (nādiran mā ʾataḥaddaṯ maʿ ǧaddī.)
Becky: “I rarely talk to my grandfather.”
Nora: أَذهَب إلى الكَنيسَة بِاستِمرار. (ʾaḏhab ʾilā al-kanīsah bistimrār.)
Becky: “I go to church regularly.”
Nora: In this last example, we used the adverb بِاستِمرار (bistimrār) which doesn’t take a ما after it.
Becky: We said at the beginning that the present tense and the present continuous tense are exactly the same in Arabic.
Nora: Right, that’s why if the sentence didn’t have any of those frequency adverbs, most likely the verb can be translated into a present continuous verb in English. One of the examples we just saw without an adverb would be أَنا أَستَحِم. (ʾanā ʾastaḥim.)
Becky: which means “I’m taking a shower.” Ok, now let’s see the past continuous.
Nora: In the dialogue, we had كنت أمارس الرياضة (kuntu umarisu al riyaadah)
Becky: meaning “I used to play sports.”
Nora: This is a very interesting form, because in meaning, it implies the past continuous or a past habit such as “I used to…”, but in form, it’s a combination of the word kuntu, which can be translated as “was” followed by the present tense.
Becky: In a way it’s close to the English “I used to” followed by a verb, but the difference is that in Arabic, the word that corresponds to “was” is actually conjugated according to the subject. Let’s try to understand this form through some examples:
Nora: For example, كُنتُ أتَحَدَّثُ مَع مَها البارِحَة. (kuntu ʾataḥaddaṯu maʿ mahā al-bāriḥah.)
Becky: “I was talking to Maha yesterday.”
Nora: Here we have kuntu, meaning “I was” or “I used to,” depending on the context. In this sentence, we have “yesterday” so that implies that it is in the past continuous form. Let’s see an example of the other meaning, for example كُنتُ أُدَخِّن قَبلَ أَن أتَزَوَّج. (kuntu ʾudaḫḫin qabla ʾan ʾatazawwaǧ.)
Becky: which means “I used to smoke before I got married.”
Nora: Here we can understand from the second part of the sentence, “before I got married”, that it is a habit of the past.
Becky: Let’s see how the word meaning “was” conjugates.
Nora: The first person singular is كُنتُ (kuntu)
Becky: which means “I was” or “I used to”.This never changes whether the speaker is a man or a woman.
Nora: for the second person singular we have كُنتَ (kunta) in the masculine form and كُنتِ (kunti) in the feminine form
Becky: which can both be translated as “You were” or “You used to”
Nora: كانَ (kāna)
Becky: “He was” or “He used to”
Nora: كانَت (kānat)
Becky: “She was” or “She used to”
Nora: كانوا (kānū), please note that in the written form, there is also a ا in the end, which is a silent letter
Becky: this means “They were” or “They used to”
Nora: Finally, the dual version is كانا (kānā)
Becky: Which means “They (both) were” or “they both used to”. Ok, let’s wrap up this lesson with a couple of sample sentences
Nora: كُنتُ أَذهَبُ إلى النادي دائِماً. (kuntu ʾaḏhabu ʾilā al-nādī dāʾiman.)
Becky: “I used to go to the sports club always.”
Nora: كان يَأكُلُ في هَذا المَطعَم مُنذُ ساعَة. (kān yaʾkulu fī haḏā al-maṭʿam munḏu sāʿah.)
Becky: “He was eating at this restaurant an hour ago.”

Outro

Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Nora: إلى اللقاء (ʾilaā al-liqaāʾ)

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