Dialogue

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Natasha: Hello, It’s me Natasha.
Judith: Judith here! Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 5, “Finding Places in the Arabic-speaking World.” Hello and welcome back to ArabicPod101.com. The fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Arabic. I’m joined in the studio by...
Natasha: Hello, everyone. Natasha is here.
Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to understand directions in Arabic.
Natasha: This conversation takes place on the phone.
Judith: The conversation is between Muhammad and Julia.
Natasha: This dialogue uses informal Modern Standard Arabic.
Judith: Let’s listen to their conversation.
DIALOGUES
Judith:أين أنت؟ نحن قلقون عليك.
Natasha:أوه... لقد أضعت طريقي. أنا قرب جامع كبير، كبير جدا.
Judith:حسنا، أنا أعرف أين أنت. إنعطفي في الشارع الكبير الى اليسار. ثم سيري بطريق مستقيم حتى المدرسة القديمة، ثم إنعطفي يمينا. هل عرفت؟
Natasha:نعم... أنعطف يمينا ثم أسير بطريق مستقيم حتى المدرسة ومن ثم أنعطف يمينا.
Judith:لا، إنعطفي يسارا أولا. من الجامع الكبير، إنعطفي الى الشارع يسارا، ومن ثم سيري بطريق مستقيم الى المدرسة القديمة، ثم إنعطفي يمينا.
Natasha:حسنا، شكرا لك.
Natasha: Now, slowly.
Judith:أين أنت؟ نحن قلقون عليك.
Natasha:أوه... لقد أضعت طريقي. أنا قرب جامع كبير، كبير جدا.
Judith:حسنا، أنا أعرف أين أنت. إنعطفي في الشارع الكبير الى اليسار. ثم سيري بطريق مستقيم حتى المدرسة القديمة، ثم إنعطفي يمينا. هل عرفت؟
Natasha:نعم... أنعطف يمينا ثم أسير بطريق مستقيم حتى المدرسة ومن ثم أنعطف يمينا.
Judith:لا، إنعطفي يسارا أولا. من الجامع الكبير، إنعطفي الى الشارع يسارا، ومن ثم سيري بطريق مستقيم الى المدرسة القديمة، ثم إنعطفي يمينا.
Natasha:حسنا، شكرا لك.
Natasha: Now with the translation.
Judith:أين أنت؟ نحن قلقون عليك.
Natasha: Where are you? We are worried about you.
Natasha:أوه... لقد أضعت طريقي. أنا قرب جامع كبير، كبير جدا.
Natasha: Oh, I’m lost. I’m at a big mosque, really big.
Judith:حسنا، أنا أعرف أين أنت. إنعطفي في الشارع الكبير الى اليسار. ثم سيري بطريق مستقيم حتى المدرسة القديمة، ثم إنعطفي يمينا. هل عرفت؟
Natasha: Okay. I know where you are. Turn into the street on the left, go straight until the old school, then turn right. Got that?
Natasha:نعم... أنعطف يمينا ثم أسير بطريق مستقيم حتى المدرسة ومن ثم أنعطف يمينا.
Natasha: Yes, turn right, go straight until the school and then turn right again.
Judith:لا، إنعطفي يسارا أولا. من الجامع الكبير، إنعطفي الى الشارع يسارا، ومن ثم سيري بطريق مستقيم الى المدرسة القديمة، ثم إنعطفي يمينا.
Natasha: No. First, turn left. From the big mosque, turn into the street on the left, go straight until the old school, then turn right.
Natasha:حسنا، شكرا لك.
Natasha: Okay, thank you.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Judith: Okay. Is it the same getting directions in an Arabic city?
Natasha: No, getting directions in Arabic city can be quite different from getting directions in an American city. Street names will probably not be used unless it’s one of the main strips such as Muhammad’s the 5th Avenue in Rabat, Morocco.
Judith: Depending on the country, there may not even be street names especially as you move further away from downtown areas.
Natasha: Directions are usually given using landmarks such as mosques, churches, schools, restaurants and so on.
Judith: In Egypt, something called Medan, meaning square, but it looks like a roundabout. It is often used as landmark. For example, Tahrir Square.
Natasha: midan at-taHriir.
Judith: In Cairo, someone may tell you which Medan is closest to their home.
VOCAB LIST
Judith: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is...
Natasha: لقد أضعت طريقي
Judith: I’ve lost my way.
Natasha: لقد أضعت طريقي
Judith: Next.
Natasha: قرب
Judith: Near or at.
Natasha: قرب
Judith: Next.
Natasha: جامع
Judith: Mosque.
Natasha: جامع
Judith: Next
Natasha: كبير
Judith: Big.
Natasha: كبير
Judith: Next.
Natasha: حسناً
Judith: All right.
Natasha: حسناً
Judith: Next.
Natasha: إنعطفي
Judith: Turn as a command to a woman.
Natasha: إنعطفي
Judith: Next.
Natasha: شارع
Judith: Street.
Natasha: شارع
Judith: Next.
Natasha: يسار
Judith: Left.
Natasha: يسار
Judith: Next.
Natasha: ثم
Judith: And then.
Natasha: ثم
Judith: Next.
Natasha: سيري
Judith: Go as a command to a woman.
Natasha: سيري
Judith: Next.
Natasha: بطريق مستقيم
Judith: Straight on.
Natasha: بطريق مستقيم
Judith: Next.
Natasha: مدرسة
Judith: School.
Natasha: مدرسة
Judith: Next.
Natasha: قديم
Judith: Old.
Natasha: قديم
Judith: Next.
Natasha: يمينا
Judith: Right.
Natasha: يمينا
Judith: Next.
Natasha: أول
Judith: First.
Natasha: أول
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Natasha: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word we’ll look at is هَلْ is used to form a yes-no question in Arabic.
Judith: Take any sentence, add "hal" in front and it becomes question is the equivalent of the French "est-ce que".
Natasha: هَلْ عَرَفتِ
Judith: Literally means, “Do you know?” But it can also be used as, “Got it, do you understand?” Another thing we should look about is the Arabic translation of “go straight.”
Natasha: بِطَريقٍ مُستقيمٍ literally means, “with a straight way.” So go straight is translated into Arabic as go with a straight way.
Judith: This is the kind of linguistic difference that you should be prepared for. You can’t just take an English expression and expect it to be the same in another language.
GRAMMAR POINT
Judith: The focus of this lesson is adjectives.
Natasha: Arabic nouns come in two genders, masculine and feminine. Fortunately, this gender does not require any memorization unlike in French or German.
Judith: Almost all feminine words end in ة (a). This way you can easily recognize them. There are a few feminine words that don’t end in -a, but those tend to be words for Natasha family members where the gender is implicit.
Natasha: If a noun is feminine then the adjective has to get a feminine ending, too. So it also adopts that ة (a). This is why we say "jaam´in kabiir".
Judith: A big mosque.
Natasha: But "madrasa kabiira".
Judith: A big school.
Natasha: The Arabic word for a school is "madrasa". And from the final -a, you know that it’s feminine, so "kabiira" also ends in -a. This is a way that Arabic is a lot easier than most other languages. There’s just one more annoyance. The adjective also has to copy a noun’s definiteness. With definiteness, I mean, whether a noun has “the” in front or not.
Judith: If the noun uses “the” then the adjective also has to use “the.” And the adjective always comes after the noun. So, in Arabic, the big mosque is actually translated as “the mosque, the big.”
Natasha: al-jaam´in al-kabiir.
Judith: And the old school is translated as “the school, the old.”
Natasha: al-madrasa al-kabiira.
Judith: Non-definite phrases like a big mosque and an old school are rendered as “mosque big” and “school old.” That’s just about does it for today.

Outro
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Judith:Okay, see you next week!

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