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Lesson Transcript

Hi everyone, my name is Peryhan and this is Arabic top words. Today’s topic is going to be about How to Respond to How Are You.
1.
إزيك؟
(ezzayyak?) “How are you?”
First, we have to understand how to understand the word “How are you?”
So, how are you in Arabic is – eh How are you in Egyptian Arabic is,
إزيك؟
(ezzayyak?) for a male, and
إزيك؟
(ezzayyek?) for a female.
So when you meet up with a friend, then, they will most likely start with,
hi
هاي إزيك؟
(hi ezzayyak?)
Or hi
هاي إزيك؟
(hi ezzayyek?)
if you’re a female.
2.
وأنت؟
(we enta?) “And you?”
To ask the person in front of you how they are after they’ve asked you how you are, you will say
وأنت؟
(we enta?)
for a male and
و إنتِ؟
(we enti?) for a female.
“And you?”
And then we can also expand on it and say,
وإنت؟ وإنتِ؟
(we enta? we enti?)
أخباركم إيه في الفترة الأخيرة؟
(ʾaḫbārkom ʾeīh fī el-fatrah el-ʾaḫīrah?) “How have you been doing recently?”
Or instead, you can say,
عامِل إيه؟
(ʿāmel ʾeīh?) “How have you been doing?”
You will answer how you are and then you will say,
وإنت؟ عامِل إيه؟ إيه أَخبارَك؟
(we ʾenta? ʿāmel ʾeīh? ʾeīh ʾaḫbārak?)
“How are you, what’s your news?”
3.
أنا بخير.
(ʾanā beḫeīr) “I'm fine.”
So how to answer how are you?
So when someone asks you
إزَّيَّك؟
(ezzayyak?)
Or
إزَّيِّك؟
(ezzayyek?)
you have several ways to answer.
For example,
One would be
أنا بخير.
(ana bḫīr.)
“I am fine.”
One more phrase you can use is
أَنا كوَيِّس.
(ana kwayyes.) for a male. And
أَنا كوَيِّسة.
(ana kwayyesah.) for a female.
It also means “I am fine” and it probably is the most used one.
أَنا كوَيِّسة.
(ana kwayyesah.)
أَنا كوَيِّس.
(ana kwayyes.)
You can also say,
تَمام الحَمدُ لِلَّه.
(tamām el-ḥamdo lellah.) “I am good, thank god.”
So if you want to say that you’re good, you have three ways to say it.
أَنا كوَيِّس.
(ana kwayyes.)
أَنا كوَيِّسة.
(ana kwayyesah.)
تَمام الحَمدُ لِلَّه.
(tamām el-ḥamdo lellah.)
4.
مش وحش.
(meš weḥeš.) “I'm not bad.”
Or if you don’t feel so well, it’s not so good. It’s not so bad.
You can say,
مش وحش.
(meš weḥeš.) “I'm not bad.”
You can say,
مِش بّطّال.
(mesh battāl.) “I am not bad.”
You can say,
It also means “It’s not so bad.”
“I am not so bad.”
5.
انا بخير برضو.
(ʾanā beḫeīr barḍū.) “I'm fine too.”
For the other person if you ask them
وإنتَ؟ إزَّيَّك؟
(we enta? ezzayyak?)
“And you, how are you?”
They probably might answer you,
أَنا كَمان كوَيِّس.
(ʾanā kamān kwayyes.)
“I am also okay.”
“I am also good”
Or they can say,
أنا بخير بردو.
(ʾnā bḫīr brdū. )
“I am fine too”
Or they can say,
كُلُّه كوَيِّس.
(kollo kwayyes.) “All is good.”
That’s just like the German phrase.
6.
نعسان.
(naʿsān.) “I'm sleepy.”
If you want to say that you’re sleepy, you can say
أَنا نَعسان.
(ʾanā naʿsān.) That means “I am sleepy.”
You can say,
عايِز أَنام.
(ʿāyez ʾanām.) It means “I want to have a nap or I want to sleep.”
7.
وحش.
(weḥeš.) “I'm feeling bad.”
If you really don’t feel good, maybe you want to say I am feeling bad.
So you might say,
وِحِش
(weḥeš)
“I am not that good.”
“I am quite bad.”
You can say,
الحالَة صَعبَة.
(elḥālah ṣaʿbah.) “It has been tough.”
It literally like says the condition is hard or you can say,
تََعبان أَوي الفَترَة الأَخيرَة.
(taaʿbān ʾawī el-fatrah el-ʾaḫīrah.)
It means “Recently, I am very tired.”
“I am exhausted.”
Oh yeah. I think that’s it like if you want to say that you’re feeling bad.
8.
ماشي الحال.
(māšī el-ḥāl.) “I'm okay”
If you are not so good and you are not so bad and you are just okay, you can say,
ماشي الحال.
(māšī el-ḥāl.)
means condition and
ماشي
(māšī)
means it’s going smoothly I think.
It means like I am okay.
“I am doing more or less okay.”
ماشي الحال.
(māšī el-ḥāl.)
9.
زي الفل.
(zayy el-foll.) “I'm great”
If you’re feeling great and I hope you do, you can say,
زي الفل.
(zayy el-foll.)
“I am great.”
I think
فل
(foll)
is one type of jasmine flower.
So in our imagination in our head like Jasmine is quite white and smells good.
So if your heart is white and you – well, necessarily, you don’t have to smell good but if your heart is good and you don’t have any problems, it’s white and you feel refreshed, you can say,
زي الفل.
(zayy el-foll.)
“Just like jasmine.”
“I am great just like jasmine.”
You can say,
مُمتاز.
(momtāz.) “Excellent.”
“I am excellent.”
It also means “I am great.”
10.
شكرا لسؤالك.
(šokran lesoʾālak.) “Thank you for asking.”
And in the end of all of this, you can say – you can thank the person for asking you how are you and you can say,
شكرا لسؤالك.
“Thank you for asking.”
You can also say,
رَبِّنا يخَلّيك.
(rabbenā yeḫallīk.) Literally, it means,
“May god prolong your life” or something like that.
It’s quite nice to add it in the end.
Recently, Egyptian girls including me don’t really use the word thank you like
ميرسي.
(Merci.) in Arabic and instead, we use merci which is quite cute.
That’s it for today. I hope you like the video. Bye bye.
So the next word is
أنا بخير.
(ʾanā beḫeīr) which means “I am fine”.
Now I am fine.

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