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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