Learn how to ask "Why?"
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| Marḥaban, ʾanā Carole! Hi everybody! I’m Carole. |
| Welcome to ArabicPod101.com’s Al-ʿarabiyyah fi ṯalāṯi daqāʾiq. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Arabic. |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to ask "Who" questions in Arabic. |
| This time, we are going to ask questions with the interrogative word "Why?" |
| Imagine you and your friend had agreed to eat together, but as soon as you arrive to the cafeteria you notice he’s already eaten, you will certainly ask him limāḏā ʾakalta waḥdaka? |
| [slowly] limāḏā ʾakalta waḥdaka? This means “Why did you eat alone?” |
| So let’s break down this question. |
| First we had- |
| limāḏā , which is the basic translation of "Why" in Arabic. |
| ʾakalta is the 2nd person of the past form of the verb ʾakala or “eat” |
| And finally waḥdaka which is "alone" |
| All together it is limāḏā ʾakalta waḥdaka? |
| So in Arabic, limāḏā is the exact translation of "Why", used to ask the reason for something in a verbal phrase. |
| So for example, if someone is asking you "Why did you come here?" he will say limāḏā ʾatayta ʾilā hunā? |
| Here, he uses "Why" in order to get explanations and reasons. |
| Again, limāḏā , which is "Why" in Arabic. |
| ʾatayta is “did you come?” |
| ʾilā is “to” |
| hunā is “here” |
| All together it is limāḏā ʾatayta ʾilā hunā? |
| Another way of saying “why” in Arabic is by saying “limā” to ask the objective of something. But in this case, it only comes in a non-verbal phrase. |
| For example limā ṣawtuka ḥazīn? |
| or “why is your voice sad?” |
| Now it’s time for Carole’s Tips. |
| A famous expression in Arabic is limā |
| lā? which means, like in English, "Why not?" |
| You can use it to accept a proposition if you agree but you are not really keen to do it. Or, if it was not planned in advance. |
| For example if a friend asks you suddenly "Do you want to go to the cinema tonight?" |
| You can answer limā lā? "Why not?" |
| Before ending this lesson, Let’s review all the ways to translate "Why" in Arabic: |
| - limāḏā is the basic translation of "Why" used in a verbal phrase, as in limāḏā ʾakalta waḥdaka? "Why did you eat alone?" |
| - limā which is "What for?" |
| Finally, limā lā? is "Why not?" |
| This lesson is the last of this Absolute Beginner’s video series. |
| But it’s hopefully not the last you learn about the Arabic language! To take your language ability to the next level, check out ArabicPod101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Arabic. |
| ʾarākum qarīban! |
18 Comments
HideHi Alisha,
The video plays fine on our side. Do you have a subscription allowing you to view the videos?
Kind regards,
Levente
Team ArabicPod101.com
The series are excellent but please my videos are not playing.please solve these
Thank you
Hi Hassan,
Thank you very much for your kind feedback!
Keep up studying well and in case of any questions, please contact us.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team ArabicPod101.com
Great lessons, easy , well presented and well timed. Congratulations to all members of the team really. Look forward to the intermediate level.
شكراً جزيلاً
Hello Thomson,
Thank you for your great feedback!
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Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team ArabicPod101.com
This is such a good series of well thought out, excellently presented, lessons. The 3 minute length is very approachable and unintimidating. Just need to re-listen over & over until it all sinks in. Many thanks. I'm very pleased with this course!
Hello Milad,
Thank you for posting.
We hope you liked the videos.
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Lena
Team ArabicPod101.com
Hi carol ! Thank you .I have complited all videos. Make another .
Hi Abdul Sattar,
عفواً!
Nora
ArabicPod101.com
very interactive, easy and informative material here. I like and learnt a lot. Exciting to say you شکرا جزیلا