Learn to ask, "How much?"
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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 count in Arabic. I hope you spent some time practicing the numbers, because they will come in handy in this lesson. We’re going to learn how to go shopping in Arabic speaking countries! |
| Before we go, you need to know how to say “How much is this?” |
| Bikam hāḏā? |
| [slowly] Bikam hāḏā? |
| Are you ready to go shopping? Let’s go! |
| You see something you like and want to ask the shopkeeper how much it costs. The first thing to say is...ʿafwan, do you remember what that means? "Excuse me!" |
| ʿafwan, bikam hāḏā? |
| [slowly] ʿafwan, bikam hāḏā? |
| Another way of asking "how much is this?" is to say “What is the price of this?” or Kam ṯamanu hāḏā? |
| Next, if we are specifying what the object is, we need to know if the object is a feminine or masculine. If it is masculine keep hāḏā when referring to it, and if it is feminine use hāḏihi. Then, you say the noun if you would like to specify the name of the object. |
| For example, "pen" is masculine. Qalam. |
| ʿafwan, kam ṯamanu hāḏā al-qalam? "Excuse me, what is the price of this pen?" |
| [slowly] ʿafwan, kam ṯamanu hāḏā al-qalam? |
| And “miḥfaẓah” is a feminine noun that means Wallet. |
| ʿafwan, kam ṯamanu hāḏihi al-miḥfaẓah? |
| "Excuse me, how much is this wallet?" |
| [slowly] ʿafwan, kam ṯamanu hāḏihi al-miḥfaẓah? |
| At this point the shopkeeper can answer by saying: |
| - The price directly |
| - or ṯamanuhu… amount+currency for a masculine noun |
| - or ṯamanuhā... amount+currency for a feminine noun |
| For example: |
| išrūna lirah |
| ṯamanuhu ʿišrūna lirah |
| Its price is twenty Liras |
| Now it’s time for Carole’s Tips. |
| After asking for the price, we can ask for the number of items we want, and combine the words we learned before to make a good sentence: |
| A: ʾiṯnān min faḍlika! |
| Two please! |
| At this point, can you change the numbers according to the gender of the noun that follows in Arabic. We are going to learn how to do this and much more in the next lesson! |
| Ill be waiting for you in the next Al-ʿarabiyyah fi ṯalāṯi daqāʾiq. |
| ʾarākum fi al-marrati al-muqbilah! |
| See you next time! |
19 Comments
HideHi Nojeem, Hi Jano,
I completely understand the struggle of learning a language in a place where it's not spoken.
Movies are a great idea! Let me link you a lesson about available Arabic media for many dialects:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSL6GbOFChw
Also yo might want to look for a conversation group, so check out Meetups for language learning.
Good luck!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
I also have the same questions & problemsas Nojeem.
I've heard that movies might help you, if you are learning a dialect. If you're learning MSA though, you'd better read instead.
The lessons have been great so far. My big worry is that I've not had the opportunity to practice. For basic Arabic speech, I'm able to understand after analysing in my head for a few seconds, but responding or initiating a conversation can be really challenging.
What opportunities are available for someone who lives in an English speaking country to practice Arabic. Will movies help?
Hi Muhammad,
raqm means number, so maybe it's something like "give me a number". I have never been to Bahrain so I'm not sure to be honest :)
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
hi everyone, I live in Bahrain here they use cham instead of kam for how much what does cham means they say cham raqm hada. what does it mean
Hi Pranay,
This is one of the things you have to memorize when you learn a new word. One of the main hints is the ة in the end of the word. If it is there, then this word is highly likely to be a feminine word. This doesn't work for all words, though. There are many feminine nouns that don't end in a ة like الشَمس meaning the sun. You have to consciously remember the gender every time you learn a new vocab.
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
How pen masculine hada and how wallet feminine please expand on this knowledge
Hi Almira,
This is one of the things you have to memorize when you learn a new word. One of the main hints is the ة in the end of the word. If it is there, then this word is highly likely to be a feminine word. This doesn't work for all words, though. There are many feminine nouns that don't end in a ة like الشَمس meaning the sun. You have to consciously remember the gender every time you learn a new vocab.
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
What makes mihfazah(wallet) a feminine noun and also what makes qalam(pen) a masculine noun. She didn’t convey the message fully on this topic and I really want to know. Min fadlika help
Why no response at all