In today's lesson, we will cover the usage of the question "kayfa ḥaaluki?" (How are you?) This question is made up of two words: kayfa (how) and ḥaaluki (you're doing). This expression changes depending on whether you're addressing a man or a woman, in a singular or plural form. What changes in the phrase is the second word "ḥaaluki." Literally, "ḥaaluki" can be translated as "your state", meaning "How's your state / How are you?" Its equivalent in the masculine form is "ḥaaluka." Therefore, "kayfa ḥaaluka?" means "How are you?" when addressing a man. Note that the only difference is the sound "a" at the end of the suffix "ka" that indicates the possessive "your." Now, let's go back to where this appeared in the conversation. Since Maryam is talking to Amina, a woman, naturally she uses the feminine form of "how are you" which is "kayfa ḥaaluki?" To recap, "How are you?" is "kayfa ḥaaluki?" when addressing a woman and "kayfa ḥaaluka?" when addressing a man. In the next Newbie lesson, we will learn how to say "How are you?" when addressing a group of people.

Referring to God, "Allah", in conversations and language is pretty common in Arabic. Since Islam is the dominant religion in Arab countries, people always use expressions such as “In the name of God” (bismi llaah) or “Thanks be to God” ('al-ḥamdu lillah). In our dialog today, we used the expression "biḫayr, 'al-ḥamdu lillaah" (I'm fine, thanks be to God) as a typical response to "How are you?" In this case, the speaker is thanking God for good health and well being. People in Arabic-speaking countries also use this expression in various other contexts, like after finishing a meal. Typically, one would say "'al-ḥamdu lillaah", and in this case, it means "Thanks be to God" for the good food.