Learn how to say, "I don't understand," a phrase that will certainly prove useful as you are exploring the Arabic-speaking world
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In this lesson we’ll talk about a very useful phrase meaning “I don’t understand.” It is useful, of course, because many times you won’t immediately pick up on what people are saying. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| In Egyptian Arabic, “I don’t understand” is |
| mesh fahem. |
| Let’s listen to the phrase one more time: |
| (slow) mesh fahem. |
| mesh fahem. |
| If you are a female, you should say fahma instead of fahem. |
| فاهمة |
| So it would be: |
| mesh fahma |
| (slow) mesh fahma |
| mesh fahma |
| Limited knowledge of the Egyptian Arabic language may be one of the reasons for not understanding. In this case you can say.. |
| ana mesh batkallem ʿarabi. |
| It means “I don’t speak Arabic” |
| Let’s listen to the phrase once again. |
| (slow) ana mesh batkallem ʿarabi. |
| ana mesh batkallem ʿarabi. |
| Let’s break it down. The first word ana means “I” |
| The second word mesh means “don’t” or “not”. |
| (slow) mesh. |
| mesh. |
| Next we have batkallem, a conjugated form of the verb translated as “to understand.” |
| (slow) batkallem. |
| batkallem. |
| And the last word ʿarabi means “ Arabic” |
| (slow) ʿarabi. |
| ʿarabi. |
8 Comments
HideHi listeners! Let's practice here!
Salaam Rubens,
Thank you for your question. Please note that our Lesson Notes and Lesson Transcripts are only available in PDF format for our upgraded members.
Kind regards,
Levente (ليفينتي)
Team ArabicPod101.com
Can you make the lesson transcript link for download available for this lesson?
Hi Joulan,
Soon!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
ana mesh batkallem ʿarabi.
Hi Amber!
They both come from the same root very "kallama" كلم
But "kallim" means "he talks to" or "he calls",
while "itkallim" means "he speaks".
Just learn them one by one :) Good question though!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
Ahlan,
I would like to know what is the difference between the word kallim and 'itkallim.
I checked the dictionary and both of them mean "to speak" in Arabic.
But when saying "I speak English", it's "Batkallim inglizi" by using the verb 'itkallim instead of kallim
I started to use your lessons this week, and it is awesome!!
Greetings from Taiwan
lesson 10 or lesson 11?