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. |
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