Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson, we’re going to cover counting objects, from zero through ten. When it comes to numbers, the Egyptian Arabic language has some particularities, but there is nothing difficult about them. Let’s get into it.
GRAMMAR POINT
0 sefr.
(slow) sefr.
sefr.
1 waḥed.
(slow) waḥed.
waḥed.
If the thing you’re counting is feminine, you say:
waḥda.
(slow) waḥda.
waḥda.
2 etneen.
(slow) etneen.
etneen.
3 talata.
(slow) talata.
talata.
4 arbaʿa.
(slow) arbaʿa.
arbaʿa.
5 ḫamsa.
(slow) ḫamsa.
ḫamsa.
6 seta.
(slow) seta.
seta.
7 sabaʿa.
(slow) sabaʿa.
sabaʿa.
8 tamanya.
(slow) tamanya.
tamanya.
9 tesaʿa.
(slow) tesaʿa.
tesaʿa.
10 ʿashara.
(slow) ʿashara.
ʿashara.
As you already heard, the word for number one is waḥed if the thing you’re counting is masculine, or waḥda if the thing you’re counting is feminine.
Now let’s hear them together with a word. For example “one woman” in Egyptian will be: set waḥda
(slow) set waḥda
set waḥda
and “one man” is ragel waḥed.
(slow) ragel waḥed.
ragel waḥed.
Now let’s hear the translation for “two women”. This one is a bit different. To count two feminine objects, you need to add teen at the end of the word. So “two women” for example, is set + teen = seteteen
For masculine nouns we should add een at the end of the word, so “two men” would be:
ragel + een = rageleen
Now let’s hear an example with number three.
“Three women” is:
talat settaat
Let’s break it down:
(slow) talat settaat.
Once more:
talat settaat.
تلات ستات
Three men will be:
talat reggaala.
تلات رجالة
The gender changes only when the numbers “one” and “two” are used. Also, the nouns must be in the plural form from 3 to 10, as we saw in settaat and reggaala.
Let’s hear the counting for feminine words again.
set wahda.
seteteen.
talat settaat.
Now for masculine:
ragel wahed.
rageleen.
talat reggaala.
Numbers are extremely useful, especially when you are shopping.
Now let’s imagine you want to buy two bottles of Pepsi. Note that the singular form of the word “bottle” is ezaaza. It’s a feminine noun. You should say...
“Two bottles of Pepsi, please.”
ezaazteen pepsi, law samaht.
إزازتين بيبسي لو سمحت
Let’s break it down:
(slow) ezaazteen pepsi, law samaht.
Once more:
ezaazteen pepsi, law samaht.
ezaaza + teen = ezaazteen which means “two bottles”
(slow) ezaazteen
ezaazteen
Of course we have law samaht at the end translated as “please”.
The whole request, then, is
ezaazteen pepsi, law samaht
Now let’s imagine you want to buy 5 oranges. borto’anat, or ”oranges”, is the plural form of the word borto’aana which means “orange”. The phrase will sound like this:
ḫamas borto’anat law samaht.
The English translation will be:
“5 oranges, please.”
Let’s break that down:
(slow)ḫamas borto’anat law samaht.
Once again:
ḫamas borto’anat law samaht.
خمس برتقانات لو سمحت

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