Learn how to ask where you can buy something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Have you ever been in a city you didn’t know at all, desperately searching for something you couldn’t find? I certainly have! I wandered around without knowing where to find a bus ticket, a phone, or even a restroom! But don’t worry—with our Survival Phrases, you’ll always be able to get the information or help in Egypt. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| In this lesson we’ll introduce you to phrases that will help you track down whatever you need. |
| “Where can I get + noun ?” in Egyptian is |
| ageeb mneen + noun? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) ageeb mneen + noun? |
| One more time: |
| ageeb mneen + noun? |
| أجيب منين ...؟ |
| The first word,ageeb, is the first person present form of the verb “to get.” |
| (slow)ageeb. |
| ageeb. |
| Next we have mneen meaning “from where”. |
| (slow) mneen. |
| mneen. |
| Then you add the item or place you are looking for. |
| All together that’s |
| (slow) ageeb mneen + noun? |
| Once more: |
| ageeb mneen + noun? |
| ・ |
| Let’s look for some things you might need to find when traveling in Egypt. Imagine you walk around in Cairo and you need water. In this case all you have to do is to add after ageeb mneen , the item you are searching for. |
| “Where can I get water?” in Egyptian is |
| ageeb mneen mayya? |
| mayya means water. |
| ・ |
| What if you are in a supermarket and you can not find the water. In that case ask: |
| feen el mayya? “Where do I find the water?” |
| (slow) feen el mayya? |
| feen el mayya? |
| فين المية؟ |
| With this structure, you find anything you are looking for. “feen” means “where”, and “el” means “the”. |
| ・ |
| Use this phrase when asking for the things you are looking for and also for finding a location. Imagine you’re looking for the subway station. “Where is the subway station?” would be feen el metro? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) feen el metro? |
| Again at natural speed: |
| feen el metro? |
| فين المترو؟ |
| The first word is feen (“where”). |
| The next word, el means “the”. |
| At the end there is metro literally translated as “subway”. |
| The whole phrase is literally translated |
| “Where is the subway station?” |
| feen el metro? |
| ・ |
| To ask about another thing just replace el metro with the item you are looking for, and people will understand you perfectly. For example let’s ask |
| “Where is the movie theater?” |
| feen el cinema? |
| (slow) feen el cinema? |
| feen el cinema? |
| فين السينما؟ |
| The word cinema is used as it is in Egyptian Arabic. |
| (slow) cinema. |
| cinema. |
| Replace the word cinema with any other location and the little question will definitely help you to find what you want. |
| Lastly, remember that you can add the phrase for “excuse me”, law samaht, before the question to make it more polite: |
| “Excuse me, where is the cinema?” |
| law samaht, feen el cinema? |
| لو سمحت, فين السينما؟ |
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