| INTRODUCTION |
| In the previous lesson, we covered how to ask, “How do you say this in Egyptian Arabic?” “azzai btʾol deh/dah bellmaṣri” Do you remember? We don’t want you to be caught off guard while in Egypt, So we’re going to introduce a very important phrase. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Let’s start this new lesson. |
| In Egyptian Arabic, “Can you write it, please?” is |
| momken tektebha lo samaḥit? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) mom-ken tekte-bha lo sama-ḥit? |
| Once more: |
| momken tektebha lo samaḥit? |
| ممكن تكتبها لو سمحت؟ |
| The first word, momken, is translated in this case as “to be able to”. Momken also makes the phrase formal. |
| (slow) mom-ken. |
| momken. |
| ممكن |
| Next we have tekteb, which is translated as “you write it” |
| (slow)tiktbha . |
| tektebha . |
| تكتبها |
| lo samaḥit is “please”, as you may remember from our previous lessons. |
| All together: |
| momken tektebha lo samaḥit? |
| This means, "Can you write it, please?” |
| Now, the previous phrase is not very specific. To make yourself more clear, you can say: “Can you write this phrase?” |
| momken tekteb algomla deh? |
| ممكن تكتب الجملة ده؟ |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) momken tekteb algomla deh? |
| Once more: |
| mom-ken tekteb algom-la deh? |
| The new word in this question is algomla, which means “phrase” |
| (slow) algomla |
| aolgomla . |
| الجملة |
| algomla deh means “this phrase.” |
| (slow) algom-la deh. |
| algomla deh. |
| الجملة ده |
| Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time: |
| (slow)mom-ken tekteb algom-la deh? |
| momken tekteb algomla deh? |
| Also, you can say momken tekteb alklmah deh? In English that means “Can you write down this word?” |
| Let’s break it down. |
| (slow) mom-ken tekteb alklmah deh? |
| momken tekteb alklmah deh? |
| ممكن تكتب الكلمة ده؟ |
| It might happen that people are not carrying a piece of paper or a pen. So before asking: momken tekteb algomla deh? try asking ,maʿak warʾa wi ʾalam? |
| “Do you have paper and a pen?” |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow)ma-ʿak warʾa wi ʾa-lam? |
| Once more: |
| maʿak warʾa wi ʾalam? |
| معك ورقة و قلم؟ |
| The first word, maʿak, is translated in our case as “do you have” |
| (slow)maʿak. |
| maʿak. |
| معك |
| Then you have warʾa, which in English is “a paper”. |
| (slow) warʾa. |
| warʾa. |
| ورقة |
| Then you have wi, which means “and”. |
| (slow) wi. |
| wi. |
| Finally we have ʾalam, which means “a pen”. |
| (slow)ʾalam. |
| ʾalam. |
| قلم |
| Here’s the whole sentence: |
| (slow) ma-ʿak warʾa wi ʾa-lam? |
| maʿak warʾa wi ʾa-lam? |
| As usual, before asking about someone else’s stationery supplies, it’s a good idea to say “excuse me”, which is lo samaḥit, at the beginning of the sentence. |
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