Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

In this lesson, we’ll help you check into Egyptian hotels, guesthouses, and hostels. Let’s jump right into the lesson!
In Egypt, when you get to a hotel and you want to check in, there are two possible phrases you can use. If you’ve already booked the room and you want to say, “I have a reservation under the name of (someone)”, you can say ʿndi ḥagz besm( the name).
Let’s break it down:
(slow) ʿn-di ḥagz besm( name).
Once more:
ʿndi ḥagz besm(name).
عندي حجز باسم (فلان
The first word ʿndi means “I have”.
(slow) ʿn-di.
ʿndi.
عندي
Next we have ḥagz which means “a reservation.”
(slow) ḥagz.
ḥagz.
حجز
After that we have besm which is translated into English as “under the name”. Let’s hear the word again slowly.
(slow) besm.
besm.
باسم
At the end of the sentence say the name.
All together, we have:
ʿndi ḥagz besm( name).
This means, “I have a reservation under the name of (someone).”
Let’s say your name is David James. In this case you would say ʿndi ḥagz besm David James.
Let’s break it down:
(slow)ʿndi ḥagz besm Da-vid James.
Once more:
ʿndi ḥagz besm David James.
عندي حجز باسم ديفيد جيمس
Or “I have a reservation under the name of David James."
In order to book a room say: ʿaiz o-dah law samaḥt, which means “I would like a room, please”. In English that is literally translated as “I want a room”.
Let’s break it down:
(slow)ʿaiz o-dah law samaḥt.
Once more:
ʿaiz o-dah law samaḥt
عايز أوضة لو سمحت
The first word, ʿaiz , means “I want”.
(slow) ʿa-iz
ʿa-iz
عايز
Then we have the word o-dah for “room”.
(slow) o-dah
o-dah
أوضة
Then we have the word law samaḥt for “please” or “if allowed”.
(slow) law samaḥt
law samaḥt
لو سمحت
All together:
ʿaiz o-dah law samaḥt.
“I would like a room, please.”
عايز أوضة لو سمحت
Usually the answer will literally be “Can I know your name, please?” In Egyptian Arabic, this is:
momken ʾsim ḥadritak.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) momken ʾsim ḥadritak.
Once more:
momken ʾsim ḥadritak.
ممكن اسم حضرتك
At the beginning of the phrase, we have momken which is translated as “to be able”.
(slow)momken.
momken.
ممكن
Then we have the word ʾsim which is translated as “name”.
(slow) ʾsim.
ʾsim.
اسم
And lastly the word ḥadritak is a polite way to say “you”.
(slow) ḥadritak.
ḥadritak.
حضرتك
Let’s hear the phrase one more time.
(slow) momken ʾsim ḥadritak.
momken ʾsim ḥadritak.
“Can I know your name?”
ممكن اسم حضرتك
This phrase is used only in official circumstances. For example, you may hear this phrase when you go to a bank. The word ḥadritak is especially a good way to say “you” to a person you have met for the first time.
Your name may be complicated to spell for an Egyptian person, in which case they might ask you to say it more than one time : momken tʾuloh tani law samaḥt. which means “Can you say it again, please?”
Let’s break that down:
(slow) momken tʾuloh tani law samaḥt.
Once more:
momken tʾuloh tani lao samaḥt.
ممكن تؤله تاني لو سمحت
The first word, momken, is translated into English as “to be able” as you may remember from studying it many times.
(slow) momken.
momken.
ممكن
Next we have ,tʾuloh which means “to say”.
(slow) tʾuloh.
tʾuloh.
تؤله
After tʾulo we have tani, translated as “one more time”.
(slow) tani.
tani.
تاني
Finally, at the end we have law samaḥt which are the words for “please”.
(slow)law samaḥt
law samaḥt
لو سمحت
All together:
(slow) momken tʾuloh tani law samaḥt.
momken tʾulo tani law samaḥt.
ممكن تؤله تاني لو سمحت
You can also use this phrase when you don’t understand something and want the other person to repeat what he or she said.

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