Learn how to introduce yourself
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| INTRODUCTION |
| This lesson will teach you how to introduce yourself in Egyptian Arabic and how to say where you are from. Egyptians are a very curious people, and depending on which region they live in, they might be more or less sociable. But in general, they are nice and hospitable. A self introduction in Egyptian Arabic will be a pleasant surprise. Let’s start the lesson. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Let’s imagine that your name is John, and you are from Canada. You came to Egypt and met a person who asked you “What is your name?” That sounds like this in Egyptian Arabic: |
| esmak eih? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) esmak eih? |
| Once more: |
| esmak eih? |
| The first word esmak means “your name”. |
| (slow) esmak. |
| esmak. |
| The second word eih means “what”. |
| (slow) eih |
| eih |
| Let’s hear the expression again: |
| esmak eih? |
| (slow) esmak eih? |
| This will sound a little bit different if you are speaking to a woman. The phrase will become: |
| esmek eih? |
| (Slow) esmek eih? |
| ・ |
| The answer to this question will be in our case, |
| ana esmi John, which means “My name is John.” |
| (slow) ana esmi John. |
| First, we have the little word ana which is the pronoun “I” . |
| (slow) ana. |
| ana. |
| The second word esmi consists of the word esm meaning “name”, and the i in the end meaning “my”. Therefore, esmi means “my name”. |
| (slow) esmi. |
| esmi. |
| The name usually comes at the end. |
| Let’s hear that again: |
| ana esmi John. |
| ・ |
| The next question you will usually be asked is “Where are you from?” |
| enta mneen? |
| (slow) enta mneen? |
| The first word enta means “you”. |
| (slow) enta. |
| enta. |
| mneen means “from where”. |
| (slow) mneen. |
| mneen. |
| Let’s break it down |
| (slow) enta mneen? |
| enta mneen? |
| Note that if you are speaking to a woman, enta should be replaced with enti. |
| (slow) enti |
| enti |
| ・ |
| Your answer will be “I’m from Canada”. In Egyptian Arabic, that will sound like this: ana men Canada. |
| (slow) ana men Canada. |
| The first word ana, as we’ve learned a while ago, means “I”. |
| Next we have men which means “from”. |
| (slow) men. |
| men. |
| And at the end we have the name of the country, in our case Canada. |
| (slow) Canada |
| Canada |
| Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time. |
| (slow) ana men Canada. |
| ana men Canada. |
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