Learn how to ask, "Can you speak English?" This question will certainly prove useful when traveling through Egypt or another Arabic-speaking country
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In this lesson we’ll cover another extremely important phrase: "Do you speak English?" Using this phrase is important for many reasons. For one, if the party you’re speaking to doesn’t understand English, at least they’ll be able to understand what you’re asking. Furthermore, it shows a lot of respect on your part, because you’ve made an effort to learn even a little bit of the language. For these reasons and many more, we’re going to cover this very important phrase. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| In Egyptian Arabic, "Do you speak English?" is |
| btetkallem engliizi? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) btet- kallem engliizi? |
| Once more: |
| btetkallem engliizi? |
| btetkallem is a form of the verb takallam which is translated as “to speak” or “to talk.” |
| (slow) btetkallem |
| btetkallem |
| And engliizi, as you might have guessed, means “English” |
| (slow) engliizi |
| engliizi |
| Now for a change, let's try different languages that are frequently taught in Egyptian schools. |
| “Do you speak French?" is |
| btetkallem faransawy? |
| (slow) btetkallem faransawy? |
| btetkallem faransawy? |
| The word for “French" is |
| faransawy. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) faran-sawy. |
| faransawy. |
| Now let’s try with German. |
| btetkallem almany? |
| (slow) btetkallem almany? |
| btetkallem almany? |
| The word almany means “German.” |
| (slow) almany |
| almany |
| When you ask the question “Do you speak English” in Egyptian Arabic there is a big possibility that you’ll get the answer in Egyptian Arabic. |
| Here are few ways of answering this question. |
| “Yes, I speak English” would be |
| aywa, batkallem engliizi. |
| Let’s hear that slowly now: |
| (slow) aywa, batkallem engliizi. |
| And one more time at natural native speed: |
| aywa, batkallem engliizi. |
| The first word, aywa, means “yes.” |
| (slow) aywa. |
| aywa. |
| After this comes batkallem, which is a conjugated form of the verb translated in English as “to speak”. It means “I speak”. |
| (slow) batkallem |
| batkallem |
| Finally, we have engliizi, which means “English”. |
| All together, that’s |
| (slow) aywa, batkallem engliizi. |
| aywa, batkallem engliizi. |
| This phrase could be made shorter, just by saying “aywa” which means “yes”: |
| (slow) aywa. |
| (normal) aywa |
| If the answer is negative, Egyptian people might say |
| la’, mesh batkallem engliizi. |
| It means ‘“No, I don’t speak English”:” |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: |
| (slow) la’, mesh batkallem engliizi. |
| And again at natural native speed: |
| la’, mesh batkallem engliizi. |
| The first word, la’, means “no”. |
| (slow) la’. |
| la’. |
| Next we have mesh batkallem, the negative form for “I speak”. |
| (slow) mesh batkallem |
| mesh batkallem |
| And finally the word engliizi which means “English.” |
| All together, it’s |
| (slow) la’, ana mesh batkallem engliizi. |
| la’, ana mesh batkallem engliizi. |
| Sometimes, people will answer only with “no”, which in Egyptian Arabic is: |
| la’. |
| (slow) la’. |
| la’. |
8 Comments
HideHi listeners! What language do you speak?
Salaam Rubens,
Thank you for your question. Please note that our Lesson Notes and Lesson Transcripts are only available in PDF format for our upgraded members.
Kind regards,
Levente (ليفينتي)
Team ArabicPod101.com
Can you make the lesson transcript link for download available for this lesson?
Hello Ana,
Thank you for posting.
You can find the explanation in the Lesson Notes. 👍
Sincerely,
Lena
Team ArabicPod101.com
English.
How to say only English in Egyptian Arabic
Hi Luigi and Joulan,
Welcome to our podcast!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
I am English speaking in my native language
lesson 9 or lesson 10?