Colloquial Arabic - Verb To Have

The equivalent of the English verb "To have" is expressed by using the word "Andi". The pattern for them is demonstrated in the following examples by changing the appropriate possessive pronoun (notice the letters written in Red):

1) Positive Statement

عند Have (Root Verb)
I (أنا)	عندي	Andi	I have
We (احنا)	عندنا	Andina	We have
You - Masc (إنت)	عندك	Andak	You have
You - Fem (إنتي)	عندك	Andik	You have
You - Plural (انتو)	عندكو	Andaku	You have
He (هو)	عنده	Anduhu (Silent "Hu" sound)	He has
She (هي)	عندها	Andaha	She has
They (هم)	عندهم	Andahum	They have

2) Negative statement by putting "Ma" at the beginning + verb "To have" with appropriate pronoun + "Sh" at the end. Let see the pattern bellow :

عند Have (Root Verb)
I (أنا)	ماعنديش	Ma Andish	I haven't
We (احنا)	ماعندناش	Ma Andinash	We haven't
You - M (إنت)	ماعندكش	Ma Andaksh	You haven't
You - F (إنتي)	ماعندكش	Ma Andiksh	You haven't
You - P (انتو)	ماعندكوش	Ma Andakush	You haven't
He (هو)	ماعندوش	Ma Andush	He han't
She (هي)	ماعندهاش	Ma Andahash	She hasn't
They (هم)	ماعندهمش	Ma Andahumsh	They haven't

Examples:
1) Andak ashab?
Do you have friends? - عندك اصحاب

2) Ana andi meshkela
I have a problem - انا عندي مشكله

3) Lau andaku sur hatuha hina
If you guys have photos, bring them here - لو عندكو صور حطوها هنا

4) Indak ayyi sual?
Do you have any questions? - عندك اي سؤال

Russell's The Real Player on Survivor Samoa

I love survivor series especially this latest season, Survivor Samoa. Of course my favourite cast is Russell Hantz from Texas. Seriously folks, I think he is the only one who really knows how to play the game, period!...yeah, although being still rather evil and sneaky. You can’t believe that someone actually has the brain power to find an idol without any clues??? He was 100% right when he logically stated that it has to be hidden next to, beside, with, inside, on top of something. Can you imagine that? I believed that Russell was just that good.

But since he has found the immunity idol for the 3rd time, I was thinking maybe Russell was tipped off by someone on the crew because the idol has often been buried in the sand and the only way to find it was to dig all day or actually follow the clue, not as easy as the way Russell has used. Perhaps, the idea that it ‘has to be hidden by something’ is absurd. Somehow I just read what Jeff Probst (Survivor Host) said on his blog :

Of course the idol has to be somewhere that is somewhat easy to find, because we want it to found. If we hid it in the middle of nowhere people wouldn’t find it even with 20 clues. We just have never had anybody take the initiative to start looking without the clue. It’s really quite brilliant. Like it or not, the pirate with the missing tooth continues to reinvent the game.
by Jeff Probst

Yeah, it does make sense. They don’t want it to be too hard because they want the idol to be in play, that’s when it’s actually interesting and mixes the game up. Last two episodes have been two of the best ever….total blindside two weeks in a row, gotta give Russel credit this week, and Natalie last week. Glad Russell is still there, or else it would be dead boring and predictable lol.

The Colloquial Arabic Present Tense

In this lesson, we are going to learn about verbs, the present tense particularly. Verbs in Arabic Amiya have tree different forms only. These are Present, Past and Imperative. A typical practice is to memorize the three forms of each verb.

1) Simple Present Tense
Now we will focus on the present form/tense. Like in French and many other languages, the verb changes according to the subject and it's different to compare with English and Bahasa Malaysia. The pattern most verbs follow in the present tense is demonstrated in the following examples (notice the letters written in Red):

لعب Play (Root Verb)
I (أنا)	ألعب	Il'ab	I Play
We (احنا)	نلعب	Nil'ab	We Play
You - Masc (إنت)	تلعب	Ti'ab	You Play
You - Fem (إنتي)	تلعبي	Til'abiy	You Play
You - Plural (انتو)	تلعبوا	Til'abu	You Play
He (هو)	يلعب	Yil'ab	He Plays
She (هي)	تلعب	Til'ab	She Plays
They (هم)	يلعبوا	Yil'abu	They Play

How do we use the Simple Present Tense?
A) the action happens all the time, or habitually in the past, present and future or the statement is always true.
-Ana akol bil lail (I eat at night) - اناأكل بلليل

B) General questions
- Tishrab eih? (What do you want to drink?) - تشرب إيه

C) Giving directions or making suggestions
- Timsyi min hena - (You could walk from here) - تمشي من هنا


2) Present Continuous Tense
Turn "Simple Present" to "Present Continuous" by putting "Ba" before present verb.

Ba + Present Verb
ب + نلعب

How do we use the Present Continous Tense?
A) For action happening exactly now
-Ana basrab al-qahwah (I'm drinking coffee) - أنا باشرب القهوة

B) Questions for current action
- Enta bi-ta'mil eih? (What are you doing right now?) - إنت بتعمل إيه

Common Phrases of Colloquial Arabic

Seeing I have been staying and living in Egypt for years, I ought to speak Arabic Amiya when I have something to deal with Egyptian. Well, at the first time I came here in 2008, I couldn’t even to understand this kinda language, let alone to use it although I already have a basic knowledge about Arabic as I have been studying in Arabic faculty in Malaysia and quite familiar with Arabic-grammar structure (Nahu) but frankly speaking, I didn’t know that they don’t use Arabic Fosha in their daily communication.


Shops are also the language school for foreign people
I felt so lost when I had conversation with Egyptian and sometimes I got dumped with someone due to my lack of knowledge about this language. Just for one time in my life, I felt like I was a baby who tried so hard to explain to his father about his feeling while his father didn’t even understand the sign.lol

Well, time goes by so fast and I have learned lots about Amiya. So here are the some useful words that I am gonna share with you guys, good luck and haz sa3d.

Allah Yusamhak - May Allah forgive you
Use this phrase to someone who does disrespect you for no reason. Surprisingly, they will close their mouth just a second.(perhaps)

An Iznak (M), An Iznik (F) /3diy - With your permission
Be polite, never show your bad attitude to someone when you excuse yourself before leaving. Treat others the way you want to be treated back, don't you think?

Wahashti niy (M), Wahashtiy niy (F) - I miss you (you've made me miss you)
If you had been apart for a while with your friends and at the some time you met them back, It's nice to say this phrase to mention you miss them. It has been used widely for friendship and also for your special one, indeed. lol

Aha / Khara - Shit
In Egypt, we consider it as a bad word for using but frankly speaking, it's commonly used by Egyptian when get angry or something.

Min fadhlak / Lau Samath - Excuse me, pardon me.
These phrases are used as an apology for interrupting a conversation, bumping into someone, asking a speaker to repeat something, politely disagreeing with something said.

Rouh Fiy Sittin Dahiyah - Go to hell
Although it sounds rather devil than it should, it's widely used for joking among Egyptian. For instance, when someone asks you - "where are you going?", and you can simply answer to them, "Ana rouh fiy sittin dahiyah". *chuckle*

Yanhar Aswad - Slang - Damn it! (What a dark day!)
Like the word "Aha", this phrase is often used to add emphasis more than to add meaning, for example," Yanhar Aswad!, ana naset ana 3ndiy shoghol ennharda ", meaning : Dam it! I totally forgot I have work to do today.

Yanhar Abyad - Exclamation - Whoa (What a lovely day)
Same like above but with different meaning and using. For instance, " Ana gebtu thalabat tawzif min England enharda....yanhar abyad! ", meaning : I got a job application offer from England today..whoa!