Saturday 8 September 2012

You were Happy... I am Brazilian

To Review from Basics: Shadda, and the pronunciation of ê.

Hello Again!
Before we start anything, you need to know this:

English
Lebanese Arabic
I
ANA
YOU
INTA (m) / INTEH (f)
HE
HOWWEH
SHE
HIYYEH
IT
HOWWEH (m)/ HIYYEH (f)
WE
NE7NA
YOU (plural)
ENTO
THEY
HENNEH
Table.1
Please note that when an alphabet is written twice, it is to emphasize that alphabet in pronunciation, (Shadda).

To Be/To exist = “Ken”.

When you want to speak in the present using the verb to be:

For Example:
Masalan:
I am Indian (m)
Ana Hindeh
I am American (m)
Ana Amerkeneh
I am French (m)
Ana Frenseweh
I am Brazilian (f)
Ana Braziliyyeh
I am British (f)
Ana Britaniyyeh
Can you find the verb “kana” yet?
I am here
Ana honeh
You are there
Inta honik
He is happy
Howweh mabsout
She is tired
Hiyyeh te3beneh
Table.2
Don’t worry about your nationality not being in there, if it is not, leave us a note, and we can let you know how to say it and write it. In all the above examples, the verb "to be" is not used directly. It is implied. That is why you don’t see “ken” anywhere. So, you do not need the verb to be, when talking in the present. As you can see, we just used the personal pronouns introduced in Table.1, and then the adjective, or whatever you want to say afterwards.

Note that the adjectives change their ending, depending if the adjective is describing a male or a female. In general, we will introduce adjectives as they are, in the male sense. For example, Mabsout means Happy, describing a male as happy. Mabsouta means Happy, describing a female as happy. The “a” is added at the end of the word. Not all adjectives for females end in “a”, they also sometimes end in “eh”, as you can see from the adjective for tired. When do we use which? Well with time you will learn, there is no specific guideline.

What if you wanted to use the verb to be in the past? “ken” conjugates into the following:

English
Lebanese Arabic
I was
Ana Kenet
You were
Inta Kenet / Inteh Kinteh
He was
Howweh Kên
She was
Hiyyeh Kênit
It was
Howweh Kên / Hiyyeh Kênit
We were
Ne7na Kinna
You were
Into Kinto
They were
Henneh Kêno
Table.3
Note the underlined endings. Keep them in mind because they will be useful for conjugating other verbs.

Now, you try!
Here is some additional vocabulary that you can use to complete the next exercise:
English
Lebanese Arabic
Sad
Ze3len
Tall
Tawil
Short
2aseer
Try to write these in Lebanese Arabic:

English
Lebanese Arabic
You were there.

Jasmine is tired

Tod is happy

Jasmine is tall

Tod is short

I was sad (m. and f.)

I am Indian (f.)

I am American (f.)

I am French (f.)



Stay tuned for next time! Verb to be in the future tense, and some funny and weird Lebanese sayings that you can learn and use, and much more !

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