English Questions
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had l-berrad šحal fih d-atay ?NB : it is very common to place a noun at the beginning of a sentence, with a form of f- expressing "there is/there are" later in the sentence. Such a straightforward construction as "šحal d-atay f-had l-berrad" is also possible, with approximately the same meaning.
"ñعăndek ši-flus ?""ma-عăndi-š."NB : after forms of ñعănd- or f-, the equivalent for "not any [pronoun]" is a simple negative, with final -š.
ma-mšiti-š dZuR xak ?NB : before d, ž, or Z, he prefix for "she" and "you" is d-.
mšat qRat D-DuRuS dyalha.NB : in positive sentences only, to indicate purpose and completed action, the perfect tense of a verb of motion is followed immediately by another verb in the perfect tense.
šحal fiha d-atay ?NB : the preposition f- is often used with pronoun endings with the sense of "there is, there are".
"le-حrira šحal fiha d-le-mleح ?""ma-fiha ġir šwiya d-le-mleح."NB : the use of ġir (= "only, just, [nothing] other than") usually calls for a preceding negative, but without the final -š.
šحal de-n-năعnaع ?NB : šحal is joined to mass nouns by d-/de-.
kont fe-D-DaR l-bareح fe-S-Sbaح.NB : plain o = very short [ʊ].
kont fe-l-meġRib ñعam luwwel.NB : kan is a rare exception in which the -a- is changed to -o- when -t and -ti are added.NB : plain o = very short [ʊ].
žebt le-mkoحla le-D-DaR.NB : next to ح , o = very short [o].
kont fe-R-RbaT l-bareح.NB : kan is a rare exception in which the -a- is changed to -o- when -t and -ti are added.
beعt D-DaR dyali wel-l-bareح.NB : as -t and -ti are added to hollow verbs, the medial -a- of the he-form is changed to -e-.NB : next to ع and ح , e = [e] (set).
beعt T-Tumubil dyali.NB : - with emphatic consonants, u = [o]- next to ع , e = [e] (set).
tleffet išuf škun lli muRah.NB : the imperfect corresponds to the English infinitive after verbs of motion.
wSel fe-l-weحda u-tnayn u-عešrin.NB : there is a special word for "two", "tnayn", used only in compound numerals.
Taحu men n-namusiya.NB : next to ح or emphatic consonants, a = [ɑ] and u = [o].
hadi t-tesعud u-waحed u-عešrin (dqiqa).NB : for periods of time before and after the hour not expressable in terms of the vocabulary given earlier, the word "dqiqa" is used with a numeral.NB : above twenty, compound numerals are formed by combining the simple numerals from one to nine with the numerals ñعešrin, tlatin, Rebعin,... The smaller numeral is placed first and joined to the following by "u".
Rebعin de-n-nasNB : occasionally, there are nouns which have no singulars. Such nouns are used with numbers above ten in the same manner as with numbers from ten on down.
l-meġRibNB : next to ġ, e = very short [ʌ].
ñعašu fe-l-meġRib.NB : next to ġ, e = very short [ʌ].