Episode 9: خبريني عن كل شي (tell me everything)

Levantine Arabic: Bayni w Baynak

مرحبا جميعا و أهلا و سهلا فيكم على الحلقة التانية في الموسيم التاني

Hi everyone! Welcome to episode 2 of season 2.

Today me and Razan just had a good old fashioned catch up. See some of the language notes below or follow this link.

1:19: Razan said: الوضع منیح لما بنقارنه مع دول تانیة ممكن وضع فیها أسوأ بالنسبة لكل شي عم بصیر

The situation is good when we compare it with other states where the situation is worse with

regards everything that’s happening.

1:35: Razan said: بس نتاىّج الفیروس عم تطلع بشكل أكبر (but the consequences of the virus are

growing greater)

Note: نتائج /nate’ij/ is the plural of نتیجة /natija/: result or consequence

1:59: Razan said: فا هلا عم ببین هیدا الشي بشكل ملموس أكثر (now these things appear more tangible )

Note: ملموس is the اسم المفعول (past participle) of the verb لمس (to touch) can translate as

“touchable/tangible”. If you're not familiar with this construction it’s worth getting to know it. A

lot of nouns and adjectives derive from this pattern aka: (alcoholic drink) شرب > مشروب or

(open/opened) فتح < مفتوح

2:03: Razan said: ما في اعتراض (lit there are no objections. Maybe translated more naturally

as: “I can’t complain”)

2:25: I said: خبریني عن المشروع طبعك (tell me about your project)

Firstly : خبریني /khabrini/ comes the form 2 verb : خبّر . (to tell/ to give news) How would I

modify it if talking to a guy? خبرني /khabirni/.

Secondly: important to note خبّر is Lebanese. In Jordanian you’re more likely to use the verb

حكى aka إحكیلي /iHkeeli/ (lit: tell to me)

Thirdly: مشروع (project) also اسم المفعول like ملموس

Fourthly: طبعك (of yours) in Jordanian this can be modified to reflect both the person and the

thing it’s possessing/relating to.

Aka مشروع طبعك (you’re (fem) project) /mashru3 Taba3ik

or مشارع طبعتك (your projects) /mashari3 Tab3 t ik/

The ت is introduced as non human plurals are grammatically feminine

3:00: Razan said: كل الشركات بدهم ٣ سنین خبرة (all the companies want 3 years experience)

Note: خبر … it’s a seriously productive root:

خبرة /khabra/: experience خبیر /khabir/: expert اخبار /akhbar/: news

3:18: Razan said: هادا كتیر محبط بالصراحة ( this is really depressing to be honest)

What’s depressing? Razan lists a few things.

3:30 Razan said عم بحاول أبني موقع (I’m trying to build a website)

Note: ابني : I build. بنى : he built. Comes from the same route as بنایة /binayye/ (building)

4:29 Razan said: حتى التفاصیل الصغیرة بدها كتیر وقت (even the small/smallest details need a lot of

time) Note: تفاصیل : details. Masdar from the root: فصل . Lots of words relating to separation

come from it. Aka : فصلنا : /faSalna/ we broke up. فصل /faSil/ season/semester/chapter. مفصل

/mufaSal/ joint.

5:03 Razan said: لما عملت بحث كتیر (when I did a lot of research ) Note: بحث /baHath in

Lebanese: baHass

5:44 Razan said: كان الهدف طبعني أعمل كل شي بحالي بس ما باقدر اكید نكون واقعین

Ken ilhadaf Taba3ni a3mal kul shi bHali bus ma ba’dr akeed inkun waq3ayin

It was the goal of mine to do everything on my own but I can’t let’s be realistic

Note: الهدف طبعني (the goal of mine) I think you could also say: الهدف طبعي /ilhadaf Taba3i/

6:33 Razan said: كل ما بسمع كلمة (whenever I hear a word)

Note : nice example of difference between Jordanian and Lebanese accent.

Razan said: kul ma basma3 (Jordanian)

Safa would say: K i l ma b i sma3 (Lebanese)

As a general rule when a Lebanese person uses ‘i’ as the first vowel in a verb a Jordanian

will use ‘a’.

Aka : انا بدرس (ana bidrus (L) badrus (J)) انا بكتب (ا (ana biktub (L) baktu