For Pacifica - random quotes on Arabic and Qur'an
- Thread starter Bestiola
- Start date
I guess this'll be a test whether I got the non-agreement-of-elatives stuff mentioned earlier right (and, well, everything else):
أظن أن الصور من اليمن هي من أجمل صورك
I meant to say "I think the pictures from Yemen are among the most beautiful of your pictures".
The message has already been sent anyway (I figure it's at least understandable) but any corrections are still welcome for my personal edification.
أظن أن الصور من اليمن هي من أجمل صورك
I meant to say "I think the pictures from Yemen are among the most beautiful of your pictures".
The message has already been sent anyway (I figure it's at least understandable) but any corrections are still welcome for my personal edification.
Actually I almost said something like:
الصور من اليمن هي عندي من أجمل صورك
Because I've encountered عند with the meaning "in one's opinion"—but that was in centuries-old texts and I didn't know if it would still be familiar or if it would sound as though I had just stepped out of a time machine. I didn't have much time to think, but now I suspect you guys will tell me I'm underestimating how similar the language has stayed for centuries.
الصور من اليمن هي عندي من أجمل صورك
Because I've encountered عند with the meaning "in one's opinion"—but that was in centuries-old texts and I didn't know if it would still be familiar or if it would sound as though I had just stepped out of a time machine. I didn't have much time to think, but now I suspect you guys will tell me I'm underestimating how similar the language has stayed for centuries.
I am not sure it would be understood. في رأييfor example is a common way of expressing this.
You gave me a fright because I thought at first that you were referring to the version I did send! That would be understood, right? (I think it was...)
Moral of the story: I'm right to be wary of using expressions I read in old texts!!
Last edited:
The guy just said to me (after I sent him some more stuff, especially apologizing for my inevitable mistakes and slowness in writing) مستواك جيد باللغه العربيه. Maybe that's flattery, or maybe (hopefully) it means that I am generally understandable (although I'm sure I must have used some awkward and slightly faulty wordings; I mean, even when I'm confident about the bare grammar—which I often am but not always—I really have no idea how to express things naturally most of the time; it's guesswork on my part).
Oh yes the first sentence seemed absolutely fine to me.
You know more about Arabic grammar than 90% of natives. So he was just stating a fact
تشرفت
I know that word is used like "I'm honored (to meet you)", "nice to meet you". But is it customary to say it to someone because you've just learned where they're from, even if you've been talking to them for a while? I was asked if I was German, I said بلجيكية, and received the reply تشرفت, which surprised me a little. I mean, بلجيكية isn't my name. Just my nationality. I guess the response makes some sense, though, because being told someone's nationality is to learn something about them.
I know that word is used like "I'm honored (to meet you)", "nice to meet you". But is it customary to say it to someone because you've just learned where they're from, even if you've been talking to them for a while? I was asked if I was German, I said بلجيكية, and received the reply تشرفت, which surprised me a little. I mean, بلجيكية isn't my name. Just my nationality. I guess the response makes some sense, though, because being told someone's nationality is to learn something about them.
It could be made part of it, though. سارة بنت ألان البلجيكية has some ring to it (in fact, I made up that name for myself, along with a couple of alternatives, a while ago).
I wonder if Socrates would have called himself سقراط العالمي.
I don’t think Arabic speakers are this observant. What matters is that they say something nice with every new piece of information you provide, so if they can’t come up with any witty comment, they’ll just say (or repeat) تشرفت or أهلا or منوّر or even منور الدنيا
I’ve noticed the same habit when they speak French and repeat "ça va?" a hundred times when meeting someone because they feel they must say something but aren’t quite sure what French speakers say in such circumstances.
Yes and you have to learn to do this too or they’ll assume you’re angry or haughty or they’ve offended you.
Lol, I've never experienced that. It might have confused me.
What do we say? Just "ah", or "oh", or "je vois", or stuff like that, I guess.
Yes. Still today I feel quite uncomfortable whenever I’m introduced in Arabic to an Arab, because of all those expected fillers which to this day I haven’t mastered.
I don't get what happens next:
فذهب إلى حماية الروم، وأمر المسلمين فحضروا بين فصيلي باب المدينة
"So he went to the protection of the Romans...": i.e. he fled to the protection of the Byzantines? Why? Because he needed their advice in settling the dispute between Muslims and Christians...? Or citizens were threateningly angry with him because he couldn't find a solution to the quarrel? Or...? Or did he go, not to seek protection from the Byzantines, but to provide protection for the Christians?
"... and he commanded the Muslims": he commanded them... to do what?
"... and/for they were present among/between the ... what? the two wings? not that I found that definition anywhere ... of the city gate"
He ordered them away while they were trying to block his exit, maybe?
How would you say this in Arabic, by the way?
My laborious attempt:
أدركت للتو أنّ كثيرا (الكثير؟) من الأعداد الترتيبية العربية هي مثل أسماء فاعل من جدور الأعداد الأصلية
I had to look up many words. I left out "unrelatedly" because I'm most unsure about it. Is there a natural Arabic equivalent or something more or less like it?