Lower Intermediate - Our garden

Shlomo wrote:
Falafel is great in Pita with salad. There is good place in Swiss Cottage/Maida Vale area of london.

i like falafel, but if i had to choose falafel sandwich or shawarma, i would go for shawarma every time.

Yes Shawarma Rocks :-)

السلام عليكم!

Thanks for this lesson.
Can you give me a quick clarification? What are the different usage contexts for the two verbs لديكم and عندكم ? Both are words that indicate possession or having of something right?

شكرا !

Yes, they are synonyms used to indicate possession of something. Normally (لدى) means that you have something with you, like u carry it or it is in your hand/bag... while (عند) indicates that you have it around you, or under your control if needed and it does not have to be in your hand literally.

Hope that is clear.

@ joeldabu

You used the term “verb”. I think it is important to point out that the two Arabic words in question are not verbs. They are prepositions with pronominal suffixes. The first word contains the preposition “ladaa” (ﻠﺪﻯ), while the second word contains the preposition “’and” (ﻋﻨﺪ). Both these prepositions mean “at” or “with”. If you want to say “I have a key” you have to say “A key is with me”, and you have to add different suffixes in order to say “I have”, “you have”, “he has”, “we have”, etc.

Most Arabic grammars contain a chapter or sub-chapter on these constructions. Many of these books can be found on the Web, but you won’t find them unless you employ sophisticated search procedures and key in the right search words. You won’t be able to use the right search words unless you know a lot of grammatical terminology. In order to find all the relevant information you may have to use six or seven languages, including Arabic and Latin.

There are also a lot of Arabic websites which provide very detailed information on Arabic grammar, but some of them are so well hidden that very few people know that they exist. In some cases you’ll land right in the middle of one of these sites if you key in a transliteration of an Arabic grammatical term, and you’ll be amazed when you see all the information there is (dictionaries, verb tables, lists of prepositions, thousands of example sentences with translations in French, English, German and other languages, explanations of subtle differences between synonyms, etc.).

It remains to add that there is a third preposition which is sometimes substituted for “’and” (ﻋﻨﺪ). If you listen to the podcast entitled “Rent a car” you’ll find the word “ma’ak” (ﻤﻌﻚ). This literally means “with you” and contains the preposition “ma’a” (ﻤﻊ).

Here are some additional reflexions on the use of the preposition “’and” (ﻋﻨﺪ) with a pronominal suffix. In many cases the idea expressed by the lexical unit in question has nothing whatever to do with possession.

Consider the following examples from the podcasts currently available on this website:

(1) I have an exam tomorrow. (Egyptian: Exam tomorrow)
(2) I have a problem. (I have a problem)
(3) I have a headache. (Headache)
(4) I have a splitting headache. (At the doctor’s)
(5) I have a stomachache. (ibid.)
(6) Do you have a temperature? (ibid.)

In the first example “’and” (ﻋﻨﺪ) conveys the notion of obligation, and in the five other examples it expresses the notion of affliction. If “’and” (ﻋﻨﺪ) cannot be replaced by any other preposition in these examples, there must be a semantic and functional difference between “’and” (ﻋﻨﺪ) and the other prepositions under discussion.

got it des..thanks

"قلتم: "نعم فيها الكثير من النباتات

"هل الأصح أن نقول ؟ : "نعم فيها الكثيرة من النباتات

الأصح أن تقول (نعم فيها الكثير من النباتات) لأن (الكثير) هنا ليست صفة. لو كانت الجملة (نعم فيها نباتات كثيرة) فهنا تكون صفة و (كثيرة) تكون بصيغة المؤنث

Hi Ehab!
I am a little late to this conversation, but I had a quick question.

نعم, و فيها الكثير من النباتات.

In this sentence, i know the fiha mean in it, but how do you translate the min?

شكرا

I love falafel and your podcast, I am trying to catch up!!! :)

@gunstreetgrrl

In addition to 'from', من has other meanings, like 'some of', 'one of', etc.

Yes @gunstreetgrrl, just as vinod wrote, the meaning of (من) here is (of) so the sentence ( فيها الكثير من النباتات) means (it has a lot OF plants).

السلام عليكم
هذا الدرس هو شكله لذيذ،شكرا!
أنا لازم أجرب فلافل...♥

Btw, is (يمكن) not a verb ,like ( لدى) and (عند)? So that كم comes at the end ?

You can make falafel.
تستطيع أن تعمل فلافل.
تقدر تعمل فلافل.

ممكن أقول كذالك أيضا؟

Thanks in advance.