Lower Intermediate - Best of speeches

@ Mohamed

I have some questions about one of the examples you cited in the PLC: tawwala hadiithahu. "Tawwala" and "hadiith" are both polysemous. "Tawwala" can mean "prolong" or "lengthen", and "hadiith" can mean "speech" or "conversation".

Let's begin with "hadiith" in the sense of "conversation". "Tawwala al-hadiith" will be "He prolonged the conversation", but not "He lengthened the conversation" (only two examples on the Internet). But what about "tawwala hadiithahu"? We can't say "He prolonged his conversation", though we could say "He prolonged his conversation with his boss". What does "tawwala hadiithahu" mean? Is it a negative statement about somebody who talks endlessly about uninteresting things? Does it mean "He talked on and on"?

Now let's consider "hadiith" in the sense of "speech". Can "hadiith" denote a written document which is read to an audience, or is it an impromptu speech?

What does "tawwala hadiithahu" mean? Does it mean that the author added a few paragraphs to his text before reading it to an audience? Or does it mean that he gave a very long, rambling impromptu speech (like the speeches Fidel Castro used to deliver when he was the President of Cuba)?

If "tawwala hadiithahu" refers to the expansion of a written document, "He lengthened his speech" will be the correct translation. But if the Arabic sentence under discussion refers to an unduly long impromptu speech the English translation will be "He droned on and on."

@Desmond, Good point. If 7adeeth in the context means conversation then you can't say 'he prolonged his conversation' since a conversation is something that can't be ascribed to one person. Therefore the best translation for 'Tawwala hadeethahu' would be 'He prolonged his speech'.

Additionally, the word 'Hadiith' cannot denote a written document which is read to an audience. The best word for that would be 7'i6aab خطاب

@ Mohammed

In English it is perfectly normal to say "he prolonged his conversation" as long as you add a prepositional phrase like "with his father" or "with his wife". This type of word combination implies a deliberate act on the part of the speaker. For instance, you could say "Ahmed prolonged his conversation with his father because he was afraid his father might enter the garage and notice that his car had been damaged." (Another person might be in the garage trying to repair the damage.) Would "tawwala hadiithahu" be the correct Arabic expression in this kind of situation?

It's useful to know that "hadiith" cannot denote a written document. If "tawwala hadiithahu" refers to an impromptu speech, the prolongation must be unintentional. It must be due to the speaker's incompetence (i.e. his tendency to digress and his inability to present his ideas concisely to his audience). Would "He droned on and on" convey the idea expressed by "tawwala hadiithahu" in this kind of situation?

@Desmond, yes to your first question. For example, you can say

طَوَّل حَديثَهُ مع الوالد
He prolonged his conversation with dad

and yes to your second question. Spot on!

A few more examples of the use of طوّل

طوَّل الأكل
The food has taken long (As in longer than usual or than it should be)

طًوَّلت الخُطبة
The sermon was prolonged

@ Mohamed

Thanks for all the extra information. That's exactly what I wanted to know.

Perhaps you can use the story about the damaged car for a podcast. Ahmed damages his father's car. Ahmed's brother, who is a mechanic, offers to repair the damage, and Ahmed has to carry on a long conversation with his father to keep him out of the garage.

In addition to being a noun (with several meanings as already mentioned) حديث can also function as an adjective.

As an adjective, it means, "modern, new, recent."

حديثاً
= recently (adverb)

متزوّج حديثاً
= newlywed

@ vinod

That's right. In the podcast about the "Time Bridge" Ehab uses "hadiith" as an adjective.