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Rob wrote:
What were the other pronouns mentioned (not written in the transcript)?

I = ana
you (female) = anti
you (male) = anta
she = heya
he = ?
you (plural female) = ?
you (plural male) = ?
we = ?
they = ?

Hi Rob

Translation = Pronunciation = Arabic
I = ana = أنا
you (female) = anti = أنتِ
you (male) = anta = أنتَ
she = heya = هيَ
he = howa = هوَ
you (plural female) = antunna = أنتنَّ
you (plural male) = antom = أنتم
we = na7no = نحن
they = hom = هم…

Hope this helps, keep it up!

David wrote:
good site guys, keep the lessons coming.

Jane wrote:
Hello!

In my Arabic classes, we actually used "tasharrafna" to mean "nice to meet you". Is that something more people would say in certain countries? Or is that still considered rather formal?

Thanks Jane;
Nice point and I use TASHARRAFNA some times,, however, the exact meaning of TASHARRAFNA is: you honoured us,, so you are saying that we are honoured by knowing you. So, it is just another way of responding when you meet new people.
I can comment that TASHARRAFNA is used more in formal occasions and it's a very polite way to answer as well as SORERNA BEMA3REFATEK (nice to know you), while AHLAN (welcome) is a bit informal.
Other point,, TASHARRAFNA and AHLAN can be used immediately after someone is introduced to you, while SORERNA BEMA3REFATEK is used in the end of the conversation ... say you were introduced to someone, once you know his/her name you say AHLAN or more polite you say TASHARRAFNA , then you talked to each other about few things and you now want to go,, you say SORERNA BEMA3REFATEK before you go.
That's it,, I hope I covered most of the ways that you respond to knowing people.
Salam

Josh wrote:
Hi guys, enjoying the podcasts - a slightly more user-friendly introduction than most!

I have a question about the numbers used in place of letters (where they don't exist in English). These are repeated on the 1st and 2nd PDF files.

The numbers used are 3, 6, 7 and 9. Then there are corresponding versions with dots next to them '3, 6', '7 and '9.

Is there any significance of the dot coming after the number 6 rather than before it, as the dots appear on all the others?

Thanks in advance!

Ahlan Josh;
There is a software Arabicpod has made called APG you can fund the link on the top of this page, all the letters are available there.
If you want to know the circumstances about which is better 6' or '6, then I suggest you to see the forum via this root: ArabicPod.net Forum Index » Arabic Letters Discussion » Is it 3' or '3 .. please all contribute.
Hope that helps,, I would love to see your contribution in the forum.
Salam

Chad wrote:
this site is really great! I have been looking for this for almost two years of surfing the internet and finally here it is. Keep it going....... Very very useful site.

elif wrote:
thank you şukran ceziylen

Lee wrote:
I am learning a lot on this site! It is great!
Could you say \"Forsaasaeda\" for pleased to meet you?

Shokran everyone for the comments;
Lee, yes, you can say (forsa sa3eda) that means Pleased to meet you.
Ta7eyyati

Vytenis wrote:
MY question is: is "marhaba" a common way to say "hi" in Egypt? Or is there some other more common way there? I mean, what would be the best way to say "hello" when I enter the shops, meet people in the streets and in the markets in Egypt?

Vytenis wrote:
By the way, I like your lessons very much. You sound very professional for an amateur podcasters. It\'s a pleasure to listen! I hope I will be able to apply the knowledge from your lessons when I go to Egypt.

sajeed wrote:
salaam brother! do you know any yemeni arabic words that are used in the city of aden in yemen? would it be mumkin able for you to list words that are used there! i really wana learn yemeni arabic cuz i have heard it the best!

Ahlan Vytenis and Sajeed;
Vytenis, Thanks for your nice words. I asked Egyptians about what they say in entering shops and they all confirmed that everyone says 'Salamo 3aleekom'.You can use the timing to greet, meaning, say 'Saba7 el7'eer' for good morning, and 'Masa el7'eer' for good evening.
Sajeed,, nice to read from you again,, if you go to the first lesson I left an answer for your question.
Salam

Vytenis wrote:
Thank you very much. Can you also explain one more thing: sometimes I hear that \"ahlen\" means \"hi\" and \"marhaba\" means \"welcome\". And sometimes - vice versa. Now, in English \"Hi\" and \"welcome\" does not mean the same. It will sound weird for example if I enter a shop in England and say \"welcome\" to the shop owner :D

Mar7aba Vytenis;
You are right,, does not make sense to so welcome when you enter a shop, so, it must be something wrong.
How about if I tell you that Mar7aba means Hello and Ahlan means Welcome. would that make it better?
So you say Mar7aba and the shop owner says Ahlan.
A6yab alumniyat (best wishes).

The use of the number 2 from the transcript is not explained. I see what it represents, and that is a letter/sound that this trips me up when I come across it, as far as remember what it represents. I can make the sound though.

Hi balmytigeress. The letter ء which is represnted by the number 2 is not officially part of the Arabic alphabet. It's kind of like a particle that is used sometimes and makes an "A" sound. That's A is in "Apple"

Ahlan Ehab,

In the first sentence you have used أنا اسمي, but shouldn't it be اسمي only. like اسمي صحيب
because اسمي means my name.

Welcome صهيب to ArabicPod;
Saying (إسمي صهيب) is true, however, using (أنا) before it emphasises the meaning.. There is no problem in using any of them.. Also this lesson is beginner therefore using (أنا) makes it easy to compare the English part to the Arabic one.
Shokran for comment and feel free to ask question whenever you have doubt about any point.
Ta7eyyaty

There are many ways to say nice to meet you? that you say surirtu bilaqaikum
also be read as follows tsharafna aah otherwise the number 2 as you use the hamza but I sometimes use it to the letter Q cafe example to say what I am writing so 2ahua is correct?

Hello everybody hope and well if I am ok 7amdoli llah ma ismak lesson in this? I think we understand well, but there is another way to say it like this ismak hadritak eeh? eh, and also heard that in the Gulf using other ways or rather endings as the other female who is an example kaif 7alitch ich? is a colloquial way of putting it right?

About the number 2 to be used instead of (Q) is something that we've never come across. These numbers are here to help you to learn the pronunciation and no one is supposed to rely on them. We have our table of the Arabic letters and what match them in English, this table is on the top of every single transcript that comes with the lessons .
"ism hadretak eeh?" is Egyptian colloquial of saying (what is your name?), while (kaif 7alech?) is a gulf dialect of saying (how are you?). You can use any of these sentences and people would understand it everywhere as they are very basic sentences and known through all the Arab countries.

Thanks for clarifying my doubts in this lesson.

This website lesson is very good for me.
I think I want to continue Arabic lesson.

See you.

Ok regarding word surirtubilqaykum
but as I understand it could answer that
will respond and say tsharafna wana isharraf but like the other?

I have a question concerning greetings. Since "As salam aleykum" is more like a religious greeting among Muslims, is it not considered kind of inappropriate if used by a non-muslim (e.g. a tourist) greeting a Muslim, especially in the more concervative Gulf countries?

Assalaam 3alaykum is considered to be religious greeting just because there is an encouragement in Islam to use it, however that does not mean non-muslims don’t use it. In fact, Christian Arabs use too, therefore even if a tourist or anyone no matter what is their belief use it, that will be absolutely fine in all Arab countries.

Thanks a lot, Ehab. I love your podcast, keep up with good work!

أ word. سررت بلقائكم. can change others as shrafna, Ahlan wa Sahlan etc.

Ehab and Mohammad,
I don't want to be redundant and continue to heap praise on you for providing such a great service, but maybe just one more time...Thank you both for producing arabicpod and thank you for doing it so well!
I have a small request as a beginner in arabic language. Reading the arabic writing is difficult when the script is so small. Sometimes Qaf and Fa look the same and sometimes nun and te look the same etc. might you make the font a bit larger?

Hay William, enough already it’s embarrassing

Anyway, regarding the font, I presume you mean on the user comments and not the transcripts? On the transcripts you can zoom in using Adobe reader’s tools. On the discussion pages, I agree the Arabic font is small. For some reason, even though it’s the same font size as English, it appears smaller. The tricky part is finding a way for internet explorer to differentiate Arabic and English letters. Once we find out how to do this then we can make the Arabic fonts bigger.

Hello happens if I can not answer right or wrong?
anyone can help me?

I don't know much about Explorer for keyboard commands to make the script larger when reading an internet page, but on my Mac using Safari or Firefox, I simply have to press command and the plus sign repeatedly to make any script larger (both English and Arabic). I suppose the equivalent shortcuts are possible with a PC. Maybe try Control + and see if what seems to appear too small doesn't get more legible on your screen.

That is a good idea Jacko,, thanks. Using Internet Explorer or Firefox in a PC , just press Control and Plus keys to enlarge fonts.
Shukran again.

The adminitrators are very good at anwering the questions. I felt fortunate to have find this web.

Thanks

Hello I'm very new to this website and want to learn Arabic for my trip to visit my dear Brother in Iraq. I don't own a PC but can download PDF and MP3 files. On your sharepoint I can view videos but I believe they link to You Tube? Is there any way to dload beginner lessons to Android PDA phones? They are capable as iPhones. If someone has a method or perhaps I'm missing a step please let me know? Ana

Assalaam aleyqum Moshaya wa William About Arabic font size and translation language problems etc

Please put Arabic translation Key ( Phrases) Vocabulary  تعبيرات رعيسية (maybe spelt it wrong) we can refer these and are good to learn language words

We should start to maximize Arabic to eventually إن شاء الله

Learn Arabic in Arabic تعلم العربية فل العربي

I also have a eyesight problem , getting old ! and also default is small and there many ways to write Arabic tashqeel and styles when I write on Apple text editit is quite small if you have PDF and Leopard you can zoom At first it can be confusing I can not make out words and letters in the Qur' and non English sounds ه ح there are many ways and writing Tashqiil on Arabic letters ( William try to find الكتاب =Book (see how small it is ) Title Help yourself in reading Qur 'an Darussalam publishers Isbn 9960-740-498)

I found that the best detailed and most useful Arabic Linguistical لغوي material is written by scholars and educationalist for the Helping and reading of the Noble Qur'an and not just for Linguistical reasons alone because the reward from Allahs pan ta Allah is greater. So William if your intention and struggle is to learn Arabic for the sake of reading the Noble Qur'an then Allah will make it easy I will make Dua pray to Allah for all who strive to teach and learn for the sake of Allah.
May Allah make your mouth oily and ears open and eyes clear and Hand and brain awake

Assalam aleyqum everybody,

I have a couple of question about this lesson.
First of all, How have I to write the word "ismohu" (I suppose with the waw at the end but I'm not sure).
Secondarly,
Secondly, I would like to know why the hamza in the word bileqa2kom is on a "ya'" without points.
Shukran!

sorry for the mistakes :-(

Wa 3alaykum assalaam,

The word (ismuhu) is written with (ha) at the end, and if you wan to put the harakah then it would be dammah on the (ha), so we write like this: إسمهُ

If I understood your second question, then I would say the original word is (leqaa2), so the hamza is already in the original word and (kom) is just a pronoun.

Hope that is clear.

Shukran!
Another couple of questions for you guys
If I would say "My name is ____ and your name is ____ " can I write " ana ismy ____ wa anta ismuhu _____"? or I have to write " ... wa anta ismuka ____"?

In other terms, must the word "ismuk" be used only in the interrogative sentence?

2) Why is written "wa anta ma ismok? " instead of "wa antum ma ismokum?"

Im so glad to do this lessons , even when i have never learnt any arabic, with ur course i feel that im allready in arabic and i love it. Shukran!!!!!!!

best podcast ever!!! you guys are great!! keep it coming...i cant get enough!!!!

Hello Everybody!!.I'm from Jordan.I'm a native Arabic speaker.Would you like any help with your Arabic?.You can contact me at mercy_mercy74011@yahoo.com
Skype: mo.az.awad
You're welcome ^_^

Salaam Ehab and all, just a thank you message.
This website has become my favourite resource to learn Arabic. Thank you guys so much. It is simply perfect.
Jazakum Allah Khayran. SHukran Jazeelan

@Zana

Ismuk = your name

Ismuhu = his name

ismee aliyah. my name is aliyah

maa ismuk? what is your name?
maa ismuhu? what is his name?
maa ismuhaa? what is her name?
maa ismukum? what are the names of you all?
maa ismuhum? what are their names?

Assalaam Aleyqum
This is the first time I I come with Arabic language
I see very interesting And I want starting to learning from now. Pls help me how to find the lession for beginner special pronunciation
Thank you for your help

شكرا لكم كثيرا

Ahlan

I am still a bit confused as to how to use "Sorerto bi leqa2kom" I would say this if I`m talking to more than person such as plural right? Now if I want to say it to a male I would have to say sorerto bi leqa2ka and to a female sorerto bilqa2ki. Now on the audio I noticed that you stated that Sorerto Bi leqa2kom can be used for both. What do you mean by that?

Thanks for your help

Ahlan djstorm1987, the sentence (Sorerto Bi leqa2kom) is in the plural form, notice the use of (kom). However, this plural form is used in Arabic as a form of respect, so you can talk to one man or woman and still use (kom) just to show respect, like saying (kayfa 7aalukom - how are you). So if you say (Sorerto Bi leqa2kom) to either a singular male or female then you are showing extra respect.

Hope that clarifies it now.

Do you have to add أنا when saying my name is. Can't you just say اسمي

@MoGreen88, You can indeed just say اسمي since the ي at the end of the noun اسم is a possessive pronoun which indicates a 'my'. However, often people add أنا before اسمي to emphasize the meaning.

@moshaya do some people in colloquial arabic say انته

does thyb mean 'fine' in MSA?