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In regard to the spelling of ( حاجة ، حاجه) [thing, object, desire] I am a little confused. You spell it in the lesson transcript consistently ( حاجه ), but in the dictionary I find ( حاجة ). Is ta-marbuta not used, or is it spelled differently in Egypt?
Kind regards, Tau

@ tau

I think this must be a spelling mistake. The word in question occurs in the title of a famous Egyptian love song entitled “haaja (ﺤﺎﺠﺔ ghariiba (ﻏﺮﻴﺒﺔ” (Something strange), and “haaja” (“haaGa in Egyptian Arabic) is always spelt with a “ta marbuuta” in the titles of the Arabic videos in which this song is presented. Several versions can be found on YouTube and DailyMotion.

Yes, the word (حاجة - need) should be always written with (ـة).
Because it is often pronounced as (h) people in the street write it as (ـه) and accept it, but the actual correct way is (ـة). The transcripts would be corrected soon. Thanks for highlighting that everyone.

Salam Ustad Ehab,

please continue with your pointers on how the same word is said in Levantine. That way we will not loose and add on to our knowledge and vocabulary from the Sham area.

Jazakum Allah Khairan wa Shukran!

السلام عليكم

I'd like just say that's really successful lesson again.
هذاجداً جميلة

Hi there,

I was wondering, shouldn't أوي be written as قوي? I understand that pronunciation-wise it does not matter but to the extent that it helps to be aware of the origin of the word, it's useful to have that corrected also.

@ fazurin

Phonetic spellings like ﺃﻮﻱ and ﺃﺴﺘﺎﺯ are quite common in contemporary Arabic texts although lexicographers generally use standard spelling. If you consult Cameron’s dictionary of modern Egyptian Arabic you’ll only find ﻗﻮﻱ, but you’re likely to come across ﺃﻮﻱ in colloquial dialogues in narrative texts.

In Arabic, as in English, phonetic spellings can introduce a touch of local colour in a literary text. They can also betray the geographical origin of a person who has written an anonymous letter or published an anonymous message on the Internet. As a result, phonetic spellings are frequently exploited by the intelligence agents of the dreaded Mukhabaraat (ﻤﺨﺎﺒﺮﺍﺖ.

Hello!
I'm very-very grateful for your podcasts, they are incredibly useful! Especially in egyptian dialect, because I study fusha at university and there's no problems in understanding anything in fusha, but dialect is the tricky one! I barely understand what they say! Thank you so much!