An Arabist's Guide to Egyptian Colloquial - Daniel Pipes

68 Pages·2009·8.17 MB·English

IDE TO EGYPTIAN COLLOQUIAL
by

Daniel Pipes
copyright. @_ 1983 by Daniel Pipes
ALL Fights reserved, including the right
to reproduce this book or portions therenf in any form

Library of Congress Catalcque Card No. 83-£1663
To Margaret Sears
AN ARABIST'S GUIDE TO EGYPTIAN COLLOQUIALL

bectace
Arriving in Cairo for the first time in June 1971, 1 had Lwo
years of arabic study to my credit, yet I vas unable to say any-
Uhing or understand more than a word here and there. Like so many
other students of modern written Arabic, 2 was wiprepared to deal
with the language that Arabs actually speak. ‘Te master the ©.

rene dialect, I acquired 4 battery ct grammars and attended
classes at the Center for Arabic Study Abroad. Despite excellent
teachers, I found the task 2 frustrating one, for all the manuals
assumed no knowledge at all of Arabic and started at the begin-
hing. But I already knew Written Arabic and needed only to learn
what adjustments to make to speak the Eayptian colloquial

How sensible it would bs, I often reflected, if someone
Prepared a handbook of Egyptian colloquial for those of us already
trained in Written Arabic. So often did f bemoan the absence of

such a book that my friends eventually insisted that I undertake
che project myself. I wrote the book during my final months in
Cairo, in the spring of 1973, ‘The grammar then languished for
eight years in a back drawer, as I curned my attention to other
natters

chen Dr. Janes A. Snow of the Foreign service Institute at
the bs
study; he also aqreed to provide some editorial advice and assis

epartuent of State expressed an interest in publishing this

lance. Then, when no one else was available Lo prepare the manu=
script for publication, he did this too. For his many efforts, 1
am very grateful and am much in his debt. any extors that may yet
renain are, of course, my responsibility alone.
AN ARABIS7'§ GUIDE TO EGYPTIAN COLLOQUIAL

For purposes of brevity, I assume a thorough knowledge of
written Arabic and only point out the ways in vhich the dialect
differs; to do otherwise would defeat the purpose of this manual
“egyptian” is shorthand for Egyptian colloquial Arabic as spoken
in Cairo by persons with some education

chicago
June 1982
AN ARABIST'S GUIDE 70 EGYPTIAN COLLOQUIAL

Table of Contents

Preface vec... : i
Pronunciation 1
T. Consonants st
2. Vowels a
3. Vowel patterns and Syllabis “saitts 4
4: stress. €
51 Other changes” 7
Nouns ..... 25159

‘cender 4
7. number :*? a)
8. Possession i
9. special Egyptian Noun Forms 12

3 ctives ...
Ss nadgrtaoeecying Adjectives

12! Cardinal wumbers ...
12. the Definite article

4. Pronouns ... Pesala uate Caer rt
Td. Isolated Peisonal pronouns | 20
14. Pronomial Suffixes "20
15! Demonstrative Pronoung 26
16. Relative Particles 20
17, Interrogative Pronoun 26

Verbs . saree
© 18. Preliminary Renarka |
Cenjugating Form I...
¢ Gonjugating Forms 1i'~
! Quadriiiteral Roots
Condi tional
Additional Egyptian Features

1146
errs

25. Special Egyptian Conjunctione Boca

26. Possession aes 49

7. Adverbs...
Raverbs of Time
28. Adverbs of Place
29. Adverbs of Wanner |! SL
AN ARABIST'S GUIDE 10 EGYPTIAN COLLOQUTAL

8. Negations ..............

SONG. Negations of verbs
31. Negations of Participies
32. Negations of Pronouns
33. Negations of Prepositions
34! Negations of Adjectives

9. Vocabulary
AN ARABIST'S GUIDE 0 EGYPTIAN COLLODUIAL

CHAPTER ONE

PRONUNCIA’

‘onsenants

° Arabic English Comments

(2) when beginning 2 vord it is not pronounced

(2) in the middle of a word it is pronounced as a
glottal stop only befere a long vowel, cv or viv
(but not WV, sce below)

Git at-yurtaan ‘Koran!

rufus "heads"

In the cases V'C or V'V the glottal stop drops out
and lengthens the preceeding vowel

a vis rats ot ‘head’
i bir ~ ‘welt
u oe mimin oe "heliever!

Following a long vowel (W!V or W!VV) the glottal
stop changes te « ya or cecasionally to 5 wew.

13 ggraate 1+ gfraaya ‘reading’
wt gaaliz = pt Saayiz, ‘wants!

Le Geant

(3) at the end of a ward the glottal stop drops out

"yo dawaa! as dawa Tnedieine
AN ARABIST'S GUIDE TO EGYPTIAN coLzogutaL.

ry
i
t,3. the pronunciation is not predictably ¢ or =
% gas in good", although in upper Egypt it is like
iin ‘jan'
#
ad
42 the pronunciation is not predictably d or z
s
zz the pronunciation is not predictable
£
22d the pronunciation is act predictable
2
x
{ generally pronounced as a glottal stop, though some
words retain the literary gaf souud; when a word
must be pronounced with the gaf sound, it will be
transliterated with a dot above the gaf, as in the
following:
ist! al-qurtaan ‘the Koran!
sata aletaahira — teairo!
wets aims ‘dictionary’
gise ‘sectiont
wt gute "piece!
ust Yanuun Naw!
k
L
AN ARABIST'S GUIDE TO FGYPTTAN COULOQUIAL,

* hb
ey
rd Occasionally a letter is pronounced differently with different
meanings
a taani "second" (as in ‘Ciel, second’)
saniya ‘second’ (time unit}
we daw "strong!
et gawi ‘much, a lott
2. Vowels

A. Short Vowels

gore when the sound is like the a in 'wonaa! it may
be written e.

el + attmed "Raed!

B. yong Yowels

Note: Long vowels are sometimes prouounced as short vowels. see

section 3.C for details