Moroccan Arabic Lesson: Good Morning!

Today's clip is from the Moroccan film The Second Marriage (2011). The film portrays Habiba, a widow, as she adjusts to normal life after mourning her husbands' passing. In this clip, she wakes up her youngest son, Ghali, to ask him to accompany her on a walk along the beach. The video introduces us to important everyday vocabulary, like: "to wake up", "to sleep", "get up", "laundry", and "please".

غالي... غالي... غالي... فِق، باركة من النعس

Habiba: ghali.. ghali.. ghali fiq baraka mn lna3s. 

Ghali, Ghali, Ghali, wake up! That's enough sleeping!

غالي... غالي... غالي... ما لك أ ولدي؟ ما لك؟ مريض؟

ghali.. ghali.. ghali.. ma lak a wuldi? ma lak? marid? 

Ghali, Ghali, Ghali, what's the matter, son? Are you sick?

صافي، أنا فقت، مامرضتش، صافي

Ghali: safi, ana fiqt, ma maridtsh safi…

Ok, I'm awake, and I'm not sick, ok...

يلا، نهض، نهض

Habiba: yalla, nohd, nohd. 

Let's go, get up! Get up!

بغيتك تمشي معيّ، ندير شويا ديال la marche على شاطئ البحر، توَنسني

bghitk timshi ma3ya, ndir shwiya dial la marche 3la shati lb7ar twansni (wennes - to accompany).

I want you to go with me for a walk along the beach, [I want you to] accompany me. 

عيّيت من الجلاس في الدار

3yyit mn lgulas f ldar. 

I'm tired of staying at home.

اليوم ماتيعاوليش عليّ. عندي programme

Ghali: al-yom ma tat3awwelish 3liyya (3awwel 3la - don't plan for me today) 3ndi programme. 

You can't count on me today, I have plans.

إيوة، شتّي؟ فوق ما حتجتك أنت ديما عندك programme

Habiba: iwa, shtti. foq ma 7tajitik anta dima 3ndak programme. 

Ok, you see? Whenever I need you, you always have plans.

إيوة هاد الروين على حساب من؟ آه؟ آه؟ على حسابي!

iwa had lrwin 3la 7isab man? ah? ah? 3la 7isabi! 

Ok, [and] this fooling around, who's paying for it? Huh? Huh? I am!

كيف العادة، ياك؟ ياك، كنقولك ديما، حوايج الوساخ جمعهم في السلة ديال التصبين

Kif al-3ada, yak? yak, kangolik dima, 7waij al-wussakh jam3hom fi sla dial tasbin.

Just like always, right? I always tell you: put all of the dirty cloths in the laundry basket.

صباح الخير

Fadel: sba7 al-khair

Good morning!

صباح الخير

Habiba: sba7 al-khair

Good morning!

عفاك ماما، دوّز معك هاد الحوايج الله خليك

Fadel: 3ffak mama duwwez ma3k had l7waij allah khellik

Mom, would you please [wash] these clothes, please?

حط، حط

Habiba: 7ett, 7ett 

[Alright], put them here.

التصبين كيولّد... باركة

al-tasbin kaywelled… baraka

There's always more and more laundry... enough!

Vocabulary Review:

fiq - فِق - "wake up!". This is the command form of the verb fiq.

baraka min al-na3s - باركة من النعس - "That's enough sleep". In Moroccan Arabic, the word baraka has several meanings. Primarily, it is used to mean "blessing", and can also mean some amount of money or a small monetary gift given as a tip or charity. Above, we see its third meaning. As an exclamation, baraka means "enough!".

ma lak a wuldi - ما لك أ ولدي - "what's the matter, son?" ma lak means "what's the matter?" a wuldi means "oh, my son".

safi - صافي - "alright!" or "enough!". As we saw in a previous video, safi also means "enough" or "alright!" or "ok!".

ma maridtsh - مامرضتش - "I'm not sick". As we discussed in a previous lesson, past tense verbs that describe states of being are often used in the place of adjectives in Moroccan Arabic. This phrase is an excellent example of this. Instead of saying, ana mashi marid , "I'm not sick", using the adjective marid, Ghali says, ana ma maridtsh, which would translated literally to, "I haven't gotten sick".

yalla - يلّا - "let's go!"

nohd - نهض - "get up!" This is the command form of the verb nahd which means "to get up".

shwiya dial la marche - la marche شوية ديال - "a little walking". This is a good example of code switching in Moroccan Arabic. In this sentence the French noun la marche, "walking", is inserted into an otherwise completely Moroccan Arabic phrase. Grammatically and syntactically it is treated just as if it were darija. Many Moroccans speak both Arabic and French and frequently code switch between the two.

twansni - تونسني - "you accompany me". The verb wannes means "to accompany".

3yyit min - عيّيت - "I'm tired of". The verb 3yya means "to be tired".

ma tat3awwelish 3liyya - ماتتعاوليش عليّ - "don't count on me". This is the negative command form of the verb 3awwel 3la which means "to count on someone".

3ndi programme - programme عندي - "I have plans". Programme is from French and is frequently used in Moroccan Arabic to mean "plans".

shtti - شتّي - "do you see?" As we saw in a previous video, shtti is an idiomatic Moroccan Arabic verb.

foq ma 7tajtik - فوق ما حتاجتك - "whenever I need you". As we saw in a previous video, this is the idiomatic construction of "-ever" nouns in Moroccan Arabic. foq + ma means "whenever" and this construction can be used with other adverbs for different meanings: sh7al ma "how much ever", fin ma "wherever", etc. If you listen to the speaker's pronounciation of the phrase, you'll notice that the ma runs into the 7tajtik so the phrase sounds more like: foq ma7tajtik.

al-rwin - الروين - "fooling around"

3la 7isabi - على حسابي - "I'm paying for it". 7isab means "account", and 3la 7isabi literally means "on my account". This phrase is used to indicate who is paying for something.

kif al-3ada - كيف العادة - "like always" or "as usual". kif means "like" or "as" and al-3ada means "habit" or "the usual".

yak - ياك - "right?" yak is used very frequently in Moroccan Arabic.

al-7waij al-wussakh - الحوايج الوسخ - "the dirty clothes". al-7waij is the plural of al-7aja, which means "thing" or "necessity". al-7waij maintains that meaning, but is also used to mean "clothing".

al-tasbin - التصبين - "laundry". The verb sabban is used to mean "to do laundry" in Moroccan Arabic. A laundry machine is called a sabbana and a dry cleaner or laundry mat is called a masbana. This is derived from the word sabon, which means "soap".

sba7 al-khair - صباح الخير - "Good Morning". Like all Arabs, Moroccans use sba7 al-khair as the go-to morning greeting. Notice the pronunciation in the video.

3ffak - عفاك - "Please". 3ffak is commonly used as "please" for simple, normal requests and in polite speech.

allah khellik - الله خليك - "Please". This phrase, which literally means "May God keep you", is used as a slightly more desperate "please" than 3ffak, usually when someone knows they are asking too much of someone else.

7ett - حطّ - "Put". This is the command form of the verb 7ett which means "to put".

al-tasbin kaywelled - التصبين كيولّد - Literally: "The laundry gives birth", but here it means that there's always more and more laundry.

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