Here is a clip from a documentary featuring Moroccans in their 60s speaking about their views on life, society and the future. In this clip, a woman talks about money and what she'd like to do with hers in the future. This clip is good for beginning Moroccan Arabic students as it features verbs in the present tense and negation.
Many thanks to Said Fertate for his input and edits to this post's transcription and translation.
Click below for a word by word translation of this video and an explanation of key vocabulary words.
مانْكرهش نْخبّع متلا ... ما نجمّع شويا. عندي بنتي ماساكناش هناية في المغرب. مانْكراهش نِمشي لعندها. هادي نْبغي نْخلي شوية باش ندير شي حاجة.
Mankrahsh nkhabba3 matalan… ma najma3 shwiya… 3andi banti masakinash hnaya f lmaghrib, mankrahsh nimshi l3andha… hadi, nbghi nkhalli shwiya, bash ndir shi 7aja.
I'd love to put away some money, for example, to grow it a little. I have a daughter who doesn't live here in Morocco. I would love to go visit her. This... I'd like to leave some, so I can do something.
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Vocabulary Review
- mankrahsh - مانكرهش - means "I'd love to", "I'd like to" or "I wouldn't mind to". It's meaning can be stronger depending on context. This is the negative of the present tense verb nkrah - نكره - "I dislike". See here for an explanation of negation.
- nkhabba3 - نخبّع - means "to keep", literally "to hide" something. This is the first person present tense form of the verb, and it is in the subjunctive. Read more about the present tense conjugation of verbs here.
- matalan - متلا - means "for example".
- shwiya - شوية - means "a little bit" or "a little"
- masakinash hnaya - ماساكناش هناية - means "she doesn't live here". masakinash is the negative of sakina - ساكنة - the active particle of the verb sakina - سكن - which means "to live" or "to reside" in a given place. The active particle is often used in Moroccan Arabic as a substitute for present tense verbs. hnaya - هناية - means "here", and it's oppositre is tima - تمة - "there"
- nbghi - نبغي - means "I like" or "I love".
- bash - باش - is a preposition that means "in order to". It is used before present tense verbs and the initial kaf is dropped:
مشيت المغرب باش نقرى العربية
mshit lmaghrib bash nqra l3rabiyya
I went to Morocco to learn Arabic.
- ndir - ندير - means "I do".
- shi 7aja - شي حاجة - means "something". This is an phrase comprised of shi, which is the indefinite article, functioning like "a" or "an" in English, and 7aja, which means "thing".
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Many thanks to Said Fertate for his input and edits to this post's transcription and translation.
This was tough but wonderful. Thank you so much for posting these videos! I hope you find the time to post more!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this site ! It fills a real void for darija learners, especially the videos.
ReplyDeleteJust a couple of points about this video (I'd love to...)
1. You say "This is the first person present tense form of the verb, and it is in the subjunctive." I have, among other resources, been using the Peace Corps Moroccan Arabic Manual and Harrell's Moroccan Arabic, but I have never heard of a subjunctive form of darija verbs. Could you elaborate, please.
2. I think there may be a typo here : "the active particle of the verb sakina - سكن
Should it not be skn (or saken)? in any case not 'sakina', which as you say, is the active particle.
Another thing I just noticed - you have used two different ways of writing 'swiya':
ReplyDeleteشويا شوية
Any particular reason for this ?
Loghrat, thank you so much for your thoughtful and thorough comments! I'll try my best to respond, but please keep the questions coming :)
Delete1. Here I'm using the subjunctive because she's talking about a wished action (i.e. saving money), and the verb is not describing a real or indicative action.
2. With regards to سكن, I try to write verbs out as close to Standard Arabic as possible, which is why I'm including the short vowels rather than just the nouns, as you find in the Peace Corps book. You're correct that it's very similar to the Active Participle, but as you can see above, the Active Participle has the long alif, whereas the verb does not. The transliterations get confusing, but the Arabic script is more clear.
3. About shwiya, there's no standard way of writing out dialectal Arabic, either in transliteration or in Arabic script itself. So, sometimes I write it شويا and other times شوية, but I should try to be more consistent! Both of these would sound the same if spoken.