ana
– I
Ex.: ana bardaan
– I am cold. (Don’t laugh! Outside temperatures in
the Gulf countries can go well over 40 degrees Celsius range,
but chances are you’ll spend a lot of time indoors in an
air-conditioned premise that may well be too cold to be called
cool.)
inta
– you (masculine)
Ex.: inta bi-‘7ayr?
- Are you fine?
inti
– you (feminine, that is when addressing a woman)
Ex.: inti s-sikirtiira, muu chidhii?
- You (fem.) are the secretary, right? (In most situations in
the Gulf, a man is NOT supposed to initiate conversation with
a woman.)
huwa
– he (in fast speech cut to “hu”
, sometimes you can hear 'uhu' or 'huwwa')
huwa r-ra’is.
– He is the director/president.
hiya
– she (in fast speech “hi”, "hee")
hiya r-ra’isa.
- She is the director/president. (As you see the verb ‘to
be’ is not used in the present tense in Arabic. You say,
literally, “He the president”, “She the secretary”
meaning “He is the president”, “She is the secretary.”
e7na
– we (variants: ni7in
, ni7na
)
e7na 3ummaal.
– We are workers.
intu
– you (plural) (variant:
intaw, notably in Bahrain)
intu min il-hind?
– Are you from India?
humma
– they
humma min Amriika.
– They are from America.
Books
about the Gulf Countries and their Language and Culture