Gulf Arabic: Level 2

صارحيني

“Be Honest With Me”

Lyrics: رياض ابراهيم

Music: خالد عبدالرحمن

 

 

• صارحيني .. منهو انا فدنيتك .. منهو انا فدنيتك

ṣāriḥīni, minhu ana fi-dinyatik, minhu ana fi-dinyatik?

Be honest with me.. Who am I in your world? Who am I in your world?

– minhu = Fuṣḥā مَن  (= who); probably from من هو )

– دِنيا  = Fuṣḥā دُنيا  (note that in a lot of Gulf dialects (just like in Syrian and Lebanese dialects) ḍammas become kasras like “kull” being “kill”, etc)

– dinyatik = the -ik in Gulf dialects is the masculine personal pronoun while -ič is the feminine one, so the -ik here is a bit unexpected because the verb ṣāriḥīni shows feminine agreement

 

 

• جاوبيني .. ان كنت فعلاً منيتك .. ان كنت فعلاً منيتك

Jāwibīni, in kint(i) fi‘lan munyatik? in kunt(i) fi‘lan munyatik?

Answer me.. Was I actually your wish? Was I actually your wish?

 

• ما كنت ارضى تزعلين .. وانتي بتهدين الزعل

Ma kint arẓa tiz‘alīn… w-anti bithidīn iz-za‘l

I didn’t want you to be angry… and you will give me anger as a gift.

– ارضى  = usually in Gulf dialects the ض  is pronounced ظ , here I can’t really here what he is using, though it sounds more like ض  to me.

– تزعلين  = note that in Gulf dialects the nūns of Fuṣḥā in the 5 verbs are retained (for more about the 5 verbs see here)

– بتهدين  = usually the b- prefix in Gulf dialects is a future marker, here I’m not sure if that’s the right translation

 

• ما اطيق عني تبعدين .. في قربي حسيت بملل

Ma aṭīg ‘ani tib‘adīn.. fi gurbi ḥassēt(i) bi-malil.

I can’t handle you being away from me… You were bored when you were with me.

– حسيت  = note that in most dialects verbs in which the last two radicals are the same are treated like final weak verbs so مررتُ  (marartu) would be “marrēt“.

 

• محرومة عيني شوفتك .. لا تحرميني كلمتك

Maḥrūma ‘ayni šōfatik… la tiḥramīni kilmatik

My eye is deprived of seeing you… Don’t deprive me of hearing you.

– محرومة عيني  = note that عين  just like most body parts that there are two of is feminine

– شوفة  = sight, seeing; from “شاف يشوف”  the common words in most dialects for “to see”

 

• حتى الصراحة بيننا .. صارت صعيبة بدربنا

ḥatta iṣ-ṣarāha bēnana… ṣārat ṣ‘ayba bi-darb(a)na

Even honesty between the two of us has become difficult on our way.

–  صعيبة  = probably the diminutive of صعب  (= difficult)

 

• وان كان ودّك تبعدين .. صعبة انا انسى حبنا

w-in kān widdik tib‘adīn… ṣa‘ba ana insa ḥubbana

If it’s your desire to stay away… It’s hard for me to forget our love.

– صعبة  = I do not know why this is feminine, usually the default gender is the unmarked masculine one

 

• ما يعني هذا ترجعين .. في دنيتي بالقى الهنا

Ma ya‘ni hadha tirja‘īn… fi dinyati balga il-hana

This doesn’t mean that you should come back… In my world I will find happiness.

– هذا  = note that Gulf dialects retain interdentals

– بالقى  = here the b- is definitely a future marker