Egyptian Arabic: Level 2

بعد يومين

Ba‘d Yōmēn

(After Two Days)

 Samira Said

 

 

• ال جاني بعد يومين يبكيلي بدمع العين

Āl gāni ba‘d yōmēn, yibkīli bi-dam‘ il-‘ēn

Can you believe, he came to me after two days, sobbing to me and with a tear in his eye.

– ال = probably from قال , means something like “Can you believe?”, “What is this now?”, rather negative

– جاني  (gāni) = Fuṣḥā جاء إل , also common in Egyptian: “gih” (= جاء)

– yōmēn  = Fuṣḥā yawmeyn (يوَمَيْن);

Note: In ʿĀmmiyya the dual is always in the accusative case (يْن , never ان ), verbs and adjectives never show dual agreement, but rather plural agreement.

– yibkīli = Fuṣḥā يبكي لي  (note the gap between the two words; in ʿĀmmiyya the latter becomes a clitic that is attached to the word and thus the vowel before is elongated)

 

• يشكي من حب جديد يحكي و انا نارى تقيد

Yishki min ḥubb (i)gdīd, yeḥki wi ana nāri t’īd

Complaining about his new love, while he’s talking my fire’s being ignited.

– ḥubb (i)gdīd = Fuṣḥā ḥubb jadīd (1. the j becomes a g; 2. adjectives of the pattern faʿīl often become fiʿīl)

– قاد، يقيد = to burn, to catch fire; to ignite

– حكى، يحكي  = to speak (though in Egyptian “itkallam, yitkallam” is more common)

– wi = wa, sometimes realized as “u”

– nāri t’īd = note the feminine agreement as nār can be both masculine and feminine

 

• وسمعت وفكري شريد وسكتت وقلبي شهيد

wi sm‘at u fikri sharīd, wi skitt u ‘albi shahīd

I was listening but my thoughts were somewhere else, I kept quiet, my heart is a witness.

– sm‘at = should be sm‘it but the ع alters the pronunciation of the following vowel (from سِمِع، يسمَع , Fuṣḥā سَمِع، يسمَع  (note the difference in vocalisation)

– skitt (sounds to me like “skitti”)

 

• وانا اللي كنت فاكره إنه حيشتكي من بعدي

wi ana illi kunt (i)fakra inu waḥashtik min ba‘di 

And here I was thinking you missed me from far away.

– illi = Fuṣḥā الذي

– kunt (i)fakra = note the helping vowel that is inserted because Egyptian doesn’t allow consonant clusters of three consonants right after one another (kunt fakra)

– fakra = originally fākira, since the i in ki is in an open syllable (fā-ki-ra) it get’s deleted, now we have fāk-ra and since the long vowel ā is now in a closed syllable it get’s shortened so we get “fakra”.

– inu = Fuṣḥā innahu (إنّه )

– وَحَش  = to be missed by somebody (very Egyptian, not used in Fuṣḥā or most other dialects; past tense used for the present)

– ba‘di = should be بُعدي (bu‘di) like in Fuṣḥā but sounds like ba‘di to me

 

• فاجئني بقصه تانيه ضيعت الحلم الوردي

fagini b-‘issa tanya, dayya‘t il-ḥulm il-wardi.

He surprised me with a different story and I lost my pink dream.

– فاجئ = Fuṣḥā فاجأ

– tanya (تانيه)  = similar to “fakra”: was originally tāniya, but because the i is in an open syllable (tā-ni-ya) it gets deleted, now the ā is in a closed syllable (tān-ya) and thus gets shortened.

 

• وأنا اللي كنت فاكره إني وحدي اللي فقلبه

wi ana illi kunt (i)fakra ini waḥdi illi fi-‘albu

And here I was thinking I was the only one in his heart.

– waḥdi = on my own (sometimes also: li-waḥdi)

 

• أتاري واحده تانيه جات في ثانيه شغلت قلبه قوام

atāri waḥda tanya gat fi sanya shaghalit ‘albu ‘awām

Turns out there was a different one who came all the sudden and quickly occupied his heart with her.

– atāri = turns out

– waḥda = see “fakra” and “tanya” above

– شَغَل = to occupy, keep busy

– قوام   (‘awām) = immediately; all the sudden

 

Refrain

 

• ما إعرفتش إيه حقولو هرب كلامي مني

Ma ‘iriftish ē ḥa’ullu / ha’ullu, hirib kalāmi minni

I didn’t know what to say to him, my words escaped from me.

– Ma ‘iriftish = note the Egyptian ma – sh negation and the inserted helping vowel “‘iriftish” because otherwise there would be a consonant cluster (‘iriftsh)

– ē  = Fuṣḥā ماذا / ما ; presumably from أي شي  (thus Levantine “ēsh”)

– ḥa’ullu / ha’ullu  = Fuṣḥā سأقول له 

Note: The future participle is either ḥa- or ha- prefixed on the verb.

– a’ullu = note 1. that the  له  is a clitic attached to the verb in dialects and 2. that you might expect a’ūllu but since the syllable structure is a-‘ūl-lu ū is in a closed syllable and gets shortened

 

• سبته ومشيت لوحدي كل خطوة غصب عني

Sibtu u mashēt li-waḥdi, kull khaṭwa ghaṣba ‘ani

I left him and walked away on my own, forcing myself to every step.

– ساب، يسيب  = to leave; to let go; to allow

– مشيت  (mashēt) = note the past tense conjugation

– غصبَ عن (more commonly غصبٍ عن (ghaṣbin)) = forced, compulsory

 

• وكأني فدنيا تانيه مذهوله ومش في وعيي

Wi ka’inni fi-dunya tanya, mazhūla u mush fi wa‘i.

It was like I was in a different world, perplexed and absent-minded.

– مذهوله  (mazhūla) = shocked, bewildered, perplexed

– مش  (mush) = negation for adjectives and nouns as well as participles

– وعي  (wa‘i) = awareness, consciousness

 

• لكن بعد اللي جاني قلت تاني منه للأيام

lākin ba‘d illi gāni ’ult(i) tāni minno l-il-ayām

But after what happened to me I said again: Time will take my revenge on him.

– tāni  = again

– minno l-il-ayām  = I was told that this is a short form of “اشكي منك للأيام” (“I complain to time (lit.: the days) about you”, meaning: they will take revenge) or more commonly “اشكي منك لله” (“I complain to God about you”)

 

Refrain

 

• شايفين الظلم يا ناس ده حلال ده ولا حرام

Shāyfīn iẓ-ẓulm ya nās, da ḥalāl da walla ḥarām?

Do you people see this cruelty? Is this fair or what?

– شايفين  = note that the nominative case (-ūn) is never used in ’āmmiyya

– دا  = Fuṣḥā هذا

 

• اه من جرح الإحساس دي ألام وأشد الام

Aah, min garḥ il-iḥsās, di alām wa ašad alām.

Aarrgh, these wounds of feelings, the pain, the worst of all pains.

 

• أوصيك بالصبر يا قلبي ده غرامه طلع أوهام

awṣik b-iṣ-ṣabr(i) ya ’albi, da gharāmu ṭla’ awhām

 I advise you, my heart, to be patient, his love turned out to be just an imagination.

– ṭla’ (should be ṭili’ (from ṭili’)) = turned out