Dialect ∞ Vocabulary ∞ Grammar ∞ …بالإماراتي شو يقولون

There is considerable overlap with Gulf Arabic (Khaliji, خليجي or al Lahgah al Haligiyyah, اللهجة الخليجية) the dialect of Arabic “spoken” around the shores of the Arabian Gulf.

Arabic, while spoken as the first language in over twenty countries, has a number of rather distinct dialects (colloquially-speaking). It is possible to write colloquially in a given dialect, however spell-checkers would flag everything as being incorrect.

In Emirati Arabic, how do you say “…”?
bil-Emirati shoe yagooloown “…”?
…بالإماراتي شو يقولون

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These numerals are often used when transliterating Emirati dialect:

2     aa ( alif )
3     ‘a ( ‘ain )
4     th ( ث )
5     kh ( خ )
6     t ( ط )
7     h ( for ح not هاء )
8     ( ق )
9     ( ص )

e.g. I am tired = ana t3b2n2 = انا تعبانة

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Arabic verbs (فعل fiʻl; pl. أفعال afʻāl), are usually based on a set of three consonants called the root. The root provides us with the basic meaning of the verb, e.g. q—r—aʼ (“to read”), k—t—b (“to write”), q—aʼ—l (“to say”). This is illustrated below with the verb: “to write”

Changes to the vowels in between the root consonants, along with prefixes and/or suffixes, specify: exact meaning along with grammatical functions that inter alia include: person, gender, number, tense (زمان zamān), mood (حالة ḥālah), and voice (صيغة ṣīghah).

While many of the verb forms &c. (see below) have some reference/relevance to that of the root in terms of meaning, it is not always very direct.

Form	Past	Meaning	Non-past	Meaning
I	kataba	‘he wrote’	yaktubu	‘he writes’
II	kattaba	‘he made (someone) write’	yukattibu	‘he makes (someone) write’
III	kātaba	‘he corresponded with, wrote to (someone)’	yukātibu	‘”he corresponds with, writes to (someone)’
IV	ʼaktaba	‘he dictated’	yuktibu	‘he dictates’
V	takattaba		yatakattabu
VI	takātaba	‘he corresponded (with someone, esp. mutually)’	yatakātabu	‘he corresponds (with someone, esp. mutually)’
VII	inkataba	‘he subscribed’	yankatibu	‘he subscribes’
VIII	iktataba	‘he copied’	yaktatibu	‘he copies’
IX	iḥmarra		yaḥmarru
X	istaktaba	‘he asked (someone) to write’	yastaktibu	‘he asks (someone) to write’

 

Example: the verb “to write” (Form I)

Tense/Mood		Past	Present Subjunctive	Present Indicative	Future	Imperative
Singular
1st		katáb-t	á-ktib	bá-ktib	ḥá-ktib
2nd	masculine	katáb-t	tí-ktib	bi-tí-ktib	ḥa-tí-ktib	í-ktib
	feminine	katáb-ti	ti-ktíb-i	bi-ti-ktíb-i	ḥa-ti-ktíb-i	i-ktíb-i
3rd	masculine	kátab	yí-ktib	bi-yí-ktib	ḥa-yí-ktib
	feminine	kátab-it	tí-ktib	bi-tí-ktib	ḥa-tí-ktib
Plural
1st		katáb-na	ní-ktib	bi-ní-ktib	ḥá-ní-ktib
2nd		katáb-tu	ti-ktíb-u	bi-ti-ktíb-u	ḥa-ti-ktíb-u	i-ktíb-u
3rd		kátab-u	yi-ktíb-u	bi-yi-ktíb-u	ḥa-yi-ktíb-u