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"Already" and "rather" in Arabic | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Mikael84 Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Peru Joined 5302 days ago 76 posts - 116 votes  Speaks: French*, Finnish*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Russian | Message 1 of 22 28 November 2010 at 8:10pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Question 1: how would you translate something such as "I am already learning Arabic" in Arabic?
The normal translation for "already" is qad, but qad means "maybe" when used with the present tense. So I understand saying "qad adrusu al3arabiyya" would mean "I am maybe learning Arabic". Whereas "qad darastu al3arabiyya" would mean "I already learnt Arabic". But is there anyway of combining "already" with some progressive/present tense verb in Arabic? Question 2: in a colloquial setting, how would you say something like "or rather". Like when you're talking and you correct yourself, example "I have been living in this country for 2 years.. or rather, 3 years." The other day I wasn't sure and just used "ya3ni", but I'm sure there's a better way. Thanks for any input! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5274 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 2 of 22 29 November 2010 at 2:33am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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From my understanding قد is used to add stress to something and is usually never translated. If you wanted to say I'm doing something then I'd use انا. Edited by CaucusWolf on 29 November 2010 at 2:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Mikael84 Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Peru Joined 5302 days ago 76 posts - 116 votes Speaks: French*, Finnish*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Russian | Message 3 of 22 29 November 2010 at 3:18am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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"انا"? That just means "I"? I think you forgot something there.
My understanding is that if you want to add stress to the idea of having already done something then instead of using "qad" you may use "laqad". But still, doesn't solve my problem of using it with an action in the present tense... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| slhdn Diglot Newbie Turkey Joined 5733 days ago 20 posts - 33 votes Speaks: Turkish*, English Studies: French, Arabic (classical) | Message 4 of 22 29 November 2010 at 4:31am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Google translate recommends بالفعل as a translation of already.
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| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5274 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 5 of 22 29 November 2010 at 5:33am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
As far as I know انا is used for both I and I'm so to me it would be only logical to use. I'm also pretty sure the use of قد in your sentence was unnecessary because its usually used for stress. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Mikael84 Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Peru Joined 5302 days ago 76 posts - 116 votes Speaks: French*, Finnish*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Russian | Message 6 of 22 29 November 2010 at 5:39am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Sure, it means "I and "I am" as you say but it doesn't mean "already". My question was how to translate "I am already doing something". Qad only serves to emphasize actions in the past, and if you use it with the present tense its meaning changes to "maybe". slhdn, thanks, I saw that too in google translate... but I am wary of google translate and would appreciate it if someone fluent in Arabic could confirm. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5274 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 7 of 22 30 November 2010 at 3:46am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
First I should add that you're not going to be able to say certain things in Arabic the way you say them in English. The whole sentence "I'm already learning Arabic." must've thrown me off for some reason. (I honestly don't know why I didn't say this before.) If I was to talk about something I already did I wouldn't use the word already(and not just because I don't know what the word is or if Arabic has an equivalent.) for example "انا سفرا لاميركا"(lit. I traveled to America.) or " سفرا انا لاميركا"(traveled I to America.) However, what you're talking about is what you're doing now currently and the word for that (out of vocab I know.) is جار or Jaarin which means current or going on.(I'm not sure aboutجار's proper use yet so I need someone to confirm how it would be used. Someone who has a full grasp on grammar should add to this as my knowledge on Arabic grammar is limited. I've personally never seen sentences talking about something happening now it's either past or future.) Edited by CaucusWolf on 30 November 2010 at 4:21am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Mikael84 Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Peru Joined 5302 days ago 76 posts - 116 votes Speaks: French*, Finnish*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Russian | Message 8 of 22 30 November 2010 at 4:32am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Thanks for your reply. I'm pretty sure there must be some way in Arabic to translate an exchange such as: "Do the dishes!" "But I'm already doing them!" With the extra emphasis that you're already doing them. I mean, it's pretty basic and recurring in colloquial speech if you think about it. On another topic, I'm surprised you translate "I travelled to America" as "انا سفرا لاميركا". Shouldn't it be "safartu", not "safaraa" as you wrote? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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