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ALEF: Strikingstar tackles اللغة العربية

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strikingstar
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Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 33 of 102
28 January 2011 at 6:29pm | IP Logged 
Kinan wrote:
فرح أنك استمتع الموسيقى
-------------------------
أنا فرح أنك استمتعتي بالموسيقى


Hmm, I'm having some trouble dissecting this.

I take it that أنا فرح means "I'm happy"? With فرح used as the adjective? Initially,
when I used أفرح, I was under the impression that it meant that I was in a state of
happiness. Now that I've had time to reflect on it, I'm wondering if it means 'I'm
cheering", as in "I'm cheering someone up." Is that right?

My sentence was supposed to be translated as "I'm happy that you enjoyed the music." I
made a mistake (intended to write استمتعت instead of استمتع). However, I'm not quite
sure why you used استمتعتي. It looks like either the jussive or the subjunctive for 2nd
person, female, singular. But wouldn't that be تستمتعي? I know that you use the
subjunctive with أَنْ, but I'm using أَنَّ in this case, does it still take the subjunctive?

And finally, does استمتع always take the ب?

Sigh, so many questions from one short sentence...

شكرا. أقدر مساعدتك.   

Edited by strikingstar on 28 January 2011 at 6:30pm

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strikingstar
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 Message 34 of 102
28 January 2011 at 6:41pm | IP Logged 
Préposition wrote:
strikingstar wrote:
On any normal day, this is likely what you'll
encounter when trying to learn Arabic
verbs... (all 3rd person, male, singular, past tense).

to leave - dhahara
to attend - hadara
to crawl - zahafa
to dig - hafara
to forsake - hajara
to escape - haraba
to describe - wasafa
to arrive - wasala
to detect - kashafa
to sit - jalasa
to touch - lamasa
to wear - labisa

I can tell you that after a while, everything starts looking/sounding like "hahaha" and
"fafafa" with the occasional "hahiha" thrown in. Sometimes, I wonder if people will
assume you said something else if you said "hahaha" quickly enough.


I'm glad to see I'm not the only one fighting against the Hahahas!


Definitely not!! I've had to devise some unorthodox ways to remember some of these
words. For example, نقل (nql) means to deliver. In my mind, I'm thinking "拿过来"
(na3 guo4 lai2), which means "bring it over", which I can
interpret as delivering to me. For all intents and purposes, ngl sounds close enough to
nql for me. I tend to use other languages to remember new words.    
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Kinan
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 Message 35 of 102
28 January 2011 at 9:12pm | IP Logged 
Ok, I don't know these terms of subjunctive and stuff so I am gonna explain it simply.
first let's discuss أفرح
When you say أفرح, it means that I become happy when..so your sentence means "I become happy when you enjoy the music" and even then it won't be right, it should be
أفرح عندما تستمتعين بالموسيقى
As for استمتعت , I think you should add ي to indicate that you are talking to a female, but I am not quite sure, maybe you add كسرة to ت but I believe استمتعي is the right word.
Finally, the prepositions after استمتع can be مع like in "هل استمتعت مع اصدقائك؟" but mostly ب comes after it..it would never come like in your example without any prepositions as far as I know.
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Cetacea
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 Message 36 of 102
28 January 2011 at 10:07pm | IP Logged 
Kinan wrote:

أنا فرح أنك استمتعتي بالموسيقى
...
As for استمتعت , I think you should add ي to indicate that you are talking to a female, but I am not quite sure, maybe you add كسرة to ت but I believe استمتعي is the right word.


I'm baffled by your explanation especially coming from a native speaker.
- You (female) enjoy the music : تستمتعين بالموسيقى
- You (female) enjoyed the music : استمتعتِ بالموسيقى أو كنتِ تستمتعين بالموسيقى

Neither استمتعي nor استمتعتي is correct. استمتعي is a command word when you want to tell a female to enjoy! استمتعتي is simply wrong. Use a كسرة instead of ي.

Kinan wrote:

Finally, the prepositions after استمتع can be مع like in "هل استمتعت مع اصدقائك؟" but mostly ب comes after it..it would never come like in your example without any prepositions as far as I know.

Agreed. استمتع is almost always used with ب to mean "enjoy something"
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Kinan
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 Message 37 of 102
28 January 2011 at 10:36pm | IP Logged 
Thanks for explaining that Cetacea, but don't be surprised we native speakers forget some rules, we rarely use the MSA after we finish school...and actually most of Arabs can't even know when to write the ت or ة .. for example they would write صحيفت المدرسة
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strikingstar
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 Message 38 of 102
29 January 2011 at 5:24am | IP Logged 
Thanks Kinan and Cetacea.

Final question. Can I use أن or do I have to use عندما? I intended to write "I am happy that you enjoyed the music". Would أفرح أنك استمتعت بالموسيقى be the accurate translation?

شكرا
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Kinan
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 Message 39 of 102
29 January 2011 at 7:55am | IP Logged 
You use أن but not with أفرح , you should use the adjective أنا فرح or you can use the past أنا فرحت
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strikingstar
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United States
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292 posts - 444 votes 
Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 40 of 102
29 January 2011 at 8:14am | IP Logged 
Kinan wrote:
You use أن but not with أفرح , you should use the adjective أنا فرح or you can use the past أنا فرحت


Thanks for clarifying. I guess that makes sense. In English, I wouldn't say "I'm becoming happy that you enjoyed the music."

Mental note to self: Cannot always put 'n behind a verb.


Kinan wrote:
هل تفكر أن الحكومة المصرية ستسقط؟ لي صديقة مقيمة في القاهرة وكنت لم أسمع منها. أرجو أن هي سالمة.
-------------
هل تعتقدين أن الحكومة المصرية ستسقط؟ لي صديقة مقيمة في القاهرة و لم اسمع منها منذ حين, أرجو انها سالمة


I see that you've used a Form VIII verb - أعتقد. (I had never seen it before.) Google translate defines it as "to think", "to believe" or "to suppose" etc. Is it a synonym for فكر or are there shades of differences in their meanings.

I'm at a stage where I feel the need to write everything in Arabic. Invariably, I'll make a gazillion mistakes along the way but I think it's the only way to improve. Hope you don't find my questions too irritating.


Edited by strikingstar on 29 January 2011 at 8:25am



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