A1Unit 2 · People and family · Lesson 16 of 100

Describing people

sitti ḥilwe ktīr · ṭawīl / ṭawīle · ʾaṣīr / ʾaṣīre · zayy abūha

Goal: Describe a person or a thing with an adjective, for a man or a woman, and say "very" and "like".

Dialogue

Tomorrow Lina visits her grandmother, Sitti Halime. She shows Sam a photo and tells him what her grandmother is like. You will learn the first adjectives, where they go, and how they change for a woman.

Thursday after class at the language school. Lina shows Sam a photo on her phone.

Sammīn hādi, ya Līna?Who is this, Lina?
Linahādi sitti, Sitti Ḥalīme. bukra ana ʿindha!This is my grandmother, Sitti Halime. Tomorrow I'll be at her place!
SamḤalīme? ism ṣaʿb!Halime? What a difficult name!
Linalaʾ, ism sahl w ḥilu: Ḥa… lī… me!No, it's an easy, pretty name: Ha… li… me!
Samsittik ḥilwe ktīr. hiyye ṭawīle?Your grandmother is very pretty. Is she tall?
Linalaʾ, ʾaṣīre, bass laṭīfe ktīr. w bētha zghīr w ʾadīm.No, she's short, but very kind. And her house is small and old.
Samw inti? inti zayy sittik?And you? Are you like your grandmother?
Linaaywa, ana ʾaṣīre zayy sitti! w Rana ṭawīle zayy abūha.Yes, I'm short like my grandmother! And Rana is tall like her father.
Samw ana, ya Līna?And me, Lina?
Linainte? ṭawīl ktīr… w ṣāḥeb jdīd w laṭīf!You? Very tall… and a new, kind friend!

New words

Palestinian Arabic	English
kbīr	big; old (of people)for a woman: kbīre; plural kbār
zghīr	small; youngfor a woman: zghīre; plural zghār
ṭawīl	tall, longfor a woman: ṭawīle; plural ṭwāl
ʾaṣīr	shortfor a woman: ʾaṣīre; plural ʾṣār
ḥilu	nice, pretty, sweetfor a woman: ḥilwe; plural ḥilwīn
jdīd	newfeminine jdīde; plural jdād
ʾadīm	old (not new)feminine ʾadīme; for a person's age, say kbīr
ṣaʿb	difficult, hardfeminine ṣaʿbe
sahl	easyfeminine sahle
sitt	grandmother; ladysitti my grandmother; ya sitti! grandma!; plural sittāt
zayy	like, aszayy immha like her mother
laṭīf	kind, pleasant, nicefor a woman: laṭīfe; plural luṭafa

Grammar

1. The adjective comes after the noun

In Arabic the describing word comes second: ism ṣaʿb "a difficult name", bēt zghīr "a small house", ṣāḥeb jdīd "a new friend". After a name or a word with "my, your, her…", the same order makes a sentence, with no "is": bētha zghīr "her house is small".

2. Masculine and feminine

For a woman, or for a feminine word, the adjective adds -e (after some letters -a, as in mnīḥa from L3).

For a man, a masculine word	For a woman, a feminine word	English
kbīr	kbīre	big; old (people)
zghīr	zghīre	small; young
ṭawīl	ṭawīle	tall, long
ʾaṣīr	ʾaṣīre	short
ḥilu	ḥilwe	nice, pretty
jdīd	jdīde	new
ʾadīm	ʾadīme	old (things)
laṭīf	laṭīfe	kind
ṣaʿb / sahl	ṣaʿbe / sahle	difficult / easy

Words in -a or -e are feminine, so they take the feminine form: sayyāra jdīde "a new car", ṣūra ʾadīme "an old photo".

Sām ṭawīl. Sam is tall.

Rana ṭawīle. Rana is tall.

3. Very, like

Put ktīr "very" after the adjective. Put zayy "like" before the person.

sitti ḥilwe ktīr. My grandmother is very pretty.

ana ʾaṣīre zayy sitti. I am short like my grandmother.

Practice

1Choose the right words

Rana is tall. You say:
"a new car"
Sitti Halime is eighty-one. She is…
Which word is the opposite of ṣaʿb?
"like her father"

2Complete the sentence

bētha zghīr w ___. = Her house is small and old.
sittik ḥilwe ___! = Your grandmother is very pretty!
hādi ṣūra ___. = This is an old photo.

3Match the Arabic and the English

sahl
ṣaʿb
jdīd
zghīr
laṭīf
zayy

4Put the words in order

You are very tall, Sam.
My grandmother is short and very kind.

5Say it in Palestinian Arabic, then check

Describe Khalil: He is tall and kind.
Say: a new friend (a woman)

6True or false?

Sitti Halime is tall.
Sam thinks Ḥalīme is a difficult name.

Well done — your score: .

Summary

You can describe people and things: ṭawīl, ʾaṣīr, kbīr, zghīr, ḥilu, laṭīf.
You can put the adjective after the noun: bēt zghīr, sayyāra jdīde.
You can make the adjective feminine: ṭawīl → ṭawīle, ḥilu → ḥilwe.
You can say "very" and "like": ḥilwe ktīr, zayy sitti.

Unit 2: People and family

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