A1Unit 4 · Numbers, time and the market · Lesson 33 of 100
How much is it?
ʾaddēsh? · ʾaddēsh siʿr hal-jawwāl? · mīt shēkel · alfēn
Goal: Ask how much something costs and understand prices, including hundreds and thousands.
Dialogue
Lina goes to a phone shop to buy credit and finds out what a new phone costs. You will learn to ask prices and to understand hundreds and thousands of shekels.
A small phone shop near Manara Square. Lina needs phone credit, and her old phone from Chicago is very slow.
- Linamarḥaba! biddi raṣīd, law samaḥt.Hello! I'd like some phone credit, please.
- Manahlan! ʾaddēsh? ʿishrīn shēkel? khamsīn?Hi! How much? Twenty shekels? Fifty?
- Linakhamsīn shēkel. w ʾaddēsh siʿr hal-jawwāl?Fifty shekels. And how much is this phone?
- Manhāda jdīd: alfēn w khamsmīt shēkel.This one is new: two thousand five hundred shekels.
- Linaalfēn w khamsmiyye?! ghāli ktīr!Two thousand five hundred?! That's very expensive!
- Manʿindi kamān jawwāl mustaʿmal, rkhīṣ: talatmīt shēkel bass.I also have a second-hand phone, cheap: only three hundred shekels.
- Linaṭayyib, bashtri. ʾaddēsh kull ishi?OK, I'll buy it. How much is everything?
- Mantalatmiyye w khamsīn shēkel.Three hundred and fifty shekels.
- Linatfaḍḍal. w ir-raṣīd bi-balāsh?Here you are. And is the credit free?
- Manlaʾ! bass il-ʾahwe bi-balāsh. tfaḍḍali!No! But the coffee is free. Please, have some!
New words
| Palestinian Arabic | English |
|---|---|
| shēkel | shekelnever changes after a number: ʿashara shēkel; pl. shawākel |
| siʿr | pricepl. asʿār; ʾaddēsh siʿro? how much is it? (a masculine thing) |
| ghāli | expensivef. ghālye, pl. ghālyīn |
| rkhīṣ | cheapf. rkhīṣa |
| alf | thousand2000 = alfēn; 3000 = talatt ālāf |
| raṣīd | (phone) credit; balance |
| dafaʿ | to paydafaʿ / yidfaʿ; badfaʿ I pay |
| ishtara | to buyishtara / yishtri; bashtri I buy |
| bāʿ | to sellbāʿ / ybīʿ; babīʿ I sell |
| mustaʿmal | used, second-handjawwāl mustaʿmal a second-hand phone |
| balāsh | for free; never mind!bi-balāsh for free, for nothing |
Grammar
1. How much?
Point and ask ʾaddēsh? or ʾaddēsh hāda? You can also ask about the price: ʾaddēsh siʿro? for a masculine thing, ʾaddēsh siʿrha? for a feminine one, or name the thing: ʾaddēsh siʿr hal-jawwāl?
shēkel never changes after a number, and the numbers 3 to 10 keep their full form before it: talāte shēkel, ʿashara shēkel.
2. Hundreds and thousands
| Number | On its own | Before shēkel |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | miyye | mīt shēkel |
| 200 | mītēn | mītēn shēkel |
| 300 | talatmiyye | talatmīt shēkel |
| 500 | khamsmiyye | khamsmīt shēkel |
| 1000 | alf | alf shēkel |
| 2000 | alfēn | alfēn shēkel |
| 3000 | talatt ālāf | talatt ālāf shēkel |
Only -miyye changes, and only when the noun comes right after it: it becomes -mīt. Join the parts with w, the biggest first. In talatmiyye w khamsīn shēkel the noun follows khamsīn, so talatmiyye keeps its full form.
Sound: the ṣ of rkhīṣ and raṣīd is a deep, dark s.
Practice
1Choose the right words
You want to know the price of a phone.
300 shekels
Before a noun, -miyye becomes -mīt.
2000
The opposite of ghāli is:
2Complete the sentence
___ shēkel = ten shekels
With shēkel, the number keeps its full form.
ʿindi jawwāl ___, rkhīṣ. = I have a second-hand phone, cheap.
biddi ___, law samaḥt. = I'd like some phone credit, please.
3Match the Arabic and the English
siʿr
alf
bi-balāsh
ishtara
bāʿ
dafaʿ
4Put the words in order
How much is everything?
This phone is very expensive.
5Say it in Palestinian Arabic, then check
Ask how much this book is.
ʾaddēsh siʿr hal-ktāb?
three hundred and fifty shekels
talatmiyye w khamsīn shēkel
6True or false?
Lina buys the new phone.
She buys the second-hand one: talatmīt shēkel bass.
In the end, Lina pays 350 shekels.
Summary
- You can ask prices: ʾaddēsh?, ʾaddēsh siʿr hal-jawwāl?
- You can understand hundreds and thousands: mīt shēkel, talatmīt shēkel, alfēn.
- You can say that something is ghāli, rkhīṣ, mustaʿmal or bi-balāsh.
- You can say "I'll buy it": bashtri.