B1Unit 8 · Work, studies and stories · Lesson 75 of 100
Telling a story
shu ṣār? · awwal ishi · baʿdēn · fajʾa · bil-ākher
Goal: Tell a short funny story in the past: set the scene, say what happened step by step, and finish it.
Dialogue
Sam had a strange morning at Abu Samir's stall, and everybody wants to hear about it. You will learn the words that move a story forward, awwal ishi, baʿdēn, fajʾa, bil-ākher, and how to describe the background with kān and a participle.
Evening on the roof of the Khalil house. Sam tells Lina and Rana about his morning at the market.
- RanaSām, shu ṣār maʿak fis-sūʾ il-yōm?Sam, what happened to you at the market today?
- Samṭayyib, baḥkīlkom. awwal ishi, kunt māshi fis-sūʾ, w Abu Samīr kān ʿam biṣrakh: baṭṭīkh! baṭṭīkh aḥmar w ḥilu!OK, I'll tell you. First, I was walking through the market, and Abu Samir was shouting: "Watermelon! Red, sweet watermelon!"
- Samana shtarēt baṭṭīkha kbīre. kānat tʾīle ktīr!I bought a big watermelon. It was really heavy!
- Linaw baʿdēn?And then?
- Sambaʿdēn, fajʾa, bisse rakḍat ʾuddāmi.Then suddenly a cat ran in front of me.
- Samwaʾʾaʿt il-baṭṭīkha! ḥāwalt amsikha, bass kabbēt kāsit ʿaṣīr ʿala ʾamīṣ Abu Samīr!I dropped the watermelon! I tried to catch it, but I spilled a glass of juice on Abu Samir's shirt!
- Ranaʿan jadd? w il-baṭṭīkha?Really? And the watermelon?
- Samwiʾʿat jamb zalame gharīb. shālha w aʿṭāni yyāha.It fell next to a man I didn't know. He picked it up and gave it to me.
- Linaw Abu Samīr? ṣarakh ʿalēk?And Abu Samir? Did he shout at you?
- Samā, ṣarakh ktīr, w kull in-nās ṣāru yitfarraju ʿalēna.Yes, he shouted a lot, and everybody started watching us.
- Samw biṣ-ṣudfe Khalīl kān māshi hunāk, w ṣawwarna!And by chance Khalil was walking by, and he took a photo of us!
- Ranaḥarām! w bil-ākher?Poor you! And in the end?
- Sambil-ākher Abu Samīr ḍiḥik w ʾāl: maʿlēsh, il-ʾamīṣ ʾadīm, raḥ armī!In the end Abu Samir laughed and said: "Never mind, the shirt is old, I'll throw it away!"
- Samw bala ṭūl sīre: aʿṭāni baṭṭīkha tānye bi-balāsh!And to cut a long story short: he gave me another watermelon for free!
- Ranaʾuṣṣtak ḍaḥḥakatni ktīr, ya Sām!Your story made me laugh so much, Sam!
- Linahāda Abu Samīr! dāyman biḍaḥḥekna.That's Abu Samir! He always makes us laugh.
New words
| Palestinian Arabic | English |
|---|---|
| fajʾa | suddenly |
| ṣār | to happen; to become; to start (doing)ṣār / yṣīr; b-present baṣīr; shu ṣār? = what happened? |
| awwal ishi | first (of all) |
| ṣudfe | chance, coincidencebiṣ-ṣudfe = by chance |
| wiʾiʿ | to fall, fall downwiʾiʿ / yūʾaʿ; b-present (he) būʾaʿ; wiʾʿat = she / it (f) fell |
| waʾʾaʿ | to drop (something); to knock overwaʾʾaʿ / ywaʾʾeʿ; b-present bawaʾʾeʿ; waʾʾaʿt = I dropped |
| shāl | to take away, remove; to lift, pick upshāl / yshīl; b-present bashīl |
| rama | to throw; to throw awayrama / yirmi; b-present barmi |
| kabb | to spill, pour out; to throw outkabb / ykubb; b-present bakubb; kabbēt = I spilled |
| baṭṭīkh | watermelon (collective)one watermelon: baṭṭīkha |
| ṣarakh | to shout, screamṣarakh / yiṣrakh; b-present baṣrakh; ṣarakh ʿalē = he shouted at him |
| ḍaḥḥak | to make (someone) laugh; to be funnyḍaḥḥak / yḍaḥḥek; b-present baḍaḥḥek |
| gharīb | strange; foreign; a strangerfeminine gharībe, plural gharībīn |
| misik | to hold; to grab, catchmisik / yimsik; b-present bamsik |
| awwalan | firstly, first of all |
| bala ṭūl sīre | to cut a long story short |
Grammar
1. Moving the story forward
| Palestinian Arabic | English | when |
|---|---|---|
| awwal ishi | first (of all) | to start the story |
| awwalan | firstly | to start a list of points (a bit more formal) |
| baʿdēn | then, after that | the next step |
| fajʾa | suddenly | the surprise |
| biṣ-ṣudfe | by chance | something nobody planned |
| bil-ākher | in the end, finally | the end |
| bala ṭūl sīre | to cut a long story short | to jump to the end |
2. The background: kān + participle
A story has a background (what was going on) and events (what happened). For the background, use kān with a participle (lesson 74), or kān ʿam with the b-present. For the events, use the perfect.
kān and the participle both agree with the person: kunt māshi (a man speaking), kunt māshye (a woman speaking), kānu wāʾfīn (they were standing).
3. ṣār: to happen, to start
shu ṣār? means "what happened?"; shu ṣār maʿak? "what happened to you?" (to a man), shu ṣār maʿik? (to a woman). ṣār + the present without b- means "started to": in-nās ṣāru yiḍḥaku "people started laughing".
Keep two verbs apart: wiʾiʿ "to fall" and waʾʾaʿ "to drop".
Practice
1Choose the right answer
Which word means "suddenly"?
"The watermelon fell."
waʾʾaʿ means "to drop something"; wiʾiʿ means "to fall".
You ask Rana: "What happened to you?"
A woman sets the scene: "I was walking in the market."
mashēt tells an event, "I walked"; the background is kunt + participle.
2Complete the story
___, kunt māshi fis-sūʾ. = First of all, I was walking in the market.
Abu Samīr kān ___ ʿind il-baṭṭīkh. = Abu Samir was standing by the watermelons.
zalame gharīb ___ il-baṭṭīkha. = A stranger picked up the watermelon.
Sām ___ il-ʿaṣīr ʿala ʾamīṣ Abu Samīr. = Sam spilled the juice on Abu Samir's shirt.
___ in-nās ṣāru yiḍḥaku. = In the end, people started laughing.
3Match the Arabic and the English
baṭṭīkh
ṣarakh
rama
misik
gharīb
ṣudfe
4Put the words in order
Then suddenly a cat ran in front of me.
I was walking in the market. (a man speaking)
5Say it in Palestinian Arabic, then check
What happened to you? (to a man)
shu ṣār maʿak?
I dropped the watermelon.
waʾʾaʿt il-baṭṭīkha.
6True or false?
Sam bought a small watermelon.
He says baṭṭīkha kbīre.
Abu Samir shouted at Sam.
Sam paid for a second watermelon.
Abu Samir gave it to him bi-balāsh, for free.
Summary
- You can move a story forward: awwal ishi, baʿdēn, fajʾa, biṣ-ṣudfe, bil-ākher.
- You can set the background with kān + participle: kunt māshi, kān wāʾef, and kān ʿam biṣrakh.
- You can ask shu ṣār? and say "started to" with ṣār: ṣāru yiḍḥaku.
- You can tell "fall" from "drop": wiʾiʿ and waʾʾaʿ.
- You can jump to the end: bala ṭūl sīre.