B1Unit 10 · Palestine and the diaspora · Lesson 95 of 100
Family roots
mnēn aṣlak? · aṣli min … · inwaladt fi … · hājaru ʿa- …
Goal: Say where your family comes from, where people were born and live now, and talk about relatives abroad.
Dialogue
In a café in Ramallah, Lina, Khalil and Nour talk about their relatives in America, Jordan and Chile. You will learn to talk about family origins with aṣli min … and to tell a family story that moves from the past to the present.
An autumn evening in a café near al-Manara. Lina, Khalil and Nour are drinking tea.
- Nourya Līna, inti nwaladti fi Shikāgo, ṣaḥḥ?Lina, you were born in Chicago, right?
- Linaā, bass aṣli min Rāmalla. ahli hājaru ʿa-Amērka, w baʿdēn ana nwaladt hunāk.Yes, but my family is from Ramallah. My parents emigrated to America, and then I was born there.
- Linabāba w māma rabbūni fi Shikāgo, bass dāyman ḥakūli ʿan Rāmalla.Dad and Mom raised me in Chicago, but they always told me about Ramallah.
- Khalilw iḥna ʿinna ʾarāyeb fi kull makān: khāli fi Amērka, w ʿammti fi ʿAmmān.And we have relatives everywhere: my uncle in America and my aunt in Amman.
- Nourʿammtak ṣarilha ktīr fil-Urdun?Has your aunt been in Jordan long?
- Khalilṣarilha talātīn sane. tjawwazat wāḥad urduni, w wlādha nwaladu fi ʿAmmān.Thirty years. She married a Jordanian, and her children were born in Amman.
- Linayaʿni ʿindhom jinsiyye urduniyye?So they have Jordanian citizenship?
- Khalilā, w bīju yzūrūna kull ṣēf.Yes, and they come to visit us every summer.
- Nourw iḥna ʿinna ʾarāyeb ktīr fi Tshīli. jidd jiddi hājar ʿa-Tshīli ʾabl aktar min mīt sane.And we have lots of relatives in Chile. My great-grandfather emigrated to Chile more than a hundred years ago.
- Linaʿan jadd? w lissāthom biḥku ʿarabi?Really? And do they still speak Arabic?
- Nouril-kbār shwayy. bass iz-zghār inwaladu w ʿāshu kull ḥayāthom hunāk, w ma biḥkūsh ʿarabi.The older ones a little. But the young ones were born and have lived all their lives there, and they don't speak Arabic.
- Nourw ukhti tjawwazat shabb min Tshīli, aṣlo min Bēt Laḥem. hallaʾ ṣār nsībna!And my sister married a young man from Chile whose family is from Bethlehem. Now he's our in-law!
- Khalilw inti, ya Līna? bitḥissi ḥālik ajnabiyye hōn?And you, Lina? Do you feel like a foreigner here?
- Linaawwal ma jīt, ā, shwayy. bass hallaʾ baḥiss inni bint il-balad!When I first came, yes, a bit. But now I feel I'm a local girl!
- Khalilw sitti ʿumrha ma tarkat il-balad. dāyman bitʾūl: hōn inwaladt, w hōn rabbēt wlādi.And Grandma has never left the village. She always says: "Here I was born, and here I raised my children."
New words
| Palestinian Arabic | English |
|---|---|
| hājar | to emigratehājar / yhājer; b-present bahājer; hājar ʿa-Amērka = he emigrated to America |
| ʿAmmān | Ammanfeminine |
| il-Urdun | Jordanfil-Urdun = in Jordan; adjective urduni, feminine urduniyye |
| Tshīli | Chile |
| ajnabi | foreign; a foreignerfeminine ajnabiyye, plural ajāneb; lugha ajnabiyye = a foreign language |
| jinsiyye | nationality, citizenshipjinsiyye amērkāniyye = American citizenship |
| inwalad | to be borninwalad / yinwaled; inwaladt fi Shikāgo = I was born in Chicago |
| rabba | to raise, bring up (children)rabba / yrabbi; b-present barabbi; rabbūni = they raised me |
| jidd | grandfather; (plural) ancestorsfeminine jidde; plural jdūd; ya jiddo = grandpa; jidd jiddi = my great-grandfather |
| ḥama | father-in-law |
| ḥamā | mother-in-lawplural ḥamawāt; ḥamāti = my mother-in-law |
| bāba | dad, daddy |
| māma | mom, mommy |
| kinne | daughter-in-lawplural kanāyen |
| nsīb | in-law, relative by marriagefeminine nsībe, plural nasāyeb |
Grammar
1. Where your family comes from: aṣli min …
aṣl "origin" takes the possessive suffixes. aṣli min Rāmalla means "my family comes from Ramallah", even if you were born somewhere else.
| Palestinian Arabic | English |
|---|---|
| mnēn aṣlak? / mnēn aṣlik? | Where is your family from? (to a man / to a woman) |
| aṣli min Rāmalla. | My family is from Ramallah. |
| aṣlo min Bēt Laḥem. | His family is from Bethlehem. |
| aṣlhom min Nāblis. | Their family is from Nablus. |
Three questions, three answers: where you were born (inwaladt fi …), where you live (ana sāken / sākne fi …), and where your family is from (aṣli min …).
2. A family story: past and present together
A family story mixes tenses you already know. The perfect tells what happened once; the b-present or a participle tells how things are now; ṣarli, ṣarilha … tells how long (lesson 76).
| Then (perfect) | Now (present) |
|---|---|
| jidd jiddi hājar ʿa-Tshīli. | ʾarāybi sāknīn fi Tshīli. |
| ʿammti tjawwazat fi ʿAmmān. | ṣarilha talātīn sane fil-Urdun. |
| wlādha nwaladu hunāk. | bīju yzūrūna kull ṣēf. |
lissāt- "still" (before a suffix) and ʿumr- ma "never" link the two: lissāthom biḥku ʿarabi? "do they still speak Arabic?", sitti ʿumrha ma tarkat il-balad "Grandma has never left the village".
3. Family by marriage
ḥama is a father-in-law, ḥamā a mother-in-law, kinne a daughter-in-law, and nsīb any in-law. Imm Khalil is Sitti Halime's kinne; Sitti Halime is Imm Khalil's ḥamā. Before a suffix, ḥamā takes -t-: ḥamāti "my mother-in-law", ḥamātha "her mother-in-law".
Practice
1Complete the sentence
ana nwaladt fi Shikāgo, bass ___ min Rāmalla. = I was born in Chicago, but my family is from Ramallah.
jidd jiddi ___ ʿa-Tshīli ʾabl mīt sane. = My great-grandfather emigrated to Chile a hundred years ago.
It happened once, in the past: the perfect hājar.
ʿammti ___ talātīn sane fil-Urdun. = My aunt has been in Jordan for thirty years.
il-wlād ___ fi ʿAmmān. = The children were born in Amman.
2Choose the right answer
You ask a man where his family comes from.
wēn inwaladt? asks where he was born.
ḥamāti means:
Imm Khalil is Sitti Halime's:
Which sentence is about now, not about the past?
3Match the Arabic and the English
hājar
ajnabi
jinsiyye
rabba
nsīb
bāba
4Put the words in order
Dad and Mom raised me in Chicago.
My family is from Ramallah, but I was born in Chicago.
5Say it in Palestinian Arabic, then check
(A woman speaking) My family is from Bethlehem, but I live in Ramallah.
aṣli min Bēt Laḥem, bass ana sākne fi Rāmalla.
My parents emigrated to America.
ahli hājaru ʿa-Amērka.
6True or false?
Nour's great-grandfather emigrated to Chile.
Sitti Halime emigrated to Jordan.
Khalil says sitti ʿumrha ma tarkat il-balad.
Summary
- You can say where your family comes from: aṣli min …, and ask mnēn aṣlak?
- You can say where someone was born: inwaladt fi …, inwaladu fi ….
- You can tell a family story that moves from the past (hājar, tjawwazat) to the present (sāknīn, ṣarilha …).
- You can name in-laws: ḥama, ḥamā, kinne, nsīb.