#One Minute of Jordanian Arabic (Female show Ep 9)

Watching shows is a great way to learn new phrases and practice listening comprehension. But it’s not easy watching on your own without anyone helping you to understand it completely.

I remember watching Jordanian shows like Female with my teacher during the last few months I was studying in Jordan and that was what enabled me to take my Arabic proficiency to the next level. So I’m going to do just the same here.

In this post, you’ll watch a short one minute scene from Female, Episode 9, Season 1. Although it’s just a one minute scene, there are a few useful phrases and words that you can learn.

Read all the way till the end where I’ll provide further explanation to some of the phrases. Ready? Let’s go!

The scene is from 00:47 to 01:40.

If you find that the speed of speech is too fast, use the playback speed function available and reduce the speed to 0.75.

 هاي ماما

Hi Mum

أهلين حبيبتي

Hello dear

كيفك؟

How are you?

تمام٬ أسخنلك أكل يا ماما؟

Fine. Should I heat up the food?

لا ما تغلبي حالك٬ ما إلي نفس

No, don’t trouble yourself. I’m not in the mood

ليش يا إمي؟

Why?

ماما, بابا هون؟ ما بدي إياه يسمع

Mum, is Dad here? I don’t want him to hear

لا أبوكي مش هون٬ شو صار؟ هدا رجائي مزعلك؟ هدا الإنسان أصلاً مش مناسب إلك٬ هدا واحد كلب٬ شو بدك فيه؟ إجت منه ما إجت منا

No, your dad is not here. What happened? This Rajae guy made you upset? This human being is not suitable for you in the first place. He is a dog. What do you see in him? He’s the cause, not us.

ماما ماما ماما

Mum, mum, mum

بعدين أصلاً هو كل أهله ما بيناسبونا٬ ولا هم من مستوانا

Also, his family does not suit us nor are they from the same level as us

ماما

Mum

ما بدك إياها هالجيزة

You won’t want to have this marriage

ماما

Mum

ول ول ول٬ هدا مخبية بقلبك إنتي يعني كاتمة٬ كنت مفكرة أم رجائي هي الحماية٬ هي اللي بتكره٬ هي اللي مش طايقتنا يعني وهي اللئيمة٬ طلعتي إنتي كمان؟ منيح اللي صار كل هدا الإشي عشان أعرف إيش موقفك يعني

Woah hold on. So this is what hidden in your heart? So you’ve been suppressing (your feelings)?. I thought Rajae’s mum is the “mother-in-law”. She’s the one who hates, she’s the one who can’t stand/tolerate us…that she’s the evil one. Turned out you too? All that happened was a good thing because I now know what your stand (opinions) is in this matter.

ما تغلبي حالك [ma tghalbi Hallak]

This is a very common and polite expression that means “Don’t trouble yourself”.

If you’re talking to man, it would be ما تغلب حالك (ma tghaleb Hallak)

The root verb is غلّب (Verb Form II) which means to trouble or to inconvenience someone.

A common reply to this expression is

غلبتك راحة

[gha-lab-tak/ gha-lab-tek raaHa]

There’s no trouble

(Lit: your trouble goes away)

ما إلي نفس [ma illi nifs]

This is often said when you’re not in the mood to do something.

For example,

هاليوين ما الي نفس اعمل شي بس بدي نام

These days I don’t feel like doing anything, I just want to sleep

ما الي نفس اكل لقمة

I don’t feel like having (eating) a bite

شو بدك فيه [shu biddak fii]

If you’re referring to a female or a feminine noun, the phrase will change to

شو بدك فيها

shu biddak/ biddek fii-ha

The literal meaning is “what do you want with it?” but it usually said with a tone of bewilderment. For example in this scene, I have translated the phrase to “what do you see in him?” which I believe captures a more accurate meaning.

It’s a simple phrase but when used in the context of relationships, the question carries the “why are you even with him?” or “what do you get out of him” sort of vibe.

For example,

لك هاد لعوب وكذاب شو بدك فيه؟

This (guy) is a player and a liar, what do you want with him?

إجت منه ما إجت منا [ijat mino ma ijat minna]

I think this is a hilarious phrase. It’s usually said to oneself or a third-party but never in front of the person you’re accusing (because it’s unkind to do so).

This phrase literally means “it came from him, it did not come from us”.

So in this scene, Tima’s mother is re-assuring Tima that whatever happened is not her fault or her family’s fault but instead it is all because of Rajae (it came from him, remember?)

For example, a friend whom I don’t really like called me up and invited me to go out with her for lunch. Since she’s a friend, I have little choice but to accept the invitation even though I don’t want to meet up with her.

However, she called me up the next day and apologised that something cropped up and she could not meet me up for lunch anymore. I assured her that it’s okay and we can always meet up some other time.

When I hang up the phone, I felt relieved and muttered to myself,

اجت منك, ما اجت مني

It came from you, it didn’t come from me

…which means that “the cancellation of the invitation came from you, not from me so although I’m relieved that we don’t have to meet, I don’t have to feel bad about it because you’re the one who could not make it…”

Get it? 🙂

كاتمة [Katmeh]

The masculine version of this word is كاتم.

The word refers to being discreet about what one feels towards something and suppressing those feelings.

So in the above scenario, Tima accused her mother of being كاتمة all this while and only now revealing her true feelings.

In other situations, the word is also used to describe feeling suffocated.

For example,

مديرتي كاتمة على نفسي ما بتخليني اخد بريك

My manager is suffocating me, she doesn’t let me take a break

هي مش طايقتنا

This phrase means that she can’t tolerate us or she can’t stand us.

If you break down the word طايقتنا, it’s actually

طايقة + نا

So if a woman wants to use the word طايقة, here are some of the ways:

مش طايقتك

I can’t stand you

مش طايقة ريحة الأكل

I can’t stand the smell of the food

So you use طايقة if you’re a female and طايق if you’re a male.

~~~

That’s it, folks!

I hope you find this type of posts useful. If you do, let me know and I’ll be writing more of such #One Minute posts from various Levantine Arabic shows.

Lastly, don’t forget to hit the share buttons and spread the knowledge!

Take care and I’ll see you in the hosh,

Lyn