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How to make Libyan soup – ‘Sharba’? Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Jun 7, 2017
Today, we are looking at one of the most famous Libyan dishes, that is the Libyan soup حَسَاءْ hasaa’ or what Libyans call: شَرْبَه sharba. By looking at the video below, and following the recipe that I will include below, you will be able to make soup, in the Libyan food. Since it’s Ramadaan…
Difference in prepositions between Arabic and English (Part 2) Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on May 31, 2017
The use of prepositions can vary greatly between Arabic and English, and it’s often the case that the worldview of speakers of both languages determines the prepositions they use, which of course depends on context. For example, where Arabic speakers use ‘in’ to refer to days, English speakers use ‘on’, instead. To continue where we…
Difference in prepositions between Arabic and English (Part 1) Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on May 24, 2017
Learning prepositions and using them in the correct way can be a bit tricky across languages. Today, we’re looking at several of prepositions in Arabic and English and learn about the subtle differences between them. Some of the simple prepositions that exist in both languages (Arabic and English, in this case), such as ‘in’ can…
Saying ‘Goodbye’ in Arabic: phrases and rituals Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on May 17, 2017
Today, we’ll be looking at the interesting culture of saying ‘goodbye’ in Arabic and the linguistic phrases used in this ritual. Saying goodbye in the Arab world is not as simple as you think it is, so let’s find out why. When starting a conversation, Arabic speakers usually say these phrases below, meaning ‘hello’: (يا…
Arabic adjectives for colours: rules of agreement Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on May 10, 2017
In this post, we’ll be looking at feminine noun phrases and point out an important feature, that is, adjectives need to agree with the nouns they come after and modify, in terms of many grammatical features, but gender is what we’re focusing on today. So, it’s not enough that a learner knows whether a…
Untranslatable Phrases in Colloquial Egyptian Arabic: The Egyptian Man (Part 2) Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on May 3, 2017
Welcome to the second part of this blog that I’m dedicating to talk about some culturally untranslatable phrases found in colloquial Egyptian Arabic. Learning about these phrases are both linguistically and culturally interesting. This is because the language used is very formulaic and does not necessarily follow rules of the Arabic language you learn in…
Untranslatable Phrases in Colloquial Egyptian Arabic: The Egyptian Man (Part 1) Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Apr 26, 2017
As is the case in almost all languages, there are always some culturally untranslatable phrases that cannot be literally translated into other languages or do not have a straightforward equivalent in other languages. Today, we are looking at a group of these untranslatable phrases that are often used in colloquial Egyptian Arabic to describe men…