حظّك سنة 2021!

Language focus: Imperative & command words Hello dear Bilmasri followers, it’s good to be back after a long break! For the first podcast in the new year, and for a bit of fun and silliness, I decided to read the year’s horoscopes in Egyptian Arabic. But because there’s a serious side to everything we do here  I picked a horoscope that is heavy on advice, and so contains a lot of imperative verbs, as well as command words that urge you to do, or not to do, certain things. And we have so many of these Egyptian words, some are verbs, like خلي، إوعى، ابقى others are particles, like ما or إياك, and others still are neither this nor that, like بلاش. Below, I have as usual put the فصحى text alongside the مصري, and underneath that, an overview of how to use the command words mentioned above, and then an overview of how the Egyptian imperative compares with the MSA forms . All this is explained in proper detail in the podcast. So, listen, enjoy (hopefully!) and let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggestions in the comments box below. Oh and let me know if I read a bit too fast this time. I have a feeling that I may do – I was worried the horoscope would go on for too long I think!!  Ep016 Horoscopes Fusha Masrinb1 Download text here Egyptian command wordsnb Download overview here Imperative patternsnb Download overview here

Om Podcasten

Bilmasri is a podcast and blog (www.bilmasri.com) dedicated to the Egyptian dialect. It is for learners of Arabic (ideally anywhere between lower intermediate to advanced level) who have so far been focusing on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), who may or may not have some knowledge of another Arabic dialect, and who would like to understand how the Egyptian dialect works. The starting point of most blog posts and podcast episodes is a text in Modern Standard Arabic – a news story, an excerpt from a work of fiction, or another form of text – which has been adapted into Egyptian Arabic. In the first part of each podcast episode, I will slowly read out the Egyptian version of the text. In the second part, I will take you through (in English) one or more aspects of the language just heard: this could be the pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, idioms, etc., with a particular focus on the differences and similarities between Egyptian and MSA. The blog post will contain both Egyptian Arabic and MSA versions of the text, followed by a brief summary of the podcast discussion. The blog’s tags will help you find any language-related topics you’re looking for, and the episodes they’re discussed in.