Forgetting Al-Kitaab and Learning Palestinian Arabic

By Engage In Palestine / January 26, 2022

Forgetting Al-Kitaab and Learning Palestinian Arabic: If you study Arabic in the United States, you are using the textbook Al-Kitaab from Georgetown University Press. You’ve gotten to know Maha pretty well. You wish she’d find some friends so she could quit being so wi7da. After all, New York is a big city!

You also know her cousin / husband Khalid, who stayed in Al-Qahira for gaami3a. And you know her wise father, who was a doctor if memory serves. You also think all Arabs speak al-fus7a, and that the main difference between the ways Lebanese and Egyptians speak is that the former likes to party on al-jumi3a and the latter likes to pray on al-gumi3a.

When visiting Palestine, feel free to set the Maha-Khalid saga aside until next semester, and be open to breaking many the many rules you were taught in Al-Kitaab.

Don’t get me wrong – if you absorbed every single vocabulary word and grammatical construct through Al-Kitaab 2, you will be able to express yourself in a reasonably sophisticated way. However if Khalid and Maha are the only Arabic speakers you’ve ever known, you will think Palestinians are speaking a different language altogether.

Here are a few tips for my fellow Al-Kitaabers to ease your transition into the Palestinian dialect.

ة Ah

The ‘taa marbuta’ is said more like “eh” rather than “ah”.

ق K

The ‘qaaf’ is said like the ء ‘hamza’, e.g.

Arabic Spelling	Phonetic Fus7a Spelling	Phonetic Palestinian Spelling	Meaning
قهوة	Qahua	‘ahueh	coffee
في الحقيقة…	fii-il-7aQiaQah …	fii-il-7a’ia’eh …	actually …
القدس	al-Quds	al-‘uds	Jerusalem
الوقت	al-waQt	al-wa’t	the time

Verb Conjugations

In the first person, “bi” is almost always added. Also, instead of using the word فٓعٓلٓ to mean “to do”, must people use عٓمٓلٓ which literally means “to work”.

Also, in the past tense, the pronoun is usually required, since the final short vowel is often skipped and so ambiguities can occur without the pronoun.

Some snazzy verb conjugation tables:

Present Tense Fus7a	Present Tense Phonetic Palestinian	Meaning
انا أفْعـٓلُ	انا بٓعْمِلْ	I do
أنتٓ تـفْعٓلُ	إنتْ بِتـعْمِلْ	You (m) do
أنتِ تٓفْعٓلي	إنتْ بِتٓعْمِلي	You (f) do
هوٓ يٓفعٓلُ	هوْ بيعمِلْ	He does
هيٓ تٓفْعٓلُ	هيْ بِتٓعْمِلْ	She does
نٓحْنُ نٓفْعٓلُ	إحنا مٓنعْمِلْ	We do
أنْتُم تٓفْعٓلونُ	إنتو بِتٓعْمِلو	You all do
هُم يٓفْعٓونُ	هِم بيعْمِلو	They do

Phonetic Palestinian Arabic

Past Tense Fus7a	Past Tense Phonetic Palestinian Arabic	Meaning
انا كُنتُ	انا كُنتْ	I was
أنتٓ كُنتٓ	إنتْ كُنتْ	You (m) were
أنتِ كُنتِ	إنتْ كُنتْ	You (f) were
هوٓ كانٓ	هوْ كانْ	He was
هيٓ كانٓتْ	هيْ كانٓت	She was
نٓحنُ كٌنا	إحنا كْنا	We were
أنْتُم كُنتُم	إنتوكْنتُم	You all were
هُم كانوا	هِم كانو	They were

ء Hamza

The ‘hamza’ is usually ignored, substituting instead the whole vowel, e.g.:

Arabic Spelling	Phonetic Fus7a Spelling	Phonetic Palestinian Spelling	Meaning
هو يجيء	hoa yaji’	Hoo yajii	He is coming
انا اقرأ	ana aQara’	Ana a’araa	I am reading

Some Useful Words

Some words are just different from what you learned in Al-Kitaab. A great many words. Here are a few I didn’t get at first.

Al-Kitaab	Palestinian Arabic	Meaning
غداً	بُكرة	Tomorrow
أمس	البارِحة	Yesterday

Talk To People!

You must talk to people in Arabic. Start with your bad Arabic, and it will become good Arabic. Palestinians are thrilled that you want to learn their language and will be patient as you stumble toward the word you want to say. Just speak Arabic!

Study Arabic Online Program	Study Palestinian Colloquial Arabic
Basic Palestinian Arabic	Useful Phrases in Palestinian Colloquial Arabic

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Tags: Basic Palestinian Arabic, Study Palestinian Arabic, transition into the Palestinian dialect

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Forgetting Al-Kitaab and Learning Palestinian Arabic

ة Ah

ق K