Prepositions in Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic

Level I – A1 1. Arabic Alphabet & Pronunciation 2. Linguistic Features of Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic 3. Vowels 4. Hamzah 5. Spelling & Syllable Stress 6.Cardinal Numbers I 7. Word Patterns in Arabic Level II – A2 1. The Definite Article الـ (il) 2. Gender 3. Personal Pronouns 4. Dual & Plural 5. Demonstrative Pronouns 6. Past Tense 7. Prepositions I Level III – B1 1. Present Tense 2. Expressing Desire: “To Want” 3. Expressing Possession: “To Have” 4. Prepositions II 5. Phrases 6. Interrogatives 7. Cardinal Numbers II Level IV – B2 1. Future Tense 2. Negation 3. Relative Pronouns 4. Adjectives 5. Degrees of Comparison 6. Conjunctions 7. Ordinal Numbers Level V – C1 1. Giving Commands & The Imperative 2. Verbal Nouns 3. Active Participle 4. Passive Participle 5. Irregular Verbs I 6. Adverbs 7. Modal Verbs Level VI – C2 1. Passive Voice 2. Irregular Verbs II 3. Progressive & Perfect Tenses 4. Special-Use Particles 5. Special-Use Pronouns, Nouns, & Words 6. Nouns of Place 7. Nouns of Instrument, Intensity, & Repetition

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We previously discussed primary prepositions in Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic in Level II, Lesson 7. In this lesson, we turn to secondary prepositions, most of which function as adverbs of place or time.

Secondary Prepositions

The following are the most common secondary prepositions:

Prep.	Meaning	Examples
فُـــوق fowq	above, on	.اِلْـمِــفْــتـاح فُـــوق اِلـطَّــاوْلِــة il-miftāḥ fowq iṭ-ṭāwleh The key (is) on/above* the table.*
تَـحْـت taḥt	under	.اِلْـبِــسِّــة تَــحْــت اِلْــكُــرْسِــيْ il-bisseh taḥt il-kursi The cat (is) under* the chair.*
قُـــدَّام quddām	in front of	.أَنَــا قُــدَّام اِلْــمَــدْرَسِــة ’anā quddām il-madraseh I (am) in front of* the school.*
وَرا wara	behind	.اِلــشَّــجَــرَة وَرَا الْـبِــيــت ish-shajarah wara -l-beyt The tree (is) behind* the house.*
بِــيــن beyn	between, among	.اِلْـعَــصْــفُــوْر بِــيــن الِــغْـصُــوْن il-‘aṣfūr beyn li-ghṣūn The bird (is) between* the branches.*
حَــوَالَــيــن ḥawāleyn	around	.فِــيْ مَــحَــلَّات كْــثِــيْــر حَــوَالَــيــن اِلــدَّار fī maḥallāt kthīr ḥawāleyn id-dār There are many shops around* the house.*
طُـــوْل ṭūl	throughout	.ظَــلّ نَـــايِـــم طُـــوْل اِلْــيُـــوم ẓall nāyim ṭūl il-yowm He remained asleep throughout* the day.*
بِــاتِّــجَــاه bi-ttijāh	towards	.اِلــسَّــيَّــارَة رَايْــحَــة بِــاِتِّــجَــاه رَام اَلـلَّــه is-sayyārah rāyḥa bi-ttijāh rām-allah The car is going towards* Ramallah.*
ضِـــدّ ḍidd	against	.أَنَــا ضِـــدّ اِلــظُّــلْــم ’anā ḍidd iẓ-ẓul(u)m I (am) against* injustice.*
مَـــع ma‘	with	.طِــلْــعُــوْ مَـــع صْــحَــابْــهُــم ṭil‘u ma‘ (i) ṣḥābhum They went out with* their friends.*
قَــبْــل qab(i)l	before	.غَــسَــلْــنَــا إِيْــدِيــنَــا قَــبْــل اِلْأَكْــــل ghasalna ’īdeyna qabl il-’ak(i)l We washed our hands before* eating.*
بَــعْـــد ba‘(i)d	after	.نِــمْــت بَــعْــد اِلْــغَــدَا nim(i)t ba‘d il-ghada I slept after* lunch.*
جُـــوَّا juwwa	inside	.دَخَــلْــنَــا جُـــوَّا الْــبِــيــت dakhalna juwwa -l-beyt We entered inside* the house.*
بَـــرَّا barra	outside	.طْــلِــعْــنَــا بَـــرَّا الْــبِــيــت ṭli‘na barra -l-beyt We went outside* the house.*
بِـدون bi-dūn	without	.الـسَّـمَـك مَــا بِــعِــيْــش بِــدُوْن مَــيّ is-samak mā bi‘īsh bi–dūn mayy Fish do not live without* water.*
عِــنْــد^† ‘ind	at, upon	.شُـــفْـــتُـــه عِــنْــد مَــدْخَــل اِلْــمَــبْــنَــى shuftuh ‘ind madkhal il-mabna I saw him at the entrance of the building.
زَيّ zayy	like, as, such as	.اِلــجَّـــوّ بَـــارِد اِلْــيُـــوم زَيّ اِمْــبَـــارِح ij-jaww bārid il-yowm zayy imbāriḥ The weather (is) cold today like* yesterday.*
مِــثْــل mith(i)l	like, as, such as	.هُـــوِّ مِــثْــلَــك بِــالـــزَّبْــط huwwe mithlak bi-z-zabṭ He (is) exactly like* you.*

^† عِــنْــد (‘ind) can also function as an adverb of time, e.g., عِــنْــد اِلْــفَــجْــر (‘ind il-fajr) ‘at dawn,’ عِــنْــد اِلْــمَــغْــرِب (‘ind il-maghrib) ‘at sunset,’ etc.

Uses of حَــتَّــى (ḥatta)

The word حَـتَّـى (ḥatta) can be used as a preposition meaning ‘until.’ For example:

حَــتَّــى الْــفَــجْــر
ḥatta -l-faj(i)r
until (the) dawn

حَــتَّــى الــنِّــهَــايِــة
ḥatta -n-nihāyeh
until the end

Other words that also mean ‘until’ include:

لَــحَــدّ اِلْــفَــجِــر
la-ḥadd il-fajir
until (the) dawn

لَــغَــايِــة اِلــنِّــهَــايِــة
la-ghāyet in-nihāyeh
until the end

In addition to its use as a preposition when followed by a noun, حَـتَّـى (ḥatta) can also be followed by a verb. For example:

.ظَــلّ يِــشْــتِــغِــل حَــتَّــى تِــعِــب
ẓall yishtighil ḥatta ti‘ib
He kept working until he got tired.

.اِسْــتَــنِّــيــت حَــتَّــى إِجَـــى
istanneyt ḥatta ’ija
I waited until he came.

Another usage of حَـتَّـى (ḥatta) is as a conjunction meaning ‘even.’ For example:

حَــتَّــى لَــمَّــا
ḥatta lamma
even when

حَــتَّــى لَـــوْ
ḥatta law
even if

The word حَـتَّـى (ḥatta) can mean ‘so that’ or ‘in order that’ when followed by the a present verb in the subjunctive. For example:

.بِــدِّيْ أَرَوِّح حَــتَّــى أَنَـــام
biddi ’arawwiḥ ḥatta ’anām
I want to go home so that I sleep.

.عَــلِّــيْ الــصُّـــوت حَــتَّــى نِــسْــمَــع
‘alli -ṣ-ṣowt ḥatta nisma‘
Turn up the volume so that we hear.

A more common alternative to حَـتَّـى (ḥatta) that also means ‘so that’ or ‘in order that’ is عَـــشَـــان (‘ashān). For example:

.بِــدِّيْ أَرَوِّح عَـــشَـــان أَنَـــام
biddi ’arawwiḥ ‘ashān ’anām
I want to go home so that I sleep.

.عَــلِّــيْ الــصُّـــوت عَـــشَـــان نِــسْــمَــع
‘alli -ṣ-ṣowt ‘ashān nisma‘
Turn up the volume so that we hear.

Taking Oath

The preposition و (w) is used to take an oath:

.والـلّــه مَـا كُــنْـت أَعْـــرِف
w-allah mā kunt ’a‘rif
By God, I didn’t know.

.ورَبّ اِلْــكَــعْــبِــة شُـــفْـــتُــه
u-rabb il-ka‘beh shuftuh
By the Lord of the Kaaba, I saw him.

Swearing by God is deeply rooted in Arabic culture. Do not be surprised if you ask someone كِــيْــف حَــالَـك؟ (kīf ḥālak) ‘How are you?’ and they respond وَاللّــه بْــخِــيــر (w-allah b-kheyr) ‘By God, I’m good.’

Next: Phrases

Back: Expressing Possession – “to Have”

Other lessons in Level III:

Level III – Intermediate I (B1)

1. Present Tense

2. Expressing Desire – “To Want”

3. Expressing Possession – “to Have”

4. Prepositions II

5. Phrases

6. Interrogatives

7. Cardinal Numbers II

Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic 3.4. Prepositions II

Table of Contents

Secondary Prepositions

Uses of حَــتَّــى (ḥatta)

Taking Oath

Level III – Intermediate I (B1)