In this lesson, we study interrogatives in Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic. Interrogative particles and pronouns are the language tools we use to ask questions.
Table of Contents
- Yes/No Questions
- Basic Interrogatives
- Interrogatives Preceded by a Preposition
- Level III – Intermediate I (B1)
Yes/No Questions
In everyday spoken language, a statement is made into a question simply by changing the intonation. For example:
| بِـــدَّك تُـــوكِــل؟ biddak towkil You want to eat? | بِــيــتَــك قَـــرِيْــب مِـــن هُـــون؟ beytak qarīb min hown Your house is close to here? |
A more formal way to ask a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, but rarely used in everyday life, is to place the interrogative particle هَـــل (hal) before a statement. For example:
| هَـــل بِـــدَّك تُـــوكِــل؟ hal biddak towkil Do you want to eat? | هَـــل بِــيــتَــك قَـــرِيْــب مِـــن هُـــون؟ hal beytak qarīb min hown Is your house close to here? |
The most common and informal answer in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic is آه (’āh) ‘yes’ or لَأ (la’) ‘no.’ Another informal way to say ‘yes’ is أَيْـــوَا (’aywa). In more formal contexts—for example, in a class or courtroom—the MSA forms can be used: نَــعَــم (na‘am) ‘yes’ and لَا (lā) ‘no.’ To summarize:
| Yes | No | ||
| Informal | آه ’āh | أَيْـــوَا ’aywa | لَأ la’ |
| Formal | نَــعَــم na‘am | لَا lā | |
If the question or statement is negative, one can also use the colloquial word اِمْـــبَـــلَا (imbala), indicating an emphatic positive reply meaning ‘Indeed’ or ‘Sure it is!’ For example:
| مَـــا بِـــدَّك تُـــوكِــل؟ – اِمْـــبَـــلَا mā biddak towkil imbala Don’t you want to eat? – Indeed, I want to. |
Basic Interrogatives
The basic interrogatives in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic are:
| Interrogative | EN | Example |
| شُـــوْ shū | What? | شُـــوْ لُـــون اِلــسَّــيّــارَة؟ shū lown is-sayyārah What (is) the color of the car? |
| إِيـــش ’eysh | What? | إِيـــش بِــتْــسَـــوِّيْ هَـــلَّأ؟ ’eysh bitsawwi halla’ What are you doing now? |
| لِــيـــش leysh | Why? | لِــيـــش بْــتِــضْــحَــك؟ leysh btiḍḥak What are you laughing? |
| مِــيْــن mīn | Who/Whom? | مِــيْــن عِــمِــل هِــيـــك؟ mīn ‘imil heyk Who did (like) this? |
| كِــيْــف kīf | How? | كِــيْــف اِلْــجَــوّ بَـــرَّا؟ kīf il-jaww barra How (is) the weather outside? |
| أَيّ ’ayy | Which? | أَيّ بَـــلَـــد بِــدَّك تْـــزُوْر؟ ’ayy balad biddak (i) tzūr Which country do you want to visit? |
| كَــم † kam | How many? How much? | كَـــم طَــالِــب فِـــيْ الْــفَــصْــل؟ kam ṭālib fi -l-faṣ(i)l How many students (are) in the class? |
| قَـــدِّيــش * qaddeysh | How much? | قَـــدِّيــش بِـــدَّك وَقْــت؟ qaddeysh biddak waq(i)t How much time do you need? |
| إِيــمْــتَــى # eymta | When? | إِيــمْــتَــى بِـــدَّك تِــيْــجِــيْ؟ eymta biddak tīji When do you want to come? |
| وِيـــن weyn | Where? | وِيـــن رُحْــت اِمْــبَــارِح؟ weyn ruḥt imbāriḥ Where did you go yesterday? |
† أَكَــم (’akam) is also used by some people.
* قَـــدِّيــش (qaddeysh) is also used by some people to refer to countable items.
# وِيــنْــتَ (weynta) is also used by Palestinians in some areas, whereas مَــتَــى (mata) belongs to MSA and rarely used outside formal contexts.
The interrogatives شُـــوْ (shū) and إِيـــش (’eysh) both mean ‘what.’ While شُـــوْ (shū) is used throughout the Levant, إِيـــش (’eysh) is a characteristic of South Levantine Arabic of Palestine and Jordan.
Both interrogatives can be used before nouns or verbs.
| شُـــوْ اِسْــمَــك؟ shū ismak What (is) your name? | شُـــوْ صَـــار؟ shū ṣār What happened? |
| إِيـــش اِسْــمَــك؟ ’eysh ismak What (is) your name? | إِيـــش صَـــار؟ ’eysh ṣār What happened? |
Interrogatives Preceded by a Preposition
Some interrogatives can be preceded by a preposition to convey more complex meanings, such as:
| Interrogative | EN | Example |
| لَــوِيــن la-weyn | To where? | لَــوِيــن سَـــافَــرْت؟ la–weyn sāfart Where did you travel to? |
| مِــن وِيــن min weyn | From where? | مِــن وِيــن إِنْــتَ؟ min weyn ’inta Where (are) you from? |
| لَــمِــيْــن la-mīn | To whom? Whose? | لَــمِــيْــن بَــعَــث اِلــرِّسَــالِــة؟ la-mīn ba‘ath ir-risāleh To whom did he send the letter? |
| مِـــن مِـــيْـــن min mīn | From whom? | مِـــن مِـــيْـــن سْــمِــعْــت هَــالْــكَـــلَام؟ min mīn smi‘(i)t ha-l-kalām From whom did you hear this talk? |
| عَـــن مِـــيْـــن ‘an mīn | About whom? | عَـــن مِـــيْـــن بْــتِــحْــكِــيْ؟ ‘an mīn btiḥki About whom are you talking? |
| مَــع مِـــيْـــن ma‘ mīn | With whom? | مَـــع مِـــيْـــن طْــلِــعْـــت؟ ma‘ mīn ṭli‘(i)t With whom did you go out? |
| بِــشُــوْ bi-shū بِــإِيــش bi-’eysh | In/Of What? | بِــشُــوْ بِــتْــفَــكِّــر؟ bi-shū bitfakkir What are you thinking of? |
| مِــن شُــوْ min shū مِــن إِيــش min ’eysh | From/Of what? | مِــن إِيــش مَــصْــنُــوْعَــة هَـاي؟ min ’eysh maṣnū‘ah hāy What (is) this made of? |
| عَــن شُــوْ ‘an shū عَــن إِيــش ‘an ’eysh | About what? | عَـــن إِيــش بِــحْــكُــوْ؟ ‘an ’eysh biḥku What are they talking about? |
To say ‘how often,’ we can use كُـــلّ (kull), meaning ‘every’ or ‘each,’ followed by كَــم (kam) or قَـــدِّيــش (qaddeysh). Note that when كَــم (kam) is used, it must be followed by a countable noun.
| كُـــلّ كَـــم kull kam | كُـــلّ كَـــم دَقِــيْــقَــة بِــيْــجِــيْ الْــبَــاص؟ kull kam daqīqah bīji -l-bāṣ How often (Every how many) minutes does the bus come? |
| كُـــلّ قَــدِّيــش kull qaddeysh | كُـــلّ قَــدِّيــش بِــيْــجِــيْ الْــبَــاص؟ kull qaddeysh bīji-l-bāṣ How often (Every how much) does the bus come? |
Other lessons in Level III:
Level III – Intermediate I (B1)
2. Expressing Desire – “To Want”