Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic 4.6. Conjunctions

Conjunctions are essential components in Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic, as they enable speakers to link sentences and convey meaningful ideas.

Table of Contents

• Common Conjunctions in Arabic
• وَ (w-) ‘and’ / أَوْ (’aw) ‘or’
• Or: أَوْ (’aw) vs. وِلَّا (willa)
• But: بَـــسّ (bass)
• If: إِذَا (’idha) vs. لَـوْ (law)
• Because: لَأِنُّـــه
• Conjunctions Followed by the Subjunctive
• Other Conjunctions
• Level IV – Intermediate II (B2)

Common Conjunctions in Arabic

The most common conjunctions in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic are:

Conjunction	Meaning	Example
و w, u	and	.كُــنْــت مَــع مْــحَــمَّــد و حَـــسَـــن kunt ma‘ (i) mḥammad u-ḥasan I was with Mohammad and Hassan.
أَوْ ’aw	or	.بِــــدِّيْ عَــصِــيْــر بُـــرْتْـــقَـــان أَوْ لِــيــمُــوْن biddi ‘aṣīr burtqān ’aw leymūn I want orange or lemon juice.
…فَـ fa-	so, then, thus	.سَـــأَلْــنِــيْ فَـــجَــاوَبْــتُــه sa’alni fa-jāwabtuh He asked me, so he answered him.
بَـــعْـــدِيـــن ba‘deyn	and then	.شْـــرِبْــت اِلْـــقَـــهْــــوِة بَـــعْـــدِيـــن طْــلِــعْــت shribt il-qahweh ba‘deyn ṭli‘(i)t I drank the coffee, and then I went out.
إِذَا ’idhā	if	.إِذَا بْــتِــعْـــرِف، خَـــبِّـــرْنِـــيْ ’idha bti‘rif khabbirni If you know, tell me.
لَـوْ law	if	.لَـــوْ أَعْـــرِف، كُــنْــت خَـــبَّـــرْتَـــك law ’a‘rif kunt khabbartak If I knew, I would have told you.
بَـــسّ bass	but	.بِـــدِّيْ أُوكِـــل بَـــسّ مِـــش هَـــلَّأ biddi ’owkil bass mish halla’ I want to eat but not now.
لَأِنُّـــهْ la-’innuh	because	.مَــا رَح أَرُوْح لَأِنُّـــه الــطَّــــرِيْـــق مْـــسَـــكَّـــر mā raḥ ’arū ḥ la–’innuh -ṭ-ṭarīq msakkar I won’t go to work because the roads are closed.
بْـــسَـــبَـــب b-sabab	because of	.مَــا رَح نِـــطْــلَــع بْـــسَـــبَـــب اِلْــمَـــطَـــر mā raḥ niṭla‘ (i) b–sabab il-maṭar We won’t go out because of the rain.

وَ (w-) ‘and’ / أَوْ (’aw) ‘or’

In Arabic, the conjunctions و (w-) ‘and’ and أَوْ (’aw) ‘or’ are repeated multiple times for multiple nouns or adjectives. For example:

لِــبْــنَــانِــيِّــيْـن وسُـــوْرِيِّــيْــن وفَــلَــسْــطِــيْــنِــيِّــيْــن ومَــصْــرِيِّـــيْـــن libnāniyyīn u-sūriyyīn u-falasṭīniyyīn u-maṣriyyīn Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians, and Egyptians

لِـــيـــمُـــوْن أَوْ رُمَّــــان أَوْ بُـــرْتُـــقَـــال burtuqāl ’aw-rummān ’aw-leymūn orange, pomegranate, or lemon

In writing, the conjunction و (w-) is transcribed using the consonant (w). However, its pronunciation can vary slightly depending on whether it is followed by a vowel, consonant, or double consonant, as follows:

• و (w-) + vowel  و (w-)

أَنَـــا واِنْــتَ ’ana w-inta I and you

مُــصْــطَــفَــى وأَحْــمَــد muṣṭafa w-ahmad Mustafa and Ahmad

• و (w-) + consonant  و (u-)

كْــتَــاب وقَــلَــم ktāb u-qalam a book and a pen

مْــحَــمَّــد ومَــحْــمُــوْد mḥammad u-maḥmūd Mohammad and Mahmood

•  و (w-) + double consonant  وِ (wi-)

قَــلَــم وِكْــتَــاب qalam wi-ktāb a pen and a book

مَــحْــمُــوْد وِمْــحَــمَّــد maḥamūd wi-mḥammad Mahmood and Mohammad

Or: أَوْ (’aw) vs. وِلَّا (willa)

The conjunction وِلَّا (willa) replaces أَوْ (’aw), both translated as ‘or,’ when asking آه (’āh) ‘yes’ or لَأ (la’) ‘no’ questions. For example:

بِــــدَّك تُــــوكِـــل وِلَّا تْـــنَـــام؟ biddak towkil willa tnām Do you want to eat or sleep?

بِــيــتَــك قَـــرِيْــب وِلَّا بْـــعِـــيْـــد مِــــن هُــــون؟ baytak qarīb willa b‘īd min hown Is your house close or far from here?

But: بَـــسّ (bass)

The word بَـــسّ (bass) is the default everyday conjunction used, meaning ‘but,’ in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic. The formal equivalents in MSA are لَـٰـكِــن (lākin) and وَلَـٰـكِــن (wa-lākin), which are less often used in daily life.

.بِـــدْنَــا نِــطْــلَــع بَـــسّ/لَـٰـكِــن اِلــدِّنْــيَـــا شُــــوب bidna niṭla‘ bass/lākin id-dinya showb We want to go out but it’s hot.

.هَـــاي اِلــسِّـــجَّـــادِة مْـــنِـــيْـــحَـــة بَـــسّ/ولَـٰـكِــن غَــــالْــيِـــة hāy is-sijjādeh mnīḥah bass/wa-lākin ghālyeh This carpet (is) good but expensive.

Other meanings of بَـــسّ (bass) include the following:

• ‘only’

.شْـــرِبْــت شَــــاي بَـــسّ shrib(i)t shāy bass I had tea only.

.مَـــعِـــيْ دِيْــنَــــارِيــــن بَـــسّ ma‘i dīnāreyn bass I have two dinars only.

• ‘enough’

!بَـــسّ! خَـــلَـــص bass khalaṣ Enough! Stop it!

.بَـــسّ! بِـــدْنَــا نِــشْـــتِــغِـــل bass bidna nishtighil Enough! We want to work.

• ‘when’ or ‘as soon as’

.بَـــسّ تُـــوْصَــل كَـــلِّــمْــنِــيْ bass tūṣal kallimni As soon as you arrive, call me.

.طْــلِــعْــنَــا بَـــسّ غَــابَــت اِلــشَّــمْـس ṭli‘na bass ghābat ish-sham(i)s We went out when the sun set.

• ‘until’

.اِسْـــتَــنَّــى بَـــسّ نْــخَـــلِّـــص istanna bass (i) nkhalliṣ Wait until we finish.

.خَــلِّــيْــك هُــــون بَـــسّ آجِــــيْ khallīk hown bass ’āji Stay here until I come.

If: إِذَا (’idha) vs. لَـوْ (law)

There are three different conjunctions in Arabic that can be translated as ‘if’ in English: إِن (’in), إِذَا (’idha), and لَــوْ (law).

The conjunction إِنْ (’in) is rarely used in Levantine Arabic and is reserved for formal MSA speech. It refers to future actions and suggests uncertainty about the occurrence of the action.

Instead, إِذا (’idha) is commonly used for present or future actions, regardless of the probability of occurrence or level of certainty.

Therefore, the two conjunctions meaning ‘if’ that are used in everyday spoken Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic are: إِذَا (’idha) and لَــوْ (law).

The conjunction إِذَا (’idha) is typically used when referring to present or future actions, while لَــوْ (law) refers to past actions, often in hypothetical scenarios.

Let us summarize the difference with these two examples:

future action that may or may not happen	.إِذَا شُــفْــت أَحْــمَــد، رَحأَسَـــلِّـــم عَــلِــيــه ’idha shuft ’aḥmad raḥ ’asallim ‘aleyh If I see Ahmad, I will greet him.
past action or hypothetical situations	.لَـــوْ شُــفْــت أَحْــمَــد، كُــنْــت رَح أَسَـــلِّـــم عَــلِــيــه law shuft ’aḥmad kunt raḥ ’asallim ‘aleyh If I saw Ahmad, I would’ve greeted him.

This distinction is not always respected by many people who use the two conjunctions interchangeably.

Notice that regardless of the indicated meaning, the two conjunctions in these two examples are followed by a past verb in Arabic, even if the meaning is in the present or future.

This rule is also followed loosely. Some people use the present tense after both conjunctions.

future action that may or may not happen	.إِذَا بَــشُـــوْف أَحْــمَــد، رَح أَسَـــلِّـــم عَــلِــيــه ’idha bashūf ’aḥmadraḥ ’asallim ‘aleyh If I see Ahmad, I will greet him.
	.لَـــوْ أَشُـــوْف أَحْــمَــد، رَح أَسَـــلِّـــم عَــلِــيــه law ’ashūf ’aḥmad raḥ ’asallim ‘aleyh If I see Ahmad, I will greet him.

Note that إِذَا (’idha) is followed by the present indicative, whereas لَـوْ (law) is followed by the present subjunctive. In both cases, the meaning is the same referring to a present or future action. The present tense cannot be used to express past actions.

Because: لَأِنُّـــه

The conjunction لَأِنُّـــه (la-’innuh) ‘because’ is typically followed by a sentence. If the subject of the sentence is not a personal pronoun, we use لَأِنُّـــه (la-’innuh) directly as the conjunction. For example:

.أَنَـــا عَــطْــشَــان لَإِنُّـــه الْـــمَـــيّ خِــلْــصَــت ’ana ‘aṭshān la–’innuh -l-mayy khilṣat I am thirsty because the water ran out.

If the subject is a personal pronoun, we must use an attached personal pronoun. For example:

أَنـا + لَإِنّـــ la-’inn- + ’ana = لَإِنِّـــيْ la-’inni	.(أَنـا مَــا شْــرِبِــت مَــيّ) … أَنَـــا عَــطْــشَــان لَإِنّـــ ’ana ‘aṭshānla–’innuh … ’anā mā shribit mayy = .أَنَـــا عَــطْــشَــان لَإِنِّـــيْ مَــا شْــرِبِــت مَــيّ ’ana ‘aṭshānla–’inni mā shribit mayy I am thirsty because I didn’t drink water.
إِنْـتَ + لَإِنّـــ la-’inn- + ’inta = لَإِنَّـــك la-’innak	.(إِنْـتَ شْــرِبِــت كُـــلّ اِلْـــمَــيّ ) … أَنَـــا عَــطْــشَــان لَإِنّـــ ’ana ‘aṭshān la-’innuh … ’anā mā shribit mayy = .أَنَـــا عَــطْــشَــان لَإِنَّـــك شْــرِبِــت كُـــلّ اِلْـــمَــيّ ’ana ‘aṭshān la-’innak shribit kull il-mayy I am thirsty because you drank all the water.
هُــــمِّ + لَإِنّـــ la-’inn- + humme = لَإِنْـــهُـــم la-’inhum	.(هُـــمِّ مَــا جَـــابُـــوْ مَـــيّ) … أَنَـــا عَــطْــشَــان لَإِنّـــ ’ana ‘aṭshān la-’innuh … humme mā jābu mayy = .أَنَـــا عَــطْــشَــان لَإِنْـــهُـــم مَــا جَـــابُـــوْ مَـــيّ ’ana ‘aṭshān la-’inhum mā jābu mayy I am thirsty because they didn’t bring water.

Conjunctions Followed by the Subjunctive

Some conjunctions require the present verb to be in the subjunctive mood.

Here is a list of these conjunctions with examples:

Conjunction	Meaning	Example
عَــشَــان ‘ashān	so that, in order to	.بِــــدِّيْ أَرْجَــع الْــبِــيــت عَــشَــان أَدْرُس biddi ’arja‘ il-betyt ‘ashān ’adros I want to go home so that I study.
كُــلّ مَــا kull mā	every time (that)	.كُــلّ مَــا أَشُـــوْفُــه بَــتْــذَكَّـــرَك kull mā ’ashūfuh batdhakkarak Every time I see him, I remember you.
قَــبْــل مَــا qab(i)l mā	before (that)	.قَــبْــل مَــا تِــطْــلَــع، رَتِّــب غُــرْفِــتَــك qab(i)l mā tiṭla‘ rattib ghurfitak Before you go out, tidy up your room.
بَــعْــد مَــا ba‘(i)d mā	after (that)	.بَــعْــد مَــا نْــخَــلِّــص، رَح نْــرَوِّح ba‘(i)d mā nkhalliṣ raḥ nrawwiḥ After we finish, we will go home.
عَـلَـى بِــيــن مَـا ‘ala beyn mā	until (that)	.عَـلَـى بِــيــن مَـا يُـــوْصَــل بِــنْــكُــوْن خَــلَّــصْــنَــا ‘ala beyn mā yowṣal binkūn khallaṣna Until he arrives, we will have finished.
أَحْــسَــنْ مَــا ’aḥsan mā	better/rather (than)	.يَـــلَّا بْــسُــرْعَــة أَحْــسَــن مَــا نِــتْــأَخَّـــر yalla b-sur‘ah ’aḥsan mā nit’akh khar Hurry up, better than we get late.
بَــــدَل مَـــا badal mā	instead of	.بَــــدَل مَــا تْــضَــيّْــعُــوْ وَقْــتْــكُــم، اِسْــتَــغِــلُّــوْه badal mā tḍayy‘u waqtkum istaghillūh Instead of wasting your time, utilize it.

Other Conjunctions

Other conjunctions in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic include:

Conjunction	Meaning	Example
إِذَن ’idhan	hence, thus, then	.بِــدَّك تْـــرُوْح؟ إِذَن بِــنــرُوْح سَـــوَا biddak trūḥ ’idhan binrūḥ sawa You want to go? Then, we go together.
حَــسَــب ḥasab	according to	.حَــسَــب مَــا سْــمِــعْــت رَح تْــثَــلِّــج ḥasab mā smi‘(i)t raḥ (i) t thallij According to what I heard, it will snow.
إِلّا ’illa	except	.اِلْــكُـــلّ كَــان هُــنَـــاك إِلَّا أَنَــــا il-kull kān hunāk ’illa ’ana Everybody was there except me.
مَــا عَـــدَا mā ‘ada	except	.اِلْــكُـــلّ رَاح هُــنَـــاك مَــا عَـــدَا إِحْـــنَــــا il-kull rāḥ hunāk mā ‘ada ’iḥna Everybody went there except us.
بَــــدَل badal	instead of	.رَح أَطْــلُــب لَــك شَــاي بَــــدَل اِلْــقَــهْـــوِة raḥ ’aṭlub lak shāy badal il-qahweh I’ll order tea for you instead of the coffee.
عَــشَــان هِــيــك ‘ashān heyk	therefore	.كُــنْــت تَــعْــبَــان، عَـــشَــان هِــيــك نِــمْــت بَـــدْرِيْ kunt ta‘bān ‘ashān heyk nim(i)t badri I was tired, that’s why I slept early.
وَإِلّا wa-’illa	otherwise	.يَـــلَّا بْــسُــرْعَــة وَإِلَّا رَح نِــتْــأَخَّـــر yalla b-sur‘ah wa-’illa raḥ nit’akhkhar Hurry up; otherwise, we will be late.
مَـــع إِنُّـــه ma‘ ’innuh	in spite of, despite, although	.ظَــلّ صَــــاحِـــيْ مَـــع إِنُّـــه كَـــان تَــعْــبَـــان ẓall ṣāḥi ma‘ ’innuh kān ta‘bān He stayed awake although he was tired.
يَــعْــنِــيْ ya‘ni	which means, I mean, that is	يَــعْــنِــيْ مَـــا رَح تْــغَــيِّـــر رَايَــك؟ ya‘ani mā raḥ tghayyir rāyak I mean, you won’t change your mind?
طـالَـمـا ṭālama	as long as	.طَــالَــمَــا فِــيْ شُــغُــل، مِــنْــظَــلّ نِـــشْــتِـــغِـــل ṭālama fī shughul minẓall nishtighil As long as there is work, we keep working.
… يَـــا … يَـــا yā… yā…	either… or…	.يَـــا مِــنْــرُوْح هَـــلَّأ يَـــا مِــنْــرُوْح بُــكْــرَة yā minrūḥ halla’ yā minrūḥ bukrah We either go now or we go tomorrow.
عَـــكْـــس ‘aks	contrary to, opposite to, against	.لَا تْـــسُـــوْق عَــكْــس اِلــسِّـــيـــر lā tsūq ‘aks is-seyr Don’t drive against the traffic.

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