Monday, December 22, 2014

Never

I can think of mainly three translations to Never in Egyptian

  • ابداََ

It differs from English that it should be used in a negative form
Have you played ice skating before?   لعبت تزحلق علي الجليد قبل كده
I never played ice skating.         ملعبتش تزحلق علي الجليد ابداًً قبل كده


  • خالص
Like ابدا it is mainly used in the negative form.
Have you been to this cafe before?      جيت القهوة ده قبل كده
I have never been here before            لا ماجتش هنا قبل كده خالص


  • عمري
عمري translates literally to "my age", it is also used to refer to "the time I have been alive". It is a very subtle difference from age. Age is mainly years but in this context Egyptians understand it to be your life on earth. so you can say for example, "I loved him my entire life" انا طول عمري بحبه
note that طول literally means "length", in the example context (which is used extensively) meaning the entire length of time or of my life ... you can also say for example انا بفكر فيها طول الوقت which means I think about her all the time (or the entire length of the time). A tall guy or a tall building is referred to as طويل
عمري can be used in the context of "never"
I didn't come here before     انا ماجتش هنا قبل كده
I never came here before    انا عمري ما جيت هنا قبل كده
If you want to make it really really emphatic, you can say    انا عمري ما جيت هنا قبل كده خالص
of course عمري refers to the speaker. You can also use it with anyone else
You (M.) عُمرَك
You (F.)  عُمرِك
You (P.) عُمرُكم
ٍShe        عُمرها
He           عُمرُه
They     عُمرُهم
Us          عُمرِنا


Note about the negative form with "Never"

when you have the "never" before the verb you should only use "ما" without adding the suffix "تش" after the verb. When "never" is added after the verb you use the normal negative form


  • عمري ما روحت
  • ما روحتش ابدا
  • ما روحتش خالص
  • عمري ما لعبت 
  • ما لعبتش ابدا
  • ما لعبتش خالص
If you want to imply that you would never do something, you can use عمري with the present tense

  • I would never do that    عمري ما اعمل كده 



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