#afro-asiatic languages

** transliteration requested by @loverofunseen 

Where are you from? (to a male)  -   من أين أنت؟  min aina anta

from -  من min

where -   أين aina 

you(m) أنت anta

You (f)  أنت anti 

Grammar note - As in English, we can add a preposition to a question word in certain question formations in Arabic, as in من أين (from where), لماذا(for what/why), من أي (from which), منذ متى (since when), etc.  Note that in Arabic you cannot separate "from" and "where."

I am from the United States -  أنا من أنا من الولايات المتحدة المتحدة ana min alwilayet almutAHidah 

the states -  الولايات alwilayet 

United -  المتحدة almutAHidah 

Grammar Note -  An adjective that forms a relation to a noun (e.g., a place) is called a relational adjective, such as "American" (from America).  To form such adjectives in Arabic, we add a long يّ sound at the end of the noun in the masculine (أمريكيّ) and an extra يّة in the feminine (أمريكيّة).

Really? You speak Arabic fluently? (to a male) -  حقاً؟ أنت تتحدث اللغة العربية بطلاقة haQqan ? anta tataHADdath alLughah al’araBiYyah biTaLaaqah. 

the language -  اللغة alLughah 

Arabic -  العربية - al’araBiYyah 

speak (to a male) -  تتحدث tataHADdath 

Grammar Note -  Adjectives follow the nouns they describe, and they also change to agree with them.  So, a feminine definite noun like اللغة (the language) is followed by a feminine definite adjective العربية (Arabic).  Both noun and adjective start with the article ال and end in the feminine ending ة.

fluently - بطلاقة biTaLaaqah 

Grammar Note -  Grammar NoteOne way to indicate an adverb (how a verb takes place) is to use the preposition بِ (with) before nouns.  For example, بطلاقة (with fluency) means "fluently" and بسرعة (with speed) means "fast."

I am learning Arabic using a great website called Mango Languages -  أنا أتعلم اللغة العربية باستخدام موقع إلكتروني رائع يسمىمانجو للغات. ana ata’ALlam alLughah al’araBiYyah bistikhDEhm mawqa’ iliktiroonii raa’i’ yuSAMma maango lillugheht 

am learning -  أتعلم ata’ALlam 

using -  باستخدام bistikhDEhm 

website -  موقع إلكتروني  mawqa’ iliktiroonii

great -  رائع  raa’i’

called -  يسمى yuSAMma 

Mango Languages -  مانجو للغات  maango lillugheht

Do you speak English? (to a woman) -  هل تتحدثين الإنجليزية؟ hal tataHaddaTHEEn al’ingileeZiYyah 

you speak (to a woman)  تتحدثين  tataHaddaTHEEna

English -  الإنجليزية al’ingileeZIYyah 

Yes. I understand a little English -  نعم. أفهم القليل من الإنجليزية NA’am AFham alqaleel min  al’ingileeZIYyah

I understand -  أفهم AFham 

a little -  القليل من alqaleel min 

persian -  الفارسية alfehriSIYyah 

Turkey -  تركيا turkiyaa

Turkish -  تركيا atturkiyaa

Egypt -  مصر miSr

Saudi/Saudi Arabia -  السعودية - assu’ooDIYyah

Morocco -  المغرب alMAGHrib 

Not much -  قليلاً qaleelan 

A lot -  الكثير alkaTHEER

state -  ولاية wilehya 

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUAyNMuzcRc)

Maacisse! 

That’s ‘good morning’ in Afar, an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, which is this week’s #WeeklyTongue. Afar is spoken by approximately 1.4 million people and is in the Saho-Afar branch of Cushitic Afro-Asiatic languages.

Afar uses 17 consonant sounds and 5 vowel sounds. However, the vowels can be long or short, so you could say there’s 10 vowel sounds. Let’s go with 10!

The written form of Afar is interesting, as this varies from region to region. In Ethiopia, the Ge’ez script is used. However it can also be written in the Latin or Arabic scripts too.

Want to start speaking Afar?

Here’s some basics to get you started...

Maacisse - good morning to one person

Maacisseni - good morning to more than one person

Salaamata - goodbye

(Atu) maa migaq lito? - what’s your name?

Yi migaq .......  -my name is....

Anni'kkek temeete ? - where are you from?

....emeete. - I’m from ......

Intrigued?

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afar_language

Omniglot: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/afar.htm

Free beginner materials: http://afaraf.free.fr/index.html

Here is a submission we received for International Mother Language Day from Muhned speaking Zuwara Berber.

Zuwara Berber is spoken in northwestern Libya and the number of native speakers is unknown. It's part of the Berber family in the larger Afro-Asiatic family. 

Is your native language Zuwara Berber or another language from the region? 

Here's the link to our website: http://www.wikitongues.org/#/submit