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🇪🇬 Egyptian Arabic · Fluency Level 2

PART 2 · LESSON 14 OF 30 · 30 MINUTES

Forty dresses

At Friday lunch Uncle Mahmoud tells the wedding order that got away, forty dresses and a thousand metres of silk, Madame Nadia brings the numbers down, and Leo hears how a merchant stretches a story and plays it down: a hundred times told, not a metre added.

Audio instruction: English

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THE STORY

Friday lunch at the Mansours' table in Heliopolis, in autumn. Uncle Mahmoud and Madame Nadia call Leo by his name and speak plainly to him; Leo says the polite you to them.

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Words and phrases

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أَكْبَر طَلَبِيَّة, أَرْبِعِين فُسْتَان.AK-bar ta-la-BIY-ya, ar-bi-3EEN fus-TAAN.The biggest order: forty dresses.
السَّنَة اللِّي فَاتِت تَلَاتِين.is-SA-na IL-li FAA-tit ta-la-TEEN.Last year, thirty.
أَرْبِعِين, وِأَلْف مِتْر حَرِير!ar-bi-3EEN, wi-ALF mitr 7a-REER!Forty, and a thousand metres of silk!
وِفِي الآخِر يَا عَمّ مَحْمُود?wi-fi il-'AA-khir ya 3amm ma7-MOOD?And in the end, Uncle Mahmoud?
أُمّ العَرِيس عَايْزَة أَزْرَق, وِالتَّانْيَة أَخْضَر.umm il-3a-REES 3AY-za AZ-ra', wit-TAN-ya AKH-dar.The groom's mother wanted blue, and the other one green.
جِه يِكَحَّلْهَا عَمَاهَا!gih yi-ka7-7AL-ha 3a-MAA-ha!He came to put kohl on it and blinded it!
وِمَخَدُوا وَلَا وَاحِد?wi-MA-kha-du WA-la WAA-7id?And they took neither?
اللِّي اِتْلَسَع مِن الشُّورْبَة.IL-li it-LA-sa3 min ish-SHOR-bathe one burnt by soup
اللِّي اِتْلَسَع مِن الشُّورْبَة يِنْفُخ فِي الزَّبَادِي.IL-li it-LA-sa3 min ish-SHOR-ba YIN-fukh fi iz-za-BAA-di.The one burnt by soup blows on yoghurt.
وِبِيِحْكِيهَا كُلّ جُمْعَة.wi-bi-yi7-KEE-ha kull GUM-3a.And he tells it every Friday.