# Levantine Arabic: بكمـّـل



## Softmint

Hi! I can't get the meaning of this sentence, I don't understand the word _bkmel_.
It's lebanese arabic


*ana bsder 3m bs7a 3mlt 3mlee ao heane bt3lem l2 3m bkmel ao anty wen 2rdek?       *

Google translated this:

With an open mind, I did my work or health, while learning, not with Bkml or you and are you in the country?


Thanks for your help


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## إسكندراني

I'm having a little trouble transliterating the whole sentence back to Arabic, but it looks like ba-kammal to me (I continue).
أنا بصدر عم بصحا عملت عملي او هاني بتعلم لأ عم بكمل و انتي وين أرضك؟


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## Softmint

I managed to get something more accurate although I'm not sure it's 100% correct:


*ana bsder 3m bs7a 3mlt 3mlee ao heane bt3lem l2 3m bkmel ao anty wen 2rdek? 

* --> I'm open minded, I wake up and do my work ,and here I am learning ,no I'm finishing ! ,and where are you now?


Could someone please correct me?


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## إسكندراني

Your suggestion is the best I'd be able to do!


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## clevermizo

This is a strange mix, and I'm unsure of many of the words. However "bsder" is probably Hebrew bi-seder which means "Ok/Alright" and is common in Palestinian Arabic as a loan-word, to my knowledge. "Ana b-seder" would mean "I'm alright" (as a response to "How are you?", etc.).

Do you have more context? The sentences that came before or after?


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## Ustaath

Softmint said:


> I managed to get something more accurate although I'm not sure it's 100% correct:
> 
> 
> *ana bsder 3m bs7a 3mlt 3mlee ao heane bt3lem l2 3m bkmel ao anty wen 2rdek?
> 
> 
> Could someone please correct me?
> [/COLOR]*


*

( see clevermizo's comment) I'm getting up, I have done my work, and here I am teaching ( most likely)/ no, I'm continuing / and where are your whereabouts these days?*


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## Softmint

Ustaath said:


> ( see clevermizo's comment) I'm getting up, I have done my work, and here I am teaching ( most likely)/ no, I'm continuing / and where are your whereabouts these days?



I can't get to a proper meaning 
Because with all the translations, I cannot guess if she is still studying, if she is working (like she has finished her studies and has a job now) or if she is doing both.
Or could she mean by "working": i'm doing my homework right now... oh well I'm done (with the homework).

This was the previous email I sent her:


> mnee7 w ante?  sho am tedrosi mra tenee?


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## Ustaath

OK could she have undergone an operation? Was she sick?

also 3mlt 3mlee couuld mean she got herself into trouble , had an operation ...


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## Softmint

ooops... now you tell me but it's too late. I asked her: So are u you studying or working? 
So if she went through and operation she must have thought I didn't care at all :s :s :s :S


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## Ustaath

it's highly alikely it was an Op, I'm grasping at straws to help decifer, since some of the vowels ar being left out ...
for an Op technically than it would be: 3mlt 3amAliyeh -


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## Softmint

now I feel bad because I didn't mention her operation at all in her reply, like if i had never read it =/

It was written by phone, maybe that's why there are missing letters...


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## إسكندراني

I think I fully understand now:
'I'm ok, I'm getting better, I had an operation, and here I am studying, no I'm gonna carry on, and how about you, where are you [these days]?'


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## Softmint

i asked someone randomly on facebook who lived in that region and she translated the sentence as such:

_*she said that she is good now...she wake up..and she is studing now..and you?..where are you now?

*_she doesn't mention the surgery


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## clevermizo

Softmint said:


> i asked someone randomly on facebook who lived in that region and she translated the sentence as such:
> 
> _*she said that she is good now...she wake up..and she is studing now..and you?..where are you now?
> 
> *_she doesn't mention the surgery



Your random person on facebook did not bother to translate "3mlt 3mlee" and just skipped over it. It could be as simple as عملت عَمَلي which means "I did my work" whatever that work is (though I would've expected عملت شغلتي). If this person never gave you a reason to think they were going to have a surgery of some sort, then عملت عملي is probably it. It's difficult as has been noted because many vowels are skipped and the context is very general. Your random person on facebook also completely skipped "3am bkmel".

This is my suggestion as a translation:

"I'm fine, just waking up, did some work now I'm studying - no, finishing up. And you? Where are you at?"


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## إسكندراني

In Alexandria 'bs7aa' can mean 'get better from illness' not just 'wake up' - the former meaning seems more likely to me because of '3am' which means 'I AM' not 'I DID'


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## clevermizo

إسكندراني said:


> In Alexandria 'bs7aa' can mean 'get better from illness' not just 'wake up' - the former meaning seems more likely to me because of '3am' which means 'I AM' not 'I DID'



Actually come to think of it - you're right. It could be that here. Especially because I'm waking up would probably be عم بفيق . So it could equivalently be "I'm getting better, I (just) had an operation."

I mean, the easy thing to do would just be to ask this person:

ما فهمتك منيح - بتقصدي إنك عملتي شي عملية جراحية؟


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## Ustaath

yes, why don't you just ask her, copy paste clevermizo's phrase


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## Softmint

I think it's right about the operation...
i just saw a new pic she posted on facebook. And her nose has changed... to worse 
So yes, I think it meant that she just had an operation. After that she wrote:

_tjmel bs st3'rbt shwe fkrt 7da mstlmne       _


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## Ustaath

tjmel : plastic surgery, lit: beautifying
st3'rbt: lit:  I found it a bit strange ( I wondered) ... shwe: a little bit
fkrt: I thought
7da: someone (was)
mstlmne: pulling my leg, leading me on


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## Softmint

oh so _tjmel_ means plastic surgery, right?

so I guess this sentence has something to do with "surgery" (she just answered): _hala.wla eshe 3mlet tjmel lesh? 
_
(i'll open another topic if you think i'm off-thread =/ )


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## clevermizo

The topic at hand is the meaning of the word بكمل in your sentence, which is the initial question, but we've allowed it to encompass the entire original sentence. It's pretty clear that بكمّل is _bakammel_ or _bkammel_ meaning "I'm finishing up" (her work or whatever she was doing).

Tajmīl تجميل is used to refer to plastic surgery. If you have more questions about this word, or others, please open a new thread about them.


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