# All dialects: What did you do today?



## mini91

Hello everybody,

I am very interested in the different Arab dialects that are spoken. I have many Arab friends who each speak differently which I find interesting. I would like to know how the following sentence: *"What did you do today?" *is said in the different Arab dialects especially in Algeria and Syria.

Thankyou.


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## yasmeena

Hello and welcome 



> *"What did you do today?"*


In Syrian arabic it would be :
شو عمِلت اليوم ( shu 3milt elyom)

A slight difference in Lebanese :
شو عمَلت اليوم ( shu 3malt elyom)


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## mini91

Thank you Yasmeena! (I have the same name) Your help is much appreciated.


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## clevermizo

yasmeena said:


> hello and welcome
> 
> 
> in syrian arabic it would be :
> شو عمِلت اليوم ( shu 3milt elyom)
> 
> a slight difference in lebanese :
> شو عمَلت اليوم ( shu 3malt elyom)



عن جد بتلفظوا اللام والتاء مع بعض بدون أي كسرة قصيرة بيناتهن؟ كنت فكرت "عمِلِت " أو " عمَلِت".


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## yasmeena

You're welcome, mini.



clevermizo said:


> عن جد بتلفظوا اللام والتاء مع بعض بدون أي كسرة قصيرة بيناتهن؟".


 
That's the way I (Lebanese), and my mother (Syrian) pronounce it. But there may be slight differences in pronunciation in different regions of the same country ( i.e. some Syrians may pronounce it with a kasra).


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## elroy

Palestinian: 

شو/إيش عملت/سويت اليوم؟: _shuu/eesh 3mil(e)t/sawweet ilyoom?

_(If you use _eesh_ instead of _shuu_, you need to add a schwa before the following word to facilitate pronunciation: _eesh i3milet_.)

As you can see, Palestinian is pretty flexible: you can use either شو or إيش (I believe only شو can be used in Syrian and Lebanese); you can pronounce عملت with or without an _e_; you can use either عملت or سويت (I believe the latter is not used in Syrian or Lebanese, and I think that it's used in Egyptian but means "make" in the context of making food; in Palestinian it can mean "do" or "make" in almost any context).


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## clevermizo

elroy said:


> (I believe the latter is not used in Syrian or Lebanese, and I think that it's used in Egyptian but means "make" in the context of making food; in Palestinian it can mean "do" or "make" in almost any context).



I learned the other verb "to do" in Syrian as _saawa_ (_shu 3am bitsaawi_ - what are you doing?). In the past tense, _saaweet_ would probably be reduced to _saweet_.


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## elroy

_Saawa_ is also used in Palestinian Arabic, but it's a Galilean variant (the only one used there, actually, as _sawwa_ means "to level" or "to even out" over there).  The first-person form would be _saweet_ (never _saaweet_, which actually sounds Syrian ).  Now that you mention it, I have heard _saawa_ in Syrian; I don't think it's used in Lebanese, though.

Thanks for reminding me of yet another Palestinian variant.


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## clevermizo

elroy said:


> _Saawa_ is also used in Palestinian Arabic, but it's a Galilean variant (the only one used there, actually, as _sawwa_ means "to level" or "to even out" over there).  The first-person form would be _saweet_ (never _saaweet_, which actually sounds Syrian ).  Now that you mention it, I have heard _saawa_ in Syrian; I don't think it's used in Lebanese, though.
> 
> Thanks for reminding me of yet another Palestinian variant.



Yeah, I find it humorous how inauthentic my speech will always be because my vocabulary comes through a lot of different sources. But that's ok, because as a non-native speaker I have no need to prove authenticity.


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## Xence

In Algerian that would be:

واش درت اليوم
_wesh dert lyuum_

or

واش عملت اليوم
_wesh 3melt lyuum_


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## Josh_

In Egyptian it would be:

عملت إيه النهار دا
3amalt eeh in-nahar-da.


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## rachidwestlife

in moroccan arabic : ach darti lyouma? or ach 3malti lyouma ( asking a person)


     ach  dartou lyouma or ach 3malto lyouma( asking a group of people)


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## mini91

Thankyou all so much! 
It is similar to the fusha (classic) version:
"Madha fa3altu/fa3alti el youm?"


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## elroy

mini91 said:


> "Maadha fa3alta/fa3alti 'l yawm?"


 Some corrections.

"fa3altu" is "I did."
"fa3atla" is "you did" (masculine).


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## mini91

elroy said:


> Some corrections.
> 
> "fa3altu" is "I did."
> "fa3atla" is "you did" (masculine).


 
Ok thankyou I always get mixed up with the end vowels of certain words. Would the reply to the question for myself be: Fa3altu...? Is it also the same in certain dialects?


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## clevermizo

mini91 said:


> Ok thankyou I always get mixed up with the end vowels of certain words. Would the reply to the question for myself be: Fa3altu...? Is it also the same in certain dialects?



Well, the reply would be whatever you did. If that involves the verb فعل then yes, you would say فعلتُ كذا وكذا _fa3altu_.

In the Levant, the form that ends in -t is used for both the first person singular and the second person singular masculine. So, 3milet (or its variations) means both "you did (m.)" and "I did (m./f.)". I would assume the same is true of the Maghrebi words.


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## Libyan_Girl

In Libya we say

*شن درت اليوم؟
*
Shen dirt(m)\dirty(f) el youm?
​


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## ayed

Saudi:
Wish sawwait al-yawum *وش سويت اليوم*


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## Satarangi Re

Hi! In moroccan we can also say "shno dirti l'youm?"


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## djara

In Tunisian:
"Shnu(wa) 3milt (i)lyom". 
"Aash 3milt (i)lyom"
In some regions "aash dert (i)lyom"


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## Pahlavan

In ​Iraqi: 

_Baghdad/Basra_: "sh-saweet ilyom?"
_Mosul/Jewish/Christian_: "ash saweyt alyoum?"


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## muhammad2012

In some places in Yemen
إيش لقَّيت اليوم
لقَّيت =فعلت\عملت
ieesh lqayt Al-Yum


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## Schem

Najdi/Guisseemi: Wish sawweit alyoum? (would be elyoum in Najdi) - وش سويت اليوم؟


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