# That is a long story



## 6aalib

What is a good way to say "that's a long story" in Arabic ?

      (meaning:  "I do not want to explain all the details now",  "that is not the point", etc)


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## Hemza

Hello,
You can say "hadhihi al 7ykaaya 6awiila" (literally: "that's a long story") but if you mean "talk to you about that later", you can say "sanatakallamu fi al mawudhu3an ba3ad".


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## cherine

You can also say هذا موضوع يطول شرحُه .


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## 6aalib

Hemza said:


> Hello,
> You can say "hadhihi al 7ykaaya 6awiila" (literally: "that's a long story") but if you mean "talk to you about that later", you can say "sanatakallamu fi al mawudhu3an ba3ad".






cherine said:


> You can also say هذا موضوع يطول شرحُه .




Shukran jazilan 


can someone please spell out the word    "mawudhu3an"  in Arabic? 

I am guessing that "waqt aakhar" (وقت  آخر) could also be said, but I want to look up this word too


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## Hemza

6aalib said:


> Shukran jazilan
> 
> 
> can someone please spell out the word    "mawudhu3an"  in Arabic?



"mawudhu3an" is the same word as " موضوع" as Cherine wrote. It's just a matter of pronounciation, I add "an" at the end because in my sentence, the word " موضوع" is a "complément d'objet direct" (sorry, not sure about its name in English, I think it's "accusative case") so it turns into "موضوعً".

I hope it helps you .


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## Arabic Guru

حمزة بكسر الحاء أو بفتحها؟

سؤال أخر
"sanatakallamu fi al mawudhu3an" should be "sanatakallamu fi al mawudhu3i" in pronunciation I mean, سنتكلم في الموضوعِ 

We can say also, سنتكلم في الأمر لاحقاً or سنتحدث في الأمر لاحقاً or سوف نتحدث في الأمر لاحقاً


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## Hemza

Arabic Guru said:


> حمزة بكسر الحاء أو بفتحها؟
> 
> سؤال أخر
> "sanatakallamu fi al mawudhu3an" should be "sanatakallamu fi al mawudhu3i" in pronunciation I mean, سنتكلم في الموضوعِ



I meant to write it with fat7a, because it's the accusative case, right? Sorry if I'm wrong. Why "mawudhu3i"? Why kassra? The question is "we will speak about what? the topic" so the word "topic" is at the accusative case right? I thought accusative case was made with "an" sound at the end of the word.


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## كلمات

ليس هذا وقت الخوض في التفاصيل


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## إسكندراني

Hemza said:


> I meant to write it with fat7a, because it's the accusative case, right? Sorry if I'm wrong. Why "mawudhu3i"? Why kassra? The question is "we will speak about what? the topic" so the word "topic" is at the accusative case right? I thought accusative case was made with "an" sound at the end of the word.


لأن «في» حرف جر فالكلمة مجرورة
والمنصوب والمرفوع والمجرور لا يأخذ أي منهم التنوين بالضرورة
ففي هذه الحالة الكلمة معرفة فيسقط التنوين


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## Hemza

إسكندراني said:


> لأن «في» حرف جر فالكلمة مجرورة
> والمنصوب والمرفوع والمجرور لا يأخذ أي منهم التنوين بالضرورة
> ففي هذه الحالة الكلمة معرفة فيسقط التنوين



Shukran 3al jawab .


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## 6aalib

Another question about:   sanatakallamu fi al mawDu3i ba3ad 

Why is it "fi  *al* mawDu3i ba3ad  ?  From my understanding that means "the situation is later" 

Why not only  "fi mawDu3i ba3ad"  ?


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## Hemza

6aalib said:


> Another question about:   sanatakallamu fi al mawudhu3an ba3ad
> 
> Why is it "fi  *al* mawudhu3an ba3ad  ?  From my understanding that means "the situation is later"
> Why not only  "fi mawudhu3an ba3ad"  ?



Because the topic is defined, you're speaking about a particular topic, not any topic, so it takes the article "al" before the word . If I tell you "we will speak about *this* topic later", it takes "al" ("al mawudhu3") but if you say "we will speak about *a* topic later", it's not defined, in this case, you must say "fi mawudhu3i"

Ps: as "Arabic Guru" corrected me, and "iskandarani" explained me why (shukran lahum), it's "mawudhu3i"


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## 6aalib

Hemza said:


> Ps: as "Arabic Guru" corrected me, and "iskandarani" explained me why (shukran lahum), it's "mawudhu3i"



Oh yes, I fixed the post.  The funny thing is I actually knew that !    (one of the few grammar rules I am good with)



One more question:   Do you have to use the preposition "fee" ?

For example in English it would probably be "we will talk ABOUT that later" or "we will talk ON that topic later".  But it would not be "we will talk IN that topic later".  

I know that some verbs just go with some prepositions, and it is not always a direct match with English.  So is that the case here?  Or can you also use another preposition such as على , عن , etc ?


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## akhooha

Just for the record, everyone seems to be spelling موضوع as "mawudu3" --- there is no vowel after the "w". It is just mawdu3. (مَوْضُوع).


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## Hemza

6aalib said:


> Oh yes, I fixed the post.  The funny thing is I actually knew that !    (one of the few grammar rules I am good with)
> 
> 
> 
> One more question:   Do you have to use the preposition "fee" ?
> 
> For example in English it would probably be "we will talk ABOUT that later" or "we will talk ON that topic later".  But it would not be "we will talk IN that topic later".
> 
> I know that some verbs just go with some prepositions, and it is not always a direct match with English.  So is that the case here?  Or can you also use another preposition such as على , عن , etc ?



I think you can use "3an" too. I used "fee", because in dialect, that's how we say, and I think it's correct in MSA too.



akhooha said:


> Just for the record, everyone seems to be spelling موضوع as "mawudu3" --- there is no vowel after the "w". It is just mawdu3. (مَوْضُوع).



Right.


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## إسكندراني

نتكلم في الموضوع is just how we usually say it.
عن and حول and على are also used but في sounds most natural.


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## 6aalib

akhooha said:


> Just for the record, everyone seems to be spelling موضوع as "mawudu3" --- there is no vowel after the "w". It is just mawdu3. (مَوْضُوع).



Fixed





Hemza said:


> I think you can use "3an" too. I used "fee", because in dialect, that's how we say, and I think it's correct in MSA too.
> .





إسكندراني said:


> نتكلم في الموضوع is just how we usually say it.
> عن and حول and على are also used but في sounds most natural.




Shukran Jazilan


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## 6aalib

Hemza said:


> Hello,
> You can say "hadhihi al 7ykaaya 6awiila" (literally: "that's a long story")  .... .



Sorry one last question about this:   is "hadhihi al 7ykaaya 6awiila" actually a phrase that is used in Arabic, or were you just giving a literal translation?

For example going from Arabic --> English:  in Arabic there is a phrase   قلبه أبيض.  The literal translation in English is "he has a white heart", but in English it would sound strange to say that because it is not really a phrase that is used.  It would be more normal to just say "he is a good person"  or "he is a nice guy"

So is   7ykaaya 6awiila    actually a phrase that is used in Arabic?


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## إسكندراني

Yes it's used.
دي قصة طويلة - دي حكاية طويلة is how I'd say this in Egyptian for example (or our own word حدّوتة)


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## cherine

Yes, it is used, but the word حكاية should be indefinite: this is a long story (vs. this story is long).


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## 6aalib

إسكندراني said:


> Yes it's used.
> دي قصة طويلة - دي حكاية طويلة is how I'd say this in Egyptian for example (or our own word حدّوتة)





cherine said:


> Yes, it is used, but the word حكاية should be indefinite: this is a long story (vs. this story is long).



yes I was thinking the same thing.

ألف شكر


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## Lark-lover

Some Saudi say هذي سالفة عريضة طويلة implying it is not the suitable time to digress and clarify or explain it in details.


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## Hemza

Lark-lover said:


> Some Saudi say هذي سالفة عريضة طويلة implying it is not the suitable time to digress and clarify or explain it in details.



I think "سالفة" is used in Najdi, I never heard it in Hijazi (although, I can't tell if it exists or not).


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## إسكندراني

قصة *طويلة عريضة* 
is a very typical way of saying it, often used by Egyptians as well


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