# We met each other in a beautiful cafe in Dubai



## Andrew___

Hi guys,

To say the above phrase, can I say:

تقابلنا في أحد المقاهي الجميلة بدبي

Also, is there a way I can capture the nuance "we caught up" rather than we simply met?  In English, if I say "we caught up in a cafe in Dubai", it would imply that we have met prior to this occasion, and we are now catching up with each other. Whereas in English if I said "We met in a cafe in Dubai", it is neutral in that it doesn't denote a prior meeting.  Is there a way I could capture the nuance of "we caught up" in MSA?

Thanks

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## elroy

First, "in a beautiful café in Dubai":

You could say 

أحد مقاهي دبي الجميلة
أحد المقاهي الجميلة *في* دبي 
or simply
مقهى جميل في دبي

تقابلنا just means "met (each other)," as I'm sure you know.

(If you meant "met each other" as in "were introduced to each other" then you would need to say تعرفنا على بعض.)

Now, as for "caught up":

That's a bit trickier.

You could say something like التقينا مجددًا (بعد مضي الزمن) في مقهى جميل في دبي.


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## ayed

Al Sulhafa said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> To say the above phrase, can I say:
> 
> *تصـادفنا في أحد المقاهي الجميلة بدبي*
> 
> Also, is there a way I can capture the nuance "we caught up" rather than we simply met? In English, if I say "we caught up in a cafe in Dubai", it would imply that we have met prior to this occasion, and we are now catching up with each other. Whereas in English if I said "We met in a cafe in Dubai", it is neutral in that it doesn't denote a prior meeting. Is there a way I could capture the nuance of "we caught up" in MSA?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> ِ


 
See what is in blue.*TaSa/daf/na*


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## Andrew___

Thanks guys.

So in summary, do you guys agree that my sentence is a possible way of expressing this idea?

Please note that I am not suggesting that this is the first meeting I had with this person.  We have met many times before.

Thanks,
Andrew


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## ayed

Al Sulhafa said:


> We have met many times before.
> Thanks,
> Andrew


In classical Arabic_,TaSadafna_ or _talaaqayna_ implies that you do know that person and met many times as you have just mentioned..
In Badawi, we say :
_3ayyantih _
_wajahtih_
_twajahnaa_


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## Andrew___

Hi Elroy,

From your comment in bold, I was unsure whether you disapproved of my word "bi-Dubai".  Could you please confirm whether bi is possible, or whether I must use "fiy Dubai" instead.

Thanks


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## elroy

The verbs تقابلنا and تلاقينا and التقينا can all be used.
تصادفنا I would use to mean "we ran into each other" (صدفة = coincidence).

As for في دبي, that's what I would always use.  I'm not sure whether بدبي is officially acceptable, but I wouldn't use it because it sounds like a colloquial influence.  You can't go wrong if you use في.


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## Andrew___

elroy said:


> As for في دبي, that's what I would always use.  I'm not sure whether بدبي is officially acceptable, but I wouldn't use it because it sounds like a colloquial influence.  You can't go wrong if you use في.



May I be so daring as to say that it seems 100% correct to use ب (bi) in MSA in this way.

Even in today's articles on Al Jazeera there were two articles which used it in this way, for example:
رايس بحثت نووي إيران مع تسعة وزراء عرب بأبو ظبي and
خلفيات سياسية وراء هجوم المدرج الروماني بالأردن

I believe this is solid evidence, because I imagine that Al Jazeera would hire only the most professional journalists from around the Arab world, who are trained at removing all colloquial influences and speaking only in the crispest and most pure form of MSA. 

Andrew


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## ayed

Andrew , you can use either of them.


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## Mahaodeh

According to this, it seems that there is a difference:

و(الباء) للإلصاق وللسببية وللقسم وللاستعانة نحو: أمسكت بأخي، {فَبِما نَقْضِهِمْ مِيثاقَهُمْ لعَنّاهُمْ}، (أقسم بالله وآياته)، كتبت بالقلم، وتجيء زائدة نحو {أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِكافٍ عَبْدَهُ}.

و(في) للظرفية وللمصاحبة وللسببية نحو: في البلد لصوص. ادخلوا في أمم، ((دخلت امرأةٌ النار في هرة حَبَستها)).​ 
Which means you can use only في when referring to a place, which I tend to agree with. However, I do hear people use the baa' in collequal, so maybe the Al-Jazeera articles are not revised accurately or maybe it's a borrowing or an influence of collequal.

Frankly, the examples you gave sound a little 'collequal' to me.


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## ayed

Mahaodeh said:


> According to this, it seems that there is a difference:
> 
> و(الباء) للإلصاق وللسببية وللقسم وللاستعانة نحو: أمسكت بأخي، {فَبِما نَقْضِهِمْ مِيثاقَهُمْ لعَنّاهُمْ}، (أقسم بالله وآياته)، كتبت بالقلم، وتجيء زائدة نحو {أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِكافٍ عَبْدَهُ}.​
> و(في) للظرفية وللمصاحبة وللسببية نحو: في البلد لصوص. ادخلوا في أمم، ((دخلت امرأةٌ النار في هرة حَبَستها)).​
> Which means you can use only في when referring to a place, which I tend to agree with. However, I do hear people use the baa' in collequal, so maybe the Al-Jazeera articles are not revised accurately or maybe it's a borrowing or an influence of collequal.
> 
> Frankly, the examples you gave sound a little 'collequal' to me.


We're talking of "adverb of place".Here are two verses from the Holy Quran:
وَمَا كُنْتَ بِجَانِبِ الغَرْبي(القصص: 44)

إِنَّ أَوَّل بَيْت وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ *لَلَّذِي بِبَكَّةَ*(آل عمران: 96)​ 
تستعمل الباء في الآيتين الكريمتين ( ظرف مكان)
It is classical even if it is used in colloquial dialect​


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## Mahaodeh

Ok, Ayed; I guess both my source and I are wrong, or maybe just me because the source did not specifically say you can't use it!


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## ayed

Mahaodeh said:


> Ok, Ayed; I guess both my source and I are wrong, or maybe just me because the source did not specifically say you can't use it!


 
Translate following simple example to Arabic:

He sat beside me ?


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## Yurub

جلس الى جانبي


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## Andrew___

Thanks Ayed.

I knew the Al Jazeera editors would not be capable of slipping into colloquial!


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## elroy

Let's put it this way.  Regardless of the quality of _Al-Jazeera_ journalism or editing and of what is officially or formally accepted or allowed, there's never really a good reason to use بـ for في, so why not maintain the distinction?  As I said earlier, you can't go wrong, and no one will disapprove of your diction, if you use في, which is indisputably correct, acceptable, and natural.


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## Nikola

elroy said:


> Let's put it this way.  Regardless of the quality of _Al-Jazeera_ journalism or editing and of what is officially or formally accepted or allowed, there's never really a good reason to use بـ for في, so why not maintain the distinction?  As I said earlier, you can't go wrong, and no one will disapprove of your diction, if you use في, which is indisputably correct, acceptable, and natural.



بـ for في is often used in Arabian peninsula colloquial so even if it is acceptable in classical it is probably an influence of colloquial.


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## elroy

Yes, we use it in my dialect too, and I would suspect that it's used in most if not all dialects.  That's why I said earlier that it _sounded_ like a colloquial influence, whether or not it actually was one.


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