# Egyptian:  I regret



## Andrew__

Someone told me today that Egyptians, instead of the MSA verb ندم use something like sarr3a.  Is this correct - I didn't quite catch it and would like clarification.

_Context is:
I regret having allowed my dogs to enter the house yesterday._

Also, what is the past tense of this (ie. I regretted)?

Many thanks.


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## Josh_

Obviously a native speaker is best to answer this question, but I myself have only used and heard ندم.  The only meaning for the root s-r-3 that I am aware of has to do with speed and haste.


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## londonmasri

I have heard - 7atindimha (you will regret it).

I am very keen on knowing how to say the statement in Andrew's post.


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## Andrew___

OK thanks Josh and Londonmasri.

I must talk to my friend RaaDii and ask what on earth he was saying


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## Little_LIS

londonmasri said:


> I have heard - 7atindimha (you will regret it).
> 
> I am very keen on knowing how to say the statement in Andrew's post.


 
It's "7atindam"




> Someone told me today that Egyptians, instead of the MSA verb ندم use something like sarr3a. Is this correct - I didn't quite catch it and would like clarification.


 
If I regreted doing something, I would say "Ana etsarra3t", which gives the sense of regret


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## Andrew___

Dr.Susy said:


> If I regreted doing something, I would say "Ana etsarra3t", which gives the sense of regret



Many thanks Dr Susy.  May I ask what does 'Ana etsarra3t' literally mean?

Thanks.


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## londonmasri

Dr.Susy said:


> If I regreted doing something, I would say "Ana etsarra3t", which gives the sense of regret


 
Thanks Dr. S.

Could you form the sentence _



			I regret having allowed my dogs to enter the house
		
Click to expand...

_ for us?_ _


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## Little_LIS

Andrew___ said:


> Many thanks Dr Susy. May I ask what does 'Ana etsarra3t' literally mean?
> 
> Thanks.


 
You are most welcome, Andrew 

It goes with the saying *" Haste makes waste"*

"Etsarra3t"  in Ammiya and "Tasarra3t" in MSA comes from تَسَرَّعَ

*تَسَرَّعَ* يَتَسَرَّعُ تَسَرُّعاً : تَعَجَّل؛ *قد يورث التسرُّعُ الندامة*/ يَتَسَرَّع في اتّخاذ الموقف المناسب

Kindly check this link 

http://lexicons.sakhr.com/openme.asp?fileurl=/html/1098399.html



Hope this helps


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## Mahaodeh

تسرّع means "acted too hastely"; it doesn't really mean "regret" but in most contexts it may _imply_ regret.


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## Little_LIS

Yes, Maha  

I am just saying that it gives the sense of regret  or as you said implies regret.


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## Josh_

It's interesting.  When I first saw Andrew's post I thought about the connection between تسرع (or اتسرع as it is in Egyptian) and regret, and thought about mentioning it but decided against it since, as Maha said, it means "acted too hastily" and acting too hastily, while possibly leading to regret, does not itself mean regret.


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## cherine

londonmasri said:


> Could you form the sentence for us?
> I regret having allowed my dogs to enter the house.


This would be:
ana'ndemt enni dakhkhalt el kalb el beit.
أنا ندمت إني دخّلت الكلب البيت 

ندمت is pronounced nedemt, but usually when it follows "ana" we make a sort of liaison and drop the first vowel. But you can say: ana nedemt.


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## londonmasri

Thanks Cherine thats awesome. 

I notice that this is used in the past whereas English would use the present. So the 'regret' is also in the past if the action is in the past whereas in English the regret is in the present regarding an action in the past.

Is _b'andim _ever used? 
e.g. _inti bitindimiihaa? la2, mabandimhaash_.
Or 
_etsarra3t, wa dilwa2ti bandimhaa._


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## cherine

londonmasri said:


> Thanks Cherine thats awesome.


You're welcome. 


> Is _b'andim _ever used?
> e.g. _inti bitindimiihaa? la2, mabandimhaash_.
> Or
> _etsarra3t, wa dilwa2ti bandimhaa._


To express the present status of regret, we use the adj. nadmaan ندمان . The future form is also widely used, specially in warning or threat: 7atendam حتندم .
The verb in the present form (band*a*m) is also used.

The verb nadama is followed by the preposition 3ala على so you can't put a ضمير as a prefix to the verb. So, "bandamha" doesn't exist, but bandam 3aleha بندم عليها is the form to use.


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## londonmasri

Thanks, Cherine.

The annoying thing is I asked an Egyptian friend once and he said _'7atindimhaa'_, I think I might go back to him and tell him 'excuse me mate, you got it wrong!' )

Thanks everyone


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## cherine

All I can think of is that 7atnaddimha=you will make her regret. Maybe that's what your friend was talking about.


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## londonmasri

cherine said:


> All I can think of is that 7atnaddimha=you will make her regret. Maybe that's what your friend was talking about.


 
Thanks for the new word! I will try and find the right time to unleash it... Unfortunately I asked him to tell me 'you will regret it'. So I guess he made a mistake - maybe a bit like hardly any people in England can actually speak correct English...

So... I will tell him,

_'Ya 3amm inta, ana *nadmaan* enni sa2altak 3al-kilma awwel marra, inta *naddemteny* leeh?_'


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## Andrew___

Could maybe both alternatives are ok?  It could be a case of genuine differences within the same dialect, no?  The Egyptian dialect is not homogenous.

For example, yesterday I pronounced the word فترة as "fitra", and one of my Egyptian friends said "No it's pronounced fatra even in Egyptian dialect", and the other Egyptian agreed with me that "fitra" is acceptable in EA.  Neither could agree with the other in the end, so:
اختلاف الرأي لم يفسد للود القضية


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## londonmasri

Andrew___ said:


> Neither could agree with the other in the end, so:
> اختلاف الرأي لم يفسد للود القضية


7ilw ya raagil - touche! (can't find the accent for the 'e'...)
3ala fikra, the guy that told me this was iskandaraany!!


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## clevermizo

londonmasri said:


> Thanks Cherine thats awesome.
> 
> I notice that this is used in the past whereas English would use the present. So the 'regret' is also in the past if the action is in the past whereas in English the regret is in the present regarding an action in the past.
> 
> Is _b'andim _ever used?
> e.g. _inti bitindimiihaa? la2, mabandimhaash_.
> Or
> _etsarra3t, wa dilwa2ti bandimhaa._



The idea here is that the tense used is related to the aspect of the verb. 

"Regret" appears to be transitive (Like, "eat" or "drink" or other common transitive verbs) in English because of our syntax. However, in Arabic, I assume _ nedem _ is a stative verb. In other words, the meaning is to "come into a state of regret about X." 

So when you say "Ana nedemt inni 3emelt keda" you are saying "I have come to regret that I did X." Thus, it works in the past ("I have come to regret..."), the future ("I will regret") and the participle ("I am regretful" (nadmaan)). However, in order to use the present tense, you would probably need some sort of _ habitual _ actual, like "Every time I talk to him, I regret it", etc.

This is similar to other verbs used with the past tense with present implication, like "I understand (now)" _fhimt_ (lit. "I have come to understand").


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## londonmasri

clevermizo said:


> This is similar to other verbs used with the past tense with present implication, like "I understand (now)" _fhimt_ (lit. "I have come to understand").


 
Thanks CleverMizo - this is a v.good example.

Great thread


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