# All dialects: No way



## oopqoo

مرحبا يا جماعة 
How do you say "no way" in PA? Either as an emphatic exclamation or as a part of a sentence like "There's no way I'm going to do that".

شكرا سلفا


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## Mahaodeh

I've often used and heard people use the word مستحيل to mean 'no way', as in: مستحيل أعمل هيك. This is the most literal use.
Some emphatic uses may be:
ولا تحلم = don't even dream about it. Example: ولا تحلم أعمل هيك
يحلم/تحلم/يحلموا = in your dreams. Example: يحلموا أعمل هيك
طلعها من راسك = get it out of your head (meaning: get it out of your mind/thoughts). Example: طلعها من راسك أعمل هيك


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## oopqoo

Thank you for your answer!

I want to also figure out if the following direct translation from Hebrew would work:
I think I heard someone say فش مجال انو meaning "there's no chance/no way that". I'm uncertain whether or not the word مجال means chance (other than meaning "field" of course), but if it does it'd seem logical to me that that could work, right? If it does work, would you say it as an exclamation too - "فش مجال!" ? Would the opposite work as well? في مجال انو.


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## Mahaodeh

Yes, مجال does mean chance or possibility in this context. It would work as a way of saying that something couldn't happen, but it's not as 'strong' as 'no way', it more like "it's quite difficult".

I'm not sure of you can say فش مجال as an exclamation, I would understand an exclamation as a remark that expresses some sort of feeling (surprise, wonder, admiration, appreciation...etc.), I wouldn't imagine it used in that way. However, you can use it as a reply to something like: رح تيجي يوم الجمعة؟.

The opposite is also used: في مجال أعمل هيك = it's possible that I do that. Actually, the non-negated way is commonly used as a polite way to ask for something: في مجال تعطيني هذا؟ = is it possible/is there a chance that you give me this? meaning: may I have this?

I don't know if you are aware, but مجال space or room, so you might hear something like this: في مجال بالسيارة = there is room in the car.


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## elroy

Mahaodeh said:


> ولا تحلم = don't even dream about it. Example: ولا تحلم أعمل هيك
> يحلم/تحلم/يحلموا = in your dreams. Example: يحلموا أعمل هيك


 I don't know how common these are, but they sound okay.  The expressions I'm familiar with are ولا بالأحلام / بالأحلام / هادا بالأحلام / احلم!.


Mahaodeh said:


> طلعها من راسك = get it out of your head (meaning: get it out of your mind/thoughts). Example: طلعها من راسك أعمل هيك


 Hm, طلعها من راسك sounds okay but the combination of the expression and a subjunctive verb sounds unidiomatic to me.  Also, I think I would use this expression in a different context.

I think فش مجال could potentially work if delivered emphatically/forcefully, but it's not a common expression used with this meaning.

That said, there are a lot of expressions that work (in addition to مستحيل and the "dream" ones):

ولا يُمْكِن (this is the first one that occurred to me)
أبدًا
ولا بأي شكل
بالمشمش (I think this one is quintessentially Palestinian?)
بكرة (literally "tomorrow"; this one is used sarcastically to mean "never")
بقطع إيدي (literally "I'll cut off my hand/arm"; works in specific contexts)

It would be helpful if you gave some specific contexts/sentences.


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> بالمشمش (I think this one is quintessentially Palestinian?)



I'm not sure about that. It was used by college aged youth in Iraq in the 1980s (don't remember hearing it from older or younger generations), and I could sware I heard it in an Egyptian TV series also back in the 1980s - this could explain why it was limited to an age group, maybe they were the ones watching that series and picked it up from it.


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> I don't know how common these are, but they sound okay. The expressions I'm familiar with are ولا بالأحلام / بالأحلام / هادا بالأحلام / احلم!.



Well, I may have mixed up dialects. Maybe I heard it from Iraqis, Maybe Jordanians, or maybe from the mixed dialect I hear in Abu Dhabi. Using dreams to express 'no way' is common among several dialects.


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## cherine

Mahaodeh said:


> I'm not sure about that. It was used by college aged youth in Iraq in the 1980s (don't remember hearing it from older or younger generations), and I could sware I heard it in an Egyptian TV series also back in the 1980s


Yes, we do use it, though with a different preposition as usual  في المشمش. I don't know how old the expression is, but it is common among all age groups now.
A similar expression to طلعها من راسك , in Egyptian Arabic, is اِنْسَى (literally: forget).

By the way, I'm amazed with all the possibilities. When I first saw the thread title I could only think of مستحيل/اِسْتِحالة and didn't think that there could be so many ways to say no way


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## elroy

We use اِنسى too. 

Another one that may be uniquely Palestinian is ولا لو شو, as in ولا لو شو ما بحكي معاه, "There's no way I would speak to him".


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> Another one that may be uniquely Palestinian is ولا لو شو,



Oh, yes, I forgot that one. I've also heard a variation: ولا لو ابصر شو.


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## Hemza

I know this thread concerns Palestinian but as others got involved, so in Morocco, we say مو حال

In Hijazi, I also know something which may be an equivalent, which is قفل الموضوع (gaffal el mawDuu3)


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## rayloom

Hemza said:


> I know this thread concerns Palestinian but as others got involved, so in Morocco, we say مو حال
> 
> In Hijazi, I also know something which may be an equivalent, which is قفل الموضوع (gaffal el mawDuu3)



قفل الموضوع is like close or change the subject.
We mostly say مستحيل. To be figurative, we also say
ولا في أعزّ أحلامك


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## Hemza

rayloom said:


> قفل الموضوع is like close or change the subject.
> We mostly say مستحيل. To be figurative, we also say
> *ولا في أعزّ أحلامك*



Haha this latter sounds a bit... Violent. Thanks for the information


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## rayloom

Hemza said:


> Haha this latter sounds a bit... Violent. Thanks for the information



You're welcome.
I forgot one we commonly use:
استنّاني wait for me
We pronounce it with an exaggeratedly long alif 
'astannaaaaaaaanī


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## elroy

rayloom said:


> استنّاني wait for me


 That seems similar to our بكرة (as an ironic device).


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## rayloom

elroy said:


> That seems similar to our بكرة (as an ironic device).



Yes indeed. I also remembered that Egyptians use (in addition to what Cherine mentioned) يبقى قابلني or ابقى قابلني.


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## Mahaodeh

Since we moved on to other dialects, in Iraq they sometimes say قطنة وطلعّها من اذانك, as in:
قطنة وطلعّها من اذانك اسوي هيك = guTna w-Tali3ih min aTHanak asawi heech.

I think that 'get the cotton out of your ear' is an idiom for 'listen to me very well'. However, I've only heard the expression to mean 'no-way', never to actually mean 'listen'.


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## Mahaodeh

Hemza said:


> in Morocco, we say مو حال



Is it possible that this is the colloquial way of saying مُحَال?


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## Hemza

What do you mean ? What does مُحال means in Arabic ?


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## oopqoo

elroy said:


> We use اِنسى too.
> 
> Another one that may be uniquely Palestinian is ولا لو شو, as in ولا لو شو ما بحكي معاه, "There's no way I would speak to him".


I liked this one, I can see myself using it!
Let's see if I get this straight - and this is also after searching ولا لو شو on Google to see more examples. Would the following sentence which I added an appendage to also be correct?
ولا لو شو ما تحكي بَروحش معاه.
I understand ولا لو شو as "no matter what", plus adding the "ما + subjunctive" makes it in this case "no matter what you say", and then the thing that will not happen - in this case "I will not go with him".
Did I get this right? Of course this wouldn't translate as "no way" but I still want to understand what is the scope of usage for this phrase.


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## rayloom

Hemza said:


> What do you mean ? What does مُحال means in Arabic ?



مُحال also means impossible.


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## I.K.S.

Hemza said:


> What do you mean ? What does مُحال means in Arabic ?


Impossible ,It's only stressed مووحاال if the speaker sought an emphasis ,otherwise it is pronounced as in ''fusha'' most of the time.


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## elroy

oopqoo said:


> ولا لو شو ما تحكي بَروحش معاه


 Almost. ولا لو شو ما تحكي/لو شو ما يصير/ولا لو شو ما بروح معاه

For some reason, in this particular construction the verb has to be negated with ما, not ش or both; at least I've never heard it negated otherwise.


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## Hemza

rayloom said:


> مُحال also means impossible.





إتحادية قبائل الشاوية said:


> Impossible ,It's only stressed مووحاال if the speaker sought an emphasis ,otherwise it is pronounced as in ''fusha'' most of the time.



Ok then, I didn't know it was one word so I supposed it was the negative مو with حال . Thank you both. And true, it is pronounced محال with a short vowel.


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## oopqoo

Would بنفعش or مش نافع also mean "no way" in PA in certain contexts?


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## Mahaodeh

oopqoo said:


> Would بنفعش or مش نافع also mean "no way" in PA in certain contexts?



Hmmm, maybe. But the phrase "no way" in English is a strong way of saying no, whereas بنفعش when used to mean no is a way of softening the no rather than making it very strong.


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## elroy

oopqoo said:


> Would بنفعش or مش نافع also mean "no way" in PA in certain contexts?


 Nope.

(If you want to know how these are used, you should start a new thread.)


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## raful

Would you use بيصيرش ?


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## elroy

No.  Did you have a specific example in mind?


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## elroy

I thought of a situation in which "no way" and بصيرش overlap: when the meaning is "that's impossible!", as in the example below.

- There are more Turkish people in Berlin than in Ankara!
- No way!/!بصيرش


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## Mahaodeh

But isn't this "no way" different than the one in the original question? The original one is basically saying "NO" very strongly:


oopqoo said:


> There's no way I'm going to do that



oopqoo's no way is basically an expression of refusal to do something, whereas the example you gave is an expression of astonishment and surprise. Even the Arabic بيصيرش is not really used literally.

I agree with your first answer: no, بيصيرش is generally not used to mean no way - at least not in the context of the original question.


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## elroy

You are right.


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