# Levantine Arabic: you can't let someone speak to you like this without consequences



## WannaBFluent

How would you say: _if you want to be respected, you can't let someone speak to you like this without consequences_.

I'd say: إذا كان بدي يكرم، ما بتقدر تخلّيه حدا يحكيلك هيك بدون عواقب

But I'm pretty sure it's uncorrect... Can you help me? Thanks.


----------



## elroy

Palestinian:

إذا بدك حدا يحترمك، بصيرش تسكتله على هيك حكي


----------



## Mahaodeh

If you want the literal translation, it would be: إذا بدك حدا يحترمك، تسمحش لحدا يحكي معك هيك بدون عواقب, however, while I wouldn't say that it's unidiomatic, I think it's more likely that elroy's suggestion is what would normally be used.

The expression تسكت لفلان implies 'consequences'.


----------



## elroy

Mahaodeh said:


> The expression تسكت لفلان implies 'consequences'.


 More precisely, “no consequences.”


----------



## She'lock Holmes

WannaBFluent said:


> إذا [كان/كنت] بدك حدا يكرمك يحترمك، ما [بتقدر] تخلّيه حدا يحكيلك هيك بدون عواقب ما ترد الكلمِة كلمتين


For me, يحترمك is more natural than يكرمك and the idiomatic phrase برد عالكلمة كلمتين sounds much better than عواقب but both are useable. I'd personally prefer not using بتقدر as I'd understand it as a general fact rather than a specific instance then.
Your sentence was quite good!


----------



## elroy

يحكيلك هيك means "say *that* to you" (referring to a specific thing someone might say), not "speak to you *like this*" (referring to a specific way of speaking), which is يحكي معك/معاك هيك (cf. #3).


----------



## She'lock Holmes

elroy said:


> يحكيلك هيك means "say *that* to you" (referring to a specific thing someone might say), not "speak to you *like this*" (referring to a specific way of speaking), which is يحكي معك/معاك هيك (cf. #3).


They pretty much sound interchangeable to me. It could be that some people from Syria/Lebanon make a distinction between the two but I don't.


----------



## Raspberryjam

How would you invert the above phrase so as to direct it to the disrespectful person? 
E.g: " You can't expect to speak like that in such a disrespectful way without consequences!"

My attempt (please correct me!) in Palestinian:
ازا بتحطي زي هيك بشكل مش محترم ما رح تعدي بساهل

Would there be a way of using سكت له in this instance without specifying who will يسكت? Could we just use the third person plural: ازا بتحكي زي هيك ما رح يسكتولك or does that not work?


----------



## She'lock Holmes

Raspberryjam said:


> E.g: " You can't expect to speak like that in such a disrespectful way without consequences!"


Syrian/Lebanese;
1. Unspecified third person plural (more like a global-ish or national issue):
"ما تفكر فيك تحكي هيك والناس راح تضل ساكتة"
2. First person singular:
"ما تفكر فيك تحكي هيك وراح سْكتلك"
3. Specified third person plural:
"ما تفكر فيك تحكي هيك وراح يسكتولك"

There could be a lot of variety in this sentence.



Raspberryjam said:


> Would there be a way of using سكت له in this instance without specifying who will يسكت?


Yes.
"ما تفكر فيك تحكي هيك وراح ينـسكت عليك"


----------



## elroy

Palestinian: تفكّرش إنك راح تقدر تحكي هيك بدون احترام ويِنْسَكَتلك / ويِنْسَكَت على حَكْيَك 


She'lock Holmes said:


> "ما تفكر فيك تحكي هيك وراح ينـسكت عليك"


 Are you sure Syrian uses ينسكت عليك and not ينسكتلك?  In Palestinian Arabic, على is used with the action and لـ with the person.


----------



## She'lock Holmes

elroy said:


> Are you sure Syrian uses ينسكت عليك and not ينسكتلك? In Palestinian Arabic, على is used with the action and لـ with the person.


I believe we use both quite naturally. The first one probably is used to emphasise the عليك part while the second is a 'clipped' version.


----------



## cherine

If the Levantine usage is similar to the Egyptian one, then both prepositions are indeed used but with different meanings:
يسكت لفلان: يسمح له أن يتكلم بطريقة غير لائقة دون أن يعترض
يسكت على شيء: يسمح للشيء بالاستمرار
Usually, على is used with object while لـ is used with persons.


----------



## momai

The way I know it is the following: ما فعل يسكلتلو لفلان عهل عملة ma fi3el yiskitlo *la* fulaan *3ahal* 3amle
My use of this construction is similar to the way it is used by Cherine and Elroy, apparently.


----------



## elroy

What do you mean by فعل/fi3el?


----------



## momai

مافعل يسكت means لم يرضى/لم يقبل أن يسكت


----------



## Mahaodeh

momai said:


> لم يرضى/لم يقبل أن يسكت


Not to nit-pick, but I think you mean لم يرضَ .


----------

