# Lebanese Arabic: عطشان شي؟



## Amirali1383koohi

أهلاً
سمعت الكلمة (شي) في العبارة (عطشان شي؟) ما معني لهذه الكلمة ؟


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## ahmedcrow

قد تكون زائده وقد يكون مُرادفها مثلاً "هل أنت عطشان؟ عندي بعض الحليب" لكن انتظر أحد العارفين باللبنانيّة أفضل​


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## Amirali1383koohi

نعم 
و في رأيي أيضاٌ هي زائدة
(لكن يمكن ان يكون معناها (هل 
يجب علينا ان ننتظر احد العارفين اللبنانية افضل منّا


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## analeeh

اذا كان معناها نفسه في اللهجة السورية فهو <هل> كما قلت


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## dsfje345

شي is commonly used in lebanese and syrian arabic
its used to form questions and to add emphasis on them  , when you see it , you can make certain there are more emotions involved...for example in situations where there is shock , anger , wondering , doubt ...

now , take a look at these examples :* (WONDERING)*
عطشان شي ؟ im wondering , are you thirsty ?
تعبان شي ؟ i'm wondering , are you tired ?
نعسان شي ؟ i'm wondering , are you sleepy ?

in other contexts you can think of it like "tail questions" in english : *(EXPECTING THE OPPOSITE)*
عطشان شي ؟  you're not thirsty , are you ?
تعبان شي ؟ you're not tired , are you ?
نعسان شي ؟ you're not sleepy, are you ?


it could also be used in a more serious context (or very informally between friends)  : *(ANGER/FRUSTRATION) *
إنت مجنون شي are you crazy ?!
إنت أهبل شي  are you stupid ?!
_( in this usage , a subject is always used in the sentence)_


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## Amirali1383koohi

Thank you for help


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## lukebeadgcf

سلام امیر‌علی،

I agree that شي gives the sense of a question, as has been mentioned previously, and I think @dsfje345's remarks are also insightful. I also think it may convey the sense of "at all" as in, "Are you thirsty at all?" but that's just my impression.

The first entry below, from a Syrian-French dictionary, says the word has an "indefinite sense in an interrogative phrase" and can be translated with words like "any,""some," or can be omitted in translation. I do get the sense that, even if omitted in translation, it still conveys a certain indefinite sense when used in Syrian/Lebanese.

The second entry is from a Lebanese-French dictionary, which just translates شفته شي as, "Did you see him?" I still think another possible translation could be, "Did you see him at all?"

Barthélemy (ش ي ي)






Milelli-Sultani (شي)


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## dsfje345

@*lukebeadgcf*
شي does convey the sense of "at all" you are correct , actually it can even be translated with it , however , it can not be translated as "any" or "some"
as for omitting it in translation , this would in fact "delete" the emotions from the question .


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## lukebeadgcf

dsfje345 said:


> it can not be translated as "any" or "some"



I was translating the word « quelque » in the examples from Barthélemy, like عندك شي مصريات؟: "Do you have some/any money?" Or اجاك شي خبر: "Have you heard anything/something?" I think that works, no?



dsfje345 said:


> as for omitting it in translation , this would in fact "delete" the emotions from the question .



Yeah, my sense is also that you miss something if you omit in the translation, but perhaps it's a trade-off that depends on context because including a translation for the word in English might not always be idiomatic.


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## dsfje345

المصريات = *the *money

it should be : معك شي مصاري
شي here has been put in a different place , but the meaning hasn't changed : i'm wondering , do you have money ?

in your other sentence , you are right , it is in deed translated as "any" 
i should edit my comment and add this one .



lukebeadgcf said:


> Yeah, my sense is also that you miss something if you omit in the translation, but perhaps it's a trade-off that depends on context because including a translation for the word in English might not always be idiomatic.


exactly


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## lukebeadgcf

dsfje345 said:


> معك شي مصاري



Barthélemy's dictionary should be updated with some examples from the 21st century.


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## dsfje345

hahahaha maybe


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## wriight

lukebeadgcf said:


> عندك شي مصريات





lukebeadgcf said:


> اجاك شي خبر


This is a different شي than the tag-question one, which is why it translates differently! If the word شي precedes an indefinite noun that's either singular or plural (but *not* uncountable, which rules out مصاري), then it's this one meaning "some, any". If it pops up in any other position in a question, most-commonly at the very end of it, then it's the yes-no particle that kindasorta translates to "at all". These two functions never overlap. So if these two sentences were rephrased to عندك مصريات شي؟ and إجاك خبر شي؟, then that'd be the "at all?" شي instead of the "some, any" one.


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## dsfje345

عندك مصريات شي sounds a little strange to me , i've nerver heard the word مصريات without the definite article ال


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## wriight

Of course! But I wanted to focus on the شي, so I kept the rest of the sentence as is. Personally مصريات is the "possessed" form (construct state, المضاف) of مصاري, so مصرياتي ومصريات العيلة instead of *مصاريي ومصاري العيلة.


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## lukebeadgcf

Just adding another source that I forgot to include in my earlier post, corroborating what has already been said.

معجم الألفاظ العامية في اللهجة اللبنانية لأنيس فريحة


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