# ماذا تراك تنتظر



## grosdied

Hello,

I found a use of the verb رأى that I'm not accustomed to in a book. There are different occurrences of the same construction. Here is one example : ماذا تراك تنتظر هنا؟
I translated it as : you wonder what you're waiting for here ?

Am I correct ?

Kind regards


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## lukebeadgcf

With verbs like رأى or ظنّ or اعتبر, called أفعال القلوب, which are ditransitive (take two objects), then the first object, if it is a pronoun, manifests as an attached pronoun to the verb (instead of following it as نفسك، نفسي، سفسه etc., which happens if it's not a فعل القلوب).

Also see this thread (pay particular attention to post 14):

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2224687&highlight=أفعال+القلوب

This does strike me as kind of a weird sentence, but I think it means:

What do you see yourself waiting for here?


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## grosdied

Hi Lukebeadgcf,

Thank you for your help. I still wonder though wether we are here in the case you mentioned. Here's another occurrence of the mentioned construction, in the same book : لم يكن بوسعه أن يرى بوضوح بعد، تراه الغسق أم العرق؟
It reminds me more of the يا ترى used in Shami to say I wonder and I guess comes from the MSA يا تُرَى هل (I wonder if...). That's why I had translated the above sentence as : He was not able to see clearly any longer, he wondered wether it was because of the sweat or the dusk

What do you think ?


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## Gendy

ماذا تراك تنتظر هنا؟
What do you see yourself waiting for here?
It is a very good translation.
Verb (to see) is used (here) as a verb (to imagine)
As in these sentences:
Can you really see her as the president?
I just can’t see them winning the game.
Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?

It is common in English language and in Arabic language as well, to use verb (to see) in place of verb (to imagine), maybe it is not common in other languages.  
Therefore, let us change the translation to:
What do you imagine yourself waiting for here?
-----------------
لم يكن بوسعه أن يرى بوضوح بعد، تراه الغسق أم العرق؟
He was not able to see clearly any longer, do you imagine (that) it was because of the sweat or the dusk?


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## cherine

grosdied said:


> Hello,
> 
> I found a use of the verb رأى that I'm not accustomed to in a book. There are different occurrences of the same construction. Here is one example : ماذا تراك تنتظر هنا؟
> I translated it as : you wonder what you're waiting for here ?


We shouldn't translate this sentence literally. It actually means: *I* wonder what you're waiting for here.


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## lukebeadgcf

I agree. My analysis of this sentence was wrong. I assumed the verb was تَراك and not تُراك. Discard everything I have said and take Cherine's translation.


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## grosdied

All right, thank you all for your contributions. Cherine, would also translate لم يكن بوسعه أن يرى بوضوح بعد، تراه الغسق أم العرق؟ as : He was not able to see clearly any longer, *I wonder* wether it was because of the sweat or the dusk ?


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## Abu Talha

lukebeadgcf said:


> I agree. My analysis of this sentence was wrong. I assumed the verb was تَراك and not تُراك. Discard everything I have said and take Cherine's translation.


Even with Cherine's translation, shouldn't it remain تَراك _taraak_? Unless these verbs are exempt from the rule that فعل مجهول can't have a direct object.


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## lukebeadgcf

أرى يري is doubly transitive. Look it up in Wehr to see how I came to the conclusion that it is تُراك.


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## Gendy

ضمائر النصب المتصلة لا يمكن أن تتصل بالفعل المبني للمجهول مطلقاً. لذلك فهي تَراك وليس تُراك.
  Object pronoun suffixes can not be attached to any inflectional (internal) passive verb.
   Therefore, it is tarak (not torak)


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## lukebeadgcf

Again, Wehr gives several examples of just that.


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## Gendy

Yes, I understand you, but it is the complete opposite of Arabic grammar rules. I am not talking from my mind, I am talking and three books are open in front of me now.

It is a basic rule in our language that object pronoun suffixes can not be attached to any inflectional (internal) passive verb.


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## rayloom

Gendy said:


> ضمائر النصب المتصلة لا يمكن أن تتصل بالفعل المبني للمجهول مطلقاً. لذلك فهي تَراك وليس تُراك.
> Object pronoun suffixes can not be attached to any inflectional (internal) passive verb.
> Therefore, it is tarak (not torak)


 


Gendy said:


> Yes, I understand you, but it is the complete opposite of Arabic grammar rules. I am not talking from my mind, I am talking and three books are open in front of me now.
> 
> It is a basic rule in our language that object pronoun suffixes can not be attached to any inflectional (internal) passive verb.



Which books?
That rule doesn't apply to ditransitive (or tritransitive verbs).

عُلِّمَهُ 
3ullimahu
سُئِلته
su2iltuhu

ما لُوِّنَ بالأحمر ضمائر نصب متصلة


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## Gendy

من فضلك، ضعْ هاتين الكلمتين في جمل مفيدة كاملة، ولنتناقش بعد ذلك
Please, Put the two words in complete sentences, and let us discuss after that.


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## إسكندراني

وَمَا يُلَقَّاهَا إِلَّا الَّذِينَ صَبَرُ‌وا وَمَا يُلَقَّاهَا إِلَّا ذُو حَظٍّ عَظِيمٍ


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## Abu Talha

lukebeadgcf said:


> أرى يري is doubly transitive. Look it up in Wehr to see how I came to the conclusion that it is تُراك.


Thanks for the reference. I'm trying to get my head wrapped around how the literal meaning becomes the figurative. I've listed some examples from Wehr.



ArabicFigurativeLiteralمتى يا تُرىI wonder when ...When, are you shown, that ...أتُراها جاءت؟I wonder/would you say she has come?Are you shown her, that she has come?أتُراني أعودWould you say I should go back?Are you shown me, that I am going back?ماذا تراك تنتظر هنا(OP) What, I wonder, are you waiting for here?What are you shown that I wait for here?


It seems as if the speaker is asking a real or imaginary person whether some occurred event, or intended course of action *is shown to him*, in his mind, to be correct.

Is this understanding correct?

Also, it seems to me that sometimes it may be used in form I active voice. Here are a couple of examples from لسان العرب.



> أَما تَراني رَجُلاً كما تَرَى أَحْمِلُ فَوْقي بِزَّنِي كماتَرَى على قَلُوص صعبة كما تَرَى أَخافُ أَن تَطْرَحَني كما تَرَى فما تَرى فيما تَرَى كما تَرَى
> ...
> أَوَلا تَراكَ تقول فلان يَرَى رأْيَ الخوارج


but these are different in meaning from the above sentences.


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## إسكندراني

I think تراك is with a fatHa, because it might be comparable to أين ترى نفسك بعد خمسة سنوات? It does feel different. تُراك specifically sounds weird to me.


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## grosdied

Hi,

I guess we still have no consensus on this subject in the end... How could we settle the debate ?


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## إسكندراني

Maybe a related usage to bear in mind is:
تراه عند صديقه
('he'll be at his friend's') lit: you [will expect to] see him at his friend's.
So maybe this can be applied in a very figurative (non-literal) way to
ماذا تراك تنتظر هنا
What do you expect awaits you here?
Note that the expression with 'await' is reversed in English cf Arabic.


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