# To keep him off my back



## xebonyx

Hi guys, I'm having trouble expressing "keep someone off my back". Does the following work? Thank you.

.بدأت بحضور المدرسة لكي *يبقى بعيد* والدي *عني*​


----------



## zooz

Almost there:

*.بدأت بالذهابِ إلى المدرسةِ لكي يبقى والدي **بعيد**اً عني*

Or:

*بدأت بالذهابِ إلى المدرسةِ ليكُفّ والدي عني  *


By the way, assuming that the verb you intended to use is _to attend_, you can say:
*حضور الصف/المحاضرة/الجلسة/الاجتماع...إلخ

*But not:
*حضور المدرسة/الجامعة/الكليّة*


----------



## Haroon

بدأت في الذهاب للمدرسة كي أظل بعيداً عن أعين والداي  .....or ...more context please


----------



## suma

Perhaps I'm not familiar with the Arabic term, but your suggestions sound more to me like: _to keep my dad far from sight, or keep my dad at length._

_To keep him off my back _means to limit his complaining, or limit his meddling in my affairs, or cut off his haranguing, leave alone.


----------



## xebonyx

Haroon said:


> بدأت في الذهاب للمدرسة كي أظل بعيداً عن أعين والداي .....or ...more context please


 
It's an idiom that means what Suma elaborated on.


----------



## xebonyx

suma said:


> Perhaps I'm not familiar with the Arabic term, but your suggestions sound more to me like: _to keep my dad far from sight, or keep my dad at length._
> 
> _To keep him off my back _means to limit his complaining, or limit his meddling in my affairs, or cut off his haranguing, leave alone.



Well, if someone is "off your back", then the end result is that they are away from you(and hopefully "at length". *بعيد *is used both in a  metaphorical and literal proximity. ). So while I don't think it's completely wrong, I agree that it doesn't cover the aspect of ceasing to be bothersome.


----------



## Mahaodeh

zooz said:


> *بدأت بالذهابِ إلى المدرسةِ ليكُفّ والدي عني *


 
I think this one captures the meaning best.


----------



## xebonyx

Great, thanks all.


----------



## Anatoli

What's the phrase for leave me alone in Arabic? Please write in Arabic and romanisation (fuS7a and your dialect). Is something like tarik li waHid! ترك لي وحد!


----------



## Outlandish

You mean: Trekni wahdi (Levantine)
also: Trekni lahaly
Informal Egyptian: Sebni f hali


The best informal expresion for the sentence in the question is: hell anny
ابتديت اروح المدرسة عشان يحل عنى/ عشان اخلص منه
Formal:
بدأت بالذهاب الى المدرسة لكى اتخلص منه/ لكى اتجنبه


----------



## londonmasri

Thank you outlandish


----------



## Anatoli

Thank you. Unfortunately, I don't understand these phrases.

Is this better in MSA if I write: تركني وحده (trikni waHidih).

I wonder if you can romanise some examples, a simple generic phrase, similar to "leave me alone", which is understood by most Arabs.


----------



## elroy

Outlandish said:


> Trekni *la*wahdi (Levantine)
> also: Trekni lahaly


 In Palestinian Arabic, I would say "itrikni *b*7aali."

Other (stronger) options are "fik 3anni," "7il 3anni," and "3if 3anni."


Anatoli said:


> Is this better in MSA if I write: تركني وحده (trikni waHidih).


 No, it's اتركني لوحدي (_uktrukni liwa7di_)


----------



## Anatoli

Thanks a lot, Elias! I can say this -  لم أرك منذ وقت طويل 

The MSA translation is literally - "leave me in my solitude"?
If you don't mind, could you give the literal meaning? Sorry for more questions but I don't if I can find dialect words in the dictionary.

In Palestinian "itrikni b7aali" is the 7aali part - حالي  present, current?


----------



## clevermizo

Anatoli said:


> In Palestinian "itrikni b7aali" is the 7aali part - حالي  present, current?



No. حالـــ in Levantine dialects means "self" like نفس (in addition to its other meanings). حالي means "myself."


----------



## elroy

Anatoli said:


> The MSA translation is literally - "leave me in my solitude"?
> If you don't mind, could you give the literal meaning?


 لوحدي just means "alone" or "by myself."  I would recommend that you simply learn it as a unit.

Technically it's لـ + وحد +ي, but I've never come across وَحْد as a separate word so I couldn't tell you what it literally means.   But I _can_ tell you that it's definitely related to وحدة ("solitude") and other words with that root.


----------



## clevermizo

elroy said:


> لوحدي just means "alone" or "by myself."  I would recommend that you simply learn it as a unit.
> 
> Technically it's لـ + وحد +ي, but I've never come across وَحْد as a separate word so I couldn't tell you what it literally means.   But I _can_ tell you that it's definitely related to وحدة ("solitude") and other words with that root.



Well it seems وَحْد is a maSdar for the verb وَحَدَ so perhaps it means simply "(state of) being alone/by oneself". Nevertheless when I looked up وحْد by itself, there were no examples without a suffixed pronoun, so I guess it can really only be used in this way (وحدي، وحدك ،وحده etc.).


----------



## Anatoli

Thank you both!


----------



## londonmasri

What does the word _'ye7ell'_ (_3anni_) actually mean?


----------



## clevermizo

londonmasri said:


> What does the word _'ye7ell'_ (_3anni_) actually mean?



I guess "untie/unfasten (himself) from me" or "loosen (himself) from me"?

ح ل ل as a root means a lot of things. Untying knots, unfastening, unraveling, release, and also to solve or resolve. I guess the basic meaning is to "free X (from Y)". The sentence above that uses it sounds more like "get him off my back" in English than "keep him off my back."


----------

