# Egyptian Arabic: ما قلت لك



## makala

Egyptlover  ما معنى كلمة  ''ما'' في الجملة اللي ذكرها 
يعنى 


Egyptlover said:


> ما قلت لك نروح للدكتور وإنت مسمعتش الكلام


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## CZAREK

I guess it can sounds like "Didn't I tell you that.....?


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## makala

Sounds plausible, but he said that it doesn't have a negative meaning?!


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## cherine

It doesn't have a negative meaning. ما قلت لك is translated as "didn't I tell you..." but the meaning is "I told you so but you didn't listen to me", or "you should have listened to me when I told you so and so".


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## DireStraits1

In egyptien dialect " ما قلت لك" means here "ألم أقل لك" in Arabic.


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## Mahaodeh

Although I'm not Egyptian, but I feel that the ما here is زائدة used for emphasis and not for negation, similar to ما كنت جيت معانا زي ما قلنا احسن, which I would translate as "you should have come with us...etc.". Shouldn't it be translated as "I told you so" instead of "didn't I tell you".


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## DireStraits1

the ما here is not زائدة.
In Fus7a (Classic arabic) We would say " أما قلت لك " or "ألم أقل لك"

"Ama qolto laka" or "Alam aqol laka"


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## Mahaodeh

I know, but in EA that would have more likely been ما قلتلكش or ما قلتش because in EA the negation is with both ما at the beginning and ش at the end. They do not negate with the maa alone. In fus7a this case would be قلت لك أن نذهب إلى الطبيب ولكنك لم تسمع الكلام;  in other dialects it would be something like: مو قلتلك نروح للطبيب وانت ما سمعت الكلام; or ما حكيتلك نروح للدكتور وانت ما سمعت الكلام - in both these cases, the maa/muu is not used for negation, just for emphasis, so why would it not be the case in EA

Also, don't forget that maa has 11 different meanings in fus7a, only one is negation; interestingly, one of the 11 is also زائدة!


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## cherine

Maha is right. As I said, the meaning here is like "you should have listened", and the ما here is not a negation tool.
ألم أقل لك in Egyptian Arabic is: مش قلت لك , which is a different structure and a different meaning from ما قلت لك .


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## sara-lingo

cherine said:


> ألم أقل لك in Egyptian Arabic is: مش قلت لك , which is a different structure and a different meaning from ما قلت لك .


 
Hey,
I am a bit confused. 

  مش قلت لك means didn't I tell you? 
ما قلت لك means didn't I tell you? (you should have listened?)

There must be a really slight difference in nuance which I am not aware of and can't detect. 

Would it be possible to please have some further clarification?


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## Ghabi

I think It's like:

-"Oh, I'm dying!"
-"But I've told you to see a doctor!"ما قلت لك نروح للدكتور


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## ahmedhamama

sara-lingo said:


> Hey,
> I am a bit confused.
> 
> مش قلت لك means didn't I tell you?
> ما قلت لك means didn't I tell you? (you should have listened?)
> 
> There must be a really slight difference in nuance which I am not aware of and can't detect.
> 
> Would it be possible to please have some further clarification?


hello,
first, the two sentences "مش قلت لك" and "ما قلت لك" has the same meaning in Egyptian slang ..

if we translate it to Fus7a "لقد قلت لك " in English "I had told you".


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## Ghabi

ahmedhamama said:


> first, the two sentences "مش قلت لك" and "ما قلت لك" has the same meaning in Egyptian slang ..


Perhaps they're interchangeable in some contexts, but not in others I think. For example, in a party, one of the guests hasn't shown up and the host becomes impatient and questions his son:

-Son, you didn't invite him, did you? يابي، ماعزمتهوش، مش كدة؟
-But I did! !ما عزمته

In this case we can't use مش عزمته, which is a rhetorical question ("Didn't you invite him?").


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## ahmedhamama

no, we can.. but actually we don't need "ما" in this answer

your example in Egyptian slang:
-Son, you didn't invite him, did you? يابني، انت ماعزمتهوش، مش كده؟
-But I did! !لا, عزمته
i think you're mean "Yes, I invited him" .. if you mean that, DON'T use "ما" here ..replace it with "لا," OR "لا أنا"

another example in Egyptian slang:
Did you go to the doctor today ? انت رحت للدكتور النهارده ؟
No, I didn't. لا مرحتش

I hope this helps


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## Egyptlover

السلام عليكم
لا زلت أؤكد أن "ما" هنا ليست للنفي و أن هذه هي الحال في أحيان كثيرة وسأذكر هنا عدداً من الأمثلة التي توضح ذلك:

-إنتي لازم تشوفي منال بعد ماخسِّت، بقت حاجة تانية !
-ما انا شفتها في فرح نور، شكلها فعلاً اتغير خالص.

-أنا شكلي مش حاعرف أروح النادي النهارده لإن العربية لسة في التوكيل.
-طب وإيه المشكلة؟ ما انا أعدي عليك ونروح مع بعض.

-أنا صعبان عليّا سناء؛ زعلانة مع جوزها وبقالها أسبع غضبانة عند أهلها.
-ما هيَّ برضه غلطانة؛ مكانش يصح تخرج من غير ماتقولُّه وترجع بعد نص الليل.

-مش كان المفروض تقولي لأحمد هوَّ عيَّان بإيه بالظبط؟
-ما انا خايفة أقوله أحسن يفقد الأمل.


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## ahmedhamama

وعليكم السلام
أنت تعني في اللغة العامية في هذا المثال , لأن "ما" في الفصحى تأتي للنفي بلا شك .

صحيح ؟​


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## Egyptlover

نعم، بالتأكيد أنا أقصد هنا العامية المصرية لأن الموضوع خاص باستخدام "ما" في اللهجة المصرية ولكن حتى في الفصحى توجد استخدامات عدة لـ "ما" سوى النفي، مثلاً ستجد: ما الموصولة، ما المصدرية، ما الزائدة، ما الاستفهامية،....إلخ


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## ahmedhamama

نعم أعرف ذلك 

حسناً , لعل الأمر يكون واضح الآن​


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## Layla_N

EgyptLover, thanks for all your useful examples! They really helped me gain a better understanding of this.

I'd like to try and outline the different ways in which ما is used in Egyptian Arabic (aside from negation), and would appreciate any feedback.

1. Contradicting someone, but not as strongly as saying "No!" flat out. Maybe like saying, "Yeah, but..."

-أنا صعبان عليّا سناء؛ زعلانة مع جوزها وبقالها أسبع غضبانة عند أهلها.
-ما هيَّ برضه غلطانة؛ مكانش يصح تخرج من غير ماتقولُّه وترجع بعد نص الليل.

Speaker 1 is talking about how upset Sana is; Speaker 2 replies, "[Yeah, but] she was wrong too."

-مش كان المفروض تقولي لأحمد هوَّ عيَّان بإيه بالظبط؟
-ما انا خايفة أقوله أحسن يفقد الأمل.

Speaker 2 seems to kind of agree that yeah, she should've told Ahmed, but she was afraid to.

2. Saying that you've already done this, or said it or whatever. Sometimes in a kind of reproachful or annoyed way (like "you should already know this"). Or, depending on the delivery, it might have a rude tone, like, "Yeah, yeah, I already did it!"

-إنتي لازم تشوفي منال بعد ماخسِّت، بقت حاجة تانية !
-ما انا شفتها في فرح نور، شكلها فعلاً اتغير خالص.

Speaker 2 says, "[Yeah,] I've [already] seen her."

Here's a suggested example which would be rather rude if used in this way:

لازم تذاكري اكتر لو كنتي عايزة تجيبي درجات عالية يا مها.
ما انا عارفة يا بابا!

I suppose the original example might fit in here:

ما قلت لك نروح للدكتور وإنت مسمعتش الكلام

We could assume Speaker 1 is talking about how bad they feel, and Speaker 2 is kind of complaining about how they've told them to go to the doctor before.

3. Suggesting something. Like "Why don't I/you/we...?" "Shall I...?"

-أنا شكلي مش حاعرف أروح النادي النهارده لإن العربية لسة في التوكيل.
-طب وإيه المشكلة؟ ما انا أعدي عليك ونروح مع بعض.

Here Speaker 2 suggests that he/she come by and go together with Speaker 1.

I think other examples could be ما تقعد or ما تيجي تشرب شاي.

If I've misunderstood anything, or if anyone has any corrections or additions of other ways ما is used in EA, I'd appreciate it!


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## Socheu

Hello Makala,

I think a best translation would be :

"I *have already told* you..."

I hope this helps.


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## elroy

I think your analysis is pretty accurate, Layla (ما is used in pretty much the same ways in Palestinian Arabic), but I would say that in this case:



> -مش كان المفروض تقولي لأحمد هوَّ عيَّان بإيه بالظبط؟
> -ما انا خايفة أقوله أحسن يفقد الأمل.
> 
> Speaker 2 seems to kind of agree that yeah, she should've told Ahmed, but she was afraid to.


 Speaker 2 isn't expressing agreement with Speaker 1; Speaker 2 is simply _explaining_ why he/she hasn't told Ahmad.  ما here has an _explanatory_ function.

In English, one might use "well" in such a context:

_Shouldn't you have told Ahmad what exact condition he has?
Well, I'm afraid to tell him; I don't want him to give up.
_


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## Layla_N

Thanks, Elroy! I appreciate your explanation of that one. So it seems that ما can have a fourth, explanatory function; I'll add it to my list!


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