# All dialects: بني آدم



## Hemza

Hello,

I would like to know how people across different countries say بني آدم . I heard recently my Egyptian friend saying "دولات مش بني آدمين" and although it's not the first time I hear him using the expression, this time I wondered who could be these آدمين . In Morocco, we contract the expression and it's said بنآدم (bnâdam). I think this also goes this way across the rest of the Maghreb, doesn't it?
What about others?

Thank you .


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## fenakhay

In Maltese, it is also *bniedem *(pronounced /bnɪː.dɛm/).


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## djara

In Tunisian, it's almost like Moroccan: it sounds more ike bnādim than bnādam


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## tounsi51

djara said:


> In Tunisian, it's almost like Moroccan: it sounds more ike bnādim than bnādam



I never heard it in Tunisia. We would say عبد or انسان


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## elroy

Palestinian:
بني آدم (_bani ʾādam_) is singular.
بني آدمين (_bani ʾādmīn_) is plural.


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## Hemza

tounsi51 said:


> I never heard it in Tunisia. We would say عبد or انسان


ايوة ها أنت تعلمت حاجة جديدة .
We also use عباد الله in the same way. As for انسان, it's more like when we're talking about human or one individual, not people or folk as a whole.


elroy said:


> Palestinian:
> بني آدم (_bani ʾādam_) is singular.
> بني آدمين (_bani ʾādmīn_) is plural.


So you say it like Egyptians, with a plural to  آدم. I think in the Maghreb we say "بنا" for أبناء (and because of bedouin influence, the hamza gets removed).


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## cherine

We even have a feminine form بني آدمة bani2adma  (but I haven't heard the plural of this feminine form).

I think this آدمين - آدمة (I write the alif with a madd but it's actually pronounce أ not آ) is due to the fact that the singular uses بني (the plural) instead of the (correct) singular form ابن. So the plural -and the feminine- markers were transferred to the noun آدم.
I think we use بني آدم and إنسان interchangeably إنسان محترم - بني آدم محترم (and also راجل and شَخْص).


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## elroy

cherine said:


> We even have a feminine form بني آدمة bani2adma


 This exists in Palestinian Arabic too, with a difference in pronunciation (_bani ʾādme_).


cherine said:


> (but I haven't heard the plural of this feminine form)


 I don't know if I've ever heard it, but بني آدمات (_bani ʾādmāt_) sounds completely okay to me in reference to a group of females.


cherine said:


> (I write the alif with a madd but it's actually pronounce أ not آ)


 In Palestinian Arabic it's actually pronounced long (per my transliterations).


cherine said:


> the singular uses بني (the plural) instead of the (correct) singular form ابن. So the plural -and the feminine- markers were transferred to the noun آدم.


 Basically, the plural بني آدم was reanalyzed as a singular form, so it takes the same endings and inflections any singular noun would.  It's treated as a single unit, even though it's two words, strictly speaking.


cherine said:


> I think we use بني آدم and إنسان interchangeably


 I don't think they're interchangeable in Palestinian Arabic.

بني آدم is used on its own to mean "a respectable, dignified, upstanding person."
وينتا بدك تصير بني آدم؟ (I wouldn't use إنسان here.)

إنسان is used on its own to mean "a compassionate, empathetic, caring human being."
كتير بهتمّ بالكل لإنه إنسان (I wouldn't use بني آدم here, at least not without changing the meaning.)

Also, in Palestinian Arabic بني آدم is far more common than إنسان as a generic word for "person."

أكم بني آدم في بالدار؟
هدا بني آدم ولا قرد؟

إنسان would sound strange to me in those contexts, I think because إنسان has those connotations of humanity.


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## WadiH

In Najdi and similar dialects, _bnaadam_ is used for the singular and it's a reflex of ابن آدم.  It's masculine and it's usually used to represent the abstract human being, not a particular individual (like saying "man" in English, as in "man is a rational animal", etc.), so you would say something like ابن آدم ما يرضيه شي.  A synonym that is used to denote an individual person would be آدمي and آدمية (there's also a poetic مودماني).

بني آدم (_bini aadam_) is a plural or collective noun only, just as in literary Arabic.


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## elroy

Wadi Hanifa said:


> A synonym that is used to denote an individual person would be آدمي and آدمية


 آدمي (plural أوادم) in Palestinian Arabic only means “respectable, upstanding.”  It cannot be used to just mean “person.”  Seems like this is a dialectal false friend!


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## WadiH

elroy said:


> آدمي (plural أوادم) in Palestinian Arabic only means “respectable, upstanding.”  It cannot be used to just mean “person.”  Seems like this is a dialectal false friend!



We use it in that kind of sense too (خلّك آدمي!), just not exclusively so.  Words like رجال/رجل/حرمة/مرة are the same, so you would tell a young girl خليتس حرمة if she's misbehaving.

Can you give an example of the Palestinian usage?


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## elroy

وادي حنيفة واحد آدمي، يا ريت الكل محترم زيّه.
بديش أتجوّز مين ما كان، بدي واحد آدمي ودغري ومأدب.
هدول الناس أوادم كتير، برتكن عليهم وبنشربوا مع المي العكرة.
في حواليك مطعم زي الأوادم أكله زاكي وأسعاره معقولة؟
The last one is figurative; it means “decent.”  It’s always in the plural and, as my example shows, can refer to non-humans.


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## WadiH

Thanks, Elroy ما عليك زود 

We have this type of usage too (except the last one).


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## Schem

Wadi Hanifa said:


> We use it in that kind of sense too (خلّك آدمي!), just not exclusively so.  Words like رجال/رجل/حرمة/مرة are the same, so you would tell a young girl خليتس حرمة if she's misbehaving.
> 
> Can you give an example of the Palestinian usage?



These would be اِغد رجل and اِغدَي مرة here. We don't really use آدمي all that often.

Bnādam itself is rarely used and it's mostly preserved in sayings or platitudes (بنادم ما يملى عينُه الا التراب) as you've mentioned. We don't have a plural for it either and I've only heard beni-adam in more formal settings. If anything, bnādam would be treated as a plural whereas ādemi is its rarely heard singular.


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## Hemza

شكرا للجميع على مشاركتكم


Wadi Hanifa said:


> In Najdi and similar dialects, _bnaadam_ is used for the singular and it's a reflex of ابن آدم.  It's masculine and it's usually used to represent the abstract human being, not a particular individual (like saying "man" in English, as in "man is a rational animal", etc.)


In Morocco if my memory doesn't trick me, it's singular (i.e. my mum calling me يا بنادم to show me that I got on her nerves  and I think also used as a snonymous of فلان) and plural  (beside البشر, عباد الله, الناس etc. used to talk about people) according to the context. I notice the shared pronunciation.

Examples:
ترى أنت ما(شي) بنادم (you're being inhuman (implying a wrong behaviour))
بنادم كله تجمع هنا (used as singular to talk about a mass of people)
بنادم يبغي له يتعامل بانسانية (a random sentence haha).

Never heard a plural/feminine form as in Egypt/Palestine though .


Schem said:


> These would be اِغد رجل and اِغدَي مرة here. We don't really use آدمي all that often.


Same in Morocco, we wouldn't use بنادم in this context: كن رجل/مراة


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## fenakhay

Hemza said:


> شكرا للجميع على مشاركتكم
> Never heard a plural/feminine form as in Egypt/Palestine though .



The feminine form is بنادمة bnādma, and the plural forms are بنادمين bnādmīn and بنادمية bnādmiyya.


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## Hemza

fenakhay said:


> The feminine form is بنادمة bnādma, and the plural forms are بنادمين bnādmīn and بنادمية bnādmiyya.


In Morocco?  I had no idea, I've never heard them


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