# EA: to miss (someone)



## gsc

Thank you both.

 As usual, the more anwsers I get the more questions I think off.

Just to make sure I am understanding this, what would be:

Will you miss me?
and
It is the Egyptian people that I miss!

*Moderator note: This question is split from here, because the other thread was more about "looking forward to:.*


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## cherine

Will you miss me?
7aw7ashak? (said to a male)
حاوحشك؟
7aw7ashek? (said to a female)
حاوحشك؟
You can add "ya tara" to the begining of the question: yatara 7aw7ashak يا ترى حاوحشك but it's not a must.
(7 stands for ح).



It is the Egyptian people that I miss.
El maSreyyiin homma el wa7shenni
Or you can say:
elli wa7shenni homma el maSreyyiin
The ones I miss are the Egyptians.

Instead of el maSreyyiin, you can use en-naas fe maSr, or simply "en-naas" if the context is clear that it's about Egypt's people you're talking.


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## gsc

Thank you Cherine

When WaHshenni is spoken, how is the H and the sh joined? 

I'm sorry if this sounds a stupid question but at the moment I have very little experience of seeing and hearing words at the same time, ie I see things written but not heard or hear on my audio lessons but with no written vocab.

Is there a short vowel there or does the H carry through?


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## cherine

Your question is not stupid at all. I'll try to explain the pronounciation, until you'll hear that word somewhere (if you listen to Egyptian songs, I'm sure you'll hear this word  Maybe there's a song with something like واحْشِنِّي عنيك wa7shenni 3nek=I miss you eyes. But I can't remember in which song).

So, it's wa7shenni واحْشِنِّي : the ح and the ش are not separated by any vowels. The alef following the waaw is "reduced" to a fat7a. So maybe we can write it like this in Egyptian: وَحْشِنِّي .
If you know the word for monster/beast (wa7sh وحش) then you can prnounce this one easily  Because it's like wa7sh followed by a doubled ن and ending with a kasra (the final yaa2 is also reduced to a kasra).


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## gsc

Thank you Cherine. I am so pleased I found this forum. I really must try and find somewhere on Skype when I can listen to Egyptian Arabic. I'm just not ready to speak much yet


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## Josh_

You can find many video clips of Egyptian Arabic on Youtube.  Our dear forum member Andrew (Al Sulhafa) often brings up Disney movies dubbed in Egyptian.  If that is something that would interest you, you can search for "disney egyptian arabic" in Youtube and you will get many returns.  As well as that there are other places on the web where you can find recordings of Egyptian Arabic.  One example is the Bible stories found here, narrated in dramatic style.

 Note: I am not advocating the religious content of the stories, but rather their value in learning the Egyptian dialect.


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## faraula

If you like to hear the pronunciation od wa7ashteni i recommend the song of hussein jessmi just open youtube and paste /watch?v=UMVVNbsYFPk&feature=related after dot com.


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## Timmy123

cherine said:


> It is the Egyptian people that I miss.
> El maSreyyiin homma el wa7shenni
> el wa7sheni homma el maSreyyiin


 
Why does the nuun have a shadda for the first one?


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## elroy

Timmy123 said:


> Why does the nuun have a shadda for the first one?


 Because it's واحشين + ـني.  The second one should be doubled as well.  That must have been a slip.

Welcome to the forums.


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## gsc

Thanks for the advice on where to listen. Mostly it's a bit quick for me yet but should be good when I get better. The song was easier


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## cherine

Timmy123 said:


> Why does the nuun have a shadda for the first one?


 


elroy said:


> Because it's واحشين + ـني. The second one should be doubled as well. That must have been a slip.


Yes, I'm sorry for that. I edited my post.


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## Timmy123

elroy said:


> Because it's واحشين + ـني. The second one should be doubled as well. That must have been a slip.
> 
> Welcome to the forums.


 
Aha that explains it! I was trying to figure it out - thanks!

So the wa7sheen is = missing them? (I am missing _them_)

If I wanted to say I missed them  would it be corerct to say _wa7shuuny_?

(Oh and thanks for the welcome!)


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## elroy

You are right, except it would _wa7*a*shuuni_.


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## gsc

I haven't quite got the grammar of this.

wa7ash - ti - ni

So the middle part refers to the person being missed and the end to the person doing the 'missing' (sorry for the poor grammar here)

So when we say 'are you missing me' or 'we are missing you' or 'they are missing him' - how is this constructed?


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## djamal 2008

I always had a problem with this verb in egyptian dialect.


How do you say: I miss you and how do you say do you miss me.


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## Josh_

gsc said:


> I haven't quite got the grammar of this.
> 
> wa7ash - ti - ni
> 
> So the middle part refers to the person being missed and the end to the person doing the 'missing' (sorry for the poor grammar here)
> 
> So when we say 'are you missing me' or 'we are missing you' or 'they are missing him' - how is this constructed?


Yes, this was a tricky verb for me, and even now I sometimes have to think about the structure before I say it.

Anyway, yes, you are right -- the verb conjugation refers to the person being missed, while the pronoun suffix refers to the person doing the missing. As you can see, this is the opposite of the English in which the verb (and the accompanying subject pronoun) refers to the person doing the missing and the object pronoun refers to the person missed. In other words the subject in English is the object in Arabic and the object in English is the subject in Arabic. If that sounds a little complicated, just think about the structure in Arabic being the reverse of the English:

(inta) waHashti-ni.
I missed you.

In order to better understand the structure of the Arabic verb, we can reword the English structure "_x misses y_" to "_y is missed by x_." By rewording the English in this way we, non-native speakers, can visualize the placement of the subject and object relative to the verb _waHash_. And perhaps that would help us gain a better understanding of the Arabic verb:

(inta) waHashti-ni.
You were missed by me.

Just bear in mind that the Arabic verb is _not_ passive, despite the English rewording being passive.


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## MarcB

Gsc if you know French:it is like French il me plait, ils me plaisent.
Djamal I am sure you know French.
@ Djamal how do you say it i Algeria.


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## Abu Rashid

> If you know the word for monster/beast (wa7sh وحش) then you can prnounce this one easily



I always wondered if the Egyptian word for miss comes from the word for beast. Strange if it does.


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## londonmasri

How do we convert the present _'bitwa7ashny' _?

_Inta bitwa7ashny_
_inti bitwa7asheeny_
_Huwa biy-wa7ashny_
_hiyya bit.....?_
_Humma biywa7ashuunna?_

I havent heard this version (present) except for in the Amr Diab song  So I am not sure exactly when it may be better to use it.

Many thanks.


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## clevermizo

londonmasri said:


> I havent heard this version (present) except for in the Amr Diab song  So I am not sure exactly when it may be better to use it.



I suppose in a habitual context: _ I miss you every time you leave _, etc.


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## cherine

Abu Rashid said:


> I always wondered if the Egyptian word for miss comes from the word for beast. Strange if it does.


It shares the same root و-ح-ش but it comes from al-wa7sha الوحشة which is the opposite of al-uns الأنس (having company). الوحشة is being alone -and lonely- not having any one around. There's a common expression, even in fuS7a: أشعر بوحشة في غيابك when you're absent (not around) I feel alone/lonely.


londonmasri said:


> How do we convert the present _'bitwa7ashny' _?
> 
> _Inta bitwa7ashny_
> _inti bitwa7asheeny_
> _Huwa biy-wa7ashny_
> _hiyya bit.....?_
> _Humma biywa7ashuunna?_


enta'btew7ashni
enti'btew7ashiini
huwa byew7ashni
heyya'btew7ashni
homma'byew7ashuuni
....

Notice that I put 'btwe... to note how we pronounce the verb with the preceding pronoun, thus dropping the first vowel. But if you'll pose a little after the pronoun, or want to pronounce all vowels, then you should say:
enta betew7ashni
enti betew7ashiini
heyya betew7ashni
....


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## Abu Rashid

shukran gazeelan cherine. I guess it would probably equate to the English 'estrangement', or is it not that strong?


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## londonmasri

Awesome - many thanks Cherine!


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## gsc

Thank you Josh Cherine and all - a very informative thread!


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## cherine

3afwan to all. 


Abu Rashid said:


> I guess it would probably equate to the English 'estrangement', or is it not that strong?


Yes, it's one of its meaning. I looked up wa7sha وحشة in Hans Wehr, he give it -among others- the meanings of: loneliness, desolation, and (fig.) gloom, melancholy, weird feeling, strangeness, estrangement, alienation.
So, I guess that choosing the proper equivalent depends -as always - on the context.


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## gsc

Just one final check to make sure I am understanding this.

How do we say:
They did (used to) miss her (for a while but not any more).
An example might be when a child leaves home and the parents eventually come to terms with it.


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## elroy

MarcB said:


> Gsc if you know French:it is like French il me plait, ils me plaisent.


 An even better analogy would be the verb _manquer_, which has the same meaning.

Il me manque = Huwwa wa7ishni. = I miss him.


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## cherine

gsc said:


> How do we say:
> They did (used to) miss her (for a while but not any more).
> An example might be when a child leaves home and the parents eventually come to terms with it.


We can say:
kaanet wa7shaahom
كانت وَحشاهم


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## gsc

Thank you Cherine.

Would yiwa7ash / yiwa7ashu / yiwa7ashum ever be used?


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## cherine

First, you should drop the "a" after the "w".
What tense are you speaking about? what gender? what sentence?


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## gsc

No sentence in particular. I was just wondering if it was ever used. I haven't seen it in any of the examples. I assume it would be he/they.

It is in my dictionary but no explaination of when it might be used. yiw7ash


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## MarcB

elroy said:


> An even better analogy would be the verb _manquer_, which has the same meaning.
> 
> Il me manque = Huwwa wa7ishni. = I miss him.


I agree that is a better comparison.


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## gsc

Thank you Elroy and MarkB.  Sadly my French is very rusty - about 40 years worth of rust!!!


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## Mateland

Hello, 


I am trying to work out the conjugations of وحش in the present tense. I know the past because it is simple, but how does it sound in present?

Yuuhish?

So, 

"Do you miss home" or "Do you miss your wife?" is Yuuhishak baytak or Tuuhishak mar2tak"?


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## Josh_

It it _"yiwHash."_

"Do you miss your wife?"
_"bitiwHashak miraa2tak?"_

"Do you miss your home?"
_"biyiwHashak beetak?"_


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## Mateland

So how do you pronounce "Do you miss it". With a long waw? YuuHishak? Is it like 
وصل .... توصل.. with the long waw?

Thanks


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## Josh_

I assume you are still talking about Egyptian.  If so it is "yiwHash" -- the "iw" is a diphthong sound -- you pronounce the "i" as in "bit" and then go straight to a "w" sound.  It's kind of like when someone sees something gross and they say "eww."


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## cherine

Josh_ said:


> It it _"yiwHash."_
> 
> "Do you miss your wife?"
> _"bitiwHashak miraa2tak?"_
> 
> "Do you miss your home?"
> _"biyiwHashak beetak?"_


I agree but not totally.
First, I'd put the verb at the end (although the other order is also correct), second: your wife is "meraatak" and not miraa*2*tak".
Third, there's a difference between: do you miss you wife "now", and do you "always" miss your wife.
If you're speaking of a habit, then go for the version with "bi"/"be". meraatak betew7ashak?
If you're traveling with a friend and you feel him nostalgic, you can ask him:
meraatak wa7shaak? beetak wa7shak? el 3eyaal/welaad wa7shiinak (do you miss your kids)?...


Mateland said:


> So how do you pronounce "Do you miss it". With a long waw? YuuHishak? Is it like
> وصل .... توصل.. with the long waw?


Do you pronounce توصل with a long waw? If so, then it's incorrect in Egyptian Arabic. It's tewSal (you arrive/she arrives).


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## Ali.Hm

Does the word Wahashteeni (وحشتيني) have anything to do etymologically with the word wahsh وحش (wild)?


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## Mahaodeh

I believe it does but indirectly. The root gives the meanings of aloneness, being deserted, having no company. The root is the opposite of the root أ ن س that gives meanings of company, togetherness, not feeling lonely. Classical linguists claim that a human is called إنسان because they live together in groups and prefer the company of others; animals in general but especially wild animals are called وحش because they live far from humans and do not prefer the company of humans.

The word وحشة describes the feeling of being alone and without company, the verb وحشني means 'he made me feel alone and without company', i.e., I miss him .


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## cherine

Hi Ali,

Please check posts #21, 25 for the answer. 

Edit: Cross-posted with Maha.


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