# Levantine/MSA: He called me



## jmt356

MSA
اِتّصل بي

Levantine: 
اِتّصل اليّ


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## Finland

Hello!

In Levantine, you can say
تلفن لي

HTH
S


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## akhooha

jmt356 said:


> MSA
> اِتّصل بي
> 
> Levantine:
> اِتّصل اليّ


Are you asking a question? Or are you giving information?
If you're asking a question, is it about Levantine or MSA, or both?


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## arabiya

or some say حكى معي


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## jmt356

I am asking a question about MSA and Levantine. 

In Levantine Arabic, can I also say: 

اِتّصل بي
اِتّصل إليّ
تلفنني 
I am asking a question about MSA and Levantine. 

In Levantine Arabic, can I also say: 

اِتّصل بي
اِتّصل إليّ
تلفنني


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## Finland

Hello!

Concerning the verb تلفن, you say تلفن لي, not تلفنني.

HTH
S


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## jmt356

Is the form اِتّصل بي used only in formal Arabic or can it also be used in colloquial Arabic?


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## إسكندراني

jmt356 said:


> Is the form اِتّصل بي used only in formal Arabic or can it also be used in colloquial Arabic?


We use it in Egypt very often, but other dialects may prefer other verbs like خابرني which we never use, but it would not usually be out of place to speak in a formal register (which اتصل بي coincidentally happens to be) so don't worry too much about this kind of thing if it's you talking.


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## jmt356

Do you mean with respect to the expression اتصل بي or in general? If in general, I may have to disagree. I have heard a native speaker or two chuckle when they heard me say something in formal Arabic when I did not know the local expression. Perhaps one can get away with اتصل بـ in colloquial Arabic but there are other expressions that would be rendered awkward if inserted into colloquial Arabic.


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## tounsi51

I have also heard دق علي in Levantine


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## jmt356

I have heard the verb اِتَّصَلَ used with the preposition على rather than بـ (i.e., هي اتصل عليك). This was spoken Arabic by (I believe) a Levantine woman. 

Two questions: 


Did I hear her say اتصل على or اتصل إلى?
Could اتصل على or اتصل إلى ever be acceptable in MSA?


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## jmt356

Just to add to the above, I am increasingly hearing على as the preposition used with اتصل. I believe اتصل على can be used in MSA just as اتصل بـ can be used, even though the Hans Wehr 4th ed. (pp. 1257-58) only lists بـ as the preposition to be used.


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## cherine

The correct preposition is بـ , but it seems many dialects use على , it's even becoming common in Egypt, though I personally dislike it.


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## Lark-lover

The simple one is this :
هاتفني
أو
كلمني


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## إسكندراني

اتصل عليّ 
رنّ عليّ
Are indeed in common use, though not so much in Egypt.


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## momai

In Syria and probably in other levantine countries we use تلفنلي ,دئلي, اتّصل فيي and {علملي for making a"missed call"}.


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