# I live in ...



## Whodunit

How would you say "I live in Germany" in MSA? I know that one can use "saakin/saakne" in (Palestinian) dialect, but does that hold for MSA, too?

Or could I use something with "محل السكنى"?


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## zooz

I live in Germany: *أنا أسكنُ في ألمانيا *or *أسكنُ في ألمانيا*

If I read your words correctly, _saakin/saakne _*(ساكِنْ، ساكِنة)* are inhabitant in MSA as well as many dialects. We say: *ساكِن الدار/الحي/المدينة/البلد...إلخ*

*محل السكنى/السكن *can be the adress, the city, the country...etc.


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## Whodunit

zooz said:
			
		

> I live in Germany: *أنا أسكنُ في ألمانيا *or *أسكنُ في ألمانيا*


 
Okay, so I have to use the verb "sakana" in MSA. Isn't the second version a bit too emphatic? To me, the "ana" looks redundant.



> If I read your words correctly, _saakin/saakne _*(ساكِنْ، ساكِنة)* are inhabitant in MSA as well as many dialects. We say: *ساكِن الدار/الحي/المدينة/البلد...إلخ*


 
I think you've midunderstood my "saakin/saakne". In Palestinian Arabic they say "ana saakin fii almaanya" (أنا ساكن في المانيا), where the "ana" could be omitted, I guess. "saakin" means something like "living" as present participle (it's hard to describe). There are dozens of such words in dialect, for instance "mish fahim" (I don't understand).



> *محل السكنى/السكن *can be the adress, the city, the country...etc.


 
What does "residence" mean, then?


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> I think you've midunderstood my "saakin/saakne". In Palestinian Arabic they say "ana saakin fii almaanya" (أنا ساكن في المانيا), where the "ana" could be omitted, I guess.


Not really, because ساكن does not specify a person. It could be "I" (masculine), "you" (masculine), or "he." 


> What does "residence" mean, then?


مكان السكن or مكان الإقامة or مقام - it depends on the context.

I think you've understood the difference between colloquial Palestinian Arabic and MSA - in MSA you say أنا أسكن (or أنا أقيم) but in Palestinian Arabic you can't say "ana baskon" (not with this meaning at least) - you have to say "ana saaken."


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> Not really, because ساكن does not specify a person. It could be "I" (masculine), "you" (masculine), or "he."


 
Context can specify it, too. 



> مكان السكن or مكان الإقامة or مقام - it depends on the context.


 
Thank you! Would you use these to say "My residence is Berlin", too, or would you prefer to use the verb "sakana"?



> I think you've understood the difference between colloquial Palestinian Arabic and MSA - in MSA you say أنا أسكن (or أنا أقيم)but in Palestinian Arabic you can't say "ana baskon" (not with this meaning at least) - you have to say "ana saaken."


 
Yes, I have understood it.


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Context can specify it, too.


Please give me one that does. 


> Thank you! Would you use these to say "My residence is Berlin", too, or would you prefer to use the verb "sakana"?


I would indeed prefer to say أنا أسكن في برلين, but a more literal translation of your sentence would be مكان إقامتي هو برلين.


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> Please give me one that does.


 
A: ween inti saakne?
B: saakne fi l-Quds!



> I would indeed prefer to say أنا أسكن في برلين, but a more literal translation of your sentence would be مكان إقامتي هو برلين.


 
Okay, thank you again. As I said, I'll go with the first version.


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> A: ween inti saakne?
> B: saakne fi l-Quds!


Nobody would say that. The answer would be either "fi/bi l-Quds" (most commonly) or "ana saakne fi/bi l-Quds" (if you wanted to answer with a full sentence).

But I got to thinking about it...and it occurs to me that there _are_ certain contexts in which the subject can be dropped. 

For example, 

_-Eesh ismek?_
_-Ismi Zeenab._
_-Ween saakne?_
_-Bi Ramallah._ 

where it is clear that the subject of the second question is "inti."

You said, 





> In Palestinian Arabic they say "ana saakin fii almaanya" (أنا ساكن في المانيا), where the "ana" could be omitted, I guess.


If this is the first "I"-verb, you cannot leave out the "ana" (as opposed to normally conjugated verbs, like "baakol," for example). Only if you've already stated "ana" (or used a normally conjugated "ana"-verb) at least one time can you drop it - and not always, at that.

For example,

_(Ana) ba7ibb haay il-manti2a, bas mish saaken fiiha._
(I like this area, but I don't live in it.)

If you start with "saaken," the "ana" is mandatory.

_Ana saaken bi haay il-manti2a, bas ba7ibhaash._
(I live in this area, but I don't like it.)

I think the distinction I was trying to make was between normal verbs and "verbs" like _saaken_ (which function like adjectives) regarding dropping the pronoun upon the first instance of using the verb in question. 

I hope that makes sense. It's hard to come up with rules for a language you never learned any rules for!


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## SofiaB

Whodunit said:
			
		

> How would you say "I live in Germany" in MSA? I know that one can use "saakin/saakne" in (Palestinian) dialect, but does that hold for MSA, too?
> 
> Or could I use something with "محل السكنى"?


 
Who, 
You got great answers from the foreros. As Zooz mentioned several dialects use the Palestinian way only outside the levantine countries the feminine form is saakna.Eastern Gulf suukun/sukna. The verb is also used.


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## ayed

You could say :
*أنا أعيش في ألمانيا*


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## cherine

Yes, I agree with Ayed. When we speak of the country where we live, we better use the verb أعيش , while using أسكن is more usually followed by the address أسكن فى شارع (س) فى الحى ص 

Whodunit, if your question again concerns a CV, you can say محل السكن (ma7al es-sakan) or محل الإقامة (ma7al al-iqaama), but again, this is to be fo followed by an address.


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## zooz

> Isn't the second version a bit too emphatic? To me, the &quot;ana&quot; looks redundant.


 
I'm afraid it is not.  




> A: ween inti saakne?
> B: saakne fi l-Quds!


 


> Nobody would say that. The answer would be either "fi/bi l-Quds" (most commonly) or "ana saakne fi/bi l-Quds" (if you wanted to answer with a full sentence).


 
Elroy, we say it in Syria, and it's used in some other Arabic countries. I believe I heard it used by Palestinians as well.


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## elroy

zooz said:
			
		

> Elroy, we say it in Syria, and it's used some other Arabic countries. I believe I heard it used by Palestinians as well.


It sounds awkward to me as a response to the question.


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## Whodunit

cherine said:
			
		

> Yes, I agree with Ayed. When we speak of the country where we live, we better use the verb أعيش ,


 
That's interesting. I think that is exactly the word I searched for. Thank you, Ayed! 



> while using أسكن is more usually followed by the address أسكن فى شارع (س) فى الحى ص


 
May I ask what the س stands for? Or was it just a typo and you meant to type ش? Also, what does the last word mean? I guess it is the name of the street you are speaking about, but I have no idea why the alif maqSuura is in the middle of the word. 



> Whodunit, if your question again concerns a CV, you can say محل السكن (ma7al es-sakan) or محل الإقامة (ma7al al-iqaama), but again, this is to be fo followed by an address.


 
And the name of the town in which I live could not follow?


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## cherine

Whodunit said:
			
		

> May I ask what the س stands for? Or was it just a typo and you meant to type ش? Also, what does the last word mean? I guess it is the name of the street you are speaking about, but I have no idea why the alif maqSuura is in the middle of the word.


س and ص are the Arabic equivalents for (x, y) (like in Algebra, if you know what I mean).
If you mean by the last word this الحى (al7ayy) it's the neighborhood, it's not an alif maqsura, sorry my mistake, but we discussed this in another thread : usually -specially in Egypt- we don't differentiate in our writing between the final yaa2 and the alef maqsura.


> And the name of the town in which I live could not follow?


If you're writing your address, you write the street, building number, neighbourhood الحي , city, country (right?)


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## WannaBFluent

I guess أعيش and أسكن are Pattern IV verbs?


ayed said:


> You could say :
> *أنا أعيش في ألمانيا*


I thought it was عايش with a alef prononced 3aaeeš, and feminine عايشه prononced 3aaeeše at least that how I saw it written.
(the /ee/ stands for long /e/ not long /i/ sound).

I was also wondering what happen with the plural?
They live...
henne saaken... ? (for full male group, or mixed).
henne saakne... ? (for full female group).


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## analeeh

That's the participle form (MSA equivalent _3aa2ishun_). The MSA verbal form is 2a3iishu. I would transliterate it _3aayesh_ and_ 3aayshe_ in Syrian (it's not a long e sound, it's a long a followed by ye or a long aa followed by a y and a consonant).

_saaken_ has a plural just like all other participles - _saakniin_. Generally speaking participles in Syrian colloquial do not distinguish between masculine and feminine plural (it is optional where they do) so you would say _hénen saakniin bi-_... for whatever.


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## WannaBFluent

Ok, thank you!


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