# Guess what/who



## DarrenLamb

Is it common in Arabic to say "guess what.." or "guess who.." in the same way we do in English. As in it's more rhetorical rather than literal. 

Eg) Guess how long it took me to get to so and so. 

We don't expect the other person to actually guess, rather they just ask how long. In English we often use this when we want to tell something of surprise. 

Just wondering if it's normal to say in Arabic, I know the verb 'khammin' means 'to guess,' but would it just sound weird in Arabic conversation?


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## إسكندراني

In Egypt we say تعرف\عارف.


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## DarrenLamb

So is it as common and rhetorical as in english?


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## إسكندراني

Yes.


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## Abu Talha

In MSA, I think they might say أتدري which is similar to the English intended meaning of "Do you know ..."


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## DarrenLamb

Ah yes, "tadri" Khaleejis use it. Now I think about it there is also the term "tara" but I'm not sure this is common to all dialects or just Gulf. 

Anyway thanks guys!


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## إسكندراني

We could also say شفت 'have you seen?'.
Depends whether it was an event or some other fact being stated.


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## Abu Talha

Could you also say أرأيت for "did you see" or is that reserved only for hypothetical situations أرأيت لو كذا


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## cherine

Other expressions in EA:
تخيل (imagine):
تخيل الموضوع دا خَدْ مني وقت قَدّ إيه
and مش حتصدق (you won't [be able to] believe]:
مش حتصدق الموضوع دا خد مني وقت قد إيه


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## إسكندراني

daee said:


> Could you also say أرأيت for "did you see" or is that reserved only for hypothetical situations أرأيت لو كذا


It's used widely in Formal Arabic and in some dialects.
أرأيت الذي يكذب بالدين


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## Abu Talha

إسكندراني said:


> أرأيت الذي يكذب بالدين



Ah yes! Of course. Thanks Iskanderani.


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## Mahaodeh

Actually, I'm not sure about all these suggestion. Personally I just use احزر. Example:  احزري مين اجا - احزروا شو معي الخ.

For MSA, you can either use احزر or, if you like, خمّن.


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## hiba

What about this context: 
where the first speaker says something (Guess what!) short to get the other's attention, and then the second person asks "What?" 

The closest thing that comes to mind is اكوللك in (Iraqi) dialect, and it's said with a certain tone.


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## DarrenLamb

Yes perhaps aqoolik works then.


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## إسكندراني

This is something which changes dramatically between dialects DarrenLamb.


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## DarrenLamb

I'm aware, I just meant that I have heard 'aqoolik' to be used in a similar way to the one Hiba suggested.

Of course there is no direct translation between languages as a great deal depends on tone and what not.


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