# Emirati Arabic: لا يييب ولا يودي



## DialectLearner

This is an expression I learnt from an Emirati show.
Does it mean "something that does not get you anything anf does not get you anywhere"? Useless?
I also heard لا يييبج ولا يوديج addressed to a lady. How can you combine it with ك or ج ?
If an Emirati Arabic native speaker or someone who's good in this dialect sees this post, please explain what exactly it means and how can I use it with ك / ج .
Thank you.
P.S. Is this expression used only in the UAE?


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## tounsi51

لا يييبج means "he doesn't like/love/want you"

ج is the feminine possessive mark in Emirati Arabic. And any word with ك  will be replaced with ج 

ex: كلب will be pronounced جلب


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## DialectLearner

Thank you for your reply, but I know that possesive "k" becomes "ch" for feminine 
I think يييب is يجيب , i.e. "he brings".
Whereas "you (for a lady) like him/it" which is يعجبك in Modern Standard Arabic becomes يعيبج


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## tounsi51

oops sorry I didn't read well, I misread يبيج

Literally it means "he doesn't pick you up and he doesn't drop you" or it may be an expression with other meaning


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## cherine

I believe this is like the Egyptian usage لا يوَدِّي ولا يجيب, usually used with talk كلام لا يودي ولا يجيب = fruitless, useless, meaningless...


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## DialectLearner

tounsi51 said:


> oops sorry I didn't read well, I misread يبيج
> 
> Literally it means "he doesn't pick you up and he doesn't drop you" or it may be an expression with other meaning





cherine said:


> I believe this is like the Egyptian usage لا يوَدِّي ولا يجيب, usually used with talk كلام لا يودي ولا يجيب = fruitless, useless, meaningless...



Thank you for your versions.
cherine, yes!! Exactly! In one of the scenes it was used to describe كلام. So I was right about "useless" 
What about adding ك to it?


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## elroy

In Palestinian we would say لا بِقَدِّم ولا بِأَخِّر.


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## cherine

DialectLearner said:


> What about adding ك to it?


The expression is usually invariable in Egyptian Arabic, but I don't see a reason why it can't have the kaaf كلام لا يودِّيك ولا يجيبك.


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## DialectLearner

cherine said:


> The expression is usually invariable in Egyptian Arabic, but I don't see a reason why it can't have the kaaf كلام لا يودِّيك ولا يجيبك.


Got it. Thanks 
كنت أظن أن الكاف يغير المعنى أو طريقة استخدام العبارة


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## malmerri

لا ييب ولا يودي
ييب هي يجيب اي يحضر لك
لا يودي اي لا ياخذه لمكان
اذا استخدمت تعني useless or doesnt get you
يييب can be conjugated. يجيبك يجيبج يجيبش او اييبك اييبش اييبج
وبالمثل يودي يوديك او يوديج او يوديج 
it is used to express that the thing they are talking about or the person isnt goning to get you anywhere
this expression is used in most gulf dialects


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## Saley

> يييب


How is this word with three successive ي’s pronounced? Does it have a cognate in MSA?


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## malmerri

It is pronounced E-ee-b 
in MSA it is  جاب  = ياب 
يجيب e-jee-b, pronouncing it without the J I suppose. Hope this helps


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## Saley

I’ve looked at some materials about Gulf Arabic so as to get acquainted with its phonology, but I’m afraid I still don’t understand your transcription. Can anyone write it in IPA or at least indicate the vowels with diacritics?


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## malmerri

i dont think there are IPA for it. 
ياب yaab  

ييبوا  yiibuu

i have looked at IPA and checjed few books there arent any special phonetic notation for the y or ee


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## analeeh

Fairly sure it's [_ja:b iji:b_]_, _although a lot of Gulfi people seem to have something that isn't quite a normal [j] for ج.


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## malmerri

i understand, though i wouldnt call it not normal. The change the j to e or i specially if it is at the end. they also change the k to j or or sh, s, it just takes practice and getting used to. it is what makes it a dialect. let me know if you need examples.


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## analeeh

What I mean is that the sound that a lot of Gulfi people have here is not a typical [j] sound (as in English 'yellow' for example) but something slightly different which would require for precision a different IPA symbol.


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## malmerri

thank you,  something for me to find out


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