# raindrops keep falling on my head



## squirrel

I was wondering how to say "raindrops keep falling on my head" in Arabic?  Written out in Arabic and English letters if possible.  Thanks.


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## Cristina Moreno

Hello squirrel and welcome to the forum!

Raindrops keep falling on my head = *لا تنفكّ قطرات المطر تتساقط على رأسي =* la tanfakku kataratul matari tatasakatu 3ala ra2si (there are other possible translations as well)

Have a nice day!
Cristina


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## cherine

My only comment, Cristina, is: 
Not everybody would've thought about لا تنفك  excellent choice


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## WadiH

cherine said:


> My only comment, Cristina, is:
> Not everybody would've thought about لا تنفك  excellent choice


 
You could also use لا تبرح/لم تبرح.


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## Abu Bishr

Wadi Hanifa said:


> You could also use لا تبرح/لم تبرح.


 
Then there is also the more common but over-used: لا تزال or لم تَزَلْ .

Another but less poetic way to translate the expression is to say: تتساقط قطرات المطر على رأسي باستمرار .


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## cherine

Abu Bishr said:


> Then there is also the more common but over-used: لا تزال or لم تَزَلْ .


It's not only over-used  but I'd also translate it as "still" and not "keep". 
But maybe there's no big difference in the meaning between still and keep 


> Another but less poetic way to translate the expression is to say: تتساقط قطرات المطر على رأسي باستمرار .


باستمرار is like "all the time", so it's not excatly the best choice.

As for لا تبرح ... I don't know, but I still believe that لا تنفك is better. Though I can't explain my preference.


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## Josh_

cherine said:
			
		

> It's not only over-used  but I'd also translate it as "still" and not "keep".
> But maybe there's no big difference in the meaning between still and keep



In certain cases "still" and "keep" can overlap, but generally they each have their separate uses.

Is there a difference in meaning between لا ينفك and لا يزال ?  And لا يبرح for that matter?


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## cherine

Josh_ said:


> In certain cases "still" and "keep" can overlap, but generally they each have their separate uses.
> 
> Is there a difference in meaning between لا ينفك and لا يزال ?


As I said before, لا يزال/ما زال means "still", while ما انفك/ لا ينفك means "keep". But I can't say I'm 100% sure about this, it's more of how *I* understand them.


> And لا يبرح for that matter?


I'm not sure about this one either.

All I could found in my grammar book is that, among أخوات كان these verbs indicate continuity: ما زال، ما برح، ما انفك، ما فـتئ .
I hope others would help if they know more details.


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## Cristina Moreno

For me, *لا يبرح* and *لا ينفكّ* mean the same.
As to the difference between *لا يزال/ما زال* and *ما انفك/ لا ينفك*, I see it the same way cherine does.

Any other interpretations?


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## WadiH

Cristina Moreno said:


> For me, *لا يبرح* and *لا ينفكّ* mean the same.
> As to the difference between *لا يزال/ما زال* and *ما انفك/ لا ينفك*, I see it the same way cherine does.
> 
> Any other interpretations?


 
I agree with you.


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## Josh_

I realize I may never fully understand the verbs, as I do not _feel_ them natively, but maybe you guys explain, in Arabic, how you understand them?  I'm just trying to gauge the difference between them and writing the common English equivalents does not accomplish that.  I'll have to consult a few Arabic-Arabic dictionaries as well.

In the Hans Wehr they actually say that لا يبرح is equivalent to لا يزال . I guess you guys disagree with that assessment?


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## Abu Bishr

Hi everybody

It's a known fact in Arabic grammar that the four verbs: ما زال، وما انفك ، وما برح ، وما فتئ all convey the meaning of الاستمرار , and are sometimes called الأفعال الاستمرارية . Dr. Faadil Saalih as-Sammuurraa-iy in his 4 volume work entitled معاني النحو makes no distinction in meaning between these fore verbs and says: هذه الأفعال تفيد استمرار الفعل واتصاله بزمن الإخبار . Sentences containing the verb ما انفكّ are explained in terms of ما زال , which suggest that they are used interchangeably. This is what he has to say about ما انفكّ : 

فإذا قلت (ما انفكّ) كان المعنى لم يخلص ولم ينفصل، ومن هنا استعملت في معنى الدوام والاستمرار، فإذا قلت: (ما انفكّ محمد يفعل) كان معناه ما زال متصلا بالفعل متشبثا به مرتبطا به بقيد مغلق لم ينفكّ .​Because of the meaning of "continuity" that these verbs convey I thought it in order to use باستمرار in my translation.

If I was to translate it now I would say: 

تتساقط قطرات المطر على رأسي بشكل متواصل 

If it wasn't that the sentence did not convey the meaning of "persisting rain" , I would have used بشكل ملحّ as in "he keeps on bothering me" which is more a translation for "keep on" (as a phrasal verb) than just "keep" without the "on".

At the end of the day, the sentence required to be translated is part of a song. This is the full song, which suggests to me that the author is using the expression in a metaphorical way to mean: his life keeps on being filled with sadness, but soon it will be filled with happiness, he just has to wait patiently.


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## Mahaodeh

I don't know about others, but personally I think it works by seeing what the verb means should it not be used as اخوات كان.

زال means to displace/disappear/go; لا زال is the opposite, i.e., to stay-in-place/stay-appearing/stay.  The opposite is not to return-to-place/reappear/return.

برحis to leave/go-to-the-open (space); لم يبرح is to stay.  It is extremely close to لا زال that 99% of the time they are interchangeable.  But a subtle difference still exists.

انفكis more obviously different as it means to undo and separate/let go; ما انفك is not to undo and to hold on; it does not give a meaning of doing something continuously, it means repeatedly (again and again and again).

You must also keep in mind that dictionaries don’t always give the subtle difference.  I’ll give you a much clearer example.  Lisan al-Arab gives the meaning of أب as: *الأَبُ* الذي يتولد منهُ شخص آخر من نوعه and the meaning of والد as: الوالِد الأب, it may seem that they are two words meaning the same thing but there is clear and distinguishable difference, والد is derived from ولد, to give birth; it actually means what is referred to as the Natural Father or Biological Father; while أب is derived from a much more complex root which gives many meanings including planting, preparation and purpose.  أبis a father in general and can refer to ancestors, uncles, foster fathers, owners, care takers and vast variety of “fathers”.

Another way to get the meaning, which is usually a privilege of native speakers, is to hear how people use it as you grow up so you get to grasp the meaning.  As a child, if I kept doing something again and again and again my mum would say (as an example) فكي عنه/منه, she doesn’t say that if I do something continuously, in which case she usually says: جوزي منه/عنه

I don’t know whether I made myself clear or not.  I tried my best though.


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## Abu Bishr

Hi everybody

I've just consulted 3 modern Arabic dictionaries at random, and all concur that ما انفكّ has the meaning of ما زال . This is what الإرشاد معجم معاصر (عربي - عربي) ا by Khalil Tawfiq Musa has to say: 

ويقال: ما انفك يفعل كذا: ما زال أي: استمرّ يفعله​ 
This is a fourth dictionary I've just checked online: the famous المعجم الوسيط which was prepared by the following scholars: Ibrahim Mustafa, Ahmad az-Zayyat, Hamid Abdul-Qadir & Muhammad al-Najjar, and edited by the Arabic Academy:

( انفك ) الشيء انفصل والعقدة ونحوها انحلت و عظم المفصل زال عن موضعه ويقال ما انفك يفعل كذا ما زال أي استمر يفعله​


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## WadiH

All three mean more or less the same.  I would group ما برح and ما زال together, while ما انفك seems to have a slightly different meaning; I feel it implies some sort of persistent act, but that could be completely from my own imagination.


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## Mahaodeh

I agree with Wadi Hanifa.


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