# He gave me water



## jason85

A friend gave me a little "challenge" and wanted me to find a way of saying "He gave me water" in Arabic - but in can only contain five letters (arabic letters).

It sounds a bit strange, I know!

I don't understand how you can say it in five letters.. the only thing I can think of is آتاني الماء "aataani 'l-maa2a" which is more than five: ا-ت-ا-ن-ي ا-ل-م-ا-ء - ten letters.

Any suggestions?


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## elroy

He may have been thinking of رواني - which literally means "he quenched my thirst."

There's also أسقاني ("he gave me [something] to drink") but that has 6 letters.


> the only thing I can think of is آتاني الماء "aataani 'l-maa2a" which is more than five: ا-ت-ا-ن-ي ا-ل-م-ا-ء - ten letters.


 Correction: it's أعطاني الماء (11 letters), and that means "he gave me *the *water."

"He gave me water" would be أعطاني ماء (_a3Taani maa2an_) - 9 letters.


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## linguist786

I would say: سقاني (saqaanii). This has five letters: سـ-قـ-ـا-نـ-ـي  (seen, qaaf, alif, nuun, yaa)

Sidenote: (very nitpicky ): it's "aataan*iya* 'l-maa2a". The Arabic was right anyway.


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## suma

try this

سقاني


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## elroy

linguist786 said:


> Sidenote: (very nitpicky ): it's "aataan*iya* 'l-maa2a". The Arabic was right anyway.


 No, it wasn't - as per my correction.   And "a3Taani 'l-maa2a" sounds fine to me.

You and Suma are both right about سقاني - that's also possible and meets the 5-letter requirement.


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## linguist786

Yes, I definitely think it's saqaanii now, there's a du3aa in Islam which you recite when somebody invites you for a meal:

اللهم اطعم من اطعمني واسقي من سقاني
(O Allah, feed the person who fed me and give water to the person who gave me water)

Thanks for the correction, elroy


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## Anatoli

elroy said:


> "He gave me water" would be أعطاني ماء (_a3Taani maa2an_) - 9 letters.



Elias, may I ask why alif is not added here in formal MSA? Like this: أعطاني ماءا
I thought the only exception was taa' marbuTa when the alif is not added?

Thanks in advance


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## linguist786

Anatoli said:


> Elias, may ask why alif is not added here in formal MSA? Like this: أعطاني ماءا
> I thought the only exception was taa' marbuTa when the alif is not added?
> 
> Thanks in advance


I've wondered that once or twice too. When I learnt the Qur'aan when I was very young, I was taught to read a word like ماءً as "maa'aa" if I was stopping there. I couldn't understand the logic behind it at first - probably since there was no alif - but I'm used to it now. Infact, it just doesn't look right with an alif next to the hamza. I'm not too sure about the reason though. Maybe it is because the letter hamza is really the same (sound wise anyway) as the alif, so it would be strange to have two together. It's like having اا (two alifs) to make "aa" which looks very strange.


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## Anatoli

Makes sense, thanks, linguist


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## mujahid7ia

Don't they have a symbol that specifically means ءا, I think it is an alif with the long horizontal line above it which you see in the Quran? And that is why you are supposed to stretch there .


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## cherine

jason85 said:


> A friend gave me a little "challenge" and wanted me to find a way of saying "He gave me water" in Arabic - but in can only contain five letters (arabic letters).
> It sounds a bit strange, I know!
> I don't understand how you can say it in five letters.. the only thing I can think of is آتاني الماء "aataani 'l-maa2a" which is more than five: ا-ت-ا-ن-ي ا-ل-م-ا-ء - ten letters.


Hi Jason, this is a nice riddle  Thank your friend for us 
I think he was trying to show you how concise Arabic can be.
Now, we all agree that saqaani is the correct word. I'd like to comment on your suggestio أتاني الماء : this sentence means: "water came to me", so you need to add a preposition أتاني بالماء so that it will mean "He brought me water".


elroy said:


> He may have been thinking of رواني - which literally means "he quenched my thirst."


I think this too is correct.



linguist786 said:


> Sidenote: (very nitpicky ): it's "aataan*iya* 'l-maa2a". The Arabic was right anyway.


It can't be ataaniya 'l-maa2*a*  Because in this structure "al-maa2" is faa3il, so it should be ataaniya 'l-maa2*u*. But, if we use my suggestion, it will be ataani bil-maa2*i*.


linguist786 said:


> Yes, I definitely think it's saqaanii now, there's a du3aa in Islam which you recite when somebody invites you for a meal:
> اللهم اطعم من أطعمني واسقِ من سقاني ​


Please note the corrections of the hamza, and the حذف حرف العلة (elision of the yaa2) from the verb isqi.


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## Abu Bishr

cherine said:


> I'd like to comment on your suggestio أتاني الماء : this sentence means: "water came to me", so you need to add a preposition أتاني بالماء so that it will mean "He brought me water".


 
From what I understand is that the Jason's original suggestion was آتاني الماء with an آ (long vowel) and not أَ (short vowel). آتى - يُؤْتِيْ - آتِ - إيْتَاءً , to the best of my knowledge, is not commonly used in MSA if at all. Its occurrence in Classical Arabic, esp. Quran & Hadith literature is frequent, especially with the word الزكاة or العلم or الكتاب , or المال , etc. e.g. آتوا الزكاة , أوتوا العلمَ , أوتوا الكتابَ , وآتى المالَ على حبه , etc.


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## cherine

Yes, Abu Bishr, I missed that. Thanks for the reminder 

Yes, aataani *آ*تاني = brought me; ataani *أ*تاني = came to me.


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## linguist786

I suppose the reason I corrected it (if we can say that) to "aataan*iya* 'l-maa2a" was because I used the example from the Qur'aan aayah "aataaniya 'l-kitaaba wa ja3alanii nabiyyaa" (3iisaa alayahi 's-salaam was saying this)


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## cherine

Yes, Mohammed, you were right. I'm sorry for my misleading post.
I guess I forgot about the alef-madd and dealt with the verb as أتى not آتى .

Please forgive me   And have a very happy Eid


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## linguist786

cherine said:


> Yes, Mohammed, you were right. I'm sorry for my misleading post.
> I guess I forgot about the alef-madd and dealt with the verb as أتى not آتى .
> 
> Please forgive me  And have a very happy Eid


 That's no problem. You have a great Eid too. عيد مبارك


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## elroy

Guys, please see my first post in this thread.  

Cherine, I'm afraid you misunderstood Jason's attempt.  It's obvious he meant أعطاني.


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## jason85

Hi guys!

First of all, thanks very much for all the wonderful responses! At-least we have established the answer!

elroy, cherine did not misunderstand my attempt. I did indeed mean to say آتاني (aataanii) and not أعطاني (a3taanii). Mohammed has read my mind, I was also thinking of the same Qur'aanic aayah!  

I think both are acceptable, although they don't mean exactly the same thing (in terms of grammar), but in effect they imply the same thing, no?


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## cherine

jason85 said:


> elroy, cherine did not misunderstand my attempt. I did indeed mean to say آتاني (aataanii) and not أعطاني (a3taanii). Mohammed has read my mind, I was also thinking of the same Qur'aanic aayah!


Yes, it's true: Mohammed and Abu Bishr got your idea better.  


> I think both are acceptable, although they don't mean exactly the same thing (in terms of grammar), but in effect they imply the same thing, no?


Yes, both are correct, but the meaning is slightly different.
أعطاني = gave me
آتاني = brought to me


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## elroy

So it was I who misunderstood.  My apologies.


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