# EA: While



## willg

Mar7aban

Tab, 3aayiz aa3raf izay a'ool "while" fil gumla di.

I want you to stay quiet "while" I talk to the chief. 

3aayizak sakit while atakallim m3a mudir.


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## cherine

Hi,

Using the waaw does the job:
عايزك تفضل ساكت وأنا باكلِّم المدير/باتكلِّم مع المدير


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## willg

thank you! I thought about the waaw but I wans't sure, is there any other way to say it in egyptian?


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## tr463

willg said:


> thank you! I thought about the waaw but I wans't sure, is there any other way to say it in egyptian?



There is also the word "lema" / لَمّا used in Egyptian for "while" (but I don't think it would be used in the context you posted).


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## إسكندراني

لمّا means 'when' not 'while'... we can't use it here.
We also use علبال and عبال (both shortened from على بال which you can use too if you like). But this one means 'wait till I finish doing that'. It has a slightly different meaning but can be used here.
عايزك تخليك ساكت على بال ما اكلم المدير


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## willg

Thank you so much! But I still have two questions, why did cherine use tifaddal? I thought it meant to prefer.

So if I understood correctly I could say "7aramy dakhal bety wana kunt naayim"

"The thief entered my house while I was sleeping"

9a7?


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## إسكندراني

willg said:


> Thank you so much! But I still have two questions, why did cherine use tifaddal? I thought it meant to prefer.
> 
> So if I understood correctly I could say "7aramy dakhal bety wana kunt naayim"
> 
> "The thief entered my house while I was sleeping"
> 
> 9a7?


Egyptian ((tifDal)) = stay

As for your question
7aramy dakhal bety wana naayim ; we don't need to say kunt here (you could I suppose)


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## willg

Great!!!!!! Thank you!!!


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## إسكندراني

By the way, tr463's suggestion isn't totally wrong. But we use لمّا for a different thing here.
عايزك تفضل ساكت لما اكلم المدير
I want you to stay quiet whenever I speak with the boss.
One of the complications of learning any dialect is we use فصحى words but change their meaning. So in MSA we'd use كلّما but in Egyptian we use لمّا


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## scetis

إسكندراني said:
			
		

> We also use علبال and عبال (both shortened from على بال which you can use too if you like). But this one means 'wait till I finish doing that'. It has a slightly different meaning but can be used here.
> عايزك تخليك ساكت على بال ما اكلم المدير



I was just coming to this post to look for the following situation- Me telling my daughter "Don't talk while the teacher is talking"... so would عبال be the best one to use in this example?


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## إسكندراني

scetis said:


> I was just coming to this post to look for the following situation- Me telling my daughter "Don't talk while the teacher is talking"... so would عبال be the best one to use in this example?


No, use و (this is perfectly good standard arabic too)


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## cherine

عبال/ على بال is more of "until", rather than while.


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## elroy

إسكندراني said:


> 7aramy dakhal bety wana naayim ; we don't need to say kunt here (you could I suppose)


 Actually, you couldn't; it would be wrong.


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## cherine

No, it's not wrong in EA.
دخل البيت وأنا كنت نايم
دخل البيت وأنا كنت باذاكر
It's just that the meaning is slightly different: I was sleeping/studying _then_.

But it's more common to drop the kont دخل وانا نايم، وانا باذاكر and it means _while_ I was sleeping/studying.


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## elroy

Interesting!  It’s wrong in Palestinian and MSA, so I assumed it would be wrong in Egyptian as well.


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## Mahaodeh

cherine said:


> It's just that the meaning is slightly different: I was sleeping/studying _then_.


If you were trying to say "I was sleeping/studying then" or "when I was sleeping/studying", shouldn't you use لما rather than the waaw? as in: 
دخل البيت لما كنت نايم/باذاكر

I understand that there may be a nuance in the use between Egyptian and Palestinian Arabic, but this is how I feel - mostly based on Egyptian TV shows and Egyptians I personally know.


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## Sun-Shine

Mahaodeh said:


> If you were trying to say "I was sleeping/studying then" or "when I was sleeping/studying", shouldn't you use لما rather than the waaw? as in:
> دخل البيت لما كنت نايم/باذاكر


Both are correct but و is used more
دخل البيت وأنا نايم
Edit: Sorry , I didn't get it at first.
You are right, we should use لما rather than و if we say
" I was sleeping / when " لما كنت نايم


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## elroy

The issue here is not و vs. لما, sunshine.

In Palestinian Arabic, كان is wrong with و and obligatory with لما.

دخل البيت وأنا نايم 
دخل البيت وأنا كنت نايم 

دخل البيت لما أنا نايم 
دخل البيت لما كنت نايم 

Note that in your last post, you intuitively omitted كنت when you rewrote the sentence.


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## Sun-Shine

elroy said:


> The issue here is not و vs. لما, sunshine.


I got it now, thanks.


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## cherine

Mahaodeh said:


> If you were trying to say "I was sleeping/studying then" or "when I was sleeping/studying", shouldn't you use لما rather than the waaw? as in:
> دخل البيت لما كنت نايم/باذاكر


This is correct for "when", but not for "I was doing xyz then/at that moment".


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