# to turn off / hang up the phone



## نجمة في السماء

which one is correct ? and what is the difference??

يطفئ الهاتف or يغلق الهاتف?

شكراَ


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## Josh_

I've been in the habit of using the verb قفل , but they may be an influence of colloquial.  

At any rate, if Google is any indication it looks like أغلق is used often.


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## suma

I thought Najmah was asking about "hang up the phone".
"Turn off the phone" means something completely different.


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## Mahaodeh

يغلق for hangining up
يطفئ for turning off


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## cherine

Mahaodeh said:


> يغلق for hangining up
> يطفئ for turning off


 I don't know, Maha. But I think that أغلق doesn't mean to hang up. This is expressed by وضع السماعة or أنهى المكالمة . The expression widely used for turning off the phone is أغلق الهاتف and you can see it in places where using it is forbidden, like hospitals and libraries: من فضلك أغلِق الهاتف  .

أطفأ is used more with light, tv and radio.


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## Mahaodeh

I have to agree with you. I assumed hanging up would be أغلق because in Palestinian Arabic they say: سَكِّر التلفون (shut the phone / close the phone) and in Iraq they say: سِدّ التلفون (same meaning). Turning off the phone in both dialects is: طَفِّي التلفون. I wasn't too sure about أغلق but I assumed that I'm just not used to it.  Come to think of it though, I don't think either are correct.


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## Abu Talha

Can we use the اسم مفعول of أغلق and أطفأ to mean that the device is in the off state?

هاتفي مُغلَق.
التلفاز مُطفَأ.

Google seems to indicate that the above sentences are ok but I wanted to verify that this the standard way of expressing "off" in MSA.

Thanks.


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## إسكندراني

Yes, that's how you'd say it.


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## Abu Talha

cherine said:


> أطفأ is used more with light, tv and radio.


The manual I referred to here uses أطفأ for a washer-dryer. 

زر تشغيل/اطفاء لتشغيل واطفاء الغسالة النشافة

Perhaps there is some variation in usage? Natives of course know best as to what is natural but it seems to me that having on-off distinct from open-close would be quite handy. Otherwise, in the absence of context, there may be ambiguity in statements like أغلق الثلاجة .

By the way, in Urdu we use "close" for "turning off" but I guess we usually know what is meant: turning it off or closing some door-like part of the device.

For "to be on"/"to turn the device on" we use (at least colloquially) "to walk"/"to make the device walk".


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## cherine

cherine said:


> أطفأ is used more with light, tv and radio.





Abu Talha said:


> The manual I referred to here uses أطفأ for a washer-dryer.
> زر تشغيل/اطفاء لتشغيل واطفاء الغسالة النشافة


I think I was focussing on the phone-related terms and أطفأ only came to my mind as related to light. But yes, أطفأ is also used with turning off the washing machine, the fridge and maybe other things too.  But I still find it a bit strange with a phone. Maybe because the more commonly used verb, at least in Egypt, is أغلق - يُغلق.


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## Abu Talha

I see. Thanks Cherine.


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## cherine

You're most welcome, Abu Talha.


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## Sheikh_14

Just a brief question, how would you differentiate hanging up with turning a phone off? So far plenty of alternatives have been given for turning a phone off but none has really been accepted for hanging up. The multifariosness of Arabic is amusing but at the same time illustrates why standardisation has always been a pressing demand. As I wouldn't want to emplace a burden the shortest of summaries would do.


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## analeeh

In colloquial Levantine at least it's سكر التلفون 'hang up the phone' vs اطفي التلفون 'turn off the phone'.


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## cherine

Sheikh_14 said:


> Just a brief question, how would you differentiate hanging up with turning a phone off? So far plenty of alternatives have been given for turning a phone off but none has really been accepted for hanging up.


In case you didn't check all the posts carefully, please re-read post # 5. If you think it's insufficient, please open another thread, as it's another term/topic.


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## Sheikh_14

analeeh said:


> In colloquial Levantine at least it's سكر التلفون ' hang up the phone' vs اطفي التلفون 'turn off the phone'.



I would have thought so too but Post 6 begs to differ. For now I feel sakr Is best for hanging up and Aghlaq/Atfii for shutting it off.


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## Hemza

You can also say "اقطع المكالمة" for "hanging up" and "اطفي التلفون/الهاتف" for "turn off the phone". This is how we say in Moroccan dialect. I don't know if the verb "قطع" is used in this way in other dialects?

I'm not sure but I think some Najdi speakers (I have no idea about Hijazi  ) say "سكّ" for "to close".


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## Sheikh_14

Hemza said:


> You can also say "اقطع المكالمة" for "hanging up" and "اطفي التلفون/الهاتف" for "turn off the phone". This is how we say in Moroccan dialect. I don't know if the verb "قطع" is used in this way in other dialects?
> 
> I'm not sure but I think some Najdi speakers (I have no idea about Hijazi  ) say "سكّ" for "to close".


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## analeeh

Sheikh_14 said:


> I would have thought so too but Post 6 begs to differ. For now I feel sakr Is best for hanging up and Aghlaq/Atfii for shutting it off.



Yes, _sakkar_ (not _sakr_) vs _Tafa/yiTfi_ is the way to go.


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