# Not really



## Abu Talha

Hi,
How would the reply "Not really" be translated.? 

I came up with ليس حقا but that sounds more like saying "It is not correct", and لا حقا or لا تماما but those sound more like saying "No, definitely!"  

Whereas "not really" in English is an impassive and/or evasive reply.

Thanks.


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## إسكندراني

Which 'not really' do you mean? English is notorious for 'beating around the bush' and being indirect; if you could translate to any other language too it would probably help.


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## Abu Talha

I suppose I was looking a reply to a question like "Do you like it?" Just saying لا sounds too brusque, and I was wondering if there was a way to express the negative in a more watered-down way.

Come to think of it, it would probably not be translated directly in Urdu (the only other language that I know), and you would probably say things like: "Not in a complete way," or "It's okay, but..." and/or "I'm not completely satisfied with it." You could probably insert a بس in there too. (I think Urdu uses بس similarly as Colloquial Arabic does but it's considered borderline فصيح). 

So maybe Arabic does something similar?


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## Kinan

ليس حقا
ليس بالضبط


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## Abu Talha

Thanks Kinan. So am I correct in assuming that لا بالضبط and ليس بالضبط are at opposite extremes? The first would be more forceful, as in "No, definitely!" and the second conveying the meaning under discussion. 

Or does tone and delivery affect how either is interpreted?


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## Kinan

I believe لا بالضبط is never used, actually I think it's incorrect.


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## DarrenLamb

You can just say عادي

It's the equivalent of ''yeah it's ok'' as if to say ''yeah, not really.'' I sort of depends on how you express it though.


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## إسكندراني

MSA wasn't designed for such conversations. Maybe someone can dig up an 'I didn't really like it' out of poetry somewhere?

In Egypt we could say مش قوي, or start the sentence with بصراحة or بيني وبينك.
It's also very common to say يعني viz:
عجبتك؟
يعني.
There is a particular tone of voice to do it in


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## hiba

إسكندراني said:


> MSA wasn't designed for such
> It's also very common to say يعني viz:
> عجبتك؟
> يعني.
> There is a particular tone of voice to do it in


I was going to say this too, but I didn't know how to explain it! I think it's the closest to "not really"


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## Kinan

He is asking in MSA though.


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## AndyRoo

Perhaps you could say: ليس بالفعل ?


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## londonmasri

A different way of saying it but:
إلي حد ما


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## Mahaodeh

I think Iskandarani hit the nail on the head when he said that MSA is not designed to be used this way (although I would say "did not evolve" rather than designed). Colloquial can be more expressive in these cases. 

If one says عادي it would be understood that "it's OK", not particularly good but not too bad either. In MSA you can say عادي or إلى حد ما (because you didn't really think it's bad so)
If you say يعني it implies that you are hesitant to say "not really" but you actually did not like it very much.
If you say مش كتير \ مو كلش \ مش هل قد \ مش قوي (depending on dialect) it means "not really" although the literal translation is "not much". In MSA I would go for ليس كثيرا.


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## إسكندراني

We could also try using a verb to say what isn't totally the case:
لم أقتنع تماماً بعد
لم أرضىٰ تماماً بعد
إلخ
Maybe we should try to standardise يعني?


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## relates

Very interesting topic. I never realized just how vague the English language can be, but it's true- so much of our communication is through nuance and hinting around. Pretty silly when you think about it.


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## Destiny2000

I think the best translation is ليس تماما - ليس بالضبط 

what does it mean MSA  ?


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## Abu Talha

Thanks everyone.



> what does it mean MSA ?



MSA is an acronym for Modern Standard Arabic which is applied to الفصحى الحديثة as opposed to الفصحى القديمة.

I suppose in this case I just meant الفصحى in general, but since the desired meaning is so colloquial it can only be expressed accurately by today's colloquial (العامية) rather than yesterday's (الفصحى القديمة).


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## إسكندراني

Destiny2000 said:


> I think the best translation is ليس تماما - ليس بالضبط


These mean:
Not totally
Not exactly
Nothing more, nothing less.
This is way off 'not really' and in my opinion is such an unacceptable translation that the subtitle-ers of the Arab world should be roasted for using it.


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## Mahaodeh

daee said:


> Thanks everyone.
> 
> 
> 
> MSA is an acronym for Modern Standard Arabic which is applied to الفصحى الحديثة as opposed to الفصحى القديمة.
> 
> I suppose in this case I just meant الفصحى in general, but since the desired meaning is so colloquial it can only be expressed accurately by today's colloquial (العامية) rather than yesterday's (الفصحى القديمة).



Well, sometimes العامية is closer to Classical Arabic than it is to MSA. After all, it was derived from Classical Arabic, not MSA.


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