# قد أسمعت لو ناديت حيا، ولكن لا حياة لمن تنادي



## Shadd

Hi Guys

Does anyone know what tunadi means ? And what is its root ?


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## Soos

I think it has something to do with calling someone--not by the phone, but rather like yelling for someone from a distance. My sentiments are thus because of the root word "naada" (he called). You call (s/m) is tinadi. Anyone else?


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## Josh_

Without further context it appears to be the verb نادى, which means to call out (to someone).  It is from the root ن-د-و. lتنادي could be either the second person masculine singular conjugation or the third person feminine singular.


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## the basketball player

*Hello Shadd , this word is a verb and it means calling and if you give us the whole sentence , we will be more helpful , because it means either "she calling " or "you calling " according to the sentence .*
*regards*


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## Shadd

Thanks guys.
Here is the sentence: La hayaat li man tunaadi

My translation is: No life for the one you're calling.

Is that correct ?


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## Soos

No not quiet. Firstly, it's actually a proverb where the English equivalent would be "It's like talking to a brick wall." One correction: "La hayaat l*a* man tunaadi." This translates more literally into "No life to call to" (in other words, there's no one there).


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## Soos

Oh really? In Lebanon for the proverb they say "la" but they also say "meen" instead of the MSA "man" so maybe I'm mixing colloquial with fuS7a.


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## Xence

Soos said:


> One correction: "La hayaat l*a* man tunaadi." This translates more literally into "No life to call to" (in other words, there's no one there).


Disagree.
The right transliteration is: _Laa Hayaata l*i* man tunaadii _
which literally would mean: _There's no life in the person you're calling_

*لِمَن* = *لـِ* (حرف جر) + *مَن* (إسم موصول)ا
But maybe Soos is pronouncing the phrase in Lebanese, since Lebanese tend to say _la_ instead of _li_?

***

Edit: Our posts were crossing, and we were saying nearly the same thing, Soos.


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## Shadd

Ah I see. I only speak FusHaa so its a nightmare when it comes to understanding MSA.

Xence: doesn't li mean 'for' ? I would interested in knowing how exactly you transacted the sentence.


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## Soos

Edit: Our posts were crossing, and we were saying nearly the same thing, Soos. [/quote]

Agreed.


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## clevermizo

Shadd said:


> Ah I see. I only speak FusHaa so its a nightmare when it comes to understanding MSA.



I'm sorry - fuS7a and MSA are the same. MSA is a Western term used to refer to modern usage of fuS7a as compared to classical usage.



> Xence: doesn't li mean 'for' ? I would interested in knowing how exactly you transacted the sentence.



Li- لــِ has a couple of translations. One is "for" however it is also used in the sense of something "belonging" to someone. Laa 7ayaata lahu لا حياة له would mean "he has no life" vs. Lahu 7ayaa له حياة "he has life."

In this case the "man tunaadi" (the one you call) _has no_ "7ayaa(t)" (life). 

As far as "transacting" the sentence, I'm not sure what that means.


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## the basketball player

Shadd said:


> Thanks guys.
> Here is the sentence: La hayaat li man tunaadi
> 
> My translation is: No life for the one you're calling.
> 
> Is that correct ?


 
*Hello Shadd , I will just say that your translation is correct*
*that's exactly its meaning*
* regards *


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## Mahaodeh

Just in case anyone is interested, it's the second half of verse of poetry; the two famous verses are:

لقد أسمعتَ لو ناديتَ حيّا *** ولكن لا حياةَ لمن تنادي
ولو نارًا نفختَ بها أنارت *** ولكنكَ تنفخُ في رمادِ

I'm not sure who the poet is.


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## post887

> No not quiet. Firstly, it's actually a proverb where the English equivalent would be "It's like talking to a brick wall."



Soos was correct: it's actually a proverb where the English equivalent is *It's like talking to a brick wall*.


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## iyavor

In the context of someone complaining about service... I came onto this expression..

Any ideas what it means? How it could be translated?

Thanks
Ilan


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## elroy

Hi Ilan,

This expression is used when you call out someone's name over and over again and they don't respond.  It's kind of like the English expression "Earth to X!", except that in Arabic "X" isn't specified.

In your context, the person is probably complaining because whoever is supposed to be providing the service isn't even responding to their name.


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## Mahaodeh

It is part of the verse:

لقد أسمعتَ لو ناديتَ حيًّا === ولكن لا حياة لمن تنادي

It's more of a proverb now.


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## nelly22

could you please help me on translating this to english language?
قد أسمعت لو ناديت حيا..لكن لا حياة لمن تنادي
it is a poetry but it has an idiom 
I translated as : we are given a deaf ear and a blind eye


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## rayloom

Perhaps: Your words fall on deaf ears.


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## cherine

Welcome to the forum, Nelly 

I merged your thread with 2 previous threads about the same topic. There's another bigger one (I didn't merge it to keep things more concise). Please check it for more info, and make sure to search the forum before asking, for the case the answer it already there.

Regards,
Cherine
Moderator.


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## nelly22

we are welcome
thanks very much 
it seems that my translation is incorrect.


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## cherine

No, it was correct. Just needs a little tweeking.


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