THE COUNTRYSIDE

A:       lima atayta ela hunaa            limada jieta ela hunaa               Why did you come here?           (ela : to)             limada lam tadhab ela hunaaka             Why didn’t you go there?   B:      (ana) ataytu ela hunaa li-anni uhibbu hudu-a (a)l baadiya(ti)                I came here because I like the peace and quiet of the countryside.                 (peace : (as)salaam ; quiet : (a)l hudue; in the Arabic sentence above hudue conveys both ‘peace’ and ‘quiet’)              al jawu hunaa haadi(-un)                   The weather here is calm.               laa yusma’u sawtun waahid(un)              There is not a sound to be heard.               yumkinuka an tasma’a daqqaati qalbik(a)              You can (even) hear your heartbeat.   A:         saheeh ! ana wulidtu fee (a)l baadiya(ti)                That’s right! I was born in the countryside myself.              (wa ana) daa-iman ahtafilu bi ’eedi meelaadee fee (a)l baadiya(ti)               I always celebrate my birthday in the countryside.               al waqtu hunaa yamurru bi bot-in shadeed(in)             Time here goes by very slowly.               fee (a)l madeena(ti) kullu shay(-in) yamurru bi sur’a(tin) shadeeda(tin)              In town everything moves very quickly.               hunaa yumkinuka an taraa (a)ttoyura (a)l jameela(ta)              Here you can see beautiful birds.               hunaa yumkinuka an taraa dajaajan wa khuyulan jameela(tan)              You can see nice chickens and horses.   B:     wa ana uhibbu (aydan) al arda hunaa            And I like the land here.            wa  uhibbu (a)l bahra (aydan)             I also like the sea.              lakinna al arda ajmalu ’indee min (a)l bahri             But I find the land more beautiful.           (min (a)l bahri : than the sea)             al an(a) asma’u sawtan ; hal tasma’uhu (ant(a)) ?             Now, there is a voice; can you hear it?   A:      na’am , daaka sawtu akhee               Yes, that’s my brother’s voice.           innahu qaadimun nahwanaa                                                        He is coming towards us.            ( towards :nahwa ;   bittijaahi)