الاعْــتِــذار _ Excusing

In the last lesson, we learned the phrases Hal tatakallamu al-ʾinklīziyyah? “Do you speak English” and Hal biʾimkānika al-takallum bil ʾinklīziyyah? “Could you speak English?”

And we mentioned the word min faḍlika,  which means “please” in Arabic.

In this lesson we’re going to learn how to use al-maʿḏirah or ʿafwan and ʾanā ʾāsif and other words when apologizing in Arabic.

We should use al-maʿḏirah or ʿafwan when we want to say “excuse me”, such as when we are ordering something in a bar or a restaurant.

For example:

al-maʿḏirah/ʿafwan, qahwah min faḍlika.

“Excuse me, a coffee please.”

[slowly] al-maʿḏirah/ʿafwan, qahwah min fadlika.

We can also use it when asking a question:

al-maʿḏirah/ʿafwan, aina al-maḥattah?

“Excuse me, where is the station?”

[slowly] al-maʿḏirah/ʿafwan, ʾayna al-maḥattah?

Sometimes we also hear people say min faḍlika

or “please” to draw somebody’s attention.

[slowly] min faḍlika!

If the person is a woman, we replace the ending

with ki so it becomes Min faḍliki!

In case you want to use “excuse me” to apologize

instead of asking something, you should say ʿuḏhran.

It can be used if you accidentally bump into someone on the street.

[slowly]ʿuḏhran

Just like ʿuḏhran, we can use ʾanā ʾāsif when apologizing.

It literally means ”I’m sorry”or “Pardon me”.

As we learned in the last lesson ʾanā means “I”,so

the adjective that follows should be modified according to the gender.

So if you’re a woman you should say ʾanā

ʾāsifah instead of ʾanā ʾāsif.

All of these phrases can be used for either

“excuse me” or “I’m sorry.”

But if you really want to apologize for something,

it might be better to use a different phrase.

That phrase is the verb sāmiḥnī.

It can be translated as “forgive me” in

English, it is a bit stronger but it can be used in both formal and informal situations.

Again, since sāmiḥnī means that you are

asking for the other person’s forgiveness, it should be changed according to the gender.

[slowly] sāmiḥnī

So it becomes sāmiḥīnī if the other person

is a female, by adding the letter ī between the ḥ and the n.

[slowly] sāmiḥīnī

Now it’s time for Carole’s Tips.

Please remember that in most of the Arab countries,

if you accidentally bump into someone, you don’t say “forgive me,” sāmiḥnī

which is for a more serious annoyance; instead

we say ʿuḏhran or ʾanā ʾāsif, “excuse me” or, “I am sorry”.

Are you are able to count in Arabic?

In the next lesson we will learn the digits

in Arabic from one to ten!

I’ll be waiting for you in our next Al ʿarabiyyah

fi ṯalāṯi daqāʾiq lesson.

ʾilā al-liqāʾi fi al-marrati al qādimah!