بـِــكَـــم……….؟ _ How Much…?

In the last lesson we learned how to count
in Arabic. I hope you spent some time practicing
the numbers, because they will come in handy
in this lesson. We’re going to learn how
to go shopping in Arabic speaking countries!
Before we go, you need to know how to say
“How much is this?”
Bikam hāḏā?
[slowly] Bikam hāḏā?
Are you ready to go shopping? Let’s go!
You see something you like and want to ask
the shopkeeper how much it costs. The first thing to say is…ʿafwan, do you remember
what that means? “Excuse me!”
ʿafwan, bikam hāḏā?
[slowly] ʿafwan, bikam hāḏā?
Another way of asking “how much is this?”
is to say “What is the price of this?”
or Kam ṯamanu hāḏā?
Next, if we are specifying what the object is, we need to know if the object is a feminine
or masculine. If it is masculine keep hāḏā
when referring to it, and if it is feminine use hāḏihi. Then, you say the noun if you
would like to specify the name of the object.
For example, “pen” is masculine. Qalam.
ʿafwan, kam ṯamanu hāḏā al-qalam? “Excuse
me, what is the price of this pen?”
[slowly] ʿafwan, kam ṯamanu hāḏā al-qalam?
And “miḥfaẓah” is a feminine noun that means Wallet.
ʿafwan, kam ṯamanu hāḏihi al-miḥfaẓah?
“Excuse me, how much is this wallet?”
[slowly] ʿafwan, kam ṯamanu hāḏihi al-miḥfaẓah?
At this point the shopkeeper can answer by
saying:
– The price directly
– or ṯamanuhu… amount+currency for a masculine
noun
– or ṯamanuhā… amount+currency for a
feminine noun
For example:
išrūna lirah
ṯamanuhu ʿišrūna lirah
Its price is twenty Liras
Now it’s time for Carole’s Tips.
After asking for the price, we can ask for
the number of items we want, and combine the words we learned before to make a good sentence:
A: ʾiṯnān min faḍlika!
Two please!
At this point, can you change the numbers
according to the gender of the noun that follows in Arabic.
We are going to learn how to do this and much more in the next lesson!
Ill be waiting for you in the next Al-ʿarabiyyah
fi ṯalāṯi daqāʾiq.
ʾarākum fi al-marrati al-muqbilah!
See you next time!