"Do you have a spacious bedroom, Bob?"
Translation:هَل عِنْدَك غُرْفة نَوْم واسِعة يا بوب؟
8 Comments
2249
No, the ك at the end of عندك is referring to Bob. No need for an extra ل. That's the way we normally say it.
I'm saying instead of عند. عند is for possessions with someone, while ل is for more permanent possessions. I feel like if you were asking someone if they had a spacious bedroom, you'd use the latter.
(Based on what I learned in the Medina Arabic series, and studying the books tasheel an-nahw and hidayatun nahw)
According to the Hans Wehr dictionary, عند means more like "on" or "near" you, rather than possessing in general. So it'd be more correct to use ل.
- 2249
It also has the meaning of “have”, but some dictionaries don’t include that meaning, because that meaning is more often used in spoken Arabic. In written Arabic, we’d prefer writing لَدَيْكَ
It says the same thing for لدن and لدي, it means close by/at hand. According to hidayatun nahw, لدن and all variants have the same meaning as عند.
BUT, I see, this is supposed to be spoken Arabic, not fus7a. Must be a difference between the two. Why was this choice made if I might ask? Wouldn't it be more useful to teach proper Arabic? I wasn't expecting much out of it other than vocabulary to begin with, but some of my friends seem disappointed that it doesn't follow classical Arabic grammar overall
- 2249
Duolingo favors practical language over academic correctness. Modern Standard Arabic is nobody’s native tongue. Speaking pure MSA sounds super weird and some less educated Arabs won’t even understand you. If you wish to learn MSA to perfection, that would require an in-depth study of its grammar, something that the Duolingo method isn’t very well suited for.
