"هَل تَعْرِف يا جورْج؟"

Translation: Do you know, George?

[Djibril487949]

Is this idiomatic Arabic? Would you say /hal ta3rif/ in the sense of, "Hey, do you know what?", e.g. preamble to some gossip—or does it feel incomplete like it does in English?

[KatieC993112]

It's not incomplete. But it must have been preceded by someone actually asking a question. Then you want to know if George knows the answer. Native speaker speaking.

[Augustas541]

good question, native speakers help

[yousef643893]

The sentence is incorrect since george is being called. The question is Do you know George?

[ilya.kohan]

يا is used only to address a person. It's incorrect to put it in this kind of sentence

[jrkibby]

Actually, I think it is correct, because you are addressing George here. You're not asking if "you know George," you're asking George (directly) if he knows, i.e. Hey George, do you know? But, perhaps I'm wrong. I think the comma makes all the difference here.

[Garnetskull]

This is exactly what it is