Maltese Lesson 10 - Christmas Special!

[StrapsOption]

Lessons are back!

As you may know, I have been trying to get Maltese on here, but it hasn't happened yet. So, if you wanted to learn it, maybe you can learn a bit from these lessons that I will post. This week, learn some Maltese Christmas vocabulary!

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<h1>Maltese Lesson 10 - Christmas!</h1>

• Happy Christmas! = Il-Milied it-tajjeb! ('ill-mill-EED-itt-TYE-ebb')

• Christmas tree = Is-siġra tal-Milied ('iss-SIJJ-rah-tall-mill-EED')

• celebration = ċelebrazzjoni ('chell-eb-rats-YO-nee')

• reindeer = renni ('REN-ee')

• candy cane = kannamieli kandju ('kan-ah-MEE-lee-KAND-yoo')

• snow = borra ('BORR-ah')

• Jesus Christ = Ġesù Kristu ('JAY-zoo-KREE-stoo')

• the birth of Jesus Christ = it-twelid ta' Ġesù Kristu ('it-twell-EED-tah-JAY-zoo-KREE-stoo')

• manger = maxtura ('mash-TURR-ah')

• ornaments = ornamenti ('or-nah-MEN-tee')

• ornaments on the Christmas tree = ornamenti fuq is-siġra tal-Milied ('or-nah-MEN-tee-foo-iss-SIJJ-rah-tall-mill-EED')

• Happy New Year! = Is-sena t-tajba! ('iss-SEN-naht-TYE-bah')

• Cheers! = Evviva! ('ev-EE-vah')

• Happy Holidays! = Il-Festi t-tajba! ('ill-FEST-eet-TYE-bah')

• Best Wishes! = Xewqat sbieħ! ('SHOO-at-SBEE-H')

• festival = festa ('fEst-ah')

• I celebrate = niċċelebra

• You celebrate = tiċċelebra

• He celebrates = jiċċelebra

• She celebrates = tiċċelebra

• We celebrate = niċċelebraw

• You (plural) celebrate = tiċċelebraw

• They celebrate = jiċċelebraw

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Maltese Christmas

In the village of Għajnsielem on the island of Għawdex (Gozo) there is a reenactment of the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. The stage is done up like the stable. It is a beautiful event. You can see the website here.

A popular Christmas tradition in Malta is called 'Priedka tat-Tifel'. This literally means 'preaching of the boy'. A Maltese child (usually about 7-10 years old) takes over from the priest and gives the sermon in church! The child takes weeks to learn the sermon, and delivers it in Midnight Mass before Christmas Day, telling the story of Christ's birth in Bethlehem. See one taking place here.

Now take a look at some street decorations in Malta...

(In 2010, Malta's first underwater Christmas tree was put up in Sliema!)

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Find more Maltese Christmas traditions here. Thanks to Moonraker, CDuane and MichaelCamilleri for most of this vocabulary.

Have a great Christmas, a happy New Year, and keep learning!

Grazzi ħafna u l-Milied it-tajjeb!

StrapsOption

See all previous Maltese posts:

Maltese Discussions Directory

[linguafiqari]

Il-Milied it-tajjeb! Maltese is on my language list (I'm planning on learning all the main semitic languages: Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, and Maltese). Thanks for these lessons :) I was surprised to see that Maltese conjugation is very simple. Does it have a dual form, being a semitic language? (In Arabic, there are specific pronouns - أنتما 'antumaa' and هما 'humaa' - for when you are adressing exactly two people or talking about exactly two people.)

[JessePaedia]

What dialect of Arabic do you want to learn?

[linguafiqari]

I'm learning MSA. After that I'm not sure. Either Levantine or Egyptian.

[JessePaedia]

Why MSA? No one speaks it. I reckon you should have learnt Egyptian or Levantine first then learn MSA. But then again, it doesn't really matter.

[linguafiqari]

Everyone knows it, though. From what I know, you can communicate with anyone using it, because it's taught in school, it's just people prefer their dialect over it. It's also supposedly easier to go from MSA -> Dialect than Dialect -> MSA. I'm not so focused on Arabic though; I'm currently properly studying Amharic :)

[JessePaedia]

Fair enough, good luck with your Amharic studies.

[StrapsOption]

I'm not sure about the dual form, but for the most part, yes Maltese conjugation is fairly easy to grasp. However, it has to change in certain circumstances, which complicates things slightly. It's not too bad though. Grazzi! / አመሰግናለሁ !

[pskully]

Il-Festi t-tajba~

[StrapsOption]

Tant ieħor! (Same to you!)

[CDuane]

This is awesome.

[StrapsOption]

Grazzi għall-għajuna!

[RebeccaButtigieg]

Why do you love Maltese so much :)? It makes me feel really great that someone is really interested in my native language :D

[StrapsOption]

Following reasons:

(a) It's awesome,

(b) it's really awesome,

(c) I actually am part Maltese,

(d) it's roots are fascinating, and

(e) it's awesome.

Did I mention it's awesome?

[KarateKay]

Il-Milied it-Tajjeb +StrapsOption

[StrapsOption]

Tant ieħor!