EL EID FARKHA!!! Wala FARHA?

EL EID FARKHA...oops! I mean EL EID FARHA.... (too many days off, fadyalkom ya3nee)....is the feast a 'farha' or a 'farkha'..... whatever....but I know that English also has a lot of confusing words. How about studying a little to stop the confusion:

Affect/Effect:

Affect is the verb: (to influence or change someone or something). The noise affected my sleep.

Effect is the noun: (to have an impact on someone or something). His speech had an effect on me.

Accept/Except

Accept is a verb: (to agree or take something). I accept your gift.

Except is a preposition: (not including). I work everyday except Friday.

Lose/Loose (dee ili bit ganinee!)

Lose is a verb (to misplace something...ye daya3 haga ya nas!!) Don't lose my telephone number.(it's pronunced with a 'z' like 'luze')

Loose is an adjective: (something not fitting). His pants are too loose. (pantalon wasa3)

All ready/Already

All ready: (completely ready). Are you all ready for their test? Yes, I'm all ready. (gahza)

Already: an adverb that means before the present time. I didn't go to the movie with him because I already saw it.

It's/ Its (bardu 3al lista ili bit ganinee)

It's = It is. It's time to learn some English.

Its is a possesive pronoun. (belonging to something). The car is white and its chairs are black.

Lay/Lie (la...ghilsa begad...mish ana! lay wa lie!...wa ana bardu shwyia)

Lay is an irregular transitive verb (lay / laid/ laid - laying). It needs a direct object. It means to put something or someone down (usually in a horizontal postion). Don't cry. Lay your head on my shoulder ( ya 3inee, ya 3inee 3al romanceya!)

Lie is an irregular intransitive verb (lie / lay / lain - lying). It does not take a direct object. It means to rest in a horizontal position or to be located somewhere. I found this pen lying around.

NOTE!!!! (Lie also means to say something that isn't true but it takes the following form (lie / lied / lied - lying).

Been/Gone

Been is the past participle of 'be'. I've been to England twice. (it's understood that you have returned. A completed visit).

Gone is the past participle of 'go'. He's gone to England. (could easily be understood that he's not back yet).

Complement/Compliment:

Complement is a verb meaning to make something better or more attractive when combined. Her personality complements his very well. (la...mish ma3nitha in shakhseyitha ahla...ma3nitha shakhseyitha bit kamil shakhseyitu howa).

Compliment is a noun meaning a remark or comment that is nice. Women love to receive a nice compliment.

A lot/ Alot

A lot means a large number of people or things and can be used to modify a noun. I need a lot of time to help you learn English.

Alot .... doesn't exist in the English language! Mish me sad'inee? Tayeb rouhu shoufu fee el dictionary!

For more help on confusing words go to:

http://http://esl.about.com/cs/vocabulary/a/a_confused.htm

2007 and OTHER NUMBERS

Happy New Year and kol sana wa intu tayebeen.

Some people have a hard time saying dates; some people might read and say 2007 like this:

twenty zero seven ..... or like this:

two hundred seven ..... or even:

twenty o seven .... or:

two thousand seven (you might hear it like this because the 'and' before seven is not stressed.

But the only way to say it is:

two thousand and seven (2007). (but you will hear it as: two thousand (an) seven.

And since most likely I might not be alive later on, it will probably be still said like that leghait sanit 2010, ili ghaliban momken waqtaha (ISA) te'oulu:

the year twenty ten.

BIG TIME MISTAKES IN NUMBERS:

One thousand ....sah? YES, CORRECT
Two thousands ....sah? NO...GHALAT!!!! YOU MUST SAY TWO THOUSAND, THREE THOUSAND, FOUR THOUSAND, ETC...

One million ..... sah? YES, CORRECT
Two millions..... sah? NO....GHALAT!!!!! YOU MUST SAY TWO MILLION, THREE MILLION, FOUR MILLION, ETC...

We can say: a million dollars ..... or......millions of dollars


Other things in dates to notice:

British system: date/month/year
American system: month/date/year

So January 1, 2007 can either be written British style as 1/1/2007 or American system 1/1/2007 .....hahahaha! (da eh el khifa dee?)

Also in dates:

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th - 30th

31st

Notice dates of the 20th Century: How do you say, for example 1901?

Most people will say it as:

nineteen o one

(The longer version would be said as: nineteen hundred and one)

Lahzu in el zero bil English is said as the letter 'o'. Da fee el tawareekh wa kaman el telephone numbers. We say our mobile numbers zero ten or zero twelve, but it's not unusual to also say them with the letter 'o'; khousasan lama yekoun 3andak 'zero' within your telephone number.

Ana nimritee feeha three zeros...(uslee mohima aiwee) and many times I say: double 'o'. Sahih mish kol wahid fahimnee, bas mish mohem...ba'olokom wa khalas.

So enough for now and happy two thousand and seven to all of you.

I FEEL HAPPY; I FEEL VERY HAPPY; I FEEL VERY, VERY HAPPY; I FEEL VERY, VERY, VERY HAPPY!!

YA HI EVERYONE ... So now everyone knows that I FEEL HAPPY; VERY HAPPY, VERY, VERY HAPPY and even VERY, VERY, VERY HAPPY! Ya tara leh everyone knows that I feel HAPPY AND VERY HAPPY?! Yimkin 3ashan mish 3arfa eya kilma tanya gheir 'HAPPY'? Wa hatit kilmit 'VERY' wa keda fehimna in ana feeling AKTAR MIN HAPPY. (Ya farhitee bekom!)

Well, that would be very good English...IF... you're in KG1. Anyone after KG1 must know other words to express himself. hat hotu kam 'very' odam el kilma?

Let's try some different words..mogarad tagheer bas!

ok...I'm Happy
I'm Glad, I'm Cheerful, I'm Cheery (same meanings as 'happy')

I'm delighted, I'm pleased (dakhlna hena fee 'very happy' naw3an ma)

I'm elated, I'm exuberant (kol el very's min ba3d!!)

This is all very important because the fact is, mish kol mara ahna happy bas. Sometimes we're more than happy and sometimes we're less than happy. Ifrid inta mish happy bas radee. What would you say? Aiwa...olee hat oul ... I'm not very happy. That is a perfectly good sentence, but the point of this lesson is to increase your VOCABULARY!!! So, lou inta radee...you can say, I'm content.

Some other words that have the same meaning, but show more definement:

BAD= terrible, horrible, rotten, (akl bayez = rotten food) pitiful

RUDE= ill-mannered, impolite, uncivil

PRETTY= good looking, attractive, beautiful, (a) beauty

BEGIN= start, initiate, commence

MIDDLE = in between, center, heart, core

Taba3an dol just small examples of increasing your vocabulary ... by using synonyms (words that have a similar meaning).
Of course each word has its own place of usage. And that you will understand more through practice.

Use this link if you need to find a different word:

http://www.synonym.com/synonym/

Now, believe me Walahee... this lesson is very, very, very, useful! oops! I mean this lesson is valuable!