Childrens Song اسناني واوا Asnani Wawa

This is another song by the Birds of Paradise طيور الجنة, a really popular group that sings songs for kids. This انشودة (hymn) has about 4 million views on YouTube. The dialect is Syrian and the lyrics along with translation and explanations are below the video. It's about cavities and brushing your teeth!



يا بابا اسناني واوا
Dad, my teeth hurt

Explanation: واوا is basically the equivalent of the English term "boo boo". It's a word used by children for a small wound or some pain. Haifa Wehbe has a song called ليك الواوا (Look at the boo boo).

وديني عند الطبيب
Take me to the doctor.

ما عاد بدي شوكولاته بس بدي اشرب الحليب
I don't want chocolate anymore but I want to drink milk.

Explanation: ما عاد means "no longer". It is used in MSA as well.

السوسة نخرت في سناني
The worm has decayed my tooth

Explanation: سوسة means "woodworm". Back in the day people believed that when your teeth decayed it was worms eating your teeth. The word تسوّس means "worm eaten" or as we would translated it in English "cavitied".

اه يا اسناني
Ahhhhh, oh my teeth.صورلي الدكتور سني
The doctor took a picture of my tooth for me.

فرجاني ست السوسة
He showed me the cavity.

Explanation: ست means "woman" and sometimes "grandmother". Here I just translated ست السوسة to mean cavity, but it means literally "the lady worm". It's a kids' song, can't take it too literally :)

قاعدة جوى مبسوطة
It (the cavity) was sitting inside happily

بسيطة يا بسبوسة
It's a simple matter, sweetie.

Explanation: They say بسيطة when something can be taken care of easily. It just means "simple". بسبوسة is a Middle Eastern dessert.

والله لا اكل تفاح
I swear I won't eat an apple.

و رح انسى هالحلويات
And I will forget sweets.

رح اكل خضرا و حليب
I will eat vegetables and (drink) milk.

ما بدنا شبس و غازات
We don't want chips or soft drinks.

Explanation: غازات means "soft drinks". It comes from the English word "gas" since the drink are carbonated.

بالسواك و المعجون انا عندي حملة تنظيفات
With a miswak and with toothpaste I have a cleaning procedure

Explanation: سواك is a stick that Muhammad used to clean his teeth and it's mentioned in the Koran so lots of Muslims use it. The English word for it is "miswak" which I hadn't heard of until now. The word حلمة means "campaign" most of the time, as in حملة إنتخابية (election campaign), but here "cleaning campaign" wouldn't make much sense in English so I said "procedure". This is something that a lot of people never understand when learning a language. Each word in the foreign language does not always have an exact translation into another language. You have to translate the word into your language in a way that makes sense and conveys the right meaning. You can't always give the word the definition that you find in the dictionary or in a word list.

Learn the Arabic Numbers through Song

In Arabic the word nasheed نشيد means "hymn", but they use the word for many things that in English we would just call songs, so when you see نشيد it doesn't always mean "hymn" in the English sense. Basically all children songs are called نشيد الاطفال. This song for teaching the Arabic numbers was posted on YouTube as نشيد الأرقام literally, The Number's Hymn. It's mainly for kids, but it's also useful for adults learning Arabic.



واحد, إثنان, ثلاثة, أربعة, خمسة, ستة, سبعة, ثمانية, تسعة, عشرة - Wahid, ithnan, thalatha, arba'a, khamsa, sitta, seba'a, thamania, tisa'a, 'ashara

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

وقف الواحد ليصلي - Waqafa alwahid liyusulli

One stood to pray.

ركع الإثان لربه - Raka'a alithnani lirubbih

Two bowed to his lord.

و الثلاثة واحد و إثنان - Wa athalatha wahid wa ithnan

And three is one and two.

و الأربعة إثنان و إثنان - wa alarba'a ithnan wa ithnan

And four is two and two.

و الخمسة كعكة بسكر - Wa alkhamsa ka'ka bisukkar

And five is a cake with sugar.

و الستة وقفت لتفكر - Wa asitta waqafat litufakkir

And six stopped to think.

و السبعة تنظر للنجمة - Wa aseba'a tunthuru lilnejma

And seven looks to the stars.

و الثمانية عكس سبعة - Wa athmaniatu 'aksu seba'a

And eight is the opposite of seven.

و عصى جدي مثل تسعة - Wa 'asa jeddi mithu tisa'a

And my grandpa's cane is like nine.

و الصفر مع الواحد عشرة - Wa assifru m'a alwahidi 'ashara

And zero with one is ten.

Disney Songs in Arabic w/ Lyrics on YouTube

I was browsing YouTube the other day and came across 99meemo99's channel. He's a Sudanese guy living in Dubai who has made 56 videos of Arabic Disney songs (Lion King, Little Mermaid, Hercules) with the lyrics written out and translated into English. It's great that he translates these popular songs for free for people trying to learn Arabic. Most of them are Egyptian since that's the language they dub Disney movies in for the Arab world. He's also got the Pokemon theme song, Digimon songs, as well as some other anime songs. Here's the Ducktales opening song from his channel. They translated Duckberg to Duckistan lol!




الحياة دي زي العاصفة هنا في بطستان
عربيات و طيارات
حاجة.. حاجة جنان
و نحل فوازير
عيزالها وقت كتير

This life is like a storm, here in Duckistan.
Cars and planes
Something, something crazy
And we solve puzzles
That take a long time

قصص بطوطية
كل يوم مغامرة جديدة
قصص بطوطية
فيها لعبة و فكرة اكيدة
قصص بطوطية

Ducktales
Every day there's a new adventure
Ducktales
With a definite game and idea
Ducktales

و في خطر حواليك
و غريب بيجري عليك
تعالو بسرعة و شوفو معانا

And there's danger around you
And a stranger is coming at you
Come quickly and look with us
قصص بطوطية
كل يوم مغامرة جديدة
قصص بطوطية
فيها لعبة و فكرة اكيدة
قصص بطوطية
حتلاقو ضحكة و فكرة مفيدة
قصص بطوطية

Ducktales
Every day there's a new adventure
Ducktales
With a definite game and idea
Ducktales
You'll find laughs and a beneficial idea
Ducktales

Kids Song: The Rabbit and the Fox (الأرنب و الثعلب)

This is another popular song by the Birds of Paradise طيور الجنة . Like all their songs it is strangely catchy and very popular. It's in the Syrian dialect, but even if you aren't used to hearing it spoken it's a pretty simple song. Basically the rabbit asks him mom if he can go out and play. She tells him no because the the fox might get him. Is he supposed to stay inside all the time? I don't know. Anyway, the rabbit goes to the orchard and runs around and sniffs a rose. Then the fox sees him and chases him. The rabbit hides in a hole and the fox gets lost in the orchard. The rabbit goes home crying and his mom tells him that he should have listened to her. You could probably understand this song even if you didn't know a word of Arabic since the video shows everything that happens. That's great for learning a language though. Enjoy!




ايش صار للأرنب لما ما رد على امه؟

• What happened to the rabbit when he didn't listen to his mom?

Comments: ايش means "what" in Syrian. Most of the time رد means "respond" or "reply", but here it means "obey" or "listen to". You'll notice that they say إم instead of أم in Syrian dialect. صار means حدث , "happened".

قال الأرنب لامه, إسمحي لي روح العب ماما

• The rabbit said to his mom, "Let me go play, mom."

قالت له لا يا ماما. يمكن يجيك الثعلب. يمكن يجيك الثعلب

• She said to him, "No." The fox might come for you.

Comments: She says يا ماما which is strange to English speakers since she's talking to her son, but this is something Arab parents do when they talk to their kids.هز الارنب بكتافه ما سمع كلمة امه. راح يتمشى على البستان و يقطف ورد و يشمه

• The rabbit shrugged his shoulders and didn't listen to his mother's words. He went walking to the orchard and picked a rose and sniffed it.

Comments: هز means "to shake", but "shrugged" works better when talking about shoulders. They say وارد but that's just to make it go with the rhythm. They mean ورد

شافه الثعلب, هجم عليه!! صار يركض و هو خوفان. و تخبأ في جحر صغير. و ضاع الثعلب في البستان

• The fox saw him and attacked him. He started running and was scared. He hid in a small hole and the fox got lost in the orchard.

إجا الأرنب لامه و عيونه مليانة دموع

• The rabbit came to his mom and his eyes were filled with tears.

قالت له ثاني مرة, خلي كلامي مسموع

• She said to him a second time, listen to my words.

Comments: Literally خلي كلامي مسموع means "let my words be heard."

بابا تليفون Dad, Telephone - Arabic Children's Song

This song is awesome and pretty simple to understand so it should be a good learning tool if you're starting out. It's by a group called طيور الجنة (The Birds of Paradise) that sings a lot of great songs for kids such as اسناني واوا which I guess you could translate as (My teeth hurt) and also أنا البندورة الحمرة (I am the red tomato). Their songs are all in Syrian Arabic and all really cool!

I don't think the words in this song need much explaining. It's just a matter of looking at the text as they sing and matching what you hear to the words written down. قدوة might not be a word you've heard before. It's an MSA word and means "an example".



بابا تليفون - Dad, telephone!
قلو مو هون - Tell him I'm not here (Literally, tell him not here)
بابا بيقلك هو مو هون - Dad tells you that he's not here

مو قلتلي يا بابا ان الكذب حرام - Didn't you tell me, Dad, that lying is wrong
و انو إللي بيكذب يا بابا الله بيزعل منو - And that God gets angry at those who lie
عينه ما بتقدر إتنام والناس بتبعد عنه - They can't sleep and everyone stays away from them

بتعلمني و بتنسى يا بابا اللي قلتو - Dad, you teach me then you forget what you said
انت القدوة يا بابا و انت المثل الأعلى - You are my model and (high) example
ما تزعل مني يا بابا يا عيوني و اغلى بابا - Don't get mad at me, Dad. Oh precious apple of my eye.