Haifa Wehbe Expresses Admiration for Hassan Nasrallah

This video is of Haifa Wehbe هيفاء وهبي being interviewed and asked about who she looks up to. Her answer is the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah حسن نصر الله. I don't think I would describe him the way she did, but to each his (or in this case her) own. This dialogue is in Levantine and more specifically Lebanese Arabic. With the transcript you should be able to follow along without having exposure to this dialect because almost all of the words are found in MSA فصحى but they are said with a Lebanese accent. The spiral and the chairs coming toward each other at the beginning is kind of strange. Not sure what that's about. :)



سؤال تاني. سمي شخص بيدق قلبك إله بس إتشوفيه بس مش كحبيب و لا من افراد أسرتك

Another question. Name a person for whom your heart beats when you see him, but not as a lover and not among the members of your family.

Comments: تاني doesn't always mean "second". This could have been the 4th question.

بيدق قلبي بس شوفه بس مش كحبيب؟

My heart beats when I see him but not as a lover?

اه, بصراحة... و يمكن الحرب خلتني كمان أكثر أتأكد من هالشي. سيد حسن نصر الله. حكمته العالية جداً. روقيه بالتعامل مع كل الأوضاع إللي كانت مدمية و إللي بعدها. أكثر شغلة إللي تعجبني فيه, هالكاريزما بحواره, هالطريقة القوية إللي بتقنعني, مقنع جداً و حكيم. حكمته كتير... و طبعاً هو رجل يحتذى فيه يعني و ينضرب فيه المثل.

Ah, frankly... and maybe the war also has made me more sure of this. Mr. Hasan Nasrallah. His very high wisdom. His dignified way of dealing with all the situations that were bloody, etc. The thing that I like most about him, this charisma in his dialogue, this strong way that convinces me. He's very convincing and wise. His wisdom is very... and of course he is a model man and one the proverbs speak of.

Vocabulary:

• دق - to beat or knock
• صراحة - frankly
• خلتني - made me or let me. خليني روح means "let me go"
• شغلة - thing. Just like the word حاجة in Egyptian.
• مقنع - convincing
• حكيم - wise. Also means "doctor" in Levantine, but doesn't mean that here.
• رجل يحتذى فيه - an exemplary man, a good example of a man, role model
• ينضرب فيه المثل - "the proverb is hit in him" literally. It means basically that he is a guy like in the proverb. Maybe she has a specific proverb in mind but I don't know what it is.
  

Haifa Wehbe: Laik El Wawa

Another popular song by Haifa Wehbe with some nice vocab and sayings. She's a babysitter and her boyfriend comes over and they have to take the kid out with them to a party. If there are any questions or anything you'd like explained better please ask. I try to comment on the things people might find difficult, but sometimes I miss some things that were difficult or didn't make sense for me when I was first learning but that now I understand.

ليك الواوا بوس الواوا خلي الواوا يصح - Look at the boo boo, kiss the boo boo, let the boo boo heal.

ليك - look
بوس - kiss
خلي الواوا يصح - let the boo boo get better

لما بست الواوا شيلتو صار الواوا بح - When you kissed the boo boo you removed it. The boo boo disappeared.

لما - When
صار - became
بح - gone, vanished, disappeared

بقربك خبيني غمرني و دفيني - Hide me close to you, cover me and keep me warm.

بقربك - in your proximity (close to you)

انا من دونك انا بردانة اح - Without you I am cold. Ah!

من دون - without

ليك الواوا ليك - Look at the boo boo, look!

الليلة احلى سهرة عند حبابي - Tonight there's the greatest party at my boyfriend's

سهرة - the verb سهر means "to stay up all night". A سهرة is a party where you stay up all night.
عند - this literally means "at" but if you wanted to say "at my friend's house" you could say عند صديقي without saying house, بيت
الليلة - you'll notice that she says الليلي . In Levantine they change the ة to a ي in many (but not all) words. The word for "a kiss" is بوسة but they say بَوسي

بدو ياني البس احلى تيابي - He wants me to wear my nicest clothes.

بدو - in MSA this means Bedouin, but in Levantine this means "he wants". بدي would be "I want".
ياني - me

بلبس لعيونك يا حبيبي كل جديد و دح - I'll wear them for your eyes, my baby, all new and nice.

دح - nice, good

بوثق فيك و بدي تبقى حدي - I trust in you and want you to stay by my side.

بوثق - she says بوسق which is common. In Levantine (and Egyptian) they change the ث to a س in a lot of words. Another example would beثابت

انت بين الناس الاغلى عندي - Among the people you are the most precious to me.

و آخر همي شو ما يقولوا غلط ولا صح - And my last concern is what they (people) say, whether it's wrong or right.

ما - in a lot of places ما means "don't" or "not" like in ما بدي "I don't want", but in other situations, like this one, it isn't a negation. It means "that" or "what". Another example is عمل شو ما بدك "do whatever you want". It's kind of confusing but after hearing it many times you get used to when it means "not" and when it means "that" or "what".
ولا - or. They used this a lot more commonly in the dialects than أو

Bent Al Wadi - Girl of the Valley (بنت الوادي)

I guess Bent Al Wadi could be translated as "Valley Girl", but that makes me think of girls from San Fernando Valley California, so I think this way is better. Anyway, this is a really awesome song. This vid was the one with the best quality on YouTube.



انا انا بنت الوادي انا هنا هنا شمس وخضرة هنا - I'm a girl from the valley. There is sun and green here.

يدن الديك اصحى اوام اعجن واخبز و اسقي الحمام - The rooster crows and I wake up. I kneed the dough, bake bread, and give the pigeons water.

اومال دنا بنت بلد اوي اومال دنا حلوة وجدعة اوي - That's me, a girl of my country. That's me, very pretty and strong.

انام في وقت العشا و الفجر اقوم اصحى و انام مفرفشة كدا كل يوم - I go to sleep at dinner time and get up at dawn. I get up and sleep like this happily every day.

يدن الديك اصحى اوام اعجن واخبز واسقي الحمام
اومال دنا بنت بلد اوي اومال دنا حلوة وجدعة اوي

عجباني العيشة كدا اهو دا الكلام - I like life like this. That's right.
انا عمري هنا ابتدى اه يا سلام - My life began here. Oh yeah.

يدن الديك اصحى اوام اعجن واخبز واسقي الحمام
اومال دنا بنت بلد اوي اومال دنا حلوة وجدعة اوي


I really have no clue what اومال means, so if someone could fill me in I'd be forever grateful!