بقالنا اسبوع في التدريب.

بقالنا is a very common Egyptian Arabic way to express how long something has been going on up to now.

In this sentence, بقالنا اسبوع means we’ve been ... for a week.

You can break بقالنا down like this:

• بقال = it has been / it’s been
• نا = for us / we

So بقالنا اسبوع is basically it’s been a week for us, which in natural English becomes we’ve been there / doing that for a week.

Very common related forms are:

• بقالي = I’ve been ... for
• بقالك = you’ve been ... for
• بقاله = he’s been ... for
• بقالها = she’s been ... for
• بقالهم = they’ve been ... for

Because Egyptian Arabic often expresses this idea differently from English.

English says:

• We have been in training for a week

Egyptian Arabic often says something more like:

• It has been a week for us in training

That is exactly the job of بقالنا here.

So instead of using a structure that matches English word-for-word, Egyptian Arabic uses a duration expression. This is extremely normal and natural.

اسبوع means a week.

In this sentence, it gives the length of time:

• بقالنا اسبوع = we’ve been at it for a week

So اسبوع is not the subject in the English sense. It is the time period telling you how long the situation has lasted.

Also, in informal Egyptian writing, you will often see اسبوع written without the hamza, even though the more standard spelling is أسبوع.

في التدريب means in training or more literally in the training.

• في = in
• التدريب = the training

So the full sentence means:

• We’ve been in training for a week

Depending on context, التدريب could refer to:

• a training program
• a training period
• practice/training at work
• athletic training

In Egyptian Arabic, it is very common to use the definite article ال where English might not.

So التدريب literally means the training, but in natural English we often just say training.

This happens a lot in Arabic. The definite article can point to something already understood from context, such as:

• the training we are currently doing
• the training program everyone knows about

So في التدريب is perfectly natural even if English would simply say in training.

A common pronunciation would be:

ba2ālna usbūʕ fit-tadrīb

You may also see it written informally as:

ba'alna usboo3 fit-tadreeb

A few pronunciation notes:

• ق in Egyptian Arabic is often pronounced as a glottal stop, often written 2 or an apostrophe in transliteration.
• أسبوع is usually pronounced usbūʕ
• التدريب begins with ت, which is a sun letter, so ال assimilates:
  • التدريب is pronounced it-tadrīb or after في, fit-tadrīb

So في التدريب is said more like fit-tadrīb, not fi al-tadrīb.

Because Egyptian Arabic is not trying to copy the English structure.

English:

• We’ve been in training for a week

Egyptian Arabic:

• بقالنا اسبوع في التدريب
• literally something like It’s been a week for us in training

Arabic often puts the duration phrase first, then the situation or place.

This is normal and natural. If you translate word-for-word into English, it can sound odd, but as a real Egyptian Arabic sentence, it works fine.

No, not normally.

بقالنا اسبوع talks about time that has already passed, not time remaining.

So it means:

• We’ve been in training for a week
• It’s been a week since we started training

If you wanted to say we still have a week left, you would need a different expression.

Yes, this kind of structure is especially common in Egyptian Arabic and other spoken dialects, though forms differ from one dialect to another.

In Modern Standard Arabic, you would usually express this idea in a more formal way, such as with a structure meaning:

• We have been in training for a week
• We have spent a week in training

But in Egyptian speech, بقالنا اسبوع is very natural and everyday.

Yes, absolutely. This is one of the most useful everyday patterns in Egyptian Arabic.

Examples:

• بقالي يومين هنا = I’ve been here for two days
• بقاله شهر في الشغل = He’s been at the job for a month
• بقالنا سنة في مصر = We’ve been in Egypt for a year
• بقالها كتير بتذاكر = She’s been studying for a long time

So the pattern is basically:

بقال + pronoun + time expression + situation/place

Yes. In casual online writing, Egyptian Arabic speakers often simplify spelling.

So you may see:

• اسبوع
• أسبوع

Both refer to the same word, week.

The version with hamza, أسبوع, is the more standard spelling.
The version without hamza, اسبوع, is very common in informal writing like messages and social media.

Yes, definitely. It sounds natural in spoken Egyptian Arabic.

A speaker might say it in contexts like:

• starting a new job or internship
• military or workplace training
• sports training
• any organized training program

You might also hear close variations such as:

• بقالنا اسبوع بنتدرب = We’ve been training for a week
• احنا بقالنا اسبوع في التدريب = We’ve been in training for a week

The version with احنا adds emphasis to we, but it is not necessary because نا in بقالنا already tells you the subject is we.