Questions & Answers about عندك اخ او اخت؟
Why does the sentence start with عندك? Doesn’t that literally mean at you?
Yes — literally, عندك means something like at you or with you. In Arabic, that is a very common way to express having.
So instead of a separate verb like English to have, Levantine Arabic often uses:
- عندك = you have
- عندي = I have
- عنده = he has
- عندها = she has
So in this sentence, عندك اخ او اخت؟ is structurally closer to Do you have a brother or a sister?
How is عندك pronounced in Levantine Arabic?
It is usually pronounced something like:
- ʿindak when speaking to a man
- ʿindek or ʿindik when speaking to a woman, depending on the dialect
A rough English-friendly spelling is:
- 3indak
- 3indek / 3indik
The first sound ع is the tricky consonant called ʿayn. English does not have an exact equivalent, so beginners often just learn to recognize it first and improve it over time.
Is this sentence addressed to a man or a woman?
In writing without vowel marks, عندك can represent both: