Breakdown of اذا ما لقيت الدوا بالصيدلية القريبة، روح عالصيدلية يلي جنب المستشفى.
ال
the
ب
at
راح
to go
على
to
Questions & Answers about اذا ما لقيت الدوا بالصيدلية القريبة، روح عالصيدلية يلي جنب المستشفى.
What does إذا ما mean in this sentence?
إذا means if, and ما negates the verb. So إذا ما لقيت means if you don’t find or if you can’t find. This is a very common way to make a negative condition in Levantine Arabic.
Why does the sentence use لقيت even though the meaning is not past?
In Levantine Arabic, after إذا, speakers often use the perfect form for a future or hypothetical condition. So إذا ما لقيت is not really if you found here; it means if you don’t find. This is one of those places where the verb form does not match English tense in a simple word-for-word way.
How do I know لقيت means you found here and not I found?
In colloquial Levantine, لقيت can mean I found or you found for masculine singular. The context tells you which one it is. Here, the speaker immediately says روح — a command meaning go — so it is clearly addressed to you, not me.
Why is it الدوا and not الدواء?
الدوا is the normal colloquial Levantine word for the medicine. In Modern Standard Arabic, you would more often see . Colloquial Arabic often shortens or simplifies words compared with Standard Arabic, and is the everyday spoken form.