Word
الدكتور قاللي اذا عندي حرارة، لازم ما اروح عالشغل.
Meaning
The doctor told me that if I have a fever, I should not go to work.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
Questions & Answers about الدكتور قاللي اذا عندي حرارة، لازم ما اروح عالشغل.
What does قاللي mean exactly, and how is it built?
قاللي means he told me.
It is made of:
- قال = he said / he told
- لي = to me
So literally it is he said to me, but in natural English it often becomes he told me.
In writing, you may also see it written as:
- قال لي
- قالي
- قاللي
In Levantine, these all represent the same everyday idea, with slight spelling variation.
Why is there no word for he or I in the sentence?
Arabic often leaves subject pronouns out because the verb or the context already tells you who the subject is.
In this sentence:
- قاللي already tells you the subject is he
- اروح tells you the subject is I
So Arabic does not need to say هو or أنا here.
This is very normal in Levantine and in Arabic generally.
What does اذا mean here? Is it the same as if in English?