Breakdown of ما تروح عالشغل اذا كنت مريض واذا عندك حرارة.
Questions & Answers about ما تروح عالشغل اذا كنت مريض واذا عندك حرارة.
Why is it ما تروح and not لا تروح or ما بتروح?
In Levantine Arabic, ما + verb is a very common way to make a negative command:
- تروح = you go
- ما تروح = don’t go
The version with لا is more Standard Arabic or formal.
And بتروح is the regular present tense form you go / you are going, but in commands the b- usually drops. So ما تروح is the natural colloquial form here.
What does عالشغل mean exactly?
عالشغل is a spoken contraction of على الشغل.
- على = on / to / at
- الشغل = work, job
So عالشغل literally looks like on the work, but in natural English it means to work or to the workplace.
In speech, على الـ often becomes عالـ.
Why is إذا repeated twice?
Both إذا words mean if.
So the structure is:
- إذا كنت مريض = if you are sick
- وإذا عندك حرارة = and if you have a fever
Repeating إذا makes each condition sound separate and explicit. That is normal in Arabic.
You could also hear a shorter version like:
ما تروح عالشغل إذا كنت مريض وعندك حرارة
That is also natural.
Why does it say كنت? Doesn’t that literally mean you were?
Yes, كنت is literally the past form of to be. But after إذا, colloquial Arabic often uses كنت in a conditional phrase where English would say if you are.
So here:
- إذا كنت مريض = if you are sick
This is very common and does not necessarily mean past time in this kind of sentence.
You may also hear other colloquial versions such as:
- إذا إنت مريض
- إذا مريض
But إذا كنت مريض is perfectly normal.
What does عندك حرارة mean literally?
Literally, it means you have heat/temperature.
Idiomatic meaning:
- عندك حرارة = you have a fever / you have a temperature
This is a very common Arabic way to talk about fever.
Also, عندك literally means something like at you, but it is often used to express possession:
- عندك سيارة = you have a car
- عندك حرارة = you have a fever
Where is the word you in this sentence?
Arabic often does not need a separate subject pronoun, because the verb or attached ending already shows who the subject is.
Here:
- تروح already includes you
- كنت already includes you
- عندك includes you in the -ك
So Arabic does not need to add a separate word for you unless the speaker wants extra emphasis.
Is this sentence addressed to a man or a woman?
As written, it is addressed to a man, because of مريض.
- مريض = sick, masculine
- مريضة = sick, feminine
To say it to a woman, you would usually say:
ما تروحي عالشغل إذا كنتي مريضة وإذا عندِك حرارة
In everyday writing, the feminine pronunciation of عندك is often not shown clearly in spelling, but it is pronounced differently from the masculine form.
How would a Levantine speaker pronounce this sentence?
A rough pronunciation is:
ma truuḥ ʿa sh-shuġel iza kint marīḍ w iza ʿandak ḥarāra
A more English-friendly approximation would be:
ma trooh ash-shoghel iza kent mareed w iza 3andak haraara
A few notes:
- ع is a sound English does not really have
- ح is a stronger, breathier h
- الشغل is pronounced with a doubled sh sound because of the ال
Exact vowels vary a bit across Levantine regions.
Is this Levantine Arabic or Standard Arabic?
This is Levantine colloquial Arabic, not full Standard Arabic.
Clues include:
- ما تروح for don’t go
- عالشغل instead of a more formal phrase
- the overall spoken-style wording
A Standard Arabic version would be something like:
لا تذهب إلى العمل إذا كنت مريضًا وإذا كانت لديك حمى
So the sentence you have is the kind of Arabic people would actually say in everyday conversation in the Levant.
Does وإذا here mean and if or or if?
Literally, وإذا means and if.
But in everyday speech, people do not always use و with strict logical precision the way English learners might expect. In a sentence like this, English might naturally translate the idea as if you’re sick or if you have a fever, because either condition is enough.
If you want to make the or meaning clearer in Arabic, you could say:
ما تروح عالشغل إذا كنت مريض أو عندك حرارة
So:
- وإذا = literally and if
- أو = clearly or
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