Questions & Answers about اذا عندك دوام بكير بكرا، نام بكير اليوم.
What does اذا mean here, and is it the same as MSA إذا?
Yes. In Levantine, اذا means if, just like MSA إذا.
A few useful notes:
- In casual writing, people often write اذا without the hamza.
- You may also see إزا, which reflects the spoken pronunciation more closely.
- In Levantine, it is usually pronounced something like iza.
So اذا عندك دوام... means if you have work/classes...
What does عندك literally mean? Why isn’t there a verb for have?
عندك literally means at you or by you.
Levantine Arabic often expresses possession with عند + a pronoun suffix:
- عندي = I have
- عندك = you have
- عنده = he has
- عندها = she has
So:
- عندك دوام = you have work / you have classes / you have a shift
This is a very common Arabic way to say have.
What does دوام mean exactly?