Questions & Answers about ما سعر هذا القميص؟
How do I pronounce ما سعر هذا القميص؟
A careful MSA pronunciation is:
mā siʿru hādhā al-qamīṣ?
A few useful notes:
- ما = mā
- سعر = siʿr or siʿru in full grammatical pronunciation
- هذا = hādhā
- القميص = al-qamīṣ
Sounds to notice:
- ع in سعر is a deep throat sound that does not exist in English.
- ق in القميص is usually pronounced as a deep q sound in MSA, not like English k.
- ص in قميص is an emphatic s.
In everyday careful speech, many speakers will not fully pronounce all case endings, so you may often hear something close to:
mā siʿr hādhā al-qamīṣ?
What does each word in the sentence mean?
Here is the word-by-word breakdown:
- ما = what
- سعر = price
- هذا = this
- القميص = the shirt
So literally, the structure is:
What [is] the price of this shirt?
Arabic often leaves out the verb is in present-tense sentences like this.