A. Stand-alone demonstratives

By this I mean demonstrative articles such as are used in sentences like "What is this?", "These are yours", etc.

1. This

The following series correspond to "this", with an immediacy to the object. Where I give more than one word with the same meaning, you can use any indifferently.

Háy: this, this one (for an "it" or anytime we want to keep it general, for instance in "What's all this?").
Hayda: this, this one (masculine singular – this book).
Hayde: this, this one (feminine singular – this cup).
Haydól, haydóle, hól, hóle: these, these ones.

Examples:
Shou háy? What is this?
Hayda ghalat: This is wrong.
Hól ma ba3refon: I don't know these.

2. That

The following correspond to "that" and clearly state a distance from the object:

Haydák: that, that one (masculine singular)
Haydeeke: that, that one (feminine singular)
Holeek, heydoleek: those, those ones.

B. Demonstratives followed by a noun.

"This man", "Those issues", etc.

Unlike English where the demonstrative adjective replaces the article (you say "this cup", not "this the cup"), Lebanese demands the presence of the article after it. The pattern must always be demonstrative-el-noun. This is because the meaning of the sentence changes entirely if the article is ommitted. Here's an example:

Hayda el 7arame ("this-the-thief"): This thief… [sentence to be completed]
Hayda 7arame ("this-thief"): This one [is] a thief.

Think of it this way: if you define the noun thanks to the article, you are specifying what the demonstrative is referring to ("this one, the thief,…"), whereas if you leave the noun undefined, you are saying that it is being used as an adjective or apposition ("this one: a thief!").

Note: When the pattern demonstrative-el-noun is used, a contraction occurs between the demonstrative and the article to avoid having el preceded by a vowel.. Thus, instead of saying...
… háy-el-noun, we say hál-noun;
… hayda-el-noun, we say hayda-l-noun;
… hayde-el-noun, we say hayde-l-noun;
… hóle-el-noun, we say hóle-l-noun.

Using the lexicon, translate the following into Lebanese.

1. This child.

2. That day.

3. Those mothers.

4. This is a fish.

5. These men.

6. That year.

7. These are close.

See solutions

Chapter 6: Pronouns

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