3 min zamaan A long time ago ‘this unit you will learn about: feompering past and present more Arabic dates the vorb ‘to be’ in the past forms of the verb hhow to read Arabic numbers ogue 1 () id is talking to Mr Laurence on the way to the pyramids inda shdari9 il-héram ~ dayman z4Hma! shuft(i) kull il-arabiyy wil-mabéani wil-maTéa9im wil-maHalléat? zamdan ma kaans fii kull() da. kan fiih ghayTéan barsfim wi nakhl(i) wi Hit na fékra limma kunt(i) Sughayyéra kaan 9%ndi SéHba k Saysha hina ganb it-tir9a fi bayt(i) gamfil hadi. bass(i) dilwa't ‘makéan béythaa Ha-tilda’i khémas Simardat! ‘al Ii in fi Ltalatiindat wik-arbaSiingat kan fith mu9: taba9 ig-gaysh il-ingilizi, hindak fi S-SaHré Sand sbul-hohl. Tat it-ingiiiz mishu min zaméan, min sénit alf w-tisa9 miyya arbé9a khamséin, ldakin iss fih isTabldat li-ghdayitdilwé’ti win-naas te tirkab khayl hinéak Yanddhum. ef This is the Pyramids Road ~ it's always crowded! Did you see the cars, buildings, restaurants and shops? A long time ago the wasn't all of thi. There were fields of clover, palm trees and donké T remember when I was young I had a friend (who) was living near the canal, in a beautiful peaceful house. But now in the pl of her house you'll find five apartment blocks! My grandfather told me that in the thirties and fortes there w camp belonging 10 the English army, there in the desert by Sphinx. Of course, the English left a long time ago, from 1954, there are still stables until now and people ride horses there them. Vocabulary yan aways zamdan/min zaméan along time ago sheyT (pl ghayTéum) field Darsim clover (a common animal fed) nak palm trees faakic (fem. fikrn; —_—_remember(ing), an active paricple use il fakin) witha verbal meaning ~ see Unit 6 ‘imma when; wed in a sentence rather than a ques tion (compare with fmta? ~ when?) {i194 (pl tira) canal (small irrigation channel)159 peaceful/quiet |makian in the place of, (pl Simaréat) apartment building/block of flats (+ period of ime)... ago ‘grandfather, gidda = grandmother that; aa told me that. ‘camp; encampment belonging to/relating to: similar to bitéiad but less personal (pl. giviush) army desert, the Sphinx shi to go (away): to walk fibl (pl isTubliat) stable to be able/can: followed directly by another verb in the presencfurure tense: in-naas eople can ride horses inguage points about dates year is usually expressed by saying the number prefixed by (year of”): 1954 sdnit all wi tisa miyya arbé9a wi khamsfin Mit “the year of a thousand, nine hundred and fifty-four’) 1450 sdnit alf wi rubu9 miyya wi khamsfin 2 sit alfiyn wi iyn (alfiiyn = two thousand) 15 sénit alfiyn wi khamastéashar