Lesson Three: لسه

New Vocabulary

lissah (لسه) - still, yet
nifsi (نفسي) - I wanna
maHtaag (محتاج) - needing
'aadir (قادر) - can, able to
shaayil (شايل) - carrying, holding, bearing
shaayil min (شايل من) - holding something against someone
bas (بس) - but, just, only
'uSaad (قصاد) - before, in front of

Hass (حسّ) - to feel
samaH (سمح) - to pardon, to forgive
laa'a (لاقى) - to find, to meet
Haka (حكى) - to tell, to speak
irtaaH (ارتاح) - to be at ease, to be comfortable, to be content, to relax
ta3ab (تَعَب) - to tire someone

In the last lesson, we examined the song "laazim a3iish (لازم أعيش)" by Sherine and learned the useful verb "3aayiz (عايز)," meaning "want" and the modal "laazim (لازم)," meaning "gotta" or "must." In this lesson we will learn a useful adverb, "lissa (لسه)," meaning "still," along with another modal "nifsi (نفسي)," meaning "I wanna." The singer of this song is Tamer Hosni, a very popular Egyptian singer who became famous from his duet album with Sherine. The title of the song, "lissa baHibbak (لسه بحبك)," means "I still love you" or "I'm still loving you." The word "lissa (لسه)" means "still," replacing the verb from Standard Arabic "ما زال" in this function. "lissa (لسه)" is not conjugated for person, gender or number, so "ana lissa, anti lissa, huwwa lissa" etc.

Listen to the song and follow along with the lyrics below:

تامر حسني - لسه بحبك

لسه بحبك لسه بحسك
أنا محتجلك نفسى أضمك

بس أنا قلبى شايل منك مش قادر يسمحك
كل ما أجى أصلحك ألاقى قصادى جرحك

حبيبى

نفسى أحكيلك نفسى أشكيلك على اللى تعبنى منك ليك
قلت أنا حبعد مش قادر أبعد نفسى أرتاح فى حضن عينيك

The first verse:

لسه بحبك لسه بحسك

Based on what we learned in the last lesson, you should be able to understand this sentence: "lissa baHibbak, lissa baHissak (لسه بحبك لسه بحسك)" means "I still love you, I still feel you." Listen carefully and notice that he is grammatically addressing a male. This is not uncommon in Arabic music for a male to sing to another grammatical male, and should be taken as a gender neutral object rather than thinking the song as any homosexual overtones.

The next line:

أنا محتاجلك نفسى أضمك

"ana maHtaag lak (انا محتاج لك)" means "I need you." "maHtaag (محتاج)" means "needing" or "in need of." "nifsi (نفسي)" of course is the aforementioned modal meaning "I wanna" or "I wish to" do something that you currently aren't or can't. In this case, he says "nifsi aDammak (نفسي أضمك)," "I wanna hold you."

Next line:

بس أنا قلبى شايل منك

The word "bas (بس)" is extremely important in Egyptian Arabic. It means "but" replacing standard Arabic "" and also means in some case "only" or "just." But what? He says "ana 'albi shaayil minnak (انا قلبي شايل منك)." "shaayil (شايل)" takes the same form as "3aayiz (عايز)," and means "carrying" or "holding" or "bearing." However, "shaayil min (شايل من)" someone means to "have a grudge," much like "to hold against" someone in English. So he is saying, "but my heart holds a grudge against you."

This is why:

مش قادر يسمحك

The verb "'aadir (قادر)" is another useful verb. It also takes the same form as "3aayiz (عايز)" and "shaayil (شايل)" as you can see, and means "can." If we know the verb "samaH (سمح)" means "to pardon" or "to forgive," we can see this line means "I can't forgive you."

Why can't he forgive?:

كل ما أجى أصلحك ألاقى قصادى جرحك

"kullima (كلما)" is the same as in Standard Arabic, and means "whenever." If we know the verb "SalaH (صلح)" means "to make good" or "to reconcile," then we understand the sentence as "whenever I come to make good with you." What happens? The verb "laa'a (لاقى)" means "to find" or "to meet." "'uSaad (قصاد)" means "before" or "in front of" so "'uSaadi (قصادي)" means "before me." He finds before him the all-familiar "garH (جرح)," wound, and thus the sentence means "whenever I come to make good with you I find before me you wound," ie "the wound you left."

حبيبي

"Habiibi (حبيبي)" means "my darling" or "my beloved." Learn it.

Next:

نفسى أحكيلك نفسى أشكيلك على اللى تعبنى منك ليك

"nifsi iHkii lak (نفسي احكي لك)" means "I wanna tell you." The verb "Haka (حكى)" means to tell. "nifsi ishkii lak (نفسي اشكي لك)" means "I wanna complain to you." "shaka 3ala (شكى على)" means "to complain about" something. So "3ala illi ta3ibni minnak (على اللي تعبني منك)" means "about that which made me tired of you." All in all he says, "I wanna tell you, I wanna complain to you about that which tired me of you."

And then:

قلت أنا هبعد مش قادر أبعد

Understand? And finally:

نفسى أرتاح فى حضن عينيك

This should be easily understood based on the vocab accumulated thus far. It means "I want to be at ease in the embrace of your eyes." XalaaS! Now you understand everything in this song. Go back and read along as you listen and understand the dilemma that Tamer faces.

From this song you should have learned many important words such as "nifsi (نفسي)," "'aadir (قادر)," and "lissah (لسه)." Review this song and listen to it order to ingrain the structures and pronunciations into your head.

قادر تفهم اكتر؟

Move onto Lesson 4