Lesson 13: ولا حاجة

New Vocabulary

wala Haaga (ولا حاجة) - nothing
wallahi (ولله) - I swear, I swear to God
min imta (من امتى) - since when?
ghayr (غير) - other than
'awii (قوي) - very
waaDiH (واضح) - clear, it's clear
ma3'uul (معقول) - reasonable, it's reasonable, is it reasonable?
za3laan (زعلان) - angry, mad, irritated
ghayraan (غيران) - jealous
kaddaab (كدّاب) - liar
'albi 3aleek (قلبي عليك) - I have you at heart, I care about you
barii' (بريء) - innocent
ha'ii'a (حقيقة) - truth, reality
wahm (وهم) - illusion, delusion, something imaginary
mashuftish bi3ayneeki (ماشفتش بعينيكي) - you didn't see with your own eyes

istaahil (استاهل) - to deserve, to merit, to be worth
itxayyal (اتخيّل) - to imagine
DiHik 3ala (ضحك على) - to cheat, to fool, to deceive
Halaf (حلف) - to pledge, to give an oath

Lesson 12 featured a Lebanese singer singing in the Egyptian dialect, however, this lesson will feature an Egyptian singer Hisham Abbas singing a song from the soundtrack of a popular movie "Omar wa Selma (Omar and Selma)." The song is entitled "Wala Haaga (ولا حاجة)" meaning "Nothing," and as you will see, Hisham's point in this song is prove to his lover that contrary to what she has heard, he hasn't done "wala Haaga." Listen to the song and read the lyrics, and try to pay attention to the conjugations of the past tense in negated form.

انا والله ما عملتش ولا حاجة

مش عارف ليه زعلانة مني
عايز اعرف عني قالوا لك ايه
يوقعوا بيني وبينك ليه

انا والله ما عملتش ولا حاجة

ياما حاولوا يفرقوا بينا زمان
اعقلي يا حبيبتي ده كله جنان
لو الموضوع محتاج حلفان

انا والله ما عملتش ولا حاجة

مين في قلبي مين غيرك انتي
دول لا كدابين يا حبيبتي
ولا قلبهم عليكي

مش عارف ليه زعلانة مني
عايز اعرف عني قالوا لك ايه
يوقعوا بيني وبينك ليه

انا والله ما عملتش ولا حاجة

عرفاني انتي وحفظاني وعارفة ان انا افكاري بريئة
مش عارف ليه ظلماني وليه مش لاقي معاكي طريقة

والموضوع مش مستاهل
ليه بتخلي الوهم حقيقة

واضح قوي انها تلفيقة

مين في قلبي مين غيرك انتي
دول لا غيرانين يا حبيبتي
ولا قلبهم عليكي

مش عارف ليه زعلانة مني
عايز اعرف عني قالوا لك ايه
يوقعوا بيني وبينك ليه

انا والله ما عملتش ولا حاجة

يا حبيبتي مفيش غيرك في حياتي وحبقى لمين غير ليكي
معقول صدقتي كلامهم وانا امتى كدبت عليكي

والموضوع مش مستاهل وانتي مشفتش حاجة بعنيكي
انا من امتى ضحكت عليكي

مين في قلبي مين غيرك انتي
دول لا كدابين يا حبيبتي
ولا قلبهم عليكي

ولا حاجة

Let's take a look at the crux of the song which rests on this one repeated line:

انا والله ما عملتش ولا حاجة

First of all "wallahi (ولله)" means "by God" or "I swear to God" or "I swear." OK? We've already learned a little about negation in Egyptian with the word "mish (مش)", however, verbs are negated a little differently as in Standard Arabic. To negative a verb in the present or past tense in Egyptian colloquial, attach the particle "ma (ما)" to the front of the verb and "-sh (ش)" to the end. Here we have the verb "3amal (عمل)", "to do." "3amalt (عملت)" means "I did" so "ma3amaltish (ماعملتش)" means "I didn't do." "wala Haaga (ولا حاجة)" of course means "nothing." So he says "I didn't do anything" or maybe more precisely "I swear to God I didn't do nothing."

The chorus:

مش عارف ليه زعلانة مني

"mish 3aarif leh (مش عارف ليه)," "I dunno why." The word "za3laan (زعلان)" means "angry" or "irritated." Here it is the feminine form, "za3laana (زعلانة)" which indicates that he is referring to a girl he is talking about. Thus, the line is "why are you mad at me?"

Next line:

عايز اعرف عني قالوا لك ايه

You know what this sentence means but in case you're having trouble picking it apart reorder it this way: "3aayiz a3raf eh 'aaluu lik 3anni (عايز أعرف ايه قالوا لك عني)" meaning "I wanna know what they told you about me."

Next line:

يوقّعوا بيني وبينك ليه

The verb "wa''a3 (وقّع)" means "to stand." "Why are they standing between us?"

Next part of the chorus:

ياما حاولوا يفرّقوا بينا زمان

Remember the verb "Haawil (حاول)" The verb "farra' (فرّق)" means "to separate" or maybe "to drive apart."

Next line:

اعقلي يا حبيبتي ده كله جنان

The verb "3aqal (عقل)" means to believe. So he says "believe it my darling, this is all crazy."

Next line:

لو الموضوع محتاج حلفان

The word "Hilfaan (حلفان)" is the verbal noun of the verb "Halaf (حلف)" which means "to swear" or "to pledge." So he says "if the matter needs an oath."

Then:

انا والله ما عملتش ولا حاجة

"I swear to God I didn't do anything!"

Here's the verse:

مين في قلبي مين غيرك انتي

Remember the word "ghayr (غير)" meaning other than. So "ghayrik (غيرك)" means "other than you." So, "Who is in my heart, who other than you."

Next line:

دول لا كدابين يا حبيبتي
ولا قلبهم عليكي

"kaddaab (كداب)" means liar. The phrase "'alb 3ala (قلب على)" means "to have someone's interest at heart." "'albi 3aleek (قلبي عليك)" means "I have your interest at heart" or "I care about you," so "'albhum 3aleeki (قلبهم عليكي)" means "They have your interest at heart." Of course put the whole grammar together, and it means "they liars, my darling, and they don't have your interest at heart."

Then repeat the chorus, next verse:

عرفاني انتي وحفظاني وعارفة ان انا افكاري بريئة

The verb "HafaZ (حفظ)" means many things, "to memorize," "to keep, retain," "to protect, preserve," and in this case "to keep an eye on." The adjective "barii' (بريء)" means "innocent." The whole thing means something like "you know me, and you keep an eye on me, and you know that my ideas are innocent."

Next line:

مش عارف ليه ظلماني وليه مش لاقي معاكي طريقة

"Tarii'a (طريقة)" is "a way." "I don't know why you're hurting me or why I can't find a way with you."

والموضوع مش مستاهل

Here's a good word. The verb "istaahil ()" means "to deserve or merit" or "to be worth it." So he says, "this subject has no merit/isn't worth it."

ليه بتخلي الوهم حقيقة

"wahm (وهم)" of course is an "illusion" or "delusion" or "lie/falsehood" and "Ha'ii'a (حقيقة)" is a "truth" or "reality," so they're opposites. He's saying, "Why are you making this lie real?"

واضح قوي انها تلفيقة

"waaDiH (واضح)" here means "it's clear." Remember that "'awii (قوي)" means "very." "talfii'a (تلفيقة)" is a "fabrication."

Final verse:

يا حبيبتي مفيش غيرك في حياتي وحبقى لمين غير ليكي

Understand that? Next line:

معقول صدقتي كلامهم وانا امتى كدبت عليكي

"ma3'uul (معقول)" means "reasonable," but often at the beginning of the sentence it can be a question. So he says, "Did you really believe what they said." The second part "wa ana imta kadabt 3aleeki (وانا امتى كدبت عليكي)" means "when have I lied to you."

Next line:

والموضوع مش مستاهل وانتي ماشفتش حاجة بعنيكي

"mashuftish (ماشفتش)" if we break it apart is comprise of "ma (ما)" "shuft (شفت)" and "-sh (ش)" which as we've learned is a negative past tense verb, this time of the word "shaaf (شاف)," "to see." "You didn't see anything with you own eyes!"

Finally:

انا من امتى ضحكت عليكي

The phrase "min imta (من امتى)" or course means "since when." We know the verb "DiHik (ضحك)" means "to laugh" or "to smile," however, "DiHik 3ala (ضحك على)" is an idiom which means "to cheat," "to deceive," or "to fool." Got it?

Go back and listen again. If you are following along with these songs, you are doing a great job. Believe it or not, we have already covered hundreds of new words and most of the basic grammar points of Egyptian colloquial Arabic. If some of the explanations seemed insufficient in this song or you can't follow all of the lyrics, go back to some previous lessons and review that highlighted vocabulary. Next lesson, Lesson 14: انا مش بعيد