Learn Arabic as it is really spoken. Listen to and read Egyptian Colloquial Arabic.

Alie tells us how he spends a typical day during Ramadan.

هكلمكو النهارده عن شهرجميل جدا، شهر مميز دايماً للمصريين، مش للمصريين بس ده، للمسلمين عامتاً. هكلمكو عن شهر رمضان بالرغم من الناس لا بتاكل ولا بتشرب من الفجر لحد المغرب الا ان الناس بتبقى نشيطه وبتقدر تشتغل و تكمل شغلها. هحكلكو فى الاول ازاى الناس بتستعد لرمضان. كل الناس بيبقى ليها استعداد لرمضان زى الاطفال بيجيبوا فانوييس رمضان بيحتفلوا بيها. و بيشتروا زينه رمضان و يعلقوها فى الشوارع علشان شكل الشارع بيبقى جميل. و فيه ناس بتشترى ياميش رمضان زى البلح و المشمشيه و الزبيب و حاجات تانيه. هحكيلكو بقى عن ازاى بنقضى يوم فى رمضان من اول لما بصحى لحد لما نتسحر. اول لما بصحى من النوم بتوضا و اصلى و اقرا قران. بعد كدا انزل اشوف امى عاوزا حاجه من تحت و انزل اشتريها . بعد كدا لما ارجع البيت، ممكن العب مع اخويا او العب على الكمبيوتر لحد لما المغرب ياذن. بعد كدا بنفطر و بنشرب عصاير كتيره زى البلح والتمر والسوبيا. و فيه عصاير مشهوره تانيه فى رمضان. و بناكل اكل جميل. دايما الاكل فى رمضان بيبقا مختلف عن اى شهر تانى. و بعد كدا لما نخلص الاكل و نصلى بنزل مع اصحابى نخرج او نلعب بنج بونج او بلاى ستييشن. او نتمشى و نشرب عصير او ناكل ايس كريم او حلويات زى الكنافه او القطايف. بس المشكله ان الوقت بيجرى بسرعه بعد الفطار الواحد مش بيلحق يعمل كل اللى هو عاوزه. بعد لما اخلص لعب بروح اشترى الزبادى و الفول علشان السحور. بنتسحر و نصلى الفجر و بعد كدا بنام.

Today I will talk about a wonderful month, a month always special for Egyptians–not just for Egyptians, but for Muslims in general. I will talk about the month of Ramadan. Although the people don’t eat or drink from fajr [before dawn] until maghrib [sunset] people are still active and can work and go about their business. First, I’ll tell you how people prepare for Ramadan. Everyone has preparations to make for Ramadan. For example, children buy Ramadan lanterns that they play with. People also buy Ramadan decorations to hang in the streets to beautify the streets. And people buy Ramadan yameesh [mixed nuts and dried fruit] such as date, dried apricots, raisins, and other things. Then I will talk about how we spend the day during Ramadan from when we get up until suhoor [pre-dawn meal]. As soon as I wake up, I perform the ritual ablution, pray, and read from the Quran. Then I go see what my mom wants from outside and I go out to buy it. After that, when I come back, I might play with my brother or play on the computer until the evening call to prayer. Then we have iftar [sunset meal] and drink different kinds of juices, such as date and sobia. And there are other famous juices during Ramadan. And we eat wonderful food. The food at Ramadan is always different from any other month. Then after we finish eating and praying, I go out with my friends to go out or play ping pong or PlayStation. Or we go for a walk and drink juice or eat ice cream or sweets like kunafeh or katayf. But the problem is that time flies by so fast after iftar that you don’t have time to do everything you want. After I finish playing (around), I go buy yogurt and beans for suhoor. We eat suhoor, perform the fajr prayer, and then go to sleep.

2 Comments

Leave a Reply