17 reviews for The Big Fat Book of Egyptian Arabic Verbs

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Emil – March 14, 2017

   The book is a wonderfuI addition to one’s Egyptian Arabic library. The complete conjugation of each verb with the noun form of the verb plus the examples of use are outstanding for a colloquial dialect. The audio files are a must and an excellant creation by the author to fully grasp the correct pronunciation. By the way, I bought the hardcopy version from Amazon.com.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Marco (verified owner) – March 29, 2019

   This book is extremely useful especially when combined with the Anki Flash Cards, it really helped me to improve my Arabic

3. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   VIOLIYA (verified owner) – May 19, 2019

   I was looking forward for a book of verbs’ conjugations with trasliteration , tashkeel and arabic all in one. Just started using it but the structure is very friendly.

4. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   JK – September 26, 2019

   I have purchased many of lingualisms materials(and written similar reviews to this one). Honestly, they are easily the best purchases I have made in my Arabic learning journey. The audio is high quality. However the audio is also the reason I only gave this product 4/5 stars. I do appreciate the audio for the sample sentences, but I do feel that many of the audio tracks are a bit too fast, even by native standards. Not everyone who lives in Egypt or speaks Arabic, talks at that speed.

   The purchase of the book is a very good investment. Learning Arabic and using verbs as a starting point once I understood the script has been extremely helpful in improving my ability to speak. The layout is clear and easy to follow. The notes for each verb are invaluable.

5. 

   Patricia – November 26, 2020

   I was going to purchase the book of verbs, but changed my mind after listening to the sample. The speech is much too fast for learners.

   • 

     Lingualism (verified owner) – November 26, 2020

     It is a bit challenging, I admit. But natural speed is what the ear really needs to train it to understand the real language. Listening while reading along should be manageable, and you can always slow down the audio to 50% or 75% in the Audio Player on this page.

6. 

   Ameena – February 4, 2021

   Wow wow wow!!!. This is a HUGE book of verb conjugations and sample sentences. I cannot even imagine all the time and effort that went into putting this monumental work together.
   So helpful …from the conjugation tables to the audio, to the cross references to ECA Verb book…and even the extra references at the bottom of the page mentioning other examples on other pages. perfect /imperfect/negative/positive/bi-imperfect/future/imperative/AP/PP/VN . IT’S ALL HERE!!
   YA SALAAM!!!
   For beginner to advanced language lovers.
   Truly a labour of love.

7. 

   Rated 1 out of 5

   Nemeth – May 15, 2021

   I purchased the book paper on Amazon, and I was right the book itself is fantastic. On the other hand as for audio, I am absolutely with Patricia and JK, it’s not the problem with the speed, since it could be handled with slowed down playback, but the accuracy and articulation. I’ve just listened to the examples for “85 HaTT to put” and from the audio recording I had no clue the delicate pronunciation of the H and emphatic doubled T’s and the vowels pronounced along with these emphatic consonants of this very important verb. I would rerecord all examples with a relaxed lady speaker, as well as, all the actual conjugations: HaTTeet, HaTTeena, …, ma-HaTTitsh.
   Honestly, audio is weak point of most of the Lingualism publications because of the meaninglessly crazy speed, as if the speakers primary purpose were to make us learners frustrated and stop learning Egyptian Arabic.

   • 

     Lingualism (verified owner) – May 15, 2021

     Hi Nemeth! Just an FYI: I’ve recently had all-new audio recorded to replace the original audio because I agree that it is too fast. The new audio will be available in the coming weeks and is much slower and more clearly articulated.

     If you find the audio (in general) too fast, keep listening and I think you’ll find your comprehension will increase. The audio speed does vary by speaker, but the philosophy of Lingualism materials is to provide real, authentic language. When the audio is slowed down too much, it may “feel good” because it’s easy, but THAT would be meaningless and never help you understand actual everyday speech. (It’s an interesting topic, and I have strong feelings on it and plan to eventually (!) write a blog post about this.) But don’t feel frustrated. Keep practicing your listening skills and I think you’ll eventually find the same audio you find challenging now to be easier and clearer over time.

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     Lingualism (verified owner) – July 30, 2021

     UPDATE: New audio is available. The original audio was rather challenging because of the pace of the voice artists’ speech. We recently had different voice artists from Cairo record new audio with careful attention to maintaining a consistent, comfortable speed that should be more suitable for learners.

8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Nemeth – May 16, 2021

   I made a mistake in the rating of my previous review. Honestly, I didn’t even expected audio available for a book like the Big Fat Verbs. The book is absolutely 5-star just to have it on your bookshelf; actually, I have it always on by desk to have it at hand next to other Lingualism learning materials as well as the brilliant Kullu Tamam (by M. Woidich), the ultimate grammar book for Egyptian Arabic.

9. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Trenton (verified owner) – August 3, 2021

   This book has helped me immensely. It’s difficult to find a table of verbs in Arabic. I had to learn what the tenses meant as the names are different than those in other languages I’ve learned, but after that it’s been an asset.

10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Gil (verified owner) – October 13, 2021

    Great!

11. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Hansjörg (verified owner) – October 18, 2021

    Extremely useful. Most teaching aids for Egyptian Arabic either offer transcription or Arabic script with tashkeel. Neither is adequate if used in isolation. Everybody who is familiar with these works – and some of them are excellent, like e.g. Woidich’s Kullu tamam – will agree with this and appreciate the hard work behind the almost completely typo-free texts of Lingualism. Studying verb tables may seem, and indeed is, pedestrian, but given the absolutely central role of the Arabic verb in the language, it is both necessary and well worth the effort. And in this field in particular, there are many differences between Egyptian Arabic and MSA which you need to master. My second main reason for recommending the Big Fat Book is the excellent examples, reflecting everyday communication needs instead of the rather sterile language prevalent in other books.

12. 

    Rated 1 out of 5

    Michelle – November 17, 2021

    I am so disappointed in the audio because I thought it would give the pronunciation of the verbs in the conjugation tables, but it doesn’t. It just gives 6 example sentences containing some forms of the verb. I’m returning this book. What a bummer.

13. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Nemeth – December 17, 2021

    The new audio is really learner-friendly. I think the male narrator is Ahmad Elkhodary with his relaxed and smooth voice. The lady voice is faster, but manageable. So, thank you for the improved audio. To make the audio complete, you may consider providing narration for all the verb forms exactly as with the audio for the book Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Verbs. Since I have Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Verbs book, too, with the examples I can reproduce all verb forms with no major issues. Thank You for Your great work.

14. 

    Philippe – November 3, 2022

    The new audio is far better: clearer and slower. There are “normal” voices not like “cartoon” voices like before.

15. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Jana (verified owner) – December 15, 2023

    This is an amazing resource, and it will be very useful on my journey. However, there is something that bothers me a lot, and I am surprised that no one has pointed it out yet. I own the electronic copy, and each page in the PDF contains two pages of the book. So it would make total sense if each verb and the respective examples shared one PDF page. But no, there is a shift so you see the examples for verb 166 on the left half of your screen and the conjugation of verb 167 on the right half. I think this could be fixed, e.g. by inserting one empty page, so that tables and examples align well. If this is possible, it would be great if the book were offered for download to those who have purchased it.

    • 

      Lingualism – December 16, 2023

      Hi Jana! How the pages are displayed depends on your PDF reader’s settings. If you’re using Adobe Reader, for example, go to the menu bar: View > Page Display and uncheck ‘Show Cover Page.’ The pages should then face each other correctly.

16. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Alejandro (verified owner) – May 3, 2024

    The best out there. When it comes to learning Any Arabic there are plentiful materials for MSA, on the other hand, most dialects are not rigorously studied by foreigners therefore there are not many resources for studying specific dialects, that’s where Matthew and the lingualism crew come into action. I have been researching and looking for good material to study Egyptian Colloquial Arabic and have never come across such a broad variety of material dedicated to ONE Arab dialect, not to mention the other dialects with available content as well.
    As for this book, it’s simply amazingly put together, very user friendly approach especially once you cover the “basis” for learning the pattern of conjugating the verbs. In my personal opinion I recommend getting the book (Egyptian Colloquial Arabic Verbs) first as it goes further into the actual “how-to” of conjugating verbs and it helps you grasp the concept well, and I recommend this big boy for more content and practice 🙂

17. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Roswitha – May 20, 2024

    Dieses Buch ist wirklich toll, Ich schließe mich den vorherigen Resesionen an;
    Ich würde mir ein Audio wünschen, welches die Verben konjungiert. Also so wie im Buch aufgeführt.
    Die könnte ich mir dann, in einer Zeit, wo ich nicht aktiv lernen, anhören. Somit würde ich beim Putzen meiner Wohnung Vokabeln lernen. Also passiv
    Vielleicht kommt das noch. Und alle die das Buch gekauft haben, bekommen immer die entsprechenden Update