Lebanese Arabic Song: Albi Ya Albi (Nancy Ajram)
The multi-platinum Lebanese pop singer Nancy Ajram is among the Middle East’s biggest pop stars of the new millennium. Albi Ya Albi is in her native Lebanese Arabic. However, Nancy also has many hits in Gulf, Egyptian, and Tunisian Arabic.
Have fun singing along while learning the lyrics. Below, you can see the Arabic script with tashkeel. Click on any line to expand it to reveal the English translation and language notes.
Thank you to Nadine for recommending the song.
| Arabic | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| قلْبي | My heart | (Lyrics starts at 0:30 mark.) قلْب heart (suffix) ـي my |
| قلْبي يا قلْبي، تْرِكني يا قلْبي. | My heart, oh my heart, leave me, my heart. | ترك to leave. The masculine* imperative is تْروك but the vowel is shortened to kasra when a suffix beginning in a consonant is added: تْروك plus ـني (me) → تْرِكْني *masculine because she is singing to her heart, and the noun قلْب is masculine |
| مِش وَقْتا هلّق، إرْجع حِبّ. | It's not the right time to [fall in] love again. | مِش not (+ noun, adjective, or adverb) وَقْت time ـا her, its هلّق (also spelled هلّأ) now رِجِع to return... but preceding an imperfect verb, it means '__ again' حبّ to love |
| هلّق ما فِيي و منّا بِإيدَيّي. | I can't now. It's out of my hands. | ما not (+ verb or pseudo-verb) فِيي I can منّا it (f.) is not بـِ in إيديْن two hands إدَيّي my two hands (notice the ـن disappears before the possessive suffix is added) |
| ما بعْرِف شو صارْلُه هالقلْب. | I don't know what happened to this heart. | عِرِف to know شو what صار to happen ـلُه to it (m) هـ this |
| معْقولِة حبّيْتك، عَ ذَوْقي لاقيْتك. | Maybe I loved you, to my taste I found you. | معْقولِة it's possible that... ـك you ذوْق taste لاقى to find |
| بعيوني في إنْتَ و بسّ. | I only saw you in my eyes | عُيون eyes في there is/are إنْتَ you (m) بسّ only: و بسّ and that's all |
| لَيالي لَيالي عم بِسْهر ليالي. | Nights nights... I stay up all the nights. | لَيالي nights عم + (bi-)imperfect verb is a continuous marker: __ing سِهِر to stay up late, stay up all night |
| و اِشْتاقْلك مِن دون ما حِسّ. | Missing you without feeling it | اِشْتاق لـ to miss مِن دون ما without __ing (مِن دون is a preposition and can go before a noun phrase, but we need to add ما to turn it into a conjunction before a verb حسّ to feel |
| آه... قلْبي يا قلْبي، تْرِكني يا قلْبي. | Ahhh! My heart, oh my heart, leave me, my heart. | |
| مِش وَقْتا هلّق، إرْجع حِبّ. | It's not the right time to [fall in] love again. | |
| هلّق ما فِيي و منّا بِإيدَيّي. | I can't now. It's out of my hands. | |
| ما بعْرِف شو صارْلُه هالقلْب. | I don't know what happened to this heart. | |
| ما بعْرِف شو قِلّك. | I don't know what to tell you | قال to say قول I say, but with a suffix beginning in a consonant (ـلك to you), the vowel shortens to kasra: قِلّك |
| لَوْ فِيي ما قِلّك عن قلْبي و شو صايِر فيه. | If [only] I could not tell you about my heart and what has happened in it. | لَوْ if literally she says 'if I can NOT tell you', meaning 'if I could hide (the truth) عن about فيه in it |
| و مْبيِّن علَيي في سِرّ بِعيْني. | It's clear to me that there's a secret in my eyes. | مْبيِّن على apparent to سِرّ secret |
| طمِّنْني حسّيْت بْشي؟ | Tell me, did you feel anything? | طمِّن to reassure شي something |
| آه... قلْبي يا قلْبي، تْرِكني يا قلْبي. | Ahhh! My heart, oh my heart, leave me, my heart. | |
| مِش وَقْتا هلّق، إرْجع حِبّ. | It's not the right time to [fall in] love again. | |
| لا لا | La la! | |
| هلّق ما فِيي و منّا بِإيدَيّي. | I can't now. It's out of my hands. | |
| ما بعْرِف شو صارْلُه هالقلْب. هالقلْب! | I don't know what happened to this heart. This heart! | |
| قلْبي يا قلْبي، تْرِكني يا قلْبي. | My heart, oh my heart, leave me, my heart. | |
| مِش وَقْتا هلّق، إرْجع حِبّ. | It's not the right time to [fall in] love again. | |
| هلّق ما فِيي و منّا بِإيدَيّي. | I can't now. It's out of my hands. | |
| ما بعْرِف شو صارْلُه هالقلْب. هالقلْب! | I don't know what happened to this heart. This heart! |
Great recource, thx! maybe y ou can do some of her other popular songs, too?
Wow thank you for the translation and explanation. Very much appreciated!