I am hosting an Arabic film night

[SarahBeth]

How would I say

"I am hosting an Arabic film night."

I assume I would be using the root ضيف but I am unsure which form it should take.

 

[elroy]

No, ضيف or any of its derivatives would not work here; they are used when you host a guest.

I would suggest سوف أعرض فيلم عربي الليلة.

 

[SarahBeth]

Oh right. Thanks.

So Arabic film night on its own is:
فيلم عربي الليلة
?

 

[elroy]

Oh right. Thanks.

So Arabic film night on its own is:
فيلم عربي الليلة
?

Oops! I misread your sentence; I read "tonight" instead of "night" (and I thought it was weird that one would host a film... ).

Anyway, please ignore everything I said above; here's a brand-new translation:

سوف أقيم (عندي) ليلة أفلام عربية.

Accordingly, "Arabic film night" on its own would be

ليلة أفلام عربية

You could also use امسية instead of ليلة, which - although it literally means something like "soiree" and not "night" - is quite common in contexts like this one. In fact, I'd say it sounds just a tad better.

Sorry about the confusion!

 

[SarahBeth]

Haha. No problem. I would find it very odd for me to be hosting a film (please DVD, have a seat) in that way too.

So if I am just, say, showing one film should it still be افلام or فيلم ? Does the plural indicate that there will be more films or what?

Also, what purpose would عندي in addition to the اقيم serve? (That said, I can't figure out exactly what اقيم means? It exists/takes place/happens [at me] )
Does it clarify or refer back to the fact that I am hosting it and should I still use it if I say في بيتي at the end of the sentence?

Sorry for all my stupid questions.

Also, I like soiree much better. It sounds oh so elegant.

 

[cherine]

Hi Sarah, I'll try to give some answers here :

So if I am just, say, showing one film should it still be افلام or فيلم ? Does the plural indicate that there will be more films or what?

Yes, the plural indicates more than one film, so if there will be only one just use فيلم

Also, what purpose would عندي in addition to the اقيم serve? (That said, I can't figure out exactly what اقيم means? It exists/takes place/happens [at me] )
Does it clarify or refer back to the fact that I am hosting it and should I still use it if I say في بيتي at the end of the sentence?

عندى means "at my place", so it's important -in the Arabic sentence- to determine WHERE you'll be hosting the night. You can either say عندى or فى بيتى or even عندى فى البيت, they both give the same sense. I don't think you can skip them both, better choose one, even if it's implicitly understood that the soiree/night will be at your place.
Uqiim أقيم means : organise, so it's something like : I'll organise a soiree at my pleace for Arabic movies.

Sorry for all my stupid questions.
Also, I like soiree much better. It sounds oh so elegant.

Your questions are not stupid at all
I also like soiree better so in Arabic you can say : أمسية، سهرة، ليلة they all give almost the same meaning. In Egypt we mostly say sahra سهرة when we're inviting people to our home.
So you can say : سوف أقيم عندى سهرة لمشاهدة بعض الأفلام العربية
or : أدعوكم لمشاهدة بعض (أحد) الأفلام العربية
If you want the colloquial form let me know.

 

[SarahBeth]

Thanks so much cherine

 

[elroy]

Yes, the plural indicates more than one film, so if there will be only one just use فيلم

I was trying to come up with a general translation of "Arabic film night," which doesn't specify how many films will be shown. In that case, the plural would be appropriate in Arabic.

But even if you are showing just one film, I would not say ليلة/امسية/سهرة فيلم عربي, which sounds odd. I would suggest "امسية لمشاهدة فيلم عربي," if it is really of utmost importance to you that you specify that one film will be shown.

 

[SarahBeth]

But even if you are showing just one film, I would not say ليلة/امسية/سهرة فيلم عربي, which sounds odd. I would suggest "امسية لمشاهدة فيلم عربي," if it is really of utmost importance to you that you specify that one film will be shown.

I was just thinking about this and was coming back to ask whether it'd be better to say 'to watch/for watching an Arabic film" (I do specify later what film), but you've beat me to having to ask. Thanks

It's just going to be an informal get together to watch it, but I'm making a little flyer and don't want it to be too terribly incorrect.

 

[ayed]

أمسية فلم عربي
عرض فلم عربي
شاهدوا معنا الفلم العربي
استمتعوا بمشاهدة الفلم العربي ​