Lebanese Arabic: to wake up, to fall asleep

[iodalach93]

Marhaba,

I was wondering what the most common word in Lebanese for "to wake up" is (when used intransitively, as in "I woke up at 8 AM yesterday" and "She never wakes up before midday on weekends") since it seems that, in Fus7a, both صحا and استقيظ are widely used.

I was also wondering how Lebanese say "to fall asleep" (ex. "Last night I fell asleep while reading") since Fus7a doesn't seem to have a specific verb for it besides نام and ذهب ألى النوم (IMHO none of the two fits in the above-mentioned sentence).

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[analeeh]

نام means both 'fall asleep' and 'sleep':

ايمتى نمت؟ - when did you fall asleep?
نمت شي ساعتين - I was asleep for about two hours
ليلة امبارح نمت وانا عم اقرى - last night I fell asleep while reading

But there's a distinction, as with many of these verbs, when it comes to expressing the present tense:

بينام - he falls asleep, he sleeps (for a certain amount of time regularly)
هو نايم - he is sleeping, he's asleep

عم ينام doesn't work for 'he's sleeping [now]'.

Possibly there are other words used in Lebanese, but the most common word for 'to wake up' is فاق or صحي.

فقت ع التماني امبارح - I woke up at 8 yesterday
هي ما بتفيق أبد قبل الظهر - she never wakes up before midday (I don't know what Lebanese people say for 'weekend', but I expect it's wiikend)

 

[barkoosh]

In addition to فاق and صحي. we use وعي for "wake up".

 

[Drink]

Can عم (بـ)ينام mean "he's falling asleep"?

 

[barkoosh]

Yes, we say عم (بـ)ينام or عم (بـ)يغفى

 

[analeeh]

عم ينام can also be used like this:

هالشي كام يوم يا دوب عم ينام - these past few days he's barely been sleeping

Or

من الاسبوع الماضي عم بينام بكير - since last week he's been going to sleep early

I.e. it can be used in a sense of wider delimited time.

 

[iodalach93]

Choukran ktir to you all!

 

[Tilmeedh]

How would one say 'to fall asleep' in the context of a part of the body? Does Lebanese borrow from MSA, so that 'my leg fell asleep' is 'ijré tkhedderet' and 'my leg is falling asleep' is 'ijré 3am btitkheddir'?

 

[barkoosh]

Yes, the verb خدر is borrowed from MSA. But people would say 'ijré khidrit' and 'ijré 3am btitkhdarr' respectively. (When I was younger I used to think that it's from the verb اخضَرَّ). Not sure if this applies to all parts of Lebanon.

 

[analeeh]

Do people not use نملت?

 

[barkoosh]

Yes we do. I totally forgot about this word.
So there's also 'ijré nammalit' and 'ijré 3am bitnammil'.

 

[elroy]

In addition to فاق and صحي. we use وعي for "wake up".

Interesting. In real life I’ve only heard وعي for “wake up” in Lebanese. I thought that in Lebanese, وعي = “wake up” and فاق = “remember.” In Palestinian, فاق/صحي = “wake up,” تذكّر = “remember,” and وعي = “to come of age” — with no overlap in usage to my knowledge. What is it like in Lebanese? What meanings does each word have?

 

[barkoosh]

وعي =‎ 1. wake up (as in وْعِيت الصبح بكّير),‎ 2. become aware, comprehend (as in وِعِي على الحياة).
فاق =‎ 1. wake up (as in فِقت من النوم بكّير),‎ 2. remember (as in مش فايق إني قلت هيك).
صحي = wake up (as in صْحِيت من النوم مؤخَّر); also figuratively (as in صْحَا يا ابني، مش شايف شو عم بيصير فيك؟)

 

[elroy]

So there’s more room for confusion and wordplay in Lebanese!

Is تذكّر used at all?

 

[barkoosh]

Is تذكّر used at all?

Yes it is, as in تزكّرت إنّو عندي موعد