How to say “perhaps” in Palestinian Arabic
Say yimken or bijooz. They're the everyday maybe, and people swap them without thinking. mumken means maybe too, but most of the time it's asking for something. Capitals mark the emphatic letters, 3 is ع and 7 is ح; the whole reading key is one page.
بِجُوز
perhaps · possibly
Tap the word to hear it out loud.
يِمْكِن
perhaps
Tap the word to hear it out loud.
مُمْكِن
advmaybe · possible · can · may
Tap the word to hear it out loud.
Which maybe to reach for
yimken and bijooz do the same job. yimken il-mudeer mawjood and bijooz il-mudeer mawjood both mean the manager might be in, and nobody will notice which one you picked. bijooz comes from the verb for "to be allowed", so it's literally "it may be". mumken means "possible". Given as a one-word reply, it's a maybe. Put it at the front of a question and it turns into a polite request: mumken haada? is "can I have this one?" Ask a friend whether they're coming tonight and the answer you'll often get is inshalla, which can mean anything from yes to a polite no. In the news and in books, perhaps is rubbamaa (رُبَّما). You'll read it plenty and almost never hear it across a table.
Same word, different English
The same words sit behind each of these.
In a sentence
يِمْكِن المُدِير مَوْجُود هَلّق.
Maybe the manager is in now.
بِجُوز الكَلْب أَخَد الأَكْل.
Maybe the dog took the food.
بِجُوز أَخَد المَيّ كَمان.
Maybe he took the water too.
rkoD, yimken nil7aq it-treen.
رْكُض، يِمْكِن نِلْحَق التْرِين.
Run, maybe we'll catch the train.
مُمْكِن هَادَا، مِن فَضْلَك؟
Can I have this one, please?
Tayyeb, badfa3ha hallaq. mumken ta3Teeni waSel?
طَيِّب، بَدْفَعها هَلَّق. مُمْكِن تَعْطِيني وَصْل؟
Okay, I'll pay it now. Can you give me a receipt?
Nearby words
Looking for a word that isn't here? Search eight thousand spoken words in the Palestinian Arabic dictionary. Need it in a different spelling system? Paste it into the transliteration converter.