I was going over the dialogue of previous lessons to make sure I had a firm grasp of Arabic grammar, and this stumped me. What exactly does بقالك mean? I understand that the sentence بقالك اد اية بتدرس عربي means "how long have you been studying Arabic", and the lesson mentions that ببقالك translates as "you have been". But in English, "have been" is not a verb in itself, they are just auxiliary words used to indicate the past perfect progressive tense. But I can tell that بقالك is a conjugated verb in itself because of the b- prefix and the -ak suffix. So what is the literal translation of this word then?

Actually I just realized that بقالك isn't a verb at all... But still, what does it mean?

i think it means stores or a shop,as i hav heard this word representing to a shop....

Hello ya Hassan, بقالك actually means "how long?" If you have access to the text of the lessons, you can find this word in Lesson 1.2 "Survival Phrases". Amira is asking Hany "How long have you been studying Arabic?" بقالك اد ايه بتدرس عربي؟ You can also find it in the extra vocabulary of lesson 1.2 I hope that helps. Good luck. M3a alsalamu. Tory

This is a very idiomatic use of the verb "yabqa, baqa", which basically means "to stay" or "to remain". "yabqa iSSeef Tawiilan" means 'summer stays for a long time'. But the verb can also convey 'to become', or even 'to be'. Here, we combine the masculine third person past "baqa" , with a preposition+pronoun "lak", 'to you', with the final 'a' lenghthening[phonetic rules], to get "baqaalak" or colloquially "ba'aalak", and it means approximately " it has been to you". "addi ee ba'aalak?" is "quantity what has been to you?", or "how much has become to you". Combine it with a present like "btidrus" and it is "you study, how much it become to you?" or "how long you are studying?" In the Levant, the verb "Saar, biSiir" 'to become' is used exactly the same way.

PS: A grocery store is a baqaala.

PPS: the "b" is part of the root. It is not a prefix. If I remember correctly, if you want to add a "b-" colloquial progressive prefix, the verb becomes "byib'a" for 3m present. the above sentence about summer would (ana faakir!) come out "byib'a SSeef mudda Tawilla", which summer has been doing a lot lately :) "I stay" should then be "bab'a" Please correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm very rusty !

sorry i don't know what to say now as am new in arabic

Hello Hassan A. I agree with Tory. بقالك means 'how long'? These are examples from the lession: بقالك اد ايه بتدرس عربي؟ Ba2alak ad eih betdress 3arabi? How long have you been studying Arabic? 1.2 Survival Phrases بقالك اد ايه بتدرسي عربي؟ Ba2alik ad eah betdressi arabi? How long have you been studying Arabic? (speaking to a female) 1.2 Survival Phrases ماشي. بقالك اد ايه بتدرس عربي؟ Mashy, ba2alak ad eih betdress 3arabi? Ok. How long have you been studying Arabic? 1.2 Survival Phrases

yes بقالك means 'how long'..had heard it many times...

as in egptian use it is mean how long last in arabic classic بقالك بقى +لك بقى = last لك= for u so when u add to the whole phrase اد = much ايه =what- but use here is how so how long last-or have been- i guess for grammar i prefer if u start learning the classic , then it will help u learn any accent with better understand but it is hard to learn an accent first unless u just want to learn language for only vacation travel, my opinion

Thank you, Maha, for that explanation. I thought it came from the word قال 'say', so now I realize that I had been wrong to assume this saying in 3ameeya was related to قال of fuS7a. Thanks!