Taste and Text: Savoring Mdardara While Learning Arabic Letters

In this video, I’ll be taking you on a culinary journey right from my kitchen. We’ll delve into the delicious world of Lebanese cuisine, exploring the traditional dish of Mdardara paired with a refreshing cabbage salad. But that’s not all! As we savor these flavors, I’ll also introduce you to some essential Arabic words and even teach you how to write a few letters from the Arabic alphabet. So, whether you’re a food enthusiast or a language learner, there’s something for everyone. Let’s dive in and get a taste of Lebanon!

Transcript:

Hello!

Today, we are in the kitchen. I’m not cooking; I just want to show you what I will be eating today for lunch.

Plat du Jour: Mdardara and Cabbage Salad

The plat du jour is Mdardara and cabbage salad. Cabbage salad is salatit malfoof and Mdardara is a very traditional dish here in Lebanon. It’s made with lentils and rice mixed together. On top, we have fried onions, which are very delicious. Yummy, yummy!

  • Lentils: 3adas
  • Rice: rizz
  • Onions: basal
  • Fried: me2leh

So, basal me2leh on top.

Accompanying it, it’s very delicious if you eat pickles, like the big pickle you see here. And this is it, the pickles.

  • Pickles in Arabic: kabeess

The cabbage salad is a regular cabbage salad, but they all go together. We eat Mdardara and salatit malfoof.

  • Cabbage: malfoof (or choux in French)
  • Salad: salata

Actually, today I don’t have a lesson for you. I just wanted to show you this. And, like I said last time, I will write for you two new letters.

Today’s Letters: ت (t) and ث (th)

Last time, we learned how to write أ (a). Remember, this is the hamza ء and ب (b). Today, we will learn how to write the ت (t) in Arabic. It’s very similar to the ب (b), but we put a dash like this to get the ت (t).

Now, we learn the ث (th). In English, it’s the “th” like in “thinking”. In Arabic, it’s written like this. So, for now, we have three similar shapes but with different toppings.

Pronunciation of ث (th)

The ث (th) is like “thinking”, not “swimming”.

Words Using ت (t)

First, because you now know how to write ت (t) and أ (a), I will give you this word: تاتا (teta), which means grandmother. In Fusha, it’s jadda. In Lebanese Arabic, it’s teta (or setteh).

Another word where the ت (t) is at the end is بنت (binet), meaning “girl”.

Words Using ث (th)

A word using the ث (th) is ثبات (thabeit), meaning “stability”. In the Lebanese dialect, it’s sabeit because we don’t stress on the ث (th). But in good Arabic, you say thabet.

Conclusion

So, guys, this is my lesson for today. It’s about Mdardara, salatit malfoof, pickles, and some letters. I will write it one last time. The Arabic alphabet for now is أ (a), ب (b), ت (t), and ث (th). We say tha2 for ث (th) and ta2 for ت (t). Don’t mix the th with the s. The s is later on. Now it’s the ث (th).

Goodbye! I will eat now my delicious Mdardara, and I’ll see you soon. Goodbye!

Recap:

EnglishLebanese (Latin letters)Lebanese (Arabic alphabet)
Cabbage saladsalatit malfoofسلطة ملفوف
Lentils3adasعدس
Ricerizzرز
Onionsbasalبصل
Friedme2lehمقلي
Pickleskabeessكبيس
Cabbagemalfoofملفوف
Saladsalataسلطة
Grandmotherteta (or setteh)تيتا (أو ستّة)
Girlbinetبنت
Stabilitythabeit (or sabeit)ثبات (أو سبت)

Spread the dialect!

6 thoughts on “Taste and Text: Savoring Mdardara While Learning Arabic Letters”

  1. hello Tulio!yow are you 🙂 yeah actually i would like to do your idea about a real conversation, inchallah ill make it soon… about the music and video its hard concerning the copy rights..

    thanks so much for your interest! keep on watching 😀
    enjoy your day!

    Hiiba!

  2. hello Vikas!
    thanks for watching, i hope by the time you will arrive you will know the basic words in arabic 🙂

    have a good day!

  3. Hi Hiiba,

    This is Vikas from India, I watched all the videos and learning a lot of arabic words. Thank you so much. I might come to lebanon in a year or so, just want to keep me perfect before I land that beautiful country.

    You doing an awesome job, Keep it going, looking forward for more videos.

    Thanks!

    – Regards 🙂

  4. hey, it's, me, Tulio, remember? I'd like to make a request. I was thinking about another way you to help us with lebanese, why dont you to make some videos with real lebanese? i mean, people talking, like in a movie? Or even better, could you make transcriptions for some movies?
    Did you get what I mean?

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