Arabic Proverbs

اسوة بما فعله أصدقاؤنا في القسم التركي، قررت أن أبدأ موضوعـًا ممائلاً بعد أن طلبت مني صديقة عزيزة فعل ذلك ، فأحببت ألا أبخل عليها بما تجود به ذاكرتي من الأمثال العربية، الفصحى منها والعامية، وبما قد أجده هنا وهناك على الشبكة العنكبوتية.
As our friends in the Turkish section of the forum started a thread of proverbs, I decided to start a similar one after a dearest friend of mine asked for.
So I (as well as you friends) are going to write down Arabic proverbs to our non-Arabic friends so they may learn more about our culture, as well as helping them to learn new vocabulary.

(Hope you like it)

RULES:
- Please any one who would like to add proverb, should write the proverb in Arabic letters first, transliterate it (If you’d like to), then translate it, and if it’s used in certain times.

- Beside that, don’t forget to clarify whether the proverb is standard Arabic by writing the letter (F) for fus7a, or by writing letter (D) for dialect.
And if possible from which country is the proverb.

Between time to time I will also add common sayings.
Here we go:

رب ضارة نافعة
Rubba darratin nafi3ah (F)
A bad looking thing, may be a good thing
- For example, when you miss a buss, and then the buss you suppose to get in, makes an accident.

رب صدفة خير من ألف ميعاد
Rubba sodfatin 5airon min alf-i mi3ad (F)
A coincidence could be better than a thousand meeting.
- It’s said when you tries hardly to have sth, but you can’t get it, then it’s suddenly in front of you, without even planing

ضربني وبكى وسبقني واشتكى
Darabani wa baka, wa sabaqani wa eshtaka (F)
Though he hit me, he cried, then he went before me and complained.

رب أخٍ لك لم تلده أمك
Rubba a5in laka lam talidho ommok (F)
You may have a brother that your mother didn’t give him birth
- Used when some one who’s not one of your family, but cares for you as if he’s your brother

من حفر حفرة لأخيه وقع فيها
Man 7afar-a 7ofratan li a5eeh-i waqa3a feeha (F)
The who'd dig a whole for his brother (fellow), he’s the one who’ll fall in it.
- For example, when someone tries to make you trouble, then he discovers that he caused the trouble for himself.

ما حكك مثل ظفرك
Ma 7akkaka mithla thifrik (F)
Nothing rubs you effectively like your own fingerrnail.
- No one serves you better than yourself

Great Job Oriee !

here I have some, we always say them ! lol

الوَقْتُ كالسَّيفْ ، إنْ لَمْ تَقْطَعهُ ، قَطَعكْ
al-waqto kal sayf, in lam taqta3ho, qata3ak (F)
Time is like sword, if you don't cut it, it will cut you
- It means that the time is passing very quickly, so if you don't get benefit from it, your time will be unuseful


إنْ كانَ الكَلامُ مِنْ فِضةْ ، فَالسكوتُ مِنْ ذَهَب
In kan al-kalam men fedda, fal-sokout men d'ahab (F)
speech is silver, but silence is gold


عَصفورْ فِيْ اليَّدْ ، خَيْر مِنْ عشْرة على الشَجَرَة
3assfour fi al-yadd, khayr men 3ashra 3ala al-shajarah (F)
a bird in the hand is worth ten in the bush

There is one proverb about men which is so true and I just love it :
يا مآمنة بالرجال متل المي بالغربال
Ya ma'amana berrejal metl el-may belgharbal
Which means "Having faith in men is like having faith that water will remain in a sieve. "
Or briefly means "Don't trust men !"
I'm not Arab so I'm not sure this proverb is from which country but I think it's Syrian, right?

Thank you for this nice thread.

It´s very interesting; some of these proverbs do also exist in german.

first of all, welcome on this forum.
go ahead Housefull you can propose new ideas and threads everyone will help you.

اذا بيتك من زجاج لا ترمي الناس بحجاره (f)

e4a betk mn zojaj la trme l.nas b7jarah

don't threw the people with stones if your own house made of glass

that's mean if you were full of Mistakes don't talk about people's Mistakes

ما بتعرف خيري لتجرب غيري
Ma bti3ref 5eri la tjarreb 3'eri (D)/ Sham countries

You won't know how good I am untill you try another person

we have proverbs in njd

when you say

حنا مثل الاعصار نبدا بحماس ونخلص بكارثه (D)

e7na mthl l.e39ar nbda b7mas oo n'7l9 bkaretha

we are like a storm , Begining with so much exciting and end up with disaster

we say it when we are doing something with lots of exciting and end up with riun evrything

Originally Posted by Oriee

ما بتعرف خيري لتجرب غيري
Ma bti3ref 5eri la tjarreb 3'eri (D)/ Sham countries

You won't know how good I am untill you try another person

I love this one it's just like the English saying "you don't know what you've got til it's gone"

there is a proverb in my country that says
"eli fih taba ma tetkhaba"
it means that no one can hide his default . it is practically impossible

Good idea Oriee .

I love this one , It is a line of a poem by Ahmed Shawky (prince of poets) ....

انما الامم الاخلاق ما بقيت فان هموا ذهبت اخلاقهم ذهبوا

Enma al omamo alakhlak ma bakiat , fen homo zahabat akhalkom zahabo (f)

translation :
Without manners (ethics) there can be no nations (civilizations ) , if their manners are gone ..then that nations are gone ..

أن تصل متأخرًا خيرٌ من أن لا تصل أبدًا (F)
An tasila mota'akhiran khairon min an la tasila abadan
To reach late is much better than never reching

From an old palestinian book from Betlahem :


ان سلم عليك عد اصابعيك
الحية لا تصير خية
حاميها حراميها
بوس الكلب من تمه تتقضي غرضك منه
اللي بيته من زجاج لا يضرب الس بالحجارة
اربط الحمار محل ما بيقولك صاحبه
لسانك حصانك ان صنته صانك و ان خنته خانك

يا بيطخو يا بيكسر مخو (D) I think lebanese
means you either shoot the person or break his head
in other words you just can't get it right, you try to solve it you do worse

بدل ما يكحّلا عميها (D) Also lebanese
Means instead of putting kohl (make up) "for her", you blinded "her" (the situation)
instead of fixing the problem you erased all chance of fixing it

طب الجرة عا تِمّا بتطلع البنت لإمّا (D) Famous in all Arab countries
means like father like son
litteraly it means turn the jar upside down then the girl will look after her mom (it's made of 2 rhyming parts)

I like this syrian proverb

tanjara, o la2it 3'ataha (D)
A pot found its lid
i.e two people suit each other not usually used as a compliment though

There's another one similar to it
fouleh w ma2soumeh
meaning a bean split in 2

انتلت المحاصل (الحواصل) وارتخت المفاصل
Intalat el ma7asel w erta5at el mfasel (D/ Pale.)
Stomach is filled & muscles sagged
It's said when you eat sth & feel sluggish after that.
And الحواصل: مفردها حوصلة means maws or the stomach of birds

* This is a saying more than a proverb

In fact this what just happened with me when I had a meal at work... My head was about to fall on the keyboard

عمرك أطول من عمري
3omrak atwal min 3omri (D)/ All Arabic countries I gusee
Your life will extend more than mine

It's said when you intend to do/ say sth & you find some one just did/say it before you

Yey! I can finally make a little contribution here

لا تنتظر أن تسنح لك فرص خارقة للعادة, بل انتهز الفرص العادية و اجعلها عظيمة (F)
La tantazhir an tasna7a laka fura9un khariqatun lel 3ada, bali ntahizi l fura9a l 3adiyata wa j3alha 3azhima

Don't wait until an extraordinary opportunity comes to you, but use the normal opportunities and make them outstanding



I think this one doesn't require any explanation and I copied it from my text book in case someone is wondering where I got it!

Oh mashallah 3leki...