Session 9 — Wants, Needs, Can & Future Plans¶

Cumulative time: 18 / 20 hours
Duration: ~2 hours

This is the second-to-last core session. The goal is to make you more independent in conversation, not to add another huge vocabulary list.

Today you will learn to express:

I want...
I need...
I can...
I can't...
I have to...
I'm going to...
Tomorrow I will...
plans and intentions
requests and practical needs

We will also consolidate the past/present distinction from Session 8.

0:00–0:15 — Review¶

Answer aloud, without looking at your notes.

Present¶

What do you do in the morning?

Where do you work?

Where do you live?

What do you like to drink?

Past¶

What did you do yesterday?

Where did you go?

What did you eat?

What did you drink?

Directions¶

Where is the station?

How do I get to the airport?

Go straight.

Turn right.

Turn left.

If you struggle, review Sessions 6–8 before continuing.

0:15–0:30 — “I want”¶

You already know this:

بدي — baddi¶

baddi

I want.

The simplest structure:

baddi + noun

Examples¶

baddi ahwe.

I want coffee.

baddi mayy.

I want water.

baddi akel.

I want food.

baddi taxi.

I want a taxi.

baddi maṭār.

I want an airport.

That last sentence is obviously not semantically useful, but the grammar demonstrates the structure.

“I want to...”¶

Now we add a verb.

baddi + verb

Examples:

baddi eshrob ahwe.

I want to drink coffee.

baddi ākol.

I want to eat.

baddi rou7 3al-bēt.

I want to go home.

baddi نام.

I want to sleep.

baddi eshtaghil.

I want to work.

This is extremely productive.

0:30–0:45 — “I need”¶

بحتاج — b7tāj¶

b7tāj

I need.

Examples:

b7tāj mayy.

I need water.

b7tāj taxi.

I need a taxi.

b7tāj waqt.

I need time.

b7tāj musa3ade.

I need help.

Very important¶

You can combine:

baddi...

and:

b7tāj...

Want¶

baddi ahwe.

I want coffee.

Need¶

b7tāj ahwe.

I need coffee.

The second one sounds stronger/more necessary.

Don't obsess over the exact English translation. Learn the situational difference.

0:45–1:00 — “I can”¶

فيني — fiini¶

fiini

I can / I'm able to.

This is an extremely useful Levantine expression.

Examples:

fiini rou7.

I can go.

fiini eshtaghil.

I can work.

fiini eshrob ahwe.

I can drink coffee.

fiini ساعدك.

I can help you.

“I can't”¶

Simply:

ma fiini

I can't.

Examples:

ma fiini rou7.

I can't go.

ma fiini eshtaghil el-yom.

I can't work today.

ma fiini aji.

I can't come.

This gives you a very powerful pair:

fiini = I can

ma fiini = I can't

1:00–1:15 — “I have to”¶

There are several ways to express obligation in Levantine.

For a beginner, learn:

لازم — lāzem¶

have to / must / necessary

lāzem rou7.

I have to go.

lāzem eshtaghil.

I have to work.

lāzem نام.

I have to sleep.

lāzem ākol.

I have to eat.

Negative¶

ma lāzem

doesn't have to / isn't necessary

Example:

ma lāzem rou7.

I don't have to go.

Compare the four structures¶

This is the heart of today's session.

Levantine	English
baddi rou7	I want to go
b7tāj rou7	I need to go
fiini rou7	I can go
lāzem rou7	I have to go

Now negative:

Levantine	English
ma baddi rou7	I don't want to go
ma b7tāj...	I don't need...
ma fiini rou7	I can't go
ma lāzem rou7	I don't have to go

You have just acquired a very powerful sentence-building system.

1:15–1:30 — The future¶

Levantine Arabic uses several ways to express future meaning.

For a beginner, the most useful approach is:

ra7 + verb

For example:

ra7 rou7.

I'll go / I'm going to go.

ra7 eshrob ahwe.

I'll drink coffee.

ra7 ākol.

I'll eat.

ra7 نام.

I'll sleep.

ra7 eshtaghil.

I'll work.

This is a common colloquial future construction.

Tomorrow¶

You already know:

bukra

tomorrow.

Combine:

bukra ra7 rou7 3ash-shoghel.

Tomorrow I'll go to work.

bukra ra7 eshtaghil.

Tomorrow I'll work.

bukra ra7 rou7 3a-bēt.

Tomorrow I'll go home.

Future negative¶

Use:

ma ra7...

Examples:

ma ra7 rou7.

I won't go.

ma ra7 eshrob ahwe.

I won't drink coffee.

ma ra7 eshtaghil bukra.

I won't work tomorrow.

For now, treat this as a useful conversational chunk.

1:30–1:40 — Plans¶

Now combine:

bukra

baddi

verb

For example:

bukra baddi rou7 3al-maṭār.

Tomorrow I want to go to the airport.

Or:

bukra baddi rou7 3ash-shoghel.

Tomorrow I want to go to work.

This expresses a plan/intention rather than simply future prediction.

1:40–1:50 — Questions¶

Now turn these into questions.

What do you want?¶

shu baddak?

to a man

shu baddik?

to a woman

Where do you want to go?¶

wein baddak trou7?

to a man

wein baddik trou7i?

to a woman

Can you...?¶

fiik...?

to a man

fiiki...?

to a woman

Examples:

fiik tsa3edni?

Can you help me?

fiik tiji?

Can you come?

“Help me”¶

ساعدني — sā3edni¶

Help me.

This is extremely useful.

fiik tsa3edni?

Can you help me?

Literally, you're combining:

can you + help me?

This is exactly the sort of structure we want you to start producing.

1:50–2:00 — Full practical dialogue¶

Read once.

Then try it without looking at the English.

A¶

شو بدك تعمل بكرا؟

shu baddak ta3mel bukra?

What do you want to do tomorrow?

B¶

بكرا بدي روح عالشغل.

bukra baddi rou7 3ash-shoghel.

Tomorrow I want to go to work.

A¶

فيك تروح بكير؟

fiik trou7 bkkiir?

Can you go early?

A¶

لازم تروح بكير؟

lāzem trou7 bkkiir?

Do you have to go early?

A¶

وبعد الشغل؟

w-ba3d esh-shoghel?

And after work?

B¶

بدي روح عالبيت وآكل.

baddi rou7 3al-bēt w-ākol.

I want to go home and eat.

B¶

بدي نام بكير.

baddi نام bkkiir.

I want to sleep early.

New connector: و¶

و — w¶

and

You have already heard:

w-ba3den

and then

Now use it everywhere:

baddi rou7 w-ākol.

I want to go and eat.

shrebet ahwe w-akalet.

I drank coffee and ate.

re7et 3ash-shoghel w-eshtaghlet.

I went to work and worked.

This is a major step toward natural speech.

Your sentence-building matrix¶

You now have enough material to construct hundreds of sentences.

Time¶

mbāre7
elyom
bukra
halla2
es-sub7
bil-leil

↓

Person¶

ana

↓

baddi
b7tāj
fiini
lāzem
ra7

↓

Action¶

rou7
ākol
eshrob
bnām
eshtaghil
barja3

↓

Destination / object¶

3al-bēt
3ash-shoghel
ahwe
mayy
ghada

For example:

bukra baddi rou7 3ash-shoghel.

elyom ma fiini eshtaghil.

mbāre7 lāzem re7et 3al-bēt.

Don't worry about producing complicated sentences yet. You're building a recombination system.

Active recall¶

A — Translate¶

I want coffee.
I need water.
I can go.
I can't go.
I have to work.
I don't have to work.
Tomorrow I'll go to work.
Tomorrow I won't work.
Can you help me?
What do you want?

B — Complete the sentence¶

1¶

baddi ______ ahwe.

I want to drink coffee.

6¶

bukra ra7 ______ 3ash-shoghel.

Tomorrow I'll go to work.

C — Change the meaning¶

Start with:

barou7 3ash-shoghel.

I go to work.

Now make:

Want¶

I want to go to work.

Need¶

I need to go to work.

Can¶

I can go to work.

Can't¶

I can't go to work.

Have to¶

I have to go to work.

Tomorrow¶

Tomorrow I'll go to work.

This exercise is much more important than memorizing another vocabulary list.

D — Answer personally¶

شو بدك تعمل بكرا؟¶

What do you want to do tomorrow?

فيك تروح عالشغل بكير؟¶

Can you go to work early?

لازم تشتغل بكرا؟¶

Do you have to work tomorrow?

شو بدك تشرب؟¶

What do you want to drink?

وين بدك تروح؟¶

Where do you want to go?

Try to answer each without translating from French first.

Arabic reading¶

Today:

بدي

بحتاج

فيني

ما فيني

لازم

رح

بكرا

بدي روح

فيك تساعدني؟

You should begin recognizing these visually even if your reading remains slow.

A note about “ra7”¶

You will also hear future constructions using:

ra7

and in some Levantine varieties:

la7

or other future markers/forms.

The exact future system varies across Levantine dialects. For this course, we're using ra7 + verb as your initial productive future construction rather than pretending there is one universal Levantine form.

18-hour checkpoint¶

You can now express the basic dimensions of everyday communication:

Function	Structure
Want	baddi + verb/noun
Need	b7tāj + noun/verb
Can	fiini + verb
Can't	ma fiini + verb
Have to	lāzem + verb
Future	ra7 + verb
Future plan	bukra baddi + verb
Past	mbāre7 + past verb
Present	elyom + present verb

This is a much more useful milestone than simply knowing 200 isolated words.

20-minute speaking challenge¶

Set a timer for 2 minutes.

Talk about:

Yesterday¶

Use:

mbāre7

re7et

akalet

shrebet

eshtaghlet

nimet

Then:

Today¶

Use:

elyom

barou7

beshtaghil

beshrob

bākol

Then:

Tomorrow¶

Use:

bukra

baddi

ra7

fiini

lāzem

You are trying to produce:

past → present → future

without stopping.

This is your first real three-time-frame conversation.

Homework — 30 minutes¶

Take five verbs:

rou7
ākol
eshrob
eshtaghil
nām

For each, make:

I want to...

I need to...

I can...

I can't...

I have to...

You don't need to write them all. Say them.

2. Tomorrow — 10 min¶

Describe your plans for tomorrow in 8 sentences.

Use:

bukra...

baddi...

fiini...

lāzem...

ma fiini...

3. Speaking — 10 min¶

Answer aloud:

shu baddak ta3mel bukra?

wein baddak trou7?

shu baddak tekol?

shu baddak teshrab?

fiik teji?

lāzem teshtaghil?

Don't aim for perfect grammar. Aim for fast retrieval.

One final challenge¶

Imagine you're talking to a Levantine-speaking friend.

They ask:

shu 3melt mbāre7?

You tell them about yesterday.

Then they ask:

shu bta3mel elyom?

You tell them about today.

Then:

shu baddak ta3mel bukra?

You tell them about tomorrow.

You should now be able to maintain a basic conversation across past → present → future using a relatively small vocabulary.

That is exactly what we want from the 20-hour approach: high-frequency structures that let you generate language rather than memorize scripts.

Next — Session 10: The 20-Hour Integration Session¶

20 / 20 hours

The final session will not introduce another giant vocabulary list.

Instead, we'll combine everything:

introductions
family
food and café
home
daily routine
directions
past
present
future
wants/needs/ability
repair strategies when you don't understand

Then we'll do a simulated 10–15 minute Levantine conversation, followed by a structured assessment of what you can actually understand, say, read and recognize after the 20 hours.

Session 9 — Wants, Needs, Can & Future Plans¶

0:00–0:15 — Review¶

Present¶

Past¶

Directions¶

0:15–0:30 — “I want”¶

بدي — baddi¶

Examples¶

“I want to...”¶

0:30–0:45 — “I need”¶

بحتاج — b7tāj¶

Very important¶

Want¶

Need¶

0:45–1:00 — “I can”¶

فيني — fiini¶

“I can't”¶

1:00–1:15 — “I have to”¶

لازم — lāzem¶

Negative¶

Compare the four structures¶

1:15–1:30 — The future¶

Tomorrow¶

Future negative¶

1:30–1:40 — Plans¶

1:40–1:50 — Questions¶

What do you want?¶

Where do you want to go?¶

Can you...?¶

“Help me”¶

ساعدني — sā3edni¶

1:50–2:00 — Full practical dialogue¶

A¶

B¶

A¶

B¶

A¶

B¶

A¶

B¶

A¶

B¶

New connector: و¶

و — w¶

Your sentence-building matrix¶

Time¶

Person¶

Modal / intention¶

Action¶

Destination / object¶

Active recall¶

A — Translate¶

B — Complete the sentence¶

1¶

2¶

3¶

4¶

5¶

6¶

C — Change the meaning¶

Want¶

Need¶

Can¶

Can't¶

Have to¶

Tomorrow¶

D — Answer personally¶

شو بدك تعمل بكرا؟¶

فيك تروح عالشغل بكير؟¶

لازم تشتغل بكرا؟¶

شو بدك تشرب؟¶

وين بدك تروح؟¶

Arabic reading¶

A note about “ra7”¶

18-hour checkpoint¶

20-minute speaking challenge¶

Yesterday¶

Today¶

Tomorrow¶

Homework — 30 minutes¶