Dialogue Script — Session 5: Brother and Sister

A short bilingual conversation in Levantine Arabic that uses today's vocabulary. Read it together, take turns playing each part, then try without the script. By the end of this session, kids should be able to tell someone — in Arabic — whether they have a brother or sister, and who's older.

The setting

Two cousins, Lina and Karim, are sitting on the balcony in the late afternoon. There's a plate of watermelon between them. Karim is visiting from out of town and they haven't seen each other in a while. He's asking about her family.

The dialogue

Line 1 — Karim, taking a piece of watermelon

Karim: Lina, indik akh? — Lina, do you have a brother?

Line 2 — Lina nods

Lina: Aywa, indi akh. Ismo Sami. — Yes, I have a brother. His name is Sami.

Line 3 — Karim, curious

Karim: Kbir walla saghīr? — Older or younger?

Line 4 — Lina, laughing a little

Lina: Saghīr! Umro arba' sneen. W enta, indak ukht? — Younger! He's four years old. And you, do you have a sister?

Line 5 — Karim shakes his head

Karim: La, ma indi ukht. Bas indi akh kbir, ismo Yousef. — No, I don't have a sister. But I have an older brother, his name is Yousef.

Line 6 — Lina, impressed

Lina: Yousef kbir addaysh? — How old is Yousef?

Line 7 — Karim

Karim: Umro itna'sh sane. Huwwe kbir kteer! — He's twelve. He's really big!

Line 8 — Lina, handing him another piece of watermelon

Lina: Yalla, kool battikh! — Come on, eat some watermelon!

How to use this script

First time — listen

1. Read it together once, with you doing both voices.
2. Don't rush. Let your child hear how the questions go up at the end (indik akh?) and the answers come down (indi akh).

Second time — alternate

3. You take Karim. Your child takes Lina.
4. Look at each other when you speak. Point at yourselves when you say indi ("I have").

Third time — switch

5. Your child takes Karim. You take Lina.
6. The trickier line is line 5 (ma indi ukht, bas indi akh kbir). Slow down there. It's a longer thought.

Fourth time — act it out

7. Sit on a couch, the floor, or a real balcony if you have one. Put a plate of fruit between you.
8. Do the whole scene without the script. Use your hands. Hold up fingers when you say the ages.
9. Then make it real: swap in your child's actual brothers and sisters. "Indi ukht, ismha Maya. Hiyye saghīra." That's the whole goal of this session.

What new words are in here (beyond today's main 6)?

These are bonus words the dialogue exposes. Don't drill them — just let your child hear them. Several show up again in later sessions.

• indik / indak (عِندِك / عِندَك) — "do you have" (to a girl / to a boy). Notice it's the same root as indi, just with a different ending.
• aywa (أيوه) — yes (casual; Levantine often uses this over the more formal na'am)
• la (لا) — no
• ismo / ismha (اِسمو / اِسمها) — his name / her name
• umro / umrha (عُمرو / عُمرها) — his age / her age (literally "his life")
• walla (وَلّا) — or
• bas (بَس) — but / only
• enta / enti (إنتَ / إنتِ) — you (to a boy / to a girl)
• addaysh (قَدّيش) — how much / how many
• sane / sneen (سَنة / سْنين) — year / years
• kteer (كْتير) — a lot / very
• kool / kuli (كول / كُلي) — eat (to a boy / to a girl)
• battikh (بَطّيخ) — watermelon

You'll see indi / ma indi show up constantly in this course. It's one of the most useful little phrases in spoken Arabic — you can plug almost any noun in after it.

A note on the dialect

The Arabic in this dialogue is Levantine spoken Arabic — the everyday speech of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan. A few things to notice:

• kbir in Levantine vs. kabīr in MSA — same word, Levantine just drops the short vowel.
• ma indi for "I don't have" — there's no verb "to have" in Arabic the way there is in English. You literally say "at me" (indi) or "not at me" (ma indi).
• walla for "or" is pure spoken Arabic. In MSA you'd say am.

Kids pick up both registers naturally over time. For now, this is what cousins on a balcony actually sound like.

Yalla Arabic · Dialogue Script · Session 5