متى عيد ميلادك؟
matā ‘īd mīlādika?
When is your birthday? In Arabic is متى عيد ميلادك؟ (matā ‘īd mīlādika?).
What does it mean word for word?
متى (matā) means when, عيد means feast or festival, ميلاد (mīlād) means birth and the ending -ka means your.
How does it change in a sentence?
To a woman the ending becomes -ki, matā ‘īd mīlādiki? and to a group -kum, matā ‘īd mīlādikum?
Did you know?
- In many Arabic-speaking cultures, a person's birthday may be tracked by the Islamic lunar calendar, causing the date to shift by approximately 11 days every year relative to the Gregorian calendar.
- Some Arabic speakers avoid عيد ميلاد and instead use يوم الميلاد, which literally means 'day of birth', to remove the religious connotations associated with the word 'festival'.
- The word متى is a cognate of the Hebrew word מתי, illustrating the shared ancestry of these two Semitic languages.
Examples in context
- متى موعد ميلادك؟ يا أستاذة سارة؟When is your birthday, Professor Sarah?
- متى عيد ميلادك؟mata 'īdu mīlādika?When is your birthday?
- أريد أن أعرف متى عيد ميلادك؟urīdu an a'rifa mata 'īdu mīlādika?I want to know when is your birthday?
- هل يمكنك إخباري متى عيد ميلادك؟hal yumkinuka ikhbārī mata 'īdu mīlādika?Can you tell me when is your birthday?
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries عيد, متى, CC BY-SA 4.0.
