Read and listen to the following question words and notice the differences between the ones in MSA and the ones in ‘Ammiyya.
| English | الفصحى MSA | العامية Colloquial Jordanian | استَمِع Listen |
| What? | ما / ماذا؟ | شو / ايش؟ * | |
| Why? | لِماذا؟ | ليش؟ | |
| How? | كَيفَ؟ | كِيف؟ | |
| Where? | أَينَ؟ | وين؟ | |
| When? | مَتى؟ | مَتى؟ / ايمتى؟ | |
| How many? / How much? | كَم؟ | كَم؟ / قَديش؟ ** | |
| What time is it? | كَم السّاعة؟ | كَم / قَديش الساعة؟ | |
| How much? (Asking about the price of something) | بِكَم؟ | بْكَم؟ / بْقَديش؟ | |
| Who? | مَنْ؟ | مين؟ | |
| Which? | أَيّ؟ | أيْ؟ | |
| Yes or no questions. | هَل؟ | X |
* While in MSA ماذا would precede a verb and ما would come before a noun, شو / ايش can come before any type word and they are interchangeable. For example:
| What are you reading these days? | شو / ايش بتِقْرَأ هاي الأَيّام؟ | ||
| What is your favorite color? | شو / ايش لونَك المُفَضَّل؟ |
** كَم / قَديش usage in Ammiyya is as in MSA in which it is followed by a singular noun.
| How old is the Jordan Museum? | قَديش عُمُر مَتحَف الأُردُن؟ | ||
| How many hours is this movie? | كَم ساعَة هاد الفِلِم؟ |
Examples:
Read and listen to the following sentences. Note the usage of َquestion words and their pronunciations in context.
| English | السؤال The Question |
استَمِع Listen |
| What is the name of this city? | شو اِسِم هاي المَدينة؟ | |
| Why did you travel to the US? | ليش سافَرِت عَلى أَمريكا؟ | |
| How is studying in Jordan? | كيف الدِّراسة في الأُردُن؟ | |
| Where were you last week? | وين كُنْت الأُسبوع الماضي؟ | |
| When is class time? | ايمَتى وَقْت الصَّف؟ | |
| How many rooms are in this house? | كَم غُرفة نوم في هاد البيت؟ | |
| For how much did you buy the book? | بِقَديش اشتَريتْ الكتاب؟ | |
| Who is this actress? | مين هاي المُمَثِّلة؟ | |
| Which university is better? | أَي جامْعة أَحسَن؟ | |
| Are you (pl) from Syria? | إِنتو مِن سوريا؟ |
Now let’s practice!
Click to flip the cards and learn the question words in ‘Ammiyya. Then, select a game to test your knowledge by clicking “Choose a Study Mode” on the bottom right corner. Have fun!
Exercise: Fill in the blanks
