قطعوا الماء
“قطعوا الماء” (катаʿу аль-мааʾ) — the water was cut off in Arabic. Phrase, level B1, topic — home and things. Literally "they cut the water": to switch off for an Arab is to cut, as with credit. An impersonal "they" — the one who cut it is not named. In a live sentence: “قطعوا الماء في العمارة كلها” — The water was cut off in the whole building. Written with the characters ق, ط, ع, و, ا, ا, ل, م, ا, ء.
In short
| Written in Arabic | قطعوا الماء |
| Read in Latin letters | катаʿу аль-мааʾ |
| Translation | the water was cut off |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "they cut the water": to switch off for an Arab is to cut, as with credit. An impersonal "they" — the one who cut it is not named
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- قطعوا الماء في العمارة كلهاкатаʿу аль-мааʾ фи аль-ʿимаара кулляхаThe water was cut off in the whole building
Nearby words: home and things
Room, key, water, electricity. You will need them on your first day in a rented flat.
- بيتбейтhouseThe house as one’s own home; a free-standing building is mabna. Bayt is also a line of verse: poetry is an Arab’s second home
- شقةшаккаapartmentThe shadda qq is held long: shaq-qa. The word lives in every rental listing
- سخّنсахханаto warmThe doubled khkh — the word warms itself: sakh-kha-na. "I warm" is usakhkhinu, and tea is reheated with exactly it
- مسكنмасканhousingFrom the verb "to live" — sakana — which you know. A word of listings and documents; in conversation one says bayt or shaqqa
- غرفةгурфаroomThe gh is the gargled one (غ), as in ghaadan — tomorrow. A two-room apartment is shaqqa bi-ghurfatayn, literally "with two rooms", in the dual
- مطبخматбахkitchenFrom the verb "to cook": the prefix ma- turns the action into a place. In a rental listing the kitchen stands in the list apart from the rooms
- حمّامхаммаамbathroomThe doubled mm. The hammam of the Turkish baths took its name from this very word. Hammaam is the bath, the bathhouse and the hotel toilet at once
- شرفةшурфаbalconyFrom shuuf — look: from the balcony one looks at the street. They will understand "balcony" too, but in the listings it is shurfa
- طابقтаабикfloor (storey)The t is emphatic. In Egypt the ground floor is taabiq ardii — "of the earth" — and awwal is already the floor above it; elsewhere the count runs as in English
- مصعدмисʿадliftFrom the verb "to rise". They will understand "lift", but the button in the building says miʿsad. The phrase al-miʿsad maksuur — the lift is broken — is heard often
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “home and things”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “the water was cut off” in Arabic?
Literally "they cut the water": to switch off for an Arab is to cut, as with credit. An impersonal "they" — the one who cut it is not named
- How do you say “bathroom” in Arabic?
The doubled mm. The hammam of the Turkish baths took its name from this very word. Hammaam is the bath, the bathhouse and the hotel toilet at once
- How do you say “to warm” in Arabic?
The doubled khkh — the word warms itself: sakh-kha-na. "I warm" is usakhkhinu, and tea is reheated with exactly it
- How do you say “lift” in Arabic?
From the verb "to rise". They will understand "lift", but the button in the building says miʿsad. The phrase al-miʿsad maksuur — the lift is broken — is heard often
- How do you say “kitchen” in Arabic?
From the verb "to cook": the prefix ma- turns the action into a place. In a rental listing the kitchen stands in the list apart from the rooms
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “the water was cut off” in Arabic?
«قطعوا الماء», read “катаʿу аль-мааʾ”. In a live sentence: “قطعوا الماء في العمارة كلها” — The water was cut off in the whole building. Phrase, level B1, from the set “home and things”; written with the characters ق, ط, ع, و, ا, ا, ل, م, ا, ء.
How is “قطعوا الماء” written in Latin letters?
катаʿу аль-мааʾ. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally "they cut the water": to switch off for an Arab is to cut, as with credit. An impersonal "they" — the one who cut it is not named. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.