Lebanese Arabic Song: Majnoun (Ramy Ayach)

Ramy Ayachย has been in the Lebanese pop music scene since the late 1990s. His hit Majnoun originally came out in 2011, and has gained new popularity with the recent music video.

Have fun singing along while learning the lyrics. Below, you can see the Arabic script with tashkeel. Click on any line to expand it to reveal the English translation and language notes.

The first two lines in the lyrics are spoken in the telephone call at the beginning of the video. The actual song starts at the 2:00 mark.

Hello? Hello?
(Conversation on phone.)

I can’t sleep. I am not ready to see you again tomorrow. Your love will kill me…will kill me.Rami? Please don’t hang up.
ูููŠู‘ูŠ I can
ุบูููŠ to fall asleep
ู…ูุณู’ุชู’ุนูุฏู‘ prepared
ุฑูุฌูุน to __ again (+ bare imperfect verb)
ู„ุญ = ุฑุญ will
ู‚ุชู„ to kill
ุณูƒู‘ุฑ (lit.) to close

The long nights have been prolonged, how I would like to sleep
(Song starts at 2:00 mark.)
ุทุงู„ to take a long time
ุนู„ู‰ ุจุงู„ูˆ on one’s mind

My heart is only warmed by your eyes.
ุฅู„ู‘ุง… ู…ุง (lit. except… not) only
ุฏูููŠ to become warm

And aah! How I love you! Aah!
ุดูˆ what
Notice the usage of ุดูˆ here and how it translates. Another example: !ุดูˆ ู„ุทูŠู How nice!

Please I want to forget my pain
ุฏุฎู’ู„ูƒ I beg you!; I implore you!
ุจุฏู‘ูŠ I want
ูˆูŽุฌุน pain
ู†ูุณูŠ to forget
The ู€ู‡ at the end of the verb is the pronoun suffix it/him (referring to his pain, which is a masculine noun). This pronoun suffix is ู€ูˆ after a consonant but ู€ู‡ after a vowel.

I’ve missed you.
ุดู’ุชุงู‚ to miss, long for
This verb takes an indirect object, lit. “to you”: ู€ู„ููƒ to you, and notice that the ู„ is doubled in this case.

Crazy…is the one that chooses other than you
ู„ู= ูŠู„ู‘ูŠ who, which, that; here: the one that…, he who…
ุบูŠู’ุฑ besides, other than
ุฎู’ุชุงุฑ to choose

Sleep! Dream of me, your hand in my hands,
ุญูู„ูู… ููŠ to dream about
ูููŠู‘ูŠ, earlier in the song, means “I can”, but here it is simply the preposition ููŠ + the pronoun suffix ู€ูŠ (me)
ุฅูŠุฏ hand

so that even my eyes’ tears stay with you happy
ุญุชู‘ู‰ even
ุฏู…ูุน tearing up, weeping
ุนูŠู’ู† eye
ุจู‚ู‰ to stay
ูุฑู’ุญุงู† happy, cheerful

The long nights have been prolonged, how I would like to sleep
ุทุงู„ to take a long time
ุนู„ู‰ ุจุงู„ูˆ on one’s mind

My heart is only warmed by your eyes.
ุฅู„ู‘ุง… ู…ุง (lit. except… not) only
ุฏูููŠ to become warm

3 comments

  1. This is amazing!

  2. This sounds very passionate… thank you for sharing!

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