Talking about your intentions (نية) in spoken Arabic

Author

Asma Wahba

The easiest and most common way to talk about intentional actions is to use the word want (as you would in English).

For example in the case of Egyptian:

انا عايز

or (past tense):

Or you could use a past + future construction to indicate a previous intention (I was going to).

Of course you could just use the word that literally means intend/intention:

I intend to...

I intended to...

The noun for intention (نية) can also be used.

It was my intention to... (literally it was in my intention)

My intention is to...

Little changes like this to the way you speak make a huge difference in the way you sound to other people.

Reaching higher levels in any foreign language is about being creative and expressive in the way you say ordinary things.

Can you suggest other ways to say the same thing in the dialect you're learning?

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