A distinct characteristic of the Levantine dialect is the use of the phrase قد ايش (gaddeysh) when asking for the time or inquiring about the price of an item. In some areas of the Levant, you might hear the word being pronounced as “gaddeysh” and in other parts, you’ll hear it as “a’ddeysh,” with the letter ق being replaced by a أ. Regardless of how one pronounces the word, it’s something that you’ll hear very frequently. For instance, in the market, you’ll come across the phrase:

قد ايش هاي؟ (gaddeysh haay?), with the word هاي referring to “this [item]. Therefore, the meaning of the phrase is “how much is this?”

قد ايش الساعة؟ (gaddeysh is-saa3a?) would be asking for the time (literal translation: how much is the hour?)

قد ايش عمرك؟ (gaddeysh 3omruk/3omrik?) would be asking an individual for his or her age. (literal translation: how much is your age?)

كل قد أيش فيه باص؟ (kul gaddeysh fi baaS?) would be inquiring how often a bus would come around? (literal translation: every how much there’s a bus?)

قد أيش اليوم في الشهر؟ (gaddeysh ilyom fi is-shahr?) would be asking someone what day of the year it is. (literal translation: how much is the day in the month?)

As you might notice, قد ايش can be used in a plethora of sentences. In addition to the context of “how much”, you can also utilize it to indicate “what a lot of…”.

قد أيش هو مبسوط (gaddeysh huwa mabsooT) translates to “he’s very happy” or “how very happy he is!”

!قد أيش صرفت المصاري عليها (gaddeysh Sarafit il-muSaary 3layha) translates to “I spent a lot of money on it!”. Note that rather than the word فلوس, Levantine Arabic instead uses the word مصاري. Furthermore, the عليها can also be altered to عليه, depending on the gender of the item that was purchased.