Ba'd sa'a (بعد ساعة): how to say in an hour in Saudi Arabic
Ba'd sa'a - in an hour, literally after an hour - is the answer to half the questions you will be asked about time in Saudi Arabia, and swapping the last word gives you every other answer.
بعد ساعة
ba'd sa'a
In an hour.
Literally: after an hour.
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Who says it, and to whom
Neutral, in every setting - a colleague, a driver, a delivery app's messages, a receptionist. From a Saudi the same words usually come with inshallah after them.
The reply
What a Saudi says back
تمام
tamam
Okay.
Agreement, and the end of the exchange.
Hear it in a sentence
3 lines from the book
متى؟
mata?
When?
The question it answers.
بعد شوي
ba'd shwayy
In a bit.
The same pattern with a vaguer amount, and the more common answer.
الحين
al-hin
Now.
The other answer. Saudi says al-hin where the textbook says al-an.
What it really means
Ba'd is after; sa'a is an hour, and also a clock, and also what you ask for when you want the time - as-sa'a kam?, what time is it? Put the two together and you have a delay: after an hour, in an hour. The word for hour is the only part that changes. Ba'd shwayy is in a bit, ba'd sa'tayn in two hours, ba'd bukra the day after tomorrow - literally after tomorrow, which is how Saudi counts it.
Two things the English does not tell you. The first is that ba'd sa'a on its own is a plan, not a promise; a Saudi who means it will usually add inshallah, and that is the normal way to state a time, not a way of dodging one. The second is that the reply is almost always tamam - okay - and then the exchange is over. Nobody confirms the hour twice.
The mistake foreigners make
Translating "in" as fi. Fi sa'a (في ساعة) is English word order in Arabic clothes; it is understood and it is not what anyone says. The delay is always ba'd. The other slip is the article: as-sa'a wahda is one o'clock, a time on the clock, while ba'd sa'a with no al- is an hour from now. Put the article in and you have named a time instead of a delay - and someone will turn up at one.
Every recording in the phrasebook is from the audio library of the Essential Saudi Dialect Book.
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