Part 1 – Back to the Basics

  • لِ has another meaning in addition to “to.” It is used to mean “to belong to.” Normally, when we want to say the Arabic equivalent of “to have” in English, لِ and a pronoun suffix will be used. For example, “I have a car” becomes in Arabic لي سيارة. The Arabic sentence literally means “To…

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  • Well, guess what. Those same pronoun suffixes which we have used for possession (non-demonic) and as direct object pronouns can also be written with prepositions. The combining of these pronouns with prepositions is very common since many verbs have their objects attached to prepositions. When prepositions are written with pronoun suffixes, some changes occur in…

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  • The possessive pronouns which we studied in Chapter Three are also used as direct object pronouns. They are written at the end of the verb. For example, “I studied it” (if “it” is masculine) is درستهُ . If “it” is feminine, then you have درستها . “I saw them (masc) is شاهدتهم. However, you should…

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  • Plurals in Arabic always refer to three or more things. Arabic has special forms to deal with two things. Americans hate the dual. However, unlike the plural business, which I admit is difficult, the dual is very easy. We will begin with nouns.   Nouns are made dual by the addition of the suffix ان…

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  • Whether you realize it or not, you already know most of the rules of agreement in Arabic. There is really only one more thing you need to learn. First, I will review the rules you have had. Then I will discuss the one thing you do not yet know (well, since you have probably had…

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  • كُلٌّ is a noun which means “each” or “every” and sometimes means “all” depending upon the context. When كل is followed by an indefinite noun, it is translated as “each” or “every.” For example, كلُّ طالبٍ means “each student” or “every student.” The phrase كلُّ طالبٍ is an idaafa. That is why there is no…

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  • The demonstrative pronouns هذا and هذه have a lovely broken plural. The plural for both of these words is هؤلاء. This plural is only used when referring to people and it is used for both genders. For example:   1. These students (masc.) are from Beirut. ١. هؤلاءِ الطلاب من بيروت. 2. These students (fem.)…

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  • I briefly alluded to broken plurals at the beginning of this chapter. These are plurals which arise from internal and sometimes external changes to the singular noun. For example, the plural of كتاب is كتب The word كتب is a broken plural. Since you have had Arabic before, you know that broken plurals exist in…

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  • How would you say “the correspondents of the newspaper” in Arabic? What YOU would probably do is what most American students of Arabic usually do: they would say مراسلون الجريدة. Tsk tsk. Don’t do that. Masculine sound plurals in an idaafa as any term except the last term, loose the ن. You must drop the…

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  • You will like this. This is easy. The typical Arabic sentences begins with a verb. In Arabic such a sentence is known as جملة فِعليّة verbal sentence.” The subject, if included in the sentence, normally comes after the verb. Here are two examples.   1. The student studied his Arabic book. ١.درس الطالبُ كتابَهُ العربيّ.…

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