Part 1 – Chapter 5

  • 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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