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Easy Arabic Grammar PDF

Some rules of Arabic Writing Grammar

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Moeha Id
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16K views78 pages

Easy Arabic Grammar PDF

Some rules of Arabic Writing Grammar

Uploaded by

Moeha Id
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Easy Arabic Grammar (oop Arane Sree Wigan oe tahoe hr SER ae its Sleep eM on te [rStrea in bese evict waa ee per Littl inet te 2008 by Pave Mian. Mandal Contents Acknowledgements Unit 1 The Arable rot system Unit 2 Gender: masculine and feminine Unit 3 ae (the) Unit4 Pronouns @ingulay and non-verbal sentences Unit 5) Plurals and plral pronouns Unit 7 Adjectives and descriptive sentences Unit ® Describing positon Unit 9 Forming questions Unie 10 Possession: ita (2aL8)) fond attached pronotins ‘Unit 11 Plurals: broken plural Unit 12. Comparative and superlative unit 13. The dual Arabic verbs Unit 14 Past verbs Unit 15 Presentifuture verbs Unit 16 regular verbs 18 7 4 st 63 « 75 ‘unit 17 Forms of the verb Unit 18 Making verbs negative Unie 19. Nouns and adjectives formed from verbs Unit 20. Dual verbs 108 47 123 1 13s Acknowledgements ‘we would Tike to thank all those who helped to produce this book In particular the input of Ghinwa Mamart of the Schoot fof Oriental and African Studies (London University) was Invaluable in making the structure of the units more coherent dnd the rckiergrarsmar points more precise Thank you also to Hala Yehia, lecturer in Arabic at the American University in Caio, for reading the proofs and to Helen Bugler ond label Munday at Palgrave Macrallan for their enthusiasm and professionalism Introduction What is Arabic ‘grammar’? Arabic’‘grammar’ will mean different thing to afferent peopl. “To learners of Arabic os «foreign language It might mean the fundamentals of the language: whether there ate genders, whether the noun othe adjective comes fist, how the verb {anges in the past ana future, ete ‘more advanced Arabists and scholars t might mean the higher level subtleties of Modern Standard oF Classical Arabic To native speakers, t usually conjures up a subject studied at school, often hazily remembered lessons analysing sentences ‘with a view to being able to spell and pronounce formal Arabic ‘What this book means by ‘nammor’ @ progressive knowledge ofthe structure of Arable from the basic building blocks to some, bit by no means all of the more subtle nuances fot Modern Standard Arable Levels of formality Leamers of Arabic generally appreciate the difference between the various spoken Arabie dialects and the universal Modern Standard Arabic. What isnot so well understood is that Modern Standard itself con be spoken and written ot diferent levels of sophistication "Although most Arabs can communicate in a form of stondard Arabic and are aware that formal Arabic is, pronounced with additional case endings, only scholars, media presenters and public speakers use these endings routinely. This book incides Case Notes sections with additional ‘explanations and activities covering the grammatical case ‘endings used in formal, Iterary and religious Arabic. These ‘grammatical cases are similar to those found in languages such {05 German or Russian, but in Arabie are not usualy pronounced in less formal contexts. You can use the book Without reference To the Case Notes if you wish initially t0 ‘cqsite a more general understanding. Alternatively, you can Study the Case Notes sectons if you have on interest i thls ‘aspect of Arabic grammar and want to learn about it from the beginning. How to use this book ‘Tis isa reference and acy book for al beginners and eaey tntermediote stent of AraBle whether staying ino group OF by themselves The hook en asa be wed independent to iproveundestanding ofthe basis of grammar of gan at “vere ofthe strata ofthe Arabic language, The bok has abuts prowresion. Explanations and caves aw only om stacres ee cavee in previous Sinn Work your ay ehrgh the uns ondmease yo progres step by step Alternatively you are aeady suing eicyou com ase be tlevont prt ofthe book forex procce ona potclar pent of gamma Th tn ofthe hook idl to 20 units, each concentrating on on sap of Arabi grammar. The nis + Sco strata! explanations 5 more than 160 stimltingocetes to practise particular ‘ptional Case Notes explaining formal case endings (se che) + tofu th Summary, highlighting the most important pnt ofthe unit for ean reference. sSSonot the bok Arabic script 1s beneficial to acquire familorty withthe Arabic script and the short vowel marks before studying this book. However, the complete alphabet is provided here fr reference Initial tsolated ebb BEG ee bbb bho ck rrETEC CC ULAAA bE FEES EE Vy ee aaa eet ed bEEb eR oe bbS wal att Jia dal Js dhal shay om sin ont shin ake sid Ls daa ae a lb 2a Irtoduction 66 eGr cee bod Tab fats ByaS basea 3S suka as shadda i initial tsolated letter oe eayn ot ghayn ag 8 gat Bis bat lam mim opnun sla ha’ oO CEG bome beth bh EAbbh bb de bub LW be be bb oh ya? Ge ‘9 dash above the eter, pronounced as.a short 1 ofterthe letter, 4) oa ba ‘ comma-shape above, pronounced asa short Walter the letter, e.g. one bu ‘a dash below, pronounced asa short‘ after the leter eg. ay Bt ‘ small cree above showing that ro vowel follows the leter -. cate Bint (Qe) ‘a smal shape above showing thatthe letter is doubled, 1, “34 bur (coffee beans) ‘wavy symbol written over an af and Pronounced 3, eg. Laal ania (young woman) (Note: These symbols aze not generally included in modern (item Arabic Thi book tees them where necesary for at.) s Fundamentals of Arabic grammar x = The Arabic root = system Arabic is «language based on a system of ‘roots. In English Wwe often refer tothe ‘roat of a word to mean its origi, for "cxample the root ofthe English word engineer’ the Latin Ingenum, maeaning ‘sil! “The Arabic root, of jus magdar, refers tothe core meaning ofa word. Ths core can usually be identified by thee root ‘Consonants (non-vowels) For example, the sequence of three consonants sid/.» sti (in this order, reading the Arabic seript Fight to lef caries the meaning of "ravel. A wor wich Includes the sequence of letter yia/_» s/s Ukely to have something o do with travelling, For example; journey tr het Lays vovsler acs mute nti lbw ta All these words are derived from the rot s/a/ae str. Notice how the root letters alway’ appear in the same order. Any ‘ditional consonants or vowels before, after or between the oot letters modify the meaning according to different general patterns. The feminine ending & (&¥ marbita) is never part of the root and the most common addtional consonants are pm, ‘The Arabic root system a ‘The emphasis on root consonants means that vowel, ‘expecially short vowels, are of secondary importance. The [pronunciation often vares between Moder Standard Arable ‘nd spoken dialects. For example, 3S (he writes) would be pronounced yaitub in Modern Standard, but could be yuatub oF Jkt in dlolet, The meaning is generally conveyed by the ‘Consonants rather than the vowels. ‘Mich of Arabic grammor is concerned with how the root Is manipulated to create different related meanings. As you ‘become more fomiliar with the patterns and structures, you will bbe more able to entfy the roots and to manipulate hem ‘yoursel. Activity 1 ‘Can yo identity the three root letters in each ofthe folowing ‘es of words? What do you think the general core meaning could be? 1 book SES tia ofe Ss malta were SIS hats vray LAS mondo 2 ksson cep das teacher oie eta study Luly dasa shoot Lace maiase PO 3 broken aguSa make fragmentation ja abst inwas broken I inkasar teracter LAS tame 4 plover we tp playing eld ala mala toy aad lupbe: games lath ates Words with doubled root letter Some Arabic words have the same second and thid root letters. ‘When this the case, they aze sometimes writen together with ‘a shadda doubling sign (=) and sometimes separately ‘depending on the type of word: 2 jail (ne) rot letlers shag ills US tat (aty = root eters ered Words with four root letters | few Arabic words have four root letters. Sometimes these are four diferent letters, for example Zam 3 tayama (translation) where the root letters are p/g/4/ Ulm, but often they are {repeated pai, for example Jil zalzl(earthqvake), where the root letters are 3/5 20721 Words of foreign origin £9 in summary bad + Most Aabic words have a sequence of three root consonants wich ls connected with a paricusr core meaning. + Vowels and consonants ae added around the root to create related words and structures. + The most common adeltional consonants ate ¢ + Some words have the me second and third root consonants and afew have four root consonants. + foots ate the building blocks a the Arabic language and are help for guessing the meaning of vocabulary w Gender: masculine and feminine Arabic nouns (wopds that name people, objects peas) are titer matculie (muha) of fnine ( ana) ci mast) gan Xba SLa mata table (eminine) Its not dificult 0 tel the difference between masculine and feminine words. Feminine words usualy all into one of fo categories: 1 Words withthe feminine ending & a (3° marbuta, for example: ar Bylaw sayyara bag Ziadie hagiba aunt (matema) —2L& than nurse male) aca mua 2 Won string to female people bu nt ending In, for example oa fs bint mother ham ‘A 1m addition, there are a small numberof words which are feminine and don’ fit into either of the two feminine categories. Most of these are names of counties, natural features oF pars of the body that come in pair, For example: leg Jay eit sn Gale shams desert elyaue shia aye ene migh Activity 1 Decide if these words are Se mudhattar or 234 mwannath tn tick the correct box a nthe example Se 1 LS kita book a 2 asi ukhe sister OD a 5 oe bat nove OQ ee ee | 5 teles dase chiken QO 6 slab finer QO 7 aly wala wy =O 8 Statatgeg ag 9 peste tet 10 ijpate pe QO 1 ose eon «% a oa 12 Late itimi meeting QO une 2 Case Notes [Arabic has diferent levels of formally and complexity. in Certain contexts, particularly Quranic or Classical Arabic but So sometimes in more formal Standarl Arabic, you wil se ‘nd hear addtional grammatical endings. These endings represent the core of the noun (nominative, accuatve oF ‘deitne) and whether it define or indent. The endings change depending on the function af the noun in a sentence Isolated nouns are usualy shown with the neutral cy i8 anwan) ending showing they ate indtinteCa/an). a3 {Carwin) erally means putting a nn on’ and for his reason ometimes called munaion. Ris ten a small symbol above the inal etter (=) and pronounced ur atoy “iy watan Ia noun ends in 5 (a marbuta), the tis pronounced before the Gass Caran): acer Eyl sayyacaten a nune Liaiyee mumaniatun gh (anwan) isnot normally added to foreign loan words Sich as iyaeeS humbyati (computer. Optional Activity PU the js (anin) on these nouns and say them outloud bape 4 goes 1 aula 5 tales? cae 6 one ender: masculine and feminine [jn summary 1 Arabic has two genders: masculine and feminine ‘+ Most feminine nouns end in 3 (a marbota) o,f not they refer to female people, 9. aby (bit) + other nouns are generally mascutne. “+ tv more formal Standard and Classical Arabic ‘sddtional grammatical endings may be sen and = > x GF ~1 al (the) Arabic has no separate word for ‘aor ‘an’, as ina chair’ or ‘an ‘apple’. So LES (ktab) means a book’, Se (maktab) an otc’ et. To make a noun define (the book’, ‘the offic’, etc), you reed 10 add (al) meaning the’ (a) s written joined tothe ‘word it refers to and is the same for both masculine and Feminine a wad boyy gil atoalad (he boy) Sy bint (291) call atine Ce gi Lees samt (shi — Gamal akcaiy he shin) Eggi haba (o bag) = Zygdatathoaibo che bas) Sun letters dyad! by aJ!and moon letters yall Gail Nouns starting with certain letters ofthe Arabic alphabet cause the pronunciation of I (a) to change. The is assimilated and Instead the intial letter of the noun Is pronounced twice ~ and ‘written with shadda (2) if the vowel marks ae include ee spare Coca ~ By lull assayara Qhe ean ae rate (aren) gl an-nate ene ven) ‘The leters which cause this pronunciation assimilation are called sin letters, yuna oy yal (aur ash sharma, os {F Ghin) self an assimilating letter Note that onl the Pronunciation is atfected by sun letters. The spelling of (a) ‘doesn't change. Halt the 28 letters of the alphabet are sn “The remainder ofthe Letters are clled {pail ay pl (obhurat alqarsriyay, as 3 (ga ss not on assimilating fete (oun letters) Ayana Gy ya oI Bb Bee ssssee {omoom letters) hy yall by 0 gsertsstetcey! Activity 1 ‘write these nouns with the article (aly and then say them out oud, as in the examples. p. Py # abun gga SN gan wa erst ae AB cin =, aye Elision 1.3) comes direct after vowel, the‘ of I) will drop ot, orellde, leaving just the. Again, this affects only the pronunciation and not the spelling aubayt cou fi tbaye all Utherouse) Gin the house) tat hes n atmumariga Labial! ya emumarga Ladpaall it iio mune) (She ft the morse), ’ Case Notes | wren a noun s made definite (for example, by adding ot), the neutral (naming) cave ending above the final eter becomes a amma (~) pronounced -v (ui the noun ends | ebay Sy wadun ———theboy gH ana Optional Activity Pain ae neil case ening onthe answers you gave Tor sc ad ay the wont st ious. For exon 1 Lal abmitabu he key Eq summary AI (at) ithe Arabic equivalent ofthe’ and i ways ‘rsten joined to the following noun: sx bayt (house); sal abbayt (the hous). + There is no separate word equivalent to ‘aan Half the eters ofthe Arabic alphabet asimllate the "Vo ae: call atin (the Ns) + Thea" ofa snot pronounced f the previous word tends in a vowel: ll i bay inthe house) s a & Pronouns (singular) ** and non-verbal sentences Pronouns ate words such as 1, Wor ‘you which replace "Arabic has mote pronouns than English since st has different versions for masculine and feminine, singular and plural, and leven special dual pronouns for two people oF things Singular pronouns ere are the singular pronouns. 1 Gi ana {you (masculine) si anta ‘you (feminine) il anti he, mosaie) a she emiine) gh ha Activity 1 ‘Cover the pronouns above and then join the Arabic to the English, as in the example. he, (mescaline) sai she, it leminine) You trace) _/ you (lerinine). sai ‘Pronouns (singular) and non-verbal sentances 5 Non-verbal sentences ‘You can construct non-verbal sentences in Arabic that do not require the equivalent of ‘am’, "are oF 16 The sublet. either a rnoun or a pronoun, can be followed directly by the Fest ofthe am Yasin, cuanty Ul Yous a teacher. bite Ganga osu muda My aneNdlsalrune, aac ty tL ‘hate ne muri The dog tin theguden, Rdg You fre] Ahmet ate. sank ge ool Activity 2 Fallin the gaps, asm the example, Activity 3 ‘Waite out these sentences again using oF ea, asin the example sone 5 we Saal aban Sypauls 2 eoUill g HSI 2 UI og SLs Bysatl ogi 3 laall go stalls Case Notes Look at these non-verbal sentences with the case endings included: He's a teacher. “pita ya twa dation You're a muse, uals cl anti mumarsigatun ‘The gis in the house. cael IH aLbintw tt -oayt) [All of the case endings i tales re neutral, oF nominative — ‘un tor indeinite and for definite except al were the fending changes to after 1 (in). You wil earn more About thisin Unit 8. For thé moment, its enough ta kaw thatthe case ending will be nominative unless there sa reaton for not to Be ‘Prencuns (singular) and non-verbal sentences 0 £4 In summar: Eg ms y “+ 5a hua means he oF for masculine nouns Pa hiya means she or ifor feminine nouns + There are masculine and feminine forms of you! ‘ssi ana (masculine) and ai anti (emirine) + There fsa direct equivalent of“, ‘am’ or re” (ert “to bein the present), + Sentences can he formed without the verb "o be “or wa muda (He [isa] teacher) & = _ Plurals and plural wy pronouns ‘Many aspects of elementary Arabie grammar are Straightforward, but plurals require explanation and practice ‘The frst point to make is that Arabic plurals refer only to three or mere people oF items. Fortwo people or items, there is ‘separate dual form, although this i not always used in less formal Arabie. The dual form is covered separately in Unit 13 Plural pronouns 1m adtion tothe singular pronouns, there are also five plural pronouns: we ad nabaw you (mescuine pura) gH antum you doin pro 34 amunna She (rece) (bum they eminine ‘Sa une Although there ae separate masculine and feminine plural forms of ‘you’ and ‘they’, the masculine isthe most common. Hf ‘a group of people is mixed mate and female, the masculine form Is used. The group mut be entirely female forthe ferninine plural to be used. Spoken dialects sometimes ignore leven this diference and use the masculine form throughout) Pura and purl pronouns 19 Plural nouns: introduction reer Sound plurals “These ae two sound plurals, formed by adding external suffixes: + sound masculine pra Sound feminine plural Sound masculine plural ‘The sound masculine plural s formed by adding 35 Gn oF Savin to the singular nouns Geb mudatis + Sgutbe muda / Gye mudarisin Gnale teaches) @eachess) The alternative 3g in ending is used in porticular structures ‘which wil be explained lator inthis book ‘The sound masculine plural (SMP is used almost exclusively with words describing groups of males or mixed males and Females, for example when referring to jobs and nationalities ele mua + Sypalae muntsbon / jamalne mubasibin Geccountant) (accountants) (Ale eisay + ce avon / OGLE giBayin fog Graais 2 ots Pret and plural pronouns Note that not all words desert purl using the SM Some use people can be made plueal (see Unit 1, Activity 1 ‘Complete these sentences using the plural of the words in the box, as in the example. (All of the words can be made plural using the sound masculine -on ending) engineer unaig’s muhandis compenter SSS ajar baker SIGS shabose egyptian Genes musty French Speci faransiy ‘The sound feminine plural (SF) is formed by adding 2 -at to the singular. 1 the singular word ends with the feminine -2 (3), this shoutd be removed before the SFP is odded 425 junayh (pound) + cilgaie jumayhat (pounds) kee mumariga (nurse) + lea'jae mumanigt nurs) Bye sayare (can) + stu sayy (ars) Unlike the name sound feminine plural suggests this ending is ‘ot used exctusielyt0 make feminine nouns plural Ia common Plural and is used with both feminine and masculine nouns, ‘although not generally with nouns refering to male pope ‘There are two main groups of nuns with which the SEP I used, SFP with all female groups of people The SFP is used for groups of three of more females Lutes mudarrisa + Lujan muds (female weacher) (female teachers) Tale ginawa + olde graqyat (emate rag)" (lemote roa) Activity 2 Mole these sentences feminine using the SFP, a in the example 2Shte B gueae pmelae oaT csi pa) Sosien cals ose S babs Consiga pa 6 ‘urls ond purl pronouns 2 SFP with masculine and feminine non-human nouns The SF i commonly ead with a variety of masculine ad feminine words reterring to objects o ideas, Rela} auia (boty + tebe} esse cbotle) ELSI lente (meeting) + leLatal jimagat (meetings) (StS hayawan (anima —+ Llgaahayawanat (animals) 4 ugha (language) -+ = lughat (languages) Sule sayyara (ca) + al Lae sayyarat (cas) AMG thalloa (ridge) + Lad thal ridges) Unfortunately there are no hard-anel-fost rales for knowing Wich nouns use the SFP although you ll get a better foe as your knowledge ofthe structure af Arabic increases, You ned to learn each word individually ith its plural {mn informal contexts you may also hear andl see foreign foan | words with the SFP at -at ending: jatald tion + aL giy tont shone) (lelephones) ase kumbyatie + Lye kumbyatat Geomputer) computers) Non-human plurals Plural pronouns such 0s ga hum and is hunna are ony used when refersing to human ¢.. Cupane pa hum mudarison (eye teachers), With non-human plas, Arabic uses the Feminine singular pronoun, eA 93 gb ga Solna ah ayna az-zujajat? hija hthalaia (Where dre he bottles? Theyre fn the fide) 2 nies Purals and purl pronouns as This feature extends to ail grammatical structures, sch as — ~ verbs and adjectives (which willbe covered in ater unit). The Case Notes femninine singular is used with all non-human plurals whether the nouns ate originally masculine of Feminine inthe singular, Piya nouns aso have cave endings. The neteal nominative | ening forthe sound feminine plurals -un/-uas tis for | Singular nouns: Activity 3 . |“ . Make sentences ung a hans a ta, cham or a hanna, uses kaj mumaridan sheruses —— iaagpaall muna | 80/3 SA. 4 However, the nominative ending forthe sound masculine pra is anor both indefinte and definite: teachers Ogee modarison theteachers Sagat atmudarison ‘The sound masculine plural sone of the few instances ofthe ‘ase ending being written as part of the main seript and universally pronounced. ‘Optional Activity Mate these words plural and pronounce them withthe indefinite ease ending (male engineer) rag S (bottle) gla (a9 islaw 6 eoaker) 5U82 omale teacher) tao 7 (animal) Shyam 3 (meeting) gLaiat8 ———_anguage) ial 4 rR 3m summary 1+ There are two types of pra in Arabi, externa ‘ound! plurals and internal ‘broken’ plurals. There are no precise rules governing which plurals used for 3 particular noun. + The sound masculine pra (SMP) is formed by adeling sy) -Grin tothe singular and is used With nouns relering to groups of people. Demonstratives are the equivalents ofthe English "this! oF ‘that’, as in this hows, "that boy ‘Arabic demonsteatves change according to whether they are ‘The sound feminine plural (SFP) is formed by ding 2-3 tothe singular ater any 38 ‘marbuta has been removed). The SEP used with this masculine) a nada ‘roups of females and to make certain other this deminine) aaa hadi masculine and feminine nouns pla cons that (masculine) 13a “+ Arabic grammar treats any non-human pra Feminine singuler. So you must use the feminine singular pronoun (ea hiya with the paral of objects that leminine) AS ha LE gb gt Sa ell oad Cole gt The demonstratives goin font of the noun with the article (Were are the cars? Thay ae in the see.) as this boy yJ}SLa dha bvalad tis git esi eke hadi bint mat house Seal lS anata Hbayt that cy ig aE ha Lacing [Notice how thea of (a) slides s the demonstratives all end sma vowel (ee Unit 3), a unt 6 Activity 1 Fillin the gops withthe correct Arabic demonstrative to match the English, arin the example thisman Say ik tne bsg Reet 2 that newspaper Spat! 3 that teacher Goal 4 that nurse Za pall 5 shispen gt . sts 7 that it anal 8 The demonstratives can also be used with an indefinite noun ‘without (ab to form a sentence: Thistialboy. aly ka hacha waa That isa}cty. gate IS tka macina You need to be careful As you alrady know, Arabic has no separate word for ‘aan’ or direct equivalent of ‘sia’ This ‘means that only the presence of (a) indicates the diference between: 2) tis book eISSN a haha Ltt byThistisa) book ULES Li hana Kita {you want to say ‘This s the book’, et. you need to add hhuwa (masculine) oF ea hia (feminine) after the demonstrative This the bag, Ryall pa aa haghin hiya Lnaqiba That fs] the man, Jail ga oll3 tics havea vail ‘write sentences to match the pictures, asin the example. Pay special attention as to whether the object is near this") oF far ‘way (that). 0 nie Case Notes "the case endings are added to demonitiative sentences, the ‘ending wil vary according to whether the noun i definite (witha) or nei | iis abo. yl nacho wad Thisman sanengineer. —Lyeaige Ulla aha raj muhandisun, hats a ve 5 5 dat nanan feeb at a ours ras te ‘ecomes “ued” bore ave ering anf porovrced a (see Unit 2): i" r That gift isa purse. Likes eit ls tka Pinta muta, This city is large. Bras Eigaall oie hihi Lmadinat abit Optional Activity Put the case endings on these sentences pila 1 ly as 2 Stk Jay aa 3 BoasS Tyan ds 5 Demonstratives with the plural Remember that Arabic distinguishes between human and non: hhuman plurals. Nonhuman plurals are grammatically Feminine singular (see Unit 5}. ‘So, for non unnans, the demonstratives will be the same as the feminine singislar, Se. a Machin and ls tk these mecings cleLata Yi ose rach it These re bottles preety fun ce Those cars ae comfortable, Ang ye cl Luall lls tha ceayyarat manta ‘when talking about people, you will se the following plural slemonsteatives: these euman pro ul those (tuman puro) yt iia these nurses La aall ea Those arte teaches. caput ga yf ‘The plucal demonstratives are dificult to spell and pronounce [Asabeginnet the most important aspect is learning 10 recognise them, ‘sin the example + Arabic demonstratives change according to ‘whether the noun is masculine oF feminine, slngular, plural or ual ana “ +The most common demonstrates ae ‘rosin nga La bia (9); sda (hat) o feminine sigur ad non-huron plras Baise 2302 ‘95a hii (his); tka (that) + Plural demonstatves ae ony used wth nouns : ‘efering to mans ~ asad lia 3 eye haulat (hi): Adyl wha (that) + the meaning changes depending on whether he oun asthe arte a lpi hha Lwalad (this boy) “ayia haha walad. (This a boy.) (Tae atts ao sony 7 | lean ati . Sy, Adjectives and ih descriptive sentences Descriptive words such as beautiful’, ‘new or heavy" are known in English as adjectives A feature of Arabic adjectives f that many display common patterns. One of the mast basic ofthese patterns is fatha ‘after the fist consonant and a long 4 0) between the second fand third consonants: beaut loro dese, vay ob os new Ina see os eed es heavy thai J tight rons bigtage sabre os small sae jak talong teva ag shox ase onal Adjectives also often begin with — ma-of s mu (the equivatent ‘ofthe English past participle ae in “broken or burnt” cee Unit 19), Adjectives ond deserve sentences a5 broken rmaksor happy mas famous rmastv-hor marced mutazawes suitable runs Position and agreement of adjectives Im English, adjectives are placed infront of the noun they describe; ‘beautiful river, "new leach. In Arabic, descriptive words are placed after the now ond mst “agree” with 10 Dther words if the noun fs feminine, the adjective must ako be ‘made feminine, usually by adding &: (> beaut iver abe jams ese 8 (@) beauttel git iat jana Tyas ob (new tacher —mudaerisjadid ys ee new ear saya jaca “These descriptive words can be use to describe a noun direty fs in the above examples (known in Arabic ds Lal aps), fF asthe predicate of @ sentence (known in Arable as jas Siithabar, “the news"), pail athabars the part ofthe sentence that caries the information: The ver fis beau. anne ars Jae till ida. Sag 5Loall The cris] new: 26 ne 7 Activity 1 Look at the list of adjectives on pages 34-S and then fl the ‘aps to match the pictures, as in the example: (Thete may be ‘more than one possible answer) Adjectives with definite nouns an adjective is describing a definite noun with I al the’) as in al albayt ie house), then the adjective mast also hve shat the new teacher a-mudorris acd gant] eal the Beoull picture as-sora jonni LLyaall 3, gual Adjectives end scp Sentences 2 ‘when a noun hos a postesive eiding a in ne Bayt (rny Inoue), the nou is definite since we know wich howe i retered to” In this eae, the adective wil also ned to begin with al Byala coe ik ELE gl lee byt aac I shiig garb min al madeasa taba “My nev house sina street nea tothe large school “More details on possessive endings can be found in Unit 10. I there is more than one adjective, they can all be added afer the noun, usually separated by 5 wa. Cand’ a lage new school sang By Zane rmadrasa Fabia wa-adica hy Saat yen I abjant wal gadim the beaut old chair ge A You need tobe very careful about whete you place a and {a/laa hadhalhadhh as the stricture, and so also the ‘edning, wil be alec a beauttulrver se se the beautfl river Sees seal! ancnanr ajar “The sve is beaut ese still ‘anna i Jean op in Inadh nar amt This vers beaut Seas ptt te badha nena ja Activity 2 ‘Match the Arabic with the English 2) alarge ear ea3%s Uall da \ bythe famous rer Bayes Baka oil ¥ ©) The bag stig. steal gill 1) This newspaper is old. coed spall cae ©) This man i marred RapsB Bayyo sn 0 1) The smal git is happy. SynS 3b 19) The new house sual Rinks Unda V Adjectives with plurals Plural adjectives are used only with people, Remember that ‘non-biuman plurals are always treated as feminine singular (see Unit 5) and so will be followed by a feminine singular adjective along meeting itmag fawn Usk Lisa long meetings jimagst tava Zdygl LaLa the broken bottle azzujijs abmaksGra §,yuSall LaLa i the broken bottles azsast almakre 3; pS halt Plural adjectives for describing people can often be formed Using the sound masculine and sound fernnine plural re Unit 5), but some of the basic adjectives have broken plas ‘which need to be individually learnt (see Unit 11) For now itis {enough to understand the basic principle and recognise the sliference Adjectives ond descrptivesontoncer 2 Lebanese boys std sh aad lanbniyan nen engineers th peste smubanaisn judd the suitable nurses Seattle peal atmumarridt almunssbst Activity 3 Real this description of Nala aL) from Beleut (Sage) Lebanon. Use the correct form of tne adjective in brackets complete the paragraph, as inthe example son oe tess Gu) BawS Hise ose (Jase) 2 Ra sale pb Lajas Ga yG cons (ane) 2 (ess8) stall (23) Guaally (3U45) a) ws (e335) Hast (ssn) Kanyuh lee io Colours Adjectives descrbing the baste colours have a somewhat different pattern to other adjectives. They begin with a () and hhave another 9” between the cond and third consonants | « ne 7 gas ahymar (re). They have thete own speciol feminine form {iso used with non-human plurals), colour masculine feminine + paral énon-human) fed panama Lan ama blue Gyslaerag Lay} zara green aaa abhdar ek kha yllow — shaal agar nga! black aga asad age sac White Ge abyad Lay aye Activity 4 ‘Make sentences as in the example. You can colour the objects fist you prefer. (Note: pens = pl agli) PT mt spss > gent ? thes voto BO, omens MV ices 83 eee yew + be7 NLT bot cares Adjectives and deserptve sentences ” Case Notes Case ening for adetves match that ofthe noun describe beatiful ver Jean 5 nein amor the old newspaper Lay Sugadl abandon qed ln te following sentences the descnptve word ie jell ldhabor (ihe predicate), and so tis indefinite | Twists beaut, pan Sela hha rental Trenewspaperisold, Layad Syl abjaridatu qacimatun Colours ae an exception. The nominative eave ending is for both indefinite and definite aed pen janl lb qalsmunstymara thisyelow book jhe GSH a dhs taboos ‘Optional Activity Putte case endings on the sentences in Activ 2, for example: (dha erajula mutazavewuny. 554 ell a EQ m summary + Arabic adjectives are paced ater the noun they describe and agre withthe noun, usually adding {fora feminine noun and non-human plurals +The dente article a should be ade to the adjective if the noun described is dete + The plurals of adjectives are used only when describing people. *+ Adjectives describing basic colours havea distinctive patter and thee own feminine forms, 6.9 ahwmad/hama alam J sani (0), . S4 Describing position ‘Words such as ‘under’, in’ and ‘on’ ore used to describe sition, ‘Common words used to describe position in Arabic include: in et on ote gals ver an tahta above Bb tawaa in front of Lil amame behind hay waite ext to ile: bianis between oe bayna © ll ts Arable positional sentences work i a similar way to English ones. "Note that since many ofthe postional words end with a short, for long vowel, thea ofthe following al-elides, exribing postion 6 ‘The newspaper {i} on the chai. yansKll le Bap ph Thana gala Lora SLI ons lS Sia huni al tata mala ound! pitas stmanamat bahay ‘Ther [is] a dog under the table [ALManama (sn Bahan, ate gala (on) and i a to) can also be combined with Sess Yamin eight) and Ly yas Let We went tothe right. Activity 1 Cw 0 eye n the comet poston to match he sentence, cinmeoctene FIR ersten tates ats » SusLall gle GIS lia ¥ . “” ne 8 Rydal plat nl ALi oy tie aa f Suthates atte _| anal gle EI sas eed g EE] ses Activity 2 ‘Rearrange the Arabic into sentences to match the English ‘meaning, as the example 1 psa fa paal lf ware veered “The new banks nex tothe schoo 2 phan /aneh fb al nsine gt Salsa i an engineerin the car factory esting poston 6 3 eon [toe /ests atid Nadi i fom Beit i lebanon 4 Rage Stan 398/Spabn 5 Rips fas Enel 6 US S/S ge an “There's a heavy bag onthe table. Activity 3 {ook atthe scene below: 46 nie Now choose the corect word from the box to complete the description ofthe scene on page 45, asin the example. & he ai ge hs ies say lial aw se cal (ruscur) ae poll ey hess Goth te al ee ayy eal dash gad tae al ils Rejae Shia canal wens ne hha dal eae pal ASI th ga asl (cinplane) $s any Sha aL is aii tie laa g Lat 5 woman) shpat Case Notes The grammatical eas endings of nouns and actives change Mec pastonal ors The Romnaive ening foun C2) or oud anine inc acne become (Oar OED. Thee cate eng ae now a marin Arabic and | pot th The gerne et ater prpostons tha poston woes (ond when desing posesion which win covered nun 10), Uundera table taht maidacin Las Inthe old house WLbayt Lain’ peal all gi | behind the eas ware ssayyirath al Leal hy Look at thse example sentences with the case endings added: | “The newspaper i} on the table, SaiLall le Saeed) atjarat gals mati ‘Tere i] dog inthe house, agli LIS na hunaka elon faye Ne a teacherina new school Saesn Lass e.g hme dann mada indo nermembe hat case endings are not normaly added to words erin nin sacha ay (B00 ors a) ‘Optional Activity Red these sentences wth the case endings and say what they mean in Engi Laepaall gb call hall gle pb Ga ¥ slally SUG ae abgll © Ragan ia £ Riyaall Bean op dla & el tle seas Gham dla 1 ‘in summary + Positional words uch as (in) and se gal (on) describe poston + Arabic positional sentences are formed in similar ‘way to English ones = i i 2 ) Forming questions ws {Questions are relatively simple to form in Arable. There is no special question form, such as the English ‘dof does?” or di” ‘and the order of words generally not alected. Yes/no questions Questions requiring only the answer ga nagm (es) oF ¥ 8 (no) ‘can be made in one of two ways 1 Adding a question mark at the end ofa statement (or orally ‘adding @ question tone), This is most common i les formal Arabic! Solel esha abihariom sain? hadi sSayyara jaca? 2 Adding the question marker Ja hal (ot less commonly 1 in front ofa statement Isthecatin the house? Sigal il a hal aba Hbaye? {5 there a bank near SSSA cya ap iy in in the office? hha hunaka Bank gars min almakeab? ‘re you Mahmoud? Sagan a 2-ahta mabmad? forming questions « Note that {a is written as part af the following word as ase al ‘Arabic words that consist oF only one liter Activity 1 ‘Answer the questions as in the example - eens ge pe tyeteas tans If ot ae Ry Sstelaa en Solas: sawssenye fo Question words (Other questions begin with a specific question word, such as ‘al ayna? where?) cpa ma? (wh?) In this cas, the ‘question morkers Ja hal or ia are not use: 50 nie 9 Where's Damascus? Lesa gb ot Stee Oe Wesin ya yma ashe? hiya sn, no's tis? isa stan wal oe This is ny brother, ‘Man haha? haa ak Some of the more commonly ised question words include: what? S1SLe/L mamas why? Stott mada when? see mata how? Shayla how many? syStam how much? (ice) 4S Bhan wich? Siow [Note that there are two question words meaning ‘what’ Le ma ts used with following noun cand Sle maha mainly with a ver What's your address? Sulit Lema gunwanak? What ae you doing? Sas ie macha tafgal? Sp tam (how many?) is followed by a singular noun. tn dition the noun has a special ending (an known as tarwin Math. This ending carries the meaning of esto of -regarding” ‘ond is writen on an extra af (1) ithe noun does not end in ta Forming questions ” rmarbata, This is one ofthe few examples ofthe system of Arabic {eve endings affecting the bast spelling and pronunciation, The ‘Case Notes in this unit wll give you farther details, or you can Jt remember when to use tanwn abfathy on a case-by-case basis How many boys? aly ¢S kam waladan? How many schools? aye gS kar madrasatn? (tn tess formal spoken Arabic tanwin aMfath is not usually pronounced) Activity 2 fill in the appropriate question word, as in the example Kapaall gb yasotal Gal V canal pact Scat x alsa st a SRapaatl lily ‘ 195) a8) ° oe Lisle, x gale ue ll id you go) Sa v s Epelbaum lS Activity 3 ‘Now make questions tsi the answers arin the example Soul ge cal Shaye Salou ga¥ LL gle alates V> aa T eo Gals AML Le kt 0 (ihe party iat 3 cook) Hagan pb iy alae ga V ULM ai as v Case Notes The hed a fil cat in Arb row a aan trtne ano The dt acne voce faa ©) and pronounced a gta haw many) 6 Anum etre fe accusative cate that the nde ithe noun aestyendsin feminine mers how many men? Ska 4S kam raulon how many cars? a AS kam seyyarton Optional Activity Ask how many there are ofthe flloting tems, asin the fxample. Remember to use singular nous with the Forming questions ss In summary + Yesine questions can be made by adaing a ‘question marker (Ja or to statement. Question markers are not generally sed in les formal Arabic, swith the tone of vee being used to convey & (other questions can be formed by puting specitic ‘question word such a Sal ayna? oF SS kayla? infront ofa sentence without changing the word lorder: Sune sll na GS haya chahabta is sie? (How did you go to Egypt) {yan may lowed yng ‘Con orton on een a hen {Er gta yn ow any hor Possession: idafa (4aL.4!) and attached pronouns ‘To express possession, cs 1p “Anwar's book’ of “the manager of the company’, Arabic puts two oF mote nouns dirty together Inthe order possessed + possessor, ‘Anwar book 281 GUS fab anwar Mohammed's son fame cal tom munarnmad the door ofthe house Saal ly bab akbayt This typeof construction is known as 33L.3} data, ‘meaning ‘addition ‘Only the fna! noun in an igata can have the article a: the son of the manager all al in abut the son of the manager pull yaa ca! ofthe department ‘bn modir akg the son ofthe manager of claggAll pad jose Gal the sales department ibn mudi qs ak mubigat (Cdepartment of sales’) ‘The meaning will change if the last noun i indefinite themanager of adepatiment pad pase muir gsm the door of a house Se bab bayt Feminine words in idafa Ie ehe fest word im an idala ends with & a (8° marbota), the is pronounced: pnwarsear agile sayyarat anwar Mohammed's wile Sana ing zat mubammod the vilage school jai) Laas madeasa alana Activity 1 ook atthe pictures of Anwar and Zainab surrounded by their possessions. Make sentences, as in the examples (ana eat anwar) (ach deat saya) Plurals in idata Generally, plural words can be put into possessive laf inthe same way as singular words: the presidents cars natal al Ube sayirit aerate bottles ofcola YS alata zsat hola 56 uit 10 Homever the sound masculine plural. On/cy i ending, as in Cte Spy mudarison/mdarsn teachers), changes when ian eta Ifthe SMPs the fest word in an ia, loses the final & m, Dut itmay be either 0 or pt depending om the sentence (ose Case Notes for mone detail + Ifthe SMP is the final word in an ida, the de tn ending is always used ‘where are the boy's Sala uch Sal teachers? ayn mua bvalad? BS ll gaakne Sal alla fnubasibi sh shark | spoke tothe company’s I wwent tothe office of the engineers onesigall Se Mas hahabta is maktab Adjectives and idata Asa rule, you can't separate words in an dita, so any adjective ‘will come at the end even iit describes the frst word. The ‘adjective will match the gender of the noun itis describing and ‘wll have the article af the noun Is definite the town’s beaut vee — ganda yg par akmading earn the beauttl tower's ver lal! psa gs ahr alana jars thesmall boy's bicycle _jakaall ay! as arraratalwalad ap saghie the boy'ssmallbicyce —— Syaheall asl Eas areata walad a-saghira Activity 2 Form ita contructions for these English possessive phrases, as inthe example hae od pen the engineers ofthe factory the boy’ heavy bag Mohammed's white shit the bakers ofthe town the company ofthe agi engineers Case Notes ‘You have met the genitive cae uted with prepositions of place in Unit 8, The genitive cas rao used for possession, “The sncond noun in an ida (and any subsequent nouns) wil | nave the genitive case ending, (infor an indefinite noun, oF {itor a definite noun, while the case ofthe fst noun wa ‘ay depending onthe sentence: Thisisthedoor of sal Ly Lia the nous. hadha Babu baye, He opened the door snail Us oh of the house fauaha baba bay She'sthe manager 35% Base et of a compar. hiya mudat shakin, BS 25 jy oles ae [nlasna Branib moda shankatia We sat next to the manager of| a company. 56 nit 10 Sound masculine plural Inthe accusative and genitive cass, the Gy -On ending of the SMP changes to Gain. Thereore the cyan ending is used forthe second noun isan idifa or afters posivonal word | the office ofthe Sansa a | ‘engineers ‘aktabu Lmuhandisa | Isat next tothe Saath ine Sas | teachers. False biamib abmadarism, | || When the SMP isthe fst noun in an ia, the case ending wil | ‘vary depending onthe sentence. ation, the yn scropped: Where are the boy's Salt jue | | teacher? yr muda wal? Hsatnest Othe ty gaa ily ale | boy's teachers, intestine mca Lala | Attached pronouns The Arabic equivalent of ‘my, ‘your “hi, ec ae endings attached tothe word being refered tos Ka (my Book (Gage bayttona (out house). The main foched endings ere: your (asc) -ka ak) your (lem) 4 Gy is ha coh) er Lene our Gana your ¢h) (Shun thei (ase) gg -hurn thee (em, Se honna 1m more formal Arabic, possessive endings other than =F (my) should be preceded by a vowel representing the approfate {ase ending (sce Case Notes panels). However, in less formal context, alternative pronunaations are used which avold hhaving to take account ofthese case endings. These are given in brackets in the examples below: Compare the formal pronunciation with the informal in brackets your (mosc) book LS Kiabuka (tabak) your (em) mouse tay baytuki (baytis) Where's his fice? 45S ca ayna maktabubu (maktabuby? Se’sin her house. Lgdae go hiya baytha (baytha) Asa learner you can choose to use the informal, while recognising the formal pronunctation, ‘As with ia, the & is pronounced when an attached pronoun i ‘edded. It wil also be spelt as a regular = hiscar 45 he sayyartune ayyaran) ourbag, Lsseda haqibotuns hagbetna) their choo! (pete macastuham (mnaasathurn) {mn formal Arabic, «bu (his) and gfe -humy-hunna (thet) change to-4v and -him/-hinna after the sound ora ln hs car pens a Hsayyaratin ‘They went to thelr gyda yl Lye dhahabo Ha baytin They went toit.

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