تشرفناTasharrafnaa

by Leston Chandler Buell

version: February 2018

Tasharrafnaa by Leston Chandler Buell is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.

Table of Contents

Unit 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1

Unit 2 ............................................................................................................................. 13

Unit 3 ............................................................................................................................. 27

Unit 4 ............................................................................................................................. 45

Verbs by Unit ................................................................................................................. 61

Arabic–English Glossary................................................................................................ 63

Bite-Size Arabic Extra Vocabulary ................................................................................. 71

Answer Key ................................................................................................................... 73

Summary of the Arabic Writing System ........................................................................ 75

iii

To the Student

Tasharrafnaa is the Arabic equivalent to ‘pleased to meet you’, and in this course you will make your acquaintance with the Arabic language. This introduction is intended to give you some information about what you will learn in this book and how to get the most use out of it.

What kind of Arabic? While the Arabic language has its origins in the Arabian Peninsula, today the language is the official language of over twenty different countries spread over a very large area of North Africa and the Middle East, and some variety of the language is spoken by about 400 million people. Much of this spread occurred centuries ago, and because the language changed differently in different places over time, the Arabic spoken at home and in the street in, say, Baghdad sounds very different from that in, say, Marrakesh. These local varieties used in everyday speaking are usually known as varieties of ‘colloquial Arabic’. The situation is quite different with the written language. Across the entire Arab world, the language used in writing and in certain other formal contexts is quite uniform. In English this variety is usually known as Modern Standard Arabic, which is a modern variety of Classical Arabic. It is this Standard Arabic that we focus on in this course.

In practice, there is a continuum between Standard Arabic and the local colloquial language. Generally, only the most competent and specialised speakers (e.g. clergymen, Arabic teachers, news announcers) are capable of speaking flawless Standard Arabic, correctly using the many points of grammar that differ from colloquial Arabic. At the same time, it is generally only the most uneducated speakers who do not incorporate at least words and expressions from Standard and Classical Arabic into their everyday colloquial speech, especially in formal settings or discussing intellectual topics.

Within Standard Arabic, we can broadly differentiate between two styles of speaking: formal Standard Arabic, in which all of the grammatical endings of Classical Arabic are pronounced, and informal Standard Arabic, in which most of these endings are omitted, in a way that makes this variety closer to colloquial Arabic. It is this informal variety of pronunciation that most native speakers use when they read a book or newspaper to themselves and when they are in situations where they need to speak Standard Arabic (such asif they to speak with visitors from another Arab country). This is the variety of Standard Arabic we will be learning. It is a variety which will make you understood wherever you travel in the Arab world without sounding excessively bookish and which will allow you to develop reading skills. By focussing exclusively on this informal variety, we can waste less time mastering obscure grammatical features and instead devote our attention to those features that are crucial for everyday communication.

What will you learn? Using this book, you will learn the following:

• You will be able to form simple sentences in the present and future tenses, with

v

correct use of the verbs.

• You will have practised asking and answering questions in spoken Arabic.

Unit 1

1. Texts

man ’anta?

nuhaa: ’ahlan wa sahlan.

samiir: ’ahlan bi-ki.

nuhaa: man ’anta?

samiir: ’anaa samiir. ’anaa min al-maghrib. wa ’anti?

nuhaa: ’ism-ii nuhaa.

samiir: tasharrafnaa.

nuhaa: tasharrafnaa.

samiir: wa min ’ayna ’anti?

nuhaa: min al-iskandariyya.

samiir: ’ayna l-iskandariyya?

nuhaa: ’al-iskandariyya madiina fii miṣr.

man haadhaa?

haanii: marḥaban, yaa ’amiina!

’amiina: marḥaban bi-k, yaa haanii!

haanii: man haadhaa?

’amiina: haadhaa huwa l-mudarris.

haanii: wa man haadhihi?

’amiina: haadhihi nuhaa. hiya min madiinat il-iskandariyya.

haanii: tasharrafnaa, yaa nuhaa.

nuhaa: tasharrafnaa.

haanii: wa min ’ayna l-mudarris?

’amiina: huwa min madiinat marraakish fii l-maghrib.

1

2 Unit 1

min ’ayna haadhaa l-walad?

salwaa: haadhaa walad wa haadhihi bint.

’aḥmad: min ’ayna l-walad?

salwaa: huwa min suuriyaa.

’aḥmad: wa min ’ayna l-bint?

salwaa: hiya min al-maghrib.

maa haadhaa?

nuhaa: haadhihi mra’a wa haadhaa rajul. ’al-mar’a min hulandaa.

samiir: wa min ’ayna r-rajul?

nuhaa: huwa min madiinat dimashq fii suuriyaa.

samiir: maa haadhaa?

nuhaa: haadhaa kursiyy.

samiir: wa maa haadhaa?

nuhaa: haadhihi ṭaawila.

2. Vocabulary

’as-salaamu ʕalaykumGreetings! (lit. ‘peace on you’)

wa ʕalaykumu s-salaamGreetings! (reply, lit. ‘and on you peace’)

wa and

’ahlan (wa sahlan) Hello!/Welcome!

’ahlan bi-k/bi-kiHello! (reply, lit. ‘hello toyou’)

marḥaban Hello! Welcome!

yaa

(vocative particle, placed before someone’s name or title when addressing them)

tasharrafnaaPleased to meet you. (lit. we are honoured)

maa what

man who

’ayna where

min from

fii in

’ism-ii my name

’ism-ak/’ism-ik your name (m./f.)

haadhaa/haadhihi this (m./f.)

rajul man

’imra’a (... mra’a) woman

al-mar’a the woman

bint girl

walad boy

mudarris/mudarrisa teacher (m./f.)

huwa/hiya he/she

’anta/’anti you (m./f.)

’anaa I

ṭaawila table

kursiyy chair

kitaab book

daftar notebook

qalam pen, pencil

Unit 1 3

madiina city

madiinat... the city of...

’ism name

waraqa sheet of paper

hunaa here

Additionally, the following proper names occur in this unit.

Men’s Names Women’s Names

سمير samiir نهى nuhaa

هاني haanii أمينة ’amiina

أحمد ’aḥmad سلوى salwaa

Countries Cities

miṣr مصر Egypt ’al-iskandariyya السكندرية Alexandria

suuriyaa سوريا Syria marraakish مراكش Marrakesh

’al-maghrib الغرب Morocco dimashq دمسق Damascus

hulandaa هولندا the Netherlands

4 Unit 1

3. Grammar

Informal Standard Arabic. Standard Arabic is the modernised variety of Classical Arabic (that is, Quran, 7th century). Classical Arabic has three grammatical cases (NL naamvallen) for nouns and adjectives (nominative, genitive, accusative) and several moods (NL wijzen) forverbs (such as indicative, subjunctive, imperative). Consider the following two clauses in Classical Arabic, paying attention to the underlined word endings:

... wa l-bintu lan tatakallama ‘... and the girl won’t speak’

... li’anna l-binta laa tatakallamu ‘... because the girl isn’t speaking’

The subject and the verb of the two sentences are essentially the same: l-bint ‘the girl’ and tatakallam ‘speaks’. However, their grammatical endings differ. In the first sentence, the subject ends in -u which is an ending for nominative case, the case that the subject of a sentence normally appears in. In the second sentence, the subject ends in -a, which expresses accusative case, the case required by the word li’anna ‘because’. Similarly, the verb has a different ending in the two sentences because the future tense negative particle lan requires a subjunctive verb, while the present tense negative particle laa requires an indicative verb.

The rules governing these grammatical endings are complex and somewhat difficult tomaster, even for native speakers of any modern Arabic dialect, all of which lack these distinctions. When speaking or reading Standard Arabic, a typical native speaker will leave off many of these grammatical endings, which are also not typically written. In normal speechthen, the two sentences above would be pronounced using identical forms for the subject and the verb:

... wa l-bint lan tatakallam ‘... and the girl won’t speak’

... li’anna l-bint laa tatakallam ‘... because the girl isn’t speaking’

While native speakers learn the rules governing the various cases and moods in school, most Arabs never master them well enough to use them correctly either in speaking or writing. In practice, Arabs tend to use a variant of Standard Arabic that ignores these distinctions and more closely resembles the spoken dialects in this respect. This is the variety of Arabic we will focus on in this course. We will refer to this variety as ‘informal Standard Arabic’.

Greetings in pairs. Many Arabic greetings consist of two paired expressions, the first of which is uttered by the person initiating the greeting and the other said by the person who responds to it. Here are the most common examples:

A: ’as-salaamu ʕalaykum.B: wa ʕalaykumu s-salaam.

A: Peace be on you.B: And on you be peace.

A: ’ahlan (wa sahlan).B: ’ahlan bi-k.

A: Hello. / Welcome.B: Hello. (lit. ‘hello to you’)

A: marḥaban.B: marḥaban bi-k.

A: Hello. / Welcome.B: Hello. (lit. ‘hello to you’)

A: ṣabaaḥ il-khayr.B: ṣabaaḥ in-nuur.

A: Good morning. (lit. ‘morning of good’)B: Good morning. (lit. ‘morning of light’)

A: masaa’ il-khayr.B: masaa’ in-nuur.

A: Good evening. (lit. ‘morning of good’)B: Good evening. (lit. ‘morning of light’)

Unit 1 5

Verbless sentences. In the affirmative present tense, Arabic does not generally use a verb corresponding English ‘to be’. When the predicate of is a noun, adjective, or prepositional phrase, the subject and that predicate form a complete sentence, as in the following examples:

subject predicatehaadhaa kursiyy. ‘This is a chair.’’al-bint jadiida hunaa. ‘The girl is new here.’’aḥmad fii miṣr. ‘Ahmad is in Egypt.’

When the predicate is a definite noun beginning with the article, a pronoun is usually inserted between the subject and the predicate:

haadhaa r-rajul huwa l-mudarris. This man is the teacher.haadhihi hiya l-mar’a. This is the woman.

Singular independent pronouns. Here are the singular independent pronouns:

huwa هو he, it

hiya هي she, it

’anta أنت you (m.)

’anti أنت you (f.)

’anaa أنا I

The full paradigm of personal pronouns and the corresponding conjugational paradigms in Standard Arabic is a large one, due to distinctions between dual (two) and plural (more than two) and to the fact that the distinction between feminine and plural is maintained in both the dual and the plural. For this reason, for now we will just concern ourselves with the singular persons.

There is no separate word for ‘it’ in Arabic. Instead, the words huwa or hiya are used, depending on the gender of the noun being referred to.

Gender in nouns and pronouns. Every Arabic noun is either masculine or feminine. Naturally, most nouns denoting males are masculine, while most nouns denoting females are feminine. Furthermore, most nouns ending in the suffix -a (spelt ـة) are feminine.

masculine femininewalad ‘boy’ bint ‘girl’rajul ‘man’ imra’a ‘woman’daftar ‘notebook’ waraqa ‘sheet of paper’qalam ‘pen, pencil’ madiina ‘city’

This suffix -a is added to the masculine form of many nouns denoting people to make the feminine form:

masculine femininemudarris mudarrisa ‘teacher’

ṭaalib ṭaaliba ‘student’

Many pronouns and demonstratives also have distinct masculine and feminine forms:

6 Unit 1

masculine femininehuwa ‘he’ hiya ‘she’’anta ‘you’ ’anti ‘you’

haadhaa ‘this’ haadhihi ‘this’dhaalika ‘that’ tilka ‘that’

Pronoun suffixes: a first encounter. Note suffixes on the following words that occur in this unit:

ism-ii ‘my name’ism-ak ‘your (m.) name’ism-ik ‘your (f.) name’

We will refer to these as ‘pronoun suffixes’. These suffixes are used in a variety of contexts:

Possessive phrase kitaab-iikitaab-ak

‘my book’‘your (m.) book’

Object of a preposition haani yatakallam maʕ-ii.haani yatakallam maʕa-ki.

‘Hani is talking with me.‘Hani is talking with you (f.).’

Object of a verb ’anaa ’uḥibb-ak.’anaa ’uḥibb-ik.

‘I love you (m.).’‘I love you (f.).’

The article. The basic form of the definite article is ’al-. However, the pronunciation of the l in the article varies according to the first letter of the word it is attached to. The basic principles are as follows:

If the word begins with a sound that is made with the front part of the tongue (except j and y), doublethat sound instead of pronouncing the l.

’as-salaam ‘the peace’ ’aṭ-ṭaawila ‘the table’’ad-daftar ‘the notebook’ ’ash-shaariʕ ‘the street’

’az-ziraafa ‘the giraffe’ ’ar-rajul ‘the man’’an-nuur ‘the light’ ’aḍh-ḍhuhr ‘noon’

If the word begins with any other sound (including j or y), pronounce the l.

’al-qalam ‘the pen’ ’al-walad ‘the boy’’al-bint ‘the girl’ ’al-’aanisa ‘the young woman’

’al-khubz ‘the bread’ ’al-mudarris ‘the teacher’

In Arabic the article is always spelt الـ (‘alif laam), as if it contained an l sound, regardless of

how it is pronounced.

’al-walad الولد ‘the boy’

’ar-rajul الرجل ‘the man’

There is one common word that has two slightly different forms depending on whether thearticle is attached to it: imra’a ‘woman’. Also note how the initial vowel of this word is elidedwhen it is preceded by a vowel.

Unit 1 7

imra’a ‘woman’’al-mar’a ‘the woman’

haadhihi mra’a ‘this is a woman’

The initial glottal stop and vowel of the article are dropped when the word is preceded by a vowel:

haadhaa ’ar-rajul → haadhaa r-rajul ‘this man’haadhihi ’al-mar’a → haadhihi l-mar’a ‘this woman’fii ’al-maghrib → fii l-maghrib ‘in Morocco’

In the variety of informal Standard Arabic used in this textbook, the article is pronounced as il- after a consonant:

hal ’al-walad hunaa? → hal il-walad hunaa? ‘this man’

The i of this il- is called a “helping vowel”; it is inserted so as not to have three consonants in a row. While the default helping vowel is i, there are a few cases in which the helping vowel is a different vowel. The only case we will encounter in this book is that the helping after min is a. So, ‘from the boy’ is pronounced min al-walad rather than min il-walad.

Vocative particle yaa. The vocative particle yaa is used before a name or title whenever addressing someone. It is not used when talking about someone. The following examples show this contrast:

hudaa min al-maghrib. ‘Huda is from Morocco.’min ’ayna ’anti, yaa hudaa? ‘Where are you from, Huda?’

Demonstratives. To form a noun phrase that includes a demonstrative, such as ‘this book’ or ‘that woman’, the demonstrative needs to be followed by the article. Note the following contrast:

Demonstrative followed by the article: the demonstrative and the noun form a single noun phrase.

[ haadhaa r-rajul ] ‘this man’ [ haadhaa r-rajul ] min miṣr. ‘[This man] is from Egypt.’

Demonstrative not followed by the article: the demonstrative and the noun are two separate noun phrases.

[ haadhaa ] [ rajul ]. ‘This is a man.’

8 Unit 1

Questions. As in English, a question word or question phrase always appears at the beginningof the question in Standard Arabic (but not in some of the modern dialects). In this unit we have learnt to ask the following types of questions:

maa haadhaa? haadhaa kursiyy. What is this? This is a chair.

man haadhaa? haadhaa huwa l-mudarris. man haadhihi? haadhihi nuhaa.

Who is this? This is the teacher. Who is this? This is Nuhaa.

’ayna l-mudarris? huwa hunaa. Where is the teacher? He is here.

min ’ayna haadhaa l-walad? huwa min al-maghrib.

Where is this boy from? He is from Morocco.

Pronoun of separation. In a verbless sentence in which the predicate is a definite noun phrase (e.g. ‘the teacher’ or ‘Samir’s teacher’, as opposed to ‘a teacher’), a pronoun is often inserted between the subject and the predicate. This is referred to as the “pronoun of separation”. Note the following contrast:

’ar-rajul il-mudarris ‘the teacher man’ (not a complete sentence)’ar-rajul huwa l-mudarris ‘The man is the teacher.’ (a complete sentence)

5. Exercises

Exercise 1. Respond to the following:

1. ’ahlan

_____________________________________________

2. ’as-salaamu ʕalaykum.

_____________________________________________

3. maa ’ism-ak? / maa ’ism-ik?

_____________________________________________

4. min ’ayna l-mudarris(a)?

huwa/hiya ____________________________________

5. marḥaban!

______________________________________________

6. tasharrafnaa!

______________________________________________

Unit 1 9

Exercise 2. Recall that the definite article is pronounced with the doubling of the first consonant of a word whenever that first consonant is made with the front part of the tongue (e.g. r, s, t, d) except when it is j, and with an l sound in all other cases (e.g. m, k, q, gh). Bearing this in mind, add the article to each of the following words and pronounce it.

Examples: rajul (‘man’) → ’ar-rajul (‘the man’)kitaab (‘book’) → ’al-kitaab (‘the book’)

1. walad (‘boy’) 2. waraqa (‘paper’) 3. ism (‘name’)

4. bint (‘girl’) 5. kursiyy (‘chair’) 6. qalam (‘pen, pencil’)

7. mudarris (‘teacher’) 8. ṭaawila (‘table’) 9. salaam (‘peace’)

10. daftar (‘notebook’) 11. maghrib (‘west’) 12. shaariʕ (‘street’)

Exercise 3. Complete the conversations.

First conversation: salwaa wa haanii

salwaa: __________ , __________ haanii!

haanii: marḥaban bi-ki, yaa salwaa!

salwaa: __________ __________ ?

haanii: haadhaa huwa l-mudarris.

salwaa: min __________ huwa ?

haanii: huwa min al-maghrib.

Second conversation: samiir wa nuhaa

samiir: __________ wa __________ !

nuhaa: ’ahlan bi-k!

samiir: __________ __________ ?

nuhaa: ’ism-ii nuhaa.

samiir: wa __________ __________ ’anti ?

nuhaa: ’anaa min suuriyaa. wa ’anta __________ __________?

samiir: ’ism-ii samiir.

nuhaa: __________ __________ ’anta ?

samiir: min miṣr.

nuhaa: __________ .

samiir: tasharrafnaa.

10 Unit 1

Exercise 4. For each of the following pictures, ask who it is or what it is and then provide an answer. The first two have been done for you. For the question, observe the following:

man haadhaa? man haadhihi? maa haadhaa?

for a male for a female for an object

1. Q: man haadhihi? A: haadhihi mra’a.

2. Q: maa haadhaa? A: haadhihi ṭaawila.

3. Q: _______________ ?A: ______ d...... .

4. Q: _______________ ?A: _______________ .

5. Q: _______________ ?A: _______________ .

6. Q: _______________ ?A: _______________ .

7. Q: _______________ ?A: _______________ .

8. Q: _______________ ?A: _______________ .

9.

Q: _______________ ?A: ___________ .

10. Q: ____________ ?A: ____________ .

Exercise 5. Hold a conversation with a classmate:

• Greet each other.

• Ask each other what your name is.

• Ask other other where you are from. (Answer with ‘from the city of... in...’.)

• Say that you are happy to make each other’s acquaintance.

Unit 1 11

Exercise 6. ⌂ Fill in the blanks using words from the table.

’anaa mra’a haadhihi al-maghrib walad

haadhaa yaa madiina madiinat ’ayna

1. _______________ qalam wa _______________ waraqa.

2. min _______________ ’anta? min miṣr.

3. _______________ ’ismii haanii.

4. dimashq _______________ fii suuriyaa.

5. samiir min _______________ il-qaahira.

6. ’aḥmad rajul wa nuhaa _______________ .

7. marḥaban, _______________ nuhaa!

8. ’al-mudarrisa min _______________ .

9. haanii _______________ wa ’amiina bint.

Exercise 7. ⌂ Choose the word or phrase with the appropriate gender.

1. man haadhaa? __________ l-mudarris. huwa / hiya

2. __________ bint. haadhaa / haadhihi

3. min ’ayna nuhaa? __________ min al-maghrib. huwa / hiya

4. maa __________ ? ’ismii ’amiina. ism-ak / ism-ik

5. min ’ayna __________ , yaa muḥammad? ’anta / ’anti

6. __________ ṭaawila. haadhaa / haadhihi

7. maa __________ ? ’ism-ii samiir. ism-ak / ism-ik

12 Unit 1

Exercise 8. ⌂ Fill in the appropriate word from the table.

bi-k fii hiya man

’ayna huwa yaa maa

1. haadhaa samiir. _______________ min madiinat dimashq.

2. ’ahlan wa sahlan, _______________ ’amiina!

3. ’ayna l-iskandariyya. _______________ miṣr.

4. _______________ haadhihi? imra’a min suuriyaa.

5. haadhihi ’amiina. _______________ mudarrisa.

6. min _______________ ’anti? min al-maghrib.

7. —marḥaban, yaa salwaa.

—marḥaban _______________ , yaa haanii.

8. _______________ haadhaa? haadhaa daftar

Unit 2

1. Texts

’ayna daftar-ak?

’ayman: ṣabaaḥ il-khayr, yaa hudaa.

hudaa: ṣabaaḥ in-nuur, yaa ’ayman. kayfa l-ḥaal?

’ayman: bi khayr, ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah. wa ’anti?

hudaa: ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah.

’ayman: hal ʕind-ik daftar?

hudaa: naʕam, ʕind-ii daftar. wa ’anta?

’ayman: laa, laysa ʕind-ii daftar.

hudaa: ’ayna daftar-ak?

’ayman: huwa fii l-bayt.

hudaa: wa hal ʕind-ak qalam?

’ayman: naʕam, ʕind-ii.

kayfa ḥaal-ak, yaa ḥabiib-ii?

’usaama: masaa’ il-khayr, yaa ḥabiibat-ii.

salmaa: masaa’ in-nuur, yaa ḥabiib-ii.

’usaama: kayfa ḥaal-ik?

salmaa: ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah. wa hal ’anta bi khayr?

’usaama: ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah.

kitaab man haadhaa?

ṭaariq: hal haadhaa kitaab-ii?

shariifa: laa, laysa kitaab-ak. haadhaa kitaab muḥammad.

ṭaariq: wa kitaab man haadhaa?

shariifa: haadhaa kitaab-ii ’anaa.

ṭaariq: wa ’ayna kitaab-ii?

shariifa: laa ’aʕrif.

13

14 Unit 2

2. Vocabulary

shaariʕ street

waajib homework; duty

kayfa how

kayfa l-ḥaal?How are you? (lit. How’s the condition?)

ḥaal condition

bi khayr well, fine

al-ḥamdu li l-laah Praise be to God.

ṣabaaḥ morning

masaa’ evening

ṣabaaḥ il-khayr Good morning.

ṣabaaḥ in-nuurGood morning. (response)

masaa’ il-khayr Good afternoon/evening.

masaa’ an-nuurGood afternoon/evening. (response)

ḥabiib, ḥabiiba sweetheart

ḥaḍrat-ak, ḥaḍrat-ikyou (formal, lit. ‘your presence’)

hal(interrogative particle, turns a statement into a yes/no question)

naʕam yes

laa no

ʕind at, chez

ʕind-ii I have (lit. ‘with me’)

laysa is not

bayt house

maal money

laa ’aʕrif I don’t know.

kalb dog

qiṭṭa cat

Men’s Names

أين ’ayman

محمد muḥammad

طارق ṭaariq

أسامة ’usaama

Women’s Names

هدى hudaa

سلمى salmaa

شريفة shariifa

3. Grammar

’iḍaafa phrases. Recall that we have seen two different forms of the word meaning ‘city’: madiina and madiinat.

’al-qaahira madiina fii miṣr. ‘Cairo is a city in Egypt.’’anaa min madiinat il-qaahira ‘I’m from the city of Cairo.’

madiina is the default form, while madiinat is the form this word takes when it is ‘the first term of an ’iḍaafa phrase’. ’iḍaafa phrases can often be translated into English using either the word of or as possessive form ending in ’s. The rule governing the form of the word forming the first term of an ’iḍaafa phrase is easy: for our purposes, practically the only words that change their form are those ending in -a spelt with taa’ marbuuṭa (ـة). This ending

changes from -a to -at, as seen above with madiina/madiinat.

mudarrisa + hudaa → mudarrisat hudaa ‘Huda’s teacher’ṭaawila + ’al-’aanisa → ṭaawilat il-’aanisa ‘the young woman’s table’jaamiʕa + ’al-qaahira → jaamiʕat il-qaahira ‘Cairo university’

Unit 2 15

Nouns that don’t have this -a ending do not change their form in an ’iḍaafa phrase:

waajib + ṭaariq → waajib ṭaariq ‘Tarek’s homework’maal + ’as-sayyida → maal as-sayyida ‘the lady’s money’

The first half of an ’iḍaafa phrase is called the ‘first term’, while the second half is referred to as the ‘second term’. Note that the first term of an ’iḍaafa never has the article.

Pronoun suffixes in iḍaafa phrases. Note the endings on the following three words we have learnt:

’ism-ii ‘my name’’ism-ak ‘your (m.) name’’ism-ik ‘your (f.) name’

These suffixes are actually pronouns (‘pronoun suffixes’), and words like ’ism-ii are actually ’iḍaafa phrases, the second term of which is the pronoun suffix. In this way, ’ism-ii literally means ‘the name of me’.

The singular pronoun suffixes in formal Standard Arabic are as follows:

-hu - ـه he

-haa - ـها she

-ka - ـك you (m.)

-ki - ـك you (f.)

-ii/-ya - ي / - ي I

Correct pronunciation of nouns ending in a pronoun suffix in formal Standard Arabic is a bit complicated, because the suffix is usually preceded by a case vowel, as shown in the following examples:

Formal Standard Arabic English Translation Grammatical Case

haadhaa kitaabun.haadhaa kitaabu-ka.

‘This is a book.’‘This is your book.’

Nominative case for the predicate of a verbless sentence.

’aqra’ kitaab-an.’aqra’ kitaaba-ka.

‘I’m reading a book.’‘I’m reading your book.’

Accusative case for the object of averb.

fii kitaabinfii kitaabi-ka

‘in a book’‘in your book’

Genitive case for the object of a preposition.

For this reason, in our version of informal Standard Arabic, we will omit this grammatical case vowel (which is not often used in everyday communication). In all three cases above, theword for ‘your book’ would be pronounced kitaab-ak.

Because Standard Arabic and some modern dialects, such as Egyptian Arabic, do not allow three consecutive consonants, we will use slightly different forms of some of the suffixes depending on whether the word ends in a single consonant (like qalam) or two consonants (like ism). We also need to know how to pronounce the suffix when the word ends in a vowel.

16 Unit 2

qalam-uh قلمه ‘his pen’ ’ism-uh اسمه ‘his name’

qalam-haa قلمها ‘her pen’ ’ism-ahaa اسمها ‘her name’

qalam-ak قلمك ‘your (m.) pen’ ’ism-ak اسمك ‘your (m.) name’

qalam-ik قلمك ‘your (m.) pen’ ’ism-ik اسمك ‘your (m.) name’

qalam-ii قلمي ‘my pen’ ’ism-ii اسمي ‘my name’

muusiiqaa-hu موسيقاه ‘his level’

muusiiqaa-haa موسيقاها ‘her level’

muusiiqaa-k موسيقاك ‘your (m.) level’

muusiiqaa-ki موسيقاك ‘your (m.) level’

muusiiqaa-ya موسيقاى ‘my level’

Expressing ‘to have’. In Arabic, the concept of ‘having’ is not normally expressed with a verb, but with a prepositional phrase. The most common preposition used for this purpose is ʕind, which can roughly be translated as ‘at’. It’s meaning is often like that of French chez ‘at someone’s place/home’:

hudaa ʕind salwa. ‘Huda is at Salwa’s.’

When used to express ‘have’, the preposition is followed by a pronoun suffix, even when an independent pronoun or noun is used as the subject:

(‘anaa) ʕind-ii waajib. ‘I’ve got homework.’’ayman ʕind-uh maal. ‘Ayman has some money.’

Here is how we will pronounce the forms of ‘ind in informal Standard Arabic:

ʕind-uh عنده ‘he has’

ʕind-ahaa عندها ‘she has’

ʕind-ak عندك ‘you (m.) have’

ʕind-ik عندك ‘you (f.) have’

ʕind-ii عندي ‘I have’

Unit 2 17

This construction is negated by using laysa, a verb meaning ‘is not’. Since laysa is a verb, it isnormally conjugated and has different forms depending on the person, number, and gender of the subject. However, in this construction meaning ‘have’, laysa is invariable, as seen by comparing the two negative sentences in the following examples:

hudaa ʕind-ahaa waajib. ‘Huda has some homework.’hudaa laysa ʕind-ahaa waajib. ‘Huda hasn’t got any homework.’

ṭaariq ʕind-uh waraqa. ‘Tarek has a sheet of paper.’ṭaariq laysa ʕind-uh waraqa. ‘Tarek hasn’t got a sheet of paper.’

While in this course we will principally be using the preposition ‘ind to express ‘have’, other prepositions can also be used, with a slight difference in meaning. Other prepositions that can be used to mean ‘have’ include ladaa (roughly the same in meaning as ʕind), maʕa (‘with’), li (‘to’), and fii (‘in’):

ʕind-ahaa / laday-haa kitaab. ‘She has a book.’laysa maʕa-haa maal. ‘She hasn’t got any money on her.’la-haa qalb kabiir. ‘She’s got a big heart.’la-hu ’akh wa ’ukht. ‘She’s got a brother and a sister.’ ’al-qahwa fii-haa sukkar kathiir. ‘The coffee has a lot of sugar (in it).’

ḥaḍrat-ak. ḥaḍrat-ak (literally ‘your presence’) is polite pronoun that can be used to substitute ’anta when speaking to people you don’t know or to people you want to show special respect. The counterpart form ḥaḍrat-ik is used to address females.

min ’ayna ḥadrat-ak? ‘Where are you from?’kayfa ḥaal ḥaḍrat-ik? ‘How are you?maa ’ism ḥaḍrat-ak? ‘What is your name?’

ḥaḍrat-ak is sometimes even used to replace a pronoun suffix:

’ahlan bi ḥaḍrat-ik! ‘Hello! (reply to ’ahlan)’haadhaa daftar ḥaḍrat-ik ‘This is your notebook.’

Parts of speech that agree with ḥaḍrat-ik and ḥaḍrat-ik are always in the ’anta or ’anti form:

ḥadrat-ak ʕind-ak kalb. ‘You have a dog.’ḥadrat-ak ʕind-ak qiṭṭa. ‘You have a cat.’

Question particle hal. The particle hal can be placed in front of any statement to make it a yes/no question:

’ad-duktuur fawzii hunaa. ‘Dr Fawzy is here.’hal ’ad-duktuur fawzii hunaa? ‘Is Dr Fawzy here?’laa, laysa hunaa. ‘No, he’s not here.’

ḥaḍrat-ak min suuriyaa. ‘You are from Syria.’hal ḥaḍrat-ak min suuriyaa? ‘Are you from Syria?’naʕam, ’anaa min suuyiraa. ‘Yes, I’m from Syria.’

18 Unit 2

Hal is also used for choice questions (e.g. A or B?):

hal ’anta min suuriya ’am min lubnaan? ‘Are you from Syria or Lebanon?’

There is another question particle ’a, which is mainly used in specific contexts, such as beforea form of the word laysa, a negative particle such as laa, or a pronoun:

’a laysa haadhaa kitaab-ak?’ ‘Isn’t this your book?’’a laa taʕrifiin ism-ahaa ? ‘Don’t you know her name?'’a huwa min hunaa? ‘Is he from here?’

Asking ‘how are you?’ To ask how someone is, make a question using the question word kayfa ‘how’ and a form of ḥaal ‘condition’:

kayfa l-ḥaal? lit. ‘What’s the condition?’kayfa ḥaal-ak? lit. ‘What’s your condition?’kayfa ḥaal ḥaḍrat-ik? lit. ‘What’s your condition?’ (polite)

To answer, say bi khayr ‘fine, well (only the sense of a person’s condition)’ followed by ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah. You can even leave off the bi khayr and simply thank God.

kayfa ḥaal-ak? ‘How are you?’(bi khayr,) ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah. ‘(Fine,) praise be to God.’

wa nuhaa, kayfa ḥaal-haa? / wa kayfa ḥaal nuhaa? ‘ And how is Nuha?’hiya bi khayr, ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah. ‘She’s fine.’

4. Exercises

Exercise 1. Recall that the definite article is pronounced with the doubling of the first consonant of a word whenever that first consonant is made with the front part of the tongue (e.g. r, s, t, d) except when it is j or y, and with an l sound in all other cases (e.g. m, k, q, gh). Bearing this in mind, add the article to each of the following word and pronounce it.

Examples: rajul (‘man’) → ’ar-rajulkitaab (‘book’) → ’al-kitaab

1. bayt (house) 4. shaariʕ (street) 7. waajib (homework)

2. ṣabaaḥ (morning) 5. masaa’ (evening) 8. maal (money)

3. daftar (notebook) 6. ṭaawila (table) 9. kursiyy (chair)

Unit 2 19

Exercise 2. For each of the following pictures, ask who it is or what it is and then provide an answer. The first one has been done for you. For the question, observe the following:

man haadhaa? man haadhihi? maa haadhaa?

for a male for a female for an object

1. Q: man haadhihi? A: haadhihi mra’a.

2. Q: _________ ?A: ______ d...... .

3.

Q: _______________ ?A: _______________ .

4. Q: ___________ ?A: ___________ .

5.

Q: _______?A: _______ .

6.

Q: _______________ ?A: _______________ .

7. Q: ________ ?A: ________ .

8. Q: _______________ ?A: _______________ .

9. Q: ________ ?A: ________ .

10. Q: __________ ?A: __________ .

20 Unit 2

Exercise 3. Make sentences, using the correct form of haadhaa and ism-uh.

1. haadhaa l-walad _______________ kariim.

This boy’s name is Karim.

2. haadhihi l-bint _______________ ’amiina.

This girl’s name is Amina.

3. _______________ r-rajul _______________ ʕumar.

This man’s name is Omar.

4. _______________ l-mar’a _______________ salwaa.

This woman’s name is Salwa.

5. _______________ l-mudarrisa _______________ ḥanaan.

This teacher’s name is Hanan.

Exercise 4. Respond to the following:

1. ’ahlan wa sahlan!

_____________________________________________

2. ’as-salaamu ʕalaykum.

_____________________________________________

3. maa ’ism-ak? / maa ’ism-ik?

_____________________________________________

4. masaa’ il-khayr.

_____________________________________________

5. min ’ayna haadhihi l-mar’a?

hiya _________________________________________

6. marḥaban!

_____________________________________________

7. tasharrafnaa!

_____________________________________________

8. ṣabaaḥ il-khayr.

_____________________________________________

9. kayfa l-ḥaal?

_____________________________________________

Unit 2 21

Exercise 5. Look at the picture and make a complete sentence using a form of ‘ind in the sense of ‘to have’ with the subject indicated. The first one is done for you.

1. ’anaa...

’anaa ʕind-ii ṭaawila.

2. ḥaḍrat-ak...

3. huwa... 4. ’anti...

5. hiya... 6. ḥaḍrat-ik...

Exercise 6. Complete the conversations.

First conversation: ’usaama wa salmaa

’usaama: ’as-salaamu ʕalaykum.

salmaa: wa __________ __________ .

’usaama: kayfa __________ , yaa __________ ?

salmaa: ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah. wa ’anta?

’usaama: ___ __________ , ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah.

salmaa: wa kayfa __________ shariifa?

’usaama: hiya bi khayr.

salmaa: ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah.

Second conversation: hudaa wa ’ayman

hudaa: __________ __________ , yaa ’ayman.

’ayman: masaa’ in-nuur, yaa hudaa.

hudaa: __________ __________ ?

’ayman: ’anaa bi khayr, ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah, wa __________ ?

hudaa: ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah.

22 Unit 2

Third conversation: shariifa wa haanii

shariifa: ṣabaaḥ il-khayr.

haanii: __________ __________ .

shariifa: ’anaa __________ shariifa. wa __________ ?

haanii: ’ism-ii haanii.

shariifa: ______ __________ ḥaḍrat-ak?

haanii: ’anaa min suuriyaa. _____ ḥaḍrat-ik?

shariifa: ’anaa min __________ il-iskandariyya, fii miṣr.

haanii: tasharrafnaa.

shariifa: __________ .

Fourth conversation: muḥammad wa ’amiina

muḥammad: _____ __________ ’anti, yaa ’amiina?

’amiina: ’anaa min madiinat il-fayuum.

muḥammad: ’al-fayuum? laa __________ haadhihi l-madiina.

’amiina: ’al-fayuum madiina _____ miṣr.

Unit 2 23

Exercise 7. ‘Who has a car?’ In this exercise we will play a game using the following ten nouns, each of which also has a number:

1. baab 2. ṭaawila 3. daftar 4. sayyaara 5. darraaja

6. shubbaak 7. kursiyy 8. kalb 9. qiṭṭa 10. su’aal

Instructions for the game:

1. Your teacher will pass out one die and a set of ten pictures to each group. Pass out the pictures to the people in your group so that everyone has roughly the same number of pictures.

2. Samir rolls the die. Let’s assume he rolls a 4. Item 4 is a car. Samir asks the group who has a car. Let’s say that person is Amina. Amina then answers, like this:

Samir: man ʕind-uh sayyaara?Amina: ’anaa ʕind-ii sayyaara.

If you roll the number of an item that you yourself have, then just roll again.

3. Then Samir tells the group who has the item:

Samir: ’amiina ʕind-ahaa sayyaara.

4. Pass the die to the next person. Play the game until each person has gone three times.

24 Unit 2

Exercise 8. ⌂ Fill in the blank using a question word or phrase from the table.

’ayna man maa

min ’ayna kayfa hal

1. _____________________ ḥaḍrat-ik? ’anaa min miṣr.

2. _____________________ l-ḥaal? bi khayr, ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah.

3. _____________________ ʕindak maal? laa, laysa ʕindii maal.

4. _____________________ haadhihi l-mar’a? hiya l-mudarrisa.

5. _____________________ bayt ’aḥmad? fii haadhaa sh-shaariʕ.

6. _____________________ haadhaa? haadhaa kursiyy.

Exercise 9. ⌂ Here are the five singular personal pronouns:

أناأنتأنتهيهو

Circle the correct pronoun to fill in the blank:

1. __________ ʕindahaa waraqa wa qalam.

أناأنتأنتهيهو

2. __________ ’ism-uh ’aḥmad.

أناأنتأنتهيهو

3. __________ laa ’aʕrif.

أناأنتأنتهيهو

4. hal __________ ʕindak qalam?

أناأنتأنتهيهو

5. haadhihi hiya l-mudarrisa. __________ ’ism-ahaa salwaa.

أناأنتأنتهيهو

6. haadhaa __________ l-mudarris.

أناأنتأنتهيهو

Unit 2 25

Exercise 10. ⌂ Make a phrase substituting the independent pronoun with a pronoun suffix. Remember that with a feminine noun ending in -a, the -a will change to -at before adding the suffix.

Examples: bayt + huwa → bayt-uh his houseṭaawila + ’anaa → ṭaawilat-ii my table

1. kitaab + hiya __________________ her book

2. qalam + ’anta __________________ your pen

3. daftar + ’anaa __________________ my notebook

4. madiina + ’anti __________________ your city

5. mudarris + huwa __________________ his teacher

6. ḥabiiba + ’anta __________________ your sweetheart

7. ism + huwa __________________ his name

8. ṭaawila + hiya __________________ her table

9. maal + ’anaa __________________ my money

10. mudarrisa + huwa __________________ his teacher

Unit 3

1. Texts

’ayna l-mudarris il-qadiim?

’aḥmad: masaa’ il-khayr, yaa hudaa.

hudaa: masaa’ in-nuur, yaa ’aḥmad.

’aḥmad: kayfa l-ḥaal?

hudaa: ’anaa bi khayr, ’al-ḥamdu li l-laah.

’aḥmad: laa ’aʕrif dhaalika r-rajul. man huwa?

hudaa: ’al-’ustaadh ʕumar.

’aḥmad: hal huwa ṭaalib hunaa?

hudaa: laa, laysa ṭaaliban. huwa l-mudarris il-jadiid.

’aḥmad: wa ’ayna l-mudarris il-qadiim?

hudaa: laa ’aʕrif.

’aḥmad: wa man tilka s-sayyida?

hudaa: hiya taʕmal hunaa. hiya laṭiifa jiddan, wa laakin laa ’aʕrif ism-ahaa.

kariim wa ’ukht-uh wa ṣadiiq-uh

’ism-ii kariim. ’anaa ṭaalib, laakin laysa hunaa fii haadhihi l-jaamiʕa. ’askun fii madiinat dilift wa ’adrus fii jaamiʕat laydin. ’ukht-ii ’ustaadha wa taʕmal hunaa.

ṣadiiq-ii l-ʕaziiz ism-uh saamiḥ. yaskun fii bayt jadiid hunaa fii haadhihi l-madiina. huwa laṭiif jiddan.

27

28 Unit 3

2. Vocabulary

ṣadiiq, ṣadiiqa friend (m./f.)

ṭaalib, ṭaaliba student (m./f.)

’ustaadh, ’ustaadhaprofessor, gentleman, lady

duktuur, duktuura doctor (m./f.)

sayyid, sayyida gentleman, lady

’aanisa young woman, miss

madaam lady

’akh, brother

’akhuu... brother of...

’ukht sister

’ab father

’abuu father of...

’umm mother

yaʕrif to know

yaskun to live (in a place)

yaʕmal to work

yadrus to study

hunaak there

dhaalika / tilka that (m./f.)

laṭiif nice

ʕaziiz dear

jiddan very

(wa) laakin but

su’aal question

jaamiʕa university

jaamiʕat... the university of...

jadiid new

qadiim old

maʕa s-salaama goodbye (lit. with safety)

maʕa with

maadhaa what (as object of verb)

Numbers and numerals.

٠ صفر ṣifr ٦ ستة sitta

١ واحد waaḥid ٧ سبعة sabʕa

٢ اثنيـن / اثنان ithnayn / ithnaan ٨ ثمانية thamaaniya

٣ ثلثة thalaatha ٩ تسعة tisʕa

٤ أربعة ’arbaʕa ١٠ عشرة ʕashara

٥ خمسة khamsa

Men’s Names Women’s Names

عمر ʕumar ليلى laylaa

كري kariim سامية saamiya

سامح saamiḥ

Unit 3 29

3. Grammar

Conjugating verbs in the indicative imperfect, singular persons. In the imperfect (the non-past form of the verb), the prefixes will either have an u vowel in them or an a vowel. However, all of the verbs in this unit have a’s and are conjugated like this:

(huwa) yadrus he studies

(hiya) tadrus she studies

(’anta) tadrus you (m.) study

(’anti) tadrusii(n) you (f.) study

(’anaa) ’adrus I study

Note that in the terminology used to described Arabic, the term imperfect does not mean a sortof continuous past tense as in French or Spanish. It is most often translated with present tense,but when combined with a particle it can also denote the future:

’adrus ai-lugha l-ʕarabiyya. ‘I study Arabic./I’m studying Arabic.’sa ’adrus ai-lugha l-ʕarabiyya. ‘I will study Arabic.’

The imperfect (non-past) contrasts with the perfect (past) conjugational paradigm, which uses only suffixes. Here are a few examples of the perfect:

darastu l-lugha l-ʕarabiyya. ‘I studied Arabic.’darasat l-lugha l-ʕarabiyya. ‘She studied Arabic.’darasta l-lugha l-ʕarabiyya. ‘You (m.) studied Arabic.’

We will not be learning the perfect conjugation in this short introductory course.

Word order. English is an SVO language, meaning that the most basic word order is Subject–Verb–Object. In Standard Arabic, both VSO and SVO are common word orders:

VSO SVO

taqra’ salwaa l-kitaab.V S O

‘Salwa is reading a book.’

salwaa taqra’ il-kitaab.S V O‘Salwa is reading a book.’

There are certain situations in which only one of the two word orders is possible. For instance,when the subject is indefinite, such as mudarris in the following sentence, the verb must precede the subject:

fii haadhaa l-bayt yaskun mudarris ‘A teacher lives in this house.’Prepositional Phrase V S

30 Unit 3

Negation of the present tense. A verb in the present tense is negated by placing the particle laa (ل) before it:

ṭaariq yaʕmal hunaa. ‘Tarek works here.’ṭaariq laa yaʕmal hunaa. ‘Tarek doesn’t work here.’

Verbless sentences are negated by using a form of the verb laysa instead:salwaa laysat ṭaaliba. ‘Salwa is not a student.’salwaa laysa ʕindahaa maal. ‘Salwa hasn’t got any money.’

The three cases. Nouns and adjectives in Classical Arabic have three cases: nominative, genitive, and accusative. Most nouns take the suffixes -u(n), -i(n), or -a(n) to indicate these three cases, respectively. Some examples are given in the following table, which shows the most basic uses of the three cases, using the noun mudarris ‘teacher’. Bear in mind that we’re talking about Classical Arabic here, and by extension, also formal Standard Arabic. This is just to give you an idea about how case works. Our approach to case in informal Arabic will be much less complicated than this, as the nominative and genitive endings in this table are not normally pronounced.

Nominative-u(n)

yaskunu l-mudarrisu hunaa.‘The teacher lives here.’

subject of a sentence

haadhaa mudarrisun.‘This is a teacher.’

predicate of non-verbal sentence

Genitive-i(n)

min al-mudarrisi‘from the teacher’

object of preposition

qalamu l-mudarrisi‘the teacher’s pen’

second term of ’iḍaafa

Accusative-a(n)

’aʕrifu l-mudarrisa.‘I know the teacher.’

object of verb

’aḥmadu laysa mudarrisan.‘Ahmad is not a teacher.’

object of verbs like be, not to be and become

...li’anna l-mudarrisa yaskunu hunaa.‘...because the teacher lives here.’

after certain particles, such as li’inna ‘because’

The final -n on these formal Arabic case suffixes only appears when the noun or adjective is indefinite:

mudarrisun ‘a teacher’’al-mudarrisu ‘the teacher’mudarrisu salwaa ‘Salwa’s teacher’

In our version of informal Standard Arabic, we are only going to make a case distinction whenit is reflected in the spelling in an unvocalised text. Accordingly, at this point, the only nouns that show a distinction between cases are those ending in a consonant, in which case the -an suffix is pronounced when the noun or adjective is accusative:

Unit 3 31

nominative: haadhaa mudarris. هذا مدرس. ‘This is a teacher.’

genitive: min mudarris من مدرس ‘from a teacher’

accusative: ’aʕrif mudarrisan. أعرف مدرسا. ‘I know a teacher.’

No case distinction will be pronounced in nouns ending in the feminine suffix -a. As you progress in Arabic, you will learn that certain types of nouns (‘diptotes’, duals, masculine and feminine sound plurals) are marked with somewhat different case endings.

Using accusative case. At this point, two contexts have been introduced that require accusative case. The first is when the noun is the object of a verb:

’aʕrif mudarrisan. ‘I know a teacher.’

Remember that the -an suffix does not appear when the noun is definite:

’aʕrif il-mudarris. ‘I know the teacher.’’aʕrif mudarris laylaa. ‘I know Layla’s teacher.’

The second context encountered that requires accusative case is when a noun or adjective is the complement of laysa ‘is not’:

kariim mudarris. ‘Karim is a teacher.’kariim jadiid hunaa. ‘Karim is new here.’

kariim laysa mudarrisan. ‘Karim is not a teacher.’kariim laysa jadiidan hunaa. ‘Karim is not new here.’

Adjectives. Like nouns, adjectives in Standard Arabic are inflected for both gender and number, in addition to case. While for now we will only be concerned with masculine and feminine singular, the following table will give you an idea of the complete paradigm. It shows how to say ‘a dear friend’ for both genders and for all three numbers. The forms are in the nominative case:

masculine feminine

singular ṣadiiq ʕaziiz ṣadiiqa ʕaziiza

dual ṣadiiqaan ʕaziizaan ṣadiiqataan ʕaziizataan

plural ’aṣdiqaa’ ’aʕizzaa’ ṣadiiqataat ʕaziizaat

For the present purposes, just remember that an adjective takes the suffix -a for the feminine singular:

mudarris jadiid ‘a new teacher (m.)’mudarris jadiida ‘a new teacher (f.)’

When an adjective is part of a definite noun phrase, it will take the definite article ’al- even if the noun in the phrase does not have the article:

32 Unit 3

ṣadiiq aziiz ‘a dear friend’’al-mudarris il-qadiim ‘the old teacher’mudarris il-bint il-qadiim ‘the girl’s old teacher’

Adjectives can be used as predicates of verbless sentences, which can be negated using laysa ‘is not’:

salwaa jadiida hunaa ‘Salwa is new here.’salwaa laysat jadiida hunaa ‘Salwa isn’t new here.

The nouns ’akh and ’ab. The nouns ’akh ‘brother’ and ’ab ‘father’ have special forms when they are the first term of an ’iḍaafa phrase, showing a three-way case distinction even in an unvocalised text:

nominative genitive accusative

’ab ‘father’ ’abuu laylaa أبو ليلى ’abii laylaa أبي ليلى ’abaa laylaa أبا ليلى

’akh ‘brother’ ’akhuu laylaa أخو ليلى ’akhii laylaa أخي ليلى ’akhaa laylaa أخا ليلى

’abuu laylaa yaskun hunaa. ‘Layla’s father lives here.’haadhaa min ’abii laylaa. ‘This is from Layla’s father.’laa ’aʕrif ’abaa laylaa. ‘I don’t know Layla’s father.’

Recall that noun with a pronoun suffix is also an ’iḍaafa phrase. These special forms of ’ab and ’akh are used in this case as well:

’abuu-haa yaskun hunaa. ‘Hers father lives here.’haadhaa min ’abii-haa. ‘This is from her father.’laa ’aʕrif ’abaa-haa. ‘I don’t know her father.’

In speaking, if you can’t think of which case you need, just use the nominative form, which is also what native speakers do.

The forms ’ab-ii ‘my father’ and ’akh-ii ‘my brother’ are invariable.

haadhaa ’ab-ii. ‘This is my father.’saamiya laa taʕrif ’ab-ii. ‘Samya doesn’t know my father.’

The prepositions maʕa and bi. The preposition maʕa means ‘with’ in the sense of ‘in the company of’ or ‘together with’. The preposition bi is used in the sense of ‘using (an instrument)’ and also ‘with (an ingredient)’. Here are a few examples:

’askun ma’a ’umm-ii. ‘I live with my mother.’’atakallam maʕa ṣadiiq-ii. ‘I’m talking with my friend.’

yaktub bi qalam ’aḥmar. ‘He’s writing with a red pen.’shaay bi s-sukkar ‘tea with sugar’

When these prepositions are followed by a pronoun suffix, we can pronounce them as follows:

Unit 3 33

IndependentPronoun

maʕa bi

huwa maʕa-hu bi-hi

hiya maʕa-haa bi-haa

’anta maʕa-k bi-k

’anti maʕa-ki bi-ki

’anaa maʕ-ii bii

34 Unit 3

5. Exercises

Exercise 1. Recall that the definite article is pronounced with the doubling of the first consonant of a word whenever that first consonant is made with the front part of the tongue (e.g. r, s, t, d) except when it is j or y, and with an l sound in all other cases (e.g. m, k, q, gh). Bearing this in mind, add the article to each of the following word and pronounce it.

Examples: waajib (‘homework’) → ’al-waajibshaari’ (‘street’) → ’ash-shaariʕ

1. ṣadiiqa (friend) 2. ṭaalib (student) 3. ’ustaadha (professor)

4. duktuur (doctor) 5. sayyid (gentleman) 6. madaam (madame)

7. ’aanisa (young woman) 8. jaamiʕa (university) 9. su’aal (question)

Exercise 2. For each of the following pictures, ask who it is or what it is and then provide an answer using either dhaalika or tilka. The first one has been done for you. For the question, observe the following:

man dhaalika? man tilka? maa dhaalika? for a male for a female for an object

1. Q: man tilka? A: tilka mudarrisa.

2. Q: _______________ ?A: ______ d...... .

‘doctor’

3. Q: ___________ ?A: ___________ .

‘street’

4. Q: _______________ ?A: _______________ .

‘student’

5. Q: _______?A: _______ .

6. Q: _______________ ?A: _______________ .

Unit 3 35

Exercise 3. Pronounce the following phrases, eliding the initial vowel of the article.

Example: haadhaa + ’as-su’aal → haadhaa s-su’aal (this question)

1. haadhaa + ’as-sayyid 2. fii + ’al-bayt(this gentleman) (in the house, at home)

3. haadhihi + ’al-jaamiʕa 4. maʕa + ’al-mudarris(this university) (with the teacher)

5. dhaalika + ’al-maal 6. tilka + ’al-’aanisa(that money) (that young woman)

7. tilka + ’aṭ-ṭaawila 8. dhaalika + ’as-su’aal(that table) (that question)

Exercise 4. Practising the pronoun suffixes with the preposition maʕa ‘with’.

1. hal taskuniin _______________ ? (with her)

2. hal tilka s-sayyida taʕmal _______________ ? (with you m.)

3. ’aʕmal _______________ . (with him)

4. ’akh-ii yaskun _______________ fii bayt jadiid. (with me)

5. hal yadrus ṭaariq _______________ ? (with you f.)

36 Unit 3

Exercise 5. Let’s practise conjugating the four verbs we have learnt in this unit. Fill in the blank with the appropriate form of the verb.

yadrus ‘to study’

1. ’anaa _______________ fii haadhihi l-jaamiʕa.

2. hal ’anti _______________ hunaa?

3. nuhaa _______________ fii jaamiʕat il-qaahira.

4. maadhaa _______________ ḥaḍrat-ak?

5. samiir laa _______________ . huwa laysa ṭaaliban.

yaskun ‘to live’

6. ṣadiiq-ii l-ʕaziiz _______________ fii haadhaa l-bayt.

7. hal ḥaḍrat-ik _______________ hunaa?

8. ’akh-ii _______________ fii dhaalika l-bayt.

9. ’anaa laa _______________ fii haadhihi l-madiina.

10. ’ayna _______________ ḥaḍrat-ak?

yaʕmal ‘to work’

11. ’ukht-ii _______________ hunaa.

12. ṣadiiq-ii _______________ hunaak.

13. ’anaa laa _______________ fii l-jaamiʕa.

14. hal ḥaḍrat-ak _______________ hunaa?

15. ’ayna _______________ ḥaḍrat-ik?

yaʕrif ‘to know’

16. ’anaa laa _______________ ism-ak.

17. hal ’anta _______________ ’ukht ’aḥmad?

18. huwa laa _______________ ’akh-ii.

19. min ’ayna ḥaḍrat-ak _______________ haadhaa s-sayyid? min al-jaamiʕa?

20. tilka s-sayyida _______________ ism il-mudarris il-jadiid.

Unit 3 37

Exercise 6. In this exercise we will use the following nouns as the first term of an ’iḍaafa phrase:

أخت ’ukht أخ ’akh أم ’umm أب ’ab

‘sister’ ‘brother’ ‘mother’ ‘father’

Translate the following phrases, using the nominative form:

1. my brother 2. her mother 3. your (f.) father

_________________ _________________ _________________

4. the girl’s brother 5. my father 6. your (m.) sister

_________________ _________________ _________________

7. the teacher’s father 8. her brother 9. his mother

_________________ _________________ _________________

10. Layla’s brother 11. the boy’s father 12. my mother

_________________ _________________ _________________

Exercise 7. We have learnt two uses of the accusative case:

1. the object of a verb2. the complement of laysa

In the following sentences, choose either the nominative or the accusative form and say why itis correct.

1. muḥammad __________ hunaa. jadiid / jadiidan

2. ṭaariq laysa __________ . ṭaalib / ṭaaliban

3. laa ’aʕrif __________ . ’akhuu-haa / ’akhaa-haa

4. ʕind-ii __________ . kitaab / kitaaban

5. __________ salwaa yaskun hunaa. ’akhuu / ’akhaa

6. haadhaa r-rajul laysa __________ l-bint. ’abuu / ’abaa

7. salwa laysa ʕind-ahaa __________ . maal / maalan

38 Unit 3

Exercise 8. ⌂ Choose the correct form to fill in the blank.

1. ’ukht as-sayyid kariim __________ salwa. ism-ik / ism-ahaa

2. haadhaa r-rajul laysa __________ . mudarris / mudarrisan

3. ’akhuu salwa __________ mudarris jadiida. ʕind-uh / ʕind-ak

4. __________ s-sayyida ism-ahaa nuhaa. dhaalika / tilka

5. haadhaa sh-shaariʕ __________ jiddan. qadiim / qadiima

6. __________ l-’aanisa ʕind-ahaa su’aal. tilka / dhaalika

7. hal ḥaḍrat-ak __________ qalam? ʕind-ak / ʕind-uh

8. dhaalika r-rajul laysa __________ . laṭiif / laṭiifan

9. ’akh-ii __________ muḥammad. ’ism-uh / ’ism-ii

10. __________ s-sayyid laysa ʕind-uh maal. dhaalika / tilka

Unit 3 39

Exercise 9. ⌂ Your translation will depend on whether the noun following the demonstrative has the article or not. Note the following distinction:

article haadhaa l-bayt هذا البيت ‘this house’

no article haadhaa bayt هذا بيت ‘this is a house’

Note the Arabic spelling of the demonstratives:

هذا haadhaa ‘this (masc. sing.)’

هذه haadhihi ‘this (fem. sing.)’

ذلك dhaalika ‘that (masc. sing.)’

تلك tilka ‘that (fem. sing.)’

Now translate the following phrases.

1. haadhaa s-su’aal 2. tilka ’aanisa

3. dhaalika s-sayyid 4. haadhihi jaamiʕa

5. هذا باب 6. ذلك الكتاب

7. هذه بنت 8. تلك البنت

40 Unit 3

Exercise 10. ⌂ Choose the appropriate word from the table to fill in the blank.

’aʕrif l-ʕaziiza maʕa tadrus ’akhuu-haa

laysa su’aal yaʕmal hunaak qadiima

1. ’ukht-ahaa ’ism-ahaa laylaa wa __________ ’ism-uh ṭaariq.

2. dhaalika l-bayt __________ jiddan.

3. ’aḥmad __________ mudarrisan.

4. hal ḥaḍrat-ak taskun __________ ’akhuu-k?

5. ’anaa laa __________ fii haadhihi l-madiina.

6. tilka l-’aanisa ʕindahaa __________ .

7. ’ukht-ii ṭaaliba wa __________ fii jaamiʕat il-iskandariyya.

8. ’anaa ’askun fii haadhaa l-bayt, wa ṣadiiq-ii yaskun __________ .

9. ṣadiiqat-ii __________ taʕmal fii l-jaamiʕa.

10. laa __________ ’akhuu-k. maa ’ism-uh?

Unit 3 41

Exercise 11. ⌂ Make ’iḍaafa phrases using the pronoun suffixes.

Example: mudarris + ’anta → mudarris-ak (your teacher)ṭaawila + hiya → ṭaawilat-haa (her table)

1. ṣadiiq + ’anaa ________________________ (my friend)

2. su’aal + ’anti ________________________ (your question)

3. ḥaal + huwa ________________________ (his condition)

4. ṣadiiqa + ‘anta ________________________ (your friend)

5. ’akh + ’anaa ________________________ (my brother)

6. bayt + huwa ________________________ (his house)

7. ’ukht + ’anti ________________________ (your sister)

8. ’akh + hiya ________________________ (her brother)

9. jaamiʕa + huwa ________________________ (his university)

10. waajib + hiya ________________________ (her homework)

Exercise 12. ⌂ Provide the correct form of the verb in brackets.

1. hal ḥaḍrat-ik ___________________ fii haadhihi l-jaamiʕa? (yadrus)

2. ’anaa laa ___________________ fii haadhaa l-bayt il-qadiim (yaskun)

3. ’as-sayyida fariida ___________________ hunaa. (yaʕmal)

4. ’al-walad laa ___________________ id-duktuur ʕumar. (yaʕrif)

5. hal ’anti ___________________ hunaaka? naʕam. (yaʕmal)

6. min ’ayna ________________ ḥaḍrat-ak haadhihi l-’aanisa. min al-jaamiʕa. (yaʕrif)

7. ’al-madaam salwaa ___________________ fii haadhaa sh-shaariʕ. (yaskun)

42 Unit 3

Exercise 13. ⌂ Match each Arabic word with its English translation.

1. كتاب ــــــــــ a. new

2. كلب ــــــــــ b. dog

3. واجبي ــــــــــ c. well, fine

4. بخير ــــــــــ d. my brother

5. حبيبي ــــــــــ e. book

6. أخي ــــــــــ f. my sister

7. جديد ــــــــــ g. my homework

8. واحد ــــــــــ h. one

9. أختي ــــــــــ i. my sweetheart

Unit 3 43

Exercise 14. ⌂ Translate the following ’iḍaafa phrases. The spelling of the pronoun suffixes isgiven at the end of the reading and writing section.

1. If kitaab is written as كتاب , then كتابي means: my book

2. If maal is written as مال, then ماله means: ____________________

3. If shaariʕ is written as شارع, then شارعك means: ____________________

4. If daftar is written as دفتر, then دفترك means: ____________________

5. If kursiyy is written as كرسي, then كرسيك means: ____________________

6. If ṭaawila is written as طاولة, then طاولتي means: ____________________

7. If ḥabiiba is written as حبيبة, then حبيبته means: ____________________

8. If ṣadiiq is written as صديق, then صديقي means: ____________________

9. If mudarris is written as مدرس then مدرسها means: ____________________

10. If su’aal is written as سؤال, then سؤاله means: ____________________

Unit 4

1. Texts

kuub min al-maa’

’ashraf: ’anaa ʕaṭshaan.

maḥmuud: hal turiid kuuban min al-maa’?

’ashraf: naʕam, min faḍl-ak.

maḥmuud: tafaḍḍal.

’ashraf: shukran.

maḥmuud: ʕafwan.

’ashraf: wa hal turiid ’an ta’kul?

maḥmuud: laa, fa ’anaa ʕaṭshaan faqaṭ. lastu jawʕaanan.

maadhaa tashrab?

shariifa: maadhaa tafʕal haadhihi l-’aanisa?

ghaada: tashrab shaayan.

shariifa: wa hal ish-shaay fii-hi ḥaliib?

ghaada: laa, laysa fii-hi ḥaliib.

shariifa: wa hal fii-hi sukkar?

ghaada: laa ’aʕrif.

maadhaa yaʕnii “nabaatiyy”?

naadiya: hal turiid qiṭʕa min al-laḥm?

ṣalaaḥ: laa, shukran. ’anaa nabaatiyy.

naadiya: nabaatiyy? laa ’afham. maadhaa taʕnii tilka l-kalima?

ṣalaaḥ: “nabaatiyy” yaʕnii “laa ya’kul laḥman”.

naadiya: ’aah, fa ’anta laa ta’kul laḥman li’ann-ak nabaatiyy. wa hal ta’kul il-jubn?

ṣalaaḥ: naʕam, ’uḥibb il-jubn kathiiran.

45

46 Unit 4

qaliilan faqaṭ

ṣalaaḥ: ’anaa jawʕaan qaliilan.

ḥanaa: laa ’afham.

ṣalaaḥ: ’a laa tafham? “jawʕaan” yaʕnii “yuriid ’an ya’kul”.

ḥanaa: ’afham kalimat “jawʕaan”, wa laakin maadhaa yaʕnii “qaliilan”?

ṣalaaḥ: “qaliilan” yaʕnii “laysa kathiiran”.

ḥanaa: ḥasanan, fa ’anta jawʕaan laakin lasta jawʕaanan jiddan.

ṣalaaḥ: haadhaa ṣaḥiiḥ.

2. Vocabulary

ʕaṭshaan thirsty

jawʕaan hungry

yuriid (’an) to want (to)

kuub cup, glass

maa’ water

min faḍl-ak, min faḍl-ik please

tafaḍḍal, tafaḍḍaliigo ahead, please do (imperative)

shukran thank you

ʕafwan you’re welcome

ya’kul to eat

faqaṭ only

yafʕal to do

yashrab to drink

shaay tea

ḥaliib milk

sukkar sugar

yaʕnii to mean

nabaatiyy vegetarian

qiṭʕa piece

laḥm meat

yafham to understand

’a(interrogative particle, turns a statement into a yes/no question)

kalima word

’aah oh

li’anna because

yuḥibb to like, love

jubn cheese

kathiir, kathiiran much, many, a lot

qaliil, qaliilanlittle (in quantity), few, abit

ḥasanan okay, fine

ṣaḥiiḥ correct

Men’s Names Women’s Names

أشرف ’ashraf شريفة shariifa

محمود maḥmuud غادة ghaada

صلح ṣalaaḥ حنان ḥanaan

نادية naadiya

Unit 4 47

3. Grammar

Laysa. Laysa ‘is not’ is a verb. It has a present tense meaning but is conjugated as if it were inthe past tense, and even then it is a bit irregular. This is why its conjugation looks so different from that of verbs in the imperfect. Here are the singular forms:

(huwa) laysa he is not

(hiya) laysat she is not

(’anta) lasta you (m.) are not

(’anti) lasti you (f.) are not

(’anaa) lastu I am not

Here are a few simple examples:

hudaa laysat mudarrisa. ‘Huda isn’t a teacher.’haadhaa s-sayyid laysa min miṣr. ‘This gentleman is not from Egypt.’lastu ʕaṭshaana. ‘I’m not thirsty.’

ʕumar ṭaalib. ‘Omar is a student.’ʕumar laysa ṭaaliban. ‘Omar is not a student.’

’anaa jawʕaan. ‘I’m hungry.’’anaa lastu jawʕaanan. ‘I’m not hungry.’

To negate have-like predicates like ʕinduh and fii-hi, the huwa form of laysa is used invariably:

laysa ʕindii kathiir min al-maal. ‘I haven’t got much money.’haadhihi l-qahwa laysa fii-haa sukkar. ‘This coffee hasn’t got any sugar in it.’

Note that the modern Arabic dialects do not use a verb to negate a verbless sentence. One common means of negation is by using an invariable negative particle, such as maa or mish:

Standard Arabic: hudaa laysat mudarrisa. ‘Huda is not a teacher.’Egyptian Arabic: hudaa mish mudarrisa. ‘Huda is not a teacher.’

Verbs with u in the imperfect prefixes. All the verbs you have learnt so far , such as yaʕmal ‘to work’ have a’s in their prefixes (i.e. yaʕmal, taʕmal, etc.). However, many verbs, such as yuriid ‘to want’ and yuḥibb ‘to love’ have u’s in the their prefixes instead. This is the only thing different about their conjugation:

(huwa) yuḥibb he likes/loves

(hiya) tuḥibb she likes/loves

(’anta) tuḥibb you (m.) likes/loves

(’anti) tuḥibbii(n) you (f.) likes/loves

(’anaa) ’uḥibb I likes/loves

48 Unit 4

Subjunctive mood. Standard Arabic distinguishes between three different moods in the imperfect: indicative, subjunctive, and jussive. The following sentences show the verb yashrab in the three different moods as pronounced in formal Arabic. Note how the indicativeand subjunctive verbs have different suffixes, while the jussive has no suffix at all.

indicative: ’aḥmad yashrabu shaayan. ‘Ahmad is drinking tea.’subjunctive: ’aḥmad yuriidu ’an yashraba shaayan. ‘Ahmad wants to drink tea.’jussive: ’aḥmad lam yashrab shaayan. ‘Ahmad didn’t drink any tea.’

The indicative mood is used by default, while the subjunctive and jussive are especially used after certain particles, such as ’an and lam, respectively, in the examples above. We will not be learning the jussive in this course, but we will be seeing a lot of the subjunctive.

Since in our version of informal Standard Arabic we are only pronouncing case and mood differences reflected in the spelling of unvocalised texts, the only difference between the indicative and the subjunctive at this point will be for the ’anti form. Note how the final n is omitted in the subjunctive.

indicative: tashrabiin shaayan. ‘you (f.) are drinking tea’

subjunctive: turiidiin ’an tashrabii shaayan. ‘you (f.) want to drink tea’

You will learn very similar distinctions when we learn the plural and dual persons.

Here are two more examples showing the difference between the indicative and the subjunctive when the subject is ’anti. The first verb in both sentences is in the indicative (since it is in the main clause), while the second verb is in the subjunctive because it follows the particle ’an.

hal turiidiin ’an tafhamii haadhihi l-kalima? ‘Do you (f.) want to understand this word?’’a laa tuḥibbiin ’an tanaamii? ‘Don’t you (f.) like to sleep?’

More on the pronunciation of the pronoun suffixes. As we have seen, the third person masculine singular pronoun suffix (i.e. the huwa form) is normally pronounced -uh or -hu in our variety of informal Standard Arabic:

samiir ʕinduh kathiir min al-jubn. ‘Samiir has a lot of cheese.’’aḥmad maʕa-hu qaliil min al-maal. ‘Ahmad has a bit of money on him.’qiṭṭat-uh ’ism-ahaa miimii. ‘His cat’s name is Mimi.’

However, when preceded by an i, ii, or y sound, it is pronounced -hi:

haadhaa min ’abii-hi. ‘This is from his father.’

We have learnt two prepositions that end in one of these sounds: bi (‘with’) and fii (‘in’). Notehow these prepositions are pronounced with the pronoun suffixes:

Unit 4 49

IndependentPronoun

fii bi

huwa fii-hi bi-hi

hiya fii-haa bi-haa

’anta fii-k bi-k

’anti fii-ki bi-ki

’anaa fiyya bii

Note also how the ’anaa forms are pronounced.

li’anna ‘because’. When you need to follow the word li’anna with a pronoun, use a pronoun suffix instead. Here are couple of examples:

nadya laa taʕrif-ak li’anna-haa jadiida hunaa.not: ...li’anna hiyya...

‘Nadya doesn’t know you because she’s new here.’

laa ’aakul laḥman li’ann-ii nabaatiyy.not: ...li’anna ’anaa...

‘I don’t eat meat because I’m a vegetarian.’

Here is the paradigm. Only the ’anaa form is a bit different, because the final a of li’anna is dropped. There is also an alternative form for ’anaa using the suffix -nii, which you will learnabout later.

IndependentPronoun

li’anna

huwa li’anna-hu

hiya li’anna-haa

’anta li’anna-k

’anti li’anna-ki

’anaa li’ann-ii / li’anna-nii

kathiir and qaliil. Kathiir ‘much, many’ can be used either as an adjective or as a noun together with the preposition min:

ʕindii ʕamal kathiir. ‘I’ve got a lot of work.’ʕindii kathiir min al-ʕamal. ‘I’ve got a lot of work.’

The same is true of qaliil ‘a little, few’, with a slight difference in meaning.

’ash-shaay fii-hi sukkar qaliil. ‘The tea has (very) little sugar in it.’’ash-shaay fii-hi qaliil min sukkar. ‘The tea has a bit of sugar in it.’

The accusative forms of these adjectives can be used as adverbs.

’uḥibb-ahaa kathiiran. ‘I love her a lot.’’anaa ʕaṭshaana qaliilan. ‘I’m a bit thirsty.’

50 Unit 4

nisba adjectives. In the texts we encountered the word nabaatiyy ‘vegetarian’. This word is derived from the noun nabaat meaning ‘plant’ and the suffix -iyy, which makes adjectives out of nouns. The resulting adjective is called a nisba adjective. One common usage of these nisba adjectives is as adjectives denoting a place of origin. In fact, English has borrowed many of these nisba adjectives, such as Iraqi, Yemeni and Omani. Here are some examples:

huwa min al-ʕiraaq. huwa ʕiraaqiyy. ‘He’s from Iraq. He’s Iraqi.’hiya min al-yaman. hiya yamaniyya ‘She’s from Yemen. She’s Yemeni.’

Note the masculine form is usually pronounced as if it ended in -ii rather than -iyy.

A few additional rules must be observed when forming a nisba adjective from a noun:

1. If the noun has the article, the article needs to be removed before adding -iyy to form the basic form of the nisba adjective:

Noun nisba Adjective

’al-ʕiraaq Iraq ’iraaqiyy Iraqi

’al-yaman Yemen yamaniyy Yemeni

’aṣ-ṣiin China ṣiiniyy Chinese

’al-maksiik Mexico maksiikiyy Mexican

Of course, as with any other adjective, the article can then be added to the nisba adjective in the appropriate context:

’aʕrif sayyida yamaniyya. ‘I know a Yemeni lady.’’aʕrif as-sayyida l-yamaniyya. ‘I know the Yemeni lady.’

2. If the noun ends in a taa’ marbuuṭa, the latter must be removed before adding the nisba suffix. In the same way, in most cases, if the noun ends in a vowel, that vowel also needs to be removed before adding the suffix.

Noun nisba Adjective

hulandaa the Netherlands hulandiyy Dutch

’amriika America ’amriikiyy American

finlandaa Finland finlandiyy Finnish

3. For the few nouns ending in -iyaa, this -iyaa is replaced with -iyy:

Noun nisba Adjective

ruusiyaa Russia ruusiyy Russian

suuriyaa Syria suuriyy Syrian

Note that the word meaning ‘Saudi Arabia’, ’as-suʕuudiyya is itself the feminine form of a nisba adjective. This is because it is actually an abbreviated form of ’al-mamlaka s-suʕuudiyya ‘the Saudi kingdom’, in which ’as-suʕuudiyya actually functions as an adjective.

Unit 4 51

4. Exercises

Exercise 1. Read the following equations aloud. Two examples are provided:

Examples: ٦ = ٥ + ١ waaḥid wa khamsa yusaawii sitta

٢ = ٦ - ٨ thamaaniya naaqiṣ sitta yusaawii ’ithnaayn

a. ٣ = ٢ + ١ b. ١ = ٧ - ٨

c. ٤ = ٥ - ٩ d. ٩ = ٣ + ٦

e. ؟ = ٠ + ١٠ f . ؟ = ٤ + ٥

g. ؟ = ٢ - ٨ h. ؟ = ٣ - ٧

Exercise 2. Conjugate the following verbs, filling in the blank portions of the tables. Do you know what each of the verbs means?

huwa yafham huwa yaskun

hiya ____fham hiya _____________

’anta ____fham ’anta _____________

’anti ____fham____ ’anti _____________

’anaa ____fham ’anaa _____________

huwa yuriid huwa yuḥibb

hiya ____riid hiya _____________

’anta ____riid ’anta _____________

’anti ____riid____ ’anti _____________

’anaa ____riid ’anaa _____________

52 Unit 4

Exercise 3. Fill in each blank with the correct form of the verb in brackets.

1. ’al-’aanisa laa _______________ haadhaa d-daftar. (yuriid)

2. maadhaa _______________ ḥaḍrat-ak hunaa? (yafʕal)

3. ’aḥmad _______________ hunaaka. (yaskun)

4. ’anaa laa _______________ tilka l-’aanisa. (yaʕrif)

5. hal ’anti _______________ haadhihi l-kalima? (yafham)

6. tilka s-sayyida laa _______________ jubnan. (ya’kul)

7. ’al-bint turiid ’an _______________ kuuban min al-maa’. (yashrab)

8. maadhaa _______________ haadhihi l-kalima? (yaʕnii)

9. hal ḥaḍrat-ik _______________ fii haadhaa l-bayt? (yaskun)

10. hudaa _______________ fii jaamiʕat dimashq. (yadrus)

Unit 4 53

Exercise 4. We have learnt two uses of the accusative case:

1. the object of a verb2. the complement of laysa (but not in expressions like laysa ʕind-ii...)

We have learned two different cases in which the accusative form of a noun or adjective differs from the nominative and accusative forms in our version of informal Standard Arabic:

Nouns and adjectives ending in a consonant

These nouns add the suffix -an in the accusative form. For example, the accusative form of kitaab is kitaaban.

’akhuu... and ’abuu... The nouns ‘ab ‘father’ and ’akh ‘brother’ have special forms when they are the first term of an ’iḍaafa phrase (i.e. ‘father of...’ and ‘brother of...’). Theseforms are ’abuu/’akhuu in the nominative and ’abaa/’akhaa in the accusative.

In the following sentences, choose either the nominative or the accusative form and explain why that is the correct form.

1. haadhaa sh-shaay fii-hi __________ . sukkar / sukkaran

2. hudaa laa ta’kul __________ . laḥm / laḥman

3. ʕindii __________ . bayt jadiid / baytan jadiidan

4. tilka l-’aanisa tashrab __________ . ḥaliib / ḥaliiban

5. ’anaa lastu __________ . jawʕaan / jawʕaanan

6. __________ ’aḥmad yaskun hunaa. ’abuu / ’abaa

7. muḥammad laysa __________ hunaa. jadiid / jadiidan

8. laa ’aʕrif __________ . ’abuu-ka / ’abaa-ka

9. haadhihi s-sayyida turiid __________ min al-jubn. qaliil / qaliilan

10. nuhaa laysa ʕindahaa __________ min al-maal. kathiir / kathiiran

54 Unit 4

Exercise 5. Say where each city is, using a country from the table. The first one is done for you.

suuriyaa lubnaan ’al-maghrib ’as-suʕuudiyya

miṣr ’al-ʕiraaq ’al-’urdunn ’as-suudaan

1. marraakish madiina fii l-maghrib. ‘Marrakesh is a city in Morocco.’

2. ’al-qaahira madiina fii . . .

3. baghdaad . . .

4. ʕammaan . . .

5. ’ar-riyaaḍ . . .

6. bayruut . . .

7. ’al-kharṭuum . . .

8. dimashq . . .

Exercise 6. Form the nisba adjective of the following countries. The first one is done for you. When you pronounce the feminine form, take care to stress the next to the last syllable, e.g. miṣriyya, ’amriikiyya.

Countrynisba Adjective

Masculine Singular Feminine Singular

1. ’al-baraaziil Brazil baraaziiliyy baraaziiliyya

2. faransaa France

3. ’al-yuunaan Greece

4. suuriyaa Syria

5. tuunis Tunisia

6. ’al-jazaa’ir Algeria

Unit 4 55

Exercise 7. Use a nisba adjective. The first one is done for you.

1. layla miṣriyya. fa hiya min madiinat il-qaahira.

2. ḥaḍrat-ik _______________ . fa ḥaḍrat-ik min madiinat bayruut.

3. ’anta _______________ . fa ’anta min madiinat dimashq.

4. dhaalika s-sayyid _______________ . fa huwa min madiinat ir-riyaaḍ.

5. shariifa _______________ . fa hiya min madiinat baghdaad.

6. ’anaa _______________ . fa ’anaa min madiinat marraakish.

7. tilka l-mar’a _______________ . fa hiya min madiinat il-kharṭuum.

Exercise 8. In this exercise we will practise the use of laysa. To start off, let’s review the conjugation by filling in the following table:

huwa laysa

hiya lays____

’anta las____

’anti las____

’anaa las____

The following sentences all have a nisba adjective as their predicate. Negate them with the correct form of laysa.

1. shariifa ’urdunniyya. _________________________________________

2. maḥmuud ʕiraaqiyy. _________________________________________

3. ’anti miṣriyya. _________________________________________

4. ’anta lubnaaniyy. _________________________________________

5. ’anaa suudaaniyy(a). _________________________________________

6. ḥaḍrat-ak jazaa’iriyy. _________________________________________

56 Unit 4

Exercise 9. We will now practise negating various types of sentences. Recall the different ways we have learnt to do this:

present tense verb Negate by placing laa directly before the verb.

verbless sentence Negate with a conjugated form of laysa.

verbless predicate meaning ‘have’ Negate with the huwa form of laysa.

Now negate each of the following sentences:

1. ’anaa jadiid hunaa. ________________________________________

2. ʕindii waraqa wa qalam. ________________________________________

3. ’as-sayyida tafham tilka l-kalima. ________________________________________

4. ’al-’ustaadh maḥmuud mudarris. ________________________________________

5. ’anti ’ukht-ii. ________________________________________

6. ’afham haadhihi l-kalima l-jadiida. ________________________________________

7. hudaa ʕind-ahaa maal kathiir. ________________________________________

8. salwaa hiya ṣadiiqat-ii l-ʕaziiza. ________________________________________

9. dhaalika r-rajul laṭiif jiddan. ________________________________________

10. hudaa hunaa. ________________________________________

11. tilka s-sayyida taʕmal hunaa. ________________________________________

12. ḥaḍrat-ak jawʕaan. ________________________________________

13. ’anaa fii l-bayt. ________________________________________

14. ’anta ’akh-ii. ________________________________________

Unit 4 57

Exercise 11. In this exercise we will practise making ’iḍaafa phrases using the pronoun suffixes. First, fill in the suffixes in the following table. Some of the suffixes will have a slightly different form depending on whether the word ends in one consonant or two.

’ism____ ‘his name’ qalam____ ‘his pen’

’ism____ ‘her name’ qalam____ ‘her pen’

’ism____ ‘your (m.) name’ qalam____ ‘your (m.) pen’

’ism____ ‘your (f.) name’ qalam____ ‘your (f.) pen’

’ism____ ‘my name’ qalam____ ‘my pen’

Now make the ‘iḍaafa phrase indicated. Remember that for a feminine noun ending in -a, thisfinal -a will change to -at before adding a pronoun suffix.

1. bayt + hiya ____________________________ ‘her house’

2. jubn + ’anta ____________________________ ‘your cheese’

3. shaariʕ + ’anti ____________________________ ‘your street’

4. ḥabiiba + huwa ____________________________ ‘his sweetheart’

5. madiina + hiya ____________________________ ‘her city’

6. sukkar + ’anti ____________________________ ‘your sugar’

7. kuub + ’anaa ____________________________ ‘my glass’

8. jaamiʕa + ’anta ____________________________ ‘your university’

Exercise 10. Fill in the correct form of li’anna ‘because’, using a pronoun suffix.

1. ’anti laa ta’kuliin laḥman ____________ nabaatiyya.

2. ’aḥmad yashrab maa’an ____________ ʕaṭshaan.

3. ’anaa ’aakul ____________ jawʕaan.

4. ’uḥibb tilka s-sayyida ____________ laṭiifa jiddan.

5. ’aʕrif dhaalika r-rajul ____________ yaʕmal hunaa.

58 Unit 4

Exercise 12. ⌂ Fill in each blank with a word or phrase from the table.

’an wa laakin fii-hi kathiiran faqaṭ

kuuban min li-’anna-haa ṣaḥiiḥ l-ʕaziiza

1. haadhaa sh-shaay _______________ ḥaliib.

2. hal “qadiim” yaʕnii “laysa jadiidan”? naʕam, haadhaa _______________ .

3. ’uriid _______________ min al-ḥaliib, min faḍl-ak.

4. ’anaa ’adrus _______________ laysa hunaa.

5. ’uriid jubnan _______________ , laa ’uriid laḥman.

6. haadhihi ’ukht-ii _______________ .

7. haadhaa l-mudarris yaʕmal _______________ .

8. ’al-walad yuriid _______________ yafham haadhihi l-kalima.

9. salwaa laa ta‘kul laḥman _______________ nabaatiyya.

10. ṭaariq yashrab kuuban _______________ al-maa’.

Exercise 13. ⌂ Fill in each blank with a verb from the table. If two different verbs seem to have an appropriate meaning, then make sure you choose the verb that is conjugated correctly for the sentence.

taskun taʕmal ’aakul yaʕnii yadrus

yafʕal taʕrif turiidiin yashrab ’afham

1. “ ʕaṭshaan ” _______________ “yuriid ’an yashrab”.

2. ’aṭ-ṭaaliba l-jadiid laa _______________ ’ism-ii.

3. ’anaa laa _______________ haadhihi l-kalima.

4. ’ayna _______________ ’ukht-ak? fii dhaalika l-bayt.

5. maadhaa _______________ , yaa nuhaa? qiṭʕa min al-kaʕk.

6. hal ’akhuu-k _______________ hunaa? laa, huwa laysa ṭaaliban.

7. maadhaa _______________ samiir? ’al-waajib.

8. dhaalika s-sayyid _______________ shaayan.

9. ’anaa jawʕaan wa ’uriid ’an _______________ .

10. ’ad-duktuura nuhaa _______________ fii haadhihi l-jaamiʕa.

Unit 4 59

Exercise 14. ⌂ Fill in each blank with a word or phrase from the table.

’ayna hal maadhaa kayfa

maa man maʕa man min ’ayna

1. _______________ ḥaal ’ukht-ik? hiyya bi khayr, ’al-ḥamdu li l-llaah.

2. _______________ taʕrif haadhiihi l-’aanisa? min al-jaamiʕa.

3. _______________ yaskun ’akhuu-k? fii madiinat bayruut.

4. _______________ ta’kul? qiṭʕa min al-jubn.

5. _______________ yuriid ’an yashrab shaayan? ’anaa!

6. _______________ ta’kul il-laḥm? naʕam, ’uḥibb il-laḥm kathiiran.

7. _______________ dhaalika? dhaalika waajib nuhaa.

8. _______________ taskun? maʕa ṣadiiq-ii ’aḥmad.

Verbs by Unit

Each verb is first listed in the imperfect (≈ present), followed by the perfect (≈ past). If a verb is slightly irregular in the perfect, the huwa form is followed by the ’anaa form.

Unit 3

yaʕrif, ʕaraf يعرف، عرف to know

yaskun, sakan يسكن، سكن to live (in a place)

yaʕmal, ʕamil يعمل، عمل to work

yadrus, daras يدرس، درس to study

Unit 4

yuriid (’an), ’araad يريد (أن)، أراد to want (to)

ya’kul (’anaa ’aakul), ’akal يـأكل، أكل to eat

yafʕal, faʕal يفعل، فعل to do

yashrab, sharib يشرب، شرب to drink

yaʕnii, ʕanaa يعني، عنى to mean

yafham, fahim يفهم، فهم to understand

yuḥibb, ’aḥabb يحب، أحب to like, love

61

Arabic–English Glossary

Items that were only introduced in passing (such as in an exercise) are indicated with the abbreviation inc. (for incidental). Verbs are presented first in their imperfect form, followed by the perfect.

ʕa, ’a

’a [L4] أinterrogative particle (similar to hal)

’aah [L4] ياه! Oh!

’aanisa [L3] آنسة young woman, miss

’ab, ’abuu... [L3]

أب، أبو... father

ʕafwan [L4] عفواyou’re welcome (reply to shukran)

’ahlan, ’ahlan wa sahlan [L1]

أهل، أهل وسهل hello, welcome

’aḥmad [L1] أحمد (man’s name)

’akh, ’akhuu... [L3]

أخ، أخو...،إخوة

brother

’amiina [L1] أمينة (woman’s name)

’anaa [L1] أنا I

’anta, ’anti [L1] أنت، أنت you (m.s., f.s.)

’arbaʕa [L3] أربعة four

ʕashara [L3] عشرة ten

’ashraf [L4] أشرف (man’s name)

ʕaṭshaan [L3] عطشان thirsty

’ayman [L2] أيـمن (man’s name)

’ayna [L1] أين where

ʕaziiz [L3] عزيز dear; (man’s name)

b

baʕd [L5] بعد after

’al-baraaziil [L4(inc.)]

البرازيل Brazil

bi khayr [L2] بخير fine, well (as in ‘in good health’)

bint [L1] بنت girl; daughter

d, ḍ, dh, ḍh

63

64 Arabic–English Glossary

daftar, dafaatir[L1]

دفتر، دفاتر notebook

dhaalika, tilka [L3]

ذلك that (demonstrative)

dimashq [L1] دمشق Damascus

f

faḍl [L4] بضل favour, grace

faqaṭ [L4] فقط only

faransaa [L4 (inc.)]

فرنسا France

fii [L1] في in

g, gh

ghaada [L4] غادة (woman’s name)

h, ḥ

haadhaa, haadhihi [L1]

هذا، هذه this

ḥaal [L2] حال condition

haanii [L1] هاني (man’s name)

ḥabiib, ḥabiiba [L2]

حبيب sweetheart, darling

ḥaḍrat-ak, ḥaḍrat-ik [L2]

حضرتك،حضرتك

you (sing. formal)

hal [L2] هل (interrogative particle)

ḥaliib [L4] حليب milk

ḥamd [L2] حمد praise

ḥasanan [L4] حسنا okay

hiya [L1] هي she

hudaa [L2] هدى (woman’s name)

hulandaa [L1] هولندا the Netherlands

hunaa [L1] هنا here

hunaak [L1، L3] نناك there

huwa [L1] هو he

ʕi, ’i

Arabic–English Glossary 65

’imra’a, ’al-mar’a, nisaa’ [L1]

امرأة، الرأة، نساء woman

ʕind [L2] عند at, chez

’al-iskandariyya [L1]

السكندرية Alexandria

’ism [L1] اسم name

’ithnaan, ’ithnayn [L3]

اثنان، اثنيـن two

j

jaamiʕa [L3] جامعة university

jadiid [L3] جديد new

jamiil [L6] جميل beautiful, pretty;nice

jawʕaan [L4] جوعان hungry

’al-jazaa’ir [L4 (inc.)]

الزائر Algeria

jiddan [L3] جدا very

jubn [L4] جب cheese

k, kh

kalb [L2] كلب dog

kalima [L4] كلمة word

kariim [L3] كري generous; noble;(man’s name)

kathiir [L4] كثير much, many

kathiiran [L4] كثيرا much, a lot (adv.)

kayfa [L2] كيف how

kayfa l-ḥaal? [L2]

كيف الال How are you?

khamsa [L3] خمسة five

khayr [L2] خير good; well-being, welfare

kitaab [L1] كتاب book

kursiyy [L1] كرسي chair

kuub [L4] كوب glass, cup, mug

l

laa [L2] ل no

’al-laah [L2] ال، اللـه God

laakin, laakinna [L3]

لكن، لكن but

laḥm [L4] لم meat

laṭiif [L3] لطيف nice

66 Arabic–English Glossary

laylaa [L3] ليلى (woman’s name)

laysa [L2] ليس is not

li’anna [L4] لن because

m

maa [L1] ما what

maa’, miyaah [L4]

ماء water

maʕa [L3] مع with

maʕa s-salaama[L3]

مع السلمة goodbye

maadhaa [L3] ماذا what

maal [L2] مال money

madaam [L3] مدام Mrs, lady

madiina [L1] مدينة، مدن city

’al-maghrib [L1]

الغدب Morocco

maḥmuud [L4] محمود (man’s name)

man [L1] من who

marḥaban [L1] مرحبا hello

marraakesh [L1]

مراكش Marrakesh

masaa’ [L2] مساء evening

min [L1] من from

min faḍl-ak [L4] من فضلك please

miṣr [L1] مصر Egypt

mudarris mudarrisa [L1]

مدرس teacher

muḥammad [L2]

محمد (man’s name)

n

naadiya [L4] نادية (woman’s name)

naʕam [L2] نعم yes

nabatiyy [L4] نباتى vegetarian

nuhaa [L1] نهى (woman’s name)

nuur, ’anwaar [L2]

نود، أنوار light

q

qaliil [L4] قليل little (in quantity), few

qaliilan [L4] قليل a (little) bit

Arabic–English Glossary 67

qalam [L1] قلم pen, pencil

qiṭʕa [L4] قطعة piece

qiṭṭa [L2] قطة cat

qadiim [L3] قديold (opp. of ‘new’, not of ‘young’)

r

rajul [L1] رجل man

s, ṣ, sh

saamiḥ [L3] سامح (man’s name)

saamiya [L3] سامية (woman’s name)

sabʕa [L3] سبعة seven

ṣabaaḥ [L2] صباح morning

ṣadiiq [L3] صديق friend

ṣaḥiiḥ [L4] صحيح correct

ṣalaaḥ [L4] صلح (man’s name)

salaam [L1] سلم peace

salaama [L3] سلمة safety

salmaa [L2] سلمى (woman’s name)

salwaa [L1] سلوى (woman’s name)

samiir [L1] سمير (man’s name)

sayyid [L3] سيد gentleman; Mr

sayyida [L3] سيدة lady; Mrs

shaariʕ [L2] شارع street

shaay [L4] شاي tea

shariifa [L2] شريفة (woman’s name)

shukran [L4] شكرا thank you

ṣifr [L3] صفر zero

sitta [L3] ستة six

su’aal [L3] سؤال question

sukkar [L4] سكر sugar

suuriyaa [L1] سوريا Syria

t, ṭ, th

68 Arabic–English Glossary

ṭaalib [L3] طالب student

ṭaariq [L2] طارق (man’s name)

ṭaawila [L1] طاولة table

ṭabʕan [L1] طبعا of course

tafaḍḍal, tafaḍḍalii [L4]

تفضل، تفضلي

go ahead, here you go (said when offering something or giving permission to dosomething)

tasharrafnaa [L1]

تشرفناpleased to meet you (lit. ‘we are honoured’)

thalaatha [L3] ثلثة three

thamaaniya [L3]

ثمانية eight

tilka [L3] تلك that

tisʕa [L3] تسعة nine

tuunis [L4 (inc.)] تونس Tunis; Tunisia

ʕu, ’u

’ukht [L3] أخت sister

’umm [L3] أم mother

ʕumar [L3] عمر (man’s name)

’usaama [L2] أسامة (man’s name)

’ustaadh [L3] أستاذ professor, Mr, gentleman

’ustaadha [L3] أستاذة professor, Mrs, lady

w

wa [L1] و and

waaḥid [L3] واحد one

waajib [L2] واجب duty; homework

walad [L1] ولد boy

waraqa [L1] ورقة (sheet of) paper

y

yaa [L1] يا (vocative particle)

yadrus, daras [L3]

يدرس to study

yafʕal, faʕal [L4]

يفعل، فعل to do

yafham, fahim [L4]

يفهم، فهم to understand

Arabic–English Glossary 69

ya’kul (’anaa ’aakul), ’akal [L4]

يأكل (أنا آخل)،أكل

to eat

yaʕmal, ‘amil [L3]

يعمل، عمل to work

yaʕnii [L4] يعني to mean

yaʕrif, ʕaraf [L2, L3]

يعرف، عرف to know

yashrab, sharib[L4]

يشرب، شرب to drink

yaskun, sakan [L3]

يسكن، سكن to live (in a place)

yuḥibb, ’aḥabb[L4]

يحب، أحب to love, like

yuriid, ’araad [L4]

يريد، أراد to want

’al-yuunaa [L4 (inc.)]

اليونان Greece

z

Bite-Size Arabic Extra Vocabulary

The following vocabulary items are introduced in Bite-Size Arabic but not in Tasharrafnaa.

Unit 3

ثوب ابن لبنان

Unit 4

اليوم

Unit 5

الكويت يد دكان مكتب

Unit 6

حمام جميل

Unit 7

وجبة زوج/زوجة

Unit 8

يرى شمس

Unit 9

غالي مئة

71

72 Bite-Size Arabic Extra Vocabulary

Unit 10

يقرأ يقول جريدة حبيب/حبيبةUnit 11

طويل خطاب ظهر رسالة

Answer Key

Unit 1

Exercise 6: 1. haadhaa, haadhihi; 2. ’ayna; 3. ’anaa; 4. madiina; 5. madiinat; 6. mra’a; 7. yaa; 8. al-maghrib; 9. walad

Exercise 7: 1. huwa; 2. haadhihi; 3. hiya; 4. ism-ik; 5. ’anta; 6. haadhihi; 7. ’ism-ak;

Exercise 8: 1. huwa; 2. yaa; 3. fii; 4. man; 5. hiya; 6. ’ayna; 7. bi-k; 8. maa

Unit 2

Exercise 8: 1. min ’ayna; 2. kayfa; 3. hal; 4. man; 5. ’ayna; 6. maa

Exercise 9: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

هي هو أنا أنت هي هو

Exercise 10: 1. kitaab-haa; 2. qalam-ak; 3. daftar-ii; 4. madiinat-ik; 5. mudarris-uh; 6. ḥabiibat-ak; 7. ism-uh; 8. ṭaawilat-haa; 9. maal-ii; 10. mudarrisat-uh

Unit 3

Exercise 8: 1. ism-ahaa‘Mr Karim’s sister’s name is Salwaa.’

2. mudarrisan‘This man isn’t a teacher.’A noun or adjective that is the complement of laysa needs to be accusative, which is why it’s mudarrisan rather than the nominative/genitive form mudarris.

3. ʕind-uh‘Salwa’s brother has a new teacher.’

4. tilka‘This lady’s name is Nuha.’You need the feminine form, which is tilka.

5. qadiim‘This street is very old.’The noun shaariʕ is masculine, so you need the masculine form of the adjective.

6. tilka‘That young woman has a question.’You need the feminine form, which is tilka.

7. ʕind-ak‘Have you got a pen?’

8. laṭiifan‘That man is not nice.’A noun or adjective that is the complement of laysa needs to be accusative.

9. ’ism-uh‘My brother’s name is Muhammad.’

10. dhaalika‘That gentleman hasn’t got any money.’You need the masculine form, which is dhaalika.

Exercise 9: 1. this question 2. That is a young woman.

3. that gentleman 4. This is a university.

5. This is a door. 6. that book

7. This is a girl. 8. that girl

Exercise 10: 1. ’akhuu-haa‘Her sister’s name is Layla, and her brother’s name is Tarek.’

2. qadiim‘That house is very old.’

3. laysa‘Ahmad isn’t a teacher.’

4. maʕa‘Do you live with your brother?’

5. ’aʕmal‘I don’t work in this city.’

6. su’aal‘That young woman has a question.’

7. tadrus‘My sister is a student and works at the University of Alexandria.’

8. hunaak‘I live in this house, and my friend lives there.’

73

74 Answer Key

9. ’al-ʕaziiza‘My dear friend works at the university.’

10. ’aʕrif‘I don’t know your brother. What is his name?’

Exercise 11: 1. ṣadiiq-ii; 2. su’aal-ik; 3. ḥaal-uh; 4. ṣadiiqat-ak; 5. ’akh-ii; 6. bayt-uh; 7. ’ukht-ik; 8. ’akhuu-haa; 9. jaamiʕat-uh; 10. waajib-haa

Exercise 12: 1. tadrusiin‘Do you work at this university?’

2. ’askun‘I don’t live in this old house.’

3. taʕmal‘Do you work here? Yes.’

4. yaʕrif‘The boy doesn’t know Dr Omar.’

5. taʕmaliin‘Do you work here? Yes.’

6. taʕrif‘Where do you know this young woman from? From the university.’

7. taskun‘Mrs Salwa lives in this street.’

Exercise 13: 1. e; 2. b; 3. g; 4. c; 5. i; 6. d. 7. a; 8. h; 9. f

Exercise 14: 2. his money; 3. your street; 4. your notebook; 5. your chair; 6. my table; 7. his sweetheart; 8. my friend; 9. her teacher; 10. his question

Unit 4

Exercise 12: 1. fii-hiThis tea has milk in it.

2. ṣaḥiiḥDoes “old” mean “isn’t new”? Yes, that is correct.

3. kuubanI want a glass of milk, please.

4. wa laakinI study (=I am a student), but not here.

5. faqaṭI only want cheese, I don’t want any meat.

6. l-ʕaziizaThis is my dear sister.

7. kathiiranThis teacher works a lot.

8. ’anThe boy wants to understand this word.

9. li’anna-haaSalwa doesn’t eat meat because she’s a vegetarian.

10. minTare is drinking a glass of water.

Exercise 13: 1. yaʕnii“Thirsty” means “wants to drink”.

2. taʕrifThe new student doesn’t know my name.

3. ’afhamI don’t understand this word.

4. taskunWhere does your sister live? In that house.

5. turiidiinWhat do you want, Noha? A biscuit.

6. yadrusDoes your brother study here? No, he’s not a student.

7. yafʕalWhat is Samir doing? The homework.

8. yashrabThat gentleman is drinking tea.

9. ’aakulI’m hungry and I want to eat.

10. taʕmalDr Noha works in this university.

Exercise 14: 1. kayfaHow is your sister? She’s fine, praise be to God.

2. min ’aynaWhere do you know this young woman from? From the university.

3. ’aynaWhere does your brother live? In the city of Beirut.

4. maadhaaWhat are you eating? A piece of cheese.

5. manWho wants to drink some tea? Me!

6. halDo yu eat meat? Yes, I like meat a lot.

7. maaWhat is that? That’s Noha’s homework.

8. maʕa manWho do you live with? With my friend Ahmad.

Summary of the Arabic Writing System

All the letters of the alphabet in the order in which they are recited:

Name Transcription IPA Final Medial Initial Independent

’alif aa ɑː, ɛː ـا ـا ا ا

baa’ b b ـب ـبـ بـ ب

taa’ t t ـت ـتـ تـ ت

thaa’ th θ ـث ـثـ ثـ ث

jiim j dʒ ـج ـجـ جـ ج

ḥaa’ ḥ ħ ـح ـحـ حـ ح

khaa’ kh x ـخ ـخـ خـ خ

daal d d ـد ـد د د

dhaal dh ð ـذ ـذ ذ ذ

raa’ r r ـر ـر ر ر

zaay z z ـز ـز ز ز

siin s s ـس ـسـ سـ س

shiin sh ʃ ـش ـشـ شـ ش

ṣaad ṣ sˤ ـص ـصـ صـ ص

ḍaad ḍ dˤ ـض ـضـ ضـ ض

ṭaa’ ṭ tˤ ـط ـطـ طـ ط

ḍhaa’ ḍ ðˤ ـظ ـظـ ظـ ظ

ʕayn ʕ ʕ ـع ـعـ عـ ع

ghayn gh ɣ ـغ ـغـ غـ غ

75

76 Summary of the Arabic Writing System

faa’ f f ـف ـفـ فـ ف

qaaf q q ـق ـقـ قـ ق

kaaf k k ـك ـكـ كـ ك

laam l l ـل ـلـ لـ ل

miim m m ـم ـمـ مـ م

nuun n n ـن ـنـ نـ ن

haa’ h h ـه ـهـ هـ ه

waaw w, uu w, uː ـو ـو و و

yaa’ y, ii y, iː ـي ـيـ يـ ي

Letters whose initial and medial forms appear in grey do not connect to their left. For these letters, the initial form is identical to the independent form, while the medial form is identical to the final form.

Letters used to represent borrowed sounds:

Name Transcription IPA Final Medial Initial Independent

paa’ p p ـپـ ـپـ پـ پ

zhiim zh ʒ ـچـ ـچـ چـ چ

vaa’ v v ـڤـ ـڤـ ڤـ ڤ

Additional letter-like characters:

Name Transcription Shapes Remarks

hamza ’ ء أ إ ئ ؤThe glottal stop. Can be written independently or over a ‘seat’, which can be ’alif, waaw or yaa’ (without dots). The seat has no value in itself. Initial hamza is always written over an ’alif, except in cases when it is written with ’alif madda.

taa’ marbuuṭa -a, -at ة ـةWritten as a haa’ with two dots. Occurs only word-finally.The t is only pronounced when a suffix indicated by a diacritic is added or when the word is the first time of an ’iḍaafa phrase.

’alif maqṣuura -aa ى ـى Written as a yaa’ without dots. Occurs only word-finally.

’alif madda ’aa آ ـآ This represents a hamza followed by the long aa sound.

Summary of the Arabic Writing System 77

One digraph:

Name Shapes Remarks

laam ’alif ل ـلUsed instead of the expected لـا. The ’alif in this digraph can have

any of the values of a normal ’alif and can carry a hamza: لزم laazim ‘must’, السم ’al-ism ‘the name’, and الم ’al-’umm ‘the

mother’.

Diacritics:

Name Shapes Remarks

fatḥa ــــ Indicates a short a vowel after the letter it is written on.

kasra ــــ Indicates a short i vowel after the letter it is written on.

ḍamma ــــ Indicates a short u vowel after the letter it is written on.

sukuun ــــ Explicitly indicates no vowel after the letter it is written on.

shadda ــــ Indicates that the letter it is written on is doubled (geminate).

tanwiin il-fatḥtanwiin il-kasr

tanwiin iḍ-ḍamm

ــــ ــــ ــــ

ـا ى ـة

These occur only word-finally in formal Arabic and are pronounced -an, -in, and -un, respectively. In practice, tanwiin al-fatH is only written in combination with a final ’alif, ’alif maqSuura or taa’ marbuuṭa.