01 easy arabic grammar

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: On file Printed and bound in China Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Fundamentals of Arabic grammar Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4 Unit 5

Easy Arabic Grammar Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar

Illustrations by Mahmoud Gaafar

McGraw-Hill

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The McGraw-Hill companies

Also in this series Easy Arabic Script, jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar

Copyright © 2005 by g-and-w publishing All rights reserved Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means,

or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher

First published in North America 2005 by McCraw-Hill First published in Great Britain 2005 by Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS

ISBN: 0-07-1462 10—4 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: On file Printed and bound in China

Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction

Fundamentals of Arabic grammar

Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4

Unit 5 Unit 6 Unit 7 Unit 8 Unit 9 Unit 10

Unit 11 Unit 12 Unit 13

The Arabic root system

Gender: masculine and feminine

Arabic verbs Unit 14

Unit 15

Unit 16

Past verbs Present/future verbs

Unit 17 Forms of the verb Unit 18 Making verbs negative Unit 19 Nouns and adjectives formed

from verbs Unit 20 Dual verbs

Thank you also to Hala Yehia, lecturer in Arabic at the

American University in Cairo, for reading the proofs and to Helen Bugler and Isobel Munday at Palgrave Macmillan for their enthusiasm and professionalism

Introduction

What is Arabic ‘grammar’?

Arabic ‘grammar’ will mean different things to different people

To learners of Arabic as a foreign language it might mean

the fundamentals of the language: whether there are genders,

whether the noun or the adjective comes first, how the verb

changes in the past and future, etc

To more advanced Arabists and scholars it might mean the

higher-level subtleties of Modern Standard or Classical Arabic

To native speakers, it 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

correctly

What this book means by ‘grammar’ is a progressive

knowledge of the structure of Arabic from the basic building

blocks to some, but by no means all, of the more subtle nuances

of Modern Standard Arabic

Levels of formality

Learners of Arabic generally appreciate the difference between

the various spoken Arabic dialects and the universal Modern

Standard Arabic What is not so well understood is that Modern

Standard itself can be spoken and written at different levels of

sophistication

Although most Arabs can communicate in a form of

standard 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 includes Case Notes sections with additional

explanations and activities covering the grammatical case

endings used in formal, literary and religious Arabic These grammatical cases are similar to those found in languages such

as German or Russian, but in Arabic are not usually

pronounced in less formal contexts You can use the book without reference to the Case Notes if you wish initially to

acquire a more general understanding Alternatively, you can

study the Case Notes sections if you have an interest in this aspect of Arabic grammar and want to learn about it from the

beginning

How to use this book

This is a reference and activity book for all beginners and early

intermediate students of Arabic, whether studying in a group or

by themselves The book can also be used independently to improve understanding of the basics of grammar or to gain an overview of the structure of the Arabic language

The book has a built-in progression Explanations and activities draw only on structures already covered in previous units Work your way through the units and measure your progress step by step Alternatively, if you are already studying Arabic you can use the relevant part of the book for extra

practice on a particular point of grammar

The main part of the book is divided into 20 units, each

concentrating on an aspect of Arabic grammar The units feature:

e clear structural explanations

e more than 100 stimulating activities to practise particular

Arabic script

It is beneficial to acquire familiarity with the Arabic script and

the short vowel marks before studying this book However, the

complete alphabet is provided here for reference

final medial initial isolated letter

+ 9 9 gly Waw

a dash above the letter, pronounced as a short

‘a’ after the letter, e.g ba

a comma-shape above, pronounced as a short

4

‘u’ after the letter, e.g bu

a dash below, pronounced as a short ‘i’ after the letter, e.g bi

a small circle above showing that no vowel follows the letter, e.g a4 bint (girl)

a small ‘w’ shape above showing that the

letter is doubled, e.g ee bunn (coffee beans)

a wavy symbol written_over an alif and

pronounced 4, e.g 4.3) Anisa (young woman)

(Note: These symbols are not generally included in modern written Arabic This book uses them where necessary for clarity.)

Fundamentals of Arabic grammar

The Arabic root

system

Arabic is a language based on a system of ‘roots’ In English,

we often refer to the ‘root’ of a word to mean its origin, for

example the root of the English word ‘engineer’ is the Latin

ingenium, meaning ‘skill’

The Arabic root, or _)tua masdar, refers to the core meaning

of a word This core can usually be identified by three root

consonants (non-vowels) For example, the sequence of three

consonants ,/—8/ S/f/r (in this order, reading the Arabic script

right to left) carries the meaning of ‘travel’ A word which

includes the sequence of letter _)/-3/_ s/f/r is likely to have

something to do with travelling For example:

he travels 23L ö yusafir

ambassador pads safir

traveller palace musafir

embassy Blau sifara

All these words are derived from the root _)/W3/ (ys s/f/r Notice

how the root letters always appear in the same order Any

additional consonants or vowels before, after or between the

root letters modify the meaning according to different general

patterns The feminine ending & (ta’ marbita) is never part of

the root and the most common additional consonants are em,

oe sand est

The emphasis on root consonants means that vowels, especially short vowels, are of secondary importance The pronunciation often varies between Modern Standard Arabic and spoken dialects For example, iS; (‘he writes’) would be pronounced yaktub in Modern Standard, but could be yuktub or yiktib in dialect The meaning is generally conveyed by the consonants rather than the vowels

Much of Arabic grammar is concerned with how the root is manipulated to create different related meanings As you become more familiar with the patterns and structures, you will

be more able to identify the roots and to manipulate them

yourself

Activity 1

Can you identify the three root letters in each of the following sets of words? What do you think the general core meaning could be?

nut cracker & ›L Š kassära

4 player wey lag ib

playing field ciate male ab

toy das] lug ba

games vlall ale ab

Words with doubled root letter

Some Arabic words have the same second and third root letters

When this is the case, they are sometimes written together with

a shadda doubling sign (~) and sometimes separately,

depending on the type of word:

dita jadid (new) = root letters Jd/3/£ j/d/d

JS kull (all) = root letters J/J/3 k/I/I

>

Words with four root letters

A few Arabic words have four root letters Sometimes these are

four different letters, for example 4.=_,3 tarjama (translation),

where the root letters are a/¢/5/— t/r/j/m, but often they are

a repeated pair, for example Jl zalzal (earthquake), where

the root letters are ,J/5/J/› z/1⁄z/

Words of foreign origin

Gernerally loan words such as 9s.s!, radyd (radio) or cs il

intarnat (internet) fall outside the Arabic root system

The Arabic root system

er

bash In summary

Most Arabic words have a sequence of three root

consonants which is connected with a particular

core meaning

Vowels and consonants are added around the root

to create related words and structures

The most common additional consonants are em,

Arabic nouns (words that name people, objects « or ideas) are

either masculine Sao (mudhakkar) or feminine — (mu“annath)

—- kurst

Sails ma’ida

It is not difficult to tell the difference between masculine and

feminine words Feminine words usually fall into one of two

categories:

1 Words with the feminine ending & a (ta’ marbuta), for example:

Š «+ sayyära 4a ä^ haqiba

41Lx khãla

ves

dud poo mumarrida

2 Words referring to female people but not ending in & a, for

example:

oss bint

al umm

Gender: masculine and feminine

In addition, there are a small number of words which are

feminine and don’t fit into either of the two feminine categories Most of these are names of countries, natural features or parts of the body that come in pairs, for example:

boy

lraq street picture eye meeting

Arabic has different levels of formality and complexity In

certain contexts, particularly Quranic or Classical Arabic but

also sometimes in more formal Standard Arabic, you will see

and hear additional grammatical endings These endings

represent the case of the noun (nominative, accusative or

genitive) and whether it is definite or indefinite The endings

change depending on the function of the noun in a sentence

Isolated nouns are usually shown with the neutral (ys 935

(tanwin) ending showing they are indefinite (a/an’) ong

(tanwin) literally means ‘putting a nn on’ and for this reason is

sometimes called nunation It is written as a small symbol above

the final letter (`) and pronounced un:

da #35 (tanwin) is not normally added to foreign loan words

such as „53 91.68 kumbydtir (computer) “

e Arabic has two genders: masculine and feminine

* Most feminine nouns end in & (ta marbGta) or, if

not, they refer to female people, e.g os45 (bint)

* Other nouns are generally masculine

® In more formal Standard and Classical Arabic additional grammatical endings may be seen and heard on Arabic nouns

Mi al- (the)

Arabic has no separate word for ‘a’ or ‘an’, as in ‘a chair’ or ‘an

apple’ So ws (kitab) means ‘a book’, ik (maktab) ‘an

office’, etc

To make a noun definite (‘the book’, ‘the office’, etc.), you

need to add _I (al-) meaning ‘the’ JI (al-) is written joined to the

word it refers to and is the same for both masculine and

feminine:

Ny walad (a boy) — stall al-walad (the boy) aks bint (a girl) — cial al-bint (the girl)

esas qamis (a shirt) — ened) sII al-qamis (the shirt)

4¬ hagiba (abag) —> 4 +xãä~lÍ a-hagTba (the bag)

Sun letters diuoid! $5,.J//and moon letters

dis pad! 39 pai

Nouns starting with certain letters of the Arabic alphabet cause

the pronunciation of I (al-) to change The ‘I’ is assimilated and

instead the initial letter of the noun is pronounced twice — and

written with a shadda (_.) if the vowel marks are included:

oe

Bylaws sayyara (acar) > 5 ylLasadl as-sayyara (the car)

4) nahr (a river) — ql an-nahr (the river)

The remainder of the letters are called 44,03! Wa9 aM

(al-hurũf al-qamriyya), as § (qaf) is not an assimilating letter

:(sun letters) 4x -a3.lJ U8 9 aI

If It (al-) comes directly after a vowel, the ‘a’ of I (al-) will drop

out, or elide, leaving just the ‘Il’ Again, this affects only the

pronunciation and not the spelling:

al-bayt css fil-bayt coasll „3

(the house) (in the house) ~

the neutral (nominative) case ending above the final letter becomes a damma (~—) pronounced -u (-tu if the noun ends

1 ¢ Lidell al-miftahu (the key)

(house); 2! al-bayt (the house)

* There is no separate word equivalent to ‘a/an’

¢ Half the letters of the Arabic alphabet assimilate the

‘Y’ of ‘al-’: Cail at-tin (the figs)

® The ‘a’ of ‘al-’ is not pronounced if the previous word ends in a vowel: cual! , „3 fi |-bayt (in the house)

sentences

Pronouns are words such as ‘T’, ‘it’ or ‘you’ which replace

names or nouns in a sentence

Arabic has more pronouns than English since it has different

versions for masculine and feminine, singular and plural, and

even special dua! pronouns for two people or things

Singular pronouns

Here are the singular pronouns

you (masculine) sl anta

you (feminine) sl anti

he, it (masculine) oa huwa

she, it (feminine) ^ hiya

Activity 1

Cover the pronouns above and then join the Arabic to the

English, as in the example

he, it (masculine) Y cài

she, it (feminine) ⁄ ya you (masculine) ⁄ is

you (feminine) ” col

Pronouns (singular) and non-verbal sentences 15

Non-verbal sentences You can construct non-verbal sentences in Arabic that do not require the equivalent of ‘am’, ‘are’ or ‘is’ The subject, either a noun or a pronoun, can be followed directly by the rest of the sentence:

ana yasmin

Yousef [is a] teacher ete Bis 93

ysaf mudarris

My aunt Nadia [is a] nurse Aud yas A5 cls

khalatt nadya mumarrida

The dog [is] in the garden .48„a¬ || i ISI

al-kalb ft |-hadiqa

You [are] Ahmed’s father taal gl 3|

anta abu ahmad

NV ễ Write out these sentences again using 4 Or (.4, as in the ¬ ; es In summary

số

example

| + po eke gd “apse Saal] cs hiya means she or it for feminine nouns

Aud pao Cpe ous Ly 2 There are masculine and feminine forms of ‘you’:

<3! anta (masculine) and 5! anti (feminine)

There is no direct equivalent of ‘is’, ‘am’ or ‘are’

(verb ‘to be’ in the present)

gold „3 š 221 4

.Äãša¬^ 1ƒ 3 stalls Sentences can be formed without the verb ‘to be’:

“gt ye 4 huwa mudarris (He [is a] teacher)

4 Ze +2 ©

You’re a nurse, Aud poo co3l anti mumarridatun

The girl is in the house .csasll (59 coil al-bintw fi -bayti

All of the case endings in italics are neutral, or nominative —

-un for indefinite and -u for definite — except ci!! where the

ending changes to -/after _,4 fi (in) You will learn more

about this in Unit 8 For the moment, it is enough to know

that the case ending will be nominative unless there is a

reason for it not to be

Plurals and plural pronouns

Many aspects of elementary Arabic grammar are

straightforward, but plurals require explanation and practice

The first point to make is that Arabic plurals refer only to

three or more people or items For two people or items, there is

a separate dual form, although this is not always used in less

formal Arabic The dual form is covered separately in Unit 13

you (masculine plural) ail antum

you (feminine plural) cpl antunna

Although there are separate masculine and feminine plural

forms of ‘you’ and ‘they’, the masculine is the most common If

a group of people is mixed male and female, the masculine

form is used The group must be entirely female for the

feminine plural to be used (Spoken dialects sometimes ignore

even this difference and use the masculine form throughout.)

Plural nouns: introduction Arabic nouns can be made plural in one of two ways:

¢ By adding a suffix (ending) to the singular noun, similar to the way English adds ‘-s’ to ‘tree’ to produce ‘trees’ or ‘-es’

to ‘box’ to produce ‘boxes’ This is called the sound plural (al-jam¢ as-salim atu! a1)

¢ By changing the internal vowels of the singular word, similar to the way English turns ‘mouse’ into ‘mice’ or

‘man’ into ‘men’ This is called the broken plural (jam¢e

at-taksir_,wusSill pas)

However, whereas ‘mouse/mice’ is the exception in English, the broken plural is common in Arabic and accounts for the majority of plurals, particularly of basic words

The simpler sound plural will be covered in this unit and the broken plural in Unit 11

Sound plurals

There are two sound plurals, formed by adding external suffixes: e¢ sound masculine plural

¢ sound feminine plural

Sound masculine plural

The sound masculine plural is formed by adding ¿;¿ -ùn or a2 -In to the singular noun:

epee mudarris — Cy gus eben mudarrisũn / Cypus_ yoo mudarrisin

(male teacher) (teachers)

The alternative (ys -in ending is used in particular structures which will be explained later in this 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:

: _a~L¬s muhasib —> cyguwlas muhãsibũn / uaL^a muhãsibmn -

: ile giragqiy > ÒsaŠi ;e giraqiyun / Castle eiraqiyin

_ (Iraqi) (Iraqis)

Note that not all words describing male people can be made

plural using the SMP Some use a broken plural (see Unit 11)

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 -in ending.)

engineer Ặa 142 muhandis

baker 3LAS khabbaz

French cud yd †aransTy

Sound feminine plural

The sound feminine plural (SFP) is formed by adding =I -at to

the singular If the singular word ends with the feminine -a (3),

this should be removed before the SFP is added:

4si= junayh (pound) — slgaie junayhat (pounds)

4d yee mumarrida (nurse) —> lis ae mumarridat (nurses)

3 lau sayyara (car) + ollie sayyarat (cars)

Unlike the name ‘sound feminine plural’ suggests, this ending is

not used exclusively to make feminine nouns plural It is acommon

plural and is used with both feminine and masculine nouns,

although not generally with nouns referring to male people

There are two main groups of nouns with which the SFP is used

SFP with all-female groups of people

The SFP is used for groups of three of more females:

duu te mudarrisa — clase mudarrisat

(female teacher) (female teachers)

45h jc ciraqiyya > ladle ciraqiyat

(female Iraqi) (female Iraqis)

SFP with masculine and feminine non-human nouns The SFP is commonly used with a variety of masculine and feminine words referring to objects or ideas

dala} zujaja (bottle) > slats}, zujajat (bottles)

& Laial ijtimag (meeting) + sleLial ijtimagat (meetings) Olgas hayawan (animal) -+ alslg.x hayawanat (animals)

aaj lugha (language) > oad lughat (languages) Bylaw sayyara (car) > cl lis sayyarat (cars)

4> Mš thallãja (fridge) > ol.dG thallajat (fridges)

Unfortunately there are no hard-and-fast rules for knowing which nouns use the SFP, although you will get a better feel as your knowledge of the structure of Arabic increases You need to learn each word individually with its plural

In informal contexts you may also hear and see foreign loan

words with the SFP =I -at ending:

ogi tilfin + =5 ¿a.15 tilfũnät

feminine singular pronoun, e.g A» AN | ^ sL2 L2 3.1 Gai

ayna az-zujajat? hiya fr th-thalaja (Where are the bottles? They’re

in the fridge)

This feature extends to all grammatical structures, such as

verbs and adjectives (which will be covered in later units) The

feminine singular is used with all non-human plurals whether

the nouns are originally masculine or feminine in the singular

Make sentences using re huwa, (4 hiya, as hum or ¿ra hunna,

as in the example -

Sool Laud Sal 7

Case Notes Plural nouns also have case endings The neutral nominative ending for the sound feminine plural is -un/u as it is for singular nouns:

2 w nurses có L2 x32 mumarridatun

the teachers Co gust poll al-mudarrisdn

The sound masculine plural is one of the few instances of the case ending being written as part of the main script and universally pronounced

Optional Activity

Make these words plural and pronounce them with the indefinite case ending:

(male engineer) (usige 5 (bottle) Zala5 1

(car) Slaw 6 (baker) {UVa 2

(female teacher) us) 7 (animal) ¿;ls›¬ 3

(meeting) lÀ 8 (language) dal 4

26

In summary

se There are two types of plural in Arabic, external

‘sound’ plurals and internal ‘broken’ plurals There are no precise rules governing which plural is used for a particular noun

* The sound masculine plural (SMP) is formed by adding c;s/¿;; -ũn/-In to the singular and is used with nouns referring to groups of people

¢ The sound feminine plural (SFP) is formed by

adding =I -at to the singular (after any 3 ta

marbita has been removed) The SFP is used with groups of females and to make certain other masculine and feminine nouns plural

¢ Arabic grammar treats any non-human plural as

feminine singular So you must use the feminine

CEN 73 pe Soll Gul

(Where are the cars? They are in the street.)

Demonstratives are the equivalents of the English ‘this’ or

‘that’, as in ‘this house’, ‘that boy’

Arabic demonstratives change according to whether they are describing a feminine or a masculine word:

this (masculine) | hadha this (feminine) saa hadhihi

that (masculine) eS dhalika that (feminine) cS tilka

The demonstratives go in front of the noun with the article

df (al):

this boy JJ g4l faa hãdha I-walad

this girl sith oda hadhihi I-bint that house cost GUS dhalika |-bayt

that city 43s a1J ¿l5 tilka Lmadina

Notice how the a of _lÍ (al) elides as the demonstratives all end

in a vowel (see Unit 3)

Activity 1

Fill in the gaps with the correct Arabic demonstrative to match

the English, as in the example:

this man Jeol " 1

this bag 4 ¿xã^ ̓ 2

that newspaper Sas att 3 that teacher 4

this pen ala! 6 this river gal 7

that shirt ,y„¬+ậÍ 8

The demonstratives can also be used with an indefinite noun

without I! (al) to form a sentence:

This [is a] boy tg 1a hadha walad

That [is a] city 445.40 SL tilka madina

You need to be careful As you already know, Arabic has no

separate word for ‘a/an’ or direct equivalent of ‘is/are’ This

means that only the presence of I! (al) indicates the difference

If you want to say ‘This is the book’, etc you need to add 4a

huwa (masculine) or _,a hiya (feminine) after the

demonstrative: ˆ

This [is] the bag = -AgaGall ca oda

haghihi hiya |-haqtba

That [is] the man (J> ;ÍÍ ¿A ¿H5

dhalika huwa r-rajul

Activity 2

Write sentences to match the pictures, as in the example Pay special attention as to whether the object is near (“this”) or far away (“that”)

(with ‘al’) or indefinite:

This is a boy ily a hadha waladun

oedige aS laas

hadha r-rajulu muhandisun

This man is an engineer

That is a river - +4» EUS dhalika nahrun

Remember that if a noun ends in & (tã marbuta), the ta

becomes “untied” before a case ending and is pronounced as

a ‘t’ (see Unit 2):

ka »

tilka [-bintu mumarridatun

Bas 23; +alÍ sda

hadhihi |-madinatu kabtratun

That girl is a nurse

This city is large

Demonstratives with the plural

Remember that Arabic distinguishes between human and non- human plurals Non-human plurals are grammatically

feminine singular (see Unit 5)

So, for non-humans, the demonstratives will be the same as

the feminine singular, i.e sia hadhihi and UG tilka:

These are bottles

Those cars are comfortable

When talking about people, you will see the following plural demonstratives:

ula’ika hum al-mudarrisùn

Those are the teachers

The plural demonstratives are difficult to spell and pronounce

As a beginner, the most important aspect is learning to

recognise them

Arabic demonstratives change according to

whether the noun is masculine or feminine,

singular, plural or dual

The most common demonstratives are:

masculine singular: \sa4 hadha (this); <4 dhalika (that)

feminine singular and non-human plurals:

saa hadhihi (this); els tilka (that)

Jl off laa hadha I-walad (this boy) thy laa hadha walad (This is a boy.)

Adjectives and descriptive sentences

Descriptive words such as ‘beautiful’, ‘new’ or ‘heavy’ are

known in English as adjectives

A feature of Arabic adjectives is that many display common

patterns One of the most basic of these patterns is a fatha (a)

after the first consonant and a long a (i) between the second

and third consonants: "

beautiful jamil dàa>

new jadid Sade

heavy thaqil u33

small saghir aku

short gasir pau

Adjectives also often begin with 2 ma- or ˆa mụ- (the equivalent

of the English past participle as in ‘broken’ or ‘burnt’ — see

Position and agreement of adjectives

In English, adjectives are placed in front of the noun they

describe: ‘beautiful river’, ‘new teacher’ In Arabic, descriptive

words are placed after the noun and must ‘agree’ with it In

other words, if the noun is feminine, the adjective must also be

made feminine, usually by adding &:

(a) beautiful river nahr jamil dà>>

(a) beautiful girl bint jamila ÁÍ 2¬ ois (a) new teacher mudarris jadid Ssda ¿“d2

(a) new car sayyara jadida sa > sạ~

These descriptive words can be used to describe a noun directly,

as in the above examples (known in Arabic as 4auall as-sifa),

or as the predicate of a sentence (known in Arabic as AI

al-khabar, “the news”) »s45I al-khabar is the part of the sentence

that carries the information:

The river [is] beautiful an-nahr jarmil .‹jJ¬> oul

The car [is] new as-sayyãra jadida .ã.\› 1> 5 yaad

36

Unit 7

Activity 1

Look at the list of adjectives on pages 34-5 and then fill in the

gaps to match the pictures, as in the example (There may be

more than one possible answer.)

Adjectives with definite nouns

If an adjective is describing a definite noun with _SI al (‘the’) as

oll al-bayt (the house), then the adjective must also have

When a noun has a possessive ending, as in , „3+; baytT my

house), the noun is definite since we know which house is referred

to In this case, the adjective will also need to begin with I al:

BSN Qn tall Ge Ga5d gol naan pie

baytt al-jadid ff shari¢ qartb min al-madrasa al-kabira

My new house is in a street near to the large school

More details on possessive endings can be found in Unit 10

If there is more than one adjective, they can all be added after the noun, usually separated by 4 wa- (‘and’):

Sa 23 Š 1S du pte

madrasa kabira wa-jadida

azsilly Jaca! gue SI

al-kurst al-jamil wal-qadim

a large new school

the beautiful old chair

You need to be very careful about where you place I al- and

baa /laa hadha/hadhihi as the structure, and so also the

meaning, will be affected:

This is a beautiful river aor 595 tia

hadha nahr jamil

ye gall aa

hadha n-nahr jamil

This river is beautiful

38

Unit 7

Activity 2

Match the Arabic with the English:

a) a large car C3 phe Je Shas \

69 puro & rust ail ¥

b) the famous river

c) The bag is light

d) This newspaper is old

e) This man is married

g) The new house is ugly

Adjectives with plurals

Plural adjectives are used only with people Remember that

non-human plurals are always treated as feminine singular

(see Unit 5) and so will be followed by a feminine singular

adjective:

a long meeting ijtimag tawil Jack ¢ Leial

44s gb oleLaial

long meetings ijtimag at tawila

the broken bottle az-zujãja al-maksura ä, s <all dala ji the broken bottles az-zujajat al-makstira ä ;s„<all csL2L2 „IÍ

Plural adjectives for describing people can often be formed

using the sound masculine and sound feminine plurals (see

Unit 5), but some of the basic adjectives have broken plurals

which need to be individually learnt (see Unit 1 1) For now it is

enough to understand the basic principle and recognise the

Read this đescription of Nadiad (4›äL 5) from Beiruf (S s 33) in

Lebanon Use the correct form of the adjective in brackets to complete the paragraph, as in the example

95a Cre Aub

Bus ysally lor 3

* ples masna = factory

Colours

Adjectives describing the basic colours have a somewhat different pattern to other adjectives They begin with a (1) and have another ‘a’ between the second and third consonants:

40 Unit 7

yaa! ahmar (red) They have their own special feminine form

(also used with non-human plurals)

black gush aswad

white paul abyad

Make sentences as in the example You can colour the objects

first if you prefer (Note: pens = @ Msi aqlam)

Case endings for adjectives match that of the noun described:

dha> b4 nahrun jamilun the old newspaper Jas sll Sy aN al-jaridatu |-qadimatu

a beautiful river

In the following sentences the descriptive word is At

al-khabar (the predicate), and so it is indefinite:

This river is beautiful ram gill jaa hadha n-nahru jamilun The newspaper is old Ãasộ ㊿¿ ›>1l al-jaridatu qadimatun Colours are an exception The nominative case ending is -u for both indefinite and definite:

a red pen jyaal als qalamun ahmaru this yellow book ‘yao YI LSI laa hadha I-kitabu l-asfaru Optional Activity

Put the case endings on the sentences in Activity 2, for example:

(hadha r-rajulu mutazawwijun) Case J>„1! faa \

(3) for a feminine noun and non-human plurals

© The definite article MI al- should be added to the adjective if the noun described is definite

e The plurals of adjectives are used only when describing people

¢ Adjectives describing basic colours have a distinctive pattern and their own feminine forms, e.g

ahmar/hamrã' z| xa / „a>l (red).

®@, Describing position

Words such as ‘under’, ‘in’ and ‘on’ are used to describe position

Common words used to describe position in Arabic include:

above 393 fawgqa

in front of all amama

behind ely wara’a

next to vila, bijanib between cò bayna

from oe min

to coll ila

Arabic positional sentences work in a similar way to English ones

Note that since many of the positional words end with a short

or long vowel, the a of the following al- elides

The newspaper [is] on the chair -<II pple Say atl

al-jarida gala I-kurst

There [is] a dog under the table .ss5Le!l oad GIS dls

hunaka kalb tahta I-ma’ida

Capos gà ÄaL all

al-manama fi I-bahrayn

Al-Manama [is] in Bahrain

iste gala (on) and _ 11 ila (to) can also be combined with Cypha yamin (right) and _,Lus yasar (left):

The school is on the left 2L be das sal

al-madrasa gala I-yasar

We went to the right - 21! „1J Litas

dhahabna ila |-yamin

Rearrange the Arabic into sentences to match the English

meaning, as in the example

T spsetl /Ea soll —=.==

«tw peed! Codloes datos! EUS

The new bank is next to the school

2 gine /Juoad fallout / wags / 58

Nadia is from Beirut in Lebanon

4 By gue {SEN lia / 353 /5 „yà-^

There’s a small picture above the window

5 Ragas /Liea [Leni /

We went to an old town

6 3l ã1/ par SII / Lan / le /Uaade

There’s a heavy bag on the table

Activity 3

Look at the scene below:

Now choose the correct word from the box to complete the

description of the scene on page 45, as in the example

Ske ka 3222| isle 53 Sass

(museum) §a3a goal has 63 GaS £ ¿L2 làa

all : ils slg, ao iad] TH Ce ob >> dlis

aor 9 i shia Caatoll CPOE

woasf 0 (airplane) & Sle dia,

dia clea pty SIs dia ¢ Lut! „3

.§ (woman) šÍ+aJ «

Case Notes

The grammatical case endings of nouns and adjectives change

after positional words The nominative endings (t)un () or

(Hu (_) on the noun or adjective become (t)in =) or (Oi O)

These case endings are known as )9 >» majrur in Arabic and

as genitive in English The genitive is used after prepositions

and positional words (and when describing possession which

will be covered in Unit 10)

under a table taht ma’idatin bail, sas

in the old house fi l-bayti l-qadimi = assall oil! 9

behind the cars warã“a s-sayyärãti cola! elyg

Look at these example sentences with the case endings added: The newspaper [is] on the table .s5Loll le bos yall

al-jartdatu ¢ala |-ma’‘idati

There [is] adog in the house = csasll 59 cls lia

hunaka kalbun fi I-bayt/

He is a teacher in a new school .Ssas— duujte „9 Ha „À

huwa mudarrisun fi madrasatin jadidatin

Remember that case endings are not normally added to words

of foreign origin such as gas!) (radyG) or (98.4 (tilifGn)

Optional Activity Read these sentences with the case endings and say what they

el sles sate cha dia 1

Forming questions

Questions are relatively simple to form in Arabic There is no

special question form, such as the English ‘do/does?’ or ‘did?’,

and the order of words is generally not affected

Yes/no questions

Questions requiring only the answer as nagm (yes) or Y la (no)

can be made in one of two ways:

1 Adding a question mark at the end of a statement (or orally

adding a question tone) This is most common in less formal

Arabic:

Khartoum is in Sudan? Soha gull 23 2 sb „2Í

al-khartiim fi s-sadan?

S31 5 Lull oda

hadhihi s-sayyara jadida?

This car is new?

2 Adding the question marker {a hal (or less commonly i a) in

front of a statement:

Is the cat in the house? Fossall 53 4k š1I (fa

hai al-gitta fï I-bayt?

Is there a bank near C8Sal Cya ca; vã là; cÍLvA ,IA

the office? hal hunaka bank garib min

Answer the questions as in the example

«ct SSN Cred gh cans Se SN oad bu Ja

70 © Oo Selizas 5 yaaa ư^ 7 —= 3

Question words

Other questions begin with a specific question word, such as

Sai ayna? (where?) or oe man? (who?) In this case, the

question markers (Ja ha! or | a are not used:

SĨ

marbiuta This is one of the few examples of the system of _~

¬ ¬đi i lling and pronunciation The

‘ ? : Shes Oo case endings affecting the basic spe

Where Damascus? Lo đu ou ca! - Case Notes in this unit will give you further detdils, or you can

It's in Syria, ayna dimashq? hiya ff suriya just remember when to use tanwin al-fath on a case-by-case basis:

This is my brother man hadha? hadha akht How many boys? clad, aS kam waladan?

How many schools? Sá„ › xa as kam madrasatan?

Some of the more commonly used question words include:

(In less formal spoken Arabic tanwin al-fath is not usually where? Copal ayna pronounced.)

what? SI5La /La mã/mäãdhã Fill in the appropriate question word, as in the example

which? Sis! ayy cản UI sella ¬

gale (6d Spero oll (did you go) cad Vv Note that there are two question words meaning ‘what’ Sa mã is từ ^^ ol (because) OY S2 ll as A

used with a following noun and Iale madha mainly with a verb:

What’s your address? fehl gic Le ma sunwanak? _ Now make questions to suit the answers, as in the example

What are you doing? Joss lal madha tafsal?

§ 2Ì 24 cái Clo gual Gee LIS

ASs pol Gyo ¿A Y

SaS kam (how many?) is followed by a singular noun In

-

addition the noun has a special ending _ -(t)an known as tanwin .§ä5Lall „le slates Vo dua’

al-fath This ending carries the meaning of ‘as to’ or ‘regarding’

and is written on an extra alif (1) if the noun does not end in ta’

The third, and final, case in Arabic is known as cues! an-nasb,

or the accusative The indefinite accusative is vowelled with two

fathas (~) and pronounced (tan saŠ kam (how many?) is

followed by a singular noun in the indefinite accusative

An unusual feature of the accusative case is that the indefinite

ending is written on an extra alif (| alif tanwin) The exception

is if the noun already ends in the feminine & ta marbuta:

how many men? SMa, as kam rajulan

how many cars? 8 ja aS kam sayyaratan

Optional Activity

Ask how many there are of the following items, as in the

example Remember to use a singular noun with the

accusative case ending:

question

Other questions can be formed by putting specific question words such as Sai ayna? or $Sš›Š kayfa?

in front of a sentence without changing the word

order: $ juae (fl aad a8 kayfa dhahabta ila

misr? (How did you go to Egypt?)

as kam? (how many?) is followed by a singular

noun (written with an extra alif if it has no &):

slau aS kam baytan (how many houses?)

Possession: idafa (44L -^/) and attached pronouns

To express possession, as in ‘Anwar’s book’ or ‘the manager of

the company’, Arabic puts two or more nouns directly together

in the order possessed + possessor:

Anwar’s book og31 GS kitab anwar

Mohammed’s son Sane oO»! ibn muhammad the door of the house call cl bab al-bayt

This type of construction is known as 45Lual idafa, literally

meaning ‘addition’

Only the final noun in an idafa can have the article JI al-:

the son of the manager pall ool

ibn al-mudir the son of the manager auld jase Gul

of the department ibn mudir al-qism the son of the manager of classall ad pate Crl the sales department ibn mudir qism al-mubtg¢ at

(‘department of sales’)

The meaning will change if the last noun is indefinite:

the manager of a department aud pete mudir qism the door of a house css ol bab bayt

Feminine words in idafa

If the first word in an idafa ends with & a (ta’ marbita), the ‘t’ is pronounced:

Anwar’s car ogl & lau sayyarat anwar Mohammed's wife saae day zawjat muhammad the village school ã› ›4ll 4 ›+2 madrasat al-qarya

Activity 1

Look at the pictures of Anwar and Zainab surrounded by their possessions Make sentences, as in the examples

(hadha kalb anwar.) (hadhihi darrajat zaynab.)

Plurals in idafa

Generally, plural words can be put into possessive idafa in the same way as singular words:

the president’s cars _yus5 yl! col ta sayyarat ar-ra‘Ts

bottles of cola VY sŠ L2 L2 > zujãjãt kulã

However, the sound masculine plural ¢) 5 Gn/¢y3 In ending, as in

Cause | oyun pte mudarrisin/mudarrisin (teachers), changes

when in an idafa:

e If the SMP is the first word in an idafa, it loses the final On,

but it may be either 4 ũ or ¢¢ 1 depending on the sentence (see

Case Notes for more detail)

¢ If the SMP is the final word in an idafa, the Cw In ending is

always used

Sod oll gut yo cl teachers? ayna mudarrisd |-walad?

Where are the boy’s

| spoke to the company’s 4S tN) „La =2 accountants kallamtu muhasibi sh-sharika

| went to the office of Caw tigall Gi Mesa

the engineers dhahabtu ila maktab

al-muhandisin

Adjectives and idafa

As a rule, you can’t separate words in an idafa, so any adjective

will come at the end even if it describes the first word The

adjective will match the gender of the noun it is describing and

will have the article II al- if the noun is definite:

the town’s beautiful river rast! asset s45

nahr al-madina al-jamil -_ the beautiful town’s river 41 L2> 1l dissed! 445

nahr al-madina al-jamila

the small boy’s bicycle oadeall algl datjs

darrarajat al-walad as-saghir the boy’s small bicycle S2yÄ.¬lf a1 ¿1l 32 l2

2 Jjihan’s old pen

3 the engineers of the factory

4 the boy’s heavy bag

5 Mohammed's white shirt

6 the bakers of the town

7 the window of the small house

8 the company of the Iraqi engineers

Case Notes You have met the genitive case used with prepositions of place

in Unit 8 The genitive case is also used for possession

The second noun in an idafa (and any subsequent nouns) will have the genitive case ending, -(t)in for an indefinite noun, or

-(t)i for a definite noun, while the case of the first noun will

vary depending on the sentence:

This is the door of „all wh [5A the house hadha babu I-bayti

He opened the door cull oly eis

of the house fataha baba I-bayti

She’s the manager _—_.4S yu xa ca A

of a company hiya mudiratu sharikatin

We sat next to AS via Byte wiley Lele

the manager of jalasna bi-janib mudftrati sharikatin

a company

Sound masculine plural

| In the accusative and genitive cases, the oxg “Un ending of the

SMP changes to (4: -In Therefore the Cx -In ending is used for the second noun in an idafa or after a positional word:

the office of the Cp Sagal ik

engineers maktabu l-muhandism

| sat next to the Ce tall ile Gute

teachers jalastu bi-janib al-mudarris7n

When the SMP is the first noun in an idafa, the case ending will

vary depending on the sentence In addition, the cy Nis dropped:

Where are the boy’s Sal gM gue yse Cyl

teachers? ayna mudarrisửữ l-walad/?

[ sat next to the gl cuts ile Gute

boy’s teachers jalastu bi-jãnib mudarris7 l-waladl

be

Attached pronouns

The Arabic equivalent of ‘my’, ‘your’, ‘his’, etc are endings

attached to the word being referred to: iS kitabi (my book);

L33:› bayt(u)na (our house) The main attached endings are:

| your (masc.) él -ka (-ak)

| your (fem.) él -ki (ik)

his 4 -hu (-uh)

our La -na your (pi.) aX -kum

their (masc.) at -hum

their (fem.) Oe -hunna

context, alternative pronunciations are used which avoid

having to take account of these case endings These are given in brackets in the examples below Compare the formal

pronunciation with the informal in brackets:

your (masc.) book ¿k;L 3S kitäbuka (kitabak)

- your (fem.) house _ é4aay baytuki (baytik)

Where“s his office? $4.38 Gai ayna maktabuhu (maktabuh)?

She’s in her house (gia us® ys hiya fi baytiha (baytha)

As a learner you can choose to use the informal, while

recognising the formal pronunciation

As with idafa, the s is pronounced when an attached pronoun is added It will also be spelt as a regular os:

his car a3 ws sayyaratuhu (sayyaratuh) our bag L43 55 hagibatuna (haqibatna)

their school agin te madrasatuhum (madrasathum)

_ in his car 43 hà «3 fï sayyäratihi

They went to their agiss (<i lyca3 dhahabi ila baytihim —

house

_ They went to it atl fgsa5 dhahabũ ilayhi

Put the correct possessive ending on the nouns, as in the

example Use the informal or formal pronunciation as you

wake sentences using possessive endings, as in the example

se the informai or formal pronunciation as you prefer

ana fl baytiha (baytha) gas G8 Bi 2s eu, a li

The Arabic prepositions J li- (for/belonging to), wic cinda

(at/chez) and ae Maga (with) are used with a noun or possessive

ending to express the equivalent of ‘to have’ J li- and sic ginda express general ownership, whereas a» maga implies you have the thing with you:

.€) aie gindt akh

BouS Slaw LabLal

li-fatima sayyara kabtra

| have a brother

Fatima has a large car

Do you have a pen Gals elao ja [with you]? hal magak qalam?

Notice that J li-, like all other one-letter Arabic words, is written

joined to the word following The vowel changes to la- before the

possessive pronouns e -hu (his), La -ha (her) and as -hum (their):

She has a black dog gual IS YI

lahã kalb aswad

They have a house in liad 59 69 Ge ad France lahum bayt ft faransa

Activity 5

Join the Arabic to the equivalent English, for example a) ^

a) I have an aunt whose name is May .8430>% Bylaw 2Ÿ \ b) Do you have a dog? cCxtly GQ IY

SUS cla Ja Y

SAS slaic (fa É

gle Lgaw! ts 11 SAS etic Ja V

c) Does he have a dog?

d) We have a daughter and a son

e) Do you have the book?

f) My mother has a new car

g) The engineers have a large office

our house Câu, baytuna

in our house Litas is? baytina

under his car 43t cas taht sayyaratihi The sound masculine plural loses the final ö when a possessive ending is added, as it does in idafa constructions:

the bank and its ogsulaes cial

accountants al-bank wa muhäsibũhu

We are with our d~ a2 ee Gas teachers nahnu maga mudarrisina

construction is called 42L ^J idafa

e Only the last word in an dala} idafa can have I al, even though the first noun is definite

® Endings are added to Arabic nouns to convey the meaning of ‘my’, ‘your’, etc.: 1 baytT (my house)

e A li-, whe cinda and £a maga can be used with

nouns or possessive endings to express ownership:

4„1L¿ 3 lau Jano li-muhammad sayyara ghalya

(Mohammed has an expensive car)

* sound plural (ajlall aaa! al-jameg as-sal

sound masculine plural (SMP) -Gn/-In: (44,16 mudarris (teacher)

> Cyiee”) be/ Cy 25-512 Mudarrisin/mudarrisin (teachers) sound feminine plural (SFP) -at: 3 4.0 sayyara (car) > olla

sayydrat (cars)

* broken plural GauSill a2 jame¢ at-taksir), formed by changing the internal vowels of the singular word, similar to the way English turns ‘mouse’ into ‘mice’ or ‘man’ into ‘men’

Unit 5 explained how the sound plural is formed This unit will look at broken plurals

Forming broken plurals

Many basic Arabic nouns cannot be made plural using either the SMP or SFP They are made plural by using the broken plural

(pawSall pam jame at-taksir) Although this system may at first

seem random, there is method in the ‘breakage’

To form a broken plural you need to identify the (usually) three

root consonants of a noun (see Unit 1) This can often be done by

ignoring long and short vowels and any & (ta’ marbuta):

GIS kalb (dog) — root = - / J/ ä wale sahib (friend/owner) > root=a/¢t / y^

dite culba (box/packet) — root = ⁄J/ &

The root letters, always in the same sequence, are then put into

a number of different patterns to form plurals:

WIS kalb (dog) > MS kilab (dogs)

wale sahib (friend/owner) > wlarel ashab (friends/owners)

diate culba (box/packet) —= wile eulab (boxes/packets)

You can see that the plural of als kalb (dog) takes the root

letters and adds a kasra (i) after the first root letter oJ and a long

a between the second and third root letters (J and w) to

produce GMS kilab (dogs) This plural pattern is known as

the Jlas figal pattern in Arabic grammar, with the consonants

J/ &/ <4 representing the three root letters (The root J / c/«à

carries the meaning of ‘to do’ or ‘to make’ and this is why it

is used in Arabic grammar to represent the generic root.) So,

the pattern used to produce the plural wla.ol ashab (friends/

owners) is known as the Jlasl afeal pattern and the pattern

used to produce wile eulab (packets) as the Jas fugal pattern

There are a dozen or so significant broken plural patterns At the beginning you will need to learn each noun with its

individual plural, although later you will begin to develop an

instinct for which pattern to use

For the sake of convenience, we have devided the patterns

into groups, starting with some of the most common

Broken plurals: group 1

Plural pattern Example

AK kalb (dog) + OMS kilab

wales sahib (friend/owner) > wlacel ashab

Ale gulba (box/packet) > te gulab

uy bayt (house) > gas buyũt

65 Plurals: broken plural

Complere the chart below, using the appropriate plural pattern

Plural pattern Plural Singular

5 fuzũ \ el bank (bank)

5x8 fug al 3

Y gee suwar (pictures) 392 sura (picture) 92s fug Ul Ệ ~¬3 qasr (palace)

ô @ dual aflam (films) als film (film)

Jlaa fig al fs jabal (mountain)

Vv wal lugab (toys) dial lugba (toy)

4 Jlea jimal (camels) A

JLaaÍ afs al VY aa haram (pyramid)

VÉ £¿sa> shuy0kh (sheiks) M

Broken plurals: group 2

Plural pattern Example

d2 fueul WLS kitab (book) 4 3Š kutub

Jaal afe ul xe% shahr (month) => 5424! ash-hur

- del sa fawäg il £ ¿L2 shãrig (street) > El pts shawarig

as a ` ir (minister) > eÏ ;5 s wuzarã

e Mas fug ala’ 32.9 Wazir (minister) > ebydg

Match the singular to the plural, for example: \ (g)

Cyan (a) (company share) aque \

clus) (b) (town/city) 444.4 Y

Gob (A) (ring) a3La £

elyol (e) (ambassador) „.»⁄„ @

silge (f) (president) (jus5) \ agusl (g) (capital city) Zavele V

aile& (h) (prince/emir) ;¿aÍ A

aolse (i) (ship) 33 %

el aus (j) (table) šašL2 \ +

Now cover up the left-hand column and try to say plurals out

loud after the singular

Other broken plurals

There are other broken plural patterns, such as öL¬25

qumsan, the plural of y¬ „aš qamis (shirt), or els khiyam, the

plural of (asa khayma (tent) These are best learnt as and when

you encounter them

A few words have four root letters (see Unit 1) and the plurals

of these words tend to be similar to the Jelga fawa¢il pattern:

($18 fundug (hotel) + S448 fanadiq (hotels)

Using broken plurals in sentences

Don’t forget that only humans are treated as plural in Arabic

grammar The plural of non-human objects and ideas is treated

(He’s a [gov.] minister.)

ee (aliS 52 huwa kitabr

(It’s my book.) Sloe yay Nha

hadha wazir ce iraqi

ẹ (This is an lraqi minister.)

So giue ala Iba

ce hadha khatim mustawrad

(This ring is imported.)

Activity 3

67

Plural

ely ys aa hum wuzara’

(They are ministers.)

ok cA hiya kutubt

(They are my books.)

-ossile elicg ca

ha‘ula’ wuzara’ ¢iraqiyydn

(These are Iraqi ministers.)

Bay gis algal oda

hadhihi I-khawatim mustawrada (These rings are imported.)

Make these sentences plural, as in the example:

Abcam » guna! ots Sram puoi lia \

¢sUiull 5b Bull ¥

OLS Clay Lally

Say DE cals Gal t

Jas Jom lia 0