The basic Arabic nominal sentence is الْجُمْلَةُ الْاِسْمِيَّةُ الْبَسِيطَة. It consists of two parts: the subject (also called topic) الْمُبْتَدَأ and the predicate الْخَبَر. The subject, which the sentence starts with, is almost always a definite (مَعْرِفَة) noun, such as الْبَيْت ‘the house’, الرَّجُل ‘the man’, الْجَامِعَة ‘the university’, كِتَابِي ‘my book’ صَدِيقُهُ ‘his friend’, بَابُ الْبَيْتِ ‘the door of the house’ and so forth. The predicate can be an indefinite (نَكِرَة) noun, such as رَجُلٌ ‘a man’; an indefinite adjective, such as جَمِيلَة ‘beautiful’; or a prepositional phrase, such as فِي الْبَيْتِ ‘in the house.’
The definite noun in Arabic is the noun that starts with the definite article الْ‘the’, such as الْبَيْتُ 'the house', الْكِتَابُ 'the book', and الْجَامِعَةُ 'the university." Also, it is the noun that is followed by an attached possessive pronoun, such as بَيْتُهُ 'his house', كِتَابِي 'my book', and جَامِعَتُنَا 'our university." Further, proper nouns (i.e. names of people and places), such as مُحَمَّد, سَارَة, and مِصْر ‘Egypt'; pronouns, such as أَنَا 'I', هُم 'they', and أَنْتَ 'you sing.'; and demonstrative pronouns, such as هَذَا 'this' are definite nouns. In addition, the first noun in the genitive constructions (called إِضَافَة in Arabic), such as كِتَابُ الْمُدَرِّسِ 'the teacher's book', مَكْتَبُ الْمُدِيرِ 'the manager's office', and بَابُ الْبَيْتِ 'the door of the house' is a definite noun. Here are more examples:
| الْهَاتِف the phone | السَّيْدَة the lady | أَخِي my brother | زَمِيلُهُ his classmate |
| الْجَو the weather | حَقِيبَتِي my bag | التُّفَّاحَة the apple | مَدِينَتُكُم your (pl) city |
| الْيَمَن Yemen | مَدْرَسَتُنَا our school | اللُّغَة the language | الْمَطْعَم the restaurant |
| هَذَا this (m) | الصُّورَة the picture | هِيَ she | خَطُّهَا her handwriting |
| أَنَا I | هَذِهِ this (f) | تِلْكَ that (f) | الْبَاص the bus |
| قَلَمُ الْبِنْتِ the girl's pen | ذَيْلُ الْقِطِّ tail of the cat | سَيَّارَةُ سَامَ Sam's car | كُرَةُ الْوَلَدِ the boy's ball |
We use the definite noun, as in the above examples, at the start of the nominal sentence. Grammatically, it is called مُبْتَدَأ, that is a subject or a topic.
The indefinite noun is the noun that does not refer to a specific entity/object. That is, it does not include any of the definiteness markers stated above. As for the adjective, it is indefinite when الْ is not prefixed to it. Following are some examples:
| طَالِب a student | جَدِيد new | مُهَنْدِس an engineer | كَبِير big |
| جَمِيل beautiful | سَيَّارَة a car | ذكِيّ smart | مَطْعَم a restaurant |
| صَيْدَلِي a pharmacist | حَار hot | بَارِد cold | شَاي tea |
| لَذِيذ delicious | خَيْمَة a tent | سَائِق a driver | صَعْب difficult |
We use the indefinite noun/adjective to complete the meaning of the subject or topic مُبْتَدَأ of the nominal sentence. In grammar terms, it is called a predicate خَبَر. Hence, the nominal sentence is a subject مُبْتَدَأ + a predicate خَبَر, as in (1), (3), (6), (7), (9), (10), (11), and (12) in the table below.
A prepositional phrase شِبْهُ جُمْلَة (literally means semi-sentence) is composed of a preposition حَرْفُ جَر, such as فِي ‘in’, مِنْ ‘from’, فَوْقَ ‘on’, and alike, followed by a definite noun, hence فِي الْغُرْفَةِ 'in the room', مِنَ مِصْرَ 'from Egypt', and فَوْقَ الْكُرْسِي 'on the chair.' Following are some more examples:
| مِنَ الْيَمَنِ from Yemen | فِي الْبَيْتِ in the house |
| دَاخِلَ اْلغُرْفَةِ inside the room | تَحْتَ الشَّجَرَةِ under the tree |
| أَمَامَ السَّيَّارَةِ in front of the car | خَلْفَ الْمَدْرَسَةِ behind the school |
Similar to the indefinite noun/adjective, we use the prepositional phrase to complete the meaning of the subject or topic مُبْتَدَأ of the nominal sentence. Grammatically, the whole phrase is a prepositional phrase predicate خَبَرُ شِبْهِ جُمْلَة. Hence, the nominal sentence, in this case, is a subject + a prepositional phrase, as in (2), (4), (5), and (8) in the table below.
To summarize, the basic nominal sentence in Arabic is composed of two parts: the subject الْمُبْتَدَأ and the predicate الْخَبَر. The subject is always a definite noun, and the predicate is an indefinite noun, an indefinite adjective, or a prepositional phrase, as in the following table:
الْجُمْلَةُ الْاِسْمِيَّة |
الْمُبْتَدَأ |
الْخَبَر |
| (1) الْهَاتِفُ جَدِيْدٌ. The phone is new | الْهَاتِفُ | جَدِيدٌ |
| (2) أَنَا مِنَ الْيَمَنِ. I am from Yemen | أَنَأ | مِنَ الْيَمَنِ |
| (3) الرَّجُلُ مُهَنْدِسٌ. The man is an engineer | الرَّجُلُ | مُهَنْدِسٌ |
| (4) مِصْرُ فِي أَفْرِيقِيَا. Egypt is in Africa | مِصْرُ | فِي أَفْرِيْقِيَا |
| (5) السَّيَّارَةُ أَمَامَ البَيْتِ. The car is in front of the house | السَّيَّارَةُ | أَمَامَ البَيْتَِ |
| (6) التُّفَّاحَةُ لَذِيذَةٌ. The apple is delicious | التُّفَّاحَةُ | لَذِيذَةٌ |
| (7) هَذِهِ خَيْمَةٌ. This is a tent | هَذِهِ | خَيْمَةٌ |
| (8) بَيْتُنَا خَلْفَ المَدْرَِسَةِ. Our house is behind the school | بِيْتُنَا | خَلْفَ المَدْرَسَةِ |
| (9) هِيَ طَبِيْبَةٌ. She is a physician | هِيَ | طَبِيْبَةٌ |
| (10) هُوَ طَالِبٌ. He is a student | هُوََ | طَالِبٌ |
| (11) الْجَوُ جَمِيلٌ. The weather is beautiful | الْجَوُ | جِمِيْلٌ |
| (12) صَدِيقُ سَامَ قَصِيرٌ. Sam's friend is short | صَدِيقُ سَامَ | قَصِيرٌ |
Using the list of words in this lesson and the previous lesson, try to write basic simple sentences. Then, try the following test, paying attention to both form and meaning of words.
