Language Learning

الْأَسْئِلَــــةُ الثَّلَاثَــــةُ We took this Arabic short story from a book written by Mohammed Al-Abrashi. The original story was written for native speakers of Arabic. It has been simplified, abridged, and slightly modified to make it suitable for learners of Arabic as an additional/foreign language. It is suitable for high-beginners and pre-intermediate learners. كَان…

ٍالسُّعُودِيةُ تَدْعُو إِلَى قِمَّتَيْنِ خَلِيْجِيَّةٍ وَعَرَبِيَّة هَاجَمَ مَجْهُولُون أَرْبَع سُفُن تِجَارِية أَمَامَ سَاحِل الإِمَارَات العَرَبِيَّة المُتَّحِدَة. كَمَا هَاجَمَ الحُوثِيُّونَ مَحَطَّات نَفْط فِي المَمْلَكَة العَرَبِيَّة السُّعُودِيَّة. بِسَبَب هَذَيْن الهُجُومَيْن، دَعَا المَلِكُ السُّعُودِي، سَلْمَان بِن عَبْد العَزِيْز، إِلَى قِمَّة خَلِيْجِيَّة وَقِ…

What is hamza in Arabic? What is hamza in Arabic? hamza is the first letter of the Arabic Alphabet (alif, ba, ta, tha, …): the alif اَلْأَلِف. However, the alif can be a hamza and an alif al-madd أَلِفُ الْمَدِّ. This is determined by its shape, its position in the word, and the diacritical mark (i.e., the short vowel that accompanies it). Types of alif: There are two type…

What is alif al-wasl? What is alif al-wasl أَلِفُ الْوَصْلِ? It is the alif without hamza above or below it (i.e., ا not أ or إ), and it always occurs at the beginning of the word. The word وَصْل wasl means ‘connection’. So, alif al-wasl أَلِفُ الْوَصْلِ is the ‘connective alif.’ It connects the word in which it occurs with the preceding word. The purpose of this is to make Ar…

What is Tanween in Arabic? The tanween (or nunation) in Arabic (also transliterated as tanwin/tenwin) has to do with the sound ن noon. To be precise, it is an acoustic ن (i.e. said but not written). This ن is added to the end of nouns (and adjectives). Only nouns (and adjectives) get tanween, but not all nouns. Certain nouns; all types of pronouns, which are classified as noun…

Simple Arabic Grammar Terms (1) Arabic grammar terms of the previous lessons are listed and explained. Besides the explanation of the terms, examples are given. The noun in Arabic is a word that can be a subject of a verb فَاعِل, a topic of a nominal sentence مُبْتَدَأ, a predicate of a nominal sentence خَبَر, an object of a verb مَفْعُول, or an object of a preposit…

The Basic Present Verbal Sentence in Arabic Similar to the basic past verbal sentence, the basic present verbal sentence in Arabic الْجُمْلَةُ الْفِعْلِيَّةُ الْبَسِيطَةُ is composed of a verb فِعْل, a subject فَاعِل, and an object مَفْعُول, which can be optional, depending on the type of the verb. It always starts with the verb. The verb can be intransitive لَازِم or transiti…

The Basic Past Verbal Sentence in Arabic The basic past verbal sentence in Arabic الْجُمْلَةُ الْفِعْلِيَّةُ الْبَسِيطَة can be a word or a group of words that express a completed action. It starts with a verb فِعْل which is always followed by a subject فَاعِل (i.e. the doer of the action). If the verb is intransitive لَازِم, it and the subject form a complete meaning. If the …