Latest Articles

Arabic Gum Seller – Yemen

A picture is worth a thousand words. The picture below, Arabic gum sellers in Bab al-Yemen just outside Old Sana’a City, illustrates an aspect of real-life situations in Yemen.

Spice Seller – Yemen

A picture is worth a thousand words. The picture below, a spice seller in souk al-Milh in Old Sana’a City, illustrates some aspects of real-life situations in Yemen.

Yemen: Customs, Traditions, and More

Yemen: Customs, Traditions, and More When it comes to customs and traditions of the Arabs, Yemen, compared to other Arab countries, is the least affected by globalization. Therefore, if one seeks to experience genuine Arabic culture, Yemen can’t be beat linguistically, culturally, and religiously. Following is some essential information about Yemen customs and traditions. …

Ali Ahmed Bakathir

Ali Ahmed Bakathir عَلِي أَحْمَد بَاكَثِيْر Born in Surabaya Indonesia in 1910, Ali Ahmed Bakathir is a renowned and highly regarded Arab literary figure and playwright. As was the case with many Yemeni fathers in southeast Asia at the time, namely Indonesia and Malaysia, his father decided that the family go back to their homeland—Say’un سَيْئون city in Hadhramautحَضْرَمُو…

saltah سَلْتَة: Yemen’s National Dish

Yemen national dish is without a doubt salta سَلْتَه. Other popular dishes in Yemen are Bint aS-SaHn بِنْت الصَّحْن , sousi سُوْسِي , and shafoot / shafout شَفُوْت. These dishes are peculiar to Yemen. While the others are popular on special days and occasions, Yemenis eat salta every day. They always eat it as the main dish for lunch. What is the origin of the word salta سَل…

Latest Tests

Reading Comprehension Test (40)

Arabic Reading Comprehension Test (40) Read the Story الْحَيَّةُ الْبَيْضَاءُ and answer the following questions.

Reading Comprehension Test (39)

Arabic Reading Comprehension Test (39) Read the Story التَّاجِرُ مَرْمَرُ and answer the following questions.

Reading Comprehension Test (38)

Arabic Reading Comprehension Test (38) Read the Story الشَّيْخُ الْهِنْدِيُّ and answer the following questions.

Reading Comprehension Test (37)

Arabic Reading Comprehension Test (37) Read the Story حِذَاءُ الْبَخِيلِ and answer the following questions.

Latest E-books & Handouts

Ibnulyemen Arabic Attached Pronouns

Attached pronouns in Arabic are the pronouns that we attach to verbs, nouns, prepositions, or particles. Generally speaking, pronouns in Arabic are separate, attached, or implicit (i.e. implied or not overt). The separate pronouns  in Arabic are similar to the subject pronouns found in most world languages in addition to the dual and feminine forms that exist in Arabic. As for …

Ibnulyemen Arabic Alphabet and Cursive Writing

Arabic is a right-to-left cursive language. This short e-book "Ibnulyemen Arabic Alphabet and Cursive Writing" typographically shows how the Arabic letters are connected to to form words. There are twenty-eight letters in Arabic. Each letter has four shapes: at the beginning of the word, in the middle of the word, at the end of the word, and in isolation. This, as a result, see…

Ibnulyemen Arabic Short Stories for Non-natives

This is a short e-book of eleven short stories written in simplified Arabic. The original versions of these stories were written by Kamel Kilani and Mohammed Al-Abrashi, both Egyptian writers. They are fairly long and meant for native speakers of Arabic. The wording and structures of these stories have been tweaked and simplified to make them suitable for (advanced) beginner le…

Attached Pronouns

Attached pronouns in Arabic are pronominal suffixes; for each separate pronoun there is a corresponding attached pronoun. These pronominal suffixes are are attached to nouns, prepositions, and verbs. With nouns, they function as possessive pronouns. With preposition, they function as object of prepositions. With verbs, they function as either subjects or objects.  In the table …