Arabic phrasebook

Contents

The following phrasebook deals with Modern Standard Arabic. See the Lebanese Arabic phrasebook, Jordanian Arabic phrasebook or the Egyptian Arabic phrasebook for Arabic dialects relating to those regions/countries.

Arabic is the fourth most widely-spoken language in the world. It is spoken in many popular destinations in North Africa and the Middle East. There are many regional dialects, but a standard Arabic language is maintained due to religious needs and region-wide media.

Arabic is written from right to left. It has its own alphabet, different from the Roman alphabet used for English.

For communication purposes while traveling and using this guide, it is very important to note that Arabic is divided into Classical Arabic (mostly used in print) and Colloquial Arabic. Colloquial Arabic is further subdivided into regional colloquial accents, the main regions being the Levant, Persian Gulf States, Egypt, and North Africa. These regional colloquial accents sometimes differ enough to be mutually incomprehensible.

The pronunciation guide below uses Classical Arabic and Levantine Colloquial Arabic.

[edit] Pronunciation guide

TBD

Arabic pronunciation varies widely from place to place, almost to the extent of making it unintellilgible even for native Arabic speakers.

Standard Arabic will be spoken by most educated people, as it is what they hear frequently on TV, mostly news.

As a general rule:

← 'a' tends to be like that of 'hat'← 'aa' is a longer version of 'a'← 'b' as in English← 't' as in English← 'th' as in English 'thin'← 'dh' as in English 'them'← 'j' as in 'jam', 's' as in 'measure' in the Levant (Lebanon, Israel, etc.), and 'g' as in

'give' in Egypt.← 'H' is a pharyngeal fricative sound at the back of the throat (though not like

clearing it). It sounds like you are about to whisper the word 'hello'.← 'kh' as in Scots 'loch' or German 'mach'← 'd' as in English← 'r' a tapped sound like Spanish 'pero', but trilled like Spanish 'perro' when

doubled.← 'z' as in English

← 's' as in English← 'sh' as in English← 'S' like 's' but with the back of the throat constricted. Makes 'a' further back in the

throat, 'i' into 'e' and 'u' into 'o'.← 'D' like 'd' but with the back of the throat constricted. Same vowel changes as 'S'← 'T' like 'D' but sometimes equivalent to 't'← 'Z' varies: sometimes like 'D', but equivalent to 'th', but other times equivalent to

'z'.← 'h' as in English← 'q' like 'k' but further back in the throat and is often pronounced like '?'← 'k' as in English← 'l' as in English← 'm' as in English← 'f' as in English← 'n' as in English← '?' as in Cockney 'bottle' ('bole). A glottal stop.← '9' not always pronounced butb is essential in Standard Arabic. A voiced version

of 'H'.← 'gh' a fricative sound at the back of the throat or 'kh' while using the voice box.

[edit] Phrase list

Some phrases in this phrasebook still need to be translated. If you know anything about this language, you can help by plunging forward and translating a phrase.

[edit] BasicsHello (informal)

<marHaban or marhaba <info .مرحباPeace be with you. (formal)as-salaamu `alaikum السل م عليكمHow are you?كيف حالك؟

Kayfa Haaluka/Kayfa Haalak? male singularKayfa Haaluki/Kayfa Haalik? female singularKayfa Haalukum plural (depends on the number and gender spoken to)Please.min faDluka/faDlak male min faDluki/faDlik female .من فضلكThank you [very much]..shukran [jaziilan] شكراYes./ na`am نعمNo.laa .لMaybe..mumkin ممكنExcuse me.ismaHli إسمحلي

the 'i' at the beginning is swallowedGood morning.sabaH al-khair صباح الخيرGood evening.masa' al-khair مساء الخيرgood.jayyid جيدvery good.jayyid jiddan جيد جداNever mind..mish Muhim ليس مهمNone, nothing, nobody..Maa fii ما فيHello. (informal).salaam سل مFine, thank you.bi-khair Shukran بخير ,شكراWhat is your name??sho ismak ما اسمك

Ma Ismuka/sho Ismak? to a maleMa Ismuki/sho Ismik? to a femaleMy name is ______ ._______ ana Ismi اسميNice to meet you."tasharafna lit. "You honor us تشرفناYou're welcome.

Ana Aasif (male)Ana Aasifah (female)

y.انا اسفه / انا اسف

Ana Aasif maleAna Aasifah female

yema`a as-salaamah مع السلمة

)salaam سل م

amLaa atakallam "name of language" [jayyidan] ل اتكلم __ جيدا

h?Do you speak English? هل تتكلم النجليزية Hal tatakallam al-ingliziyyah?

??Hal hunaa ayy shakhS yatakallam al-ingliziyya هل هنا اي شخص يتكلم النجليزية؟

!an-najda النجدة Musaa`adah! OR مساعدةt!

intabih انتبه

tiSbaH `alal-khair تصبح على الخيرGood night (in response) : وانت من اهل الخير wa anta min ahl al-khair

.laa afham ل افهم

??Ayn al-Hammaam اين الحما م؟

Leave me alone. (اتركني (M) OR اتركيني (F))!

Don't touch me! (Ma tilmisni) or (Ma t'arrabsh).

I'll call the police. (Sa Unadi al-Police)!

Police! ( (شرطة

ief!

Stop! Thief! (Qif! Harami!)

I need your help. ( سمحت لو مساعدة (احتاج

rgency.

It's an emergency.For medical emergency:Is'aff (إسعاف),for other emergencies:Taware' (طوارئ)

I'm lost. ( (تايه

.

I lost my bag. ( حقيبتى فقدت (لقد

t my wallet.

I lost my wallet. ( محفظتى فقدت (لقد

k.

I'm sick. ( مريض مريضة OR (M) انا ((F) انا

ah (red.

I've been injured. إنني مصاب(Innani Musabun)r.

I need a doctor. ( دكتر (احتاج

Cae?

Can I use your phone? ( التلفون؟ استعمل ممكن هلt]

Sifr صفر

waaHid واحد

ithnaan إثنان

thalaatha ثلثة

arba`a اربعة

khamsa خمسة

sitta ستة

sab`a سبعة

thamaaniya ثمانية

tis`a تسعة

ashara` عشرة

aHad `ashar احد عشر

ithnaa `ashar اثنا عشر

thalaathata `ashar ثلثة عشر

arba`ata `ashar اربعة عشر

khamsata `ashar خمسة عشر

sittata `ashar ستة عشر

sab`ata `ashar سبعة عشر

thamaaniyata `ashar ثمانية عشر

tis'ata `ashar تسعة عشر

ishruun عشرون

waaHid wa-`ashruun واحد وعشرون

ithnaan wa-`ashruun اثنان وعشرون

thalaatha wa-`ashruun ثلثة وعشرون

thalathuun ثلثون

arba`uun اربعون

khamsuun خمسون

sittuun ستون

sab`uun سبعون

thamanuun ثمانون

tis`uun تسعون

mi'a مئة

mitayn مئتين

thalaath mi'a ثل ث مئة

(Alf Layla wa Layla الف ليلة وليلة - as in The Thousand and One Nights) alf الف

alfayn الفين

al-milyuun المليون

al-bilyuun البليون

at-triilyuun التريليون

(...) Raqm / رقم

niSf نصف

aqal اقل

akthar اكثر

dhahaba ذهب

Waqf

Lif Yassar لف يسار

Lif Yameen لف يمين

dughri (Jordan); quduman ;الى الما م Ala Tool (Egyptian) or illal amaama على طول(general)

Shway Shway

(intadhir) انتظر

(areni) ارني

huna هنا

hunak هناك

qabla

ba'da بعد

al-aan الن

min من

ilah الى

intadhir Wahad dakeeka.

ana انا

تت anta ان

تت anti ان

huwa هو

hiya هي

naHnu نحن

antuma انتما

antum انتم

antunna انتن

huma هما

hum هم

hunna هن

man من

ma/madha ما

ay mata

ayn اين

li-madha لماذ

biKam بكم

biKam Hadha بكم هذاWhere are you from?

min ayn anta من اين انت

Maf Hoom

?hal tatakallam al-ingliziya هل تتكلم النجليزية؟What is this?

ma haadha?edit

w antOreed

I don't wantLa Oreed ل أريد

I haveعندي andee / لدي lii / ladeya لي

I don't haveleis andee ليس عندي

I don't understandAna ma fehim أنا ما فاهم / ana laa afham أنا ل أفهم / Ana mesh fahem أنا مش فاهم

I work at the _____.Ana bashtaghel fi _____أنا باشتغل في / a'mal fi _____ _____أعمل فيI don't speak Arabic

Ma batkalemsh / ما باحكي عربي laa atkallam al-arabiya / Ma bihki arabi ل اتكلم العربيةarabi ماباتكلمش عربي

[edit] Things

money

fuluus فلوسcoffeeqahwa pronounced ah-way in Syrian Arabic قهوةsugar

sukr سكرsalt

milH ملحcar

sayyaara سيارةhotel

ooteel اوتيل / funduq فندقwater

'maa ماءtea

'shay شايmilk

Haliib حليبwork

shughl شغلairplane

Taa'irah طائرةstreet

`shaari شارع[edit] Time

now(al-'aana) الن

later(ba`adayn) بعدين

before(qabla) قبل

morning(SabaaH) صباح

afternoon(ba'ada Zuhur) بعد ظهر

evening('masaa) مساء

night(laylah) ليلة

k time

one o'clock AM (sa'ati waHad)M

two o'clock AM (sa'ati ithnayn)

noon (ZuHur)PM

one o'clock PM (...)

two o'clock PM (...)

midnight (muntasf al-laylah)ation

__ minute(s)( daqiiqah (daqaa'iq)) دقيقة (دقائق) _____

ou_____ hour(s)(saa)

(s)(yom (ayaam)) يو م (أيا م _____

s)_____ week(s) (usbuu`)

th(s)_____ month(s) (shahr)

s)(sanah (sanooaat))سنة (سنوات _____

day

(al-yawm(a)) البو مay

(ams(i)) امسw

(ghadan) غداا

(`al-'usbu) السبوعeek

(usbu`(u) 'l-maaDi) اسبوع الماضي

(usbu`(u) 'l-qaadim) اسبوع القاد مof the week

(al'aHad (yawm)) يو م الحد

(al-ithnayn (yawm)) يو م الثنينay

(ath-thulaatha (yawm)) يو م الثلثاءsday

('al'arbi`a (yawm)) يو م الربعاءday

(al-khamiis (yawm)) يو م الخميسy

(...al-jum`a (yawm)) يو م الجمعةS

(as-sabt (yawm)) يو م السبتuary

(Kanoon al thani) كانون الثاني

yFebruary (.shbat شباط..)

March (...آذار Aathar) lApril (..Nissan نيسان.)

May (...أيار Ayyar)e

(Hzayraan) حزيران

(Tammouz) تموزt

(Ab) اابer

(Ayloul) ايلول

(Tishreen al awwal) تشرن الولN

(Tishreen al thani) تشرن الثانيber

(Kanoon al awwal) كانون الولt

(Aswad) اسود(Abyadh) ابيض

(Ramaadii) رماديd

(AHmar) احمرe

(Azraq) ازرقw

(Asfar) اصفرn

(Akhdhar) اخضرa

(Burtuqaali) برتقالي

(Urjuwaan) ارجوان

(Bony) بني

adash tazkara ila ____? Bekam Tazkara ila......?

Tazkara wahida ila ___ law samaht

Hazal qitar/bus biyruh ila wayn? Ila Ayn Yazhab haza Alkitar/autobis?

Wein el-qitar/el-bus ila ___?

hal biwa'ef hazal qitar/bus fi__ ?

emta btatla el-qitar/el-bus ila ___?

'emta byusil hazal qitar/bus fi___?

How do I get to _____ ? (Kayf bawsal la __)

...the train station? (mahatet il qitar?)

...the bus station? (mawqif il bassat?)

(?al-matar) المطار...

...downtown? (West il balad?)

...the youth hostel? (Bayt El Shabab)

...the _____ hotel? (otel?/ Al Fonduk)

...the American/Canadian/Australian/British consulate? (sefara Al Amrikia, Canadeia, ostralia, beritania)

Where are there a lot of... (Wein fi kteer...)

...hotels? (otelat/ Fanadek)

...restaurants? (mata'em)

...bars? (bars)

...sites to see? (amaken seyaheyeh?)

Can you show me on the map? (momken tfarjeeni ala al khareeta?)

(shar'iah) شارع

(lif yasaar) لف يسار

(lif yameen) لف يمين

(yasaar) يسار

(yameen) يمين

(ala tul)على طول

towards the _____ (bijehet il)

past the _____ (baed il)

before the _____ (abel il)

Watch for the _____. (intibeh la)

intersection (taqato)

(shamaal) شمال

(janoob)جنوب

(sharq)شرق

(gharb)غرب

uphill (talaa)

downhill (nazleh)

Taxi! (taxi!) Sayyara

Take me to _____, please. (khodni il....., law Samaht)

How much does it cost to

Take me there, please. (khodni ala __, law samaht)

Do you have any rooms available? (Endkom ghoraf(alternatively- owad) edafeyeh?)

How much is a room for one person/two people? (Adeish il ghorfeh li shakhs/shakhsein?)

Does the room come with... (Il ghorfeh bteeji ma...)

...bedsheets? (sharashef?)

...a bathroom? (hammam?)

...a telephone? (tele-phown?)

...a TV? (televis-yon?)

May I see the room first? (Baqdar ashoof il ghorfeh abel?)

Do you have anything quieter? (Fi eshi ah-da?.)

...bigger? (akbar?)

...cleaner? (andaf?)

...cheaper? (arkhas?)

OK, I'll take it. (OK, bakhodha)

I will stay for _____ night(s). (Rah aba'a kaman ___ yom)

Can you suggest another hotel? (')

Do you have a safe? (fi khazneh?)

...lockers? (...)Is breakfast/supper included?

Is breakfast/supper included? (')What time is breakfast/supper?

What time is breakfast/supper? (ay sei-a il ftoor/asha?)Please clean my room.

Please clean my room. (momken tanadef il ghorfeh)Can you wake me at sds_____? | Can you wake me at _____? (momken tfaye'ni al __ )I want to check out.

I want to check out. (beddi ashoofha) Money

Do you accept American/Australian/Canadian dollars?Do you accept American/Australian/Canadian dollars? (Hal taqbal bi noqood Amreekeyah/Ostoraleyah/Canadeyah?)

Do you accept British pounds?Do you accept British pounds? (Hal Taqbal bi Jenehat Biritaneyeh?)

Do you accept credit cards?Do you accept credit cards? (')

Can you change money for me?Can you change money for me? (Momken tsarefli masari?)

Where can I get money changed?Where can I get money changed? (Wein badar asaref masari?)

Can you change a traveler's check for me?Can you change a traveler's check for me? (...)

Where can I get a traveler's check changed?Where can I get a traveler's check changed? (...)

What is the exchange rate?What is the exchange rate? (...)

Where is an automatic teller machine (ATM)?Where is an automatic teller machine (ATM)? (Wein fi ATM?)

[edit] Eating

A table for one person/two people, please.A table for one person/two people, please. (Tawlah la wahed/tenein)

Can I look at the menu, please?Can I look at the menu, please? (Momken ashoof il menu?)

Can I look in the kitchen?Can I look in the kitchen? (Mumken ashuf il matbakh?)

Is there a house specialty?Is there a house specialty? (...)

Is there a local specialty?Is there a local specialty? (...)

I'm a vegetarian.I'm a vegetarian. (Ana nabati)

I don't eat pork.I don't eat pork. (Ma bakol lahem khanzeer)

I don't eat beef.I don't eat beef. (Ma bakol lahmeh)

I only eat Halal food.I only eat Halal food. (Bas bakol akel hallal)

Can you make it "lite", please? (less oil/butter/lard)Can you make it "lite", please? (khaleeha khafeefeh)

fixed-price mealfixed-price meal (...)

à la carteà la carte (à la carte)

breakfastbreakfast (ftoor) al iftar

lunchlunch (...) al ghada

tea (meal)tea (...) shay'

suppersupper (...) al isha'

I want _____.

(ooreed) أريد_____.I want a dish containng _____

I want a dish containing _____. (...)n

(dajaj) دجاج

(baqar) بقر

(samak) سمكm

ham (khanzeer)

sausage (...)

(jubneh) جبنة

(baid) بيض

salad (...) salatas

(fresh) vegetables (...) (fresh) khudrawatt

(fresh) fruit (fawakeh) (fresh) fawakat

bread (...) ayish OR khubz

toast (...)

noodles (makarona)

(roz' ) أرز

beans (fool) fasoliyyaI

May I have a glass of _____? (Momken Kaset___)

May I have a cup of _____? (Momken finjan ___)M

May I have a bottle of _____? (...)

coffee (qahweh) kah'wa)

( 'shay ) شاي

(Aseer) عصيرr

water (may)r

( 'maa ) ماء

(beerah) بيرةne

red/white wine (nabeed ahmar/abyad)

May I have some _____? (momken ___?)

(malh) ملح

(filfil aswad)فلفل أسود

( (zibdeh) زبدةExcuse me, waiter? (...)garcoon

I'm finished. (khalast ) galaste

It was delicious. (Zaki) Al-akl mazboot!.

Please clear the plates. (...)The check, please. (...)Leh'seb min fadlak

Do you serve alcohol? (fi kohool?)?

Is there table service? (...)t

A beer/two beers, please. (beerah)

A glass of red/white wine, please. (kaset nbeed).

A pint, please. (...).

A bottle, please. (aneeneh)__

_____ and _____, please. (...)

whiskey (...)

vodka (...)

rum (...)

( 'maa ) ماءa

club soda (soda)er

tonic water (...)

orange juice (aseer bortoqal)

Coke (cola)

Do you have any bar snacks? (...)

One more, please. (kaman wahed)

Another round, please. (kaman wahed)

When is closing time? (emta bitsakro?)

Do you have this in my size? (Fi maqas?)

(bikam hatha) بكم هذا؟

That's too expensive. (...) "ghali katheer!"

Would you take _____? (...)

(ghali) غالي

(rakhees)رخيص

I can't afford it. (...)

I don't want it. (ma beddi)

You're cheating me. (harami)

I'm not interested. (lust muhtam)

OK, I'll take it. (ok)

Can I have a bag? (oreedo kees)

Do you ship (overseas)? (...)

I need... (...) Ahtaj

...toothpaste. (ma'ajoon asnan)

...a toothbrush. (forshaat asnan)

...tampons. (always)

...soap. (saboon)

...shampoo. (shamboo)

...pain reliever. (mussakin)

...cold medicine. (dawa rash-h)

...stomach medicine. (dawa baten)

...a razor. (shafra)

...an umbrella. (shamseyeh)

...sunblock lotion. (...)

(bitaqa bareedia) بطاقة بريدية...

...postage stamps. (tawabe' bareed)

...batteries. (batareyat)

(waraq lil-kitaba) ورق للكتبة...

(qalam) قلم...

(kutub ingliziya) كتب إنجليزية...

English-language magazines. (majalat engiliziya) مجلت انكليزية ...

(jara'id ingliziya)جرائد إنجليزية...

...an English-English dictionary. (qamoos ingilizi-ingilizi)

I want to rent a car. (beddi astajer sayarah)

Can I get insurance? (fi tameen?)

stop (qif)

one way (tho itjah wahed)

yield (atti alaolwyeh)

no parking (mamnoo alistifaf)

speed limit (alsuraa alkanooniya)

gas station (mahatet banzeen)

petrol (betrol)

diesel (diesel)

I haven't done anything wrong. (Ma emelet eshi ghalat)

It was a misunderstanding. (kan so' tafahom )

Where are you taking me? (wein akhedni?)

Am I under arrest? (ana motaqaleh?)

I am an American/Australian/British/Canadi an citizen.I am an American/Australian/British/Canadian citizen. (Ana American/...)

I want to talk to the American/Australian /British/Canadian embassy/consulate.I need to talk to the American/Australian/British/Canadian embassy/consulate. (...)

I want to talk to a lawyer. (beddi ahki ma mohami)

Can I just pay a fine now? (ba2dar adfa?)This is a usable phrasebook. It explains pronunciation and the bare essentials of travel communication. An adventurous person could use it to get by, but please plunge forward and help it grow!

Arabic grammar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search

This article contains Arabic text, written from right to left in a cursive style with some letters joined. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined Arabic letters written left-to-right instead of right-to-left or other symbols instead of Arabic script.

Visualization of Arabic grammar from the Quranic Arabic Corpus

Arabic grammar (Arabic: نحو عربي nah ḥw arabiyyʻ or قواعد اللغة العربية qawā idu l-luġati l-ʻ

arabiyyaʻ ) is the grammar of the Classical and Modern Standard Arabic. Arabic is a

Semitic language and its grammar has many similarities with the grammar of other

Semitic languages.

[edit] History

The identity of the oldest Arabic grammarian is disputed with some sources saying Ibn

Abi Ishaq and medieval sources saying Abu-Aswad al-Du'ali, the oldest known Arabic

grammarian, established diacritical marks and vowels for Arabic in the mid-600s. The

schools of Basra and Kufa further developed grammatical rules in the late 700s with the

rapid rise of Islam.[1][2]

The earliest grammarian who is known is Abd Allāh ibn Abī Ish ḥāqʻ ʼ ʼ ʼ (died AD 735/6, AH

117).

[edit] Division

For classical Arabic grammarians, the grammatical sciences are divided into five

branches:

al-luġa اللغة (lexicon) concerned with collecting and explaining vocabulary at-tas ḥrīf التصريف (morphology) determining the form of the individual words an-nah ḥw النحو (syntax) primarily concerned with inflection ( i rābʼ ʻ ) which had

already been lost in dialects. al-ištiqāq الشتقاق (derivation) examining the origin of the words al-balāġa البلغة (rhetoric) which elucidates construct quality

The grammar or grammars of contemporary varieties of Arabic are a different question.

Said M. Badawi, an expert on Arabic grammar, divided Arabic grammar into five different

types based on the speaker's level of literacy and the degree to which the speaker

deviated from Classical Arabic. Badawi's five types of grammar from the most colloquial

to the most formal are Illiterate Spoken Arabic (عامية الميين āmmiyat al- ummiyyīnʻ ʼ ), Semi-

literate Spoken Arabic (عامية المتنورين āmmiyat al-mutanawwirīnʻ ), Educated Spoken Arabic

āmmiyat al-mu عامية المثقفين) aqqafīnʻ ṯ ), Modern Standard Arabic (فصحى العصر fus ṣhṣā al- as ṣrʻ ),

and Classical Arabic (فصحى الترا ث fus ṣhṣā at-turāṯ).[3] This article is concerned with the

grammar of Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic exclusively.

[edit] Phonology

Main article: Arabic phonology

Classical Arabic has 28 consonantal phonemes, including two semi-vowels, which

comprise the Arabic alphabet. It also has six vowel phonemes (three short vowels and

three long vowels). These appear as various allophones, depending on the preceding

consonant. Short vowels are not usually represented in written language, although they

may be indicated with diacritics.

Hamzatu l-was ḥl (همزة الوصل), elidable hamza, is a phonetic object prefixed to the

beginning of a word for ease of pronunciation, since literary Arabic doesn't allow

consonant clusters at the beginning of a word. Elidable hamza drops out as a vocal, if a

word is preceding it. This word will then produce an ending vocal, "helping vocal" to

facilitate pronunciation. This short vocal may be, depending on the preceding vowel, ـت a

fath ḥa (فتحة) /a/ , ـت a kasra (كسرة) /i/ or ــ a d ḥamma (ضمة) /u/. If the preceding word ends in a

sukūn (سكون) (i.e. not followed by a short vowel), the Hamzatu l-was ḥl assumes a kasra /i/.

Symbol ـا šadda (شدة) indicates a gemination or consonant doubling. See more in Tashkīl.

[edit] Noun

ism اسم

[edit] State

Nouns (and their modifying adjectives) are either definite or indefinite (there is an article

for the definite state only). A noun is definite if it has the definite article prefix (الـ al-), if it

has a suffixed pronoun (كلبها الكبير kalbu-ha l-kabīr "her big dog"), if it is inherently definite

by being a proper noun (مصر القديمة Mis ṣru l-qadīma, "Ancient Egypt"), or if it is in a genitive

construction ( idṣāfaʼ , status constructus) with a definite noun or nouns (بنت الملك bintu l-

malik(i), "the daughter of the king").

[edit] Article

Main article: Al-

The article (أداة التعريف adātu t-ta rīfʼ ʻ al- is indeclinable and expresses definite state of a الـ (

noun of any gender and number. It is also prefixed to each of that noun's modifying

adjectives. The initial vowel (همزة الوصل hamzatu-l-was ḥl), is volatile in the sense that it

disappears in sandhi, the article becoming mere l- (although the alif is retained in

orthography in any case as it is based on pausal pronunciation).

Also, the l is assimilated to a number of consonants (dentals and sibilants), so that in

these cases, the article in pronunciation is expressed only by geminating the initial

consonant of the noun (while in orthography, the writing الـ alif lām is retained, and the

gemination may be expressed by putting šadda on the following letter).

The consonants causing assimilation (trivially including ل (l)) are ت (t), ث (ṯ), د (d), ذ (ḏ), ر

(r), ز (z), س (s), ش (š), ص (s ṣ), ض (dṣ), ط (t ṣ), ظ (z ṣ), ل (l), ن (n). These 14 letters are called

'solar letters' (الحروف الشمسية al-h ḥurūf aš-šamsiyya), while the remaining 14 are called

'lunar letters' or 'moon letters' (الحروف القمرية al-h ḥurūf al-qamariyya). The solar letters all

have in common that they are dental, alveolar, and postalveolar consonants (all

coronals) in the classical language, and the lunar consonants are not. (ج īmǧ is

pronounced postalveolar in most varieties of Arabic today, but was actually a palatalized

voiced velar plosive in the classical language, and is thus considered a lunar letter;

nevertheless, in colloquial Arabic, the ج īmǧ is often spoken as if solar.)

[edit] Case

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. The talk page may contain suggestions. (November 2008)

Main article: I ̒ rāb

Arabic has three grammatical cases (حال ت h ḥālāt) roughly corresponding to: nominative,

genitive, and accusative. Normally, singular nouns take the ending -u(n) in the

nominative, -i(n) in the genitive and -a(n) in the accusative. Some exceptional nouns,

known as diptotes (الممنوع من الصرف al-mamnū u mina s ḥ-s ḥarfʻ ), never take the final n, and

have the suffix -a in the genitive except when the diptotic noun is in the definite state

(preceded by al- or is in the construct state). When speaking or reading aloud, the case

endings are generally omitted in less formal registers. Technically, every noun has such

an ending, although at the end of a sentence, no inflection is pronounced, even in formal

speech, because of the rules of 'pause' (الوقف al-waqf).

Case is not shown in standard orthography, with the exception of indefinite accusative

nouns ending in any letter but ة tā marbūt ḥaʼ or ء hamza, where the -a(n) "sits" upon an

alif added to the end of the word (the alif still shows up in unvowelled texts). Cases,

however, are marked in the Qur ānʼ , children's books, primers, and to remove ambiguous

situations. If marked, it is shown at the end of the noun.

[edit] Nominative case

The nominative case (المرفوع al-marfūʻ) is used for:

Subjects of a verbal sentence. Subjects and predicates of an equational (non-verbal) sentence, with some

notable exceptions. Certain adverbs retain the nominative marker. The citation form of words is (if noted at all) in the nominative case.

For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a d ḥamma (-u) for the definite or

d ḥamma + nunation (-un) for the indefinite. The dual and regular masculine plural are

formed by adding -āni and -ūna respectively (-ā and -ū in the construct state). The

regular feminine plural is formed by adding -ātu in the definite and -ātun in the indefinite.

[edit] Accusative case

The accusative case (المنصوب al-mans ḥūb) is used for:

The subject of an equational (non-verbal) sentence, if it is initiated with 'inna, or one of her sisters.

The predicate of kāna/yakūnu "be" and its sisters. Hence, البنت جميلة al-bintu amīlatunǧ "the girl is beautiful" but البنت كانت جميلة al-bintu kānat amīla(tan)ǧ "the

girl was beautiful" (spelling جميلة is not affected here (letter ة) in the unvocalised Arabic). The ending in brackets may not be pronounced in pausa or in informal Arabic.

Both the subject and the predicate of z ḥanna and its sisters in an equational clause.

The object of a transitive verb. Most adverbs. Internal object/cognate accusative structure. The accusative of specification/purpose/circumstantial.

For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a fath ḥa (-a) for the definite or

fath ḥa + nunation (-an) for the indefinite. For the indefinite accusative, the fath ḥa +

nunation is added to an alif e.g. ـاا, which is added to the ending of all nouns (e.g. كان تعباناا

kāna ta bānʻ an "he was tired") not ending with a hamza or tā marbūt ṣaʼ . The dual and

regular masculine plural are formed by adding -ayn(i) and -īn(a) (both spelled ـين in

Arabic) respectively (-ay and -ī in the construct state, both spelled ـي in Arabic). The

regular feminine plural is formed by adding -āt(i) in the definite and -āt(in) in the

indefinite, both spelled ـات in Arabic.

[edit] Genitive case

The genitive case (المجرور al-maǧrūr) is used for:

Objects of prepositions. All, but not necessarily the first member (the first nomen regens), of an id ḥāfaʼ

(genitive construction) . The object of a locative adverb. Semi-prepositions if preceded by another (true or semi) preposition Objects of كم kam "how much/many" and أي ayyʼ "any". Elative (comparative/superlative) adjectives behave similarly: أطول ولد " at ṣwalu ʼ

waladin" "tallest boy('s)".

For singular nouns and broken plurals, it is marked as a kasra (-i) for the definite or

kasra + nunation (-in) for the indefinite. The dual and regular masculine plural are formed

by adding -ayn(i) and -īn(a) respectively (both spelled ـين in Arabic) (-ay and -ī in the

construct state, both spelled ـي in Arabic). The regular feminine plural is formed by

adding -āt(i) in the definite and -āt(in) in the indefinite, both spelled ـات in Arabic.

Note: diptotic nouns receive a fath ḥa (-a) in the genitive indefinite and are never nunated.Note: there is no dative case; instead, the preposition لـ "li-" is used.

[edit] Number

Arabic distinguishes between nouns based on number (عدد adadʻ ). All nouns are either

singular (مفرد múfrad) when there is one, dual (مثنى mu ánnaṯ ) when there are two, and

plural (جمع amǧ ʻ) if there are three or more.

The dual is formed by adding ـان -ān(i) to the noun stem in the nominative and ـين -ayn(i)

in the accusative and genitive.[4] The final vowel "-i" is not pronounced in pausa and

more colloquial forms of Arabic (not affecting the Arabic unvocalised spelling). The final

ending ـن "-ni" is dropped in the idṣāfaʼ construct form (Status constructus), resulting in ـا

-ā and in the nominative and ـي -ay in the accusative and genitive (affects the spelling as

well).

The plurals are formed in two ways. The "sound plurals" are formed by the addition of a

suffix. Masculine sound plurals take the forms ـون "-ūn(a)" in the nominative and ـين "-

īn(a)" in the genitive and accusative. These do not change whether the noun is definite

or indefinite. Note that in written Arabic (without vocalisation) dual and sound plural

forms are spelled identically but pronounced differently. The final "-a" is not pronounced

in pausa and in less formal Arabic.

Feminine indefinite sound plurals take ـات "-āt(un)" in the nominative and ـات "-āt(in)" in

the accusative and genitive. Feminine definite sound plurals take ـات "-āt(u)" in the

nominative and ـات "-āt(i)" in the accusative and genitive. The broken plurals are formed

by altering the vowel structure according to one of about five established patterns. Some

nouns have two or more plural forms, usually to distinguish between different meanings.

All these feminine forms are spelled identically in Arabic, the endings in brackets are not

pronounced in pausa and in less formal Arabic.

[edit] Gender

Arabic has two genders (جنس insǧ ), 'masculine' (مذكر mu ákkarḏ ) and 'feminine' (مؤنث

mu ánnaʼ ṯ), expressed by pronominal, verbal and adjectival agreement. Grammatical

gender is generally aligned with natural gender for animate nouns.

Most feminine nouns end in ـة -at, but some do not (e.g. أ م ummʼ 'mother', أرض ard ḥʼ

'earth').

Already in Classical Arabic, the -t marker was not pronounced in pausa. It is written with

a special letter ة (Arabic: تاء مربوطة tā marbūt ḥaʼ ) indicating that a t sound is to be

pronounced in sandhi, but not in pausa. Strictly speaking, Classical Arabic requires this

letter to be pronounced [h] in pausa (hence its form, a hāʼ with the two dots of a tāʼ), but

in Modern Standard Arabic the letter is most often ignored altogether, so مدينة "city",

"town" is simply pronounced as madīna in less formal Arabic (all cases). Words ending in

.are usually also feminine and are indeclinable ـا

The 'feminine' singular forms are used to express 'singulatives', which are singulars of

collective nouns.

The ending ـة never takes an alif marker in the accusative indefinite but the ending "-tan"

may be still pronounced in non-pausal, formal Arabic.

[edit] Adjective and apposition

In Arabic, adjectives and appositions follow the noun and agree with the preceding noun

in state, gender and case. For example:

Adjective (نعت na tʻ ):o 'al-baytu l-kabīr(u) (البيت الكبير) "the big house"o ra aytu s ḥūra(tan) amīla(tan)ʼ ǧ "I saw a nice picture" (رأيت صورة جميلة)

Apposition:o 'ar-rasūlu Muh ḥammad(un) (الرسول محمد) "the prophet Muhammad"

[edit] Nisba

Further information: Nisbat (Arabic)

The Nisba (النسبة an-nisbah) is a common suffix to form adjectives of relation or

pertinence. The suffix is ـي -iyy- for masculine and ـية -iyya(t)- for feminine gender (in

other words, it is -iyy- and is inserted before the gender marker). E. g. لبنان Lubnān(u)

"Lebanon", لبناني lubnāniyy "Lebanese (singular masculine)", لبنانية lubnāniyya "Lebanese

(singular feminine)", لبنانيون lubnāniyyūn "Lebanese (plural masculine)" لبنانيات lubnāniyyāt

"Lebanese (plural feminine)".

A construct noun and nisba-adjective is often equivalent to nominal composition in

English and other languages (solar cell is equivalent to sun cell).

The Arabic nisba has affected some English adjectives of Arabic or related origin: Iraqi,

Kuwaiti, etc.

[edit] Adverb

z ظرف ḥarf

Adverbials are expressed using adjectives in the indefinite accusative, often written with

the ending ـاا (e.g. اضا ayd أي ḥan "also") but pronounced "-an" even if it's not written (see

accusative), e.g.: قرأ الكتاب قراءة بطيئة qara’a al-kitāba qirā’atan bat ḥī atʼ an, literally: "he read

the book a slow reading"; i.e., "He read the book slowly". This type of construction is

known as the "absolute accusative" (cf. absolute ablative in Latin grammar).

Adverbs can be formed from adjectives, ordinal numerals: ارا ka كثي īranṯ frequently, a lot,

often, ارا ال ,nādiran rarely ناد awwalanʼ أو firstly or from nouns: عاداة ādatanʻ usually, جادا

iddanǧ very.

The second method to form adverbs is to use a preposition and a noun, e. g. بـ bi-, e.g.

bi-sur بسرعةة a(ti)ʻ swift, "with speed", تط bi-d بالضب ḥ-d ḥabt ḥ(i) exactly

[edit] Pronoun

[edit] Personal pronouns

In Arabic, personal pronouns have 12 forms: In singular and plural, the 2nd and 3rd

persons differentiate gender, while the 1st person does not. In the dual, there is no 1st

person, and only a single form for each 2nd and 3rd person. Traditionally, the pronouns

are listed in order 3rd, 2nd, 1st.

Person Singular Dual Plural1st anaʼ (أنا) nah ḥnu (نحن)2nd masculine antaʼ (أنت) antumāʼ (أنتما) antumʼ (أنتم)

feminine antiʼ (أنت) antunnaʼ ان) (أنت

3rdmasculine huwa (هو)

humā (هما)hum (هم)

feminine hiya (هي) hunna (ان (ه

Note:

" antaʼ " is shortened to " antʼ " in pausa, "hunna" is shortened to "hun" in pausa, "nahṣnu" is shortened to "nahṣn" in pausa, " antunnaʼ " is shortened to " antunʼ " in pausa, " antiʼ " is shortened to " antʼ " in pausa, "huwa" is shortened to "huw" in pausa, "hiya" is shortened to "hiy" in pausa.

Dual forms: antumāʼ plural feminine antunnaʼ ,هما and humā أنتما ان are هان and hunna أنت

only used in very formal Arabic.

[edit] Enclitic pronouns

Enclitic forms of personal pronouns (الضمائر المتصلة ad ḥ-d ḥamā iru l-muttas ḥila(tu)ʼ ) may be

affixed to nouns (representing genitive case, possession) and to verbs (representing

accusative, a direct object). Most of them are clearly related to the full personal

pronouns. They are identical in form in both cases, except for the 1st person singular,

which is -ī after nouns (genitive) and -nī after verbs (accusative).

Person Singular Dual Plural1st -(n)ī/-ya ـي -nā ـنا

2ndmasculine -k(a) ـك

-kumā ـكما-kum ـكم

feminine -k(i) ـك-kunn(a)ـكن

3rdmasculine -h(u) ـه

-humā ـهما-hum ـهم

feminine -hā ـها-hunn(a)ـهن

In a less formal Arabic, like in many spoken dialects, -ka and -ki are pronounced as -ak,

and -ik in all case endings; thus the case endings (-u, -i, and -a) are often ignored.

[edit] Demonstratives

There are two demonstratives (أسماء الاشارة asmā u al- išāra(ti)ʼ ʼ ʼ ), near-deictic ('this') and

far-deictic ('that'):

hā aḏ f. hā , هذا ih(i)ḏ pl. hā , هذه ulā (i)ʼ ʼ 'this, these' هؤلء ālik(a)ḏ pl. ulā , تلك f. tilka , ذلك ik(a)ʼ ʼ 'that, those' أولئك

Plural forms of non-human nouns are treated as feminine singular.

Very formal Arabic also presents dual forms:

hā āni/hā ayniḏ ḏ (nom./acc.,gen.) هذين - هذان, f. hātāni/hātayni هتين - هتان 'these two' ānika/ aynikaḏ ḏ (nom./acc.,gen.) ذينك - ذانك, f. tānika/taynika تينك - تانك 'those two'

Some of the demonstratives (hā a, hā ihi, hā āni, hādayni, hātāni, hātayni, hā’ulā’i, ḏ ḏ ḏālikaḏ , and ’ulā’ika should be pronounced with a long "ā", although the unvocalised script

doesn't contain an alif (ا). They have letter ــ "dagger alif" (ألف خنجرية alif an ariyyaḫ ǧ ),

which doesn't exist on Arabic keyboards and is seldom written, even in the vocalised

Arabic.

[edit] Numerals

[edit] Cardinal numerals

Cardinal numerals (العداد الصليية al-a dād al-as ḥliyyaʻ ) from 0-10. Naught is ṣifr, from which

the words "cipher" and "zero" are ultimately derived.

0 ٠ s ḥifr (صفر) 1 ١ wāh ḥid(un) (واحدد) 2 ٢ i nān(i)ʼ ṯ تن) (إثنا 3 ٣ alā a(tun)ṯ ṯ (ثلثدة) 4 ٤ arba a(tun)ʼ ʻ (أربعدة) 5 ٥ amsa(tun)ḫ (خمسدة) 6 ٦ sitta(tun) (ستتة) 7 ٧ sab a(tun)ʻ (سبعدة) 8 ٨ amāniya(tun)ṯ (ثمانيتة) 9 ٩ tis a(tun)ʻ (تسعدة) 10 ١٠ ašara(tun)ʻ (عشردة)

The endings in brackets are dropped in less formal Arabic and in pausa. Note that ة (tā ʼ

marbūt ṣa) is pronounced as simple /a/ in this cases. There are cases when -t in ة must be

pronounced but not the rest of the ending.

) إثنان i nān(i)ʼ ṯ ) is changed to إثنين ( i nayn(i)ʼ ṯ ) in oblique cases. This form is also commonly

used in a less formal Arabic in the nominative case.

The numerals 1 and 2 are adjectives. Thus they follow the noun and agree with gender.

Numerals 3–10 have a peculiar rule of agreement known as polarity: A feminine referrer

agrees with a numeral in masculine gender and vice versa, e.g. alā u fatayātinṯ ṯ ثل ـث )

ةت three girls'. The noun counted takes indefinite genitive plural (as the attribute in a' (فتيا

genitive construct.)

Numerals 11–19 are indeclinable, perpetually in the indefinite accusative. Numbers 11

and 12 show gender agreement in the ones, and 13-19 show polarity in the ones. The

gender of عشر in numbers 11-19 agrees with the counted noun (unlike the standalone

numeral 10 which shows polarity). The counted noun takes indefinite accusative

singular.

11 ah ḥada ašaraʼ ʻ (أحتد عشر) 12 i nā ašaraʼ ṯ ʻ (إثنا عشر) 13 alā ata ašaraṯ ṯ ʻ (ثلثتة عشر)

The numerals 20-99 are followed by a noun in the indefinite accusative singular as well.

There is agreement in gender with the numerals 1 and 2, and polarity for numerals 3–9.

20 išrūn(a)ʻ (dual of 10) (عشرون) 21 wāh ḥidun wa- išrūn(a)ʻ (واحد وعشرون) 22 i nāni wa- išrūn(a)ʼ ṯ ʻ (إثنان وعشرون) 23 alā atu wa- išrūn(a)ṯ ṯ ʻ (ثلثة وعشرون) 30 alā ūn(a)ṯ ṯ (ثلتون) 40 arba ūn(a)ʼ ʻ (أربعون)

Whole hundreds, thousands etc. appear as first terms of genitive constructions, e.g.

alf(u) layla(tin) wa-layla(tun)ʼ (1001 nights) ألف ليلة وليلة

100 mi a(tun)/(h)ʼ (مائة formerly ,مئة) 1000 alf(un)ʼ (ألف)

Fractions of a whole smaller than "half" are expressed by the structure sg. fu lʻ .pl ,(فعل)

af ālʼ ʻ .(أفعال)

half nis ḥf(un)(نصف) one-third ul (un)ṯ ṯ (ثلث) two-thirds ul ān(i)ṯ ṯ (ثلثان) one-fourth rub (un)ʻ (ربع) three-fourths ala atu arbā (in)ṯ ṯ ʻ (ثلثة أرباع) etc.

[edit] Ordinal numerals

Ordinal numerals (العداد الترتيبية al-a dād at-tartiyabiyyatʻ ) higher than "second" are formed

using the structure fā il(un)ʻ , fā ila(tun)ʻ :

m. أول awwal(u)ʼ , f. أولى ūlāʼ "first" m. ةن āninṯ ثا (definite form: الثاني a - āniyyṯ ṯ ), f. ثانية āniyya(tun)ṯ "second" m. ثالث āli (un)ṯ ṯ , f. ثالثة āli a(tun)ṯ ṯ "third" m. رابع rābi (un)ʻ , f. رابعة rābi a(tun)ʻ "fourth" m. خامس āmis(un)ḫ , f. خامسة āmisa(tun)ḫ "fifth" m. سادس sādis(un), f. سادسة sādisa(tun) "sixth"

m. سابع sābi (un)ʻ , f. سابعة sābi a(tun)ʻ "seventh" m. ثامن āmin(un)ṯ , f. ثامنة āmina(tun)ṯ "eighth" m. تاسع tāsi (un)ʻ , f. تاسعة tāsi a(tun)ʻ "ninth" m. عاشر āšir(un)ʻ , f. عاشرة āšira(tun)ʻ "tenth"

etc.

They are adjectives, hence, there is agreement in gender with the noun, not polarity as

with the cardinal numbers. Note that "sixth" uses a different, older root than the number

six.

[edit] Verb

fi فعل lʻ

As in many other Semitic languages, Arabic verb formation is based on a (usually)

triconsonantal root (جذر يثليثي, i r ulā īǧ ḏ ṯ ṯ ), which is not a word in itself but contains the

semantic core. The consonants كـتـب k-t-b, for example, indicate 'write', قـرـء (e.g. قرأ) q-r-ʼ

indicate 'read', ءـكـل (e.g. أكل) -k-lʼ indicate 'eat' etc.; Words are formed by supplying the

root with a vowel structure and with affixes. Traditionally, Arabic grammarians have used

the root فـعـل f- -lʻ 'do' as a template to discuss word formation. The personal forms a verb

can take correspond to the forms of the pronouns, except that in the 3rd person dual,

gender is differentiated, yielding paradigms of 13 forms.

[edit] Conjugation, prefixes and suffixes

iqtirān اقتران

In Arabic the grammatical person and number as well as the mood is designated by a

variety of prefixes and suffixes. Most Arabic verbs are regular and follow the pattern

detailed below.

NOTE: The Arabic example below is the Arabic verb kataba (كتب), "to write". Only the

prefixes and suffixes of the verb have been vocalised, the vocalisation of the stems (تكتتب

for the past and ككـتب for the present) has been omitted for reasons of legibility.

Prefixes and suffixes of the Arabic verbPerfective Imperfective Subjunctive and Jussive

Singular

1stSTEM-t(u) a-STEM

no written changeكتكبـت أكتب

2ndmasculine

STEM-t(a) ta-STEMno written change

تت كتكب تتكتب

feminineSTEM-ti ta-STEM-īn(a) ta-STEM-īتت كتكب تن تتكتتبي تتكتتبي

3rdmasculine

STEM(-a) ya-STEMno written change

تب كت تيكتب

feminineSTEM-at ta-STEM

no written changeكت كتتب تتكتب

Dual

2ndmasculine& feminine

STEM-tumā ta-STEM-ān(i) ta-STEM-āتما كتكبـت تن تتكتتبا تتكتتبا

3rd masculineSTEM-ā ya-STEM-ān(i) ya-STEM-āكتتبا تن تيكتتبا تيكتتبا

feminineSTEM-atā ta-STEM-ān(i) ta-STEM-āكتتبتتا تن تتكتتبا تتكتتبا

Plural

1stSTEM-nā na-STEM

no written changeكتكبتنا تنكتب

2ndmasculine

STEM-tum ta-STEM-ūn(a) ta-STEM-ūكتكبـتم تن تتكتـبو تتكتـبوا

feminineSTEM-tunna ta-STEM-na

no written changeنن كتكبـت تن تتكتكب

3rdmasculine

STEM-ūya-STEM-ūn(a)

ya-STEM-ū

كتـبوا تن تيكتـبو تيكتـبوا

feminineSTEM-na ya-STEM-na

no written changeتن كتكب تن تيكتكب

In unvocalised Arabic, كتكبت - katabtu, katabta, katabti and katabat are all written the

same. Forms katabtu and katabta and even katabti can be abbreviated to "katabt" in

spoken Arabic and in pausa, making them also sound the same.

"kataba" can be abbreviated to "katab" in spoken Arabic and in pausa.

Dual verb and feminine plural forms are only used in very formal Arabic.

.is silent (ū-) ـوا in final (alif) ا

[edit] Perfective/perfect (past tense)

al-mād الماضي ḥī

In the perfective (occasionally called 'perfect') form, the perfective stem fa alʻ is affixed

with a personal ending, e. g. kataba 'he wrote', qara aʼ 'he read'. The perfective

expresses a completed action; i.e. mostly past tense. The second vowel is /a/ in most

verbs, but /i/ in some verbs (especially intransitive) and /u/ in a few (especially stative

verbs whose meaning is "be X" or "become X" where X is an adjective, usually naming a

permanent or semi-permanent quality, e.g. kabura 'he became big, he grew up').

Person Singular Dual Plural

1st fa al-tuʻ ( (فعلـت fa al-nāʻ ( (فعلنا

2ndmasculine fa al-taʻ تت) (فعل

fa al-tumāʻ ( (فعلتماfa al-tumʻ ( (فعلتم

feminine fa al-tiʻ تت) (فعل fa al-tunnaʻ نن) (فعلت

3rdmasculine fa al-aʻ (فعل) fa al-āʻ (فعل) fa al-ūʻ ( فعلوا( [5]

feminine fa al-atʻ كت) (فعل fa al-atāʻ ( (فعلتا fa al-naʻ تن) (فعل

[edit] Imperfective (present tense)

al-mud المضارع ḥāriʻ

The imperfective expresses an action in progress, or incompleted, i.e. mostly present

tense. There are several vowel patterns (a-a, a-u, a-i) the root can take. The root takes a

prefix as well as a suffix to build the verb form. E. g. يكتب yaktubu 'he is writing'. Note the

co-incidence of 3rd f. sg. and 2nd m. sg. To explain the future tense, it is possible to use

the prefix سـ sa- in front of the imperfective forms (or fully written سوف sawfa), e.g. سيكتب

sayaktubu or سوف يكتب sawfa yaktubu "he will write".

Person Singular Dual Plural1st a-f al-uʻ na-f al-uʻ

2ndmasculine ta-f al-uʻ

ta-f al-āniʻta-f al-ūnaʻ

feminine ta-f al-īnaʻ ta-f al-naʻ

3rdmasculine ya-f al-uʻ ya-f al-āniʻ ya-f al-ūnaʻfeminine ta-f al-uʻ ta-f al-āniʻ ya-f al-naʻ

[edit] Mood

h حالة ḥāla

Modal forms can be derived from the imperfective stem: the subjunctive (منصوب mans ḥūb)

by (roughly speaking) replacing the final vowel by a, the jussive (مجزوم ma zūmǧ ) by

dropping this a of the subjunctive. In a less formal Arabic and in spoken dialects, verbs in

the indicative mood (مرفوع marfūʻ) have shortened endings, identical to subjunctive and

jussive.

The imperative (صيغة المر s ḥīġatu l- amr(i)ʼ ) (positive, only 2nd person) is formed by

dropping the verbal prefix from the imperfective jussive stem, e.g. قد م qaddim "present!".

If the result starts with two consonants followed by a vowel ("a" or "i"), an elidible alif is

added to the beginning of the word, usually pronounced as "i", e.g. اغسل iġsilʼ "wash!" or

if افعل alʼ ʻ "do!" if the present form vowel is "u", then the alif is also pronounced as "u", e.g.

uktubʼ اكتب "write!". Negative imperatives are formed from jussive.

Note: the exception to the above rule is the form (or stem) IV verbs. In these verbs a

non-elidible alif pronounced as "a" is always prefixed to the imperfect jussive form, e.g.

arsilʼ أرسل "send!", 6[أضف[ ad ḥifʼ "add!".

The subjunctive is used in subordinate clauses after certain conjunctions. The jussive is

used in negation, in negative imperatives, and in the hortative li+jussive. For example: 2.

sg. m.:

imperfect indicative taf aluʻ 'you are doing' subjunctive an taf alaʻ 'that you do' jussive lā taf alʻ 'do not!' energic taf alannaʻ imperative if alʼ ʻ 'do!'.

[edit] Voice

s صيغة ḥīġa

Arabic has two verbal voices, active (صيغة المعلوم s ḥīġatu l-ma lūmʻ ), and passive ( صيغة

s المجهول ḥīġatu l-ma hūlǧ ). The passive voice is expressed by a change in vocalization and

is normally not expressed in unvocalized writing. For example:

active فعل fa alaʻ 'he did', يفعل yaf aluʻ 'he is doing' تل تع تف passive فعل fu ilaʻ 'it was done', يفعل yuf aluʻ 'it is being done' تل تع ـف

Notice that active and passive forms are spelled identically in Arabic.

[edit] Weak roots

Roots containing one or two of the radicals w (wāw), y (yāʼ) or ʼ (hamza) often lead to

verbs with special phonological rules because these radicals can be influenced by their

surroundings. Such verbs are called 'weak' (verba infirma, 'weak verbs') and their

paradigms must be given special attention. In the case of hamza, these peculiarities are

mainly orthographical, since hamza is not subject to elision (the orthography of hamza

and alif is unsystematic due to confusion in early Islamic times). According to the

position of the weak radical in the root, the root can be classified into four classes: first

weak, second weak, third weak and doubled, where both the second and third radicals

are identical. Some roots fall into more than one category at once.

[edit] Formation of derived stems ("forms")

Arabic verb morphology includes augmentations of the root. Some augmentations are

lexical derivations (they result in "new words"), but others are inflectional: they are part

of the verb's conjugation. Western scholars have assigned Roman numerals to the

various patterns of derivation, which are called "forms". Also, the root is designated

"Form I". A particular form does not have a consistent meaning across verbs, although, it

has a "usual" meaning. In addition, no verb root has all the derivations. The forms

numbered beyond Roman numeral X are rare and obsolescent, for which reason many

elementary grammars omit them.

In the following chart, a boldfaced transliteration indicates a word that would actually

exist in an Arabic lexicon for this particular root (ف - ع - ل) (f - - lʻ - right-to-left).

Verbs[7] Derived nouns[8]

Active voice Passive voiceActive participle

Passive participle

Masṣdar

Past (3rdsg. masc.)

Present (3rd sg. masc.)

Past (3rd sg. masc.)

Present (3rd sg. masc.)

Sg. masc. nom.

I fa alaʻ yaf aluʻ fu ilaʻ yuf aluʻ fā ilunʻ maf ūlunʻ ManyII fa alaʻʻ yufa iluʻʻ fu ilaʻʻ yufa aluʻʻ mufa ilunʻʻ mufa alunʻʻ taf īlunʻIII fā alaʻ yufā iluʻ fū ilaʻ yufā aluʻ mufā ilunʻ mufā alunʻ fi ālunʻIV af alaʼ ʻ yuf iluʻ uf ilaʼ ʻ yuf aluʻ muf ilunʻ muf alunʻ if ālunʼ ʻV tafa alaʻʻ yatafa aluʻʻ tufu ilaʻʻ yutafa aluʻʻ mutafa ilunʻʻ mutafa alunʻʻ tafa ulunʻʻVI tafā alaʻ yatafā aluʻ tufū ilaʻ yutafā aluʻ mutafā ilunʻ mutafā alunʻ tafā ulunʻVII infa alaʻ yanfa iluʻ n/a munfa ilunʻ munfa alunʻ infi ālunʻVIII ifta alaʻ yafta iluʻ uftu ilaʻ yufta aluʻ mufta ilunʻ mufta alunʻ ifti ālunʻIX if allaʻ yaf alluʻ n/a muf allunʻ n/a if ilālunʻX istaf alaʻ yastaf iluʻ ustuf ilaʻ yustaf aluʻ mustaf ilunʻ mustaf alunʻ istif ālunʻXII if aw alaʻ ʻ yaf aw iluʻ ʻ uf ulilaʻ yuf aw aluʻ ʻ muf aw ilunʻ ʻ muf aw alunʻ ʻ if ī ālunʻ ʻ

The vowels for the various forms are summarized in this table:

Active voice Passive voiceActive participle

Passive participle

Masṣdar

Past (3rdsg. masc.)

Present (3rd sg. masc.)

Past (3rd sg. masc.)

Present (3rd sg. masc.)

Before first root consonant (if vowel is present)

a in Forms IV-VI. In Forms VII-XII one has i when the hamza is not elided.

a except in Forms II-IV, where it's u.

u

u, and a after the t of Forms V and VI

u

u except inForm I where it's a.

a in Forms II,V, and VI. In Forms VII-XII one has i when the hamza is notelided.

Just before 2nd root consonant

a, ā, or none

a, ā, or none

u, ū, or none

a, ā, or none

a, ā, or none

a, ā, or none

i, a, ā, or none

Just before third root consonant

a Form I a, i, or u. a in Forms V, VI, and

i a i except in Form IX where it's a.

a except inForm I where it's ū.

ī in Form II, u in Forms Vand VI, ā elsewhere

IX, i in others.

After final root consonant, 3rd person sing. indicative

a u a u n/a n/a n/a

The middle vocal in form I active voice can be a, i or u, depending on the root applied in

form I. The exact vocalization depends on the word form. Forms XI (if āllaʻ ), XIII

(if awwalaʻ ), XIV (if anlalaʻ ), and XV (if anlāʻ ) are very rare.[9]

Common uses of those stems include:

fa alaʻʻ is often used to make an intransitive verb transitive. Eg: karuma is "be noble" but karrama is "make (someone) to be noble", or, more idiomatically, to "honor".

infa alaʻ gives a passive meaning. Eg: kasara "break" and inkasara "be broken". if allaʻ is used only to render stative verbs meaning "to be or become X" where X

is a color or physical defect, eg: ih ḥmarra "turn red, blush" or it ḥrašša "go deaf".

A more complete list of meanings is found at Wiktionary's appendix on Arabic verb

forms.

[edit] Participle

Every verb has a corresponding active participle, and most have passive participles. E.g.

mu allimʻ 'teacher' is the active participle to stem II. of the root -l-mʻ ('know').

The active participle to Stem I is fā ilunʻ , and the passive participle is maf ūlunʻ . Stems II-X take prefix mu- and nominal endings for both the participles, active

and passive. The difference between the two participles is only in the vowel between the last two root letters, which is -i- for active and -a- for passive (e.g. II. active mu-fa il-unʻʻ , and passive mu-fa al-unʻʻ ').

[edit] Verbal noun (masṣdar)

In addition to a participle, there is a verbal noun (in Arabic, مصدر mas ḥdar, literally

meaning "source") sometimes called a gerund, which is similar to English gerunds and

verb-derived nouns of various sorts (e.g. 'running' and 'a run' from 'to run'; 'objection'

from 'to object'). As shown by the English examples, its meaning refers both to the act of

doing something and (by frequent semantic extension) to its result. One of its syntactic

functions is as a verbal complement of another verb, and this usage it corresponds to

the English gerund or infinitive (He prevented me from running or He began to run).

verbal noun formation to stem I is irregular.

the verbal noun to stem II is taf īlunʻ . For example: ta rī unʼ ḫ 'date, history' is the verbal noun to stem II. of -r-ʼ ḫ ('date').

stem III often forms its verbal noun with the feminine form of the passive participle, so for sā adaʻ , "he helped", produces the verbal noun musā adatunʻ . There are also some verbal noun of the form fi ālunʻ : āhadaǧ , "he strove", yields

ihādunǧ (a struggle for a cause or purpose).

Some well-known examples of verbal nouns are Fatḥ (see Fatḥ) (Form I), Tanẓīm (Form

II), jihād (Form III), Islām (Form IV), Intifāḍa (feminine of Form VIII verbal noun), and

Istiqlāl (Form X).

[edit] Syntax

[edit] Genitive construction ( idṣāfaʼ )

A noun may be defined more closely by a subsequent noun in the genitive (إضافة idṣāfaʼ ,

literally "an addition"). The relation is hierarchical; the first term (المضاف al-mud ḥāf) governs

the second term (المضاف إليه al-mud ḥāf ilayhi). E. g. بيت رجل baytu ra ul(in)ǧ 'the house of a

man', 'a man's house'. The construction as a whole represents a nominal phrase, the

state of which is inherited from the state of the second term. The first term must "be in

construct state", namely, it cannot carry the definite article nor the tanween. Genitive

constructions of multiple terms are possible. In this case, all but the final term take

construct state, and all but the first member take the genitive case.

This construction is typical for a Semitic language. In many cases the two members

become a fixed coined phrase, the idṣāfaʼ being used as the equivalent of nominal

composition in some Indo-European languages (which does not exist in Arabic). بيت الطلبة

baytu-t ḥ-t ḥalabati thus may mean either 'house of the (certain, known) students' or 'the

student hostel'.

Note: ة (tā marbūt ṣaʼ ) of the first term must always have a pronounced -t (after /a/). This

applies to spoken Arabic as well.

[edit] Word order

Classical Arabic tends to prefer the word order VSO (verb before subject) rather than

SVO (subject before verb). However, the word order is fairly flexible, since words are

tagged by case endings. Subject pronouns are normally omitted except for emphasis or

when using a participle as a verb (participles are not marked for person). Auxiliary verbs

precede main verbs, and prepositions precede their objects.

Adjectives follow the noun they are modifying, and agree with the noun in case, gender,

number, and state: For example, بنت جميلة "bint(un) amīla(tun)ǧ " "a beautiful girl" but البنت

-al-bintu l" الجميلة amīla(tu)ǧ " "the beautiful girl". (Compare البنت جميلة "al-bint(u) amīla(tun)ǧ "

"the girl is beautiful".) Elative adjectives, however, precede their modifying noun, do not

agree with it, and require that the noun be in the genitive case (see below).

Note that case endings are dropped in pausal forms, in colloquial Arabic and in less

formal MSA ("Formal Spoken Arabic"), hence SVO is more common in spoken Arabic.

[edit] innaʼ

The subject of a sentence can be topicalized and emphasized by moving it to the

beginning of the sentence and preceding it with the word إن innaʼ ~"indeed". Examples

are إنك أنت جميل " innaka anta amīlunʼ ǧ " "You are beautiful indeed" or إن السماء زرقاء " inna s-ʼ

samā’a zarqā’u" "The sky is blue indeed". (In older texts, " innaʼ " was translated "verily".)

" innaʼ ", along with its "sister" terms أن " annaʼ " ("that", as in "I think that ..."), " innaʼ " ("that"

after قال/يقول qāla/yaqūlu "say"), ولكن "(wa-)lākin(na)" "but" and كأن "ka’anna" "as if" require

that they be immediately followed by a noun in the accusative case, or an attached

pronominal suffix.

[edit] Numbers

Numbers behave in a quite complicated fashion. "wāhṣid-" "one" and " i nān-ʼ ṯ " "two" are

adjectives, following the noun and agreeing with it. " alā at-ṯ ṯ " "three" through " ašarat-ʻ "

"ten" require a following noun in the genitive plural, but agree with the noun in gender,

while taking the case required by the surrounding syntax. " ahṣada ašaraʼ ʻ " "eleven"

through "tis ata ašaraʻ ʻ " "nineteen" require a following noun in the accusative singular,

agree with the noun in gender, and are invariable for case, except for " i nā ašara/ i nayʼ ṯ ʻ ʼ ṯ

ašaraʻ " "twelve". Numbers above this behave entirely as nouns, showing case

agreement as required by the surrounding syntax, no gender agreement, and a following

noun in a fixed case. " išrūnaʻ " "twenty" through "tis ūnaʻ " "ninety" require the accusative

singular; "mi at-ʼ " "hundred" and up require the genitive singular. The numbers

themselves decline in various fashions; for example, " išrūnaʻ " "twenty" through "tis ūnaʻ "

"ninety" decline as masculine plural nouns, while "mi at-ʼ " "hundred" declines as a

feminine singular noun and " alf-ʼ " "thousand" as a masculine singular noun. "mi at-ʼ "

"hundred" and " alf-ʼ " "thousand" can themselves be modified by numbers (to form

numbers such as 200 or 5,000) and will be declined appropriately. ("mi atāniʼ " and "200"

" alfāniʼ " "2,000" with dual endings; " alā atu ālāfinṯ ṯ ʼ " "3,000" with " alfʼ " in the plural

genitive, but " alā u mi atinṯ ṯ ʼ " "300" since "mi at-ʼ " appears to have no plural.) In compound

numbers, the last number dictates the declension of the associated noun. Large

compound numbers can be extremely complicated, e.g.:

" alfun wa-tis u mi atin wa-tis u sinīn(a)ʼ ʻ ʼ ʻ " "1,909 years" "ba da alfin wa-tis i mi atin wa-tis i sinīn(a)ʻ ʼ ʻ ʼ ʻ " "after 1,909 years" " arba atun wa-tis ūna alfan wa- amānu-mi atin wa- alā atun wa-sittūna ʼ ʻ ʻ ʼ ṯ ʼ ṯ ṯ

sanat(an)" "94,863 years" "ba da arba atin wa-tis īna alfan wa- amānī-mi atin wa- alā atin wa-sittīna ʻ ʼ ʻ ʻ ʼ ṯ ʼ ṯ ṯ

sanat(an)" "after 94,863 years" " i nā ašara alfan wa-mi atāni wa- nāni wa- išrūna sanat(an)ʼ ṯ ʻ ʼ ʼ ṯ ʻ " "12,222 years" "ba da i nay ašara alfan wa-mi atayni wa- nayni wa- išrīna sanat(an)ʻ ʼ ṯ ʻ ʼ ʼ ṯ ʻ " "after

12,222 years" " i nā ašara alfan wa-mi atāni wa-sanatān(i)ʼ ṯ ʻ ʼ ʼ " "12,202 years" "ba da i nay ašara alfan wa-mi atayni wa-sanatayn(i)ʻ ʼ ṯ ʻ ʼ ʼ " "after 12,202 years"

[edit] Other

Object pronouns are clitics and are attached to the verb, e.g. arā-hā "I see her".

Possessive pronouns are likewise attached to the noun they modify, e.g. "kitābu-hu" "his

book". The definite article "al-" is a clitic, as are the prepositions "li-" "to" and "bi-"

"in/with" and the conjunctions "ka-" "as" and "fa-" "thus, so".

[edit] See also

Arabic language Irab (إعراب) Literary Arabic Varieties of Arabic Arabic alphabet Quranic Arabic Corpus Romanization of Arabic WikiBook: Learn Arabic

[edit] References

^ Goodchild, Philip. Difference in Philosophy of Religion, 2003. Page 153.

^ Sayce, Archibald Henry. Introduction to the Science of Language, 1880. Page 28.

^ Alaa Elgibali and El-Said M. Badawi. Understanding Arabic: Essays in Contemporary Arabic Linguistics in Honor of El-Said M. Badawi, 1996. Page 105.

^ Haywood and Nahmad (1965) 'A new Arabic Grammar' 2nd edition, p.40

^ In Arabic texts, An Alef ( in 3rd person masculine (و) is added after the Waw (اpronouns, but is not voiced. It is called ألف التفريق (distinction Alef)

^ Note: When a verb in Arabic ends with a vowel, the vowel is replaced with the corresponding short vocal when converted into imparitive.

^ In 'sound' verbs, the root consonants (radicals) appear unchanged in inflected forms; verbs which are not sound are called 'weak', and either have hamza (ء), wāw (و), or yāʼ (ي) as one of their radicals, or have the same radical in the middleand final position.

^ Though not considered verbs, these derived nouns have a meaning related to the verb. These are listed under chapters of verbs in Karen Rydings "A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic" (2005)

^ W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, 3rd edition, 1896, vol. I, p. 29. ISBN 1843560283 (reprint)

[edit] External links