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Let's Learn Some Arabic

Greetings Pronouns Questions Directions Useful “I’s” Basics Counting

Greetings

Hello Marhaba

How are you? Keef Halek

Good Morning Sabah Al Kair

Good Evening Masaa Al Kair

Good Kowaies

Very Good Kowaies Kateer

Please Min Fadlak

Thank you Shoo kran

Excuse Me Ismahlee

Never mind Maa leesh

OK Taieb

Yes Aiwa

No La

Maybe Yimken

None, nothing, nobody

Mafee

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Directions

Go Rooh

Stop Wagef

Turn Left Lif Yassar

Turn Right Lif Yameen

Straight Ahead Ala Tool

Slowly Shway Shway

Wait or Stay Estanna

Show me War Keni

Here Hena

There Hennak

Before Gabel

After Ba ad

Now Al Ann

From Min

To or At (a place) Ala

Wait 1 minute Wahad da ghee ga

Basics & General

Money Feloos

Coffee Gahwah

Sugar Sokar

Salt Melh

Car Sayara

Hotel Fon doq

Water Moya

Tea Shahi

Milk Haleeb

Work Shoghol

Airplane Tayarah

Street Sharee

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Pronouns

I Ana

You (to woman) Intee

You (to man) Inta

He Whowa

She Heeya

We Nihna

They Home

Asking Questions

Who? Meen

What? Aish

When? Meta

Where? Fayn

Why? Lay ish

How much? Kum

How much is this? Kum Hada

Where are you from? Min Fain Inta

Understand? Maf Hoom

Do you speak English? Tet Kalam Ingleezi

Useful “I”s

I want Ana abgha

I don’t want Ana ma abgha

I have Ana endi

I don’t have Ana ma endi

I don’t understand Ana ma fehempt

I work at the Ana bash taghel fi

I don’t speak Arabic Ana la tet kalam al Arabiah

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Counting & Numbers

0 Zero Sifir 1 One Wahid

2 Two Ithnin 3 Three Thalatha

4 Four Arba 5 Five Khamsa

6 Six Sitta 7 Seven Saba

8 Eight Thamania 9 Nine Tisa

10 Ten Ashra 20 Twenty Ashreen

30 Thirty Thala theen

40 Forty Arba en

50 Fifty Khamseen 60 Sixty Sitteen

70 Seventy

Saba en 80 Eighty Thaman en

90 Ninety Tisa en 100 Hundred

Mia

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LESSONS 1 - 9

GREETINGS AND INTRODUCTIONS

Mar aba--Hello!

Ahlan wa Sahlan--Welcome!

As-Salaamu cAlaykum--Hello. "Peace be upon you"

Wa cAlaykum as-Salaam--Response "and on you be peace"

Maca as-Salaama--Goodbye "go in safety"

Yaa... --Hey! (used only with person's name or title)

Anaa--I

Anta--(also Inta)--you, masculine singular

Anti (also Inti)--you, feminine singular

Huwa--he

Hiya--she

Ismii.... --My name is...

Maa ismak? What is your name? (to a male)

Maa ismik? What is your name? (to a female)

Ustaath--male teacher

Ustaathah--female teacher

Tilmiith--Male student, pupil. (elementary/middle school)

Tilmiithah--Female student, pupil.

Taalib--Male student (high school or college)

Taalibah--Female student

Madrasah--School

Jaamicah--University

Min--from

Ayna--Where?

Min ayna anti? Where are you (f) from?

Min ayna huwa? Where is he from?

Anaa min Philadelphia--I am from Philadelphia.

Hiya min Lubnan--She is from Lebanon.

Man?--Who?

Man Hiya?--Who is she?

Man huwa?--Who is he?

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Huwa Ustaath fii Jaamicat Pennsylvania.--He is a professor at U. Penn.

Hiya tilmiithah fii Madrasat Turner.--She is a student at Turner School.

abaa al-Khayr--Good Morning! (Morning of Goodness!)

abaa an-Nuur--(response) And Good Morning to you! (Morning of Light!)

Masaa' al-Khayr--Good Afternoon/Evening!

Masaa' an-Nuur--(response) And Good Afternoon to you!

Kayf--How?

al- aal--the situation or condition

Kayf al- aal?--How are you?

Bi-khayr--Fine, good, well

Anaa bi-khayr--I'm fine.

al- amdu li-Llah!--God be praised! (said in response to question How are you?)

Wa anti/anta?--and you?

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LESSON 2: Arab and Islamic Names

Most Arab names really mean something in Arabic--many are pleasant or desirable

qualities--they are real words in Arabic and so can be used as names or adjectives--for

example....

A mad--most praiseworthy

Ma muud--commendable

Saciid--happy

Sucaad--happiness

Widaad--love, friendship

Amal--hope

Arab names also found in the Bible and their English equivalents

Old Testament

Ibrahiim--Abraham

Muusa--Moses

Da'uud--David

Mikha'iil--Michael

Yuusuf--Joseph

Saara--Sarah

Nuu --Noah

Yacquub--Jacob

Sulaymaan--Solomon

New Testament

Ya ya--John cIsa--Jesus

Butrus--Peter

Bulus--Paul

Maryam--Mary

Girgis--George

Prophet Muhammad's family and early leaders of Islam:

Mu ammad--means praised, commendable

Khadiija--Prophet's first wife cAli--Prophet's son-in-law--means lofty or exalted

Faa ima--Prophet's daughter, married to cAli

cAa'isha--one of Prophet's wives--means prosperous

asan--Prophet's grandson, son of cAli --beautiful, handsome

usayn--Prophet's grandson, son of cAli --little beauty

cUmar--second Caliph-(succeeder to Prophet Mu ammad

as leader of Islamic community) cUthmaan--third Caliph

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Bilaal--first Muezzin (caller of Muslims to daily prayers)

Peoples' names based on Names of God

Another class of Muslim names is based on the names of God in Arabic. Allah

means The God--The same God whom Jews and Christians worship

The 99 Names of God--called The Most Beautiful Names--have to do with God's

many attributes: such as, All-Seeing, All-Knowing, All-Powerful

We do this as well--example we say "The Almighty" to refer to God

cAbd--is an Arabic word meaning servant or slave

Not all of the 99 names of God are used as names for people.

Some of the most popular ones are:

cAbd Allah --Servant of God

cAbd al-

cAziiz --Servant of The Almighty

cAbd al-Ra maan --Servant of The Merciful

cAbd al-Ra iim --Servant of The Compassionate

cAbd al- akiim --Servant of The Wise

cAbd al-Kariim --Servant of The Generous

cAbd al-Jabbaar --Servant of The Compeller

cAbd al-Majiid --Servant of The Glorious

cAbd al-Malik --Servant of The King, The Ruler of All

cAbd al-Qaadir --Servant of The All-Powerful

There is no such name as "Abdul" by itself--it would mean "servant of the.....", that is,

"Abdul" would be only half a name...

As first names, these are all for males, but they can be used as last names for anyone.

In fact, many Arab names can be used as both first and last names. This is partly

because many Arabs take their father's first name as their own last name.

You may also hear the words Abu, Umm, Ibn, or Bint in people's names. Abu means

father, Umm means mother, Ibn means son, and Bint means daughter. So if a man is

named Mu ammad, you would call his father Abu Mu ammad and his mother Umm

Mu ammad. You would call his son Ibn Mu ammad, and his daughter is Bint

Mu ammad.

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When Arab women get married, they usually keep their own family name.

0 ifr

1 Waa id

2 Ithnaan (Ithnayn)

3 Thalaatha

4 Arbaca

5 Khamsa

6 Sitta

7 Sabca

8 Thamaaniya

9 Tisca

10 cAshara

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Lesson 46

Days of the Week

Yawm = Day

al-Yawm = Today

Usbuuc = Week

Ghaddan or Bukrah = Tomorrow

Ams or Imbaari = Yesterday

Learning the days of the week is easy if you remember how to count from 1 to 5.

Just remember that the first day of the week is Sunday.

Waa id 1

Ithnaan 2

Thalaatha 3

Arbaca 4

Khamsa 5

(Yawm) al-A ad Sunday (the first day)

(Yawm) al-Ithnayn Monday (the second day)

(Yawm) ath-Thulathaa' Tuesday (the third day)

(Yawm) al-Arbicaa' Wednesday (the fourth day)

(Yawm) al-Khamiis Thursday (the fifth day)

(Yawm) al-Jumcah Friday (the day of coming together for prayer)

(Yawm) as-Sabt Saturday (the Sabbath day)

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LESSONS 30 & 31

INTRODUCTION TO VERBS

Adrus = I study.

Askun = I live.

Adrus al-lughah al-cArabiyya. = I study the Arabic language.

Adrus fii Madrasat Shaw. = I study at the Shaw School.

Askun fii madiinat Philadelphia. = I live in the city of Philadelphia.

Askun fii wilaayat Pennsylvania. = I live in the state of Pennsylvania.

Ayna tadrus? = Where do you (m.) study?

Ayna tadrusii? = Where do you (f.) study?

Ayna taskun? = Where do you (m.) live?

Ayna taskunii? = Where do you (f.) live?

Here is how we conjugate several verbs: study, live, work, and write. Practice

repeating them out loud.

Adrus - I study

Tadrus - You (m.) study

Tadrusii - You (f.) study

Tadrus - She studies

Yadrus - He studies

Nadrus - We study

Askun - I live

Taskun - You (m.) live

Taskunii - You (f.) live

Taskun - She lives

Yaskun - He lives

Naskun - We live

Acmal - I work

Tacmal - You (m.) work

Tacmalii - You (f.) work

Tacmal - She works

Yacmal - He works

Nacmal - We work

Aktub - I write

Taktub - You (m.) write

Taktubii - You (f.) write

Taktub - She writes

Yaktub - He writes

Naktub - We write

Ayna yaskun cOmar? = Where does Omar live?

Ayna taskun Fa ima? = Where does Fatima live?

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Ayna yacmal A mad? = Where does Ahmad work?

Ayna tacmal

cA'isha? = Where does Aisha work?

Nacmal fii Philadelphia wa naskun fii New Jersey.

We work in Philadelphia and live in New Jersey.

Ayna Yaskun Ustaath Arnab ? Huwa yaskun fii wilaayat Jersey al-Jadiid.

Where does Mr. Rabbit live? He lives in the state of New Jersey.

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Lessons 25 & 26

Nouns and Adjectives

A noun is a person, place or thing. "Proper nouns" are the names of people, places or

things, such as "Philadelphia," or "Ben Franklin." All nouns in Arabic are either

"masculine" or "feminine" in gender. In this way, Arabic is similar to most European

languages, such as French, Spanish or German, which all have genders for their

nouns. This makes sense when you're talking about nouns that are for people, such

as:

Masculine Human Nouns

Mudarris - male teacher

Ustaath - male professor

Waalid - father

Walad - boy

Akh - brother

Jadd - grandfather

Feminine Human Nouns

Mudarrisa - female teacher

Ustaatha - female professor

Waalida - mother

Bint - girl

Ukht - sister

Jadda - grandmother

But for speakers of English, it can be confusing to talk about the gender of non-human

objects, such as the following:

Masculine Non-human Nouns

Kitaab - book

Ism - name, noun

Baab - door

Al-Maghrib - Morocco

Qalam - pen

Dars - lesson

Bayt - house

Arnab - rabbit

Feminine Non-human Nouns

Madrasah - school

Sayyaarah - car

Lughah - language

Mi r - Egypt

Madiinah - city

Taawilah - table

Ziraafah - giraffe

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Fortunately, in Arabic it is usually easy to tell if a noun is masculine or feminine.

Look at the examples above. You will notice that most of the feminine nouns end

with an "-ah" sound. This is how you can tell that the noun is feminine. It's a lot

easier than French or German, where you have to memorize the gender of every

noun. However, for some proper nouns, like Misr or al-Maghrib, you still need to

memorize whether it's masculine or feminine.

An adjective is a word which describes a noun. Here are some common adjectives:

Adjectives

Kabiir - big

aghiir - small

Jadiid - new

Qadiim - old

Jamiil - beautiful

Tawiil - long, tall

Qa iir - short

acb - difficult

Sahl - easy

In Arabic, the adjective follows the noun it describes--the opposite of English. An

adjective must "agree" in gender with the noun it describes: If the noun is masculine,

the adjective must be masculine. If the noun is feminine, the adjective must be

feminine. You make the adjective feminine simply by adding the "-ah" sound at the

end. Look at the following examples:

Kitaab qadiim = an old book

Walad jamiil = a handsome boy

Taalib jadiid = a new student

Baab aghiir = a small door

Bint jamiilah = a beautiful girl

Sayyaarah jadiidah = a new car

Madrasah kabiirah = a big school

Lughah qadiimah = an ancient language

An adjective must also agree with the noun it describes in "definiteness". Remember,

you make a noun definite in Arabic by adding the "al-" (The) at the beginning.

(Arnab = rabbit, al-arnab = the rabbit) So if the noun has an "al-" the adjective which

describes it also has to have an "al-." Look at the following examples:

bayt qadiim = an old house

al-bayt al-qadiim = the old house

walad awiil = a tall boy

al-walad a - awiil = the tall boy

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dars acb = a difficult lesson

ad-dars a - acb = the difficult lesson

qalam jadiid = a new pen

al-qalam al-jadiid = the new pen

aawilah jamiilah = a beautiful table

a - aawilah al-jamiilah = the beautiful table

madiinah kabiirah = a big city

al-madiinah al-kabiirah = the big city

lughah sahlah = an easy language

al-lughah as-sahlah = the easy language

Mi r al-qadiimah = ancient Egypt

(Egypt is a proper noun, so it is definite)

Notice that with some of the words above, the "al-" has changed to "at-," "as-," etc.

This has to do with the way the "definite article" Al- is pronounced in combination

with certain letters. We will talk more about that later. For now, just pronounce the

words the way they are written above.

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LESSON 33

PREPOSITIONS

Here are some prepositions--those little words that show the relation of one thing to

another. Prepositions are an important part of putting sentences together. They are

not always the exact equivalent of the English translation.

Prepositions:

Fii - In, at

Fawqa - Above

Ta ta - Below cAlaa - On, upon

Janba - Next to, beside

Maca - With

Let's practice putting sentences together using some new vocabulary words as well as

the ones we know already:

Madrasah - School

Bayt - House

Maktab - Office

Macam - Restaurant

Shaaric - Street

Philadelphia madiinah fii Pennsylvania. = Philly is a city in Pennsylvania.

Beirut madiinah fii Lubnaan. = Beirut is a city in Lebanon.

A mad fii al-maktab maca John. = Ahmad is in the office with John.

Ayna al-macam al-jadiid? = Where is the new restaurant?

Al-macam al-jadiid fii shaari

c Walnut. = The new restaurant is on Walnut Street.

As-sayyaarah fii ash-shaari c. = The car is in the street.

Fa imah taskun fawqa al-maktab. = Fatimah lives above the office.

Anaa askun maca usratii. = I live with my family.

Al-bayt janba al-madrasah. = The house is next to the school.

Al-asad janba al-arnab. = The lion is beside the rabbit.

Al-daftar calaa a - aawilah. = The notebook is on the table.

Ayna al-qaamuus? = Where is the dictionary?

Al-qaamuus ta t al-kursii. = The dictionary is under the chair.

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LESSON 35

POSSESSION

There are several ways to express possession in Arabic. The easiest ways are to just

use a preposition, which is followed by a pronoun suffix. The preposition "li" means

"to or for" so if you add the suffix "-k" for you, masculine, you get "liik" meaning

"to you, for you," but it also is used to mean "you have." This expression is usually

used for things that you cannot possess physically (intangibles) such as relationships.

Lii = I have

Liik (laka) = you m. have

Liiki (laki) = you f. have

Lahu = he has

Lahaa = she has

Linaa (lana) = we have

Liiku (lakum) = you pl. have

Lahum = they have

Lii akh wa ukht. = I have a brother and a sister

Lahaa sadiiq min Lubnaan. = She has a friend from Lebanon.

Lahu usrah kabiirah. = He has a big family.

Lahum jadd fii Kuwayt. = They have a grandfather in Kuwait.

The preposition "cinda" (sometimes pronounced "

canda") is used to indicate

possession of things you own, like a car or a pencil.

cindii = I have

cindak = you m. have

cindik = you f. have

cinduh = he has

cindahaa = she has

cindanaa = we have

cindakum = you pl. have

cindahum = they have

cIndii sayyaarah qadiimah. = I have an old car.

cIndahaa qaamuus jadiid. = She has a new dictionary.

cIndanaa maktab kabiir. = We have a large office.

Sometimes you can use either "li" or "cinda."

Lii su'aal/ cindii su'aal. = I have a question.

When you are asking a yes or no question, you put the short word "hal" in front of the

question. This is used usually if you are writing or speaking formally. Usually, in

conversation, you do not say "hal" but indicate that you are asking a question by your

intonation, raising the tone of the word you are asking about.

(Hal) cindak qalam?/

cindik qalam? = Do you (m/f) have a pen?

(Hal) cinduh sayyaarah? = Does he have a car?

(Hal) Liik akh? / Liiki akh? = Do you (m/f) have a brother?

(Hal) taskun fii bayt? = Do you (m.) live in a house?

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ARAB COUNTRIES Capitals

Algeria Al-Jazaa'ir Algiers (Al-Jazaa'ir)

Bahrain Al-Ba rayn Manama

Egypt Mi r (Ma r) Cairo (al-Qaahirah)

Iraq Al-cIraaq Baghdad

Jordan Al-Urdunn cAmman

Kuwait Al-Kuwayt Kuwayt City

Lebanon Lubnaan Beirut

Libya Liibyaa Tripoli (at-Tarablus)

Mauritania Muuriitaaniyaa Nouakchatt

Morocco Al-Maghrib Rabat

Oman cUmaan Muscat

Palestine Filas iin

Qatar Qatar Doha

Saudi Arabia As-Sacuudiyya Riyadh

Somalia A - uumaal Mogadishu

Syria Suuryaa Damascus (Dimashq)

Sudan As-Suudaan Khartoum

Tunisia Tuunis Tunis

United Arab Emirates Al-Imaaraat Abu Dhabi

Yemen Al-Yaman ancaa

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OTHER COUNTRIES

America Amriikaa

Britain Barii aaniyaa

Canada Kanadaa

China A - iin

Ethiopia Athyuubiyaa

France Faransaa

Germany Almaaniyaa

Greece Al-Yuunaan

India Al-Hind

Indonesia Induuniisiyaa

Iran Iiraan

Israel Israa'iil

Italy Ii aaliyaa

Japan Al-Yaabaan

Mexico Al-Maksiik

Pakistan Al-Baakistaan

Poland Buuluuniyaa

Russia Ruusiyaa

Senegal Sinighaal

Turkey Turkiyaa

SCIENCE AND MATH

Alchemy Alcohol

Algebra Algorithm

Alkaline Almanac

Antimony Azimuth

Chemistry Cipher

Elixir Sine

Soda Zenith

Zero

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Names of many stars ( Altair, Betelgeuse, Fomalhaut, Rigel, Vega, etc.)

TRADE, COMMODITIES AND MILITARY

Admiral

Amber

Arsenal

Average

Borax

Caliber

Carafe

Cotton

Gauze

Hazard

Henna

Jar

Lapis

Lazuli

Magazine

Ream (of

paper) Safari

Sash

Satin

Talcum

Swahili

Zircon

Tariff

FOODS AND SPICES

Alfalfa

Apricot

Artichoke

Cafe

Candy

Caraway

Coffee

Cafe

Carob

Jasmine

Julep

Lemon

Lime

Marzipan

Orange

Saffron

Sherbet

Spinach

Sugar

Sumac

Syrup

Tamarind

Tangerine

ANIMALS

Albacore

Albatross

Camel

Gazelle

Gerbil

Giraffe

Monkey?

Tuna?

OTHER

Adobe

Alcove

Assassin

Bedouin

Check

Cork

Crimson

Genie

Ghoul

Guitar

Lilac

Lute

Mascara

Mafia

Massage

Mask

Monsoon

Mattress

Racquet

Mummy

Sofa

Scarlet

Talisman

Tambourine

Troubadour

Tabby (cat)

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LESSON 7

ALPHABET SOUP

English and most European languages are written in the Latin or Roman alphabet.

The Latin alphabet is the most widely used alphabet in the world, but did you know

that the Arabic alphabet is the second-most widely used alphabet in the world? In

addition to Arabic, many other languages are written in the Arabic script, especially in

Islamic countries. The major ones include Persian, the language of Iran, Urdu, the

language of Pakistan, Pushtu, the language of Afghanistan, and Kurdish, the

language of the Kurdish people who live in Turkey, Iran and Iraq. In all, about 100

languages around the world are or were written in the Arabic script, including some

African languages and many central and south Asian ones. Turkish used to be

written in the Arabic script, until the 1920s when the government made the change to

the Latin alphabet which Turkish uses now.

Arabic is a Semitic language. The word Semitic is the name of a family of

languages. It is named after one of the sons of Noah, Shem. You know in the Old

Testament there is the story of Noah and the Ark and the Great Flood. According to

the story, after the Flood, Noah and his family went out and re-populated the earth.

The descendants of his son Shem were called the Shemites, or Semites, and the

descendents of his son Ham were called the Hamites. The Semitic languages include

many ancient languages such as Babylonian and Assyrian as well as Hebrew, Arabic,

Amharic, the language of Ethiopia, and Aramaic, which is the language Jesus spoke.

In fact, Aramaic is still spoken today in villages in Syria, Iraq and Iran. The Hamitic

languages include ancient Egyptian, Coptic, Nubian, Berber--the languages of the

native peoples of North Africa--and many other African languages.

The Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic people who lived in what is now Syria,

Lebanon and Israel. They were famous for sailing and trading throughout the

Mediterranean. Mediterranean, in Latin, means "in the middle of the land." The

Phoenicians were expert sailors, and to them the sea was not a barrier...it was more

like the parking lot at the mall. They had to cross it to get to the countries on the

other side. What kinds of things were they trading?? Many things--in Lesson 6 we

learned that many English words for precious gems and spices and fine cloth come

from Arabic--the Phoenicians were famous for their purple dye that was very rare and

expensive. They made it from a particular kind of seashell that lived on their shores,

and it was so expensive that only kings could afford it--so it was called "royal

purple." They also traded in timber from the famous cedar trees that grew there, and

wine, olive oil and olives, and other things that were produced in their country.

But in addition to material goods, they were also exchanging knowledge and culture.

About 3000 years ago the Phoenicians started using an alphabet for their language,

and the new system quickly spread throughout the entire Mediterranean. The

Phoenician alphabet was a great advance over the other writing systems used before

that time. Previously, writing systems like Egyptian hieroglyphics used symbols for

different syllables....so they had to learn hundreds of them in order to put them

together to form words and sentences. The Phoenician alphabet had just 22 symbols--

one for each individual sound--so it was a lot easier to learn. Each symbol was a

picture of a common object, and the letter's sound was the first sound in the name for

the object (in Phoenician.) This alphabet system made communication with different

cultures much simpler, which of course was in the interest of trade and commerce.

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The Greeks quickly began to use the Phoenician system, adapting it to their own

language. The Hebrews also adopted it and made their own changes. Later, the

Romans adapted the Greek alphabet for their language, Latin. Our English alphabet is

derived from the Latin alphabet.

The word "Alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet--alpha

and beta--but the names of the Greek letters themselves mostly come from the

Phoenician names.

The Arabic alphabet developed from an earlier script used by the Nabatean people,

who had also adapted the Phoenician alphabet to their own needs. The Nabateans

were an Arab people who lived about 2000 years ago in what is today Jordan and

northern Saudi Arabia. They grew rich from commerce, and had their capital at

Petra. They were later conquered by the Romans. By the year 600, the Arabic script

had developed to more or less the form it is in now...although it was not until later that

the dots were added to the shapes of the letters.

So now you know that it is no coincidence that all of the alphabets used in both

European and Semitic languages start with A B C D E....(or A B G D E...)

Now let's compare the Latin/English and Arabic alphabets:

Spelling in English can be confusing even for native speakers of English, and

especially for foreigners learning English. This is in part because English has words

derived from many different languages with many different spelling systems--such as

French, German, Latin and Greek. So in English we have spellings like:

kn in know

gh in laugh

ph elephant

sometimes a "c" is pronounced like a "k" and sometimes like an "s."

the "sh" sound is written as two letters instead of as one.

Arabic has one letter for each sound--so spelling is a lot easier than in English. You

hear the sound, you know which letter to use. Do you have to take spelling tests in

English class?? I'll bet you love them. I have been told that in schools in Arab

countries, they don't give spelling tests, because spelling is not a problem with the

Arabic language. If you can pronounce a word in Arabic, you can spell it. And if you

can read it, you can pronounce it. (unlike in English.)

There are 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet. English has both printing and writing, but

Arabic has only writing; it is a cursive alphabet, meaning the letters always connect

to one another. There are no capital letters in Arabic. Arabic letters can have as

many as 4 different shapes, depending on where the letter occurs in the word. This

may sound complicated, but it's really not. In English we have capital, or upper case,

and lower case letters, and then we have printing and writing. So we can have as

many as 4 letter shapes in English, too. For example a capital G looks nothing like a

lower-case g.

Lastly, Arabic, like Hebrew and other Semitic languages, has long vowel sounds and

short ones. Arabic does not consider the short vowels to be real letters, and they are

usually not used in writing. In a newspaper, for example, they are usually not

printed. So although Arabic has only 28 actual letters, there are also a number of

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other symbols used in writing which are not considered letters.

Lesson 8: Introduction to Islam.

Vocabulary

Allah--God, The One God. The same God whom Christians and Jews worship.

al-Islaam--The religion of Islam. The word means "submission" to the will of God.

Muslim--one who believes in Islam. Preferred pronunciation and spelling.

Moslem--old way of pronouncing and spelling Muslim

Qur'an--The Holy Scripture of Islam. Believed by Muslims to be the literal words of

God, as revealed to His Prophet Mu ammad by the Angel Gabriel. Preferred

pronunciation and spelling.

Koran--old way of pronouncing and spelling Qur'an

Mu ammad--The Prophet of Islam. Muslims believe that he was the last Messenger

sent by God to humankind. He died in the year 632. Preferred pronunciation and

spelling.

Mohamed--old way of pronouncing and spelling Mu ammad

alla Allah cAlayhi wa Sallim-- "May God bless him and grant him salvation" said

by Muslims after they mention the Prophet Mu ammad's name. In English they say

"Peace Be Upon Him"

The "Five Pillars" of Islam--The basic obligations a Muslim must fulfill.

1. Shahaada--Declaration of Faith--Witnessing that "There is no god but God and

Mu ammad is the Messenger of God."

2. alaat--Prayer--Muslims are supposed to pray five times daily.

3. Zakaat--Charity tax--to support the less fortunate in the community.

4. awm--Fasting during the Islamic month of Ramadan--Muslims abstain from

eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset during this month.

5. ajj--Pilgrimage to Mecca--If she or he is physically and financially able, a Muslim

should make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in her/his lifetime. The Hajj

purifies the pilgrim spiritually and unifies the Islamic community.

Mosque--Muslim place of worship.

Masjid or Jaamic--Arabic words for Mosque

Minaret--Tower of mosque, from which the Call to Prayer is given.

Athaan--Muslim Call to Prayer--broadcast from the minaret 5 times daily.

God is most great. God is most great.

God is most great. God is most great.

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I testify that there is no god except God.

I testify that there is no god except God.

I testify that Mu ammad is the Messenger of God.

I testify that Mu ammad is the Messenger of God.

Come to prayer! Come to prayer!

Come to success! Come to success!

God is most great. God is most great.

There is no god except God.

Mu'aththin--the man who gives the call to prayer.

Muezzin--common pronounciation and spelling of Mu'aththin

alaal--"legal, lawful" Used, among other things, to refer to food, especially meat

from animals that have been slaughtered according to Islamic law. Devout Muslims

do not eat meat which is not alaal.

In shaa Allah. "If God wills," " God willing"--said by Muslims about any future plans

or actions.

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Lessons 27 & 28: Building Equational Sentences

Last week we learned that in Arabic, nouns are either masculine or feminine. How

can you tell what they are? Usually feminine nouns end with the "-ah" sound. And

we learned that in Arabic the adjective comes after the noun it describes. We also

learned that nouns and adjectives in Arabic must agree, that is, an adjective must

agree with the noun it describes. It must agree in several ways--one is gender. So if

the noun is masculine, you need a masculine adjective to describe it. If a noun is

feminine, you need a feminine adjective to describe it. To make the adjective

feminine, again you usually just add an "-ah" at the end.

An adjective has to agree with the noun it describes not just in gender, but also in

definiteness. So if the noun is definite with an "Al-", then the adjective also has to be

definite with an "Al-." Remember the "Al-" is the Arabic equivalent of "The", which

we call the "definite article."

Look at these examples:

bayt qadiim = an old house

al-bayt al-qadiim = the old house

Both of these are phrases, not sentences. How do we make a sentence out of these

words? Remember, there is no word for "is" in Arabic.

Al-bayt qadiim. = The house is old. This is a simple equational sentence. Note that

the subject "al-bayt" has the definite article and the predicate "qadiim" does not.

Look at these additional examples, paying attention to which words have the "al-" and

which do not. See how the "al-" changes the meaning of the phrase or sentence.

bayt qadiim = an old house

al-bayt al-qadiim = the old house

Al-bayt qadiim. = The house is old.

walad awiil = a tall boy

al-walad a - awiil = the tall boy

Al-walad awiil. = The boy is tall.

dars acb = a difficult lesson

ad-dars a - acb = the difficult lesson

Ad-dars acb. = The lesson is difficult.

qalam jadiid = a new pen

al-qalam al-jadiid = the new pen

Al-qalam jadiid. = The pen is new.

aawilah jamiilah = a beautiful table

a - aawilah al-jamiilah = the beautiful table

A - aawilah jamiilah. = The table is beautiful.

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madiinah kabiirah = a big city

al-madiinah al-kabiirah = the big city

Al-madiinah kabiirah. = The city is big.

lughah sahlah = an easy language

al-lughah as-sahlah = the easy language

Al-lughah sahlah. = The language is easy.

Mi r al-qadiimah = ancient Egypt

Mi r qadiimah. = Egypt is ancient.

You will note that in some cases above the "Al-" is written as ad-, at-, or as-. This has

to do with the pronunciation. It is written Alif Laam in Arabic, but some letters take

over the Laam sound--it gets absorbed into the preceding sound....We will earn the

rules for this later--for now you should just pronounce it the way it is written here.

What is this??

The word for "this" in Arabic is either masculine or feminine, depending on the noun

it describes:

Haathaa -- This (masc.)

Haathihi -- This (fem.)

To ask the question "What is this?" you would use the masculine form:

Maa haathaa? What is this?

The person answering the question would answer with either Haathaa or Haathihi,

depending on the gender of the word...if you know the word , you know what gender

it is. Look at these examples:

Maa haathaa? What is this?

Haathaa qaamuus. This is a dictionary. (qaamuus is masculine)

Maa haathaa? What is this?

Haathihi jariidah. This is a newspaper. (jariidah is feminine)

Here are some new nouns for you to learn:

Qaamuus - dictionary

Jariidah - newspaper

Kursii - chair

Daftar - notebook

Maktab - office or desk

Kharii ah - map

We can also make whole sentences using Haathaa and Haathihi. Look at these

examples:

Haathaa bayt = This is a house.

Haathaa bayt qadiim = This is an old house.

Haathaa al-bayt = this house...

Haathaa al-bayt qadiim = This house is old.

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Haathaa dars = This is a lesson.

Haathaa dars acb = This is a difficult lesson.

Haathaa ad-dars = this lesson...

Haathaa ad-dars acb = This lesson is difficult.

Haathaa daftar = This is a notebook.

Haathaa daftar aghiir= This is a small notebook.

Haathaa ad-daftar = this notebook...

Haathaa ad-daftar aghiir= This notebook is small.

Haathihi jariidah = This is a newspaper.

Haathihi jariidah qadiimah = This is an old newspaper.

Haathihi al-jariidah = this newspaper...

Haathihi al-jariidah qadiimah = This newspaper is old.

Haathihi kharii ah = This is a map.

Haathihi kharii ah kabiirah = This is a big map.

Haathihi al-kharii ah = this map...

Haathihi al-kharii ah kabiirah = This map is big.

Haathihi lughah = This is a language.

Haathihi lughah sahlah = This is an easy language.

Haathihi al-lughah = this language...

Haathihi al-lughah sahlah = This language is easy.

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LESSON 41 - PLURAL VERBS

PRESENT TENSE

Here are four verbs you've had in previous lessons, plus two new ones:

Adrus - I study

Askun - I live

Acmal - I work

Aktub - I write

Athhab - I go

Acrif - I know

Here are the complete conjugations of these verbs in the present tense:

When Arabs are speaking to each other, they usually drop the "N" at the end of some

of these. But when it is written, the "N" must be included.

Adrus - I study

Tadrus - You (m.) study

Tadrusii[n] - You (f.) study

Tadrus - She studies

Yadrus - He studies

Nadrus - We study

Tadrusuu[n] - You (pl.) study

Yadrusuu[n] - They study

Askun - I live

Taskun - You (m.) live

Taskunii[n] - You (f.) live

Taskun - She lives

Yaskun - He lives

Naskun - We live

Taskunuu[n] - You (pl.) live

Yaskunuu[n] - They live

Acmal - I work

Tacmal - You (m.) work

Tacmalii[n] - You (f.) work

Tacmal - She works

Yacmal - He works

Nacmal - We work

Tacmaluu[n] - You (pl.) work

Yacmaluu[n] - They work

Aktub - I write

Taktub - You (m.) write

Taktubii[n] - You (f.) write

Taktub - She writes

Yaktub - He writes

Naktub - We write

Taktubuu[n] - You (pl.) write

Yaktubuu[n] - They write

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Athhab - I go

Tathhab - You (m.) go

Tathhabii[n] - You (f.) go

Tathhab - She goes

Yathhab - He goes

Nathhab - We go

Tathhabuu[n] - You (pl.) go

Yathhabuu[n] - They go

Acrif - I know

Tacrif - You (m.) know

Tacrifii[n] - You (f.) know

Tacrif - She knows

Yacrif - He knows

Nacrif - We know

Tacrifuu[n] - You (pl.) know

Yacrifuu[n] - They know

Example sentences with plural verbs:

Taskunuu fii bayt am shaqqah? (spoken style)

Do youse live in a house or an apartment?

Yaskunuun fii bayt.

They live in a house.

Yacmaluun fii mat

cam.

They work in a restaurant.

Yadrusuun fi Jaamicat Drexel.

They study at Drexel U.

Ilaa ayna tathhabuun?

Where are y'all going?

Yaktubuun kitaab.

They are writing a book.

Hal tacrifuun ayna taskun

cA'isha? (written style)

Do you (pl.) know where cA'isha lives?

Yacrifuun al-Arabiyyah jayyidan.

They know Arabic well.

Negation: To negate present tense verbs, you just use the word "Laa," which means

"No."

Laa nacrif Ahmad.

We don't know Ahmad.

Laa yacrifuun al-Arabiyyah jayyidan.

They do not know Arabic well.

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Laa yaskunuun fii bayt.

They do not live in a house.

Laa yacmaluun fii mat

cam.

They do not work in a restaurant.

Laa yadrusuun fi Jaamicat Drexel.

They do not study at Drexel U.

Plural pronouns:

Na nu (i na) - we

Antum (intu) - you pl. [youse, y'all]

Hum (humma) - they

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Lessons 47 and 49

Past Tense Verbs

Past tense verbs in Arabic are made by adding different suffixes (endings) to the verb

stem.

Singular

Here are the conjugations for some verbs we have already had.

Darasa - He studied

Darasat - She studied

Darasti - You (f.) studied

Darasta - You (m.) studied

Darastu - I studied

Sakana - He lived

Sakanat - She lived

Sakanti - You (f.) lived

Sakanta - You (m.) lived

Sakantu - I lived

cArafa - He knew

cArafat - She knew

cArafti - You (f.) knew

cArafta - You (m.) knew

cAraftu - I knew

Kataba - He wrote

Katabat - She wrote

Katabti - You (f.) wrote

Katabta - You (m.) wrote

Katabtu - I wrote

Qara'a - He read

Qara'at - She read

Qara'ti - You (f.) read

Qara'ta - You (m.) read

Qara'tu - I read

Fahima - He understood

Fahimat - She understood

Fahimti - You (f.) understood

Fahimta - You (m.) understood

Fahimtu - I understood

Examples:

Sakanat fii al-Qaahirah.

She lived in Cairo.

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Darrasa fii Jaamicat Pennsylvania.

He taught at Penn.

Thahabtu ilaa al-macam.

I went to the restaurant.

cAmalat fii haathaa al-maktab.

She worked in this office.

Negation: To negate the past tense, you just add the word "maa" before the verb,

meaning "not."

Hal fahimti haathaa ad-dars?

Did you (f.) understand this lesson?

Nacm, fahimtu haathaa ad-dars. Yes, I understood this lesson.

Laa, maa fahimtu haathaa ad-dars. No, I did not understand this lesson.

Hal qara'ta ar-risaalah?

Did you (m.) read the letter?

Nacm, qara'tu ar-risaalah. Yes, I read the letter.

Laa, maa qara'tu ar-risaalah. No, I did not read the letter.

Plural

There are actually different endings for masculine and feminine plurals ("you" m/f

and "they" m/f)

but most Arabs do not use them when they speak, so here we will give you only the

masculine plurals which

are usually used for everyone.

Darasna - We studied

Darastum - You (pl.) studied

Darasuu - They studied

Sakanna - We lived

Sakantum - You (pl.) lived

Sakanuu - They lived

cArafna - We knew

cAraftum - You (pl.) knew

cArafuu - They knew

Katabna - We wrote

Katabtum - You (pl.) wrote

Katabuu - They wrote

Qaabalna - We met

Qaabaltum - You (pl.) met

Qaabaluu - They met

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Qara'na - We read

Qara'tum - You (pl.) read

Qara'uu - They read

Fahimna - We understood

Fahimtum - You (pl.) understood

Fahimuu - They understood

Examples:

Sakanuu fii al-Qaahirah.

They lived in Cairo.

Darrasuu fii Madrasat Shaw.

They taught at Shaw School.

Anaa wa Khaalid thahabna ilaa al-macam.

Khalid and I went to the restaurant.

Wa qaabalna cAli hunaak.

And we met Ali there.

Hal camaluu fii haathaa al-maktab?

Did they work in this office?

Ayna thahabtum ilaa al-jaamicah?

Where did y'all go to college?

Thahabna ilaa Jaamicat Drexel.

We went to Drexel U.

Remember, the past tense is negated with the word "maa" before the verb.

Hal qara'tum al-jariidah al-yawm?

Did you (pl.) read the newspaper today?

Nacm, qara'na al-jariidah. Yes, we read the newspaper.

Laa, maa qara'na al-jariidah. No, we did not read the newspaper

Hal fahimtum haathaa ad-dars?

Did you (pl.) understand this lesson?

Nacm, fahimna haathaa ad-dars. Yes, we understood this lesson.

Laa, maa fahimna haathaa ad-dars. No, we did not understand this lesson.

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LESSONS 56 & 58

PLURAL NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

If you've been paying attention, you will have noticed that we've already discussed

plural verbs, but not plural nouns, until now. That's because in Arabic they can be a

bit tricky sometimes.

In English you usually add an -S or an -ES to the end of the word to make it plural.

For example: student/students, rabbit/rabbits, dictionary/dictionaries.

In Arabic, however, there are different endings for masculine and feminine plural

nouns and adjectives. And Arabic makes an important distinction between nouns for

people and nouns which are for things. "Human" and "Non-human."

We'll start with feminine nouns, because they are generally the easiest. Most

feminine nouns that end with the sound -AH (the taa marbuu ah) make their plurals

by simply adding the ending -AAT. This includes any nouns for women, and also

many feminine nouns for things.

Feminine Human Nouns

aalibah/ aalibaat = student/s (f.)

ustaathah/ustaathaat = professor/s (f.)

tilmiithah/tilmiithaat = pupil/s (f.)

abiibah/ abiibaat = doctor/s (f.)

jaddah/jaddaat = grandmother/s

ukht/akhawaat = sister/s

bint/banaat = girl/s

Feminine Non-Human Nouns

jaamicah/jaami

caat = university/ies

wilaayah/wilaayaat = state/s

sayyaarah/sayyaaraat = car/s

aawilah/ aawilaat = table/s

kalimah/kalimaat = word/s

lughah/lughaat = language/s

sanah/sanawaat = year/s

maktabah/maktabaat = library/ies or bookstore/s

But there are some exceptions: Some feminine nouns don't form the plural with a

regular -AAT ending, and the plurals must be memorized, such as these words you

know:

jariidah/jaraa'id = newspaper/s

madrasah/madaaris = school/s

madiinah/mudun = city/ies

ghurfah/ghuraf = room/s

shaqqah/shiqaq = apartment/s

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The masculine human plural ending is -UUN or -IIN. When you're writing, you need

to know which form to use. (It has to do with the grammar, that is, how the word is

used in the sentence.) But when speaking, most Arabs are only going to use the -IIN

ending. In Egypt, for example, they don't ever use the -UUN ending in regular, daily

speech.

Nouns starting with MU- usually take these regular human plural endings, for

example:

Mudarrisah/Mudarrisaat = teacher/s (f)

Mudarris/Mudarrisuun or Mudarrisiin = teacher/s (m)

Muhandisah/Muhandisaat = engineer/s (f)

Muhandis/Muhandisuun or Muhandisiin = engineer/s (m)

Mudiirah/Mudiiraat = director/s (f)

Mudiir/Mudiiruun or Mudiiriin = director/s (m)

Muslimah/Muslimaat = Muslim/s (f)

Muslim/Muslimuun or Muslimiin = Muslim/s (m)

Also, those adjectives that end with -ii, formed from the names of countries, take

these regular plural endings when they are used to describe people:

Sacuudii/Sa

cuudiyyuun or -iin = Saudi/s (m)

Sacuudiyyah/Sa

cuudiyyaat = Saudi/s (f)

cIraqii/

cIraqiyyuun or -iin = Iraqi/s (m)

cIraqiyyah/

cIraqiyyaat = Iraqi/s (f)

Lubnaanii/Lubnaaniyyuun or -iin = Lebanese (m)

Lubnaaniyyah/Lubnaaniyyaat = Lebanese (f)

Mi rii/Mi riyyuun or -iin = Egyptian/s (m)

Mi riyyah/Mi riyyaat = Egyptian/s (f)

Suudaanii/Suudaaniyyuun or -iin = Sudanese (m)

Suudaaniyyah/Suudaaniyyaat = Sudanese (f)

Amriikii/Amriikiyyuun or -iin = American/s (m)

Amriikiyyah/Amriikiyyaat = American/s (f)

If there's a group of people including both men and women, then you just use the

masculine plural form to refer to all of them.

In English there are all those weird plurals that you just have to learn. And they can

be very confusing for people who are learning English for the first time. If English is

not your native language, or you have friends from different countries who are

learning English, then you know what I mean. The plural of "Mouse" is "Mice" not

"Mouses," but the plural of "House" is not "Hice" but "Houses." The plural of

"Goose" is "Geese," but the plural of "Moose" is not "Meese," it's "Moose"--the same

as the singular. Why? Because English is a wonderful language. And Arabic is also

a wonderful language....

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Many nouns in Arab have plurals that don't fit the -AAT/-UUN patterns. When you're

learning your vocabulary words, you have to memorize the plural form of the nouns

and adjectives along with the singular. Here are some words you already know, along

with their plurals. You can probably tell that there are some patterns for the plurals,

changes that happen with the syllables and vowels--see if you can pick them out. But

you still have to memorize which one goes with which noun.

Masculine Human Nouns

aalib/ ullaab = student/s (m)

tilmiith/talaamithah = pupil/s (m)

ustaath/asaatithah = professor/s (m)

walad/awlaad = boy/s

jadd/ajdaad = grandfather/s

ibn/abnaa' = son/s

akh/ikhwah = brother/s

Masculine Non-Human Nouns

bayt/buyuut = house/s

dars/duruus = lesson/s

fa l/fu uul = season/s

shahr/shuhuur = month/s

baab/abwaab = door/s

ism/asmaa' = name/s

qalam/aqlaam = pen/s

yawm/ayyaam = day/s

asad/usud = lion/s

kitaab/kutub = book/s

shaaric/shawaari

c = street/s

macam/ma aa

cim = restaurant/s

arnab/araanib = rabbit/s

daftar/dafaatir = notebook/s

kursii/karaasii = chair/s

maktab/makaatib = office/s or desk/s

miftaa /mafaatii = key/s

qaamuus/qawaamiis = dictionary/ies

usbuuc/asaabii

c = week/s

Here are a few practice sentences using plural subjects with the plural verb forms you

already know:

Al-Muhandisuun yacmaluun fii Philadelphia.

The engineers work in Philly.

A - ullaab yadrusuun fii Jaamicat Pennsylvania.

The students study at the University of Pennsylvania

Al-Asaatitha yudarrisuun al-lughah al-cArabiyyah.

The professors teach the Arabic language.

Plural Nouns and Adjectives

Remember how adjectives work with nouns. They follow the noun, and they also

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have to be the same gender as the noun they describe. Also if the noun is definite,

then the adjective must be definite too. Now you will learn that adjectives have to

agree with the nouns they describe in a third way: in number.

As mentioned above, Arabic makes an important distinction between nouns for people

and nouns which are for things. "Human" and "Non-human." Human plurals take

plural adjectives. For the feminine ones, again, you just add the suffix "-AAT." For

the masculine ones you usually just add "-UUN" or "-IIN," but some irregular ones

just have to be memorized. Now here's the tricky part: non-human plurals, in

Arabic, are considered to be feminine singular, so you use the feminine singular

adjective with them. Let's practice. Look at these examples changing the singular

nouns and adjectives to plural ones:

mudiir muhimm = an important m. director

mudiiruun muhimmuun = important directors

mudiirah muhimmah = an important f. director

mudiiraat muhimmaat = important f. directors

jariidah muhimmah = an important newspaper

jaraa'id muhimmah = important newspapers

aalib jadiid = a new m. student

aalibah jadiidah = a new f. student

ullaab judud = new students

aalibaat jadiidaat = new f. students

a - aalib al-jadiid = the new student

a - ullaab al-judud = the new students

mudarris Mi rii = a m. Egyptian teacher

mudarrisuun Mi riyyuun = Egyptian teachers

al-mudarris al-Mi rii = the Egyptian teacher

al-mudarrisuun al-Mi riyyuun = the Egyptian teachers

bint jamiilah = a beautiful girl

banaat jamiilaat = beautiful girls

al-bint al-jamiilah = the beautiful girl

al-banaat al-jamiilaat = the beautiful girls

kitaab sahl = an easy book

kutub sahlah = easy books

al-kitaab as-sahl = the easy book

al-kutub as-sahlah = the easy books

baab aghiir = a small door

abwaab aghiirah = small doors

al-baab a - aghiir = the small door

al-abwaab a - aghiirah = the small doors

sayyaarah jadiidah = a new car

sayyaaraat jadiidah = new cars

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as-sayyaarah al-jadiidah = the new car

as-sayyaaraat al-jadiidah = the new cars

madiinah kabiirah = a big city

mudun kabiirah = big cities

al-madiinah al-kabiirah = the big city

al-mudun al-kabiirah = the big cities

Qaabaltu ullaab kathiiriin. = I met many students.

Qaabaltu aalibaat kathiiraat. = I met many f. students.

Qara'tu kutub kathiirah. = I read many books.

The demonstrative pronouns "haathaa" and "haathihi" (this m/f) must also agree in

gender, so if you are talking about non-human plurals, you will use the feminine form

haathihi, as in these examples:

Maa fahimna haathaa ad-dars. = We did not understand this lesson.

Maa fahimna haathihi ad-duruus. = We did not understand these lessons.

Qara'tu haathaa al-kitaab al-jadiid. = I read this new book.

Qara'tu haathihi al-kutub al-jadiidah. = I read these new books.

Hal qara'ta haathihi al-jariidah? = Did you read this newspaper?

Hal qara'ta haathihi al-jaraa'id? = Did you read these newspapers?

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LESSON 53

SEASONS and WEATHER

Fa l = Season (plural: fu uul)

ar-Rabiic = Spring

a -Sayf = Summer

al-Khariif = Fall

ash-Shitaa' = Winter

a -Taqs = the weather (also al-jaww; Egyptians say ig-gaww)

Ma ar = rain

Mum ir = rainy

ash-Shams - The Sun

Mushmis = sunny

Baarid = cold

aarr = hot

[note that " aarr" and "baarid" are used with things, and " arraan" and "bardaan" are

used with people]

Examples:

Na nu al-aan fii fa l ar-rabiic.

We are now in the season of spring.

Kaana haathaa ash-shitaa' baarid jiddan.

This winter was very cold.

Fii ar-rabiic a - aqs jamiil jiddan fii Philadelphia.

In spring the weather is very beautiful in Philadelphia.

A - aqs al-yawm aarr wa mushmis.

The weather today is hot and sunny.

Ams kaana a - aqs mushmis aydan.

Yesterday the weather was sunny too.

Yawm al-Jumcah kaana a - aqs mum ir.

Friday the weather was rainy.

Fii ash-shitaa' a - aqs baarid wa mum ir fii Philadelphia.

In winter the weather is cold and rainy in Philadelphia.

Wa fii a - ayf a - aqs aarr wa mushmis.

And in the summer the weather is hot and sunny.

Sun letters and Moon letters

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These terms are used to describe the difference in the way letters are pronounced in

Arabic. There are 2 groups--the "Sun letters" and the "Moon letters."

With Sun letters, the "Al-" of the definite article ("the") gets assimilated to the

following letter. This means that the L is actually pronounced like the consonant

which follows it, as in "ash-Shams" The Sun. With Moon letters, the L of the Al- is

pronounced as normal, like an L, as in "al-Qamar" The Moon. This is why we say

AR-Rabiic (Spring) but AL-Khariif (Fall.) To pronounce the definite article AL-

correctly, you need to know if the letter following it is a Sun letter or a

Moon letter. It is easiest just to remember how words are pronounced, rather than

memorizing a list of letters, but for reference the Sun letters are: t, th, d, th, r, z,

s, sh, , daad, , TH, and n. (these are the letters pronounced at the front of your

mouth, with your tongue against your teeth.) All the other letters are Moon letters.

ash-Shams - The Sun

uruuf shamsiyyah = "Sun letters"

al-Qamar - The Moon

uruuf qamariyyah = "Moon letters"

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LESSON 59

COLORS

Lawn (pronounced "loan")--color (plural Alwaan)

Colors in Arabic can get a bit tricky, so that's why we left them until the end of the

year. There are two types of adjectives for colors in Arabic. The first type is the

easiest....these are the colors related to things, and they are formed just like the

adjectives related to countries. Remember you form those adjectives by taking the

name of the country and adding -ii for the masculine adjective and -iyyah for feminine

adjectives, like this:

Amriikaa--America

Amriikii--American (m)

Amriikiyyah--American (f)

Lubnaan--Lebanon

Lubnaanii--Lebanese (m)

Lubnaaniyyah--Lebanese (f)

Some of the common adjectives for colors that are formed from nouns for things

include the following:

Bunnii/iyyah - Brown (from "bunn" meaning coffee beans)

Wardii/iyyah or Zahrii/iyyah - Pink (from "wardah" or "zahrah" meaning rose or

flower) [Egyptians use the Turkish word "bembe" for pink]

Banafsijii/iyyah - Purple or violet (from "banafsij" meaning the Violet flower)

Burtuqaalii/iyyah - Orange (from "burtuqaal" meaning the orange fruit)

Rumaadii/iyyah - Gray (from "rumaad" meaning ashes)

Thahabii/iyyah - Gold (from "thahab" meaning gold)

Fiddii/iyyah - Silver (from "fiddah" meaning silver)

Ku lii/iyyah - Navy blue (from "ku l" meaning Kohl, the dark-blue powder used as

eye-liner in the Middle East)

Khaakii/iyyah - Khaki (from the Persian word "khaak" meaning dust. This is where

English gets the word "khaki")

The second type of adjectives for colors in Arabic takes special forms, different from

regular adjectives. Remember, in Arabic the feminine form is usually made by

simply adding the suffix "-ah" to the masculine form. Adjectives of color (and many

physical defects) often take different forms:

Azraq/Zarqaa' - blue m/f

A mar/ amraa' - red m/f

Akhdar/Khadraa' - green m/f

A far/ afraa' - yellow m/f

Aswad/Sawdaa' - black m/f

Abyad/Baydaa' - white m/f

Here are a few example sentences:

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cIndii sayyaarah sawdaa' jadiidah. - I have a new black car.

Shaahadtu film abyad wa aswad. - I saw a black and white film.

Ayna qamii ii al-azraq? - Where is my blue shirt?

Al-kitaab al-a mar calaa al-qaamuus al-akhdar. - The red book is on the green

dictionary.

At-tuffa ah amraa'. The apple is red.

Al-mawzah afraa'. The banana is yellow.

Lawn al-ba r azraq. The color of the sea is blue.

The rainbow: In Arabic a rainbow is called "Qaws Quza a" meaning "the bow of the

rain god Quza . Quza was the ancient Arabian god of rain, in the time before

Islam. Remember when we learned about how the Kacbah in Makkah used to be full

of idols of the old Arabian gods, before the Prophet Mu ammad came and destroyed

all the idols? Well one of those idols they used to worship was Quza . He was an

important god to the ancient Arabians because there was not much rain in the desert.

Even though no-one worships him anymore, Arabs still call a rainbow "the bow of

Quza ."

What are the colors of the rainbow?

red - a mar

orange - burtuqaalii

yellow - a far

green - akhdar

blue - azraq

indigo (really dark blue) - niilii (or ku lii)

violet - banafsijii

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LESSON 50

COFFEE!!!!

COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE!!!

Fountain in Saudi Arabia in the shape of traditional Arab coffee pots (dallah)

Today's show is brought to you by COFFEE. Actually every day's show is brought to

you by coffee....because without it I would not be able to get out of the house in the

morning! The story of coffee is actually a really interesting history of international

trade and relations between countries.

The Arabic word for coffee is qahwah, this word went into Turkish as kahve

(Turkish does not have a W sound,) and from that we get the words cafe and coffee.

Qahwah is actually an old Arabic word which was another name for wine, but

eventually after coffee was introduced it came to mean just coffee.

from this we also get words like caffeine and cafeteria....

The coffee plant is a small tree which actually originated in the mountains of

Ethiopia. The beans were used as both a food and to make the drink. From Ethiopia,

the Yemenis brought it over and planted it in Yemen, almost 600 years ago. The

Ethiopians called the tree, the coffee beans, and the drink made from them "Bunn,"

and that became the name of the beans in Arabic. I think it's just a coincidence that

"bunn" sounds like "bean."

From Yemen, coffee began to be exported all over the Arab world, and later to

Turkey and Iran. The main port from which coffee was exported was the city of al-

Mukhaa...and that's where we get the word Mocha as a name for coffee. So coffee

growing started in Ethiopia, went over to Yemen, and for about 200 years Yemen was

the most important coffee-growing center. Then in the 1600's coffee started to

become popular in Europe, and European merchants started to get in on the coffee

trade. The Yemenis grew very rich from the demand for coffee in Europe, and prices

were high. So the Europeans figured they could break the Yemeni monopoly on

coffee by growing the tree in other places. They had lots of colonies, so the Dutch

smuggled plants to Indonesia and started growing it there., and the British took the

plants to Nigeria and Jamaica. Even so, Yemen remained the center of the world

coffee trade for hundreds of years.

There's a lot of talk today about "globalization." The story of coffee is an amazing

example of this. From its origins in Ethiopia, coffee is now grown in about 50

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countries around the world, and some 25 million people around the world depend on

coffee to make their living. Do you know what country produces the most coffee

today? It's not Yemen. It's actually Brazil. When you go to buy coffee, you usually

find it called by the country it's grown in, such as Ethiopia, Colombia, Sumatra, Java,

Guatemala, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Kenya, Jamaica, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and

Mexico. These are some of the best-known varieties of coffee.

An interesting subject in the history of coffee is its relationship with the religion of

Islam. You probably know that Islam prohibits drinking alcohol, or taking any other

intoxicating substances. So when coffee first started becoming popular, there was a

big debate about whether it was legal or not, because of course it has an effect on the

body. This went back and forth over more than a hundred years, and sometimes

coffee was made illegal, and then the next ruler would decide that it was legal after

all. Eventually coffee became accepted as Islamically permitted by almost

everybody. One of the earliest uses of coffee was actually as a medicine, although

there was also a debate as to whether it was helpful or harmful. And you know, that

debate is still going on today.

Coffeehouses are very popular in the Arab world. People (mostly men) go and sit and

hang out with their friends and drink tea or coffee, play backgammon or dominoes.

Arabs today actually drink more tea than coffee. In the past, storytellers would come

and tell stories in the coffeehouses, but now most of the story tellers are gone and

people just listen to the radio or watch TV.

The traditional Arab method of making coffee is to grind the roasted beans really fine,

and boil them for a while in the coffeepot, called a dallah. In much of the Arab

world, the easier way is to take a spoonful of the ground bunn and mix it with water in

a kanakah, and bring it to a boil over the stove. It's drunk in small cups, called

"finjaan." Some people like it with sugar and some without, but you never add milk.

Either way you produce what the Arabs call Arabic coffee, and what people in the

West usually call Turkish coffee. Often it is mixed with the spice called cardamom.

(hayl or abb al-haan in Arabic) Cardamom comes in little seed pods. It is ground

up and brewed with the coffee. Cardamom was and still is an expensive spice, more

expensive than coffee itself, so using cardamom was considered a luxury. The

wealthier you were, the more cardamom you used in your coffee, until if you were

really wealthy, or as a sign of your hospitality, you served your guests coffee that was

only about10% coffee and 90% cardamom--in fact it doesn't look like coffee at all--

it's much yellower and more perfumy. You can get cardamom at most grocery stores.

If you grind your own beans for coffee, you can add a few cardamom pods to give

your coffee the "Arabic flavor." If you use a coffee filter, you can just grind up the

whole pod with your beans. If you want to mix the cardamom directly with the beans

in the water, in a kanakah, you will need to take the little seeds out of the pod husk

first.

Vocabulary Words for Lessons 17 and 19

In School; Practice Building Sentences

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Ustaath--Male teacher/professor. (also used as title to mean "Mister")

Ustaatha--Female teacher/professor

Mudarris--Male teacher

Mudarrisa--Female teacher

Tilmiith--Male student, pupil. (elementary/middle school)

Tilmiitha--Female student, pupil.

Anaa--I

Huwa--He

Hiya--She

Madrasah--School

"Anaa tilmiitha/tilmiith fii Madrasat Thomas."--I am a student at the Thomas School.

"Man hiya?"--Who is she?

"Hiya tilmiitha fii Madrasat Shaw."--She is a student at the Shaw School.

"Man huwa?"--Who is he?

"Huwa Mudarris fii Madrasat Central East."--He is a teacher at Central East School.

Adrus...--I study...

"Adrus fii Madrasat Masterman." I study at the Masterman School.

Al-Lugha al-cArabiyya--The Arabic Language

"Adrus al-Lugha al-cArabiyya fii Madrasat Turner"--I study the Arabic Language at

the Turner School.

Jaamicah--University

Taalib--Male high school or college student

Taaliba--Female high school or college student

(Words from Lesson 10)

Akh--Brother

Akhii--My brother

Ukht--Sister

Ukhtii--My sister

Waalid--Father

Waalidii--My father

Waalida--Mother

Waalidatii--My mother

"Akhii taalib fii Jaamicat LaSalle."--My brother is a student at LaSalle University.

"Ukhtii taaliba fii Jaamicat Pennsylvania."--My sister is a student at the University of

Pennsylvania.

"Waalidii mudarris fii Madrasat Hopkinson."--My father is a teacher at the Hopkinson

School.

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"Waalidatii ustaatha fii Jaamicat Drexel."--My mother is a professor at Drexel

University.

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LESSONS 21, 22, 23

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

"Kullu Sana wa Antum bi-Khayr!" Greeting used at holidays, birthdays, etc. to express good wishes: "May you be

well with every coming year!"

Kullu--each, every

Sana--year

Antum--you, plural

bi-Khayr--Well, good, "in wellness"

You will hear Arabs say it in many different ways.

"Kullu cAam wa Antum bi-Khayr" (

cAam is another word for 'year')

"Kulli Sana wi Intu Tayyibiin" (This is what Egyptians say)

"Kulli cAam wa Intu Salmiin" ( This is

what Palestinians and Syrians say)

cIid al-Miilaad--Christmas (Holiday of the

Birth)

"cIid al-Miilaad Sa

ciid!"--Merry

Christmas!

"Bayt La m" Arabic name for

Bethlehem

cIid al-Fi r--Festival of Fast-Breaking--

The holiday which ends the month of

Ramadan.

"cIid Mubaarak!" Blessed Eid!

Ra's as-Sana--New Year (Literally, 'head

of the year,' and similar to Hebrew Rosh

Hashanah)

On all of these occasions Arabs will wish

each other "Kullu Sana wa Antum bi-Khayr!"

In 2001, the US Postal Service issued the Eid Greetings stamp. The Arabic

calligraphy, by the noted American calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya, says "Eid

Mubarak" "Blessed Eid." This is the first U.S. stamp ever issued to commemorate an

Islamic holiday.

Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is not celebrated in Arab countries because it is an American holiday. But

you may be surprised

to learn that many of the Swahili terms used in the Kwanzaa celebration are originally

48 54

from Arabic. This is

because the Swahili or KiSwahili language developed as a mixture of Arabic and the

native Bantu language,

as a means of communication for all of the trade which occurred up and down the

eastern coast of Africa. In fact,

the word "Swahili" comes from the Arabic meaning "Coastal, belonging to the

coasts."

Here are some of the Swahili words used in the Kwanzaa celebration which are of

Arabic origin:

Nguzo Saba--The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa--"Sabca" is the Arabic word for

'seven'

Ujamaa--Cooperative Economics, and Ujima--Collective Work--both derive from the

Arabic verb "jamaca,"

the root meaning of which is "coming together, gathering." Other Arabic words

we have already learned which

are related to this verb are "Jaamic"--Mosque, "Jaami

cah"--University, and "Yawm

al-Jumcah"--Friday.

Nia--Purpose-- "Niyya" means 'purpose, intent' in Arabic.

Imani--Faith--From the Arabic word "Iimaan" meaning 'faith'. Also, it is related to

the English word "Amen," which

English got from Hebrew. Iimaan (Iman) is also a woman's name in Arabic.

Kinara--Candle holder--from the Swahili prefix Ki- and the Arabic word "naar"--fire.

Mshumaa--Candle--from the Arabic word "shamca" meaning candle or wax.

Karamu--Feast which ends Kwanzaa--from the Arabic word "karam" meaning

generosity. Related to the word

"Kariim" meaning generous, which can be used as a man's name as in Kareem

Abdul Jabbar.

Habari Gani?--What's the news, What's up?--Swahili greeting. "Habari" comes from

the Arabic "khabar" meaning

a news item.

So once again....you know more Arabic than you thought you did!

RAMADAN AND THE HOLY QUR'AN

B-ism Allah ar-Ra maan ar-Ra iim

In the Name of God, The Merciful, The Compassionate

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Invocation said by Muslims on many occasions, particularly when beginning a new

activity.

Ramadaan--The holiest month of the Islamic year, when Muslims fast from dawn to

sunset.

Ramadaan Mubaarak!--Blessed Ramadaan!

a - awm; a - iyaam--Fasting. Fasting during Ramadan is one of the "Five Pillars

of Islam"

If aar--Meal to break the fast after sunset

Su uur--Pre-dawn meal

Anaa aayim/ aayima--I am fasting. masc./fem.

cIid al-Fi r--Festival of Fast-Breaking--The holiday which ends the month of

Ramadan.

Qur'an (Qur'aan)--The Holy Scripture of Islam. Believed by Muslims to be the literal

words of God, as revealed to His Prophet Mu ammad by the Angel Gabriel.

Preferred pronunciation and spelling.

Koran--old way of pronouncing and spelling Qur'an

Suurah--Chapter of the Qur'an. There are 114 Suurahs in the Qur'an.

Ayyah--Verse of a chapter. There are over 6,000 Ayyahs in the Qur'an.

Juz'--"Part or Section" The Qur'an is divided into 30 parts of approximately equal

length.

Tajwiid--The art of reciting the Qur'an.

Our Qur'an reciter was ajj Omar Woodard, Senior at Girard College.

ajj Omar was the winner of Villanova University's Islamic Studies Center's 2000

Children's Quranic Recitation Contest.

Ukindia

Learn to Read Arabic

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Lesson 1

Lesson 2..Download all Arabic lessons (300k)..Home

Arabic is the language of a large part of our planet . It is the spiritual language of Islam -one

of the world's major religions. It is also a permanent language of the UN.

These are a few very basic learn to read the alphabet lessons. You may freely copy

these lessons for non commercial uses . The words are mostly in English so you can

more easily recognise the shape of the letters.Write to us to let us know if you find the

lessons useful and if you spot any mistakes.

Arabic is written in the opposite direction from English ie from your Right to Left. In

the figure below are two letters sh as in shame and n as in no - read from right to left

to get used to it- the nearest hindi equivalent is given as well.

Each letter is written in four forms . For eg if Sh comes in the beginning of a word it is

written as

If in the middle as in

If at the end as

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and if on its own , in a detached form

From the figure below one can see that it is easy to spot the four forms of each letter. The

detached form and final form look very similar . The inital and medial ones have the final bit

of a letter left out . Arabic has its own built in shorthand !

These are the four forms of Sh and N marked detached , initial , medial and

final.

Supposing we wanted to make a word beginning with Sh and ending with N ( eg to

shun somebody) we take initial form of Sh and final form of N to make shn

Now follows the whole Arabic alphabet with the closest English equivalent .

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Note that in the figure above (which has the equivalent Hindi sound added ) some

sounds share a common letter. For example B and P are the same , although in some

Arab countries three dots are present under B to make it P.

Revise the alphabet again

53 54

Lesson 2..Learn Arabic Online..Home