THE DEFINITE ARTICLE if you can't remember it
So, in this lesson you'll learn to use the definite article, which is "al" (English "the"). It is attached to the word and the letter l often assimilates to the letter starting the word.
When a word is indefinite, it gets the ending "un", which is done by adding a double damma above the last letter. So, there is no indefinite articly, but a suffix that indicates it.
When the article is attached to the word, the ending -un looses it's n.
http://www.natlas.talkhost.info/Othe...article-al.JPG
qalamun - a pen
al-qalamu - the pen
shamsun - sun
ash-shamsu - the sun
rajulun - a man
ar-rajulu - the man
You can see that the article isn't always "al", but "ash" "ar" etc. too. This is called assimilation. L from Al assimilates to the consonant starting the actual word. Fortunately, there's a rule to this. Only some consonant can assimilate. They are pronunced in the front of your mouth and are called the sun letters. They include
taa' ت thaa' ث daal د dhaal ذ raa' ر zay ز siin س shiin ش saad/9aad ص daad/'9aad ض taa'/6aa' ط DHaa'/'6aa' ظ laam ل
and nuun ن
You can understand why this happens- isn't it easier to say "ashshams" than "alshams" or "arrajul" than "alrajul" ??
First step now is to learn those letters by heart.
The second would be knowing how to attach the article to a word starting with a sun letter.
It isn't exactly same as with a "moon letter" (rest of the letters).
When adding the article, you need to take the sukun (ْ ) away from laam and add shadda and a needed vowelmark *look at the picture*
TA' MARBUU6A
Ta' marbuu6a looks like haa' with two dots on it. It occurs
only in the end of a word, and gives it a feminine gender (though lots of feminine words don't have it). In MSA it is treated as a consonant taa' but in dialects it is usually ignored. Therefore a the word "kilmatun" (a word) would be just "kilma" in a dialect (dialects ignore the ending -un too).
When adding a suffix to a word ending with ta' marbuu6a, you change it to t.
سيارة سيارتي
a car سَيَّارَةٌ sayyaaratun
a table مائِدَةٌ maa'idatun
EXERCISES:
1. Attach the article to the word.
http://www.natlas.talkhost.info/Othe...e2-article.JPG
2. Read aloud:
http://www.natlas.talkhost.info/exercise3-read2.JPG
3. Add needed "little signs" to the words.
بيت بنت الولد العربية الكلمة أب
SOME WORDS:
a girl -
بـِنْـتٌ bintun
a boy -
وَلَدٌ waladun
big -
كَبـيـرٌ kabiirun
small -
صَـغيـرٌ saghiirun/9aghiirun
town/city -
مَدينَةٌ madiinatun
a car -
سَـيَّـارَةٌ sayyaaratun
egypt -
مـِـصْرٌ mi9run
egyptian (m.) -
مـِـصْر ِيٌّ mi9riyyun
NOTE ON THE PRONUNCIATION
When 'a' is followed by an emphatic consonant, it is pronounced like the a in car or father. Not like the a in mad or cat.
Emphatic consonants are ض ص ق خ ح ط ظ and partly ر and غ as well. (R when it's doubled, like in marrah.)
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GENITIVE
So let's start with genitive. You know that a noun gets the ending -un, which is made by doubling the damma (tiny waw). Genitive has it's own ending too, -in which is done by doubling a kasra :D
For example:
Nominative:
محمدٌ mu7ammadun
Genitive:
محمدٍ mu7ammadin
Genitive is used with
a) all the prepositions
في fii = in
بيتٌ Baytun = A house
في بيتٍ fii baytin = in a house
على `ala/3ala = on *note that 3ala is written with ى!!*
مائدةٌ Maa'idatun = a table
على مائدةٍ `ala maa'idatin = on a table
مِن Min = from
من بيتٍ Min baytin = From a house
Note that if you add al- to the word, you have to take the n off from the "in"
في البيتِ fi l-bayti
مِن البيتِ Min al-bayti
Prepositions with one syllable are written together with the word
بــ Bi = by, with, in
بـِـسَـيَّـارَةٍ bi-sayyaaratin = by a car
لِــ Li = to *someone*
لِـمحمدٍ li-mu7ammadin = to mu7ammad
b to show owning
man's car = sayyaaratu r-rajuli سيارةُ الرجلِ
It is important to remember that the owned word never gets the article or the -n of -un!!
boy's book = Kitaabu l-waladi كتابُ الولدِ
If you want to add an adjective, it'll be attached into the end of the sentence.
A man's new car = Sayyaaratu r-rajuli l-jadiidatu
سيارةُ الرجلِ الجديدةُ
New = Jadiid, Jadiida (f.)
Old = Qadiim, Qadiima (f.)
EXERCISE:
Translate:
a) Boy's old book
b) Man's big house
c) Girl's small car
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TO OWN
Arabic doesn't use the verb "to own". Instead, it is shown by prepositions. Most used are:
1. Li لِ, which means "to someone"
*i changes to a before personal suffixes (see below for them)
Lahu sayyaaratun
لَهُ سَيَّارَةٌ
He has a car
Lii baytun
لي بَيْتٌ
I have a house
2. 3inda (=with, by)
3indii 7adiiqatun jamiilatun
عِنْدي حَديقَةٌ جَميلَةٌ
I have a beautiful garden (7adiiqatun = a garden)
3. Ma3a (=with)
ma3a is used only when you're talking about something with someone.
ma3ahu dinaarun
مَعَهُ دينارٌ
He has a dinar (with himself)
Compare:
3indi sayyaaratun jadiidatun
'I have a new car'
ma3i sayyaaratun jadiidatun
'I have a new car with me'
ALL of these can be made negative by placing 'maa' (ما) into the sentence.
ما لَهُ زَوْجَةٌ
He doesn't have a wife
POSSESSIVE SUFFIXES
While in English you say "my book", in Arabic it's "kitaabii"
My book
Kitaabii
Arabic uses suffixes instead of perpositions.
I ...-ii ـي
You m. ...-ka ـكَ
You f. ...-ki ـكِ
He ...-hu ـهُ
She ...-haa ـها
We ...-naa ـنا
You plural m. ...-kum ـكُمْ
You plural f. ...-kunna ـكُنَّ
They m. ...-hum ـهُمْ
They f. ...-hunna ـهُنَّ
You (dual, ie. you two) ...-kumaa كُما
They (dual) ...-humaa ـهُما
And a table, which is propably much clearer :D
Examples:
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TEXT:
Vocabulary:
مَغْرِبٌ Morocco
مَصْنَعٌ A factory
مُديرٌ A boss
على البَحْرِ By sea (ie. near sea)
نَعَمْ yes
فَقيرٌ poor (as no money)
لا no
غَنِيٌّ rich
Other words you should know already.
EXERCISES:
Transliterate and translate the text. Learn the words by heart.