Archive for August, 2009
Nazik Al-Malaika Posted by aziza on Aug 29, 2009
Nazik Al-Mala’ika (نازك الملائكة) is a famous female writer, poet and critic from Iraq. Nazik was born in Baghdad in 1922 to a literary family. Both her parents wrote poetry. Her father (صادق الملائكة) was a famous Iraqi poet and writer who edited a 20 volume encyclopedia. Her mother (سلمى عبد الرزاق) wrote poetry under…
How to Make Comparisons in Arabic Posted by aziza on Aug 26, 2009
Comparison is between two in terms of a certain quality usually expressed by an adjective, e.g. taller than. When we compare between 2 people or things in Arabic, we typically use the form (أفعل) followed by the preposition (من), e.g. “taller than“ is (أطول من) محمد أكبر من أحمد ولكن أحمد أطول منه. “Mohammed is…
Ramadan Habits Posted by aziza on Aug 23, 2009
Today is the second of Ramadan in the Hijri year 1430. Nabeel kindly commented on my previous post and gave a more accurate definition for fasting as “Fasting means willing abstention from eating, drinking and satisfaction of certain demands of the flesh, from predawn to sunset.” In fact, this alerted me that I mentioned briefly…
Ramadan Posted by aziza on Aug 18, 2009
Muslims around the world, including me, are waiting for the month of Ramadan (رمضان) now. It is the month of fasting and worship, and it is a very spiritual time for all Muslims. Fasting (الصوم) involves not eating or drinking anything from dawn to sunset. This may seem hard, but it is not that difficult…
The Difference Between Arabic Verb Forms II and V Posted by aziza on Aug 16, 2009
In this post, I explain the difference between 2 verb forms: form II (فعَّلَ) and form V (تفعَّلَ). Form II is always transitive, i.e. it must take an object at all times, so the sentence in which a form II verb is used must have a subject and an object, e.g. كسّر الولد الزجاج. “The…
Arabic Vocabulary on Outer Space Posted by aziza on Aug 13, 2009
In this post, I compile a list of vocabulary items related to the topic of space. It is one of the topics that often appear in newspapers, yet not many books of Arabic as a foreign language deal with it. Below is a list of words that are relevant to the topic of space: Space…
Arabic Verbal Noun (Form VI-X) Posted by aziza on Aug 9, 2009
In this post, I explain the verbal noun (المصدر ) and how we can derive it from form VI- form X verbs. مثال المصدر الماضي Verb form تبادُل تبادَل تفاعُل تفاعَلَ Form VI انتظار انتظر انفِعال انفعَلَ Form VII احترام احترم افتِعال افتعَلَ Form VIII اخضرار اخضرّ افعِلال افعَلَّ Form IX استقبال استقبل استِفعال استفعَلَ…