Arabic Language Blog

It is very important when we write in any language to create logical relationships between the ideas that we present. There is a number of relationships that we can create like addition, contrast, among others, and there are many words and expressions that we can use to express these relationships. In this post, I present some words and expressions that we can use to express the relationship of condition in Arabic. In English, this is expressed by ‘if’.

In Arabic, we have three words that mean ‘if’, i.e. (إن وإذا ولو). It is very important to know the constructions that can occur with them. Generally speaking, the condition clause is in the past tense, and the other one is future. Consider the following examples:

إن تأخرت على الصف، فلن تفهم الدرس.

“If you were late for the class, you would not understand the lesson.”

إذا ذهبت مشياً على الأقدام، فستتأخر.

“If you go on foot, you will be late.”

When giving advice where we can use the present tense after the conditional, for example:

إن تذاكر، تنجح.

“If you study, you will succeed!”

We use (لو) for hypothetical situations, and it is usually used with two past tense sentences

لو كنت غنياً، لاشتريت سيارة جديدة.

“If I were rich, I would buy a new car.”

It is very important when we write in any language to create logical relationships between the ideas that we present. There is a number of relationships that we can create like addition, contrast, among others, and there are many words and expressions that we can use to express these relationships. In this post, I present some words and expressions that we can use to express the relationship of contrast in Arabic. Some of the contrast connectors in English are ‘but’, ‘whereas’, ‘despite’, etc.

The most commonly used connector in Arabic is probably (لكن) ‘but’. We can use it to connect sentences. Consider the following examples:

محمد طبيب ولكن عادل مهندس.

“Mohammed is a doctor, but Adel is an engineer.”

لا أستطيع السفر بالطائرة ولكن يمكن أن أسافر بالقطار.

“I cannot travel by air, but I can go by train.”

We express ‘although’, ‘despite’ or ‘in spite of’ in Arabic using the expressions (على الرغم من) or (برغم).

على الرغم من أن الأستاذ مشغول، فإنه وافق على مقابلتنا.

“Although the teacher is busy, he agreed to meet us.”

برغم مرضي، حضرت إلى العمل.

“Despite/in spite of my illness, I came to work.”

We can express ‘whereas’, ‘nevertheless’, etc. in Arabic using the expressions (بينما), (ومع ذلك), etc.

كانت رحلتنا متعبة للغاية، بينما استمتع الآخرون برحلتهم.

“Our trip was very exhausting while others enjoyed their trip.”

أعمل كثيراً، ومع ذلك لا أحصل على راتب جيد.

“I work very hard, nevertheless, I do not get a good salary.”

It is very important when we write in any language to create logical relationships between the ideas that we present. There is a number of relationships that we can create like addition, contrast, among others, and there are many words and expressions that we can use to express these relationships. In this post, I present some words and expressions that we can use to express the relationship of addition in Arabic. Some of the addition connectors in English are ‘and’, ‘too’, ‘also’, ‘furthermore’, ‘in addition’, etc.

The most commonly used connector in Arabic is probably (و) ‘and’. It is also the easiest way of expressing the relationship of addition. We ca use it to connect nouns, verbs and clauses or sentences. Consider the following examples:

محمد وأمير وعادل ومنير أصدقاء.

“Mohammed, Amir, Adel and Munir are friends.”

في يوم العطلة، نستريح ونلعب ونزور أقاربنا.

“On the week end, we relax, play and visit our relatives.”

أحب الخروج مع أصدقائي وأفضّل الذهاب معهم إلى السينما.

“I like going out with my friends, and I prefer going to the cinema with them.”

We express ‘also’, ‘too’ and ‘as well’ in Arabic using the word (أيضاً).

زار الولد جدته وزار خالته أيضاً.

“The boy visited his grandmother and also his aunt.”

أنا أيضاً أريد تفاحة.

“I want an apple too.”

عمي طبيب وعمتي أيضاً طبيبة.

“My uncle is a doctor and aunt is (also) a doctor.”

We can express ‘in addition’, ‘additionally’, ‘moreover’, etc. in Arabic using the expressions (بالإضافة إلى ذلك) or (علاوة على ذلك).

التعليم يزيد من فرص النجاح، وعلاوة على ذلك فهو يوسع مدارك الإنسان.

“Education increases the chances of success; furthermore, it expands broadens one’s horizons.”

بالإضافة إلى عملي، يجب عليّ أن أهتم بأسرتي.

“In addition to my work, I have to look after of my family.”

More in connectors in the following posts, come back again!