Arabic Language Blog

     Kada and its Sisters are special verbs in the Arabic language. We have been introduced to them and their meanings in an earlier post; (Kada and Sisters: Part 1). Today, we will know more about these verbs and about their predicate. Like the verb Kana and its Sisters, the verb Kada and its Sisters start the nominative sentence and cause the mubtada المبتدأ (subject) to be their noun (Ism اسم). They also cause the Khabar الخبر (predicate) to be their Khabar. The khabar changes its case from nominative to accusative. That is to say that the khabar has a Fat’ha on its ending.

    Now, how are Kada and Sisters different from Kana and Sisters? The answer is easy; the predicate. While the Predicate of Kana and its Sisters can be of three types;( Mufrad مفرد , Jumalah جملة or Shibh Jumlah شبه جمله ), the predicate of the Verb Kada and its Sisters has only one fixed form or type; the Jomlah. You may ask what kind of Jumlah? The answer is that the predicate of Kada and Sisters should only be a Verbal Sentence جــُـمــلــة فــِــعـــلـــيــَّـــة /Jumlah Fi’liyah/ . The verb in the verbal sentence of the predicate of Kada and sisters should also be in the present tense. This present verb can sometimes be preceded by the particle أن which is equal to (to) of the infinitive. The blue words in the following examples are the predicate verbal sentences of Kada and sisters.  

*  When Kada and sisters come with or without (to  أن) of the infinitive:  

•  The Verbs of Approaching (Muqarabah) أفــعـــــال الــمــُــقـــَــــــاربــَـــــــــة  which are ( كاد / أوشك / كرب ) and the verb ( عسى ) from the Verbs of Hope (Rajaa) أفـعــال الـرّجــَــاء  can all be followed by ( to أن ) or it can be left out.

            Ex. – كادَ المعلمُ (أن) يكونَ رسـُـولا  = The teacher was about to be a messenger (in rank).

                     -  أوشكت المرأةُ (أن) تشاركَ في كل مجالات العمل 

                    = The woman is about to participate in all fields of work.

                   -  عسى السلامُ (أن) يتحقق  = Peace may be fulfilled.

• The Verbs of Hope  (Wish = Rajaa) أفــــعــــَـــــــــال الــَّرجـــــــَـــــــاء  which are ( حرى / اخلولق ) should be used with ( to أن ) of the infinitive. 

                   Ex. – حرى السلامُ أن ينتشر   = I wish that peace would prevail.

                          -  أخلولق الطالب أن ينجح   = I wish that the student could succeed.

• The Verbs of Start (Shoroo’)  أفــعــَــــــال الــشـــُّـــــروع which are (أخذ  / شرع / هبَّ / قامَ / أنشأ  /  طـفـِـقَ / جعل /  بدأ  ) are used with ( to أن ) of the infinitive.

                   Ex.   – أخذ العلمُ يغزو الفضاءَ   = Science started to invade space.

                        - شرعت سفن الفضاء تهبط على القمر   = Spaceships started to land on the moon.

                       -  بدأ الجرس يدق   = The bell started to ring.

 ****

To listen to a full example sentence analysis, visit our Arabic Transparent Youtube channel at; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWfer7BIvQw&list=UUpem9uOiql2k3kMV3n5xodQ&index=1&feature=plcp  

*****

Check us back soon

Peace سلام /Salam/ 

     Today, we are going to go on a journey to the depths of the Arabic Dictionary to discover some of its secrets. We will look up the root verb عَـمـِـل   and explore some of its derivatives.

* عـَـمـِـلَ    [V. T. I.] = to do something or to work.

                   Ex. – عَمِلَ محمد الواجب  = Mohammad did the homework.

                        – يعمل أحمد في مصنع   = Ahmad works in a factory.  

*  عـَـامـِـل  [N. C.] = 1) male worker; the male person who works.  

              Ex. –  هـُو عاملٌ مخلص  = He is a loyal worker.

                                = 2) factor

            Ex.  -  التخطيط الجيد عامل مهم للنجاح   = Good planning is an important factor for success.

* عـُـمـَّـال / عـَـامـِـلـون / عـَـامـِـلـين  [N. Pl.] =  workers; plural of عامل  

*  عـَـوَامـِـل  [N. Pl.] = factors; Plural of عامل  

*  عـَـمـَـل  [N. C. U] = work , deed or business; (pl. أعمال )  

                    Ex. -  هي تذهب إلى العمل مبكراٌ  = She goes to work early.  

                          -  كان عنده عشاء عمل ليلة أمس  = He had a business dinner last night.

*  أعـْـمـَـال  [N. Pl.] = works, deeds or business; Plural of عـَـمـَـل 

                    Ex. -  هي سيدة أعمال ناجحة  = She is a successful business woman.

                          – طه حسين له أعمال أدبية كثيرة  = Taha Hussein has a lot of literary works.

*  عـَـامـَـلَ  [V. T.] = to deal with or treat   

           Ex. – عَـامـِِـل الناس كما تحب أن يعاملوك   = Treat people as you would like them to treat you.

* مـُـعـَـامـَـلة  [N. C.] =  deal or treatment – ( pl. مـُـعـَـامـَـلات ) 

* عـُـمـْـلـَـة   [ N. C.]  =  currency; ( pl. عـُـمـْـلات )  

                  Ex. – عـُـمـْـلـَـة مصر هي الجنيه المصري  = Egypt’s currency is the Egyptian pound.

* عـُـمـُـولـَـة  [N. C.] =  commission; money paid to a bank or someone for carrying out any bank deal or transfer;  ( pl. عـُـمـُـولات )

                  Ex.  – تستحق عـُـمـولة لو وجدت لي شقة جيدة 

                          = You deserve a commission if you find me a good flat.

*  عـَـمـِـيــل  [N. C.] =  client, customer or an agent; ( pl. عـُـمـَــلاء )

                 Ex. – هذه الشركة لها عملاء كثيرون  = This company has a lot of customers.  

* عـَـمـَـلـِـيـّـة  [N. C.] = process, operation; ( pl. عـَـمـلـيـات )

                Ex. – قام مجدي يعقوب بالكثير من العمليات الناجحة 

                      = Magdy Yacoub did a lot of successful operations.

*  مـَـعـْـمـَـل  [N. C.] =  laboratory; ( pl. مـَـعـَـامـِـل )

                 Ex. – المعمل فيه أجهزة حديثة   = The laboratory has modern equipment.

*  اسـتـعـمـَـل  [V. T.] =  to use something or someone; ( pl. استـعـمـال )

                 Ex. – استعمل محمد مِـرآة في التجربة  = Mohammad used a mirror in the experiment.  

*  مـُـسـتـعـمَـل  [Adj.] =  used.  

                 Ex. – هذه سيارة مستعملة   = This is a used car.

- (Note: N.=Noun /C.= Countable / U.= Uncountable / V.= Verb / Ph. V. = Phrasal Verb / Adj.= Adjective / Adv.= Adverb / Prep.=Preposition / Pl.= Plural) 

- For listening to the pronunciation of this word family, visit and subscribe to our Transparent Arabic Channel on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/ArabicTransparent 

*****

Check us back soon

Peace  سلام /Salam/

      We have already been introduced to the special verb Kana and its sisters كان و أخواتها and we have known that these verbs start the nominative sentence الجملة الاسمية and cause the mubtada المبتدأ (subject) to be their noun (Ism اسم) and the khabar الخبر (predicate) to be their khabar. Only the khabar changes its case from nominative to accusative which means that we apply a Fat’ha فتحة on its ending. We have also known the meanings of these verbs. Today we will be introduced to some other verbs that are considered sisters of the verb Kana; that is to say that they do the same job as the verb kana and its sisters. These verbs are called Kada and Sisters       كاد و أخواتها . In the Arabic language these verbs have their own names that are determined according to their meaning. These semi-sister verbs of Kana or the verb Kada and its sisters can be classified into three categories:

1)      The Verbs of Approaching (Muqarabah) أفــعـــــال الــمــُــقـــَــــــاربــَـــــــــة 

              These Muqarabah verbs, as their name indicates, means that the Khabar is about to happen; it is approaching. There are three of these verbs and they are كاد / أوشك / كرب and all of them mean the same; the khabar is near or about to happen.

                 Ex. – كادَ النهر (أن) يجف   = The river was about to dry.

                      -  كادت السفينة (أن) تغرق   = The ship was about to sink.

                      -  أوشك المريض (أن) يشفى    = The patient was about to recover.

                     -  كربت الشمسُ (أن) تــُــشــرق   = The sun was about to rise.   

2)      The Verbs of Hope  (Wish = Rajaa) أفــــعــــَـــــــــال الــَّرجـــــــَـــــــاء 

         These verbs, as it is clear from their name, refer to an action that is hoped to happen; there is a hope that the predicate will happen. There are three of these verbs: عسى  / حرى / اخلولق

           Ex. – عسى الله أن يرحمكم   = I wish that Allah would have mercy on you.

                 – حرى الطب أن يعالج كل الأمراض   = I wish that medicine could cure all diseases.

                -  أخلولق الطالب أن ينجح   = I wish that the student could succeed.

3)      Verbs of Start (Shoroo’)  أفــعــَــــــال الــشـــُّـــــروع  

          These verbs refer to the start of an action; here the predicate is starting to happen. There are so many verbs in this last category. Some of these verbs are: أخذ  / شرع / هبَّ / قامَ / أنشأ  /  طـفـِـقَ / جعل /  بدأ 

         Ex.  – أخذ المطر يسقط بغزارة  = The rain started to fall down heavily.

                 -  شرع المهندسون يخططون للعمل   =  The engineers started to plan the work.

                – بدأ الجرس يدق   = The bell started to ring.

To Be Continued

****

 To listen to the pronunciation of these verbs, visit our Arabic Transparent Youtube channel at; http://www.youtube.com/user/ArabicTransparent