Archive for October, 2009
Arabic Case Marking with the Dual Posted by aziza on Oct 31, 2009
In previous posts, I explained the case marking system and the dual. In this post, I put explain them together in order to make their use together clearer. There are 2 endings that can be used with dual nouns and adjectives, i.e. (ان) and (ـَيْن). In the nominative case, i.e. when the noun is used…
Meals Posted by aziza on Oct 29, 2009
The work day in the Arab world is usually shorter than the work day in the West, especially for the bureaucratic class of employees, which represents a major percentage of the work force and of society as a whole. Work starts usually at around 8.30 am, and ends at around 2.30 pm. Therefore, people do…
Computer terms in Arabic Posted by aziza on Oct 28, 2009
Computer terminology has become part of everyday language of people, especially young people in the Arab world. Computer technology develops very fast and reaches Arab markets and consumers before Arabic words have been made to accompany them. Therefore, computer technology reaches Arab societies in English. Of course there are Arabic words for a great deal…
Arabic Vocabulary: Nationalities Posted by aziza on Oct 22, 2009
Nationalities (جِنْسِيَّات) are formed as adjectives in Arabic by adding the suffix (يّ) to the end of the country name. For example, Egypt is (مِصْر), and Egyptian is (مِصْري); Algeria is (الجَزَائِر), and Algerian is (جَزَائِري), Brazil is (البَرَازيل), and Brazilian is (بَرَازيلي). There are some changes done to certain country names when we form…
Vocabulary head and face Posted by aziza on Oct 20, 2009
In this post, I give some more vocabulary items about the body. I give a detailed list of different parts of the head and the face. I made sure full vowelling is included. It may be a good idea after you read the list to look into a mirror or a picture and try to…
Omar Sharif Posted by aziza on Oct 17, 2009
Omar Sharif (عمر الشريف) is a very famous Egyptian actor who became a world-renowned star. He was born in Alexandria on the 10th of April, 1932 to a rich Catholic family, and his original name was Michael Demitri Shalhoub. As a child, he was fat and liked eating so much; therefore, his mother insisted on…
The Jussive Case in Arabic Posted by aziza on Oct 13, 2009
In previous posts, I explained two cases of the present/imperfect tense. The default case in which present tense verbs take short /o/ (الضمة) which is called (المضارع المرفوع), and the subjunctive (المضارع المنصوب); in which verbs take short /a/ (الفتحة), and if the verb ends in one of suffixes (ون، ان، ين), the final (ن)…