Archive for March, 2010
Making Exclamations in Arabic Posted by aziza on Mar 15, 2010
Expressing exclamation in Arabic is done using a special style called (أسلوب التعجب). The particle used in this style is (ما), and it should be followed by the form (أفعل) of the appropriate adjective, e.g. الشارع واسع. “The street is wide.” ما أوسع الشارع! “How wide the street is!” It should be noted that the…
Common Arabic Words and Sentences – Part I: Transliteration Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 14, 2010
A pronunciation reference for transliterated Arabic words and phrases. This guide will aid in learning and pronouncing sentences and words more accurately.
Why learn Arabic? Posted by aziza on Mar 14, 2010
Learning a foreign language is often a hard and taxing activity, but at the same time rewarding. People learn languages for all sorts of reasons. Most people quote practical reasons for learning a foreign language, such as wanting to find a good job, to live in a different country; others give intrinsic or personal reasons…
Arabic Math Vocabulary Posted by aziza on Mar 11, 2010
Most Arabic teaching focuses on Arabic grammar and vocabulary, and many students miss on some details, e.g. technical vocabulary like simple math terms. In this post, I try to fill this gap by presenting the Arabic words for some mathematical symbols and terms. Addition = جمع Subtraction = طرح Multiplication = ضرب Division = قسمة…
English Words of Arabic Origin Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 8, 2010
A brief list of English words that have Arabic origin.
Arabic Adjectives and their Opposites Posted by aziza on Mar 8, 2010
In this post, I present some simple adjectives and their opposites. It is also handy to know the word that can be used to negate adjectives, more or less like the English prefix, un- which is (غير). We use it before an adjective to negate it, e.g. (معروف) means ‘well-known’, while (غير معروف) means ‘un-known…
Spatial relationships in Arabic Posted by aziza on Mar 4, 2010
الشجرة أمام البيت “The tree is in front of the house.” in front of أَمام خلف السيارة كلب. “There is a dog behind the car.” behind خَلف / وَراء حقيبتي بين المقعد والطاولة. “My bag is between the seat and the table.” between بَين مقعدي على يمين مقعدك. “My seat is to the right…