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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…
Arabic Verbal Noun (Form II-V) Posted by aziza on Aug 7, 2009
In the previous post, I explained that the verbal noun (المصدر) is a very important noun that refers to the action implied in the verb, e.g. (كتابة) “writing” -as a process-, derived from the verb (كتب) “to write”. I also explained that there is not a single pattern to follow to form the verbal noun…
Arabic verbal noun – Verb form I Posted by aziza on Aug 3, 2009
Verbal noun (المصدر) is a very important derivative in Arabic. It is a noun derived from the verb to refer to the action or activity implied in the verb, e.g. drive/driving, eat/eating, work/working, etc. They can be used in similar contexts to the use of verbal nouns in English, e.g. “I like swimming.” (أحب السباحة)…