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Arab School days – The morning line Posted by aziza on Aug 1, 2009
School days in the Arab world have a very interesting and special ritual, i.e. the morning line (طابور الصباح). It usually begins half an hour before teaching begins, i.e. at 7.30. When the bell (الجرس) rings, all pupils line up together. They stand in twos in a special place for each class. The class teacher…
Arabic Noun of Time Posted by aziza on Jul 30, 2009
In the previous post, I explained (اسم المكان) “noun of place”. In this post, I explain (اسم الزمان) “noun of time”, which is a noun that indicates the time of an action, e.g. (موعد) “appointment”, (مولد) “birthday”. It is formed in the same way that we form the noun of place, i.e. by following the…
Arabic Noun of Place Posted by aziza on Jul 27, 2009
As discussed before, Arabic is a highly derivational language, and we can derive different forms from one another. We learned how to make an active participle from a verb. In this post, I discuss a special type of noun that can be derived from verbs, namely (اسم المكان) “noun of place”. It is a noun…
Broken plurals in Arabic Posted by aziza on Jul 24, 2009
I have explained sound plurals in a previous post. These are plurals that are formed by adding a suffix to the end of the word without making further changes. The broken plurals (جمع التكسير) involve changing the internal structure of the word; that’s why they are called broken plurals. This change may involve adding letters…
Superstitions in Arab Culture Posted by aziza on Jul 21, 2009
Superstitions (الخرافات) play a significant role in Arabic culture. Most people believe in the power of envy (الحسد), magic (السحر), genies (الجن), etc. to affect them and inflict harm upon them. It is not uncommon to hear someone saying that they are ill or that their kids are ill because they have been envied or…
Ahmed Shawqi: Famous Arab Poet and Playwright Posted by aziza on Jul 20, 2009
Ahmed Shawqi (أحمد شوقي) is a famous Arab poet and playwright. He is considered to be one of the most important Arab poets in the 20th Century. He is given the title (أمير الشعراء) “lit. The Prince of Poets” to reflect this status. Shawqi was born in Egypt in 1870 to a family of mixed-race. His…
Arab Wedding Traditions Posted by aziza on Jul 15, 2009
Today is my cousin’s wedding (حفل زفاف), so I thought of writing about weddings in some Arab countries, especially Egypt. Weddings are very important and happy occasions in Arab societies, and they have an important social function in conservative societies. They are the culmination of 2 people and 2 families getting together. Weddings are usually…