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Basic Arabic Conversations Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Mar 8, 2018
The primary goal of learning another language is communication, that is being able to use it in real-life communicative settings (i.e. in a restaurant, a hotel, a shop, when meeting someone new, and so forth). This post includes a list of the common Arabic conversational exchanges. Though I disfavor transliteration (because I view it as…
50 English Words of Arabic Origin Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Mar 6, 2018
The influence of Arabic on some European languages was due to the Arab conquest of Spain, Portugal, and parts of France. Also, for over six centuries, Arabic culture was highly prestigious which added to this linguistic influence. Hundreds of words in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and English are borrowed from Arabic. Some of these words have…
Arabic Nominal Sentence: The Predicate Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Feb 27, 2018
In an earlier post, you learned that the nominal sentence الجُمْلَة الاِسْمِيَّة gets it name from the word with which it starts—a noun اِسْم. It has two parts the subject or topic المُبْتَدَأ and the predicate الخَبَر. The first is derived from اِبْتَدَأ ‘to start with’ and the second from خَبَرَ ‘to tells something about…
How to Order and Make Suggestions in Arabic (2) Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Feb 22, 2018
In a previous post, I showed how to give orders/instructions in Arabic. We almost always use the imperative form of the verb الفِعْلُ الأَمْر which is derived from the present form of the 3rd person singular masculine. This post focuses on conjugating the imperative form with the 2nd person singular feminine, dual, and plural. Also…
Basic Sentence Structure in Arabic (IV) Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Feb 20, 2018
In a previous post, you learned about the types of sentence in Arabic. It is either nominal اِسْمِيَّة or verbal فِعْلِيَّة. The nominal must start with a noun called the subject/topic مُبْتَدأ. It is called مُبْتَدَأ because it is the focus of the sentence. Other words that follow (or may precede) state something about it…
20 Common Arabic Idiomatic Expressions Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Feb 15, 2018
Like most world languages, Arabic has idiomatic expressions تَعْبِيْرَات اِصْطِلاحِيَّة that cannot be understood literally; therefore, they are a source of difficulty for both native- and non-native-speakers. Even if one knows the meaning of individual words in the expression, the meaning of the phrase can still be confusing. This post includes 20 common such expressions…
Word-formation in Arabic: Blending in Egyptian Dialect Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Feb 13, 2018
Colloquial use of Arabic is associated with mistakes in grammar, pronunciation, and word-formation. This is not new; it’s been around since the early days of Islam, mainly in the speech of non-Arabs. It first emerged in the wrong assignment of final diacritical marks, that is parsing or I‘raab إِعْرَاب. Except for borrowed words, colloquial usage…