Archive for 'Grammar'
Arabic Verb Forms [Conjugatable vs. Non-conjugatable] Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Jul 24, 2017
Arabic verbs are either fully conjugatable, partially conjugatable, or non-conjugatable. In Arabic grammar, this classification is referred to as مُتَصَرِّف mutaSarrif ‘conjugatable’, مُتَصَرِّف نَاقِص mutaSarrif naqiS ‘partially conjugatable’ and جَاِمد jamid ‘non-conjugatable.’ … Continue Reading
Meet an Emirati Sports Champion! (1) Posted by jesa on Jul 22, 2017
Marhaba! Have you ever been interested in water sports, or tried any nautical exercises? The Emirati, Maha al-Blushi, has excelled in the sports of rowing (التجديف). She has crossed various barriers, social and physical, to become one of the prominent champions of rowing in the United Arab Emirates. Today, I am sharing with you a…
Do You Know What Kashta Is? Posted by jesa on Jul 18, 2017
Marhaba! If you have ever tasted a range of Arabic sweets and come across a creamy white ingredient that you thought tasted like heaven, then you have encountered Kashta (or Ashta as pronounced in some dialects, قشطة )! Found in most sweets such as Knefe (كنافة), Katayif (قطايف), and Znood el-Sir (زنود الست), Kashta is…
10 Common Levantine Proverbs Posted by jesa on Jul 15, 2017
Marhaba! As you know, every language and culture has different ways of saying things. Most cultures have accumulated across the years a number of proverbs and sayings to express certain ideas or describe a given situation. The Arabic language has of course a huge collection of proverbs. Today I am going to share with you…
Storytelling With Souad Massi Posted by jesa on Jul 8, 2017
Marhaba! Today I want to introduce you to one of my favorite contemporary singers in the Arab world, Souad Massi (سعاد ماسي)! Born in Algeria, Massi is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She first started performing at around the age of 17, and started her career with the political rock band Atakor. After moving to…
Question Words in Arabic [Standard vs Dialects] Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Jul 6, 2017
Arabic question words may vary in form from dialect to dialect. They also vary in their position in the sentence. Following is a list of questions words in Modern Standard Arabic, Egyptian dialect, Levantine dialect, and Yemeni dialect. MSA Examples: مَا اِسْمُك؟ maa ismuk? ‘what is your name? مَاذَا تَفْعَل؟ mathaa tafعal…
Time-related Vocabulary in Colloquial Arabic (Part 2) Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Jul 5, 2017
In today’s post, we’re going to learn some everyday, authentic vocabulary about time, using a song (video below) called كِلِّ سَاعَه kil saʕaa by the Lebanese singer – Marwan Al-hkoury مروان خوري The vocabularies we’re going to look at include units of time as well as other phrases to do with time in general…