Archive for 'Grammar'
Difference in prepositions between Arabic and English (Part 1) Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on May 24, 2017
Learning prepositions and using them in the correct way can be a bit tricky across languages. Today, we’re looking at several of prepositions in Arabic and English and learn about the subtle differences between them. Some of the simple prepositions that exist in both languages (Arabic and English, in this case), such as ‘in’ can…
Arabic Verb Forms [Simple vs. Complex] Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on May 17, 2017
The basic verb in Arabic cannot be bi-consonantal. It must be composed of three, four, five, or six consonants. Looking at the Arabic dictionary, the bulk of verbs is tri-consonantal. These three consonants are ineliminable, for they are integral to verb meaning. Is this the reason it is called simple مُـجَرَّد? Exactly! Let’s look at…
The 3 Most Problematic Arabic Letters Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on May 11, 2017
Just as diacritics play a significant role in disambiguating the meaning of graphically similar words, long vowels determine the form of derived words; therefore, they are called حُرُوف العِلَّة ‘the weak letters.’ … Continue Reading
Arabic adjectives for colours: rules of agreement Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on May 10, 2017
In this post, we’ll be looking at feminine noun phrases and point out an important feature, that is, adjectives need to agree with the nouns they come after and modify, in terms of many grammatical features, but gender is what we’re focusing on today. So, it’s not enough that a learner knows whether a…
Vowels in Arabic: Function and Form Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on May 5, 2017
Does Arabic have vowels? Certainly! But very few compared to English. Is there an Arabic word without a vowel? Hmm! Probably not. The vowel is the center of the word and/or syllable. Put differently, vowels are the crutches of consonants. So, what is the story of vowels in Arabic and how do they crutch consonants?…
[ت] , [ــة] , or [ــه]: How to Differentiate Between Them? Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Apr 24, 2017
For learners of Arabic, as is the case for native speakers, it is normally difficult to distinguish between [ت], [ــة], and [ــه] when they occur at the end of words. [ت] is called taa maftuHah تَاء مَفْتُوحَة, [ــة] is called taa marbuTah تَاء مَرْبُوطَة , and [ــه] is called haa or haa marbuTah هَاء /…
Arabic Connected Speech: What Gets Assimilated? Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Apr 20, 2017
When people speak, it is common that certain sounds get assimilated, dropped, or blended. In English, for example, “does she” is pronounced as “dushee” in connected speech. In Arabic, the most common assimilation and/or dropping occurs with the definite article ال and with the alif of imperative tri-consonantal verbs (i.e. verbs that have a root…