Archive for 'Grammar'
Arabic grammar terminology – case marking Posted by aziza on Aug 21, 2010
In this post, I present a brief table with some terms related to the case marking system; the Arabic and English terms are presented along with a brief explanation of the use of the cases. The first table deals with the cases for nouns and adjectives. With nouns serving as subjects of verbal sentences or…
Expressing prohibition – don’t Posted by aziza on Aug 19, 2010
To express prohibition (النهي) in Arabic, we use the particle (لا) with the present tense form of the verb conjugated with you. In this post, I explain how to make orders with (أنتَ) you singular masculine. Consider the following examples: أنتَ تفتح. You open. لا تفتحْ. Don’t open! أنتَ تستمع. You listen. لا تستمعْ. Don’t…
Almanqoos (Part 2) Posted by aziza on Aug 12, 2010
In the previous post, I introduced (الاسم المنقوص) which is a noun that ends in (ي) preceded by a letter with kasra (ـِ). It is special in its form, as the final (ي) is deleted when the noun is indefinite. The case marking (الإعراب) of this category of nouns is special as well. The final…
Almanqoos Posted by aziza on Aug 6, 2010
(الاسم المنقوص) is a noun that ends in a long i: (ي) with a kasra (ـِ) on the letter before last, e.g. (النادي) “club”, (القاضي) “judge”, etc. These nouns are very tricky to master in Arabic because they are often confused with other nouns and adjectives that end in (ي), e.g. nisba adjectives for nationalities…
How to negate nominal sentences in Arabic Posted by aziza on Aug 3, 2010
Nominal sentences in Arabic are negated using (ليس). It should be noted that (ليس) should be conjugated according to the subject of the sentence. The following table shows the conjugation of (ليس) with different pronouns. لستُ أنا لستَ أنتَ لستِ أنتِ ليس هو ليست هي لسنا نحن لستما أنتما ليسا هما m ليستا هما f…
Direct and Indirect Objects in Arabic Posted by aziza on Jul 27, 2010
In Arabic, just like English some verbs take two objects; in English they are called direct and indirect objects, while in Arabic they are called first and second objects (مفعول به أول) and (مفعول به ثانٍ). Some of the verbs that take two objects are: (أعطى) ‘to give”, (أهدى) ‘to present’, (ظن) ‘to think’, etc…
The Absolute Object Posted by aziza on May 25, 2010
The Absolute Object (المفعول المطلق) is a special type of object that serves to emphasize the meaning of the main verb. It is typically formed by using the verbal noun (المصدر) derived from the main verb in the accusative form, e.g. انتصر الجيش انتصاراً. ‘The army has achieved victory.’ The absolute objects can be modified…