Archive for 'Grammar'
Idafa Construction in Arabic Posted by aziza on Apr 9, 2009
Idafa construction (الإضافة) is a construction of 2 nouns. The first noun is indefinite, e.g. (كتاب) “book”, and the second noun is usually definite, e.g. (الطالب) “the student”. The meaning of both words become related with the relationship of ‘of’, i.e. the first noun is presented as one that belongs to or that is specific…
Negation of Arabic Sentences Posted by aziza on Apr 3, 2009
There are different particles used for negation in Arabic. (لا) is used to negate present tense verbs. It must be used immediately before the verb, e.g. لا أذهب إلى عملي بالسيارة. “I do not go to my work by car.” أصدقائي لا يحبون السفر معي. “My friends do not like travelling with me.” (ما) is…
Expressing Future Actions in Arabic Posted by aziza on Mar 24, 2009
In Arabic, the future is not considered a tense of its own accord, but rather one of the modes of the present. It is formed by placing the word (سوف) before the present verb or by using the prefix (س) before the present forms of the verb. سوف أدرس اللغة العربية. “I will study Arabic.”…
The Past (Perfect) Tense in Arabic Posted by aziza on Mar 23, 2009
In Arabic, the past time frame is used to mark actions that are complete at the time of speaking or writing. It is mainly marked by suffixes at the end of verbs that depend on the person or pronoun used. Examples of the past (perfect) tense: درس اللغة العربية. “He studied Arabic.” سكنتَ…
The Present (Imperfect) Tense in Arabic Posted by aziza on Mar 9, 2009
In Arabic, the time of the verb is marked by prefixes and suffixes that differ from present (imperfect) and past (perfect). The present or imperfect is used with actions that are still in progress or with repeated actions, e.g. things that you do everyday or usually, etc. Examples of the imperfect tense: أدرس اللغة…
Relative and demonstrative pronouns in Arabic Posted by aziza on Mar 5, 2009
Relative pronouns, like ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘whose’, ‘what’, etc. are used at the beginning of relative clauses to describe a definite noun. In Arabic, relative pronouns come after definite nouns to introduce sentences that describe these nouns or provide additional information about them. Relative clauses that follow relative pronouns can be nominal or verbal sentences, e.g…
Pronouns in Arabic Posted by aziza on Mar 3, 2009
Subject pronouns (ضمائر الفاعل) in Arabic are used to substitute nouns and to refer to them, e.g. (الطالب متغيب، هو مريض) “the student is absent; he is ill”. Personal pronouns in Arabic have a lot in common with English pronouns, but have some differences as well. For example, Arabic does not have a pronoun for…