Archive for 'Vocabulary'
Arabic Prepositions: to and on/about Posted by aziza on Apr 15, 2010
In this post, I give some notes about the form and the use of two prepositions (إلى) and (على). The literal meaning of (إلى) is ‘to’, and it is used in expressions like (أذهب إلى عملي) ‘I go to my work’ and (إلى من يهمه الأمر) ‘to whom it may concern’, etc. It should be…
Arabic Numbers 1-100 Posted by aziza on Mar 25, 2010
Here is another post that deals with the writing and pronunciation of Arabic numbers. The table below gives the numbers in writing and transliteration of the sounds. The following video gives the numbers in a sound file with the writing. Please note that the youtube clip includes nunation (تنوين) at the end of each number…
Arabic Vocabulary: Geographical Terms Posted by aziza on Mar 17, 2010
In this post, I present some vocabulary items related to the topic of geography (الجغرافيا). continent قارة ocean محيط sea بحر lake بحيرة river نهر spring نبع well بئر country بلد state دولة / ولاية city مدينة town بلدة village قرية capital عاصمة mountain جبل mountain range سلسلة جبال plateau هضبة hill تل valley …
Arabic Math Vocabulary Posted by aziza on Mar 11, 2010
Most Arabic teaching focuses on Arabic grammar and vocabulary, and many students miss on some details, e.g. technical vocabulary like simple math terms. In this post, I try to fill this gap by presenting the Arabic words for some mathematical symbols and terms. Addition = جمع Subtraction = طرح Multiplication = ضرب Division = قسمة…
Arabic Adjectives and their Opposites Posted by aziza on Mar 8, 2010
In this post, I present some simple adjectives and their opposites. It is also handy to know the word that can be used to negate adjectives, more or less like the English prefix, un- which is (غير). We use it before an adjective to negate it, e.g. (معروف) means ‘well-known’, while (غير معروف) means ‘un-known…
Spatial relationships in Arabic Posted by aziza on Mar 4, 2010
الشجرة أمام البيت “The tree is in front of the house.” in front of أَمام خلف السيارة كلب. “There is a dog behind the car.” behind خَلف / وَراء حقيبتي بين المقعد والطاولة. “My bag is between the seat and the table.” between بَين مقعدي على يمين مقعدك. “My seat is to the right…
Arabic Cultural Expressions: From Assalamu ‘alaykum to Bismillah Posted by aziza on Feb 27, 2010
I am writing this post in response to a kind suggestion of Juan who asked me to write a post about cultural expressions and their replies. Thank you very much Juan for the suggestion! I think that this is a very important topic. Please find a list below. بسم الله “Bismillah” literally means (in the…