Moving on to our third letter of the Arabic alphabet (ت), we will look at various words and phrases beginning with (ت) along with more culture/language related facts.

Let’s begin with looking at your basic forms of the letter ت.

Initial ‍ت‍, as in the word “تُربة” meaning “soil/dirt”.

Medial ‍ت‍, as in the word “كُتُب” meaning “books”.

Final ت as in the word “بَيْت” meaning “house”.

Before looking at the following words and phrases, can you think of a name, thing, and place beginning with ت?

• Let’s begin with the phrase used to wish someone “good night” in Arabic:

     .تصبحُ على خَير   Literally meaning: May you wake up in the morning in well-being.
The response is: .وأنتَ مِن أهلِ الخَير
May you be among the people of well-being as well.

• تاريخ: history/date (referring to the day of the month or year)

      .1956 استقلت تونس عن فرنسا بتاريخ 20 مارس   

Tunisia gained independence from France on March 20^th 1956.

     .عندي كتاب جيد بعنوان تاريخ العرب في بلاد الشام

I have a good book titled History of Arabs in the Levant.

• تونس
  

  Image via Pixabay

Tunisians are multilingual! Tunisia is one of the most multilingual countries in the Arab world. There are three primary languages used: the local Tunisian dialect, French and Modern Standard Arabic which is the official language of Tunisia. Lately, English has been becoming more necessary to learn and is being taught in schools.

 

• تَوابِل: spices

     .هذه الطَبخة تَحتاج إلى تَوابِل مِثْل الكَمون والكَركم والفِلْفِل الحَار

This dish requires spices like cumin, turmeric and hot pepper.

• تُفاح: apple

      بِكَم كيلو التُّفاح؟       How much is a kilo of apples?

• توت: berry

Note: توت is often used to refer to all kinds of berries such as blueberries, raspberries, and cranberries.

   .أحِبُ عَصير التوت     I like berry juice.

• تَمر: date (referring to the sweet, dark brown oval fruit) When thinking of dates, one automatically thinks of Ramadan. It is believed that prophet Mohammed broke his fast with three dates and water. If you are invited to a dinner during Ramadan, you will most likely be offered a date with water first.

 

• تين Figs have been growing in the Middle East since pre-historic times. The first Quranic verse in (chapter) Surat At-Tīn (The Fig) – سورة التّين, says: (95:1) وَالتِّينِ وَالزَّيْتُونِ “By the fig and the olive”. One interpretation is that it is an oath to the same two fruits that contain the extraordinary nutritive and creative properties. There are of course, other interpretations.

 

• تَبولة 🥗
  

  Image via Pixabay

If you’ve been to any Middle Eastern restaurant, I’m sure you have tried tabbouleh salad which is a Levantine vegetarian salad made mostly of finely chopped parsley, with tomatoes, mint, onion, bulgur, and seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Here is a video showing how to make tabbouleh in Modern Standard Arabic.

طريقة عمل سلطة التبولة

 

• تَوَكُّل‎ is the word for the Islamic concept of reliance on God or “trusting in God’s plan”. The Qur’an speaks of the fact that success is only achieved when one trusts in God. This concept is part of everyday Arabic conversation. When someone is facing a problem and has first done everything possible to seek a solution, he is told: .تَوَكَّل على الله meaning “Trust in God.”.
• Arabic names that begin with ت

      تاج: crown or jewel

      تَسنيم: fountain in paradise

تامِر حُسني:  Tamer Hosny is an Egyptian singer مُغَني, actor, مُمَثِل composer, مُؤلّف موسيقي director and songwriter كاتِب أغاني. He is extremely popular مَحْبوب in the Arab world. Here is a song titled حَبيبي خَلاص meaning “My love, that is it.” with Arabic written lyrics and English subtitles to help you follow along.

حبيبي خلاص – تامر حسني

• التَوجيهي

If you happen to visit Jordan during the time tawjihi results are being announced, you will most likely hear it being talked about by the locals as well as the local news. التَوجيهي is the General Secondary Education Certification Examination in Jordan and serves to determine يُحَدِد which university (public/private) the student is accepted into. Jordan is technically a small country with only a limited مَحدود number of universities. Therefore, it’s a big deal and students all over the kingdom must compete يَتَنافَس in order to get a high enough score to be able to study in a public university such as “The University of Jordan”.

 

Till next week, happy Arabic learning! 😃