Moving on to our fourth letter of the Arabic alphabet (ث), we will look at a number of vocabulary words beginning with ث, though there may not be many Arabic words that begin with ث, the Arabic word for “culture” being ثَقافة begins with ث and this post will focus on some of the major elements of ثَقافة such as customs, language, art, religion, etc. in Arabic.

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

Initial ثـ ‍, as in the word “ثَقيل” meaning “heavy”.

Medial ‍ـثـ‍, as in the word “اثنَين” meaning “two”.

Final ـث‎, as in the word “أثاث” meaning “furniture”.

Before looking at the following words, can you think of some words beginning with ث?

ثَلْج : snow/ice     !إنَّها تُثْلِج     It’s snowing!

مُمكِن كولا بدون ثَلْج؟         Can I have a coke with no ice?

Note: The word for “ice” as in the ice that you put in a drink is called ثَلْج, yet the word for ice as in ice on the roads is called جَليد.

ثَلاّجة : fridge     .ضَع الطَعام في الثلاجة مِن فَضلك  Put the food in the fridge please.

ثَوب: outfit/dress/gown/robe/garment

 .ما عندي ثَوب مُناسِب ألبسه لِحَفلة التَّخَرُج     I don’t have an appropriate outfit for the graduation party.

Two numbers which begin with ث:

ثَلاثة : three and ثَمانِية: eight

Though the number two in Arabic does not begin with ث, the word for “second” and “secondary” do.

(ثاني: second and ثانوي: secondary/minor/insignificant)

يَوْم الثُلاثاء : Tuesday

.عندي إمتحان رِياضيات يَوم الثُّلاثاء القادِم   I have a math test next Tuesday.

ثوم: garlic     .لا أُحِبُ البَصل والثوم    I don’t like onions and garlic.

ثَمن: price/payment/cost

.سأدفعُ أي ثَمن مِن أجْل أن أرى بَلَدي مَرة أُخرى   I will pay any price to see my country again.

Note: Another Arabic word for price is “سِعْر”. So, you can say كَم ثَمَنهُ؟ or كَم سِعرهُ؟ to mean “How much is the price, or how much does it cost?

You also have ثَمين  to mean valuable/precious/expensive.

.لا أملك أي مُجوهرات ثَمينة    I don’t own any valuable jewelry.

Two animals that begin with ث:

ثَوْر: bull and ثَعْلَب: fox

ثانية: a second  !هيا أسرِع، سَتَبدأ المُحاضَرة بَعِد ثانيتين 

Come on hurry, the lecture will start in two seconds!

ثُمَّ: then/moreover .سافرتُ إلى باريس بالطائِرة ثُمَ ركبتُ قِطار إلى روما

I traveled by plane to Paris then took a train to Rome.

                               ✨✨ثَقافة : culture✨✨

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a video giving a basic definition of culture in Modern Standard Arabic.

ما هي الثقافة باختصار؟

كيفَ تَختَلِف الثَقافة العَرَبية عَن ثَقافتك في…؟   

How does Arabic culture differ from your culture in…?

المَلابِس   clothing

اللَهجات dialects

اللُغة language

التَّاريخ   history

الرَّقص   dance

الطَّعام  food

الدِّين religion

الموسيقى music

العادات والتقاليد customs and traditions

الفَن    art

 

Levantine Arabic:

As you probably know, Levantine Arabic presents several alterations in the pronunciation of most letters, shifting towards an easier and simpler phonetic alphabet. One example is the letter ث which is pronounced as ت or س, depending on the word and which Levantine country. For example, the word for second ثانية is pronounced سانية or the word for Tuesday الثُلاثاء is pronounced التلاتا.

Till next week, happy Arabic learning! 😊