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

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

Initial صـ‎, as in the word “صابون” meaning “soap”.

Medial ـصـ‎ ‍, as in the word “عَصير” meaning “juice”.

Final ـص‎, as in the word “مَقَصّ” meaning “scissors”.

Before looking at the following words and phrases, can you think of words beginning with ص?

Let’s begin with !صَباح الخَير: Good morning! 🌞

There are a number of ways to reply to صَباح الخَير. You can say صَباح الخَير back or you can change it up a bit by replacing الخَير with other nice things such as light, flowers, or honey.

🌞صَباح النُّور

🌞صَباح الوَرْد

🌞صَباح العَسل

 

صَباح الخَير، هل نِمتَ جيداً؟    Good morning, did you sleep well?

صباح الوَرْد، نعم، لقد نِمتُ جيداً، وأنتَ؟   Good morning, yes, I slept very well, and you?

صِحّة: health      .تَناول الطعام بِشِكِل جَيد ومارِس الرّياضة للحِفاظ على صَحتك   

Eat well and exercise to stay healthy.

!صَحتَين

After a meal, the person who prepared the food or the host will say “صَحتَين”. There is no exact equivalent to this phrase in English. The closest equivalent is the French phrase Bon appétit which is also used in English. صَحتَين is derived from the word صحة meaning “health”. Do you recall the dual form in Arabic? صَحتَين is the dual form of صحة making it “two healths”. Arabic speakers sometimes like to use the dual form for emphasis. Another example is using the dual form of “hello” مرحبا. Someone says مرحبا, the other replies مَرحبتَين “two hellos”. So, by wishing someone eating صَحتَين, you are exaggerating your wishes of good health. The appropriate reply to صَحتَين is على قَلبَك meaning “health to your heart”.

الصَّيْف: summer    .الصَّيف قادِم قريباً ولم أصلح مُكيف الهَواء بَعد

Summer is coming soon, and I haven’t fixed the air conditioner yet.

صَديق: friend    .لَدي الكثير مِن الأصدقاء على الفيسبوك ليسوا أصدقائي حقاً

I have too many friends on Facebook who are not really my friends

صاحِب is another term for friend or companion but can also be used to refer to a “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” when adding ة .

صورة: picture   .أفَضِل الصّور بالأبيض والأسود  I prefer black and white pictures.

صَحْراء: desert    .يشتهر وادي رم بالمَناظِر الطبيعية الصَحراوية المُذهِلة

Wadi Rum is famous for its stunning desert landscape.

صَحافة: journalism     .لا تَسمح جَميع البُلدان للصحفيين بِنَشر مَواضيع حَساسة

Not all countries allow journalists to publish sensitive topics.

📰 صَحيفة: newspaper

.توقفوا عن إيصال الصحيفة لأن المَزيد مِن الناس يقرؤون الأخبار على الإنترنت

They stopped delivering the newspaper since more people are reading the news online.

Note: another word for newspaper is جَريدة.

صِدْق / صَراحة: honesty

.بِصراحة، أخبرني بالضَبط ما حَدَث    Honestly, tell me exactly what happened.

.أريد صديق صادِق   I want an honest friend.

صَلاة: prayer     .في بَعض الأحيان يصلون معاً كعائلة   They sometimes pray together as a family.

صَليب: a cross, used as a symbol of the Christian religion

.هُناك صليب جميل مُطَرَزعلى الوِسادة     There is a beautiful cross embroidered on the pillow.

صامَ: to fast   .إذا كنتَ تَشعر بالمَرض، لا تصوم اليوم  If you are feeling sick, don’t fast today.

 

You have probably heard of صلاح الدين الأيوبي or seen his character شَخْصِيّته played in films. In the Arab world, he is considered a great hero بَطَل for defeating هْزِم the Crusaders الصَليبيون in the Battle of Hattin مَعركة حِطين in 1187 conquering غَزو the holy city of Jerusalem القُدس. He is a Sunni Muslim of Kurdish كُردي ethnicity الأصْل العِرقي and has become a prominent figure شَخْصية بارِزة in Muslim, Arab, Turkish and Kurdish culture.

Here is a video in Modern Standard Arabic about صلاح الدين الأيوبي with Arabic written subtitles to follow along. Try not to focus on trying to understand every single word. Just listen to the flow of words and their pronunciation while reading them. You will definitely hear/read words you are familiar with.

 صلاح الدين الأيوبي

Here are more words with the letter ص

صَحيح: correct   .لقد راجعتُ الحقائِق، وكلها صحيحة 

I checked the facts, and they are all correct.

صَعْب: difficult    .مِن الصَّعب جداً حل هذه المُشكلة  This problem is too difficult to solve.

صَوْت: sound/voice

.لا تصدر أي صَوت، فالطفل نائِم     Don’t make any sound, the baby is sleeping.

.غَنَت بِصَوت جَميل     She sang in a beautiful voice.

صَيْدلِيّة: pharmacy   .أحتاجُ للذهاب إلى الصيدلية لِشراء الأدوية 

I need to go to the pharmacy to buy medication.

صَفْحة: page    .انتهيتُ مِن قراءة صفحتين فقط  I only finished reading two pages.

Until next week, happy Arabic learning! 😊