Ibn Khaldoun Posted by aziza on Nov 14, 2009
Ibn Khaldoun (ابن خلدون) is a famous medieval Islamic historian and scholar who was born in Tunis in 1332 AD/732 AH, and who travelled extensively. He is a famous historian, sociologist, philosopher, among others. He was born to a rich and well-educated family of politicians and scholars, with ancestry in Andalusia. In his childhood, he…
verb to ‘be’ Posted by aziza on Nov 9, 2009
English sentences that are expressed using verb to be are often translated into nominal sentences in Arabic, and verb to be does not appear at all in the present timeframe, e.g. “I am a student” is translated into (أنا طالبة); and “she is young” is translated into (هي صغيرة). When talking about the past or…
Subject-Verb Agreement in Arabic Posted by aziza on Nov 7, 2009
In this post, I explain an important yet simple rule related to subject-verb agreement in Arabic. When the verb follows the subject, it must agree with it in number and gender, e.g. الطلاب يدرسون في الجامعة. “Students (masc.) study at university.” الطالبان يدرسان في الجامعة. “Students (dual, masc.) study at university.” الطالبات يدرسن في الجامعة…
Arabic case marking with feminine plurals Posted by aziza on Nov 3, 2009
In this post, I explain the use of the case marking system with sound feminine plurals. Sound feminine plural nouns and adjectives end with (ات). They are marked for their case with vowels like singular nouns. However, they have special markings. In the nominative case, i.e. when the noun is used as the subject of…
Arabic Case marking with masculine plurals Posted by aziza on Nov 2, 2009
In this post, I explain the use of the case marking system with sound masculine plurals. There are 2 endings that can be used with sound masculine plural nouns and adjectives, i.e. (ون) and (ين). In the nominative case, i.e. when the noun is used as the subject of a verbal sentence or as a…
Arabic Case Marking with the Dual Posted by aziza on Oct 31, 2009
In previous posts, I explained the case marking system and the dual. In this post, I put explain them together in order to make their use together clearer. There are 2 endings that can be used with dual nouns and adjectives, i.e. (ان) and (ـَيْن). In the nominative case, i.e. when the noun is used…
Meals Posted by aziza on Oct 29, 2009
The work day in the Arab world is usually shorter than the work day in the West, especially for the bureaucratic class of employees, which represents a major percentage of the work force and of society as a whole. Work starts usually at around 8.30 am, and ends at around 2.30 pm. Therefore, people do…