Arabic Adverbs (Part 2) Posted by aziza on Sep 9, 2009
In the previous post, I explained that adverbs describe verbs, and that we can derive adverbs from verbs, e.g. كثيراًis derived from كثير“much”. In this post, I present 2 constructions that are used as adverbs in Arabic. The first one is a prepositional phrase. If we use the preposition (ب) followed by the verbal noun…
Arabic Adverbs (Part 1) Posted by aziza on Sep 6, 2009
Adverbs modify verbs. They give extra information about the manner, time, frequency of performing a certain action. Typically, adverbs in Arabic end in (تنوين الفتح), e.g.جداً ، كثيراً ، قليلاً ، دائماً etc. أدرس كثيراً قبل الامتحان. “I study a lot before exams.” لا نأكل كثيراً في الإفطار. “We do not eat a lot at…
Usage of different Arabic particles Posted by aziza on Sep 3, 2009
I got a query recently about the usage of different particles that are made up of one letter only, e.g. ف، ل، ك، ب. In this post, I give some examples of their different uses. First of all, it should be noted that any particle that is made up of one letter only cannot stand…
Expressing Similarity in Arabic with Like or As Posted by aziza on Sep 1, 2009
Following my previous post about comparison, I received a question about how to express similarity in Arabic, and Niji contributed the answer. In this post, I explain more about similarity in Arabic. There are 2 particles that we can use to express similarity, i.e. (كـ) and (مثل). Both of them mean ‘like’ or ‘as’, and…
Nazik Al-Malaika Posted by aziza on Aug 29, 2009
Nazik Al-Mala’ika (نازك الملائكة) is a famous female writer, poet and critic from Iraq. Nazik was born in Baghdad in 1922 to a literary family. Both her parents wrote poetry. Her father (صادق الملائكة) was a famous Iraqi poet and writer who edited a 20 volume encyclopedia. Her mother (سلمى عبد الرزاق) wrote poetry under…
How to Make Comparisons in Arabic Posted by aziza on Aug 26, 2009
Comparison is between two in terms of a certain quality usually expressed by an adjective, e.g. taller than. When we compare between 2 people or things in Arabic, we typically use the form (أفعل) followed by the preposition (من), e.g. “taller than“ is (أطول من) محمد أكبر من أحمد ولكن أحمد أطول منه. “Mohammed is…
Ramadan Habits Posted by aziza on Aug 23, 2009
Today is the second of Ramadan in the Hijri year 1430. Nabeel kindly commented on my previous post and gave a more accurate definition for fasting as “Fasting means willing abstention from eating, drinking and satisfaction of certain demands of the flesh, from predawn to sunset.” In fact, this alerted me that I mentioned briefly…