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 alone, i.e. it must join the word after.

ب

This is a preposition. It means ‘by’ or ‘by means of’

أحب الكتابة بالقلم الرصاص.

“I like to write by pencils.”

سافرنا إلى مصر بالطائرة.

“We travelled to Egypt by airplane”.

ك

This is a preposition, and it is used to express similarity.

سميرة كأختك.

“Samira is like your sister.”

ثوبك أبيض كالثلج.

“Your outfit is as white as snow”.

ل

This is a preposition, and it means ‘to’ or ‘in order to’. It should be noted that when (ل) comes before a noun that begins with (ال), we have to delete the first (ا) of (ال), for example (ل) + (البيت) = (للبيت)

سنذهب للجامعة الآن.

“We will go to university now.”

أدرس كثيراً لأنجح.

“I study a lot in order to succeed”.

ف

This is a connector. It is used to connect 2 sentences that have a cause and effect relationship between them.

كنت جوعانة فأكلت.

“I was hungry, so I ate.”

تعطلت السيارة، فلم نصل إلى الحفل في الموعد.

“The car broke down, so we could not make it on time for the party”.

ف

It can also be used to express sequence. In this way, it is like (ثم), e.g.

وصل أحمد فخالد. = وصل أحمد ثم خالد

“ِAhmed arrived, then Khaled.”