Language Learning

A word that can be a subject فَاعِل, a topic مُبْتَدَأ, a predicate خَبَر, an object of a verb مَفْعُول, or an object of a preposition اٍسْم مَجْرُور.

كِتَاب – book

أَحْمَد – Ahmed

شَجَرَة – tree

كَلْبَ – dog

خَطَر – danger

اِسْم

Noun

A noun that does not refer to a specific entity.

كِتَاب

شَجَرَة

كَلْب

خَطَر

نَكِرَة

Indefinite

A noun that refers to a specific entity. A نَكِرَة is made مَعْرِفَة by prefixing ال (i.e. الخَطَر) or suffixing possessive pronoun ضَمِيْر مِلْكِيَّة (i.e. كِتَابُهَا).

كِتَابُها – her book

الشَّجَرَة

كَلْبُهُم – their dog

الخَطَر

مَعْرِفَة

Definite

A noun that denotes a male.

مُدَرِّس – teacher

طَبِيْبَ – physician

صَدِيْق – friend

لَاعِب – player

مُذَكَّر

Masculine

A noun that denotes a female. It usually ends with ـة. So, most masculine nouns are changed to feminine nouns by adding the feminine prefix ـة.

مُدَرِّسَة

طَبِيْبَة

صَدِيْقَة

لَاعِبَة

سَيَّارَة – car

بَقَرَة - cow

مُؤَنَّث

Feminine

Weak letters حُرُوف العِلَّة are the long vowels.

ا ، و ، ي

حَرْف عِلَّة

Weak letter

The verb the root of which does not include a weak vowel.

شَرَحَ – explain

نَزَل – come down

شَجَّعَ – encourage

اِنْفَعَلَ – be emotional

فِعْل صَحِيْح

Regular Verb

The verb the root of which includes a weak letter. It is irregular because its root changes when conjugated.

قَامَ – stand up

وَجَدَ – find

بَاعَ – sell

رَمَى – throw

فِعْل مُعْتَل

Irregular Verb

The verb the root of which can include three, four, or five letters. None of these letters can be dropped as they are essential to its meaning. If [alif] is dropped from صَام, the remainder صَمْ has no meaning.

قَطَعَ – cut

صَامَ – fast

وَصَلَ – arrive

حَفِظَ – memorize / keep

تَكَلَّمَ – speak

بَعْثَرَ – scatter

فِعْل مُجَرَّد

Simple Verb

The verb the root of which includes one, two, or three additional letters. If the additional letter(s) is/are dropped, it still has related meaning. If the [alif] is dropped from شَاهَدَ, the remainder شَهِدَ still has meaning that is related to شَاهَدَ.

شَاهَدَ – watch

خَمَّنَ – guess

أَوْقَفَ – detained

اِجْتَمَع – meet

اِسْتَخْرَجَ – extract

فِعْل مَزِيْد

Complex Verb

The verb that does not need an object مَفْعُول. It with the subject فَاعِل form a complete sentence.

نَزَل: نَزَلَ المَطَر – the rain fell

قَامَ: قَامَ الوَلَد – the boy stood up

اِنْفَعَلَ: اِنْفَعَلَتِ البِنْت – the girl was emotional

وَصَل: وَصَلَ الأُسْتَاذ – the teacher arrived

فِعْل لازِم

Intransitive Verb

The verb that needs an object مَفْعُول to form a complete sentence. That is, without an object, it does not form a complete sentence.

شَجَّعَ: شَجَّعْنَا نَادَال – we cheered Nadal up

شَرَحَ: شَرَحْتُ الدَّرْس – I explained the lesson

شَاهَدَ: شَاهَدُوْ المُبَارَاة – they watched the match

بَاعَ: بَاعَ سَمِيْر سَيَّارَتُه – Samir sold his car

فْعْل مُتَعَدِّي

Transitive Verb

It is the past form of the verb.

قَطَعُوا – they(m) cut

صِمْنَ – they (f) fasted

سَارَ – he walked

وَعَدْتُ – I promised

فِعْل مَاضٍ / مَاضِي

Perfective Verb

It is the present form of the verb.

يَقْطَعُون – they cut / are cutting

يَصِمْنَ – they fast /are fasting

يَسِيْر – he walks

أَعْد – I promise

فِعْل مُضَارِع

Imperfective Verb

The verb that is composed of three letters.

كَتَبَ

صَامَ

شَرَحَ

وَعَدَ

فِعْل ثُلاثِي

Three-letter verb

The verb that is composed of four letters. In شَجَّعَ, the ج is doubled, i.e. ـجَّـ = ـجْـجَـ.

بَعْثَرَ

شَجَّعَ

شَاهَدَ

أَوْقَفَ

فِعْل رُبَاعِي

Four-letter Verb

The verb that is composed of five letters.  In تَكَلَّمَ, the ل is doubled.

اِنْفَعَلَ

اِجْتَمَعَ

اِنْكَسَرَ

تَكَلَّمَ

فِعْل خُمَاسِي

Five-letter verb

The verb that is composed of six letters.

اِسْتَغْفَرَ

اِسْتَخْدَمَ

اِسْتَفْهَمَ

فِعْل سُدَاسِي

Six-letter Verb

It is the pronoun that can stand alone, i.e. not attached to another word. You will learn about the dual pronouns in future lessons.

أَنَا ، نَحْنُ

أَنْتَ ، أَنْتِ ، أَنْتُم ، أَنْتُنَّ

هُوَ ، هِيَ ، هُم ، هُنَّ

ضَمِيْر مُنْفَصِل

Separate / personal pronoun

It is an attached pronoun that is added to the end of nouns to denote ownership.

أَنَا: ـي، نَحْنُ: ـنَا (كِتَابِي ، كِتَابُنَا)

أَنْتَ: ـكَ ، أَنْتِ: ـكِ (كِتَابُكَ ، كِتَابُكِ)

أَنْتُم: ـكُم ، أَنْتُنَّ: ـكُنَّ (كِتَابُكُم ، كِتَابُكُنَّ)

هُوَ: ـه ، هِيَ: ـهَا (كِتَابُهُ ، كِتَابُهَا)

هُم: ـهُم ، هُنَّ: ـهُنَّ (كِتَابُهُم ، كِتَابُهُنَّ)

ضَمِيْر مِلْكِيَّة

Possessive Pronoun

It is the subject attached pronoun that is appended to the verb to denote the subject / doer.

أَنَا: ـتُ ، نَحْنُ: ـنَا

أَنْتَ: ـتَ ، أَنْتِ: ـتِ ، أَنْتُم: ـتُم ، أَنْتُنَّ: ـتُنَّ

هُم: ـوا ، هُنَّ: ـنَ

ضَمِيْر فَاعِل مُتَّصِل

Attached Subject Pronoun

It is the object attached pronoun that is appended to the verb to denote the object. If added to a preposition, it is its object اِسْم مَجْرُور.

أنَا: ـي (ضَرَبَنِي) ، نَحْنُ: ـنَا ( ضَرَبَنَا)

أَنْتَ: ـكَ (ضَرَبَكَ) ، أَنْتِ: ـكِ (ضَرَبَكِ)

أَنْتُم: ـكُم (ضَرَبَكُم) ، أَنْتُنَّ: ـكُنَّ (ضَرَبَكُنَّ)

هُوَ: ـهُ (ضَرَبَهُ) ، هِيَ: ـهَا (ضَرَبَهَا)

هُم: ـهُم (ضَرَبَهُم) ، هُنَّ: ـهُنَّ (ضَرَبَهُنَّ)

ضَمِيْر مَفْعُول مُتَّصِل

Attached Object Pronoun

It is a subject pronoun that does not appear on the verb. Instead, it is implied and can be inferred from the prefix on the verb.

أَكْتُب: (أَنَا) ، نَكْتُب: نَحْنُ

تَكْتُب: (أَنْتَ)

كَتَب ، يَكْتُب : (هُو)

كَتَبَتْ ، تَكْتُب: (هِيَ)

ضَمِيْر مُسْتَتِر

Covert Pronoun

A preposition that is always followed by a noun / pronoun.

مِنْ: مِنَ اليَمَن ، إِلَى: إِلَى البَيْت

تَحْتَ: تَحْتَ الطَّاوِلَة ، فَوْقَ: فَوْقَ الشَّجَرَة

عَلَى: عَلَيْهُم ، فِي: فِيْهَا

حَرْف جَر

Preposition

A noun or pronoun with which we start the nominal sentence (see below). It is usually definite مَعْرِفَة.

الطَّالِب ، هُوَ ، هَذَا ، أَنَا

البَيْت ، السَّيَارة ، نَحْنُ

مُبْتَدَأ

Subject / Topic

It is a proper noun, a noun, an adjective, or prepositional phrase (see below) that complete the nominal sentence. If it is a noun or an adjective, it is always indefinite (except pronoun nouns and nouns with attached possessive pronouns).

جَدِيْد ، كَبِيْرَة ، ذَكِيْ ، كِتَابِي ، مُحَمَّد

مِنَ اليَمَن ، فِي البيت ، خَلْفَ السَّيَّارَة

خَبَر

Predicate

Generally, it is a preposition followed by a noun. Words like خَلْفَ and تَحْتَ are referred to as an adverb ظَرْف in Arabic.

مِنْ اليَمَن

فِي البَيْت

خَلْفَ السَّيَارَة

فَوْقَ الشَّجَرَة

شِبْه جُمْلَة

Semi-sentence / prepositional phrase

It is sentence that starts with a noun. it has two parts: a subject / topic مُبْتَدَأ and a predicate خَبَر.

هَذَا كِتَابِي. هُوَ مُحَمْدَ.

السَّيَّارَة جَدِيْدَة.

أَنَا مِنَ اليَمَن.

الطَّالِب ذَكِي.

جُمْلَة اِسْمِيَّة

Nominal Sentence

It is a noun / a proper noun that functions as the subject / doer of the verb.

طَالِب ، الطَّالِب ، قِط

الكَلْب ، فَاطَمَة ، عَلِي

فَاعِل

Subject

It is a noun / a proper noun that functions as the object / receiver of the action.

طَالِبًا ، الطَّالِب ، قِطًّا

الكَلْب ، فَاطَمَةً ، عَلِيًّا

مَفْعُول

Object

It is a sentence that starts with a verb. It is composed of a verb and a subject (with the intransitive verb) or a verb, a subject, and an object (with the transitive verb).

نَزَلَ المَطَر.

شَرَحْتُ الدَّرْس.

بَاعَ سَمِيْر سَيَّارَتُه.

وَصَلَ الأُسْتَاذ.

جُمْلَة فِعْلِيَّة

Verbal Sentence