A nominal sentence
الجُمْلَة الاِسْمِيَّة is as sentence that starts with a noun, such as
البَيْت ‘the house’,
الرَّجُل ‘the man’,
الجَامِعَة ‘the university’,
كِتَابِي ‘my book’
صَدِيْقُهُ ‘his friend’ and so forth. One condition is that this noun, you can see from the examples, is generally definite
مَعْرِفَة. That is, it can be indefinite only under one uncommon condition (which will be highlighted later).
A definite noun is a noun that starts with
ال ‘the’, such as
الكِتَاب,
البَيْتَ, and
الجَامِعَة; a noun that is followed by an attached possessive pronoun, such as
كِتَابِي,
بَيْتُهُ, and
جَامِعَتُنَا; or a proper noun (i.e. names of people / places) such as
مُحَمَّد,
سَارَة, and
مِصْر ‘Egypt.’
Definite Nouns:
| الهَاتِف the phone |
السَّيْدَة the lady |
أخِي my brother |
زَمِيْلُهُ his classmate |
| الجَو the weather |
شَنْطِتِي my bag |
التُّفَّاحَة the apple |
مَدِيْنَتُكُم your city |
| اليَمَن Yemen |
مَدْرَسَتُنَا our school |
اللُّغَة the language |
المَطْعَم the restaurant |
| هَذَا this (m) |
الصُّوْرَة the picture |
هِيَ she |
خَطُّهَا her handwriting |
| أَنَا I |
هَذِهِ this - f |
تِلْكَ that - f |
البَاص the bus |
In Arabic grammar, this noun is the
subject or
topic مُبْتَدَأ. In the simplest form of the nominal sentence, the
topic مُبْتَدَأ is followed by either an indefinite noun, an indefinite adjective, or a prepositional phrase. The indefinite noun / adjective or the prepositional phrase is the
predicate خَبَر. Hence, the nominal sentence
الجُمْلَة الاِسْمِيَّة is composed of the
topic المُبْتَدَأ and the
predicate الخَبَر.
Indefinite Nouns and Adjectives:
| طَالِب a student |
جَدِيْد new |
مُهَنْدِس an engineer |
كَبِيْر big |
| جَمِيْل nice / beautiful |
سَيَّارَة a car |
ذكِيّ smart |
مَطْعَم a restaurant |
| صَيْدَلِي pharmacist |
حَار hot |
بَارِد cold |
شَاي tea |
| لَذِيْذ delicious |
خَيْمَة tent |
سَائِق driver |
صَعْب difficult |
A prepositional phrase
شِبْه جُمْلَة (literally mean semi-sentence) is composed of a preposition
حَرْف جَر, such as
فِي ‘in’,
مِنْ ‘from’,
فَوْقَ ‘on’, and alike, followed by a definite noun
. The whole phrase (i.e. the preposition and the noun) is the
predicate الخَبَر.
Prepositional Phrases:
| مِنَ اليَمَنَ from Yemen |
فِي البَيْتَ in the house |
| دَاخِلَ الغُرْفَة inside the room |
تَحْتَ الشَّجَرَة under the tree |
| أَمَامَ السَّيَّارَة in front of the car |
خَلْفَ الَمَدْرَسَة behind the school |
To make a basic nominal sentence in Arabic, therefore, we simply start with a definite noun. According to the meaning that we intend to make, the definite is followed by an indefinite noun, an indefinite adjective, or a prepositional phrase.
جُمْلَة اِسْمِيَّة
|
مُبْتَدَأ
|
خَبَر
|
| الهَاتِف جَدِيْد. |
الهَاتِف |
جَدِيْد |
| أَنَا مِنَ اليَمَن. |
أَنَأ |
مِنَ اليَمَن |
| الرَّجُل مُهَنْدِس. |
الرَّجُل |
مُهَنْدِس |
| مِصْر فِي أَفْرِيقِيَا. |
مِصْر |
فِي أَفْرِيْقِيَا |
| السَّيَّارَة أَمَامَ البَيْت. |
السَّيَّارَة |
أَمَامَ البَيْتَ |
| التُّفَّاحَة لَذِيْذَة. |
التُّفَّاحَة |
لَذِيْذَة |
| هَذِهِ خَيْمَة. |
هَذِهِ |
خَيْمَة |
| بَيْتُنَا خَلْفَ المَدْرِسَة. |
بِيْتُنَا |
خَلْفَ المَدْرَسَة |
| هِيَ طَبِيْبَة. |
هِي |
طَبِيْبَة |
| هُوَ طَالِب. |
هُوَ |
طَالِب |
| الجَوْ جَمِيْل. |
الجَو |
جِمِيْل |
Using the list of words in this lesson and the previous lesson, try to write basic simple sentences. Then, try the
following test, paying attention to both form and meaning of words.
