Language Learning

 What is taa marbuta? What is taa marbuta? taa marbuta is the taa that always occurs at the end of certain nouns and adjectives. If connected to the preceding letter, it is written like this ـة, as in سَاعَة ‘watch’, فَاطِمَة ‘Fatima (name)’, and خَيْمَة ‘tent.’ If it occurs after one of the letters that do not connect to the following letter (i.e. ا, د, ذ, ر, ز,و) , it is wri…

The Basic Arabic Nominal Sentence The basic Arabic nominal sentence is الْجُمْلَةُ الْاِسْمِيَّةُ الْبَسِيطَة. It consists of two parts: the subject (also called topic)  الْمُبْتَدَأ and the predicate الْخَبَر. The subject, which the sentence starts with, is  almost always a definite (مَعْرِفَة) noun, such as الْبَيْت  ‘the house’, الرَّجُل ‘the man’, الْجَامِعَة ‘the universi…

Connecting Arabic Letters (2)  Connecting Arabic letters is the focus of this lesson, namely the last thirteen letters of the alphabet. In the previous lesson, you came to know how the first seventeen Arabic letters connect to other letters. You also learned that there are six letters that never join to letters that follow them. We call these letters semi-connecting letters, a…

Connecting Arabic Letters (1) Connecting Arabic letters is the focus of this lesson. Arabic is a cursive language; therefore, its letters must be joined to form words. This entails that the shape of the letter changes. This change is not straightforward, as the letter can have three different shapes: one at the beginning of the word, one in the middle of the word, and one at t…

taa maftuha and taa marbuta ت / ـت and ة / ـة taa maftuha and taa marbuta as well as the haa marbuta are difficult to differentiate. For learners of Arabic as a foreign language, it is always difficult to distinguish between ت/ـت, ة/ـة, and ه/ـه when they occur at the end of words, and so is the case for native speakers. ت/ـت is called taa maftuha (تَاء مَفْتُوحَة) ; ة/ـة is…

Vowels in Arabic Vowels in Arabic are called harakat حَرَكَات, the singular of which is haraka حَرَكَة. Fortunately for the learners of Arabic as a foreign language, they are simple and limited. They are simple in that they are easily produced which makes the articulation of words straightforward. These vowels are [a], [i], and [u]; and for each short vowel, there is a corresp…

What is shadda? What is shadda? shadda is a diacritical mark that is indicated by the mark ( ـّ ). It means the doubling of a consonant. In other words, the consonant over which it is placed is to be sounded/uttered twice without inserting a short vowel (i.e.  fatha  ـَ , kasra  ـِ , or dhamma  ـُ ), in between. So, instead of writing the same consonant twice, we write it only…

Silent alif al-wasl Silent alif al-wasl أَلِفُ الْوَصْلِ is the conjunctive/connective alif that we do not pronounced in connected speech. When we speak, it is common that we assimilate, drop, or blend certain letters. In English, for example, we pronounce the phrase does she as dushee in connected speech. In Arabic, the most common assimilation and dropping occur with the ali…

What is hamza in Arabic? What is hamza in Arabic? hamza is the first letter of the Arabic Alphabet (alif, ba, ta, tha, …): the alif اَلْأَلِف. However, the alif can be a hamza and an alif al-madd أَلِفُ الْمَدِّ. This is determined by its shape, its position in the word, and the diacritical mark (i.e., the short vowel that accompanies it). Types of alif: There are two type…

What is alif al-wasl? What is alif al-wasl? alif al-wasl is the alif without hamza above or below it (i.e., ا not أ or إ). It always occurs at the beginning of the word. The word وَصْل wasl means ‘connection’. So, alif al-wasl is the ‘connective alif.’ It connects the word in which it occurs with the preceding word. Therefore, Arabic speech becomes more natural and connected. …

What is Tanween in Arabic? The tanween تَنْوِين (or nunation) in Arabic (also transliterated as tanwin/tenwin) has to do with the sound ن noon. To be precise, it is an acoustic ن (i.e. said but not written). This ن is added to the end of nouns and adjectives. Only nouns and adjectives get tanween, but not all nouns. Certain nouns; all types of pronouns, which are classified as…

Simple Arabic Grammar Terms (1) Arabic grammar terms of the previous lessons are listed and explained. Besides the explanation of the terms, examples are given. The noun in Arabic is a word that can be a subject of a verb فَاعِل, a topic of a nominal sentence مُبْتَدَأ, a predicate of a nominal sentence خَبَر, an object of a verb مَفْعُول, or an object of a preposit…

The Basic Present Verbal Sentence in Arabic Similar to the basic past verbal sentence, the basic present verbal sentence in Arabic الْجُمْلَةُ الْفِعْلِيَّةُ الْبَسِيطَةُ is composed of a verb فِعْل, a subject فَاعِل, and an object مَفْعُول. The object can be optional, depending on the type of the verb. It always starts with the verb. The verb can be intransitive لَازِم or tra…

The Basic Past Verbal Sentence in Arabic The basic past verbal sentence in Arabic الْجُمْلَةُ الْفِعْلِيَّةُ الْبَسِيطَة can be a word or a group of words that express a completed action. It starts with a verb فِعْل which is always followed by a subject فَاعِل (i.e. the doer of the action). If the verb is intransitive لَازِم, it and the subject form a complete meaning. If the …