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), also written as tanwin or tenwin, in Arabic has to do with the sound ن noon. To be precise, it is an acoustic ن (i.e., it is said but not written). This ن is added to the end of singular nouns and adjectives. Only nouns and adjectives get tanwin, 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 …
Arabic Verb Types
Familiarity with Arabic verb types is important for correct verb conjugation and usage. These types are based on the structure of the verb root, the component letters of the verb root, whether the verb requires an object, and the tense or time of verb. Verb Root Structure: (1) The Simple Verb الْفِعْلُ الْمُجَرَّد: The verbs in (أ) are…
As explained earlier, the irregular verb الْفِعْلُ الْمُعْتَل in Arabic is the verb that includes a weak letter حَرْفُ عِلَّة (i.e. ا ، و ، ي). It is considered irregular because its root changes while appending attached subject pronouns to it. This change can be leaving a weak letter out or changing it to another weak letter. In this lesson, we will focus on the imperfectiv…
A regular perfective verb الفِعْل المَاضِي الصَّحِيْح, explained in a previous lesson, is the verb that does not include a long vowel حَرْفُ عِلَّة (i.e. و ، ا ، ي). The absence of the long vowel makes its conjugation with different persons / pronouns straightforward. That is, the root verb does not change when pronoun suffixes (or affixes) are added. By contract, the ir…
This lesson is about the attached subject pronouns with the regular imperfective verbs. The attached subject pronoun ضَمِيْر فَاعِل مُتَّصِل, as its name suggests, functions as the verb subject. In the previous lesson, you learned about the attached subject pronouns that we add to the perfective verb الفِعْل المَاضِي. In this lesson, we focus on those that we attach to the regu…
In Arabic, connected pronouns can be attached to verbs, nouns, or prepositions. If attached to verbs, they can be a subject (the doer of the action) فَاعِل or an object (the receiver of the action) مَفْعُول. In this lesson, we look at the connected subject pronouns with regular perfective verbs الْفِعْلُ الْمَاضِي. In a previous lesson, we briefly looked at the common personal …
50 Common Arabic Regular Verbs
50 Common Arabic regular verbs (also called strong verbs) are listed below. These verbs are strong because their root form does not change while adding pronominal suffixes or prefixes to them. Based on the letters verbs are composed of, verbs (الْأَفْعَال) in Arabic are classified into two types: strong verbs (الْأَفْعَالُ الصَّحِيحَة) and weak v…
Basic Word Formation in Arabic
Word formation in Arabic is the process of creating new words by means of adding prefixes, suffixes, infixes, or changing the diacritical marks in the word roots. Take the Arabic word root كَتَبَ 'he wrote' which is a verb. By adding the prefix مَـ to it and changing the short vowels over the كـ and ـب, it becomes مَكْتَبٌ 'an office' which is a …
Sun and Moon Letters
Arabic letters are classified into two categories: the sun letters (الْحُرُوفُ الشَّمْسِيَّة) and the moon letters (الْحُرُوفُ الْقَمَرِيَّة). The Arabic definite article الْـ 'the' triggers this classification. الْـ precedes indefinite nouns and adjectives (i.e., prefixed to them). Basically, the لْـ in الْـ, which is saakin (سَاكِن) or has a sukuun (سُكُ…
Difficult Arabic Letters
Difficult Arabic Letters are the letters that are produced from the same area in the mouth or oral cavity. Linguistically, let's call them difficult Arabic sounds since we are speaking about articulation. These sounds (or letters) differ in one or two phonetic or pronunciation feature, such as being voiced (accompanied by vibration in the vocal cords) …
