Arabic is an amazingly flexible language, which will make it easy for you to speak Arabic to people so long as you follow certain rules.
There are 2 stages of speaking Arabic; the most basic stage, and advanced stages which people who are experts of the language enjoy (this is known as balaaghah).
You’re going to understand the most basic stage, just so you can speak Arabic and people can understand you, just so you can get a feel of how to make basic sentences. Once you get used to these sentences, you can then have paragraphs of discussion.
Pre-Conditions:
Before starting:
1 - You need to Understand the language when you hear it. The more vocabulary (words) and grammar you know, the better.
[We have already made the book; 'Learn to Understand Arabic in 12 Colored Tables' to get an understanding of the language.]
2 -Vocabulary is most important so you can maintain a long conversation, Google translate (http://translate.google.com) is good for helping in your vocabulary (English to Arabic translator).
So is Ejtaal.net Almanac dictionary, and Project Root List Quran are also useful.
3 -Grammar is important to get a feel of – because if you don’t say words properly, your lack of knowledge of arabic is exposed.
In simple terms – the more you already know of Arabic, the better.
Who this article is for?
People who can understand Arabic, but find it hard to connect words together to speak Arabic in sentences.
Let’s begin:
To speak sentences at the most basic level, all you need to have is a bunch of objects (nouns), actions (verbs) and connective words (harf/huroof) which will work together to form the sentence.
In your sentence, related words will need to maintain the same pattern in the following;
i – Gender
ii -Definite / indefinite form (‘THE’ or ‘A’)
iii – the Vowel marks on the words’ last letter. (Raf’/Nasb/Jarr forms)
i – Gender
Number (i) is just like in english or any other language.
Example:
‘The big man, he iseating tasty food in his house.
al-RajulU al-KabeerU ya‘kulU Ta’aamAn LadheedhAn fee BaytI-hi’.
Looking at (i) from Arabic and English (and any languages perspective) – ‘the big Man, he is Eating tasty food in his house’ makes sense.
X - We do not say ‘the man SHE is eating tasty food.’ Because you would say ‘HE‘ for a man.
Point (i) is now clear, and all languages agree with this.
ii -Definite / indefinite form (‘THE’ or ‘A’)
Point (ii) is also easy to understand.
Al-Rajulu al-Kabeeru = the Big Man.
English does not have this, but simply put, when you add ‘AL’ (meaning ‘
the‘ or referring to something
specific) – it implies that thing SPECIFICALLY. (i.e. THE)
Example:
AL-Rajul =
THE man. (a
specific man)
Compared to:
Rajulu
N =
A man. (
not anyone
specifically because there is no ‘AL’).
Adding an Adjective:
Now let’s add an
Adjective [ صِفه] (Attribute) to describe this Man.
Al Rajulu
Al-Kabeeru = the
Big Man
[NOTE: In Arabic:- Adjectives (Attributes) are added AFTER the Noun (object), unlike English where Adjectives (Attributes) are mentioned before the Noun.]
This ‘
AL‘ on both implies
Definiteness, Definite
means there is no; ‘A‘, ‘Is‘, ‘Are‘ type of words in this phrase, it is only ‘THE‘.
If there was no ‘AL’,
those words would be added. (i.e.
A man,
Are men etc.)
I.e. Rajulu
N KabeeruN = ‘
A‘ Man ‘
Is‘
big.
How to write ‘The’ or ‘A’ in Arabic:
If there is ‘AL‘ (‘The’) at the beginning –
there is no ‘N‘ (meaning: ‘A’) at the end of the word. |
If there is no ‘AL‘ before the word, then
it will have a letter N [tanween] at the end to show it is
indefinite (not specific) – meaning (‘
A‘).
Example:
Al-Rajulu_ (no ‘N’ attached at end) =
THE man.
__- Rajulu
N (no ‘AL’ attached at beginning) =
A man.
How to write ‘Is’ or ‘Are’ in Arabic:
If there is part definite (i.e. AL-Rajul [the Man]) and part indefinite (
kabeer-uN) – then it looks like the following:
Al-Rajulu
KabeeruN =
The Man
IS big.
Compared to:
AL-Rajulu
Al-Kabeeru (=
The Big Man) [no 'a', or 'is' is mentioned].
Also compared to: Rajulu
N KabeeruN (=
A Man
is Big)
Or: Rajulu
N al-Kabeeru =
a Big Man
SUMMARY:
Al Rajulu Al-Kabeeru = the Big Man
RajuluNKabeeruN = ‘A‘ Man ‘Is‘ big.
Al-Rajulu KabeeruN = The Man IS big.
RajuluNal-Kabeeru = aBig Man
iii – the Vowel marks on the words’ last letter. (Raf’/Nasb/Jarr forms)
The ‘mood’ of the word is shown through the vowel mark/sound on a words last letter.
What is the ‘
mood‘ of a word
? The vowel on the last letter of a word
tells what the word is doing in the sentence.
We have touched upon this in our
I’raab* table already, so refer to this for the basics:
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh162/speed2kx/i3rab_table-5.png
Any word in the sentence can either be a;
Doer, Doing,
Targeted Object,
Owner of something else, etc:
‘
Doers‘ [faa'il] and ‘
Doings‘ (Actions – Fi’l) & often
Default words usually end with a ‘
U‘ sound on the end of the word. (known as:
Raf’/maRfoo’)
Targetted Objects,
Descriptions, or ‘
receiving Attention‘ words often end in
‘A‘. (known as:
Nasb/maNsoob)
‘
Owners‘ often end with
‘I‘ on the end.
Harf al Jarr (small words like ‘Fee’, ‘Alaa etc.) words also make the word after it have an
‘I‘ on its end letter. (known as:
Jarr/maJroor)
Conditional statements add a
sukoon (silent pause) on a word [meaning:
no vowels are pronounced on the last letter].
Mabni [ مبني ] (meaning: ‘made‘) words do not follow the patterns mentioned above. They have to be learnt separately.
Let’s look at an example:
Zayd
U Darb
U ‘Amr
A
Zayd Hit ‘
Amr
We see that
Zayd is the ‘Doer’ (U), he is
‘Doing’ (U) Hitting (DarbU), and
‘Amr has an ‘
A‘ at the end because he is being the
Targetted Object/recieving Attention.
Example 2:
Bayt
Ullah
i – (broken down: Baytu Allahi) =
Allah’s House) [
Owner &
Default]
Example 3:
ZaydA DarbU ‘AmrU
‘Amr Hit Zayd
This one’s tricky, isn’t it? Compare it to example 1.
The reason why
Zayd in this one is
being ‘Hit’ is because he has got the ‘
A‘ written on the end of his name.
‘Amr is the ‘
Hitter‘ because he is the ‘
Doer‘ (faa’il) [U on the end.]
This is an example of how powerful, sensitive and flexible the Arabic language is.
NOTE:
1 – Mabni [
مبني ] (meaning: ‘made‘) words do not follow the patterns mentioned above.
Example: Darab
a = He Hit.
Because the word ‘DarabA’ has an ‘A’ at the end, it does
not mean it is a
‘Targetted Object’. Rather, this word has an ‘A’ at the end due to it being made that way with other rules of the language.
Your job with Mabni words is to simply memorise them as they are, and if you ever doubt
if a word is mabni or not, you will have to
ask someone with knowledge of Arabic, or continue learning.
2 - A deeper study of grammar (nahw) will show you that vowels on the last letter of a word change for other rules too. So further study of Arabic is important, this article only intends to show you the extreme basics to maintain a conversation whereby Arabs can atleast understand you.
The Vowel on a Object & it’s Attribute‘s last letter – have to be the SAME.
Looking at the sentence made earlier in (ii);
We see that both these have a Damma (‘U’ sound) on its last letter;
Al-RajulU Al-KabeerU (
The Big Man) – (Noun – Adjective both have ‘
U‘ on the end)
RajulUn KabeerUN. – (Noun – Adjective both have ‘
U‘ on the end) (
A Man IS Big)
This is important so people KNOW that the Attribute belongs to the Noun (in this case, the ‘Noun‘ will be the Man):
Al-RajulU [noun] Al-KabeerU [Adjective/Attribute],
ya‘kulU (Faa’il [Doer = he] & Fi’l – Doing word) Ta’aamAN (Targetted Object has Fat-ha/zabar on last letter) LadheedhAn (Description).
“The Big Man (he)is Eating a Tasty Food“
Commentary:
i – We see ‘the Man’ (AL-Rajul) [a specific man] is being mentioned.
ii – His Attribute is mentioned after him (which differs to english where an Attribute is mentioned first. I.e. the Big Man)
iii – ya‘kulU (‘ukl = eat food) and the ‘ya‘ = ‘he‘ (present-future tense) [see 'Learn Arabic in 12 colored Tables' book to see differences of Past vs Present-Future tense].
iv – Ta’aamAN = ‘A‘ food (if it was ‘AL-Ta’aamA’ = ‘THE food’) (Targetted Object/recieving attention – because it is being eaten.)
v – LadheedhAN = ‘A tasty‘ (if it was ‘AL-LadheedhA’ = THE tasty’) (Description)
Let’s try one together;
So now just imagine any verb or noun, think of some adjectives (Attributes) and some huroof (words which connect a sentence together.)
Let’s try it.
What Verb (doing word – fi’l) shall we use?
Rakaba* = he Rode (past tense) / yaRkabu = he is Riding (present tense).
*[BIG NOTE: Rakaba is a 'Doing' [verb]. But it has no ‘U‘ on its end. This is because it is a ‘mabni’ word.
What Noun Doer (faa’il) shall we use?
al-Rajul
u = the Man
What ‘Targetted Object’ (maf’ool bihi) shall we use?
Himaar
AN =
A donkey
What Attribute (Sifah) shall we use to describe the Targetted Object?
Saree’
An = Fast.
Let’s now Join the sentence together:
1)
Al-Rajul
U 2)Rakaba 3)Himaar
AN 4)Saree’
An
5)Fee Bayti-h.
1)The Man 2)Rode 3)
a Donkey 4)Fast 5)in his House.
1)[Doer =
U (raf'). 2)Doing =
U (raf') [in mabni/made form so no 'U' is shown]. 3)
Object being Targetted = A (nasb). 4)
Description = A (nasb) [it is similar to
(3) in vowel because it describes (3 - the object)]. 5)
Harf al Jarr (Fee) caused word after it (Bayt) to have
‘ i ‘ on its last letter too.)
Shifting the Sentence Structure for Attention:
Rakaba al-RajulU al-KabeerU HimaarAn saree’An fee Bayti-h
A big man was
Riding a donkey, fast – in his house.
The Verb (Action) is placed at the beginning of this sentence compared to the sentence before to EMPHASISE the Action. I.e. the first word the Arab hears is ‘Riding’ so that is the main focus of attention in this sentence. Compared to the earlier sentence which had emphasis on the MAN doing the riding.
Summary:
We learn that;
1 - Arabic is so flexible, that ‘Doers’ [Faa'il], the ‘Doings’ [Fi'l], and the Targetted Object [Maf'ool bihi] can go almost anywhere in a sentence, so long as the vowel on the last letter is added correctly.
2 -
‘
Doers‘ [faa'il] and ‘
Doings‘ (Actions – Fi’l) & often
Default words usually end with a ‘
U‘ sound on the end of the word. (known as:
Raf’/maRfoo’)
Targetted Objects,
Descriptions, or ‘
receiving Attention‘ words often end in
‘A‘. (known as:
Nasb/maNsoob)
‘
Owners‘ often end with
‘I‘ on the end.
Harf al Jarr (small words like ‘Fee’, ‘Alaa etc.) words also make the word after it have an
‘I‘ on its end letter. (known as:
Jarr/maJroor)
Conditional statementsadd a
sukoon (silent pause) on a word [meaning:
no vowels are pronounced].
Mabni [ مبني ] (meaning: ‘made‘) words do not follow the patterns mentioned above. They have to be learnt separately.
3 - AL = “The”. When there is no ‘AL’ (meaning: ‘The’) but
‘N‘ at the end of a word instead], you can translate it as the words; ‘
A’, ‘is’, ‘are’, and similar words which show indefiniteness.
(i.e. AL-sayyaarah = THE car. | SayaaratuN = A car.)
4 - Nouns which have
Adjective/s (Sifah/an Attribute)
come AFTER the Noun (Doer) in Arabic, unlike English.
(i.e. al-
SayyaartU al-Kabeer
U = the Big Car [in arabic, the word '
Car' was mentioned
first, unlike English.])
5 - The
Vowel marks on a Nouns last letter and it’s Attribute (Sifah) HAS TO BE THE SAME to show they are related to (describing) each other in the sentence.
(as seen in number 4′s example, both words have a ‘U’ at the end.)
Almost finished:
i – So now you know that
you can put words in almost any order in a sentence.
ii – You know the
vowel signs to add to prove who is doing what in the sentence (known as the ‘mood’ [i'raab (
اِعراب)] of the word).
iii – You know
how to add connective words in a sentence, in addition to simple words like,
‘the’, ‘is’, ‘are’ etc.
iv – You know
how to give Attributes (Sifah) to a Noun in the sentence.
So in simple words;
you can now make sentences inshaa’ Allah,
which can turn into paragraphs of discussion in Arabic.
All you need to do now is build up on your Arabic vocabulary (which we’ve already said – you can use google translate (http://translate.google.com) for, or Quran translations, or Lexicons [from http://ejtaal.net Almanac dictionary].
I’ll leave you with some words to play around with;
Nouns and Objects:
AL = THE | (no ‘AL’ at the beginning of a Noun, but ‘
N‘ at the
end of a Noun/Object = ‘
A‘)
Ana = I
Rajul = Man. | Rijaal = Men (plural)
Mar’ah = Woman | Nisaa’ = Women (plural)
walad = boy | baneen = sons
bint = daughter | banaat = daughters
sayyaarat = car
Maa’ = water
Verbs (Doing words):
La’aba = he Played / La’aba
t =
she Played |
yaL’abu (he is Playing [present tense]) | yaL’aboon = they [males] are Playing
Sharaba = he Drank | Sharabat = she Drank
yaShrabu = he is Drinking – yaShraboon = they [males] are Drinking. | taShrab = she is Drinking – taShrabNa = they [females] are Drinking.
jahada = he Struggled / Jahadat = she Struggled.
yaJhadu (he is Struggling [present tense]) | yaJhadoon = they [males] are Struggling.
taJhad (she is Struggling) – taJhadNa = they [females] are Struggling.
Connectives:
Fee = In
‘Alaa = On
Bi = With
Kaana = Was | yaKuwn = Is
Wa = And
Fa = So / Then
Min = From
A sentence using these words could be;
Ana aShrabU al-Maa’A wa a‘kulU al-Ta’aamA min sayyaaratI-h
i
I am Drinking the Water and I am eating the Food from his car.
Explanation: (Mabni,
Doer,
Doing,
Targetted Object of Attention,
Connective word,
Doer,
Doing,
Targetted Object of Attention,
Harf al Jarr connective word,
Noun which has been forced by the ‘min’ to have an ‘I’ on its end), and ‘
hu‘ [meaning 'his'] has become ‘h
i‘ (pronounced ‘
hee‘) for easy pronunciation purposes (imitating the word before it of having ‘
i‘ on the end).
If you can’t understand this sentence, then read the Book:
‘Learn to Understand Arabic in 12 Colored Tables‘
Keep practising with the above samples to make your own sentences, or look at Qur’an and Ahadeeth to get a glimpse of these rules.
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