Alphabet 1 1 · 2019-06-20 ^

Reading back to front

Did you know that Arabic is written right to left?

(See? Right to left! How cool is that?)

This means that when you pick up a book or magazine written in Arabic, you should start reading from the back cover — which, of course, is the front!

Aah!!

When Arabic is written using English letters, sometimes there’ll be two vowels in a row.

This doesn’t mean that there are two vowels in Arabic, but rather that there is one loooong vowel. Yes, Arabic has both short and long vowels! You’ll be learning more about this soon.

Oh, duh

When you see a tiny forward slash above a letter, it means this letter has a short ah sound right after it. We’ll talk more about this later.

Wow, yeah!

Sometimes و = uu (long vowel) and other times و = w.

BUT

Same with the letter ي: sometimes ي = ii (long vowel) and sometimes ي = y.

BUT

The key is other vowels! If there is a vowel right before or right after و or ي, then they become w and y. Otherwise, they’re just the long vowels uu and ii.

Alphabet 2 4 · 2020-07-10 ^

Mighty Morphing Power Letters

In English, letters can change shape, like if they’re uppercase or lowercase. Letters in Arabic, instead, change shape, based on where they are in comparison to other letters because they can connect to neighboring letters. Look at the shapes of ب b:

Letters can have up to four shapes, though some have fewer than that.

All letters have the independent form and the End of word form (which means connecting to the previous letter).

However, not all letters connect to the following letter → some letters don't have the beginning and middle of the word forms.

Note that the letter combinations you will see in the course to help you learn to read and write in Arabic do not necessarily have a meaning.

ذ = dh

The new letter ذ (dhaal) makes the same sound as the letter combination th in the following English words: the, this, brother, bathing. In our transliteration system, ذ will be represented as dh.

Note that this is not the same sound as th in the following set of English words: thick, thunder, broth, bath. This th sound corresponds to a different letter in Arabic that you will learn soon.

Alphabet 3 1 · 2019-06-20 ^

In the beginning...

In the last skill, you learned to recognize some letters (like ب and ج) by themselves and at the beginning of a word.

Here’s how ب looks in other positions:

And here’s how ج looks:

Exciting!

Letters vs. words

Arabic has 28 letters and several smaller markings (like short vowels) and you’ll be learning all of them in this course! So you need lots of practice with letters at first.

That’s why you’ll go through several lessons on the alphabet and then you’ll get to one with new vocabulary. But don’t worry, there will be more and more vocab as you progress in the course!

Alphabet 4 3 · 2020-05-23 ^

The Beautiful Camel

Did you know that vowels in Arabic can be short or long, and that using the wrong one might change the meaning of the word?

At first, it’ll probably be tricky for you to hear the difference between short and long vowels. It’ll come with practice!

I Have House

Notice that there is no word in Arabic that means a or an.

This isn’t the case for the word the, though...We’ll talk about the later.

A door big

In English, when you want to describe a noun with an adjective (like “a new jacket” or “a big door”), you put the adjective (new, big) before the noun (jacket, door).

Have you noticed how it’s the opposite in Arabic?

Descriptions 1 5 · 2020-05-23 ^

Hold it!

In Arabic, if you hold the sound of a consonant extra long, it might change the meaning of a word. We use a symbol called shadda (it looks like a small w) over a consonant to signal that it’s extra long. In English letters, we’ll just write two of the same consonant.

Note the shadda on the Arabic words on the right side, and the double rr and double mm in darras and Hammaam. When a letter has shadda on it, just hold it extra long!

We saw chicken at the farm!

The word دَجاج (dajaaj) is a collective plural, meaning that it is a singular noun that refers to an entire group or category.

In the context of food, it is best translated as “chicken” because English “chicken” also refers to an entire category of meat. However, in the context of a chicken coop, دَجاج is best translated as “chickens” because it refers to the entire group of chickens rather than a single chicken.

Just remember: دَجاج is NOT a single chicken.

What is number 3 doing here?

As we write Arabic words with English letters, the letter ع has no equivalent. So to make it easier for you, we will use the number 3 that looks just like an inverted ع to remind you when to use it. It is informal, but it helps.

Descriptions 2 2 · 2019-07-15 ^

Duo amazing!

That’s what you’re literally saying in Arabic when you want to say “Duo is amazing!”

That is because most of the time, the words am, is and are simply aren’t expressed in Arabic.

This fun, right?

La la la la la

You’re about to be introduced to the letter ل (l in English) and learn its different shapes. One thing to remember is that when ل is followed by ا within the same word, the result is unexpected!

ل + ا = لا

Countries 1 1 · 2019-06-26 ^

Uh-oh

You already know that the letter ا makes a long aaaaah sound. But it can also do other things!

For example, it can “carry” the tiny letter ء . This letter (called “hamza”) is pronounced like the sound you make between “uh” and “oh” when you say, “uh-oh!”

Words that sound like they start with a vowel in Arabic usually start with hamza first, then the vowel.

Notice that ء can appear in different spots, depending on the vowel it’s written with.

Above the ا

Below the ا

What’s the Deal With the 2?

In English, there is no letter that corresponds to ء . Since ء looks like a reversed 2, we write it in English letters using the number 2. Check out these examples from the course:

We owe this innovation to the texting culture. Because the texting technology was originally based on the English alphabet, Arabic speakers got used to texting in Arabic using English letters. Since there’s no good English letter equivalent of ء, they started using 2.

Omar Is... 2 · 2020-06-11 ^

Th

Read these words out loud:

Do you notice that the sound of th is different for the words on the left side than it is for the words on the right side?

In Arabic, those two th sounds are actually different letters!

In the word سيث (siith) “Seth”, "th" is like the “th” in “three.” We will use th for the letter ث when transliterating in English letters.

In the word ذَكِيّ (dhakiyy) “smart”, "th" is like the “th” in “the.” We will use dh for the letter ذ when transliterating in English letters.

Zero vowels

There is a marking in Arabic that tells you when there is no vowel. It looks like a tiny zero:

كَبُر = kabur كَبْر = kabr

See the small zero there in kabr? It’s telling you this word is pronounced kabr. Here are some other examples:

مَسَك = masak مَسْك = mask

جَبَر = jabar جَبْر = jabr

This is at you! (aka you have got this)

In English, when you want to talk about things you have or possess, you just say I have a pen. In Arabic, you say this a little differently.

Be aware that "عِنْدَ" is not a verb.

Lebanon → Lebanese

To make the nationality adjectives, it is totally easy. For a singular masculine person, we just add the letter ي to the end of the country's name. So لُبنان = Lebanon becomes لُبناني = Lebanese, and عُمان = Oman becomes عُماني = Omani. We will talk about the forms with other subjects later.

Countries 2 1 · 2019-06-26 ^

You’ve already learned that when you see أ / إ at the beginning of a word, it’s just pronounced ء. The ا stays silent.

But what about when it’s in the middle or at the end of a word? You might see ء either on the line or on top of other letters. Don’t worry about learning the rules for which happens when — just know that these forms exist and learn how they sound.

Phrases 4 · 2020-04-01 ^

-an

You already know that a tiny slash above a letter makes the sound a. But what if you see two tiny slashes at the end of a word? Well, that symbol makes a different sound: an. Usually, -an is written above ا, making it look like this: اً. (The ا is silent!)

Some people prefer to write -an first and then to add the silent alif, like this: شُكْرًا (instead of شُكْراً). Either way, the word is pronounced the same way: shukran!

ع = 3

Today, you’ll hear a sound that we don’t have in English: ع !

Pronouncing ع can be a bit tricky at first. Some people compare its sound to the sound you make when you yawn, some say it’s the sound you make when you hurt yourself and it hurts real bad — some even say it sounds like a duck.

You can try this: get close to a mirror, open your mouth wide and fog up the mirror with your breath. You should feel how tight your throat gets when you do this. Now, while doing this, say the vowel a as in cat. That’s about the right sound.

Because this letter, when it’s not connected to another letter, looks like a reversed 3, we’ll write it as a 3 in English letters. For example, we write the word عَرَبِيّ as 3arabiyy.

Yaa dude!

In Arabic, you use the word يا (yaa) before addressing someone. You can think of it as an attention getter, kind of like “hey!” but not as informal.

أَهْلاً يا عُمَر!

Hello, Omar.

شُكْراً يا كَري!

Thank you, Carrie.

He is to she what 2anta is to 2anti

In English, when you’re talking about someone, you have to specify their gender with either “he” or “she.” In Arabic, you also specify gender when talking to someone directly.

Descriptions 3 1 · 2019-06-26 ^

In Arabic, all nouns and adjectives are either masculine or feminine, even when they don’t refer to people. Feminine nouns and adjectives usually end with the letter ة. This letter sounds like a short a and it can only be found at the end of words.

If an adjective describes a noun, it has to agree with the noun: this means that if the noun is masculine, the adjective is masculine, but if the noun is feminine, then the adjective is feminine.

You and Me 1 · 2019-06-26 ^

ghhhhhh

Have you ever gargled? If so, you probably already know how to make the sound of the letter غ. Put some water in your mouth, throw your head back and gargle away! That’s your Arabic homework.

In English, we’ll write غ as gh.

ا = ى

At the end of a word, ا may appear in a different shape: ى. The two alifs (ا and ى) are not interchangeable, so you’ll need to memorize which is used where.

on, on top of = (3alaa) عَلى

Standard Arabic = (al-3arabiyya l-fuSHaa) اَلْعَرَبِيّة الْفُصْحى

Great Britain = (bariiTaanyaa l-kubraa) بَريطانْيا الْكُبْرى

Yes or no?

Have you noticed that questions that start with a question word in English (what, who, why, how, when, etc.) cannot be answered by yes or no, while questions that start with a verb (are you, did we, can she, will they, has he, etc.) require an answer with yes or no?

Why did the duck cross the road?

-Yes ❌

-No ❌

-To prove he wasn’t a chicken! ✅

Did Adam have a belly-button?

-Yes ✅

-No ✅

-At 3PM. ❌

-Because she was smart. ❌

-Through telepathic mind control. ❌

Well, in Arabic, yes/no questions begin with the word هَل (hal). هَل doesn’t have a translation in English — it just means, “hey, I’m a yes/no question!” هَل you ready for this?

University 1 · 2019-06-26 ^

Ha!

Arabic has so many cool sounds! Like the ح, for example. This is the sound it makes when you get close to a window, open your mouth wide and fog up the window. Try it at home!

Don’t get this new sound mixed up with the other h (ﻫ / ه), the one that sounds like the first letter in the word ‘house’ in English. See if you can hear the difference between the two in today’s exercises. And don’t get discouraged if it’s tricky at first! You’ll get there!

The university is a girl??

Remember that when an adjective describes a noun, it has to match the gender of the noun — a masculine adjective with a masculine noun, and a feminine adjective with a feminine noun. This is true for all nouns, even those that don’t refer to people!

Are You...? 2 · 2020-03-27 ^

My uncle is dear

Another cool, new Arabic sound is خ. To make this sound, you need to gargle with water but without the singing. Try to whisper as you gargle and you should be making the right sound.

We write خ as kh with English letters.

This is not the same as غ (gh), which is the sound you make when you gargle normally, without whispering.

expensive, dear = (ghaalii) غالي

my mother’s brother = (khaalii) خالي

The

To say the house instead of a house in Arabic, just put the two letters اَلْ (al-) in front of the word بَيْت.

You can do this with any noun in Arabic!

Family 1 1 · 2019-07-02 ^

Mr. T

Ready for a cool new sound? Let’s call it Mr. T. This is a bigger, stronger version of regular t. It’s the sound of the letter ط in Arabic and we write it as capital T in English letters.

How does Mr. T sound different from regular t?

t + a = ta, close to standard American English “tap”

T + a = Ta, close to standard American English “taco”

Listen to the vowels — a vowel that comes after Mr. T sounds farther in the back of the mouth, while one that comes after t sounds closer to the front of the mouth. Some words may sound similar, but if one of them contains regular t and the other Mr. T, they are different words!

to repent = (taab) تاب

to be good, pleasant = (Taab) طاب

Gender is complicated

You’ve seen ة at the end of all feminine nouns so far. However, there are a few nouns that look a little different! These include:

mother = (2umm) أُمّ

sister = (2ukht) أُخْت

daughter / girl = (bint) بِنْت

Oh my!

If you want to say something like This is my house in Arabic, you need to add an extra little ending onto the thing that is mine.

You just add ي at the end of the noun. Now it’s yours! Be careful, though — this only works for words that don’t end in ة.

What's Your Name? 2 · 2020-03-27 ^

q, not qu

Another distinct Arabic sound is ق. It’s kind of like the sound k in English, except much deeper in the throat. Practice it and you’ll totally get it!

We write ق as q with English letters.

Iraq = (al-3iraaq) اَلْعِراق

-ak and -ik

Remember how, in order to say my house you just add ي at the end of house? Well, to say your house or your son you add ـَك (-ak) when talking to a man and ـِك (-ik) when talking to a woman.

son = (ibn) اِبْن

your son (to a man) = (ibnak) اِبْنَك

your son (to a woman) = (ibnik) اِبْنِك

Family 2 3 · 2020-03-27 ^

Mr. T’s little brothers

You already know the difference between regular t and Mr. T — the vowels around Mr. T sound tougher, more serious and grave than they do around regular t. There are actually three more pairs like ط / ت in Arabic.

Another pair is ذ (dh) and ظ (DH) These two letters are similar, but the vowels around DH are further back in the mouth.

warner, herald = (nadhiir) نَذير

equal = (naDHiir) نَظير

ت <- ة

If you want to say that a city is my city or your city, something funky happens. Remember, مَدينة (city) ends in ة. You make that ة into ـَت (-at) (!!), and then you add the “my” or “your” endings you already know.

This doesn’t apply just to “city” but to all nouns that end in ة.

What’s whose?

As you know, each Arabic noun is either masculine or feminine, and adjectives have to match that gender.

This gender never changes! Since بَيْت is masculine, it remains masculine, even if the person who owns it is a woman. The same is true for feminine nouns.

A house will always be جَميل and a city will always be جَميلة, regardless of whose it is!

Clothes 1 2 · 2020-03-27 ^

ض / د

The new letter ض (Daad) is so important to the Arabic language that Arabs sometimes refer to themselves as أهل الضاد “people of the Daad.” We write it capital D with English letters.

ض is the last of Mr. T’s little brothers. It makes the same sound as د except the vowels around ض are more serious and grave. Here again, it will take practice to distinguish the two, but it’s important that you try!

Mr. T’s family

You’ve now met all of Mr. T’s relatives. Some resources refer to them as “emphatics.” Here they all are with their non-emphatic equivalents.

Remember the letters in the left columns sound like those in the right columns except further back in the mouth.

Have at you!

You probably remember that in order to say “Judy has” in Arabic, you use the word عِنْد “at/to” followed by “Judy.”

What about “I have” and “you have”? Well, you also use عِنْد. Instead of someone’s name, you add a short ending to عِنْد — the same endings as when you say “my house” or “your house.”

I got nothin’

To say “do not have / does not have” with the word you know for possession (عِنْد), all you need to do is add the word لَيْسَ (laysa) in front of it!

The blue (wo)man (adjective) group

So far, every time you’ve seen an adjective describe a feminine noun, this adjective has ended with the letter ة.

مَدينة سورِيّة = a Syrian city اِمْرَأة ذَكِيّة = a smart woman

But some adjectives (especially adjectives that describe color) take a different form in the feminine.

It’s easiest to learn those special feminine adjectives together with the masculine: practice saying “2azraq / zarqaa2” أَزْرَق / زَرْقاء and repeat it until you’re blue in the face!

At Home 1 2 · 2020-03-27 ^

ص / س

The new letter ص (written capital S with English letters) is another of Mr. T’s little brothers. It contrasts with س in the same way ط contrasts with ت : mostly with vowel sounds that are further in the back of the mouth.

Sam = (saam) سام

to fast = (Saam) صام

Sword or dagger?

One more alif! While regular alif looks more like a sword, dagger alif is a tiny vertical line that sits above a letter, more like a dagger. It only appears in a few really old words in Arabic and it sounds exactly like ا.

this (masculine) = (haadhaa) هٰذا

but, however = (laakinn) لٰكِنّ

God = (allaah) اَلله

Sneaky Al

You know اَلْ means “the.” However, you may have noticed it’s used differently in Arabic than “the” is in English. For example, look at these sentences:

This is a house = (haadhaa bayt) هٰذا بَيْت

This is a city = (haadhihi madiina) هٰذِهِ مَدينة

BUT

this house = (haadhaa l-bayt) هٰذا ٱلْبَيْت

this city = (haadhihi l-madiina) هٰذِهِ ٱلْمَدينة

The ONLY difference between “this house” and “This is a house” is اَلْ ! Sneaky, sneaky Al.

In My Bag 1 · 2019-07-06 ^

There, there

The word هُناك (hunaak) means both “there” and “there is/there are.” So how will you know the difference? It’s easy: word order! When هُناك comes first in a sentence, it means “there is/there are.”

There is no spoon

To say “there is no” or “there are no,” simply add the negator لَيْسَ in front of هُناك.

Office 1 · 2019-07-06 ^

House of Bob

In English, if Bob has a house, you call it “Bob’s house.”

Possessor + ’s + what they possess

In Arabic, a very common way to express the same thing is called iDaafa. In iDaafa, the order is reversed.

The thing they possess + possessor

If it helps, you can think of it as “the house of Bob” instead of “Bob’s house.”

Notice how in Arabic, the thing that is possessed never ever gets اَلْ even if the meaning in English is “the house” or “the dog.” It’s just the bare word!

What the ة ?!!

The letter ة is a tricky one. First, it only ever shows up at the end of words. Second, you probably remember that it turns into ـَت (-at) before “my,” “your,” etc.

Here is something else that makes ة tricky: when the first word of an iDaafa (aka the thing that’s possessed) ends in ة, like in مَدينة بوب “the city of Bob” or “Bob’s city,” the spelling of ة doesn’t change but its pronunciation does. Instead of a, it is pronounced -at.

As in all iDaafas, the first word can’t have اَلْ “the” on it. It’s just the bare noun.

Describing a picture 1 1 · 2019-07-06 ^

His and hers

You already know how to say “my” and “your.” But what about “his” or “her”?

For “his,” just add (-hu) ﻪُ at the end of the word. And for “her,” add (-haa) ها instead. It’s that simple.

Remember that if the noun ends with ة, it turns into ـَت (-at) before “my,” “your,” “his,” “her,” etc.

Hobbies 1 1 · 2020-03-27 ^

I do!

In English, we say “I write” and “you write” and “he writes” and “she writes.” You always have to include “I” or “we” or “he” or “she.”

In Arabic, words like “I,” “we,” and “you,” are optional before verbs. Fortunately, the Arabic verb alone can usually tell you who’s doing the action, because the verbs have a special form for (almost) each person. For example, the “I” form always starts with أ.

I don’t!

To say “I do not (do something),” just add the short word (laa) لا in front of the verb!

Seeing is believing!

In English, we say things like:

I like talking. Talking is my favorite.

In Arabic, you can replace “talking” in those examples with the word اَلْكَلام (al-kalaam). اَلْكَلام is a noun (for example, it begins with أَلْ “the” like a noun), but it feels verb-y. So we call it a “verbal noun.”

This isn’t the “talking” like in the sentence “I’m talking.” That gets translated differently.

Notice how the literal translation of اَلْكَلام is “the talking”--this is because verbal nouns are always used with اَلْ “the” (or some other definite marker).

Shoot for the moon

Let’s review اَلْ!

All these nouns start with letters called “moon letters.” There’s another letter group called “sun letters.”

If a word starts with a sun letter and you add اَلْ “the” to it, two things happen: 1. You don’t pronounce the ل in اَلْ, and 2. The first letter in the word after اَلْ gets held twice as long.

In Arabic, it’s written like what you would expect (اَلْزَّوْجة). But with English letters, it’s not al-zawja but rather az-zawja. So instead of saying the l, you pronounce the z extra long.

Here is a list of all sun vs. moon letters:

Weather 1 1 · 2020-03-27 ^

The pretty the house

You already know how to say things like “a pretty house” or “a Syrian girl.”

When a word has اَلْ “the” on it, the adjective that describes it also needs to start with اَلْ.

What if I forget and say اَلْبَيْت جَميل?

If you mean to say “the pretty house” اَلْبَيْت اَلْجَميل (al-bayt al-jamiil) but say اَلْبَيْت جَميل instead, the meaning changes. اَلْبَيْت جَميل = The house is pretty. That’s a full-fledged sentence!

2aa 2 furious

When ء is followed by the long aaaaaa vowel (ا), it is spelled آ --this is an alif with a small wave on top of it. We write it 2aa in English letters. آ can appear at the beginning and in the middle of a word.

For example, the word اَلْقُرْآن (al-qur2aan) “the Qur’an / the Koran” contains a hamza followed by ا , and so it is spelled آ.

Geography 1 1 · 2020-03-27 ^

Welcome to (the) Cairo!

Some place names in Arabic begin with اَلْ “the,” and some don’t.

Describing a picture 2 2 · 2020-03-28 ^

And now, spelling

You’ve already learned that ء can appear on top of a few different letters. Specifically, it can appear on top of و ,ي and ا.

At this point, you don't need to know the hamza spelling rules. Just know hamza can show up in different positions.

He’s got nothin’

You already know that عِنْدي means I have and عِنْدَك/عِنْدِك means you have.

So what about he has or she has? Easy! For he has, just add (-hu) ﻪُ at the end of عِنْد, and for she has, add (-haa) ها instead.

To say he does not have and she does not have, use the word لَيْسَ.

In Florida heavy rain.

You know how to make there is / there are sentences using the word هُناك:

You might also hear another way to say there is / there are in formal Arabic. This way uses reversed word order.

At Home 2 1 · 2020-03-27 ^

WaSl’ up?

You’ve already seen hamza look like أ. This hamza doesn’t change whether it comes right after a consonant or a vowel.

Some words start with ا and a short vowel on it without a hamza (like اِمْرَأة and اَلْ). When these words come right after a vowel, the short vowel on ا is replaced by a new symbol called waSla.

WaSla looks like this: ٱ. It simply means “Hi! The alif under me is silent! Move on to the next letter please!”

WaSla basically blends the previous word to the word that starts with ٱ.

Now you pronounce it, now you don’t

Sometimes, اَلْ “the” is preceded by a vowel (so it becomes ٱلْ) and followed by a sun letter.

For example, if you want to say “in the car,” you are putting together three pieces: في (fii) + اَلْ (al) + سَيّارة (sayyaara)

The ي of “in” turns اَلْ (al-) into ٱلْ (l-).

The س of “car” is a sun letter. So the ل in ٱلْ isn’t pronounced, and the س gets held for double the time.

The result is: في + اَلْ + سَيّارة = في ٱلْسَّيّارة = fii s-sayyaara

This is NOT fii al-sayyaara, but fii s-sayyaara. “The” basically dissolves into the mix! No trace of ا and no trace of ل (although اَلْ is still there in writing).

Zero to ten 1 · 2020-03-28 ^

Numbers in Arabic are the only thing you have left to learn in order to be able to read anything written in Arabic!

Arabic numbers look different from English numbers, but both Arabic and English numbers are commonly used in Arabic. For example, at a traditional market, you’re more likely to see Arabic numbers, but in a text message you could see either.

One interesting thing to notice is that the digits within a number in Arabic are actually written left to right! So number 10, which is made up of ١ (1) and then ٠ (0), is spelled ١٠ (and NOT ٠١; that would be 01).

Isn’t Arabic fun?!

Geography 2 2 · 2020-03-28 ^

The structure of possession

You know that the iDaafa structure is commonly used to express possession. Remember, in an iDaafa: 1. The thing that is possessed comes first, followed by the possessor; 2. The thing that is possessed must be a bare noun (aka no اَلْ “the” in Arabic); 3. If the thing that is possessed ends in ة, the ة is pronounced “-at.”

Here are some iDaafas you’re already familiar with.

IDaafa can also be used to express things other than possession, like “the city of Detroit” and “the state of Texas.”

شُكْراً

You probably remember that a tiny slash above a letter makes the sound a and two tiny slashes at the end of a word make the sound an.

There are also special markings for -in and -un!

أُحِبّ هٰذِهِ ٱلْلُّغة

Let’s review some present verbs! Remember, the “I” form always starts with أ.

Here are the forms when different people are doing the action:

Note that, because all Arabic nouns are either masculine or feminine, the “he” and “she” forms can be used to refer to things that aren’t people. For example, “city” is feminine so it takes the “she” verb تَنام (tanaam) in the example below.

This city does not sleep. = (haadhihi l-madiina laa tanaam) هٰذِهِ ٲلْمَدينة لا تَنام.

Introductions/greetings 2 · 2020-07-10 ^

Hello!

In English, if someone says, “What’s up?” to you, there are a few specific answers you can give. (“Not much,” “Hey, what’s up,” “How’s it going…”). Arabic has some of these question-and-answer formulas, too!

Knowing these formulas will let you show off your cultural and linguistic know-how.

Note that while the greeting اَلْسَّلامُ عَلَيْكُم (as-salaamu 3alaykum) “peace be upon you” is very common, it is usually associated with Islam. This means, for example, that a Christian will not normally use this greeting with another Christian.

Letter names

In some contexts, like spelling or clarifying contrast between sounds, knowing the names of the Arabic letters may be useful to you. Below are those names, using our transliteration system.

Note that the Arabic alphabet technically includes all but the last three letters listed in this table.

Jobs 1 1 · 2020-05-07 ^

ما or ماذا

Arabic has two ways of asking “what?”

Use ما in questions that don’t contain a verb. (Ignore the fact that the English translation has a verb in it — what matters is the Arabic!)

Use ماذا in sentences that contain a verb.

Beware! In questions like “What book?” where in English you can replace “what” with “which” (= ”Which book?”), Arabic doesn’t use ما nor ماذا. You will learn the word for this type of “what” soon.

Time 1 1 · 2020-05-07 ^

The twenty-fifth hour

In Standard Arabic, in order to say “2 o’clock” you say الساعة الثانية “the second hour,” and in order to say “3 o’clock” you say الساعة الثالثة “the third hour.” This is true for all hours from 2 to 12.

For “1 o’clock” though, you’ll just say اَلْسّاعة ٱلْواحِدة “the hour one” and NOT “the first hour.”

And note that you don’t say AM and PM! Instead, you say “in the morning,” “in the afternoon,” “in the evening,” etc. So 2 PM would be اَلْسّاعة ٱلْثّانْية بَعْد اَلْظُّهْر (literally “the second hour after noon”).

lastu who you think I am

You already know that usually, instead of saying something like I am from Lebanon, you say أنا من لبنان (literally “I from Lebanon”). The “am” or “are” or “is” drops out.

How about if you’re not from somewhere, or not a lawyer, or not something else? You simply use the word لَسْتُ [lastu].

I am not from Lebanon = أنا لَسْتُ من لبنان or just لَسْتُ من لبنان

I am not sick = أَنا لَسْتُ مَريضة or just لَسْتُ مَريضة

I am not home = أَنا لَسْتُ في ٱلْبَيْت or just لَسْتُ في ٱلْبَيْت

I am not from here = أَنا لَسْتُ مِن هُنا or just لَسْتُ مِن هُنا

Hobbies 2 1 · 2020-05-07 ^

house - houses, mouse - ?

So far, you haven’t seen many plural nouns in Arabic, but this is about to change! Check out these singular-plural pairs you’ll learn in the next few lessons:

As you can see, each plural noun above looks a little different! Now when you learn new words, you’ll learn the singular-plural pair together.

Don’t worry, though! Once you know more vocabulary, you’ll be able to start predicting the plural of new nouns with good accuracy.

Intro to the root system

You know how in English some words that share a root also have a common meaning, like for example the root “home” in words like “homey,” “homeless” and “homebound?” Or the root “myth” in words like “mythical,” “mythological” and “mythology?” Arabic does sort of the same thing!

In English, we usually form new words by taking the base word (the “root”) and sticking something before or after it (like un- or -less or -ical). Arabic, though, takes letters and inserts them before, after and in between the consonants of the root.

So, for example, if “myth” was an actual Arabic root M - Y - TH that had to do with myths, then you could probably find the following words in Arabic: MaaYiTH, MiYaaTHa, muMaaYaTHa, istaMYaTHa, muMtaYiTH, taMYiiTH, taMaaYuTH, yanMaYiTH, and many more. The meaning of all these words would have to do with myths!

Arabic speakers are able to easily understand the root meaning of each word by listening to the consonants, even new words they’ve never heard. That’s because the extra letters are not added randomly but follow specific patterns. You’ll learn more about patterns later.

Now that you get the idea, here are some actual Arabic examples. Look at the singular-plural pairs below.

The root of the word دَرْس (DaRS) “lesson” is the sequence د - ر - س D-R-S. The meaning of this root is connected to studying. This same root appears in the same order in the plural دُروس (DuRuuS) “lessons” but also in other words, like the verb يَدْرُس (yaDRuS) “he studies” or the noun مَدْرَسة (maDRaSa) “school” (literally, the place of study).

Try to identify the root of words you already know and see if you can start making connections between words that share the same root!

The writing of letters

You already know that to say “She likes writing,” you’d say تُحِبّ اَلْكِتابة tuHibb al-kitaaba. The word اَلْكِتابة means “writing.”

But what if you don’t just like writing, but “writing letters”? Or “reading a book?” In order to say this, use an iDaafa construction with the verbal noun (e.g. اَلْكِتابة، اَلْقِراءة etc.) as the first term. Just as a reminder: iDaafa is the structure that’s commonly used to express possession and it follows the following guidelines:

1. The thing that is possessed comes first, followed by the possessor;
2. The thing that is possessed must be a bare noun (aka no اَلْ “the” in Arabic);
3. If the thing that is possessed ends in ة, the ة is pronounced “-at.”

Here are some examples of verbal nouns first on their own (“writing”) and then in iDaafa construction (“writing letters”).

Food 2 1 · 2020-05-07 ^

al- and food

You’ve noticed that the use of اَلْ (al-) in Arabic and “the” in English doesn’t always match up. Here are some examples of how to use اَلْ when discussing food.

When discussing specific food items (i.e. “the chicken from yesterday,” “the coffee you made,” “the salt that’s on the table,” etc.), use اَلْ. This is similar to English.

I like the chicken from yesterday. = أُحِبّ اَلْدَّجاج مِن أَمْس. (2uHibb ad-dajaaj min 2ams)

The trickier part is when you want to discuss categories of food in general (i.e. “chicken,” “bread,” “coffee,” etc.). In this case, the use of اَلْ is mostly determined by the verb you choose.

LIKE

If you like a food in general, use اَلْ.

I like chicken. = أُحِبّ اَلْدَّجاج. (2uHibb ad-dajaaj)

I like coffee. = أُحِبّ اَلْقَهْوة. (2uHibb al-qawha)

WANT

If you want a type of food in general, do not use اَلْ.

I want chicken. = أُريد دَجاجاً (2uriid dajaajan)

I want coffee. = أُريد قَهْوة (2uriid qahwa)

EAT/DRINK

If you are discussing eating or drinking a type of food in general, using اَلْ on food items is optional. If you use it, you’ll sound more formal than if you don’t.

I eat chicken. = آكُل دَجاجاً (2aakul dajaajan) OR آكُل اَلْدَّجاج (2aakul ad-dajaaj)

I drink coffee every morning. = أَشْرَب قَهْوة كُلّ صَباح (2ashrab qahwa kull SabaaH) OR أَشْرَب اَلْقَهْوة كُلّ صَباح (2ashrab al-qahwa kull SabaaH)

dajaajan?

Look at this example sentence.

I want chicken. = أُريد دَجاجاً (2uriid dajaajan)

Do you wonder why the word دَجاج “chicken” ends with اً “-an” in this sentence? That’s because “chicken” doesn’t take “the” or “my, your, etc.” AND it is the object of a verb (I want what? I want… chicken!).

اً is used to mark indefinite direct objects. Here are more examples.

I want a friend. = أُريد صَديقاً (2uriid Sadiiqan)

I eat bread. = آكُل خُبْزاً (2aakul khubzan)

I want a new house. = أُريد بَيْتاً جَديداً (2uriid baytan jadiidan)

Note that any adjective that accompanies a noun ending in اً also needs to end in اً (baytan jadiidan “a new house”).

Remember that if a noun ends in ة, ً just sits on the ة directly without an alif seat. In this case, ً -an is typically not written even though technically it’s there.

I want coffee. = أُريد قَهْوة (2uriid qahwa) OR أُريد قَهْوةً (2uriid qahwatan)

Transpo 1 1 · 2020-05-07 ^

نُحِبّ هٰذِهِ ٱلْلُّغة

Time to review some present verbs! Remember, the “I” form always starts with أ. Below are the forms when different people are doing the action (including, for the first time, some plurals).

What which?

Today, you’ll learn the Arabic word that corresponds to “which” in questions like “which book are you reading?”

This word comes in two forms: أَيّ is masculine and أَيّة is feminine. To decide which one to use, simply match the gender of the noun that follows it.

Colloquial English uses “what” and “which” interchangeably in sentences like “what/which book are you reading?” Don’t let that confuse you! If you can replace “what” with “which” in English, then أَيّ / أَيّة is the word you want in Arabic.

Food 3 3 · 2020-06-01 ^

Who are you calling weak?!

Most words in Arabic are based on a 3-consonant root. When ي (y) or و (w) is the last consonant in the root of a verb, this verb is called weak, which means that it looks a little different when you put endings on it. The new verb يَشْتَري yashtarii “he buys” is based on the weak root ش - ر - ي SH - R - Y. Pay attention to what happens to the final ي in the present tense below.

See what happens with “you” (to a female), “you all” and “they”? The final ي of the verb gets eaten by the endings ين and ون !

Because I said so.

To say “because” in Arabic, use the word لِأَنَّ (li2anna). A couple of things to know about لِأَنَّ:

First, لِأَنَّ must be followed by a complete sentence, such as “because humans are weird,” “because war sucks,” “because cartoons saved my life.”

Second, the word directly following لِأَنَّ must be the subject of the sentence.

Note that subject pronouns (i.e. I, you, he, she, etc.) combine with لِأَنَّ in the following way: لِأَنَّ + أَنا = لِأَنَّني "because I" لِأَنَّ + أَنْتَ = لِأَنَّك "because you (male)" لِأَنّ + أَنْتِ = لِأَنِّك "because you (female)" لِأَنّ + هُوَّ = لِأَنَّهُ "because he/it" لِأَنّ + هِيَّ = لِأَنَّها "because she/it"

2 + 2 = 3

The short word لِ li- (to, for) in Arabic can’t stand on its own; instead, it needs to be attached to the following word in writing.

When the word following لِ starts with الْ al- (the), the alif in الْ disappears both in pronunciation and writing, just like this: لِ + الْ = لِل

Carrots, tomatoes, squash

A while back, you learned that the word دَجاج dajaaj is grammatically singular but can have a plural meaning. For instance, if you saw dajaaj at the farm, then you saw chickens rather than a single chicken.

English also has nouns like that. Take “furniture,” for example. You’d say, “Our furniture IS really nice” (as opposed to “are”), even though “furniture” doesn’t refer to one item but rather to a bunch of things (desks, tables, chairs, couch, etc.).

You’re about to learn more of those nouns in Arabic -- carrots جَزَر jazar, tomatoes بَنَدورة banaduura, and squash كوسا kuusaa are all singular in Arabic but they refer to a group of items.

Phone 1 1 · 2020-05-07 ^

I will drink

Good news! Expressing the future in Arabic is really easy: just add سَ sa- at the beginning of a present verb. Below is the verb “to drink” in the present and future tense, and you can do this with any verb!

With or without you

Words like مَعَ (with), في (in, at), مِن (from), عَن (from, off), etc. combine with words like me, you, her, etc. so they become a single word in Arabic. Here is how “with” combines with other words:

Family 3 1 · 2020-05-07 ^

I love it!

You already know how to say “I love my daughter” and “My cat eats all my food,” but what about “I love her” and “My cat eats it?” Below are some ways to say this!

Notice that these words like “her” and “it” attach to the end of the verb!

whose brother?

The word أَخ a2akh (brother) changes depending on what role it’s playing in the sentence.

أَخو is only used if the word “brother” is the first word in an iDaafa, i.e. the brother of John, the brother of the teacher, the brother of Maryam, etc. or even your brother, her brother, etc. In every other case, the basic form أَخ is used.

Hotel 1 1 · 2020-05-07 ^

Our, their and everywhere

You already know how to say “my,” “your,” “his” and “her.” Now you will learn the plural forms: “our,” “your (to more than one person)” and “their.” Here are all the forms you know so far, attached to the noun بَيْت bayt (house).

Remember that if the noun ends with ة, it turns into ـَت (-at) before “my,” “your,” “his,” “her,” etc. Below are all the forms you know so far, attached to the noun جامِعة jaami3a (university) which ends in ة.

In very formal Arabic, -kum كُم (your) and -hum هُم (their) are used only for groups of at least three people including at least one man. But in slightly less formal, spoken Arabic, -kum كُم (your) and -hum هُم (their) can be used for any group of two or more people.

Everybody has!

The same endings used to say “our,” “your (plural)” and “their” are also used on عِنْد to express “we have,” “y’all have” and “they have.”

To say “we/y’all/they do not have,” just use the word لَيْسَ.

In more formal Arabic, the feminine لَيْسَت is used if the thing you don’t have is feminine, e.g. لَيْسَ عِنْدي بَيْت vs. لَيْسَت عِنْدي سَيّارة. But in slightly less formal, spoken Arabic, لَيْسَ can be used regardless of what is not possessed.

Doctor 1 1 · 2020-07-02 ^

Who’s أَنْ?

The new word أَنْ is a big deal in Arabic. أَنْ is used much like English “to” in sentences like “we want TO talk,” and like English “that” in sentences like “I hope THAT you sleep in.”

You may remember that Arabic words like اَلْكَلام “talking” and اَلْكِتابة “writing” are called verbal nouns. Well, أَنْ introduces a verb clause in place of a verbal noun. So in order to say “we want to talk,” you can either say نُريد اَلْكَلام nuriid al-kalaam or نُريد أَنْ نَتَكَلَّم nuriid 2an natakallam.

Here are more examples of sentences in two versions: one with the verbal noun and one with أَنْ.

But which present?

As you see from the examples above, what follows أَنْ is a verb in the present. But this is a special present! Pay attention to “sleep” in Arabic in the following examples:

For I, you (to a man), he, she and we, this new present looks the same as the present you already know. But for you (to a woman), y’all and they, it looks different: the ن at the end of the verb drops out, and a silent alif ا appears instead for y’all and they only.

Hand is a girl?!

By now, you’ve noticed that singular nouns that end in ة are usually feminine, while those that don’t are usually masculine.

But some feminine nouns don’t end in ة! Some common ones are things that usually come in pairs in the human body, like “eye,” “hand” and “foot.”

See how “big” is in the feminine in the examples above? That’s because “eye,” “hand” and “foot” are feminine nouns, even though they don’t end in ة!

Do this, do that!

Over the next few lessons, you’ll start seeing different verbs in the command form, like “open your mouth!” or “give me some carrots!” For now, it’s best if you just learn a few of those verbs one at a time without worrying too much about how they are formed.

One thing you’ll notice right away is that, regardless of the verb, when you’re addressing a woman, the verb ends in ي -ii and when you’re addressing a group of people, the verb ends in وا -uu (the alif is silent, just like it is after أَنْ).

Market 1 1 · 2020-05-31 ^

Here you go, come in, go ahead. 3 in 1 ?!

The verb تَفَضَّل expresses all these meanings. This arises form an Arabic cultural concept of honoring your guest. It literally means "please do me a favor and come in/take this thing/ pass ahead of me". Isn't it nice?

Jobs 2 2 · 2020-07-02 ^

To be or not to be

You know that in order to say “She is an engineer,” you just say هِيَّ مُهَنْدِسة (literally, “she engineer”).

However, when you want to say something that happened in the past like “I was tired” or something that will happen like “I will be there,” you don’t drop the “was” or “will be.” You also use يَكون yakuun, meaning “to be,” after أَنْ.

After this new verb “to be,” the thing you want to be ends in اً -an (as long as that thing doesn’t end in ة and doesn’t have “the” or “my, your, his, etc.” on it.)

Easy. . . easier!

You may remember that most words in Arabic are based on a 3-consonant root, like د - ر - س D - R - S in يَدْرُس yaDRuS “he studies.” Let’s practice finding the root of the following adjectives.

Now that we have those roots, we can make comparisons, like “more difficult” or “cheaper.” To do that, you just plug the root in the following three blanks: 2a _ _ a _

So if the root is ك - ب - ر K - B - R (like in كَبير), you will end up with: 2a K B a R = أَكْبَر

Let’s try it with all the same adjectives as above!

Some interesting comparatives above are:

أَجَدّ (and not أَجْدَد) for adjective جَديد -- that’s what happens when the second and third consonants of the root are the same letter (in this case J - D - D)!

أَغْلى “more expensive” (2aghlaa) and أَغْنى “richer” (2aghnaa) where the combination short a + final ii = aa (and NOT ay)

Nothing’s easier than this!

To say “easier than” or “poorer than,” just use the word مِن min.

مَحْمود أَفْقَر مِن سام (maHmoud 2afqar min saam) “Mahmoud is poorer than Sam”

غَسّان أَغْنى مِن عُمَر (ghassaan 2aghnaa min 3umar) “Ghassan is richer than Omar

Almost too easy

One nice thing about making comparisons in Arabic is that the comparative stays the same whether you’re talking about a man, a woman or a group of people.

In other news

The word “other” in Arabic is آخَر in the masculine. Beware: the feminine doesn’t take ة but rather follows a different pattern: أُخْرى.

Clothes 2 1 · 2020-07-08 ^

Your pant is nice!

Some nouns that are plural in English are singular in Arabic, like “pants” and “shoes.” This means those nouns take singular agreement, as illustrated by the examples below.

Do you notice the singular masculine agreement with all words that describe “pants” and “shoes” in the table above? That’s how it works! If it’s easier, you can think of these words are “a pair of pants” and “a pair of shoes.”

cars, houses, books = she

You know that if you want to describe a masculine noun, you use a masculine adjective/verb/pronoun, etc. And if the noun is feminine, the agreement is feminine.

One thing we haven’t seen yet is how to describe plural nouns. Arabic treats non-human plurals (e.g. cars, books, lessons, etc.) and human plurals (e.g. people, teachers, Arabs, Americans, etc.) differently. Today we’ll learn how to deal with non-human plurals.

Formal Arabic tends to view non-human plurals as one set, as opposed to a bunch of individual items. For this reason, it considers non-human plurals as singular. Non-human plurals take feminine singular agreement. This means that in order to describe non-human plurals, you will use words like هِيَّ (“they”), هٰذِهِ (“these”), ها (“them”), etc.

Trip 1 1 · 2020-07-03 ^

I won’t cry, I wooon’t cryyy

To say “I will go,” you know to add سَ in front of the present verb أَذْهَب “I go.” The result is سَأَذْهَب sa-2adhhab “I will go.”

But what about “I will NOT go” or “we will NOT eat” or “they will NOT speak” etc.? To say this, use the word لَنْ lan followed by the verb, i.e. لَنْ أَذْهَب lan 2adhhab “I will not go.”

The table below contrasts “will” and “will not.”

As you see in the examples above, the present verb after لَنْ takes some special forms: the ن drops out at the end of the verb for you (to a woman), you all and they, AND a silent alif is added at the end of the verb for you all and they only. This is just like the verb after أَنْ!

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44 skills with tips and notes