#afro-semitic languages

[zunairahstudies]

Mango Languages Modern Standard Arabic Unit One chapter 1 - Vocab and Grammar tips

‘Chapter 1 - Who are you?’ - 

Hello, how are you? (to a male) -  أهلاً. كيف حالكَ  

Hello -  أهلاً

How -  كيف 

Your condition (to a male) -  حالكَ 

I am fine, and you? (to a female)  -  أنا بخير. وأنتِ؟

I -  أنا 

Fine -  بخير 

Grammar Note -  Arabic has no equivalent to the English "am," "is," or "are" in the present tense.  These verbs are simply deleted, but their meaning is implied.  So, sentences like "Peter is here," "They are in the house," and "Where am I?" are rendered in Arabic as "Peter here," "They in the house," and "Where I?"

and -  و 

you (to a female) -  أنتِ 

and you (to a male) -  وأنتَ 

you ( to a male) -  أنتَ 

I am good -  أنا بخير. 

good/fine -  بخير 

Grammar note -  Cultural NoteArabs of all religious backgrounds will often append الحمد لله (Thank God) after any answer to "How are you?"  Bear in mind that religious terminology will sprinkle many exchanges in Arabic, regardless of how religious the speaker is.

My name is Zainab -  اسمي زينب

my name -   اسمي 

Zainab -  زينب

What is your name (to a male) -  ما اسمكَ؟

What ? -  ما 

Your name (to a male) -  اسمكَ

Grammar note -  Have you noticed that we add some endings to nouns to indicate "my," "your," etc.?  ي corresponds to "my," as in اسمي (my name).  The ending كَ is "your" (masculine) and the ending كِ is "your" (feminine).  So to say "your name" to a male, we use اسمكَ, while to a female we use اسمكِ.

I am Mohammed -  أنا محمد 

Mohammed -  محمد

Nice to meet you (to a female) -  سعدتُ بلقائكِ 

I was pleased -  سعدتُ

Grammar note -  In Arabic, we usually do not need to use separate words for "I," "you," "he," etc., before verbs.  Instead, the form of the verb changes to indicate who the subject is.

with your meeting (to a female)  -  بلقائكِ

Nice to meet you too (to a male) -  سعدتُ بلقائكَ أيضاً 

with your meeting (to a male) -  بلقائكَ 

too -  أيضاً

Cultural note -  You may also use تشرفنا, literally "we were honored," instead of سعدتُ بلقائكَ.  While it may sound very formal, it is, in fact, a casual and polite way of saying "nice to meet you" to a stranger to whom you have just been introduced.

Goodbye -  مع السلامة

with -  مع

safety -  السلامة 

How’s it going? -  كيف الحال؟

the condition -  الحال 

See you later (to a male) -  أراكَ لاحقاً.

See you (to a male) -  أراكَ 

later -  لاحقاً 

what’s up? (to a male) -  ما أخباركَ؟ 

your news ( to a male) -  أخباركَ 

See you tomorrow! ( to a male)  -  أراكَ غداً! 

tomorrow -  غداً 

you’re welcome -  على الرحب و السعة 

good -  جيد 

Amazing/excellent -  ممتاز 

bad -  سيء 

so so -  لا بأس 

Happy -  سعيد

Sad -  حزين 

Take care of yourself (to a male) -  اعتن بنفسكَ 

take care -  اعتن

of yourself (to a male) -  بنفسكَ 

he -  هو

she -  هي

They -  هم

 Night -  ليلة

Good night -  ليلة سعيدة 

Your day ( to a male) -  نهاركَ

Good day ( to a male) -  نهاركَ سعيد

Morning -  صباح

Good morning -  صباح الخير

Sir -  سيدي 

Ma’am -  سيدتي

Miss -  آنسة

Ms -  سيدة آنسة

[zunairahstudies]

The root verb in Arabic will ALWAYS be present in the past tense. In this explanation the verb  أطلقَ will be used which means to release/to launch, this verb has four letters as its root and so we can classify it as a ‘fourfold verb’ *in the future there will be a post on how verbs are classified* 

أطلقَ

 I (أنا): ‘Taa’ with a damma is added onto the end of the verb so  أطلقَ becomes  أطلقْتُ

 We (نحنُ): ‘nuun and alif is added onto the end of the  verb so  أطلقَ becomes  أطلقْنَا 

 You (أنتَ):  ‘Taa’ with a fatHa is added onto the end of the verb so  أطلقَ becomes  أطلقْتَ You ( أنتِ ): Taa with a kasra is added onto the end of the verb so  أطلقَ becomes  أطلقْتِ 

You (أنتما ): Taa (with a damma) and then ‘miim’ and ‘alif’ is added onto the end of the verb so  أطلقَ becomes  أطلقتُمَا 

You ( أنتُم):  Taa (with a damma) and then ‘miim’ is added onto the end of the verb so  أطلقَ becomes  أطلقتُم 

You ( أنتُنَّ):  Taa (with a damma) and then nuun (with a fatHa) is added onto the end of the verb, so  أطلقَ  becomes  أطلقتُنَ 

He ( هو ): simply the root or the base verb with a fatHa added onto the last letter, so  أطلقَ stays the same. 

She ( هى): fatHa is added onto the last letter of the root verb and then a ‘taa’ (with a sukoon) is added, so  أطلقَ becomes  أطلقَتْ 

they ( هما): ‘Taa’ and ‘alif’ are added onto the end of the verb, so  أطلقَ becomes   أطلقَتَا 

they ( هم ): ‘waw’ and then ‘alif’ is added onto the end of the verb, so  أطلقَ becomes  أطلقُوا 

They ( هُنَّ ): Noon with a fatHa is added onto the end of the verb, so   أطلقَ  becomes  أطلقْنَّ  

[zunairahstudies]

Mango Languages Modern Standard Arabic Unit One chapter 4 - Vocab and Grammar tips

** transliteration requested by @loverofunseen 

Where are you from? (to a male)  -   من أين أنت؟  min aina anta

from -  من min

where -   أين aina 

you(m) أنت anta

You (f)  أنت anti 

Grammar note - As in English, we can add a preposition to a question word in certain question formations in Arabic, as in من أين (from where), لماذا(for what/why), من أي (from which), منذ متى (since when), etc.  Note that in Arabic you cannot separate "from" and "where."

I am from the United States -  أنا من أنا من الولايات المتحدة المتحدة ana min alwilayet almutAHidah 

the states -  الولايات alwilayet 

United -  المتحدة almutAHidah 

Grammar Note -  An adjective that forms a relation to a noun (e.g., a place) is called a relational adjective, such as "American" (from America).  To form such adjectives in Arabic, we add a long يّ sound at the end of the noun in the masculine (أمريكيّ) and an extra يّة in the feminine (أمريكيّة).

Really? You speak Arabic fluently? (to a male) -  حقاً؟ أنت تتحدث اللغة العربية بطلاقة haQqan ? anta tataHADdath alLughah al’araBiYyah biTaLaaqah. 

the language -  اللغة alLughah 

Arabic -  العربية - al’araBiYyah 

speak (to a male) -  تتحدث tataHADdath 

Grammar Note -  Adjectives follow the nouns they describe, and they also change to agree with them.  So, a feminine definite noun like اللغة (the language) is followed by a feminine definite adjective العربية (Arabic).  Both noun and adjective start with the article ال and end in the feminine ending ة.

fluently - بطلاقة biTaLaaqah 

Grammar Note -  Grammar NoteOne way to indicate an adverb (how a verb takes place) is to use the preposition بِ (with) before nouns.  For example, بطلاقة (with fluency) means "fluently" and بسرعة (with speed) means "fast."

I am learning Arabic using a great website called Mango Languages -  أنا أتعلم اللغة العربية باستخدام موقع إلكتروني رائع يسمىمانجو للغات. ana ata’ALlam alLughah al’araBiYyah bistikhDEhm mawqa’ iliktiroonii raa’i’ yuSAMma maango lillugheht 

am learning -  أتعلم ata’ALlam 

using -  باستخدام bistikhDEhm 

website -  موقع إلكتروني  mawqa’ iliktiroonii

great -  رائع  raa’i’

called -  يسمى yuSAMma 

Mango Languages -  مانجو للغات  maango lillugheht

Do you speak English? (to a woman) -  هل تتحدثين الإنجليزية؟ hal tataHaddaTHEEn al’ingileeZiYyah 

you speak (to a woman)  تتحدثين  tataHaddaTHEEna

English -  الإنجليزية al’ingileeZIYyah 

Yes. I understand a little English -  نعم. أفهم القليل من الإنجليزية NA’am AFham alqaleel min  al’ingileeZIYyah

I understand -  أفهم AFham 

a little -  القليل من alqaleel min 

persian -  الفارسية alfehriSIYyah 

Turkey -  تركيا turkiyaa

Turkish -  تركيا atturkiyaa

Egypt -  مصر miSr

Saudi/Saudi Arabia -  السعودية - assu’ooDIYyah

Morocco -  المغرب alMAGHrib 

Not much -  قليلاً qaleelan 

A lot -  الكثير alkaTHEER

state -  ولاية wilehya 

city -  مدينة medeena 

[zunairahstudies]

Arabic Vocab - Driving

The ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia will be lifted in less than 24 hours, so here’s some vocab that you probably don’t care about :D 

Despite this post being about Saudi Arabia the words in this list are in Egyptian Arabic 

And here’s a link to sign a petition to free the Saudi Activists who not only campaigned for the driving ban to be lifted but also for women’s rights in general x 

activist - ناشِط

to celebrate - إحتـَفـَل بـِ - ihtafal bi 

equality - مـُسا َوا َة - musawaet

government - مـُد ِر ِييـَة - mudiriyya

drive - سا َيـِق - saeyi’

driver - سـَوّا َق - sawwae’ 

drivers - سـَوّا َقين - sawwa’een

driver’s license - ر ُخصـِة سـِوا َقـَة - ruchsit siwae’a 

protest - إحتـَجّ - ‘ihtagg 

permit - أبا َح - ‘abaeh

permission - إبا َحـَة - ‘ibaeha

rights - حـُقوق - hu’oo’

strength - قـُوّ َة - quwwa

traffic light - إشا َر َة ز َحمـَة - ‘ishaara

speed -  سـَرّ َع - sarraA

car - عـَر َبـِيـَة - Aarabiya 

cars - عـَر َبـِيا َت - Arabiyaat 

taxi - تا َكسي - taksi