Posts from July 2010

plants and foods of Arabic origin

Posted by aziza 1 Comment
Jul 31 2010

Did you know that the word banana is of Arabic origin?

Arabs knew bananas before the West, and it was originally called (بنان الموز). The word (بنان) means finger. When the West knew bananas, they took the first part of the Arabic word and the word banana came into usage.

 Other words referring to foods and plants of Arabic origin include:

amber  is derived from  عنبر anbar

artichoke is derived from  خرشوف kharshūf

aubergine  is derived from  الباذنجان al-bādhinjān

coffee is derived from  قهوة qahwa

spinach  is derived from  سبانخ isbanakh

sugar is derived from  سكّر sukkar

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arabic_loanwords_in_English

Word search Answers and examples

Posted by aziza No Comments
Jul 30 2010

In this post, I present the answer of the word search puzzle presented before and some examples of the use of words presented in it.

  1. هذا الرجل يعمل في بيع الذهب.

“This man works in selling gold.”

  1. أريد الذهاب إلى البنك لسحب بعض النقود.

“I want to go to the bank to withdraw some money.”

  1. معي 1000 جنيه مصري.

“I have 1000 Egyptian pounds.”

  1. الكويت والأردن والعراق وليبيا والجزائر تستخدم الدينار.

“Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Algeria use the dinar.”

  1. الإمارات والسعودية وقطر وعمان تستخدم الريال.

“UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman use the Ryal.”

  1. الليرة هي عملة سوريا ولبنان.

“Lira is the currency of Syria and Lebanon.”

  1. أريد أن أفتح حساباً جارياً.

“I want to open a current account.”

  1. التوفير مهم لمستقبل الأسرة.

“Saving is important for the future of the family.”

  1. البورصة تؤثر على الاقتصاد العالمي.

“The stock market affecting the global economy.”

  1. الحكومة تشجع الاستثمار.

“The government encourages investment.”

Word search

Posted by aziza No Comments
Jul 29 2010

In this post, I present a word search game that deals with money (نقود) [formal use] / (فلوس) [informal use]. Please try to find the following words in the grid.

  1. بيع = selling
  2. بنك = bank
  3. جنيه = pound
  4. دينار = Dinar
  5. ريال = Ryal
  6. ليرة = Lyra
  7. حساب = accoumt
  8. توفير = saving
  9. بورصة = stock exchange
  10. استثمار = investment

Direct and indirect objects

Posted by aziza No Comments
Jul 27 2010

 

In Arabic, just like English some verbs take two objects; in English they are called direct and indirect objects, while in Arabic they are called first and second objects (مفعول به أول) and (مفعول به ثانٍ).

Some of the verbs that take two objects are: (أعطى) ‘to give”, (أهدى) ‘to present’, (ظن) ‘to think’, etc. Consider the following examples:

 

أعطى الأستاذ الطلاب امتحاناً.

“The teacher gave the students an exam.”

أهدى الولد صديقه قلماً.

“The boy prented to his friend a pen.”

ظن التلاميذ الامتحان صعباً.

“The pupils thought that the exam was a hard one.”

Many form II verbs () take two objects, especially if form I of the same root is

 transitive, then form II becomes doubly transitive, e.g. (درس) ‘studied’, and (درّس) is ‘taught’.

درس الطالب الكتاب.

“The student studied the book.”

درّس الأستاذ الطالب الكتاب.

“The teacher taught the student the book.”

 

Practice the Arabic vocabulary above at Byki.com List Central!

Dialogue at the shoe shop

Posted by aziza No Comments
Jul 23 2010

 In this post, I present a short dialogue of a situation at the shop, buying shoes (حذاء). It should be noted that the word shoes in English is plural, while the Arabic word (حذاء) is singular.

سلمى: مساء الخير.

البائع: مساء النور.

سلمى: من فضلك، أريد قياس الحذاء البني والمقاس هو 38.

البائع: لحظة واحدة ….. تقضلي.

سلمى: شكراً. الحذاء مناسب. كم السعر من فضلك؟

البائع: السعر مائة جنيه.

سلمى: تفضل. شكراً.

 

Salma: Good evening!

The seller: Good evening!

Salma: Can I try the brown shoes, size 38 please?

The seller: One moment …. Here you are!

Salma: Thank you. The shoes are suitable. How much is it please?

The seller: one hundred pounds.

Salma: Here you are! Thank you!

 Other useful words:

Blouse = بلوزة

Trousers = بنطلون

Shirt =  قميص

Skirt =  تنورة

Too long =  طويل جداً

Too short = قصير جداً

Too wide = واسع جداً

Too tight = ضيق جداً

How much = بكم

Please = من فضلك

Here you are =  تفضل

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