Posts under Grammar

verb to ‘be’

Posted by Aziza
Nov
9
2009

English sentences that are expressed using verb to be are often translated into nominal sentences in Arabic, and verb to be does not appear at all in the present timeframe, e.g. “I am a student” is translated into (أنا طالبة); and “she is young” is translated into (هي صغيرة).

When talking about the past or the future, verb to be must appear in the sentence, e.g. “I was a student” is translated into (كنت طالبة); and “she was young” is translated into (كانت صغيرة). It should be noted that verb to be (كان) is an irregular verb, and we have to learn its conjugation.

Past

Future

أنا

كنتُ

سأكون

أنتَ

كنتَ

ستكون

أنتِ

كنتِ

ستكونين

هو

كان

سيكون

هي

كانت

ستكون

أنتما

كنتُما

ستكونان

هما (m)

كانا

سيكونان

هما (f)

كانتا

ستكونان

نحن

كنّا

سنكون

أنتم

كنتم

ستكونون

أنتن

كنتن

ستكُنَّ

هم

كانوا

سيكونون

هن

كُنَّ

سيكُنَّ

منذ سنتين كنت طالبة في المدرسة الثانوية.

“Two years ago, I was a secondary school student.”

هذه السنة أنا في الصف الأول وفي السنة القادمة سأكون في الصف الثاني.

“This year, I am in the first grade; and next year I will be in the second grade.”

الطلاب سيكونون مستعدين للامتحان بعد أسبوع.

“Students will be ready for the examination after one week.”

 
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case marking with feminine plurals

Posted by Aziza
Nov
3
2009

In this post, I explain the use of the case marking system with sound feminine plurals. Sound feminine plural nouns and adjectives end with (ات). They are marked for their case with vowels like singular nouns. However, they have special markings. In the nominative case, i.e. when the noun is used as the subject of a verbal sentence or as a subject or predicate of a nominal sentence, feminine plural nouns and adjectives are marked with (ـُ) if they are definite and (ـٌ) if they are indefinite, e.g.

تعمل المهندساتُ المصرياتُ في نفس الشركة.

“The Egyptian engineers work at the same company.”

المهندساتُ المصرياتُ مجتهداتٌ.

“The Egyptian engineers are hard-working.”

When the noun is used as an object, the case is accusative. Feminine plural nouns and adjectives are marked with (ـِ) if they are definite and (ـٍ) if they are indefinite, e.g.

قابلنا المهندساتِ المصرياتِ.

“We met the Egyptian engineers.”

كلّمتُ طالباتٍ عربياتٍ.

“I talked to Arab students.”

When the noun is used after a preposition or after the first word of an idafa construction, the case is genitive. Feminine plural nouns and adjectives are marked with (ـِ) if they are definite and (ـٍ) if they are indefinite, e.g.

تكلمت مع المهندساتِ المصرياتِ.

“I spoke with the Egyptian engineers.”

شركة المهندساتِ كبيرة.

“The company of the engineers is big.”

The special thing to be noted about feminine plurals is that they take the same marking for accusative and genitive cases, i.e. whether a feminine plural noun or adjective is accusative or genitive, they are marked with (ـِ) if they are definite and (ـٍ) if they are indefinite.

 
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Case marking with masculine plurals

Posted by Aziza
Nov
2
2009

In this post, I explain the use of the case marking system with sound masculine plurals. There are 2 endings that can be used with sound masculine plural nouns and adjectives, i.e. (ون) and (ين). In the nominative case, i.e. when the noun is used as the subject of a verbal sentence or as a subject or predicate of a nominal sentence, the first ending (ون) is used, e.g.

يعمل المهندسون المصريون في نفس الشركة.

“The Egyptian engineers work at the same company.”

المهندسون المصريون مجتهدون.

“Egyptian engineers are hard-working.”

When the noun is used as an object, the case is accusative and the ending (ين) is used, e.g.

قابلنا المهندسين المصريين.

“We met the Egyptian engineers.”

When the noun is used after a preposition or after the first word of an idaafa construction, the case is genitive and the ending (ين) is used, e.g.

تكلمت مع المهندسين المصريين.

“I spoke with the Egyptian engineers.”

شركة المهندسين كبيرة.

“The company of the engineers is big.”

 

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Dual with case marking

Posted by Aziza
Oct
31
2009

In previous posts, I explained the case marking system and the dual. In this post, I put explain them together in order to make their use together clearer. There are 2 endings that can be used with dual nouns and adjectives, i.e. (ان) and (ـَيْن). In the nominative case, i.e. when the noun is used as a subject or as predicate of nominal sentences, the nominative case applies and the ending (ان) is used, e.g.

درس الطالبان الجديدان في نفس الصف.

“Both new students studies at the same class.”

الكتابان الكبيران ثقيلان.

“The (2) big books are heavy.”

When the noun is used as an object, the case is accusative and the ending (ـَيْن) is used, e.g.

قرأت كتابين مفيدين.

“I read (2) useful books.”

قابلنا زميلتين قديمتين.

“We met (2) old colleagues.”

When the noun is used after a preposition or after the first word of an idafa construction, the case is genitive and the ending (ـَيْن) is used, e.g.

تكلمت مع صديقين جديدين.

“I spoke with (2) new friends.”

غرفة الطالبين واسعة.

“The room of the (2) students is spacious.”

It should be noted that the same applies to other dual forms that can be used with the nouns not only the adjectives, e.g. demonstratives and relative pronouns. Consider the use of the relative pronouns in the following sentences.

الطالبان الجديدان اللذان يدرسان في صفي لطيفان .

“The (2) new students who study at my class are nice.”

قابلت الطالبين الجديدين اللذين يدرسان في صفي.

“I met the (2) new students who study at my class.”

هاتان قصتان شيقتان.

“These are (2) interesting stories.”

 
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The subjunctive

Posted by Aziza
Oct
10
2009

In previous the post, I started to explain the case marking system (الإعراب) of the present/imperfect tense. By default, present tense verbs take short /o/ (الضمة), and this case is called (المضارع المرفوع). However, there is another case which is called the subjunctive (المضارع المنصوب); in which verbs take short /a/ (الفتحة), and if the verb ends in one of suffixes (ون، ان، ين), the final (ن) is deleted. Present tense verbs are in this case if they are preceded by the following particles.

أن = ‘to’ in expressions like ‘want to’, ‘like to’, ‘intend to’, etc.

لن = particle used to negate the future tense, and it means “will not”

ل = to / in order to

كي = to / in order to

حتى = to / in order to

أريدُ أن أدرسَ اللغة العربية.

“I want to study Arabic.”

أدرسُ اللغة العربية لأعملَ مترجمة.

“I study Arabic in order to work as a translator.”

أعملُ في المساء حتى أدرسَ في النهار.

“I work in the evening in order to study during day time.”

In the case of (المضارع المنصوب), verbs that do not end in one of the suffixes (ون، ان، ين), take a short / a/ (الفتحة), and in verbs that end the suffixes , the final (ن) has to be deleted, consider the following examples.

أدرُسَ

أَنَا

تدرُسَ

أَنْتَ

تدرُسي

أَنْتِ

يدرُسَ

هُوَ

تدرُسَ

هِيَ

تدرُسا

أَنْتُمَا

يدرُسا

هُمَا (m.)

تدرُسا

هُمَا (f.)

ندرُسَ

نَحْنُ

تدرُسوا

أَنْتُمْ

تدرُسن

أَنْتُنَّ

يدرُسوا

هُمْ

يدرُسن

هُنَّ

هل تحبون أن تسافروا إلى مصر في العام القادم؟

“Would you like to travel to Egypt next year?”

أنتم تعملون في الصيف لتوفروا المال اللازم لدراستكم.

“You work in the summer to save money needed for your study.”

In the following post, I will explain the third case of the imperfect; keep reading!

 
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