Posts tagged with "Conditionals"

More words in combination or not?

Posted by aziza 6 Comments
Apr 22 2011

I got an interesting question from Juan about the word (لمّا) which means ‘when’, and he asked whether it involves a combination of (ما) with another word, the answer is ‘possibly’! I do not know for sure because I do not know the etymology, i.e. origin of the word, but it is likely for a very interesting reason (لمّا) has two sisters that mean the same thing and that involve (ما) as well, i.e. (عندما) and (حينما). So, (لمّا), (عندما) and (حينما) mean ‘when’, and we can use them interchangeably. The three words are conditionals in Arabic. Consider the following examples:

عندما تأتي صديقتي، سنسافر معاً إلى الريف.

حينما تأتي صديقتي، سنسافر معاً إلى الريف.

لما تأتي صديقتي، سنسافر معاً إلى الريف.

When my friend arrives, we will travel to the countryside together.

Now, I will tell the difference between two words that involve (ما), but not in combination with anything. These are two words that are often confused because they look very similar, i.e. (أمّا) and (إمّا).

(أمّا) is a linking word that joins two sentences with contrasting meaning, it means ‘as for’.

ماجد طالب، أما علي فهو موظف.

Maguid is a student. As for Ali, he is an employee.

(إمّا) means ‘either’ as in ‘either …or’, and it is used to give choices, e.g.

-          ماذا ستطلب؟

-          إما الشاي أو القهوة.

-          What will you order?

-           tea or coffee.

 

 

Connectors in Arabic – condition

Posted by aziza 1 Comment
Sep 25 2010

It is very important when we write in any language to create logical relationships between the ideas that we present. There is a number of relationships that we can create like addition, contrast, among others, and there are many words and expressions that we can use to express these relationships. In this post, I present some words and expressions that we can use to express the relationship of condition in Arabic. In English, this is expressed by ‘if’.

In Arabic, we have three words that mean ‘if’, i.e. (إن وإذا ولو). It is very important to know the constructions that can occur with them. Generally speaking, the condition clause is in the past tense, and the other one is future. Consider the following examples:

إن تأخرت على الصف، فلن تفهم الدرس.

“If you were late for the class, you would not understand the lesson.”

إذا ذهبت مشياً على الأقدام، فستتأخر.

“If you go on foot, you will be late.”

When giving advice where we can use the present tense after the conditional, for example:

إن تذاكر، تنجح.

“If you study, you will succeed!”

We use (لو) for hypothetical situations, and it is usually used with two past tense sentences

لو كنت غنياً، لاشتريت سيارة جديدة.

“If I were rich, I would buy a new car.”

Other conditionals

Posted by aziza No Comments
Dec 15 2009

There are some particles which are generally regarded as conditionals, e.g. (لمَّا) and (كلَّما). However, they express a temporal relationship rather than a condition. There are still 2 actions that are related to each other by a temporal relationship, for example:

 

لمَّا سافرَ أخي، سافرتُ معه.

“When my brother traveled, I traveled with him.”

كلَّما سافرَ أخي، سَافرتُ معه.

“Whenever my brother traveled, I traveled with him.”

 

لمَّا يسافرُ أخي، أسافرُ معه.

“When my brother travels, I travel with him.”

كلَّما يسافرُ أخي، أسافرُ معه.

“Whenever my brother travels, I travel with him.”

 

Other particles that are used in this way express a spacial relationship, for example:

 

حيثما سافرَ أخي، سافرتُ معه.

“Wherever my brother traveled, I traveled with him.”

أينما سافرَ أخي، سافرتُ معه.

“Wherever my brother traveled, I traveled with him.”

 

حيثما يسافرُ أخي، أسافرُ معه.

“Wherever my brother travels, I travel with him.”

أينما يسافرُ أخي، أسافرُ معه.

“Wherever my brother travels, I travel with him.”

 

More conditionals

Posted by aziza 2 Comments
Dec 12 2009

In this post, I explain 4 more conditionals in Arabic, more specifically (مَنْ) “who”, (ما) “what”, (متى) “when”, and (أين) “where”.

As explained earlier, conditionals are used with 2 actions; one of them depends on the other. Therefore, there must be 2 embedded verbal sentences in each conditional sentence. With (مَنْ) and (ما), both the past tense and the present tense can be used; with (متى) and (أين), the present is used mainly. Consider for example:

مَنْ

مَنْ يَدرسْ كثيراً، يَنجَحْ.

“Who studies a lot, succeeds.”

مَنْ سَافَر إلى مِصر، شَاهَد الأَهْرامات.

“Who traveled to Egypt saw the Pyramids.”

مَا

مَا تَزرَعْ، تَحْصُد.

“What you sow, you reap.”

مَا دَرَستُه أمس، تَذَكّرتُه اليَوم.

“What I learned yesterday, I remembered today.”

مَتى

مَتى تَصِلْ، تَجِدني في اِنتِظارِك.

“When you arrive, you find me waiting for you.”

مَتى تَصِلْ، فاتَّصِل بي.

“When you arrive, call me.”

أين

أَيْن تَجلِس، أَجلِس بِجِوارِك.

“Where you sit, I sit next to you.”

أَينَ تَسكُن، تَجِد جِيراناً طَيبين.

“Where you live, you find good neighbors.”

Conditionals – if

Posted by aziza 7 Comments
Dec 3 2009

Conditional sentences are made up of 2 parts or 2 sentences, one of them contains a particle for condition (أداة الشرط), and this sentence is called (جملة الشرط). The other one provides the outcome of the condition, and it is called (جواب الشرط).

The most common type of conditional in English involves ‘if’. There are 3 words in Arabic which mean if, i.e. إنْ – إذا – لَو.

إنْ and إذا are similar and sometimes are interchangeable. The main difference is that إنْ expresses more certainty. The sentence containing the conditional particle is in most of the cases in the past tense, although the present can also be used. Consider the following examples:

إنْ / إذا سافَرتُ إلى أَمريكا فسَأَزور عَالم ديزني.

“If I travel to America, I will visit Disney World.”

إنْ / إذا سافَرتُ إلى أَمريكا فسَأَزور عَالم ديزني.

“If I travel to America, I will visit Disney World.”

إنْ / إذا سافَرتُ إلى أمريكا فأنوي أنْ أَزورَ عالم ديزني.

“If I travel to America, I intend to visit Disney World.”

إنْ / إذا سافَرتُ إلى أمريكا فيَجِب أن أزور عالم ديزني.

“If I travel to America, I must visit Disney World.”

إنْ / إذا لم أسافِر إلى أمريكا فلن أزور عالم ديزني.

“If I do not travel to America, I will not visit Disney World.”

The present tense can be used in the condition sentence to make statements more factual and certain. This is used to give advice, e.g.

إنْ تُذاكِر تَنْجَح.

“If you study, you will succeed.”

لَو is used in hypothetical statements. Both parts of the condition are in the past tense, and the outcome of the condition usually begins with (ل)

لو كُنتُ في أمريكا لزُرْت عالم ديزني.

“If I were in America, I would visit Disney World.”

لو كُنتُ غَنياً لساعَدتُ الكَثيرَ من الفُقَراء.

“If I were rich, I would help many poor people.”

لو لم أَدْرُس اللغة العربية لما استَطَعت العَيش في مصر.

“If I did not learn Arabic, I would not be able to live in Egypt.”

لولا أُمّي لما نَجَحتُ في حَياتي.

“If not for my mother, I would not succeed in my life.”

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