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353 views412 pagesTY Arabic
teach yourself modern standart arabic
Uploaded by
leonardocaldasvieiraCopyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
/ 412
arabic
gos
all-around confidence language
ontent
+ learn to speak, understand and write arabic
* progress quickly beyond the basics
+ explore the language in depth INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Teach Yourself Arabic!
The aims of the course
If you are an adult learner with no previous knowledge of Arabic
and studying on your own, then this is the course for you. Perhaps
you are taking up Arabic again after a break, or perhaps you are
intending to learn with the support of a class. Again, you will find
this course very well suited to your purposes.
The language you will learn is based on the kind of material seen
in Arabic newspapers and magazines, or heard on radio and
television news broadcasts. The main emphasis is on
understanding Arabic, but we also aim to give you an idea of how
the language works, so that you can create sentences of your own.
If you are working on your own, the audio recordings will be all
the more important, as they will provide you with the essential
opportunity to listen to Arabic and to speak it within a controlled
framework. You should therefore try to get a copy of the audio
recordings if you haven’t already done so.
The structure of the course
This course contains:
= a guide to Arabic script and pronunciation
= 18 course units
= a reference section
= an optional audio cassette or CD 2 ARABIC
How to use the course
All the important information that you need for the basic structures
of Arabic are given in the first ten units. The following eight units
introduce more advanced but essential structures, through texts and
dialogues
Statement of aims
At the beginning of each unit is a summary of what you can expect
to learn by the end of the unit.
Presentation of new language
This is in the form of dialogues or texts introducing the new
language, which are also recorded. These are followed by
questions and phrase-matching exercises to help you check your
comprehension. The answers to these and a translation of the texts
are in the Key at the end of the book. New words are given in the
order in which they appear, and they are followed where necessary
by Notes (al-mulaaHaDHaat l= Ul) which explain how the
language works. The language is presented in manageable chunks,
building carefully on what you have learned in earlier units.
Throughout the course the texts and vocabulary are given both in
Arabic script and in transliteration, that is, in English letters. Try to
tely less on the transliteration as you progress through the units.
Key Phrases (ta:biirdat ra’iisiyyah 4415, ol 124)
To sum up what you have learned in the texts or dialogues, the Key
Phrases section will provide a valuable reference. These contain
the main language elements of the unit, and will help you when
you come to the exercises.
Structures (taraakiib al-lughah 44) 35/3)
In this section the forms of the language are explained and
illustrated. Main grammatical concepts have often been grouped
together for ease of reference, and they gradually build up to
provide you with all the structures you need to read and write
Arabic. INTRODUCTION 3
Cultural tips (ma:luuméat thaqaafiyyah 4.4185 oLagias)
These highlight some of the social and cultural aspects of life in the
Arab world.
Word Shapes (awzdan al-kalimaat Losi) obi
This section will help you familiarise yourself with the way Arabic
words are formed.
Practice (tamriinaat ~Ls ,s3)
The tamriindat provide a variety of activities so that you can start
using the new words and structures. Practice is graded so that
activities which require mainly recognition come first. As you
grow in confidence in manipulating language forms, you will be
encouraged to write and speak the language yourself. The answers
can be found at the end of the book, in the Key. Transcripts of
listening comprehension exercises follow the Key.
Reference
The reference section contains a Glossary of Grammar Terms, a
Grammar Summary of the main structures of the Arabic language,
and a set of Verb Tables, so that every verb you come across in the
book can be matched in the tables to a verb which works in the
same way. There are also reference sections on Arabic Numerals
and Plurals.
Selected Arabic-English and English-Arabic glossaries are
provided so that you can look up words alphabetically, and finally
a Grammar Index will enable you to look up specific points.
Study tips
Remember that the first step in learning a language is listening and
understanding. Concentrate initially on that, and then work on your
writing skills, using the information in the units and, if possible, by
listening to native speakers.
In using a course such as this, it is important to pace yourself, with
a view to consolidating what you have learned before moving on. 4 ARABIC.
Due to the nature of the language, the units are of varying length
and complexity. There is no need to attempt to absorb a whole unit
in one sitting.
Our suggestion is that you concentrate on the texts first, with
reference to the transcripts and the audio if you have it. This
includes mastering the vocabulary as far as possible. The
translations are there to help you if you get stuck. You should then
look at the Structures section and make sure you understand how
the language is working. Finally work through the exercises, These
are based on the constructions explained in the unit and will help
you consolidate what you have learned. Try to do each exercise
before checking your work in the Key.
What kind of Arabic will I learn?
The Arabic taught in this book is the standard written language of
more than 150 million inhabitants of the Arab states, ranging from
Morocco in the West, to Iraq in the East. In addition to this large
number of native speakers, it is used by Muslims all over the world
as a language of religion. There are millions of Muslims in
Pakistan, Afghanistan and, further east, Malaysia and Indonesia. If
you are a Muslim, you have to read the Koran and pray in Arabic.
Translations — as in, for example, the European versions of the
Bible — are only used for reference or as an aid to understanding
the Arabic. All the commentaries on the Holy Text, and other
subsidiary literature on practices, interpretation and rules for daily
life are written in and have to be read in Arabic. In addition, it is a
matter of pride for Muslims to regard Arabic as a prestige
language.
In modern everyday life in the Arab countries, so-called vernacular
or dialect Arabic has supplanted Standard Arabic for spoken
communication, but all these dialects derive from the parent root.
The result of this is that, if you have a grounding in Standard
Arabic, it will be easier to learn the modern local dialects which
are based on it. Standard Arabic is also the lingua franca of the
Arab world and can be understood anywhere in conversation with
educated speakers. INTRODUCTION 5
Written Arabic has existed for about twelve centuries without
major change. Its literature is vast and a key to understanding the
development of world history. While Europe entered the Dark
Ages after the fall of the Roman Empire, Arabic carried the torch
of classical learning. Much that we know today in the realms of
chemistry, medicine, astronomy and other branches of scientific
endeavour would have been lost, were it not for the achievements
of Arab scholars and translators.
Nowadays, due to oil resources and the influence this brings, the
importance of many Arab states in political and economic terms
cannot be overestimated. The oil in much of the Arab world has
had very powerful influences on the West, which is dependent on
the Middle East for its supplies of the substance which largely
drives their economies.
So, whether your interests are historical, cultural, religious or
economic, there is a lot to be gained from learning Arabic.
To help you, we have tried to present the modern language in its
most easily accessible form. As you will be learning, Arabic script
differs from European scripts in that it does not explicitly write the
short vowels. The traditional language of the Holy Koran and
classical literature used special endings on words which consisted
mainly of vowels. With a few exceptions, these are not now written
and have been largely ignored in this book. The form of Arabic
taught in this book is based on its modern form, i.e. that used in the
press, fiction and similar written material, usually referred to as
Modern Standard Arabic. As a spoken language, it survives in
formal TV and radio broadcasts, political speeches, and so on.
Many examples of these are included in the units.
Tf you go through this book carefully, you should achieve a level
of proficiency which will enable you to read newspapers and listen
to radio and TV broadcasts. A little further study will introduce you
to the world of Arabic literature, for instance the novels of the
Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, a winner of the Nobel Prize for
Literature.
Finally, many people are put off learning Arabic because of the
apparently difficult script. In fact, this is one of the easiest and 6 ARABIC
most rewarding aspects of learning Arabic. The Arabic alphabet
consists of only 29 letters, and its spelling is 95 per cent phonetic
and therefore largely self-explanatory — something that could never
be said for English. Once you have mastered the basic forms of the
letters, you will never have to ask yourself the (equivalent)
question of “How many p’s are there in apartment?” and the like.
Hints for further study
This book covers all the main structures of Arabic and a reasonable
amount of vocabulary.
If you want to dig deeper, you will first need a pair of dictionaries.
The use of these has been discussed in the Review Unit.
= Arabic—English: Hans Wehr A Dictionary of Modern Written
Arabic (edited by J. Milton Cowan) is an essential tool.
= English-Arabic: the best available is Munir Ba’albaki
Al-Mawrid, A Modern English-Arabic Dictionary. This very
comprehensive work was designed for use by native Arabic
speakers and so, to select the correct word for a given context,
some cross-referencing with Wehr may be necessary.
These two dictionaries are the best for the serious student, but there
are others available.
There is a multitude of Arabic grammars on the market, of widely
differing merits
= David Cowan, Modern Literary Arabic provides a concise look
at the structures of written Arabic at a slightly deeper level than
this book.
@ John Mace, Arabic Verbs and Essential Grammar, published in
the Teach Yourself series, is an extremely useful reference work
which provides easy access to all the verb types and a summary
of Arabic grammar.
Spoken Arabic varies widely from country to country, and you
should choose from the wide selection of material available
according to which country you intend to visit. Very roughly the
Arabic dialects divide into the following groups: North Africa
from Morocco to Libya; Egypt and the Sudan; Lebanon Jordan and INTRODUCTION 7
Syria; Iraq and the Arabian peninsula.
The Arabic of the last of these groups is probably the nearest to the
written Arabic you have learned in this book, and is covered by the
present writers’ Teach Yourself Gulf Arabic in the same series.
Good luck! We hope you will enjoy learning Arabic! ARABIC SCRIPT AND
PRONUNCIATION
GUIDE
1 Basic characteristics
The Arabic script looks difficult because it is so different from
what we are used to. In fact, it is easy to master, and, with one or
two easily definable exceptions, all sounds are written as they are
pronounced. There are no combinations of vowels (dipthongs)
which result in a totally different sound, such as, for example, the
English words plough, dough, through, enough.
Some important facts about the Arabic script:
Arabic is written from right to left. As a result of this, what we
would regard as the back cover of a book, magazine or
newspaper is in fact the front cover of an Arabic publication.
Arabic script is always joined, or cursive, like English
handwriting. There is no equivalent of the English text you are
now reading, where all the letters have separate forms with spaces
between them. An exception to this is in crossword puzzles.
There are no capital letters.
The joining strokes between letters, called ligatures, have the
effect of slightly altering the shape of the letters on either side.
As a result, Arabic letters have varying forms, depending on
whether they come at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.
A few letters do not join to the following letter, but all Arabic
letters join to the preceding one.
The three short vowels, a, i or u, as opposed to the long vowels
aa, uu and ii, are not shown in the script. For example, the word
bank (borrowed from English), is written b-n-k. This is not so
much of a problem as you might think, since the number of
shapes or forms which Arabic words take is limited. There is a
system (not normally used in Modern Arabic) to show the short ARABIC SCRIPT AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 9
vowels, which is explained below. As almost all Modern Arabic
is written without the short vowels, we have generally not
included them in the Arabic script in this course, although the
transliteration (pronunciation guide) given for all the Arabic
vocabulary and structures will show you what they are.
However, we have included the short vowels in the Arabic script
in some places where it is especially helpful.
2 The alphabet
Because Arabic is a cursive language, we have given the initial,
medial and final forms of each letter, used depending on where
they occur in the word. A separate form has also been included,
since some letters do not join to the one after them. If you look at
the letters carefully you will see that there are really only two
shapes, although four forms of the non-joining letters have been
given.
The Arabic alphabet is given below in its traditional order. Letters
which do not join to the following one are marked with an asterisk
@).
The term final in the table should be interpreted as meaning final
after a joining letter. If the preceding letter is a non-joiner, the
separate form will be used. If you look closely, you can see that
final and separate letters are usually elongated in form, or have a
‘flourish’ after them.
In most cases, the initial form of the letter can be regarded as the
basic or nucleus form. For example, if you look at baa’ (the second
letter in the following list), you will see that its basic (initial) form
is a small left-facing hook with a single dot below it. The medial
form is more or less the same, with a ligature coming in from the
right (remember Arabic reads from right to left). The final form is
the same as the medial, with a little flourish to the left, at the end
of the word, and the separate form is the same as the initial, but
again with the flourish to the left. Study the letters bearing these
features in mind, as many of them follow the same principle. Fuller
descriptions and other hints on deciphering will be given in the
units. 10 ARABIC
Here are the four shapes of baa’ in enlarged type:
initial medial final separate
You will see that the nucleus is the hook with a dot under it (the
initial form). The medial shape has joining strokes before and after
the letter, and the final form has an elongation or flourish.
The Arabic letters
Name Initial Medial Final © Separate — Pronunciation
CT i a | see below
baa’ 4 kee ~ x b
taa’ i is oo oS t
thaa’ 3 as en & th
jim > +> © i
Hag! _> a Cc eS H
khag’ 43 a e t kh
dadl* 3 Be a 3 d
dhaal’ 3 Ku 4 3 dh
raa’’ 5 > > 3 i
jor be hes VS z
siin —s a ot uw s
shin ah oN oO sh
Saad — C= wo s
Deady (2st! vate Perle ee D
Taa’ —- + i &
DHao’ _1 ye 4 DH ARABIC SCRIPT AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE u
Name Initial © Medial Final © Separate — Pronunciation
rain aoe a & @
ghain aan é é gh
faa’ 8 a Cae rary if
qaaf tt ¢& 3 q
kaaf = _S x a J k
laam = wil ee J I
mim —. = e e m
nun 3 ae ee oO n
hag’ 8 = a s h
waaw 4 + + 9 w
yao! a eo GC yi
There is one combination consonant laam-alif. This must be used
when this series of letters occurs, and it is a non-joiner:
Name Initial Medial/Final Separate
laam-alif ‘Y oS y
Also note that, in some styles of type and handwriting, when the
letter miim comes after laam, the small circle of the miim is filled
in and looks like a little tag attached to the laam, for example:
SAI al-maktab the desk, office
The taa’ marbuuTah, referred to in this book as the ‘hidden -t’, is
the Arabic feminine ending. As it only occurs at the end of words,
it has only two forms: final (after joiners) and separate (after non-
joiners). It is always preceded by a short a-vowel:
Final Separate
a $ 12 ARABIC.
If you look carefully at this letter, you will see that it is a haa’ with
the two dots above of the taa’ added. It is normally ignored in
speech, or rendered as a very weak h, but in certain combinations
of words it is pronounced as t. It has therefore been transcribed as
h or t accordingly.
The hamzah is regarded by the Arabs as a supplementary sign, not
as letter of the alphabet. Its official pronunciation is a ‘glottal stop’
(as the ?’s in the cockney pronunciation of bottle), and it has been
transliterated by means of an apostrophe (’). It is sometimes
omitted in speech, but should be shown in written Arabic, where it
occurs either on its own, or written over an alif, waaw or yaa’. In
the last case, the two dots under the yaa’ are omitted. It can also
occur written below an alif, but this is less common. The actual
hamzah never joins to anything, but its ‘supporting’ letters take
the form required by their position in the word:
Initial Medial Final Separate
independent + in all cases
over alif i G i i
under alif ! does not occur !
over waqw = - ges g 3
over yaa’ - ee ie is
Note that, at the beginning of a word, hamzah is always written
above or below alif.
The writing of the hamzah is a frequent source of spelling errors
among native speakers, and it is often omitted in print and writing.
In foreign loanwords the letter p is usually written as a baa’ and
the letter v is written either as faa’ or with the Persian letter 8 — a
faa’ with three dots above it instead of one. ARABIC SCRIPT AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 13
Script Exercise 1
In the photograph below, which five well-known international
companies are sponsors of this race-course?
3 Vowels
The letters of the Arabic alphabet are all regarded as consonants.
In Arabic writing the short vowels are not usually marked except
in children’s school textbooks, the Holy Koran and ancient
classical poetry.
_ The long vowels are
expressed by the three
letters alif, waaw and
i yaa’. Alif almost always
expresses the vowel aa,
but waaw and yaa’ can
j also be consonantal w
and y (as in English wish
and yes).
The most important factors to consider in Arabic words are firstly
the consonants, and secondly the long vowels. It will not make
much difference in most cases whether you pronounce a word with
a, u or i (short vowels), but it is important to get the long vowels
right. See page 18 for more details on vowels.
4 Variations in handwriting
Think of the Arabic script as essentially handwriting (since it is 14 ARABIC
always cursive, no matter how it is produced — by hand or on a
computer). Since calligraphy is a highly developed art in the Arab
world, there are more variations in the form of the letters than is
the case in English.
The most common of these is that two dots above or below a letter
are frequently combined into one dash, and three dots (which only
occur above) into an inverted v like the French circumflex (*).
Here is an example showing taa’ and thaa’:
Bre) ce
6.3 4
Another common variation is the writing of siin (s) and shiin
(sh) simply as long lines, ironing out their ‘spikes’, and often
with a small hook below at the beginning:
eo
This occurs frequently in handwriting, signwriting and newspaper
and advert headings — in fact everywhere where the original copy
has been prepared by a calligrapher rather than typeset.
Above all, Arabic writing is fun. Look at it as an art form!
5 Transliteration
Transliteration means expressing a language which uses a different
writing system (like Arabic) in terms of symbols based on the
Roman alphabet, usually for teaching purposes. There is no
standard way of doing this and we have tried to keep the system
used in this book as simple as possible.
The essential feature of a transliteration system is that it has to
have a precise equivalent for every sound used in the target
language. This differs from conventional spelling, e.g. in English
the letter s has totally different sounds in the two words loafs, and
loaves. Consider also that the same sound in the former can be v
ARABIC SCRIPT AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 15
spelled ce, €.g. mince. Transliteration systems have to iron out such
discrepancies.
We have adapted the English alphabet, using capital letters to
distinguish between Arabic sounds which seem related to speakers
of English. For instance, Arabic has two sorts of t which we have
distinguished in this way: rattab means arranged, whereas
raTTab means moistened. Consequently you will not find capital
letters used as they are conventionally, e.g. in personal and place
names. (An exception has, however, been made in the case of
Al-laah God, Allah.)
6 The Arabic sounds
We have divided the pronunciation table into three parts:
= Group 1: Sounds that are more or less as in English.
m= Group 2: Sounds which do not occur in English, but are found in
other European languages with which you may be familiar.
@ Group 3: Sounds which are specific to Arabic.
Note: The letter alif has no sound of its own, and is used only to
express the long vowel aa and as a support for the hamzah (see the
televant sections below).
Group 1
b as in but
d as in duck
dh as in the hard th in this or mother. Do not confuse with the
sound th (see below), as they convey entirely different
meanings in Arabic (dhawb melting, thawb a garment).
f as in force
as in hold, but never omitted in speech as it very often is in
English (e.g. vehement). An exception is the common
feminine ending -ah, see above.
j as in jar
k as in kick 16 ARABIC
1 mostly as in Jine, but sometimes has a duller sound, roughly
as in English alter. This distinction is not meaningful in
Arabic but depends on the surrounding consonants.
as in mum
as in nib
as in sit, (it is not pronounced z as in things: see 2 below)
sh as in flash
t as in fart
th as in think (not as in this; see dh above)
as in wonder
as in yonder
Zz as in sneeze, bees (sometimes spelled s in English, but in
Arabic s and z never interchange; see also th and dh)
Group 2
r The Arabic r sound does not occur in standard English, but
is familiar in dialect pronunciation. It is the trilled r of
Scottish very (‘verry’), and common in Italian and Spanish
(Parma, Barcelona).
gh Near tothe r of Parisian French. It is actually a more guttural
scraping sound, and occurs in Dutch, e.g. negen. The
Parisian r is near enough as an intermediate measure.
kh Roughly sound of ch in Scottish loch and och aye. Also
familiar in German doch and (written j) in Spanish José.
Group 3
These sounds are particular to Arabic. To pronounce them requires
practice and it is best to listen to native speakers if possible.
S,T, With the exception of H (see below), the capitalised
D, consonants are pronounced in a way similar to their small
DH ietter versions s, t, d and dh, except that the tongue is
depressed into a spoon shape, and the pressure of air from
the lungs increased. This gives a forceful and hollow sound,
often referred to as emphatic. These sounds have a marked ARABIC SCRIPT AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 7
effect on surrounding vowels, making them sound more
hollow. A rough (British) English equivalent is the
difference in the a as in Sam and (with of course silent p)
psalm.
We have a muscle in our throat which is never used except
in vomiting. Think about that and pretend you are about to
be sick. You will find that what is normally called in English
gagging is actually a restriction in the deep part of the throat.
If you begin to gag, and then immediately relax the muscles
in order to release the airstream from the lungs, you will
have produced a perfect : (called :ayn in Arabic). This
sound must be distinguished from the glottal stop hamzah
as the difference affects the meaning. For instance, :amal
means work, but ’amal means hope.
Hs“ Pronounced in exactly the same way as :aym, except that,
instead of completely closing the muscles referred to above,
they are merely constricted and the air allowed to escape.
The only time English speakers come near to a (weakish) H
is when they breathe on their spectacle lenses before
cleaning them. Both :ayn and Haa’ should always be
pronounced with the mouth fairly wide open (say ‘ah’).
C The hamzah occurs in English between words pronounced
deliberately and emphatically (e.g. ‘She [pause] is [pause]
awful.’), but is probably more familiar as the Cockney or
Glaswegian pronunciation of t or ft as in bottle.
q is officially pronounced as a ‘back of the throat’ English ¢
or k. If you try to imitate the sound of a crow cawing you
will not be far away. A rough equivalent is the difference in
articulation of the letter c in (British) English cam and calm.
Note: The symbol q has been chosen only for convenience:
it has really nothing to do with the English combination qu.
Local variations
As with any language spoken over such a wide area, regional
Pronunciations occur. The versions given above are the officially
correct ones, always used in reciting the Holy Koran, but local
Variants often slip into the pronunciation of politicians, radio and ARABIC
T.V. announcers etc. The most important of these affect the
following letters:
th
S
DH
Many speakers in the North and West of the Arab world find
this sound difficult to pronounce and render it as either t or s.
In Egypt and a few other areas, this is rendered g as in gold.
In Lebanon, parts of Syria and Jordan it sounds like the j of
French Jacques (which is the same as the s in English
pleasure).
Sometimes becomes d or z (see th above).
Pronounced identically to DH in most of the Eastern Arab
world (Iraq, the Gulf and Saudi Arabia).
See D above. Additionally, in many urban parts of Egypt,
Lebanon, Syria and Jordan it often becomes a sort of
emphatic z-sound.
In informal speech, this is often pronounced as g in many
parts of the Arab world. In the spoken Arabic of urban areas
of Egypt, Lebanon and Syria it is pronounced as a glottal
stop (hamzah).
Note: the above variants are given to help you avoid confusion
when listening to ‘live’ Arabic in various parts of the Arab world.
It is probably better to stick to the more formal values until your
ear becomes attuned but if — as is highly recommended — you enlist
the help of a native speaker, imitate his or her pronunciation.
7 Vowels
There are only three common vowels, all of which occur both long
and short. These have been transcribed as follows:
a
aa
roughly as in hat
an elongated emphatic a as in the word and as in: ‘Did she
actually say that?’ ‘Yes... and she had the cheek to repeat
it!’. In juxtaposition with some of the consonants (mainly
the capitalised ones S$, D, T, DH, but also q, gh and
sometimes | and r it sounds more like the vowel in the
English palm. ARABIC SCRIPT AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 19
i as in if
ii the long equivalent of i, as in seen, French livre
u as in put (never as in sup)
uu —_as in food, French nous
aw roughly as in English bound
ay as in aye (often pronounced like ai as in bail in informal
situations)
oo as in like French beau or home as pronounced in Scotland —
occurs in less formal speech and in some foreign loanwords
8 Writing vowels and other signs
As short vowels are not normally written in Modern Arabic, it is
better to become used to recognising Arabic words without them.
However, the transliterated Arabic throughout this course will
show you which short vowel should be pronounced and the short
vowels are also sometimes included on the Arabic script where
helpful to understanding the patterns of words.
Note: All these signs are written above or below (as indicated) the
consonant which they follow. For instance, to express the word
kutiba, you write the (Arabic) consonant k + the vowel sign for u,
consonant t + the sign for i, b + the sign for a, like this:
pes
was
As all three letters are joining letters, the k has the initial form, the
t the medial form and the b the final form.
The long vowels are the same signs, but followed by alif for aa,
waaw for uu and yaa’ for ii. For example, if the above word had
all three vowels long (kuutiibaa — an imaginary word, for
purposes of illustration only), it would be written like this:
2 2
Lys 9S
A similar means is used to express the diphthong vowels aw and
ay, except that, as you would expect, the vowel sign preceding the 20 ARABIC
yg Ot is always a, for example:
is
tay kaw
Zero vowel sign
When a consonant has no vowel after it, this is marked by writing
a miniature circle (like a zero) above it; here above the k:
wits
maktab
This sign is omitted at the end of words, in this case the b.
Doubled consonants
Doubled consonants (written in the transliteration as bb, nn, ss,
etc.) are very important in Arabic, as they can change the meanings
of words radically. They are only pronounced in English when they
span two words, e.g. ‘But_Tim, my young friend...’ In Arabic,
however, they must always be pronounced carefully, wherever
they occur, with a slight hesitation between them. mathal means a
proverb, maththal means he acted, represented.
In Arabic, the consonant is written once only, with the following
sign (a little Arabic .,. s without the tail) above it, for example:
be
Jie
maththal
The sign for the vowel following the doubled letter — here an a — is
written above the doubling sign. As you have already learned, an i-
vowel is expressed by writing a short oblique stroke under the letter.
However, by convention, when a letter already has the doubling
sign, the stroke is put under the sign but actually above the letter.
ip
maththil ARABIC SCRIPT AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 21
Other signs
The letter alif occasionally appears with a longer, curved stroke
above it (similar to a stretched out Spanish tilde as in cafton). It is
then pronounced as a hamzah (glottal stop) followed by a long aa-
vowel. An important word which you will meet often and should
take pains to learn to write and pronounce correctly is the Arabic
word for the Koran:
orxo-
OL all
al-qur’aan
Finally a sign used on only a very few (but common) words is a
vertical stroke above the preceding letter. This is simply
a shorthand way of writing the long aa-vowel. Another
very important word in Arab culture is God, or Allah. Here
the vertical stroke is written over the doubling sign. ;
Pronounce this alléah with the stress on the second oe
syllable. (It is usually uttered with the ‘dark’ |, i.e. an aN \
I pronounced with the tongue hollowed at the back of
the upper teeth. This gives the aa a ‘hollow’ sound.)
9 Irregular spellings
The letter yaa’ occurs frequently at the end of words in Arabic. It
is usually pronounced -ii, but also sometimes -aa. In the former
case, it is usually written with two dots under it ((¢) and in the latter
without them (is), but this rule is not, unfortunately, always
adhered to.
fet
banaa
Note that in this case, the vowel preceding the yaa’ is a. Words
showing this characteristic will be explained as they occur.
The hybrid letter , the ‘hidden t’, is always preceded by a (cy see
above.
Important note: Both of these spellings can only occur at the end 22 ARABIC
of a word. If any suffix is added to the word, they become | and s
respectively. (This will be explained fully later in the book.)
10 One-letter words
By convention, Arabic words consisting only of one consonantal
letter (and usually a short vowel) are joined to the following word.
Thus wa (and) + anta (you) is written:
7 Og
cal,
To make things clearer in transliteration, such words are separated
by a hyphen: wa-anta.
11 Stress
The rules for stress in Arabic are complex, and it is better to learn
from the audio if you have it, or by listening to native speakers.
One simple general rule, however, is
that if a word contains a long vowel
(aa, uu, etc.) the stress falls on this;
and if there is more than one (long
vowel), the stress falls on the one
nearest the end of the word, e.g.:
(LS, makéatib but G.3l<. makaattib
The stress will be on the last long
syllable before a vowel ending.
To help you, the stressed syllables of
words have been marked with an acute
accent: 4, 4a, etc. in the first few units
so that you become used to where they
occur. ARABIC SCRIPT AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 23
12 Case endings
Classical Arabic had a set of three grammatical case endings for
nouns and adjectives, but these are nowadays largely ignored in all
put very formal speech such as Koranic recitation and ancient
poetry.
The only one of these which concerns us is the so-called indefinite
accusative, because this shows in the script. This is known as the
accusative marker.
Its form is an alif attached to the end of the noun or adjective,
technically with two slashes above the preceding consonant: L. It
ig pronounced -an, e.g. GS kitéab, but with accusative marker
(GUS kit4aban. In practice, the two slashes before the alif are
usually omitted:_Us, 1 Ny sita fal-nabda’
Let’s get started!
In this unit you will learn:
@ how to greet people
= how to make short descriptive FP
phrases Ke
4
= about definites and indefinites a}
1 aSile adult! as-salaamu :ald4y-kum hello
[lit. Peace be upon you]
In Arabic, it is extremely important to be able to greet people,
and to reply when someone greets you. Notice that each greeting
has its own particular reply. If you have the recording, listen to
these people greeting each other, and see how they respond.
Simple Greetings
Sele e Suull hello [lit. peace be upon you]
as-saldamu :aléy-kum
pull Sole 9 hello (reply) [lit. (and) upon
wa- :al4y-kum as-sal4am you peace]
Exercise 1
Kamal is visiting an old friend, John, in his hotel in Cairo, and
Kamal speaks first. Practise saying each phrase, filling in the
gaps. Remember to pronounce the stress on every word where it
is shown. UNIT 1 25
a as-saléamu ..., ya John! Wyem a... pdhall
b wa :aldy-kum ..., ya Kaméal! 1JLaS Ly ... aSrley
Exercise 2
You are going to dinner with your Arabic-speaking friend Nadia.
She welcomes you into her house. What do you say to her?
2 2 ,24Il cle SabdaH al-khayr Good morning
Suad is about to begin teaching an Arabic course at the university
in Cairo. First she greets a new student.
Su:4ad — SabdaH al-khdyr. widll clue ule
Téalibah SabéaH an-nuur. well cle Aull
Ke)
a slits . dite Taalibah (pl. Taalibaat) female student
Note
The plurals of nouns and adjectives in Arabic do not follow a
logical system, so it is better to learn them along with the
singular from the beginning. They are given after the singular
noun in the vocabulary, separated by a comma.
In Arabic, there is no word for good afternoon, so masaa’ al-
khayr is used for both late afternoon and evening.
9 dus, Gl,25 ta:biirdat ra’iisiyyah (Key phrases)
How to wish someone good morning, evening:
vas! cle good morning [lit. morning (of)
SabdaH al-khayr the goodness]
oll clue good morning (reply) [lit.
SabdaH an-néur morning (of) the light] 26 ARABIC
vail cline good afternoon/good evening
maséa’ al-khayr [lit. evening (of) the goodness]
ogall elie good afternoon/good evening
masda’ an-ndur (reply) [lit. evening (of) the light]
Exercise 3
Fill in the bubbles with the appropriate greetings.
1
-
a
°
ce]
at
Exercise 4
a Itis 1lam and you go to the bank for cash. Greet the bank
clerk.
b You are in a restaurant one evening and an acquaintance comes
up and greets you. What would you say?
c Your partner comes home from work at 7pm. What does he/she
say to you?
d You go into a shop in the market. Say hello to the shopkeeper.
e You see your neighbour in the street and she says hello to you.
How would you reply? UNIT 1 27
> 3 sella (aS kayfa Haal-ak? How are you?
Suad asks one of the students, Michael, how he is:
Su:4ad kayfa Héal-ak? Sella aS slaw
Michael al-Hémdu lil-ldah. AU seall J&L.
Su:4ad 4hlan wa-s4hlan. Ayes y Seales
Michael dhlan bi-ki. wa anti, wh ual Ile
kéyfa Héal-ik? Selle HS esl,
Su:4ad — al-Hémdu lil-ldah, wade Al teal slaw
bi-khayr.
Note the spelling of ahlan and sahlan with a final alif. This is
the accusative marker (see Unit 8).
p dauiss) olsi25 ta:biiraat ra’iisiyyah (Key phrases)
$e. Was kayfa Héal-ak? how are you? (to a man)
[lit. How [is] condition-your?]
Salil. US kayfa Héal-ik? how are you? (to a woman)
at) sont praise [be] to God (response to
al-Hamdu lil-ldah above)
Mew y SLai welcome
4hlan wa-séhlan
ay Mui dhlan bi-k (reply to a man)
el Sui 4hlan bi-ki (reply to a woman)
sail ly wa-anta/Anti and you? (sing. masc./fem.)
Jac) bi-khayr well adj. (lit. in well-being) 28 ARABIC
al-mulaaHaDHaat (Notes) oL4a Stall
@ kayfa Héal-ak |f you are speaking to a woman, you must
say kayfa Haal-ik, although there is no difference in written
Arabic. If you are talking a group of people, you must say
kayfa Héal-kum (aSiLa 3S).
B al-Hamdy lil-laah never changes, and is used in many
situations. Even if something unfortunate or unpleasant has
happened, the devout Muslim must submit to the will of Allah
and praise Him for what He has decreed.
@ Ghlan bi-k You must say ahlan bi-ki to a woman (same
spelling), or Ghlan bi-kum (ass Stal) to a group of people.
Exercise 5.
a Mohammad is having a party, and his English friend John
arrives. Finish the sentence for Mohammad.
kayfa ...? S$... CaS
b What does John reply?
c Fill in the missing words in the next exchange between
Mohammed and John.
—... wa sdhlan gus use
— dhlan .... wee Mal
d You meet some Arabic-speaking friends. How do you ask
them how they are?
e An Arabic-speaking colleague comes into your office and you
greet him. What do you say, and how does he reply?
¢? 4 What do they want?
aay UNIT 1
Exercise 6
Some tourists are spending the day in Cairo. Listen to the
recording or read the dialogues below, and try to work out which
picture belongs to each dialogue?
Re: — c Ais
Dialogue 1
~ téaksi! al-ahréam, min faDI-ak! 'cllad (yo ala! uSls
—nd:am, ya sdyyid-i!
Dialogue 2
—al-miSb4aH min faDI-ak.
—al-kabiir aw aS-Saghiir?
— tafaDDal.
— shiikran.
Dialogue 3
— shaay wa-sandawiitsh
Saghfir min-faDl-ak.
— Shaay bi-stikkar?
— laa shiikran, bidtiun stikkar.
bi-kam hdadhaa?
~ thaldathah junayhéat.
Yoda Ly aad
ALAS Gyo cLueall
§ jakuall of past
iss,
pats Guiy gtiusy eglis
§ Sus wis
Seo Gagne LSE
Waa aS
wolgsia GIG 30 ARABIC
Exercise 7
Which dialogue takes place:
a ina café beside the Nile?
b in Khan al-Khalili market?
¢ in Tahrir Square, in the centre of Cairo?
Exercise 8
Find the words for the following items:
a small
b a tea with sugar
¢ the lamp
d the pyramids
e a sandwich
ma:luuméat thaqaafiyyah (Cultural tips) 4.8185 GLlagiae
People don’t usually use terms like Mr and Mrs. In Egypt and
some other northern Arab countries people say siidi where we
might say sir, but in other countries this term is reserved for
certain classes of nobility. Its correct formal pronunciation is
sdyyidi, but this does not show in the Arabic script.
Exercise 9
Which figure from the
Arabian Nights is this?
(soaull Clreally Gaull se
Fuuety clyii25 ta:biirdat ra’iisiyyah (Key phrases)
clas (». min faDl-ak please
Judas taféDDal here you are, welcome
\,S% shikran thank you UNIT 1 31
eo na:am yes
al aw or
Y laa no
4 bi- with
O42 bi-diun without
Slaa ae bi-kam h4adha? how much is this?
4a) sSi,i taraakiib al-lighah (Structures)
1 Definite or indefinite?
It is important in Arabic to be able to distinguish between definite
words and phrases, and indefinites.
Indefinite words have a or an before them in English. There is no
indefinite article, or word for a or an, in Arabic.
esa; bayt (a) house
Uwizgtiw sandawiitsh (a) sandwich
There are three types of definite words in English:
a) words which begin with the definite article — the house
b) proper nouns — Mohammed, Cairo, Egypt
¢) pronouns such as he, J, you, etc.
The definite article the never varies in writing, and is always I
al-. The hyphen shows that, in the Arabic script, al- is always
attached to the following word.
ull al-bayt the house
al La! al-ahraam the pyramids
There are two points of pronunciation:
a) If the preceding word ends in a vowel or -ah, the a of al- is
Omitted in pronunciation, but kept in writing. 32 ARABIC
$0 | Written Pronounced
oad! ob baab al-bayt the door of the house
after a preceding consonant
oil 8 fi l-bayt in the house
after a preceding vowel
b) If the word to which al- is attached begins with one of the
following consonants, the I of the al- is omitted in pronunciation
and the following letter is doubled.
n | DHTD S shs z r dhd th ¢
ep ica
oJ 8 Sb poe eudsd 5 8 Od oS
You are pronouncing the word properly if you make a small
hesitation on the doubled letters.
i?) | Written Pronounced
after a consonant after a vowel
wail! ash-shams sh-shams the sun
og an-nuur n-nuur the light
Gulig gti!) —as-sandwiitsh s-sandwiitsh the sandwich
Tip: An easy way to remember these letters is to pronounce them
all out loud. With the slight exception of sh, you will notice that
the tip of your tongue is contacting somewhere in the region of
your front teeth or the gum above them — where the letter I is
pronounced, which is why the assimilation occurs. No other Arabic
consonants are pronounced in this area.
The Arabs call these the ‘sun letters’, simply because the word
shams (_ wis) sun begins with one of them. The remaining letters UNIT 1 33
are called the ‘moon letters’, because qamar (3) moon does not
begin with an assimilated letter.
Remember: The written form remains the same; it is only the
ronunciation which varies. However, to help you, the
assimilations have been represented in the transliteration.
Exercise 10
Listen to the following words on the recording, or study them
carefully:
a esliall
b ela!
¢ pdlull
Aya 5 Sul
e gill
BS
8 osuall
List those which begin with sun letters and those which begin with
moon letters.
2 Nouns and adjectives
Arabic adjectives behave like nouns but:
a) they always follow the noun;
b) they must agree with the noun in definiteness and in gender,
c) additional adjectives are simply added after the first one with no
punctuation or joining word. If the noun is definite, the
adjectives must all be definite and have the definite article.
Tt will be a great help when you are learning Arabic if you can
Come to look on nouns and adjectives as being virtually the same
thing. This only happens in slightly archaic English in phrases such
as ‘the great and the good’, ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’. More
commonly we use the helping word ‘one’: ‘Which dress do you
Prefer?’, ‘The blue one’. 34 ARABIC
Arabic grammar will become easier if you mentally add the word
one’ to Arabic adjectives, so that you are effectively equating
them with nouns. In Arabic the reply to the question above would
have been simply ‘The blue’.
¢) Jeius Gu bayt Saghfir a small house = (a) house
a,
(a) small(-one)
Je glall a! ol the tall boy = the-boy the-tall{-one)
al-walad aT-Tawiil
peoball Lolth, » Great Britain = Britain the-great
briiTéanyaa |-:i4DHma (-one)
dada ouS OLS a big new book = (a) book (a) big
kitaab kabfir jadiid (-one) (a) new(-one)
Syren!) Uses) cist the beautiful young girl = the-girl
al-bint al-jamiilah the-beautiful{-one) the-young(-one)
S-Saghiirah
943 «Sa bayt, buyéut house
ite Saghiir young (person), small (thing)
gi «uly walad, awlaad boy (pl. also children)
Jagle Tawiil fall (person), long (thing)
GIS «GUS kitéab (kétub) book
[iS kabiir big
(dtsaa) Jae jamiil (fem. jamiilah) beautiful UNIT 1 35
A. A
os 624 seine apd
haéram kabiir haéram Saghiir
a big pyramid a small pyramid
(a) pyramid (a) big(-one) (a) pyramid (a) smali(-one)
Note: Some words end with a final ¢¢
gol! HA Ps ! (written without the two dots) which
TO THE COMMERCIAL CENTRE] is pronounced -a (strictly -aa, but
os often shortened). ;