Would life go on without numbers which are like the basic alphabet of mathematics and physics? Would human language survive as a communicative tool without these digits and numbers. The human mind invented and developed numbers since time immemorial. Numbers are indispensable for human communication. We almost use numbers and figures for everything in our lives. Not only in science but also in mythology and religions, have numbers been given peculiar importance and spiritual significance.
In this series of lessons, you will learn numbers in Modern Standard Arabic [MSA] and the grammar and vocabulary that are necessary to understand and learn how to communicate information about counting, arithmetic, time, pricing, and orders. Learning numbers in classical Arabic can be challenging to many students of Arabic.
In these lessons, I will try to make this study simple but detailed. Those who seek simplicity can find it and also those who like to know more about the grammar of Arabic will find answers. Numbers fall into two categories: Cardinals and Ordinals.
1- Cardinal Numbers
Numbers can fall into four main categories; basic, compound, decade and added.
simple numbers: 1-9,
simple compound numbers: 11-19 (two simple numbers without conjunction)
decade numbers: 20, 30, 40, 50, …, 90
added compound numbers: 21, 33, 45, 99, 101, etc. (a decade number with a simple one with a conjunction)
The first step is to know that you do not need many words to start saying numbers. With the basic twelve words you are good to go. These twelve numbers are the main words you need to learn to say all numbers in Arabic. These words represent the one-word number. Other forms of numbers are made by using two of these twelve words.
It is also good to learn some words related to numbers.
Things to remember about numbers:
Only after numbers from 3-10 the counted word is plural.
Only 1 and 2 precede the counted word they count.
In Arabic, number words include two types of information: (1) gender of the counted word and (2) the number of the counted word. Therefore, we have to consider of the counted word to decide what gender the number word is.
Number words are subject to grammatical case. This will be explained later in this series of lessons.
Listen to the numbers and try to do the quiz below.
The verb in Arabic includes the following items of information:
Meaning
Time reference
Gender reference
Grammar case [mabni/murab]
Number
Subject-verb agreement [SVA], therefore, is an agreement of gender and number. Of course this is the case only when the verb follows the doer [subject] of the verb but not when the verb precedes the doer.
Look at the charts below and notice how [ا], [و], [ي] and [ن] function as indicators of gender and number suffixed to the verb.
When the verb precedes the subject the verb is either singular masculine or singular feminine.
Now you can do this quiz to check your understanding of the Subject-Verb agreement.
Subject Verb Agreement
Try to complete the sentence with the correct form of verb that agrees with
the subject [pronoun] given.
Read the following passage about Damascus and Listen to the audio provided. There is also a list of the key words in the passage. Structure analysis is also included. Do the quizzes below to evaluate your understanding of the passage.
Damascus the City of Jasmine
Key words:
capital [عاصمة], republic [الجمهورية ], part [جزء ], mountain [جبل ], bank [ضفة], river [نهر ], orchard [بستان], inhabited [مأهولة ], position, rank, place, value [مكانة], distinguished [مرموقة ], foreign [أجنبي ], state [دولة ], science [علم ], culture [ثقافة ], Arts [فنون ], Literature [أدب ], BC [قبل الميلاد ].
Structure
Nominal Sentences
This passage is aimed to show examples of nominal sentences. As you can see that there is only one verbal sentence which starts with the verb [كانت]. The rest of the passage is nominal sentences that start with nouns. Nominal sentences are very common in Arabic. They are equivalent to English sentences with the verb’ to be’ [is, am, are] as the main verb.
examples:
Damascus is the capital of the Syrian Arab Republic. [دمشق عاصمة الجمهورية العربية السورية]
The students are in the library. [الطلاب في المكتبة]
I am a teacher. [أنا مُعَلِّمٌ]
In the three examples, you can see that in Arabic the equivalent to the verb ‘to be’ [is, am, are] is not present neither in speech nor in writing; it is rather understood. This is the simple structure of a nominal sentence which starts with a noun and the rest of the sentence functions as predicate [خبر] to the noun.
Nisba
This passage includes also examples of [nisba] . Nisba is the formation of adjectives that relate something or somebody to their origin. We form nisba adjectives by simply adding a doubled [ّي] to the end of the noun of origin whether it is a science, branch of knowledge, material or country.
If there is [ا] or [ة], we delete them before we add the [ّي].
Country and Nationality :
I am from Syria [أنا من سوريّا] can be written [أنا سوريّ ]. Here the letter [ألف] in the end of the word [سوريا] is deleted and the [َّي] is added to the name of the country/origin to form the nisba adjective.
examples:
I am from Britain [أنا من بريطانيا], I am British [أنا بريطانيّ]
Hans is from Germany [هانز من ألمانيا]. Hans is German [ هانز ألمانيّ]
Rebecca is from Scotland [ربيكا من اسكوتلندا ]. Rebecca is Scottish [ ربيكا اسكوتلندية]. Here taa marbouta [ة ] was added because the head noun [Rebecca] is feminine.
Material :
This is wood [هذا خشب] . This is a wooden chair [ّهذا كرسي خشبي].
examples:
gold [ذهب], golden [ذهبيَ]
cotton [قطن]. made of cotton [ّقطني]
metal [معدن ]. made of metal [ معدني].
Science and branches of knowledge :
I study medicine [أنا أدرس الطّبّ]. These are my medical books [هذه كتبي الطبيَّة].
examples:
Politics [سياسة], political [سياسي]
Art [فن]. Artistic [ّفنيّ]
Economy [إقتصاد ]. Economic [ إقتصادي].
Philosophy [فلسفة ]. Philosophical [ فلسفي]
There are also many other nisba adjectives that can be formed by adding [ي]. For example:
international [دولي]
governmental [حكومي ]
foreign [أجنبي ]
Try to find in the passage the nisba adjectives of the following nouns:
Administration [إدارة]
Education [تعليم ]
Economics [إقتصاد]
Regular Feminine Plural
It is usually formed by deleting the [ة] in the end of the word and adding the suffix [ات]. To read more about sound plurals click here.
Try to find in the passage the plural forms of the following feminine words:
establishment [مؤسسة ]
ministry [وزارة ]
embassy [سفارة ]
organisation [منظمة ]
Prepositions with pronouns
In Arabic, the prepositions join with connective pronouns and are written and pronounced as one word. For example, in the passage there are three prepositions [من = from], [لــ= to, for] and [في= in] join with the feminine singular pronoun [ها] in one written form, respectively:
منها
لها
فيها
Quizzes
Try to do the four quizzes below to evaluate your comprehension.
Damascus Quiz 1
This quiz is about word groups. Read the word given and choose the right group the word belongs to. There are four groups of word to choose from: Government [ حكومة] Nature [طبيعة ] Politics [سياسة] City [مدينة]
Plural in Arabic refers to more than two people, two animals or two things.
الـجـمع هو ما دل على أكـثـر من شـخـصيـن أو حيوانيـن أو شيئيـن.
– The girls work with the children.
تعمل الفتيات مع الأولاد.
– The farmers work in the fields.
يعمل المزارعون في الحقول.
The regular masculine plural
جمع الـمـذكر السالـم
This type of plural is made by adding (و and ن ) or ( يand ن) to a masculine singular noun.
جمع الـمذكر السالم جمع يصاغ من الـمفرد بزيادة (واو ونون) أو (ياء ونون
peasant, peasants
فلاح ، فلاحون، فلاحين
We add (و and ن ), if the singular masculine noun ends with (Dhammah ُ ).
[ ُ ] يزاد (واو ونون) إذا كان في آخر الاسم الـمفرد ضَـمـة
The teacher is standing near the door. The teachers are standing near the door.
الـمُعلمُ يقف قرب الباب المعلمون يقفون قرب الباب
We add (و and ن ), if the singular masculine noun ends with (fatha or Kasra).
ِ[ ] يزاد (ياء ونون) إذا كان في آخر الاسم الـمفرد فتحة [ َ] أو كسرة
I saw the teacher. I saw the teachers
رأيتُ الـمعلمَ رأيتُ الــمعلمــيـن
The regular feminine plural
جمع المؤنث السالـم
This type of plural is made by adding (ا and ت) to a feminine singular noun after deleting the (taa marbouTah ة).
جمع الـمذكر السالم جمع يصاغ من الـمفرد بزيادة (ألف وتاء) بعد حذف التاء المربوطة ة
teacher (f. s.) = teachers (f. p.)
معلمة – معلمات
plane(f. s.) = planes(f. p.)
طائرة – طائرات
Masculine regular plural in idafa (relation) and pronoun suffix
Idafa is the case when two nouns are linked in a relation like possession in English expressed by:
Ahmad’s book كتاب أحمد
The door of the house. باب البيت
When a masculine regular plural noun occurs as the first part of an idafa structure, or when it has an attached pronoun suffix, the final ( ـن ) of the plural ending is dropped
Names of colours in Arabic function both as nouns and adjectives. Therefore, when colours function as modifiers to a noun they follow the noun, unlike the English adjectives or pre-modifiers which occur before nouns.
Read the short dialogues and choose the correct answer to fill in the
gap. These questions are short dialogues from daily life. Each question is
accompanied by a translation into English. The translation is not meant to help
you find the answer but it is meant to help you learn the functions of the
language.
Prepositions in Arabic are the particles that join with nouns and pronouns to form phrases. Prepositions MUST be followed by a noun or a pronoun. They do not connect to verbs. They have meanings of their own and have an effect on nouns and pronouns. They will change the vowel of the last letter of the noun from Dhammah[ ُ ] or fatHa [بَ] to kasra [ِ]. The noun after these prepositions is in the genitive case and is called (majroor). After you have studied the examples of the prepositions, you will find a quiz in the end of the page. You can do this quiz to evaluate your comprehension. The quiz is a good practice not only to see how prepositions are used within a context but also to learn some communicative functions.
These prepositions are:
After you have studied the above examples try to do this quiz.
quiz [prepositions]
Complete the sentences with the right prepositions
Read the short dialogues and choose the correct answer to fill in the
gap. These questions are short dialogues from daily life. Each question is
accompanied by a translation into English. The translation is not meant to help
you find the answer but it is meant to help you learn the functions of the
language.
This quiz can be used as a reading exercise of simple sentences. It can also be used to introduce and test colour words. The teacher/ parent can assess the progress of the learner using this quiz.
This quiz is for beginners. It depends on the illustration with each question. In addition to the prepositions of place, this quiz includes colour words, too.
Prepositions of Place
Look at the image and complete the sentence with the correct preposition.
