دمشق
مدينة الياسمين
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
Government [ حكومة]
Nature [طبيعة ]
Politics [سياسة]
City [مدينة]
Damascus Quiz 2
Look at the image and choose the right word.
Damascus Quiz 3
Read the statement and decide whether it is true or false!
Your answer should depend on what was mentioned in the passage about Damascus.
Damascus Quiz 4
Choose the right answer to complete the sentence.
