Arabic Language

[PhoenixKnight]

Arabic is written from right to left. As a language is consists of 28 letters


How the letter is read can differ based on symbols that appear on it which is called Tashkeel. While arabs do not use it anymore in the majority of their writing, they still use it phonetically.
Here is an example

There are many writing styles to arabic. Most common used one are as shown here


There are more artistic styles but those are mostly used for decoration and art

No arab country speak the formal arabic but they majorly understand it due to schooling. They use dialects that are close but not 100% the same.
Additionally, the nomenclature of certain items may differ from country to country like the work for bread, rice, and kettle.

Also note that both Urdu and Persian use the same alphabet but they are not the same basis.
Swahili has some derivations of arabic in it.
There are many spanish words of arabic origin due to the arab expansions to Spain in old days.

[Sebena]

This is awesome I love it

[Lana]

This is so confusing... as your only 3 cases > nominative, accusative and dative for nouns (that are formed using special signs) or for verbs (that is totally different of our thinking ) and forming sentences too... and many other norms... just remember these few of them...
But, if you have a patience, please continue.

[PhoenixKnight]

ypes of sentences

In traditional Arabic grammar, there are two basic types of sentence, based on what the sentence's first word is.

الجملة الاسمية (al-jumla l-ismiyya) - the nominal sentence, where the sentence's first word is a noun.
الولد مصري. (al-walad miSri) - The boy is Egyptian.
الجملة الفعلية (al-jumla l-fi3liyya) - the verbal sentence, where the sentence's first word is a verb.
ولد الولد في مصر. (wulida l-walad fi miSr) - The boy was born in Egypt.

Those categories are different from the ones used in many Arabic classes in the West, where sentences are classified simply according to whether or not they include a verb — regardless of where the verb is in the sentence.

Equational sentence - a sentence without a verb.
الولد مصري. (al-walad miSri) - The boy is Egyptian.
Although this sentence contains a verb in English, it doesn't in Arabic. Remember that since Arabic doesn't use a present-tense form of "to be," this is a verbless sentence consisting only of a noun and adjective. It literally translates as "The boy Egyptian"; the "is" is understood.
في أسرتي ثلاثة أفراد. (fi usrati talaatat afraad) - There are three people in my family.
Again, the English translation contains a verb ("are"), but the original Arabic doesn't. It literally translates as "In my family three individuals." Since there's no present-tense form of "to be," "In my family [are] three individuals" is implied.
Verbal sentence - a sentence with a verb.
ولد الولد في مصر. (wulida l-walad fi miSr) - The boy was born in Egypt.



Subject and predicate

Now let's look at the parts of these sentences.

The subject (المبتداء al-mubtada') is what the sentence is talking about. It could be a noun (the boy; Cairo; Ahmed), pronoun (I; he; they), or noun phrase (the math teacher; a long book).
The predicate (الخبر al-xabar) tells us something about the subject. The Arabic خبر means a piece of news, so you can think of the predicate as delivering news about the subject. It may be an adjective (happy), verb (woke up), or noun (student).
Here are some simple examples. The subject is in bold, and the predicate is underlined.

الولد مصري. (al-walad miSri)
The boy is Egyptian. - The subject is a noun, and the predicate is an adjective.

بنت عمي مدرسة. (bint 3ammi mudarrisa)
My cousin is a teacher. - The subject is a noun phrase (a genitive construction), and the predicate is a noun.

هو طويل. (howwa Tawiil)
He is tall. - The subject is a pronoun, and the predicate is an adjective.

خرجت منال مبكرا. (xarajat Manaal mubakkiran)
Manal went out early. - The subject is a (proper) noun, and the predicate is a verb paired with an adverb.

Note: In sentences with a verb, standard Arabic usually follows a Verb-Subject-Object order, though sometimes it uses a Subject-Verb-Object order. The Egyptian dialect pretty much always follows a Subject-Verb-Object order.

Manal went out early.
خرجت منال مبكرا (xarajat Manaal mubakkiran) منال خرجت بدري (Manaal xargit badri)

The boy ate an apple.
أكل الولد تفاحة (akala l-waladu tuffaaHatan) الولد كل تفاحة (il-walad kal tuffaaHa)



Negation

Now, how do we negate these sentences? Negating a sentence with a verb is simple; you just negate the verb. (To learn how to negate a verb in Egyptian Arabic, go here.) Negating a sentence without a verb, however, requires a different — but still quite simple — approach. In standard Arabic, you simply insert ليس (laysa), conjugated to match the noun. Here are the conjugations of ليس:

ليس (to not be)
English Standard Arabic
Singular I am not لستُ (lastu)
you (masc.) are not لستَ (lasta)
you (fem.) are not لستِ (lasti)
he is not ليس (laysa)
she is not ليست (laysat)
Dual we are not لسنا (lasna)
you are not لستما (lastuma)
they (masc.) are not ليسا (laysaa)
they (fem.) are not ليستا (laysataa)
Plural we are not لسنا (lasna)
you (masc.) are not لستم (lastum)
you (fem.) are not لستن (lastunna)
they (masc.) are not ليسوا (laysuu)
they (fem.) are not لسن (lasna)

Here are examples of negated verbless sentences in standard Arabic:

أنا لبنانية (ana lubnaaniyya) أنا لست لبنانية (ana lastu lubnaaniyya)
I am Lebanese. I am not Lebanese.

بنت عمي مدرسة (bint 3ammi mudarrisa) بنت عمي ليست مدرسة (bint 3ammi laysat mudarrisa)
My cousin is a teacher. My cousin is not a teacher.

هو طويل (howwa Tawiil) هو ليس طويل (howwa laysa Tawiil)
He is tall. He is not tall.

من اللازم أن تصحو مبكرا (min al-laazim an taSHu mubakkiran) ليس من اللازم أن تصحو مبكرا (laysa min al-laazim an taSHu mubakkiran)
You need to wake up early. You don't need to wake up early.

هناك خيار آخر (honaaka xiyaar aaxar) ليس هناك خيار آخر (laysa honaaka xiyaar aaxar)
There is another choice. There is no other choice.

لديها خبرة في هذا المجال (ladayha xibra fi haada l-majaal) ليس لديها خبرة في هذا المجال (laysa ladayha xibra fi haada l-majaal)
She has experience in this field. She doesn't have experience in this field.

To negate verbless sentences in Egyptian Arabic, you insert مش (miš) between the subject and predicate.

أنا لبنانية (ana libnaniyya) أنا مش لبنانية (ana miš libnaniyya)
I am Lebanese. I am not Lebanese.

بنت عمي مدرسة (bint 3ammi mudarrisa) بنت عمي مش مدرسة (bint 3ammi miš mudarrisa)
My cousin is a teacher. My cousin is not a teacher.

هو طويل (howwa Tawiil) هو مش طويل (howwa miš Tawiil)
He is tall. He is not tall.

لازم تصحى بدري (laazim tiSHa badri) مش لازم تصحى بدري (miš laazim tiSHa badri)
You need to wake up early. You don't need to wake up early.

في خيار تاني (fii xiyaar taani) مافيش خيار تاني (mafiiš xiyaar taani)*
There is another choice. There is no other choice.

عندها خبرة في المجال ده (3andaha xibra fil-magaal da) ماعندهاش خبرة في المجال ده (ma3andahaaš xibra fil-magaal da)*
She has experience in this field. She doesn't have experience in this field.

* Note: In Egyptian Arabic, if a verbless sentence contains an inverted predicate (that is, where the predicate comes before the subject instead of after) consisting of either في, "there is," or a preposition and pronoun suffix, like عندها, then the predicate is negated with the ما...ـش (ma...š) form.

[Sebena]

This is so confusing... as your only 3 cases > nominative, accusative and dative for nouns (that are formed using special signs) or for verbs (that is totally different of our thinking ) and forming sentences too... and many other norms... just remember these few of them...
But, if you have a patience, please continue.

That's true but everything is confusing at start when I started to learn english I was like what is this I am out I am not going back and now I considere it normal so I'll gladly try to learn this. If you want to understand person you need to understand his culture and language and everything around it is best first start

[Lana]

Ohh... but it wasn't case when I were involved... never learning English in school, but watching TV and using internet and of course gaming and talking to gamers. Yep I have attended one course too (and they put me on B2 after doing the preliminary test). But, I am fully aware of my gaps in the knowledge of English... Nope, I would never say English is confusing.
About a culture, as you already know, we are all open to other cultures, even we do not understand their languages... it's something that you are taught from the day of your birth... at least in my part of Balkan peninsula.

[PhoenixKnight]

Arabic is a complex language in its own. When you add the complexity of the dialects on top of that, it becomes really challenging.

[Sebena]

Ohh... but it wasn't case when I were involved... never learning English in school, but watching TV and using internet and of course gaming and talking to gamers. Yep I have attended one course too (and they put me on B2 after doing the preliminary test). But, I am fully aware of my gaps in the knowledge of English... Nope, I would never say English is confusing.
About a culture, as you already know, we are all open to other cultures, even we do not understand their languages... it's something that you are taught from the day of your birth... at least in my part of Balkan peninsula.

Same here I am taught that aswell but still I believe that knowing someones language will help you far more than just our home educations...

well I didn't have it at school either and movies together with my cousin gamer I started to learn it and I did go on the course and first introduction with it was my recently described reaction but now I speak it on a decent level enough to understand it and to explain something to others.

as far as it goes to arabic language it seems complex but still I am determined to learn it at least basic stuff

[Lana]

I remember this ال sign… if it is not a part of any noun or if it is a part of both nouns, this can’t be a sentence, but noun and the adjective which determines a noun ( in nominal sentences). Uhm... am I right?

[PhoenixKnight]

That is the equivalent of "The"