ARABIC

مصطفي گكجن

العربى

The Outline Introduction to ArabicThe HistoryThe AlphabetGrammatical sketchArab WorldSample text (Surat-ul Fatiha)Recitation of the first page of

Surat-ul Yâsîn

Introduction to Arabic

Arabic is a Semitic language akin to Hebrew, Aramaic, and Amharic.

It possesses a rich literary heritage dating back to the pre-Islamic era

Afro-Asiatic

Semitic

Arabic

Introduction to Arabic

During the rise and expansion of the Islamic empire (seventh to twelfth centuries), It became the offi cial administrative language of the empire as well as a leading language of international scholarly and scientific communication.

Introduction to Arabic It is today the native language of over 280 million people in twenty five different countries as well as the liturgical language for over a billion Muslims throughout the world. 280 million

native speakers

250 million as second language

Total : over 530 million Ethnologue(1999)

THE HISTORY The earliest stages of the Arabic language (Proto-Arabic or Old Arabic) are documented from about the seventh century BC until approximately the third century AD

The only written evidence is in the form of epigraphic material (brief rock inscriptions and graffiti) found in northwest and central Arabia.

THE HISTORY Early ArabicThe next period, the third through fifth centuries, is usually referred to as Early Arabic

There are again few literary artifacts from this age, but it is known that there was extensive commercial and cultural interaction with Christian and Jewish cultures during this time, an era of both Roman and Byzantine rule in the Levant and the Fertile Crescent.

THE HISTORYClassical Arabic

The start of the literary or Classical Arabic era is usually calculated from the sixth century, which saw a vigorous flourishing of the Arabic literary (or poetic) language, especially in public recitation

and oral composition of poetry, a refined and highly developed formal oral art practiced by all Arab tribal groups and held in the highest esteem.

THE HISTORY The great majority of the people of the Arabian Peninsula at that time were illetirate. Due to this, rather than in writing, they preserved the sources of their pride, historical events and stories encouraging good morality, by means of poetry and eloquence.

Due to the attraction of poetry and elouqence, meaningful sayings would remain in people`s memories and be passed down the generations.In consequence of this innate need, therefore, the goods most in demand in the immaterial market of that people were eloquence and fine speech.

THE HISTORY A tribe`s poet or orator was like its greatest national hero. It was he who was their greatest source of pride. They attached such value to eloquence that two tribes would do battle at the word of a poet or orator, and they would make peace at his word.

They even wrote in gold on the walls of the Ka`ba the seven qasidas of seven poets called the al- Mu’allaqat al- Sab’a, and took great pride in them.

THE HISTORY It was at such a time when eloquence was thus most sought after that the Qur’an was revealed. Just as the time of Moses (peace be upon him) it was magic that was most sought after and at the time of Jesus (peace be upon him), it was medicine.

The most important of their miracles were in those fields.

THE HISTORY In the seventh century AD the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was gifted over a period of years (622-632 AD) with the revelation of verses which constituted a holy book, the Qur'an, in Arabic, which became the key text of the new monotheistic religion, Islam.

From that time on, Arabic was not only a language of great poetic power and sophistication, but also permanently sacralized; as the chosen language for the Qur'an, it became the object of centuries of religious study and exegesis, theological analysis, and grammatical analysis.

THE HISTORY Throughout the European medieval period, from the seventh through the twelfth centuries, the Arabic-speaking world and the Islamic empire expanded and flourished, centered first in Mecca and Medina, then Damascus, and then Baghdad.

THE HISTORY Arabic became an international language of civilization, culture, scientific writing and research, diplomacy, and administration. From the Iberian peninsula in the West to Central and South Asia in the East stretched the world of Islam, and the influence of Arabic.

THE HISTORY Middle Arabic

The language era from the thirteenth century to the eighteenth is generally known as “Middle Arabic,” although there is some ambiguity to this term. During this time, the Classical Arabic of early Islam remained the literary language, but the spoken Arabic of everyday life shifted into regional variations.

They continued to evolve along their own lively and supple paths, calibrating to the changes of everyday life over the centuries, but never reaching the status of separate languages.

THE HISTORY The Modern Period The modern period of Arabic dates approximately from the end of the eighteenth century, with the spread of literacy, the concept of universal education, the inception of journalism, and exposure to Western writing practices and styles such as editorials, short stories, plays, and novels.

Many linguists make a distinction between Classical Arabic (CA), the name of the literary language of the previous eras, and the modern form of literary Arabic, commonly known (in English) as Modern Standard Arabic ( MSA).

THE HISTORY Differences between CA and MSA are primarily in style and vocabulary, since they represent the written traditions of very different historical and cultural eras, from the early medieval period to the modern.

In terms of linguistic structure, CA and MSA are largely but not completely similar.

The high degree of similarity between CA and MSA gives strong continuity to the literary and Islamic liturgical tradition.

THE HISTORY Arabic today The Arab world today is characterized by a high degree of linguistic and cultural continuity. Arabic is the offi cial language of all the members of the Arab League, from North Africa to the Arabian Gulf.

Although geography (including great distances and land barriers such as deserts and mountains) accounts for much of the diversity of regional vernaculars, a shared history, cultural background and religion act to unify Arab society and give it a profound sense of cohesion and identity.

Arabic scriptFour features of Arabic script are distinctive:

First, it is written from right to left;

Second, letters within words are connected in cursive style rather than printed individually;

Third, short vowels are normally invisible;

And finally, there is no distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters. These features can combine to make Arabic script seem impenetrable to a foreigner at first.

Arabic script

However, there are also some features of Arabic script that facilitate learning it.

First of all, it is reasonably phonetic; that is, there is a good fit between the way words are spelled and the way they are pronounced.

And secondly, word structure and spelling are very systematic

The Alphabet

There are twenty-eight Arabic consonant sounds, twenty-six of which are consistently consonants, but two of which ( و and ي are semivowels that serve two functions, sometimes as consonants and other times as vowels, depending on context.

The Modern Standard Arabic sound system has six vowel phonemes: three “long” ones and three “short”: / ii/ and /i/, /uu/ and /u/, /aa/ and /a/.

The Alphabet

The Alphabet

Long vowels are represented in the Arabic alphabet by the letters ( alif (aa), waw (uu) and yaa ). They are written into words as part of the words’ spelling.

Short vowels, on the other hand, are not independent letters and are written only as diacritical marks above and below the body of the word. In actual practice, short vowels are not indicated in written Arabic text; they are invisible.

The Alphabetdقdارب في fألd أ

dا fي fمdان dل .أThe relatives (are) in

Germany.

lويلdم طd fقdل dل .أThe pen (is) long.

. lغول fشdم dهوfمdعd ن

Yes, he (is) busy.

The Alphabet

/e/ or /a/

The Alphabet

/b/

The Alphabet

/t/

The Alphabet

/θ/

The Alphabet

/dʒ/

The Alphabet

/ħ/

The Alphabet

/x/

The Alphabet

/d/

The Alphabet

/ð/

The Alphabet

/r/

The Alphabet

/z/

The Alphabet

/s/

The Alphabet

/ʃ/

The Alphabet

/sˤ/

The Alphabet

/dˤ/

The Alphabet

/tˤ/

The Alphabet

/ðˤ/

The Alphabet

/ʕ/

The Alphabet

/ɣ/

The Alphabet

/f/

The Alphabet

/q/

The Alphabet

/k/

The Alphabet

/l/

The Alphabet

/m/

The Alphabet

/n/

The Alphabet

/h/

The Alphabet

/w/

The Alphabet

/j/

Definiteness and indefiniteness markers

Definite article al- ال The definite article in Arabic is spelled with alif-laam and is attached as a prefix.

The CasesThe basic functions of the three noun cases are as follows: The nominative case is used for

the subject and predicate noun or adjective.

The accusative case is used for the direct object, predicative complement in verbal sentences, and for most adverbs.

The genitive case is used for expressing possession and after prepositions.

Definiteness and indefiniteness markers

The definite article ... fلd al... is used more أfrequently in Arabic than in English. One of the reasons for this is that nouns referring to abstract things, whole collectives and generic terms, generally take the definite article, e.g.

Sun and moon lettersThe Arabic consonants are phonetically divided into two major classes called:

sun letters, lةy مfسي dش lحروف assimilating

moon letters, lةy حروفl قdمdريnon-assimilating

Sun lettersThe sun letters have received their name from the Arabic word for ‘sun’, lسfم dش , whose first letter, ... ش//, belongs to the class of assimilating letters. There are fourteen sun letters. These letters are pronounced with the tongue touching the teeth or front part of the mouth:

ص ض ط ظ ل ن ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش

Sun lettersWhen the definite article ... fلd al.../ is/ أattached to a word which begins with a sun letter, the sound ... ل /l/ of the definite article is assimilated to the sound of the following sun letter. Owing to the assimilation, the first consonant of the word is doubled, which is indicated by a şaddah above it.

Moon lettersThe other fourteen letters are called moon letters, because the first

letter, ق, of the Arabic word for

‘moon’, lرdمdق, represents the class of non-assimilating letters: أ ب ج ح خ ع غ ف ق ك م ه و

ي

Moon lettersWhen the definite article ... fلd is // أattached to a word beginning with a moon letter, the lam ... ل /l.../ of the article is not assimilated and retains its pronunciation, e.g.

lرdمdق a moon رdمdقf dل the أmoon

lابd dاب a book كت fكت dل the أbook

AdjectivesAn adjective normally follows the noun it qualifies and agrees with it in gender, number and case, except when the noun refers to non-humans, i.e. animals and things.

When the adjective functions as predicate in a nominal sentence (predicative construction), it is always indefinite, even when the subject is definite:

lميلdف جdحf fمdت dل The museum (is) أbeautiful/nice.

lاسعdت وf dي fب The house (is) ألlarge.

AdjectivesWhen the adjective functions as a modifier of a noun (attributive construction), it also agrees with the head noun in terms of definiteness.

dيfت fب dل fوdاسع أ the large لhouse

lاسعdو lتf dي a large house بOR A house is large

Nominal and verbal sentences

A nominal sentence does not contain a verb and consists of two components: subject and predicate. The subject is usually a noun (phrase) or pronoun in the nominative case. The predicate may be a noun (phrase), pronoun, an indefinite adjective, or an adverb of place or time.

Nominal and verbal sentences

A nominal sentence refers to the present tense and does not require the copula to be, e.g.

Nominal and verbal sentences

A verbal sentence contains a verb, and has the following basic word order:

verb + subject + object or complement

The subject is normally in the nominative case. The direct object, which may occur only with transitive verbs, is in the accusative case

lالبdط dج dرdخ A student went out. dلd dك أا fز¢ dلfبl خب .A dog ate bread ك

NOUNS - Gender

There are two genders in Arabic. The term used for gender is

fس fجن dل which literally means , أ‘sex, race, kind’.

(a) Masculine nouns, رy fمذdك dل are أwithout special form.

(b) Feminine nouns, ثy fمؤdن dل أhave several forms

NOUNS - Gender

Tâ marbûtah

When the letter hâ ه is written with two dots above ة it is pronounced as /t/, exactly like the letter ت . It is then called tâ

marbûtah and occurs only at the end of a word, mostly to indicate thefeminine gender of nouns or adjectives.

The most common way to derive feminine

nouns and adjectives is by

adding the ending .d lة to the masculine

form, e.g.

NOUNS - Gender

NOUNS - Gender Most parts or organs of the body which occur in pairs are feminine

e.g.

lنf dدl عdي رجfلl ي There are words which are feminine by nature, e.g.

lروسdأم¬ عlاملdح A few nouns are feminine by usage, e.g.

lضfرd بl أ fرdح

lسfم dش

Number - Dual and plural

Arabic nouns and adjectives are inflected for three numbers:

singular lد dرfمف dual ن­ىd جdمfعplural l مثDual

The dual is used for pairs, namely for two individuals or things of the same kind or class, e.g. two boys, two girls, two hands, two books, etc.

for nominative ان

fن for accusative and genitive ي

Number - Dual and plural

The plural

There are two plural types in Arabic:

(a) The sound plural may

be compared to the English external

plural or regular plural.

(b) The broken plural may be compared to the English internal or irregular plural.

The plural

The sound masculine plural of nouns and adjectives is formed by replacing the case endings of the singular with the following two suffixes:

dون .`. in the nominative

dين . in the accusative and genitive

Sing. (masc.) Plur. nom. (masc.)

Plur. acc. and gen. (masc.)

dمونy yمl معdل معdل

dمينy معdل

The plural

The sound feminine plural is formed by adding the following two suffixes to the singular word stem:

lات .d. / in the nominative

ات .d. / in the accusative and genitive

TENSES

There are two main tenses in the Arabic language. 1.Perfect Tense, 2.Imperfect Tense or the Present Tense. The action is completed in the perfect tense. Alternately, in the second tense, i.e., the imperfect, the action is still continuing.

To form future tense in Arabic the prefix

is added to the present tense "” (ســ)

verb, or (سوف) ”".

PRONOUNS

PREPOSITIONS

Numbers٠ 0 صفر١ 1 واحد٢ 2 إثنان٣ 3 ثالثة٤ 4 أربعة٥ 5 خمسة٦ 6 ستة٧ 7 سبعة٨ 8 ثمانية٩ 9 تسعة

١٠ 10 عشرةإحدى 11 ١١عشرإثنا 12 ١٢عشرثالثة 13 ١٣عشر٢٠ 20 عشرونثالثون 30 ٣٠٤٠ 40 أربعون٥٠ 50 خمسونستون 60 ٦٠سبعون 70 ٧٠

ثمانون 80 ٨٠تسعون 90 ٩٠مائة 100 ١٠٠ألف 1000 ١٠٠٠١٠٠٠٠٠ 100000

ألف مائةألفين 2000 ٢٠٠٠١٠٠٠٠٠٠٠ 10000000مليون

dمينd fعdال بÆ ال dه رy fحdمfد لل yه ال بسfم الل

^ حيم yن الرÈ حfمdـ yالرIn the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the

Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,

Èن حfمdـ yين الرÆم الدfوd مdالك ي

^ حيم yالرThe Beneficent, the Merciful.

Master of the Day of Judgment,

dعين ت fسd yاكd ن dعfبد وdإي yاكd ن إيThee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we

ask for help.

dقيمd ت fمسf اطd ال dرÆا الصd اهfدنShow us the straight path,

fهمf dي fعdمfتd عdل dن yذينd أ اطd ال dصر The path of those whom You had favoured

dينÆ fهمf وdالd الضyال dي fمdغfضوب عdل fر ال غdيNot the (path) of those who earn Thine anger

nor of those who go astray.

The Arab World

It consists of 25 countries and territories with a combined population of 358 million people.

The Arabic language forms the unifying feature of the Arab World. Though different areas use local varieties of Arabic, all share in the use of the standardized classical language, which was constructed from Classical Arabic

The Arab World

The majority of people in the Arab World adhere to Islam and the religion has official status in most countries.

There are sizeable numbers of Christians, living primarily in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine and Sudan. Formerly, there were significant minorities of Arab Jews throughout the Arab World.

Pictures from Arabic

speaking countries

RECITATION

Resources Books

Arabic – Verbs and Essentials of Grammar / Jane Wightwick, Mahmud Gaafar

Arabic: An Essential Grammar / Faruk Abu-Chacra

Easy Arabic Grammar / Jane Wightwick, Mahmud Gaafar

A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic / KARIN C. RYDING

Websites

http://arabic.tripod.com/

http://www.languageguide.org/arabic/

http://www.arabic-language.org/