Lesson 2 – Learn Arabic Grammar From The Basics

a) Recap of Last Lesson:
(1) We learnt that the Arabic Language having 3 parts of Speech – Noun, Verbs & Particles.
(2) There are 3 Cases of Nouns in Arabic – Nominative (dhammah or dhammataan on the last letter), Accusative (fatha or fathataan on the last letter) & Genitive Case (khasrah or khasrataan on the last letter).
(3) We learnt about the Indefinite Particle “a/an” indicated by a Tanween on the last letter of the noun.
(4) We learnt about the preposition في “fee” meaning “in” which changes the case of noun to a Genitive one.
(5) We learnt that the Arabic verb ‘to be’ in its present tense “is/are/am” is not written in Arabic, rather it is understood to be there by default. Example: أنَا فِيْ بَيْتٍ “Ana fee baytin” means “I am in a house”

We highly recommend that you Download this lesson 2 in PDF Link 1 or Link 2

b) Vocabulary

Note: Do not concern yourself with the vocabulary too much. You have a week’s time to learn them up Insha’Allah. Go through the Vocabulary as many times as possible and try and learn these words with meanings in a week’s time Insha’Allah. Remember, that without Vocabulary, learning any Language would be of no use.

c) Arabic Nouns are by default in the Nominative Case – Marfoo

By default, Arabic Nouns are Marfoo and something happens to the word for it to become Accusative Case (Mansoob) or Genetive Case (Majroor) so it is safe to pronounce most words with a Dammatain (double dhammah) on the last letter

Example: مسجدٌ , , طَالِبٌ بَيْتٌ , رِجَالٌ

It is essential that the vowel on the last letter is pronounced and not pronouncing it, is a critical mistake that many students make!

d) The Definite Particle (حَرْفٌ مَعْرِفَةٌ) – ال (Al)

By default a noun in Arabic is always indefinite and it is made definite by prefixing the definite particle “Alif-Laam” “ال” to it which corresponds to the English ‘the’.
When “ال” is added, one of the vowels (e.g. one of the Dhammas, Fathas or Kasras) drops out.

Example: اَلْبَيْتُ (al-baytu) meaning “The House”, الْبُيوتُ (al-buyutu) meaning “The Houses”, الرَّجُلُ (ar-rajulu) – “The man” , الْفُصولُ (al-fusoolu) – “The Class”

When preceded by any preposition for example في (fee), these definite nouns will be in the Genitive Case and will become,

الْبَيْتِ في (fil-bayti) meaning “in the house” and NOT (fil-baytin)

الْبُيوتِ في (fil-buyooti) meaning “in the houses” and NOT (fil-buyootin)

الْفُصولِ في (fil-fusooli) meaning “in the class” and NOT (fil-fusoolin)

Note: It is essential that the second vowel on the last letter is dropped i.e. there should be only 1 dhammah or fatha or khasrah. It should not be (al-buyutun) or (al-fusoolun). This is a critical mistake that many students make by having “ال” and also Dammatain (double dhammah), Fathatain (double fatha) & Khasratain (double khasrah) on the last letter.

“So, it is grammatically incorrect for any noun to begin with Alif-Laam and end with a tanween”

Note: The اَ “alif” of اَلْ “Al” is pronounced only when it is not preceded by another word. If it is preceded by a word it is dropped in pronunciation, though remains in writing.

Example: When اَلْبَيْتُ “al-baytu” does not have any word before it, then the “al” will be pronounced, but if it is preceeded by any word like “wa” or “fee” eg. الْبَيْتِ في then the اَ (alif) is dropped and the phrase is pronounced as “fi l-bayti” and NOT “fi al-bayti”.

e) Solar Letters الْحُرُوْفُ الشَّمْسِيَّة (Al-huroof Ash-shamsiya) and
Moon Letters الْحُرُوْفُ الْقَمَرِيَّة ُ (Al-huroof Al-Qamariya)
solar_and_moon_letters

In the definitive noun, in Arabic, 2 types of letters follow the “alif lam”:

1) The Solar Letters (uncircled) : ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن

When الْ is prefixed to a noun beginning with a Solar Letter the laam of ‘al’ is not pronounced but is written, and the first letter of the ism takes a shaddah.

Examples: شَمْسٌ + اَلْ –> اَلشَّمْسُ (ash-shamsu). رَجُلٌ + اَلْ –> الرَّجُلُ (ar-rajulu).

2) The Lunar Letter (circled): ء ب ج ح خ ع غ ف ق أ ك م ه و ي

When اَلْ is prefixed to an ism beginning with a Lunar Letter the laam of ‘al’ is pronounced and written.

Examples: قَمَرٌ + اَلْ –> اَلْقَمَرُ (al-qamaru). بَيْتٌ + اَلْ –> اَلْبَيْتُ (al-baytu)

In the articulation of the Solar Letters the tip or the blade of the tongue is involved in the pronunciation. The tip or the blade of the tongue does not play any part in the articulation of the Lunar Letters.

Note: If you want to go through examples from all the Solar and Lunar Letters, then you can do so by clicking here:

https://systemoflife.com/attachments/article/345/SunandMoonletterschart.pdf or http://www.islamictreasure.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Sun-and-Moon-letters-chart.pdf

This is just a supplementary note. No need of learning them up.

f) Some Solved Examples to Test Your Progress :

الرَّجُلُ طالِبٌ (ar-rajulu taalibun) – The man is a student

فَصْلٍٍ في أنا وَ أنا خالِدٌ (ana Khaalidun wa ana fi faslin) – I am Khaalid and I am in a class.

رَجُلٌ أنا , نَعَمْ (na’am, ana rajulun) – Yes, I am a man.

طُلابٌ مُحَمَّدٌ وَ أَنْتِ ,لا (laa, anti wa Muhammadun tullaabun) – No, you (f) and Muhammad are students.

, وَ نَحْنُ في فُصولٍ الْبَيْتِ في مُحَمَّدٌ (Muhammadun fil bayti, wa nahnu fi fusoolin) – Muhammad is in the house, and we are in classrooms.

نَحْنُ في الْبُيوتِ وَ أَنْتُمْ في الْفُصولِ (Nahnu fil-buyuti wa antum fil-fusooli) – We are in the houses and you (plural) are in the classrooms.

Jazakallah khayran

Assalamualaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barkatahu