Language Highlights
Let's recap some of the highlights from this lesson, most of which are grammar principles that we expect you to master.
Conversational Phrases
| To Ask Where Someone Is From | |
| min 'ayna 'anta? / min 'ayna 'anti? |  من أين أنتَ؟ / من أين أنتِ؟ |
| To Tell Someone Where You Are From | |
| 'ana min... | أنا من... |
| To Agree With or "Second" Something | |
| 'ana 'ayDan | أنا أيضا |
Coping Phrases
| To Express Ignorance | |
| laa 'acrif | لا أعرف |
Singular Pronouns
| I | 'ana أنا |
| you (male) | 'anta أنتَ |
| you (female) | 'anti أنتِ |
| he | huwwa هو |
| she | hiyya هي |
Grammar
- The verb "to be" (i.e. "am," "is," "are") is not used in the present tense.
- Yes/no questions are marked with a special particle: hal هل.
- al-'iDaafa الإضافة is formed by placing two (or more) nouns back to back to show that they are related to one another. Words which end in ة (i.e. most feminie words) are pronounced with a final "t" sound when they are the first terms of al-'iDaafa الإضافة.
- All nouns have gender. Arabic uses the pronouns huwwa هو ("he") and hiyya هي ("she") to refer to masculine and feminine nouns respectively.
- Masculine words usually end in a consonant; feminine nouns almost always end in the symbol ة. Most nouns that refer to people (e.g. professor, doctor, dear one, etc.) can be made feminine by adding the symbol ة to the end of the masculine form.
- Adjectives must match the gender of the nouns they describe. Most adjectives can be made feminine by adding the symbol ة to the end of the masculine form.