The Arabic sentence (1)
There are two major types of a sentence in Arabic: nominal (اسمية) and verbal (فعلية) . Let’s remember the nominal sentence first.
الجملة الاسمية
Consists of a subject (مبتدأ) and a predicate (خبر) :
Examples
الجامعة كبيرة : the university is big
السيارة حمراء: the car is red
البيت قريب : the house is close
الطالب ممتاز : the student is excellent
Notes : what stands for verb (to be ) in Arabic? Can you guess?
Yes: it is the omission of الـ the definite article in Arabic. A common mistake in writing occurs when students try to translate (verb to be) in Arabic like (الجامعة هى كبيرة)**
So a perfect structure of a nominal sentence in Arabic is (definite noun+ indefinite noun/adjective)
Ok , take a look at these :
الجامعة الكبيرة : the big university
السيارة الحمراء: the red car
البيت القريب : the near house
الطالب الممتاز : the excellent student
These cannot be complete sentences in Arabic because these are just noun/adjective phrases that still need predicates. To complete them we add an indefinite خبر to it like saying :
الطالب الممتاز طويل : the excellent student is tall
Ok what about the following:
جامعة كبيرة: a big university
سيارة حمراء: a red car
بيت قريب : a near house
طالب ممتاز: an excellent student
These are simply indefinite phrases. Can you think of a way to make them sentences?
Yes: add either a demonstrative or a possessive. Watch this :
هذه جامعة كبيرة: this is a big university
سيارتى حمراء : my car is red
بيتها قريب : her house is close
هذا طالب ممتاز: this is an excellent student
Note : the demonstrative pronouns and possessives are other ways to make a noun definite like (الـــ).
Watch This video about the sentence structure
Now Go to the next page to reviw Idafa.
To express a relationship of possession and belonging, Arabic uses the structure of Idafa in the following manner (possessed (indefinite) + possessor (definite). The last noun in a string of Idafa must be definite:
كتاب الطالب: the book of the student
مفتاح الباب: the key of the door
سيارة مهندس الشركة: the car of the engineer of the company
باب بيت ابن عم رئيس شركة البترول : The door of the house of the cousin of the president of the company of Petrol
Rules of agreement
Since we are talking about nouns, we will focus on noun/adjective agreement first.
An adjective must agree with its noun in :
1-Definiteness
بنت جميلة
الطالب الممتاز
2-Gender
مكتب واسع : a wide office
مدرسة قديمة : an old school
3-Number
طلاب ممتازون : masculine plural
طالبات ممتازات : feminine plural
طالبان ممتازان : dual
Exception: when the plural noun is non-human , its adjective is always feminine singular:
مدارس كبيرة : big schools
مطاعم ممتازة : nice restaurants
المدن الجديدة : the new cities
Review more on Idafa in the following worksheet :
/content/US14/ARB/290/US14-ARB-290-730-97D9H7-EL-04-543/idafa.pdf Pdf version (if you cannot see the embedded one beloww)
Go to the next page for practicing more nouns.
What do you know about nouns?
1)They have plural forms بيت بيوت
2)The attach to posssesives بيتى -بيوتنا
3) They take definite article السيارة - الأستاذ
4) They take demonstrative هذا الولد - هذه المدينة
Now we want to play the plural race game.
1) First review this worksheet on plurals :
This is a pdf version (in case you cannot see the embedded one below)
/content/US14/ARB/290/US14-ARB-290-730-97D9H7-EL-04-543/broken.pdf
2) Now this is a huge list of nouns ; find their plurals for your own notes. By now you should know all of these. write down their plurals; study them carefully (no submission required)
Again this is a pdf version
/content/US14/ARB/290/US14-ARB-290-730-97D9H7-EL-04-543/plural game.pdf
3) In the following audio dropbox, pick 20 plural nouns and create short phrases that are noun/adjective or idafa structures. All the phrases must be in the plural.
The challenge is to list them orally in less than one minute.
4)Listen to the sample I created :
Now go to the next page for a listening exercise.
Now we will watch interviews with several people. Listen and take notes as you will reflect on it orally.
Please note the following verbs and guess their meanings as you listen:
All of them are conjugated in past tense first person
ولدت
انتقلت
نشأت
تربيت
أنهيت
هاجرت
اضطررت
Now check your notes and make sure you know the basic information about each person.
Instructions
When you open the following conversation box, you will find a window with numbers on the left pane. Click on the icon 'real time' it will automatically play my questions and automatically record your answer. you have to click 'stop recording' to move to the next question. You can also revise and record many times until you are satisfied with your input, and only then you can submit: your practice responses will not be recorded until you hit submit. Make sure you answer in full sentences and as naturally as you can as if you are engaged in a real conversation.
Go Ahead
Moving on to the next page.
Now we want to review how to describe things using only nominal sentences.
In your book, you came across a concept called 'the fronted predicate' Review pages (140-144) to remember this.
Now when you want to describe a house for example, you need to determine the location of things.
The following worksheet reviews some of these prepositions. Go over it and prepare for the reading activity afterwards.
This is a pdf version
/content/US14/ARB/290/US14-ARB-290-730-97D9H7-EL-04-543/positions.pdf
Now go to the next page for the reading activity.
Now read this text. Hover over the pictures to get vocabulary hints. In the reading, try to guess the meanings of new words from observing the pictures.
بيت الأستاذ بوب
هذا بيت الأستاذ بوب مدرس اللغة العربية بجامعة بولاية ميشيجان . فى البيت ثلاث غرف ومطبخ وحمام . غرفة النوم كبيرة ولونها بني وفيها سرير كبير. بجانب السرير طاولة قصيرة وهناك خزانة ملابس كبيرة على يسار الغرفة . أما غرفة الجلوس فهى قريبة من الشباك الكبير وفيها أريكة حمراء وواسعة .هناك طاولة قصيرة صفراء بين الشباك والكرسى . ليس هناك طعام فوق الطاولة . غرفة الطعام جميلة أيضا وفيها طاولة بنية كبيرة وست كراسى . تحت الطاولة سجادة بيضاء . المطبخ وراء غرفة الطعام وفيه ثلاجة وفرن وميكروويف . كل شئ هناك أخضر . الحمام لونه أزرق وأبيض وهو على يمين غرفة النوم . أمام البيت حديقة جميلة خضراء فيها زهور حمراء جميلة وبجانبها حمام سباحة صغير. البيت كبير وعالى والأستاذ بوب فعلا عنده فلوس كثير . يا سلام .
Reading comprehension
1) First take notes of all the new words that you were able to guess and put them in your notes to use in the next writing activity.
2)Note all the adjactives and color words ? Did you see the masculine/feminine forms for colors?
2) In your notes, jot down all the verbs that you see.
3)Actually there are no verbs in the text at all. It is all nominal sentences which are either noun/adjectives or propositional.
4)Now listen to me reading the text here :
4) It is now your turn to read and articulate the text down here:
5) Writing Reflection: You have rented a fully furnished house for the upcoming year but you cannot afford it by your own. Post an ad about it on calling for a roommate. Follow the model above; depend on nominal sentences, adjectives, idafa, colors, position articles. Use at least four words you have not used before.
6) Where to post ?: Click on [Reflect in ePortfolio] down the page. Give it any title and type your reponse. Once you click done, it will be recorded in your portfolio and I can give feedback.
This image is only decorative. You do not need to follow .
شكرا
We have come to the end of the module . Stay prepared for Week two, which starts with a short quiz on first week content.
Enjoy your weekend