SACE Stage 2 Arabic (beginners) flashcards
SACE Stage 2 Arabic (beginners) · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Greeting: صباح الخير
- Good morning. Used in the morning. The response is صباح النور (morning of light).
- Greeting: مساء الخير
- Good evening. Used after midday. The response is مساء النور (evening of light).
- Question word: هل
- Particle placed at the beginning of a nominal sentence to form a yes/no question, e.g., هل أنت طالب؟ (Are you a student?).
- Question word: أين
- Where. Used to ask about location, e.g., أين المدرسة؟ (Where is the school?).
- Polite request: من فضلك
- Please (when asking someone to do something). Used after the request, e.g., أعطني الكتاب من فضلك (Give me the book, please).
- Response to شكراً
- The reply to thank you (شكراً) is عفواً (you're welcome / pardon).
- Asking well-being: كيف حالك؟
- How are you? (to a male). To a female: كيف حالكِ؟. Common reply: بخير، شكراً (fine, thanks).
- Back-channel: صحيح
- True / correct. Used to show agreement or that you are following the speaker.
- Definite article: ال
- The definite article 'the', attached to the beginning of a noun, e.g., الكتاب (the book). It is not a separate word.
- Feminine marker: ة
- The letter taa marbuta (ة) usually marks feminine nouns and adjectives, e.g., طالبة (female student).
- Dual form: ـانِ / ـينِ
- The dual ending for nouns and adjectives: ـانِ in nominative (كتابانِ two books) and ـينِ in accusative/genitive (كتابينِ).
- Sound masculine plural: ـونَ / ـينَ
- Plural ending for masculine nouns/adjectives: ـونَ in nominative (معلمون teachers) and ـينَ in accusative/genitive (معلمين).
- Broken plural
- A plural formed by changing the internal pattern of the singular, e.g., كتاب (book) → كتب (books); بيت (house) → بيوت (houses).
- Idafa construction
- Possession structure: noun + noun in genitive, e.g., كتاب الطالب (the student's book). The first noun takes no ال or tanwin.
- Verb-subject agreement
- A verb before its subject agrees in gender but stays singular: ذهب الطلاب (the students went). If the subject precedes, the verb agrees fully: الطلاب ذهبوا.
- Connector: لأن
- Because. Introduces a reason clause, e.g., أدرس لأن الامتحان قريب (I study because the exam is near).
- Formal letter opening
- Begin with سيدي/سيدتي (Dear Sir/Madam) or حضرة الأستاذ (Dear Professor) and close with وتفضلوا بقبول فائق الاحترام (Yours sincerely).
- Informal closing: سلام
- Bye / peace. Used in informal messages to friends. Other closings: إلى اللقاء (goodbye), أشوفك قريب (see you soon).
- Perfect tense: الماضي
- The past tense, formed by suffixes, e.g., كتب (he wrote), كتبت (she wrote), ذهبوا (they went). Used for completed actions.
- Imperfect tense: المضارع
- The present/habitual tense, formed by prefixes, e.g., يكتب (he writes), تذهب (she goes). Add سـ or سوف for future.
- Sequencing: أولاً، ثانياً
- First, second. Used to order ideas in a text. Other sequencers: بعد ذلك (after that), أخيراً (finally).
- Opinion phrase: أعتقد أن
- I believe that. Used to introduce a personal opinion, e.g., أعتقد أن الدراسة مهمة (I believe that study is important).
- Imperative: اكتب
- Write! (to a male). The imperative is used for instructions. Negative command: لا تكتب (don't write).
- Reported speech: قال إن
- He said that. Used to report speech, e.g., قال إنه سعيد (he said that he is happy). For a female: قالت إنها.
- Arabic script direction
- Arabic is written from right to left. Letters connect and change shape depending on their position in the word.
- Sun letters
- Letters that cause the ل of ال to assimilate in pronunciation, e.g., الشمس (ash-shams, the sun). The ل is not pronounced.
- Root system: ك-ت-ب
- The three-letter root k-t-b relates to writing: كتاب (book), مكتبة (library), كاتب (writer), كتب (he wrote).
- Grammatical cases: رفع، نصب، جر
- Nominative (رفع) marked by ـُ / ـونَ, accusative (نصب) by ـَ / ـينَ, genitive (جر) by ـِ / ـينَ.
- Greeting: السلام عليكم
- Peace be upon you. The reply is وعليكم السلام. A more formal version adds ورحمة الله وبركاته.
- Ramadan greeting
- رمضان كريم (generous Ramadan). The reply is الله أكرم (God is most generous).
- Title: أستاذ / دكتور
- أستاذ means Mr. or teacher; دكتور means Dr. Used before a name as a respectful title.
- Family terms: أب، أم
- أب (father), أم (mother), أخ (brother), أخت (sister). Used to talk about family members.