LC Arabic flashcards

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Sun letters (الحروف الشمسية)

Fourteen letters (ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن) that cause the definite article ال to assimilate in pronunciation, so الشمس is said 'ash-shams' not 'al-shams'.

Emphatic consonants

The velarized/pharyngealized consonants ص ض ط ظ, produced with a raised back of tongue; they contrast phonemically with plain س د ت ذ, as in صَيف 'summer' vs سَيف 'sword'.

Hamzat al-wasl

The elidable hamza written as ا at the start of words like اسم and ابن; it is pronounced only when starting speech and dropped in connected speech after a preceding vowel.

Idafa construct

A genitive construction linking two nouns without a word for 'of': كِتَابُ الطَّالِبِ means 'the student's book'. The first noun takes no ال and no tanwin; the second is genitive.

Broken plural

A plural formed by changing the internal vowel pattern of a singular noun rather than adding a suffix, e.g., كِتَاب 'book' → كُتُب 'books'; the pattern is not fully predictable.

Verbal sentence (جملة فعلية)

A sentence beginning with a verb, defaulting to VSO order; the verb remains singular even when the subject is plural, as in ذَهَبَ الطُّلَّابُ 'the students went'.

إِنَّ and its sisters

Particles (إِنَّ, أَنَّ, كَأَنَّ, لَكِنَّ, لَيْتَ, لَعَلَّ) that put the following noun in the accusative case, e.g., إِنَّ الْكِتَابَ جَدِيدٌ 'Indeed, the book is new'.

Negation by tense

Arabic negates the past with مَا, the habitual imperfect with لَا, the future with لَنْ plus subjunctive, and nominal 'is not' with لَيْسَ plus a nominative predicate.

Tā' marbūṭa

The letter ة, written only at word end and pronounced -a in pausa; in construct or before a suffix it becomes ت, as in مُعَلِّمَة → مُعَلِّمَةُ الْفَصْلِ.

Tanwin

The doubled vowel sign (ـً ـٌ ـٍ) marking indefinite case endings on nouns and adjectives; it is not pronounced in pausa, so written ـًا often sounds like -a.

Non-connectors

The six letters ا د ذ ر ز و never connect to the following letter, so the next letter takes its isolated or initial form; other letters join both sides.

Passive past pattern

The passive past verb is formed by internal vowel change to the pattern فُعِلَ: كَتَبَ 'he wrote' becomes كُتِبَ 'it was written'.

Hamza seat

The glottal stop ء is written on a carrier (أ إ ؤ ئ) or alone; the seat depends on surrounding vowels, and a wrong seat changes the word (سَأَلَ vs سَالَ).

Arabic punctuation

Arabic uses ، for comma, ؛ for semicolon, ؟ for question mark (mirrored), and ـ (tatweel) for elongation; these differ in shape from Latin equivalents.

Pharyngeal consonants

The sounds ح (voiceless) and ع (voiced) are produced in the pharynx and have no English equivalent; they contrast with ه and ء respectively, as in حَال vs هَال.

Arabic stress rule

Stress falls on the last long syllable (CVV or CVC) of a word; if none, on the antepenultimate syllable, e.g., كَتَبَ 'KAtaba' vs كِتَاب 'kiTAAB'.

Gender in address

Arabic distinguishes masculine أَنْتَ from feminine أَنْتِ, and verbs/adjectives agree: تَكْتُبُ 'you (m.) write' vs تَكْتُبِينَ 'you (f.) write'.

Form V imperative

Form V verbs take a تَـ prefix in the imperfect; the imperative drops it and adds a helping hamza: تَكَلَّمَ 'he spoke' → تَكَلَّمْ 'speak!' (m.).

Case endings (إعراب)

Formal Arabic marks nominative -u, accusative -a, and genitive -i on nouns; these endings are usually pronounced in formal speech but dropped in pausa.

Root-and-pattern morphology

Most Arabic words derive from a three-consonant root fitted into patterns: root ك-ت-ب 'write' yields كَاتِب 'writer' (فاعل) and مَكْتُوب 'written' (مفعول).

Sound plural

A plural formed by adding a suffix: ـونَ/ـينَ for masculine and ـات for feminine, e.g., مُعَلِّمُونَ 'teachers' and مُعَلِّمَات 'female teachers'.

Numbers 3–10 gender polarity

Numbers three through ten take the opposite gender from the counted noun: ثَلَاثَةُ كُتُبٍ 'three books' uses the masculine form with a masculine plural noun.

Future markers

The future is expressed by the prefix سَـ (sa-) for near future or the separate word سَوْفَ (sawfa) for distant future, both attached to the imperfect verb.

Adjective agreement

An adjective follows its noun and agrees in gender, number, case, and definiteness: بَيْتٌ كَبِيرٌ 'a big house' vs الْبَيْتُ الْكَبِيرُ 'the big house'.

Connectors

Arabic conjunctions: وَ 'and', ثُمَّ 'then (sequential)', فَـ 'so/then (immediate)', لَكِنْ 'but'; each shapes clause cohesion in written prose.

Short vs long vowels

Arabic has three short vowels (a, u, i) and three long counterparts written ا و ي; length is phonemic, as in كَتَبَ 'he wrote' vs كَاتِب 'writer'.

Liaison (وصل)

In connected speech, the final vowel of a word often elides before the next, and the definite article assimilates to sun letters; natural speaking requires this linking.

Conversational formulas

Common greetings: مَرْحَبًا 'hello', كَيْفَ حَالُكَ؟ 'how are you (m.)', شُكْرًا 'thanks', عَفْوًا 'excuse me/you're welcome'; register varies between MSA and dialects.

Imperative formation

The imperative is formed from the imperfect by dropping the prefix and adding a helping hamza if needed: تَكْتُبُ → اُكْتُبْ 'write!' (m.).

Definite article ال

ال (al-) makes a noun definite; it assimilates to sun letters and is written identically, e.g., الْقَمَر 'the moon' but الشَّمْس pronounced 'ash-shams'.

Nominal sentence (جملة اسمية)

A sentence beginning with a noun, typically topic-comment order with no copula: الْبَيْتُ كَبِيرٌ 'the house is big'; the predicate agrees with the subject.

Accusative after إِنَّ

After إِنَّ and its sisters, the following noun takes the accusative case: write قَالَ إِنَّ الْأَمْرَ سَهْلٌ, not the nominative after إِنَّ.