Assam ASSEB Higher Secondary Arabic flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Nathr

Arabic for literary prose. In the ASSEB syllabus it covers essays, short stories and wisdom narratives studied for theme, structure, character and moral purpose.

Hadaf al-katib

The author's purpose in a prose lesson. Answers should state the purpose and support it with one incident or statement from the text.

Hikma prose

Wisdom literature: short prose conveying moral or practical advice. It is judged by the value it teaches rather than by plot or character development.

Qasida structure

The classical Arabic ode sequence: nasib (amatory prelude), rahil (journey description), then the main purpose such as madih, fakhr or ritha', sometimes closing with hikma.

Tibaq

Antithesis in Arabic rhetoric: pairing two opposites in one line, such as layl and nahar or haya' and mawt, to sharpen contrast and meaning.

Isti'ara

Metaphor: a simile with the comparison particle removed, so the tenor is directly identified with the vehicle. Distinct from tashbih, which keeps the particle.

Wajh al-shabah

The point of resemblance in a simile. Marks for imagery analysis are awarded for naming this shared quality, not merely labelling the figure.

Qafiya

The rhyme of a poem, determined by the final consonant and vowel of each line. It is separate from wazn, the metre.

Mubtada' and khabar

Subject and predicate of a nominal sentence. Both take raf' (damma) unless a sister of inna or kana changes the case.

Inna and her sisters

Particles such as inna, anna, ka'anna and la'alla that make the following mubtada' accusative while the khabar stays nominative.

Kana and her sisters

Verbs such as kana, asbaha and sara that keep the mubtada' nominative but make the khabar accusative.

Majhul verb

The passive form. The object becomes the new subject and takes raf'; the original subject is dropped or placed in a prepositional phrase.

Jam' taksir

Broken plural, formed by internal vowel change rather than a suffix. Patterns such as af'al, fu'ul and mafa'il must be memorised individually.

I'rab answer format

A complete grammatical analysis names the word, its function (for example maf'ul bihi) and its case with marker (mansub, fatha).

Tanwin rendering

The indefinite ending of an Arabic noun. In English it becomes a or an; in Assamese an appropriate classifier, never the numeral one.

Idiom translation rule

Fixed Arabic expressions are translated as whole units. For example, 'ala qadami wa saq' means hastily, not literally on foot and leg.

Word order shift

Arabic defaults to verb-initial order, while English and Assamese are subject-initial, so the clause must be reordered during translation.

Arabic application opening

Formal request letters open with formulas such as atruju ilaykum or min fadlikum, and the request itself appears within the first two lines.

Composition connectors

Sequencing words such as awwalan, thaniyan, lakin and fi al-khitam. Each should appear once to structure an essay without repetition.

Letter register

The choice between personal, official and complaint letters. Salutation and closing change with register, while the body keeps a fixed structure.

Ma yufham min al-nass

An inference question on unseen passages: the answer is implied rather than stated, so it must be supported by clues elsewhere in the text.

Pronoun reference item

A comprehension question asking which noun a pronoun replaces. Confirm by checking number and gender agreement with the candidate noun.

Quantifier traps

True/false items often hinge on words like kull, ba'd and jami', or on negation. Verify the exact quantifier in the passage before answering.

Mu'allaqat

Seven celebrated pre-Islamic odes, sometimes counted as ten. Imru' al-Qays is traditionally placed first in the collection.

Al-Mutanabbi

Abbasid poet famed for panegyric and self-glorification (fakhr), known for dense imagery and a proud, assertive poetic voice.

Al-Jahiz

Abbasid master of prose and adab, author of Kitab al-Hayawan and Kitab al-Bukhala', with a digressive, anecdotal and humorous style.

Maqama genre

Rhymed-prose narrative associated with Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadhani as originator and al-Hariri as its most celebrated stylist.

Nahda

The modern Arabic literary revival, linked to figures such as Ahmad Shawqi in poetry and Taha Husayn in prose and criticism.

Root and pattern

Most Arabic words derive from a three-letter root. Knowing k-t-b predicts kataba, kitab, katib and maktab, which share the writing idea.

Verb plus preposition

Meaning changes with the attached preposition: kataba ila means wrote to, kataba li means wrote for, kataba 'ala means wrote against.

Number gender reversal

For the numbers three to ten, Arabic reverses gender agreement with the counted noun: thalathatu kutub but thalathu fatayat.

Courtesy formulas

Standard conversational phrases: ahlan wa sahlan for welcome, kaifa haluk for how are you, shukran jazilan for many thanks, ma'a al-salama for goodbye.