KSEAB SSLC TL Arabic cheat sheet

Nazm (نظم) denotes poetry and Nasr (نثر) denotes prose; prose lessons in the SSLC Arabic reader include short stories, biographies and descriptive essays.

Identify the main idea (الفكرة الرئيسية) first, then supporting details (التفاصيل); most comprehension questions ask for both.

Character questions usually require two elements: a stated quality and a textual action proving it - quote a short phrase rather than paraphrasing loosely.

Lesson titles and author names are frequently tested; keep a list of each prose author, his era and one famous work.

Moral or theme questions (المغزى / العبرة) are answered with an abstract noun plus a reason drawn from the text.

Distinguish حقيقة (fact stated in the passage) from رأي (opinion or judgement) when a question asks what the writer thinks.

Vocabulary-in-context questions: choose the meaning that fits the sentence, not the most common dictionary meaning of the root.

For 'why' questions (لماذا), the answer almost always contains a causal connector: لأن، بسبب، حتى، كي.

A bayt (بيت) has two halves: صدر (first hemistich) and عجز (second hemistich); a qasidah is a series of abyat sharing one rhyme (قافية) and metre (بحر).

Rhyme letter is the روي; the vowel before it is the توجيه - identifying the روي is the standard 'what is the rhyme?' answer.

Explanation (شرح البيت) requires three steps: literal meaning, the image used, and the poet's feeling or message.

Common figures: تشبيه (simile), استعارة (metaphor), كناية (metonymy), طباق (antithesis), جناس (paronomasia).

A تشبيه has four parts: مشبه, مشبه به, أداة التشبيه (كـ، مثل، كأن), وجه الشبه; omitting the أداة turns it into a استعارة.

Poetic purpose terms: مدح (praise), رثاء (elegy), غزل (love lyric), وصف (description), حكمة (wisdom), فخر (boasting).

In explanation answers, keep the poetic word and give its prose equivalent - e.g. ثغر ← فم, سيف ← حسام - rather than replacing the image entirely.

Poets commonly set for SSLC study include حافظ إبراهيم, أحمد شوقي, إقبال and ناظم حكمت; link each poem to its poet and central theme.

Arabic words divide into اسم (noun), فعل (verb), حرف (particle); a sentence is either جملة اسمية (starts with a noun) or جملة فعلية (starts with a verb).

In a nominal sentence the subject is مبتدأ (marfu') and the predicate خبر (marfu'); in a verbal sentence the doer is فاعل (marfu') and the object مفعول به (mansub).

Case markers: raf' = ـُ / ـٌ, nasb = ـَ / ـً, jarr = ـِ / ـٍ; sound masculine plural takes ونَ (raf') and ينَ (nasb/jarr); sound feminine plural takes اتٌ (raf') and اتٍ (nasb/jarr).

Five nouns (أب، أخ، حم، فو، ذو) take long vowels in the oblique cases: أبوك، أباك، أبيك.

كان and its sisters (أصبح، ظل، بات، صار، ليس) keep the مبتدأ raf' as اسم كان and make the خبر mansub; إنّ and its sisters (أنّ، كأنّ، لكنّ، ليت، لعلّ) do the reverse.

Verbs: ماضٍ (past), مضارع (present), أمر (imperative); مضارع is marfu' unless preceded by لم (jussive), لن/أن/كي (subjunctive), or لمّا.

Derived forms (أوزان): فاعل = doer, مفعول = done-to, فعّال/فعول = intensive, استفعل = seeking/requesting, انفعل = becoming.

Broken plurals must be memorised by pattern: كتاب ← كتب, قلم ← أقلام, طالب ← طلاب, مدرسة ← مدارس.

Learn words in families by root: ك-ت-ب gives كتاب، كاتب، مكتوب، مكتبة، مكتب.

Antonyms are usually tested in pairs: كبير/صغير، طويل/قصير، نجح/رسب، فتح/غلق، بدأ/انتهى.

Common preposition–verb collocations: ذهب إلى، سافر إلى، عاد من، اهتمّ بـ، اعتمد على، بحث عن، فخور بـ.

Idiomatic expressions appear in the reader: على قدم وساق (at full speed), في متناول اليد (within reach), ضرب موعدًا (made an appointment).

Distinguish near-synonyms by usage: نظر (looked), رأى (saw), شاهد (watched), لاحظ (noticed).

Gender pairs: طالب/طالبة، معلّم/معلّمة, and adjectives agree in gender, number and case with the noun.

Numbers: واحد، اثنان take the noun as singular; 3–10 take a broken plural; 11–99 take a singular accusative noun.

Homographs resolved by context: عين = eye / spring / spy; خلق = creation / character.

Arabic word order is VSO in verbal sentences; English and Kannada require SVO/SOV, so reorder the subject before translating.

Arabic has no copula in the present nominal sentence: الطالب مجتهد = 'The student is diligent'; supply 'is' in English.

Definite article ال maps to English 'the'; an indefinite noun with no article maps to 'a/an' - do not insert articles mechanically.

Translate إضافة (possessive construction) as 'X of Y' or 'Y's X': كتاب الطالب = the student's book.

Idioms must be translated by sense, not word for word: يده طويلة = he is influential, not 'his hand is long'.

Passive (مبني للمجهول) uses a vowel change: كَتَبَ → كُتِبَ; render it as 'was written', not 'he wrote'.

Kannada translation keeps the verb at the end and uses case suffixes instead of prepositions; translate prepositions as suffixes (إلى = -ಗೆ, من = -ಇಂದ).

Proper nouns are transliterated, not translated: مكة = Makkah, أحمد = Ahmed; leave technical terms in Arabic in brackets if no standard equivalent exists.

Formal letter (رسالة رسمية): التحية → المرسل إليه → الموضوع → المقدمة → المضمون → الخاتمة → الاسم والتاريخ.

Opening formulas: تحية طيبة وبعد / السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته; closing: وتفضلوا بقبول فائق الاحترام / والسلام.

Essay (مقالة) structure: مقدمة (2–3 sentences) → عرض (2–3 paragraphs, one idea each) → خاتمة (summary plus opinion).

Essay connectors: أولًا، ثانيًا، بالإضافة إلى ذلك، علاوة على ذلك، في الختام، ومن ثمّ.

Dialogue (حوار) uses a dash or the speaker's name, and needs a greeting, at least four exchanges and a closing formula.

Dialogue verbs: قال، سأل، أجاب، ردّ، أضاف; keep tenses consistent within one speaker's turn.

Word-count questions: count only the words of the body, not the greeting or signature line, unless the rubric says otherwise.

Common SSLC essay topics: أهمية العلم، حب الوطن، حماية البيئة، الرياضة والصحة، بر الوالدين - prepare a paragraph skeleton for each.

Read the questions before the passage; this tells you which lines to scan for names, numbers and dates.

Unseen passages are usually 100–150 words on a single theme; identify the topic sentence, normally the first sentence.

Question types recur: main idea, detail retrieval, meaning of a word in context, true/false, and a personal-opinion question.

For 'the passage says' questions, the answer must be traceable to a specific sentence - do not add outside knowledge.

Titles (عنوان مناسب) should be 2–4 words capturing the topic, not a full sentence.

Pronoun reference questions (ضمير): trace back to the nearest matching noun in gender and number.

True/false items often turn on one changed word (كل، بعض، دائمًا، أبدًا) - check quantifiers carefully.

If a word is unknown, use the surrounding sentence and the root pattern to infer meaning before skipping it.