KSEAB SSLC TL Arabic key terms

Composed Arabic poetry in measured metre and rhyme; in this syllabus it covers the prescribed poems studied for meaning, theme and poetic devices.

Arabic prose writing such as stories, essays and biographical sketches; the prescribed prose lessons are read for main idea, characters and moral.

A single line of poetry made of two halves, the first called صدر and the second عجز; the basic unit for counting and quoting verses.

The first half-line of a verse of poetry, preceding the عجز; used when locating a quotation or explaining where the rhyme falls.

The second half-line of a verse, which usually carries the rhyme; identifying it helps in explaining قافية and in quoting lines correctly.

The rhyme, i.e. the recurring final sound or letter at the end of verses; a poem is described by its rhyme letter and vowel pattern.

The science of Arabic poetic metre, which classifies verses into بحور such as الطويل والكامل; used to explain rhythm and to detect metrical faults.

A specific metrical pattern of Arabic poetry, for example الكامل or الطويل; naming the metre is a common appreciation question on prescribed poems.

Simile: linking two things with a shared quality using a particle such as كـ or مثل; appreciating it means naming المشبه, المشبه به and وجه الشبه.

Metaphor: using a word for something other than its literal meaning because of a resemblance, with the comparison left implied rather than stated by a particle.

Metonymy or allusion: expressing an idea through a related image while the intended meaning remains understood, often used in praise and description passages.

Concrete versus abstract: describes whether an image refers to something perceived by the senses, like a flower, or to an idea, like honour or love.

Main idea of a prose passage or poem; stated in one short sentence that covers the whole text rather than a single detail.

The moral or lesson drawn from a story or lesson, usually expressed as advice about behaviour; a frequent short-answer question in the prose section.

A narrative text with characters, setting, events and resolution; questions ask about who did what, why, and what the ending teaches.

A character in a narrative; describing a character means giving traits supported by evidence from the events of the text.

An essay or article presenting an opinion with supporting points; in composition it names the essay you are asked to write on a given topic.

The opening paragraph of an essay or letter, which introduces the topic and states the main point briefly.

The closing paragraph of an essay or letter, which sums up the argument or offers a wish, advice or conclusion.

A letter; the exam asks for a personal or formal letter with sender, date, salutation, body and closing formula.

Dialogue: a written conversation between two or more speakers, marked by dashes or names, used in the composition section and in story texts.

Noun: a word naming a person, place, thing or idea, recognised by accepting the definite article ال or a case ending; one of the three Arabic word classes.

Verb: a word showing an action or state tied to time, either past ماضٍ, present مضارع or imperative أمر; it governs the case of its subject and object.

Particle: a word with meaning only in context, such as prepositions and conjunctions; it has no independent noun or verb function.

The past-tense verb form, e.g. كَتَبَ meaning he wrote; recognisable by its fixed endings and used as the base for deriving other forms.

The present or future tense verb, e.g. يَكْتُبُ; it takes prefixes like يـ, تـ, أ, ن and changes ending according to person and mood.

The imperative verb form used to give a command, e.g. اكْتُبْ meaning write; formed from the present tense and often used in instructions and advice.

Prohibition: a negative command formed with لا plus the present tense, e.g. لا تَكْتُبْ meaning do not write; common in moral passages.

The subject of a nominal sentence, a noun in the nominative case placed at the beginning, e.g. الطَّالِبُ in الطَّالِبُ مُجْتَهِدٌ.

The predicate that completes a nominal sentence and gives information about the subject, e.g. مُجْتَهِدٌ in الطَّالِبُ مُجْتَهِدٌ.

A sentence beginning with a noun, made of مبتدأ and خبر; it states a fact rather than an action and has no verb in its basic form.

A sentence beginning with a verb, followed by its subject فاعل and optionally an object مفعول به; it reports an action and who performed it.

The doer of a verb, always in the nominative case, e.g. الطَّالِبُ in كَتَبَ الطَّالِبُ الدَّرْسَ; it cannot be omitted in a verbal sentence.

The direct object of a transitive verb, in the accusative case, e.g. الدَّرْسَ in كَتَبَ الطَّالِبُ الدَّرْسَ.

The system of case endings on Arabic words, showing nominative, accusative, genitive or jussive; analysing a sentence means naming each word's case and marker.

The three main case states: nominative with damma, accusative with fatha, genitive with kasra; naming them is essential in grammar answers.

A preposition plus the noun it governs, e.g. فِي الْبَيْتِ; the noun after a preposition is always genitive, and the phrase often functions as an adverbial.

Singular, dual and plural noun forms; the dual adds ان or ين, while sound and broken plurals follow different patterns and agreement rules.

Masculine and feminine gender; most feminine nouns end in ة, and gender controls pronoun choice and adjective agreement.

A synonym: a word with nearly the same meaning as another, e.g. سَعِيد and فَرْحَان; used in vocabulary questions asking for an equivalent word.

An antonym: a word opposite in meaning to another, e.g. كَبِير and صَغِير; a standard short vocabulary task in the paper.

Vocabulary items or word list; building them means learning each word with its meaning, gender and a short example sentence.

Translation; exam tasks move a sentence between Arabic and Kannada or English while keeping meaning, tense and tone intact.

Meaning or sense of a word or sentence in context; choosing the correct معنى depends on the surrounding words, not on the dictionary alone.

Context: the words and situation around an expression, which decide the right translation of ambiguous items and the intended sense of a passage.

Reading; unseen-passage questions test the ability to read quickly, locate stated facts and infer what is not said directly.

Expression or composition: writing original sentences and paragraphs in correct Arabic, using proper agreement, connectors and word order.