MATSEC IM Arabic flashcards
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- Triliteral root
- The three consonants that carry a word's core meaning in Arabic; patterns of vowels and affixes built on the root create related nouns, verbs and adjectives.
- Form I verb
- The basic verb pattern فَعَلَ without added prefixes or doubled radicals; it carries the plainest lexical meaning, e.g. كَتَبَ 'he wrote'.
- Form II verb
- Pattern فَعَّلَ with the middle radical doubled; typically makes a verb transitive or intensive, e.g. دَرَّسَ 'he taught' from دَرَسَ 'he studied'.
- Form IV verb
- Pattern أَفْعَلَ beginning with a hamza; usually causative, e.g. أَخْرَجَ 'he brought out' from خَرَجَ 'he went out'.
- Form VIII verb
- Pattern افْتَعَلَ with a ت infixed after the first radical; often reflexive or self-directed, e.g. اِجْتَمَعَ 'he gathered together'.
- Form X verb
- Pattern اسْتَفْعَلَ beginning with سْتَ; commonly means seeking or considering something, e.g. اِسْتَخْدَمَ 'he used, employed'.
- Active participle
- Noun of the doer, formed on فَاعِل for Form I (كَاتِب 'writer') and on مُفْعِل, مُفَعِّل, مُسْتَفْعِل etc. for derived forms.
- Passive participle
- Noun of the one affected, formed on مَفْعُول for Form I (مَكْتُوب 'written') and with مُ prefixed for derived forms, e.g. مُسْتَخْدَم.
- Verbal noun (مصدر)
- The abstract noun of an action, e.g. كِتَابَة 'writing', دِرَاسَة 'study'; its form varies by verb pattern and must be learned with the verb.
- Nominative case
- Marked by ضمة (ـُ) or its equivalents; used for the subject of a verbal sentence, the topic of a nominal sentence, and the predicate.
- Accusative case
- Marked by فتحة (ـَ); used for the direct object, for adverbs of time and place, and after إِنَّ and its sisters.
- Genitive case
- Marked by كسرة (ـِ); used after prepositions and for the second term of an إضافة construction.
- Jussive mood
- Marked by sukūn or by dropping the final vowel; required after لَمْ, لَمَّا, لِـ of command and in conditional structures.
- Subjunctive mood
- Marked by فتحة on the final radical; required after لَنْ, أَنْ, كَيْ and لِـ expressing purpose.
- Nominal sentence
- A sentence beginning with a noun: مبتدأ (topic) plus خبر (predicate), e.g. البَيْتُ كَبِيرٌ 'the house is big'.
- Verbal sentence
- A sentence beginning with a verb, followed by its doer (فاعل) and optionally an object (مفعول به), e.g. كَتَبَ الطَّالِبُ الدَّرْسَ.
- إضافة construction
- Possessive/genitive linking of two nouns: the first loses الـ and tanwīn, the second stands in the genitive, e.g. بَابُ البَيْتِ 'the door of the house'.
- Sun and moon letters
- Fourteen letters assimilate the ل of الـ (sun letters, e.g. الشَّمْس); the rest pronounce it (moon letters, e.g. القَمَر).
- Broken plural
- A plural formed by internal vowel change rather than suffixation, e.g. كِتَاب → كُتُب 'books'; the pattern must be memorised per noun.
- Sound masculine plural
- Formed by adding ـُونَ (nominative) or ـِينَ (accusative/genitive) to a masculine noun or adjective, e.g. مُعَلِّمُونَ 'teachers'.
- Sound feminine plural
- Formed by adding ـَات to the singular, often after dropping the ة, e.g. مُعَلِّمَة → مُعَلِّمَات 'female teachers'.
- Dual form
- Arabic marks exactly two with the suffix ـَانِ (nominative) or ـَيْنِ (accusative/genitive), e.g. كِتَابَانِ 'two books'.
- Comparative adjective
- Formed on أَفْعَل (elative), e.g. أَكْبَر 'bigger, biggest'; the compared item follows with مِنْ.
- Relative pronoun
- الَّذِي (masc. sing.), الَّتِي (fem. sing.), الَّذِينَ (masc. pl.), اللَّاتِي (fem. pl.); introduces a relative clause agreeing in gender and number.
- Interrogative particles
- هَلْ and أَ for yes/no questions; مَنْ 'who', مَا 'what', أَيْنَ 'where', مَتَى 'when', كَيْفَ 'how', كَمْ 'how many'.
- Negation with لَا
- لَا plus the present tense negates now or habitually, e.g. لَا أَفْهَمُ 'I do not understand'; لَا of prohibition takes the jussive.
- Negation with لَمْ
- لَمْ plus the jussive verb negates the past and gives the sense of 'did not', e.g. لَمْ يَكْتُبْ 'he did not write'.
- Negation with لَنْ
- لَنْ plus the subjunctive verb expresses emphatic future negation, 'will never', e.g. لَنْ أَذْهَبَ 'I will not go'.
- إِنَّ and its sisters
- إِنَّ, أَنَّ, كَأَنَّ, لَكِنَّ, لَيْتَ, لَعَلَّ; they put the following noun in the accusative and keep the predicate nominative.
- Kāna and its sisters
- كَانَ, أَصْبَحَ, ظَلَّ, صَارَ etc. are 'incomplete' verbs: they govern a nominal sentence, leaving the topic nominative and the predicate accusative.
- Ordinal numbers
- 1st–10th follow the pattern أَوَّل، ثَانٍ، ثَالِث ... عَاشِر; from 11th onward use the cardinal form with الـ, e.g. الحَادِي عَشَرَ.
- Hamza writing rules
- Hamza seat (أ إ ؤ ئ) depends on neighbouring vowels and position; initial hamza is always أ or إ, and hamzat al-waṣl is dropped in connected speech.