Language use: grammar, vocabulary and orthography
Language use tests grammar, vocabulary and orthography through gap-fills, transformations, correction, matching and short answers. The syllabus expects control of the definite article, verb negation, pronoun suffixes, prepositions, plural patterns and the Maltese alphabet.
Core rules
- Definite article: il- before most consonants, l- before vowels and għ/h, and assimilation before coronal consonants: iċ-ċentru, id-dar, in-nanna, ir-raġel, is-suq, it-tifel, ix-xemx, iż-żmien, iż-ziju.
- Negation: imperfect verbs take ma ... x: jikteb → ma jiktibx; perfect: kiteb → ma kitibx. mhux negates nouns, adjectives and pronouns: mhux għalliem.
- Possessive suffixes: ktieb + -i = ktiebi (my book), -ek (your), -u (his), -ha (her), -na (our), -kom (your pl.), -hom (their).
- Orthography: ċ = /tʃ/, ġ = /dʒ/, ħ = pharyngeal, ż = /z/, z = /ts/; għ is mostly silent or lengthens; h is often silent.
Worked example
Complete: “Marija marret ___ suq.” The noun is suq (market), beginning with s. The article il- assimilates to s, giving is-suq. Answer: is-suq. If the noun were dar, the answer would be id-dar; before a vowel, e.g. iskola, it is l-iskola.
Traps
- Writing il-suq instead of is-suq.
- Confusing ż (/z/) with z (/ts/): compare żmien (time) and zokkor (sugar).
- Forgetting the final -x in negation.
- Using il- before a sun letter instead of the assimilated form.