Lesson 1 – Learn Arabic Grammar From The Basics

Learning Arabic Grammar from the basics

Assalamualaikum Wa Rahamatullahi Wa Barkatahu.

There are many who want to learn Arabic but don’t get proper guidance. They search for teachers and guides who can guide them learn this beautiful language of the Qur’an, but still don’t find any. Some of our Brothers and Sisters who are currently enrolled in as students at Islamic Online University (IOU) and doing their Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Studies there, will Insha’allah be taking up this task of teaching and sharing what they learn about Arabic Grammar from the very basics to others..

How this course will work:

  1. We will post weekly notes/articles  in this website as well as in PDF format and interested memebers will have to go through it.
  2. The notes will be self explanatory as we have tried to clarify every point in it.
    It will be on a weekly basis insha’allah, every week new notes will be posted and titled Lesson 1 , Lesson 2 and so on insha’allah.
  3. All those who are willing to take up this course are hereby requested to keep in touch with the forums by registering here : http://islamictreasure.com/forums/index.php?board=8.0
  4. Within a week people will have to complete one lesson and ask questions and clarify their doubts on that lesson. Send your queries to contact@islamictreasure.com or query@systemoflife.com
  5. Once the people have completed lesson 1, at the end of the week, 4-5 questions will be given to test whether they have grasped the lesson or not insha’allah. The answers to which should be e-mailed to us.

Note: After you register for the forums and after logging in visit this link http://islamictreasure.com/forums/index.php?board=8.0 and click on the “NOTIFY” button on the top right corner above the topics to be informed automatically when new lessons on Arabic are posted insha’allah.

This will result in a better learning process insha’allah.May Allah(swt) guide all of us and help us in learning this beautiful language which will inshallah enable us to understand Quran in its original language. Ameen

**We highly recommend that you Download this lesson in PDF**: from here: http://www.islamictreasure.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09

We have taken a step forward in propagating knowledge, Come and take a step forward in Learning it.

Also, spread this NEWS insha’allah so that more and more of the Muslim Ummah benefits.

Lesson 1:

Table of Contents

  1. Parts of Speech
  2. 3 Cases of Nouns in Arabic
  3. Vocabulary 1
  4. The Indefinite Particle
  5. Preposition
  6. Example from the Qur’an
  7. The Verb “to be” i.e. “is/are/am”

Parts of Speech In the English language there are 8 Parts of Speech namely:

  1. Noun
  2. Pronoun
  3. Verb
  4. Adjective
  5. Adverb
  6. Preposition
  7. Conjunction
  8. Interjection

In Arabic, there are generally 3 parts of speech or three types of words: Nouns, Verbs and Particles (includes prepositions) The Arabic language is made up of كَلِمَاتٌ (words) and these words are of 3 types i.e. In Arabic language there are 3 Parts of Speech, but these three Parts encompass all eight Parts of Speech of the English Language. They are known as:

حَرْفٌ – Particle/Letter فِعْلٌ – Action/Verb اِسْمٌ – Noun
Preposition and Conjunction Verb (same as in English) Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Adverb, Interjection
Example: -إِلى (ila) meaning “to” في- (fee) meaning “in” وَ- (wa) meaning “and” Example: – ذَهَبَ (duhaba) meaning “to go/went” Example: – بَيْتٌ (baytu-n) meaning “a house”

Note: More examples will be given as we move on and learn each of the parts of speech separately Insha’Allah. As of now in the beginning, we will be focusing on Nouns and Particles and not Verbs.

3 Cases of Nouns in Arabic Arabic nouns have three cases:

1) Nominative Case: مَرْفُوْعٌ (marfoo’).
Generally indicated by a dhammah or dhammataan on the last letter – This is the normal case of nouns
Example: بَيْتٌ/ الْبَيْتُ (baitu-n / al-baitu)

2) Accusative Case: مَنْصُوْبٌ (mansoob).
Generally indicated by a fatha or fathataan on the last letter.
Example: بَيْتاً / الْبَيْتَ (baita-n / al-baita)

3) Genitive Case: مَجْرُوْرٌ (majroor).
Generally indicated by a khasrah or khasrataan on the last letter.
Example: بَيْتٍ/ الْبَيْتِ (baiti-n / al-baiti)  .

Word Meaning
أنَا (ana) which means “I”
نَحْنُ (nahnu) which means “We”
بَيْتٌ (baytu-n) which means “A House / home”
بُيُوتٌ (buyootu-n) which means “Houses / homes”

Note: Learn the Vocabulary before proceeding further. Arabic nouns are either definite or indefinite.

The Indefinite Particle نَكِرَةٌحَرْفٌ
There is no word in Arabic corresponding to “a” in English as in “A book”. Indefinite nouns are indicated by a doubling the last vowel of the noun tanween (nunation) (ٌ ) , which is generally translated as ‘a/an’. It is equivalent to adding an “n” to the last vowel of the noun. Example : A House – بَيْتٌ (Baytu-n)

Preposition:في- (fee)
In Arabic prepositions are called (harfu jarr) حَرْفُ الْجَرِّ
The Most commonly used word in Arabic is the preposition Fee في, although it has many translations depending on context, the most common translation is ‘in’.

Important Point to note: A noun which appears after a preposition will be in the Genitive Case i.e; Prepositions like fee, min etc changes the state of the noun to the Genitive case مَجْرُوْرٌ (majroor), meaning the dhammah on the last letter of the noun changes into kasrah/kasrataan.

Example: When we write fee before baitu-n, it will become فِيْ بَيْتٍ  “fee baiti-n” and NOT بَيْتٌفِيْ “fee baitu-n”. The dhammahtaan at the end changes to a khasrataan. In a similar way, “Fee Buyutun” becomes “Fee Buyutin”.

Example from the Qur’an:
(…فِى بُيُوتٍأَذِنَ ٱللَّهُ) (Fee Buyutin ‘Adhina Allahu…)
“In houses which Allah has ordered…” [Qur’an 24:36] Note: It is not “Fee Buyutun” but “Fee Buyutin” because of the presence of the Preposition “Fee” which changes the case of the noun into a Genitive one.

 

The Verb “to be” i.e. “is/are/am” The Arabic verb ‘to be’ in its present tense “is/are/am” is not written in Arabic, rather it is understood to be there by default.
Example: أنَا فِيْ بَيْتٍ  “Ana fee baytin”, though it literally means “I in a house”, but it would mean – “I am in a house”

Similarly, فِى بُيُوتٍنَحْنُ “Nahnu fee buyutin” meaning “We are in houses” فِى بَيْتٍنَحْنُ “Nahnu fee baytin” meaning “We are in a house” أنا خالِدٌ “Ana Khaalid” meaning “I am Khaalid”
Note: فِى بُيُوتٍ أنَا “Ana fee buyutin” meaning “I am in houses” is wrong grammatically both from the English as well as Arabic perspective, as this sentence doesn’t make any sense. One cannot be at many houses at a time.
systemoflife

*************************  END of LESSON 1 **********************
Jazakallah khayr

**We highly recommend that you Download this lesson in PDF**: https://systemoflife.com/attachments/article/344/Lesson{ecb01613692258d40e800a99e4d746e5d13d05ec98d2e9f5c1cfefb6e9fee158}201.pdfAssalamualaikum Wa Rahamatullahi Wa Barkatahu.
Note: After you register for the forums and after logging in visit this link http://islamictreasure.com/forums/index.php?board=8.0 and click on the “NOTIFY” button on the top right corner above the topics to be informed automatically when new lessons on Arabic are posted insha’allah.
This will result in a better learning process insha’allah.Register_in_ForumJazakallah