Learning the Language of Quran

UNIT ONE (1)

Study Material for online Course | 2016

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UNIT ONE
Nominal Sentences

1. Indefinite Noun)(
In Arabic nouns are of two kinds: definite ) ( and indefinite ) ( indefinite
nouns do not indicate any particular thing or person, they indicate something in
general.
Examples are:

A man, any man

A book, any book

Some water
Indefinite nouns ) ( usually carry tanwin. We have put here the tanwin of
dammah for illustration.

2. Definite Noun )(
Definite nouns indicate a particular thing or things, or a particular person or
persons. They are of two kinds:
1. A proper noun ,)
( which is the name of a particular person, place or object,
e.g. Zayd,
Egypt
2. Or a noun which, in virtue of the definite article, ) the) added to it, specifies
the object or person, e.g.
the man, the book, the water
Remember: A noun cannot have tanwin and the definite article together.

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3. Gender
Arabic has only two genders: masculine ) (and feminine ) (:
1. Masculine )(
e.g.
- Khalid,
- a boy
- the moon

2. Feminine )(
e.g.
-Aishah,
- a daughter, a girl

the sun

The first two nouns in both the categories are either masculine or feminine by
nature; the last ones are so by convention (urf).

Feminine Ending:
Most feminine noun in Arabic has at the end.
For example:
She cat, a learned woman
Most masculine nouns or adjectives are made feminine by adding at the end.
Gentleman, leader
Big

Handsome

a lady
big

beautiful

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4. Nominal Sentences
Arabic has two kinds of sentences: One begins with a noun ) (and it is called
nominal sentence:

the other begins with a verb ) ( and is called verbal
sentence:
.
We shall discuss the first here:
A simple nominal sentence is of this form:

Zayd is learned


Fathima is learned

The boy is intelligent

The girl is beautiful.

5. Subject ) ( and Predicate )(

The noun with which a nominal sentence begins is called subject, and the
other part which says something about it called , predicate.
Usually, the subject of nominal sentence is a definite noun: either a proper noun
like zayd and Fatimah, or a noun with the definite article like and
The predicate is usually indefinite, and agrees in gender with the subject.
Both the subject and the predicate are marfu; that is, when they are singular they
have dammah on the last letter. Usually they carry dammah with tanwin, but in
case they have the definite article ) (they have single dammah.

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6. Translation Procedure
1. Retain the same order of the subject and the predicate, and drop the verb
to be (is, am, are)
2. If the subject is not a proper noun add the definite article to it
3. Put dammah with tanwin on both the subject and the predicate except
when anyone has the definite article

In translating from Arabic into English you have to add is, am or are as the
case may be.
In English, the definite article is sometimes dropped. We say: Man is free, or
water is cold. But in Arabic, it is always mentioned.
For example:
Man is free.

Tea is hot

Water is cold

7. Pronouns as subject
Personal pronouns like =I, =you, = he, or demonstratives like =this (for
masculine) and =this (for feminine) are written as such whatever may be their
position in a sentence.
In the following sentence they are subject )(

I am a student

This is a pen

This is a copy.

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Summary of the Grammar

A noun is definite ) ( when it signifies a particular person, place or

subject, and indefinite ) ( when it signifies something general, not
particular.
The usual ending of feminine nounis
A nominal sentence )

( usually begins with a noun, which is called
or subject, and is usually a definite noun. ) ) the other part of a
nominal sentence is called or predicate.
A noun cannot have and tanwin together
Personal pronouns and demonstratives act as subject

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