Basic Terms and Concepts in Arabic Grammar

The Arabic Alphabet.doc Page 2 The Arabic Alphabet and Vowel Signs The Arabic letters of the alphabet are twenty nine (29) in number, all of which, with exception of Alif, are consonants. Consonants means it has speech sound. There are three vowel signs in Arabic. FATAH ) ـَـ ( denoting “a” e.g. ﺩ = da ﺭ = ra KASRAH ) ـِـ ( denoting “i” e.g. ﺩ = di ﹺﺭ = ri DUMMA ) ـُـ ( denoting “u” e.g. ﺩ = du ﺭ = ru SUKUN ) ـْـ ( it is the sign denoting absence of a vowel. A consonant that does not carry any vowel is marked by a Sukun. In Arabic there are three (3) parts of speech. ﻢﺳﺍ (Noun) ﹲﻞﻌﻓ (Verb) ﻑﺮﺣ (Particle) Arabic ﻢﺳﺍ includes English nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs. Arabic ﹲﻞﻌﻓ is co-extensive with English verbs. All words besides ﻢﺳﺍ and ﹲﻞﻌﻓ are ﻑﺮﺣ -Particles. ﻢﺳﺍ (noun) may be indefinite ) ﹲﺓﺮﻜﻧ ( or definite ) ﹲﺔﹶﻓﹺﺮﻌﻣ ( . There are no definite or indefinite articles in Arabic language equivalent to English a, an, the. Indefiniteness of ﻢﺳﺍ is indicated by ﻦﻳﹺﻮﻨﺗ ( nunation at the end of the noun ) which means the vowel sign is doubled at the end of the word. Definiteness is indicated by ﹾﻝﹶﺍ prefixed to the noun. ﺏﺎﺘﻛ a book ﻢﹶﻠﹶﻗ a pen ﺏﺎﺘﻜﹾﻟﺍ the book ﻢﹶﻠﹶﻘﹾﻟﺍ the pen Since ﻢﺳﺍ cannot at the same time be definite and indefinite, ﻦﻳﹺﻮﻨﺗ and ﹾﻝﹶﺍ do not coexist. ﺏﺎﺘﻜﹾﻟﺍ and ﻢﹶﻠﹶﻘﹾﻟﺍ will be incorrect. Tanween is also used with proper nouns i.e. ﺪﻤﺤﻣ ،ﺪﻟﺎﺧ ،ﺪﻳﺯ . Even though there is a tanween at the end of the noun, these proper nouns are definite.