Asalam alaikum

Baby Arabic Lessons

Learn the basics of arabic from here Insha Allaah (God willing.)

Okay, from this thread you'll learn some basic arabic which will help you understand the Qur'an abit more so when you read it, you can get a basic understanding of what is being recited inshaa Allaah (God willing.)



Alhamdulillah since i've remembered some of these short techniques, i've been able to understand alot of what has been said, or atleast i've been able to get a basic understanding of what i recite. Inshaa Allaah it will be of benefit to you too.

I'm guessing you already know the basic arabic letters and their sounds inshaa Allaah, if not - the following picture will be a basic guideline. But i won't be going into depth regarding that since the aim of this is to learn just the basic aspects of the arabic language and a little grammar.

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9918/lang2fg0pv5.gif

Connectives

The first thing we'll be looking at are connectives, i'll list a few and you have to try to memorise them. They're really simple to learn, and once you get hold of them you'll be able to understand or visualise what the next thing is in the passage.

Al = The


Fee = In / On the.


Wa = And


Fa = So



Maa = What


Man = Who


Min = from


Hat-aa = Until


Z/Dhaalik = that




New ones Added:


Inn = Surely/Verily


il-laa = except



Examples:


Al = The.

(Al) Madina (The City)



Fee = In / On the.

(Fee) In the earth / On the earth.



Wa = And.


(Wa) and he was happy.



Fa = So.


(Fa) so he started to smile.

Try to memorise those, if you can you will find that they are mentioned alot in the Qur'an. You'll gradually realise that words are mentioned many times in Qur'an repeatedly, and Allaah makes it easy for us alhamdulillah (the praise is for Allaah.)


If i've missed any, please do add and inshaa Allaah (Allaah willing) we'll be talking about prefixes and suffixes next lesson.

Prefixes and Suffixes



Prefixes

Prefixes are usually placed at the beginning of a word, usually to make it understandable that the thing being discussed is a human.

The main one in the arabic language is MU (the meem with a dhamma/peysh.) It can be placed infront of any word nearly; i.e. Muslim, Muhsin, Mu'min etc.


It's usually placed before an action or to personify it. (Someone please correct me if i'm wrong?)


I.e.

Muslim (someone who submits)

Mushrik (someone who commits shirk/association of partners)

Muhsin (someone who does good)




Suffixes


Suffixes are at the end of a word, in the arabic language they are mainly; OON and EEN.


The OON usually refers to the past tense.

The EEN usually refers to the present or future.


It's required to make something plural.




So for example, if there are alot of ---. In the arabic language it would be;

Muslimoon/Muslimeen

Muhsinoon/Muhsineen

Mushrikoon/Mushrikeen

Try to make the following words into plurals inshaa Allaah:

Mu'min. (one who believes)

Mujaahid. (one who strives)

Mujrim (one who sins)

Mutahir (one who is pure)

Mujadil (one who disputes)

Numbers


We will learn upto 10 in this part of the session insha Allaah:

1 = Waahid

2 = Ith Nain/aan (the Th sounds like when you say thousand)

3 = Thalatha

4 = Arba'a

5 = Khamsa (the Kh sound comes from the throat)



6 = Sita

7 = Saba'a

8 = Thamaniya

9 = Tis'a

10 = 'AshAra

You may be wondering why i'm teaching numbers, but numbers are even mentioned within Qur'an. I.e. the number of angels, how long the Day of Judgement will be etc.



Suffixes Continued...


Now that you've seen some of the numbers mentioned above, we will explain how to make the numbers into their (10 x multiplied counterparts) - ty's (i.e. thirty, forty etc.)



The basic rule is as mentioned in the previous lesson, the OON and the EEN's.

So;


2 = Ith Nain

20 = 'Ish rOON (this is the only exception to the rule, that it doesn't mention the 2/two.)


3 = Thalatha

30 = ThalathOON/een


4 = Arba'a

40 = Arba'OON/een


5 = khams

50 = khamsoon/een

6 = sita

60 = sitoon/een


7 = saba'a

70 = saba'oon/een


8 = Thamaniya

80 = Thamanoon/een



9 = Tisaa'a

90 = Tisoon/een

100 = Mi'a

1000 = Alf

1000,000 (Million) = Millioon



More into depth...

Quick Quiz:


1) What is 50,000 (fifty thousand) in the arabic language?


2) What is arba'a + khamsa?


3) What is Siteen + Thamanoon?


4) What is Imaam Al-Nawawi's famous collection of hadith called?


5) What is 1400 in the arabic language?

__________________

Suffixes Continued...


There are other forms of suffixes aswell (which are at the end of the word.)


Now i will give some examples of some words, and then we will add the suffix to the end of the word to apply it to ourselves.



Here are a list of words related to family members;

Abu (which means father)

Umm = mother

Akh = brother

Ukht = sister

Now to say them words by themselves is ok, but if you want to be more specific, then you will have to add the suffixes at the end.


EE = MY

For example;


Akh = brother.

If i want to say 'My brother' - i will have to add EE at the end of it.

akhEE = MY brother.

ukhtEE = MY sister

ummEE = MY mother

AbEE = MY father.

Always remember: MY = EE




Ain/Aan


The suffixes - Ain and Aan are usually placed at the end of a word to explain that the thing being mentioned is double or the second.

For example:


ukht by itself means sister.

ukhtEE = MY sister

ukhtAIN/AAN = TWO sisters.


Akh = brother

IkhwAAN = TWO brothers or more.



or we can take the example from Surah Rahmaan:


Jannat = garden

JannatAIN/AAN = TWO gardens


Even the word:


Rajul = man


RajulAIN/AAN = two men.



The final example is of the two Harams (holy sanctuaries) [of Makkah and Medina]

A Haram by itself is just called Haram.

2 Harams are called HaramAIN/AAN.

So always Remember, if there is an AAN or AIN at the end of a word, it's probably talking in the DOUBLE.

If you look at the number two/2 in the arabic language: IthnAIN/AAN - you will understand that the AIN/AAN is derived from the number 2 to mean 'double.'



And Allaah knows best.

Yes & No?


Yes = Na'am

Indeed = Balaa


No = Laa

Nay/Never = Kal-laa



You will find them terms mentioned in the Qur'an alot. The words Balaa (Indeed), and Kal-laa (Nay/Never) might not be used that much in modern day arabic, but it is used alot in Qur'an and also classical arabic.

The words Na'am (Yes) and Laa (No) are still used alot in normal arabic still today.



No!

Laa (it is the word Laa = No.

Lan = used for future tense & Lam = used for Past tense.)




And Allaah knows best.

Whenever you read words in the arabic language, you will see that it will - the majority of the time - have 3 or sometimes 4 ROOT letters per word.


These Root letters will explain what the word really means, and any extra letters will usually be prefixes or suffixes to explain the words context.

If you can figure out what these 3 letters mean, then you will understand what the word means, or what is being mentioned in the text. So this section is really important to understand inshaa Allaah.



Also, remember that these ROOT letters are consonants, not vowels:


[the vowel sounds:

fatha/zabar - a/aa sound.

dhamma/peysh - u/oo sound.

kasra/zeyr - i/ee sound.]



If you understand this, then you can move onto the next part inshaa Allaah. If not - then re-read it again please.

Now that we understand this. I will give an example of 3 ROOT Letters:


Jeem

Haa

Dal


= J H D

These 3 letters by themselves spelt together would mean 'to strive' (JuHuD)



This is the pattern we would use to make the 3 ROOT Letters into a verb, or action word:


JaaHi D = JaaHiD

So someone who does the action of JHD would be 'striving' - so JaaHiD would be 'to strive'



The pattern mentioned here will be used on all the ROOT Letters we use, to make it an 'action word' or a verb.


After the:

1st Root Letter, we will place besides it: aa (mad/long zabr/fatha)

2nd Root Letter, we will place the: i (zeyr/kasra)

3rd Root Letter, we will stay quiet and not add anything to it.

This rule can be applied to any other ROOT word, i.e.

JHL

(JuHuL?) - these 3 letters together mean ignorance.

JaaHiL would be to put the ignorance into practise/make it a verb, so it would mean that anyone who is ignorant/doesn't know is a JaaHiL.

FSQ (FuSuQ) - these 3 Root Letters together mean someone who is a wrongdoer.

FaaSiQ would be someone who is doing wrong things, a sinner.

R Sh D - these 3 Root Letters together mean guided.

RaaShiD would be someone who is guided.

ZLM (zulm) - these 3 Root Letters together means to wrong someone.

ZaaLiM is someone who did wrong someone.

Insha Allaah you can apply that rule yourself, and i will give you a list of words to apply it to.

Example) FaaSiD - these 3 Root Letters mean corruption (FaSaaD)

What is someone called if they cause corruption?

[The answer is given on this question just as a tip, check the following questions insha Allaah and apply the same rule.]



1) HKM - these 3 Root Letters means Wisdom.

What is someone called if they are wise?



2) QTL - these 3 Root Letters mean to fight.

What is the action of fighting called? [Use the examples i gave you earlier as a guideline]




3) SDQ - these 3 Root Letters mean 'truth'

What is someone called if they are truthful? [Use the examples i gave you earlier as a guideline]




4) LTF - these 3 Root Letters mean to be 'gentle'

What is someone called if they are 'gentle'? [Use the examples i gave you earlier as a guideline]




5) HSB - these 3 Root Letters mean to Judge someone and take them into account.

What is someone called if they take people into account? [Use the examples i gave you earlier as a guideline]

Insha Allaah if you can understand this part well, you are on your way to understand alot more arabic insha Allaah.