A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
Wehr Wednesdays #56
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #5
شَمس
root: ش-م-س / noun / plural: شُموس / definition: sun
Welcome back! For our fifth post in the literature translation series, we’re taking a look at an excerpt from the famous novel رجال في الشمس (Men in the Sun) by the Palestinian writer غسان كنفاني (Ghassan Kanafani).
Continue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #5”Wehr Wednesdays #55
A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
Four Arabic Roots to Express the Phrase “on the Verge of”
أَرْبَعَة
root: ر-ب-ع / noun / definition: four
We couldn’t go much longer without another synonyms post (even though my posts-to-write list is ever-expanding with other wonderful things)—so this week we’re taking a look at four different roots that we can use to express the meaning of “on the verge of” in Arabic.
Continue reading “Four Arabic Roots to Express the Phrase “on the Verge of””Wehr Wednesdays #54
A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
Root Exploration: ك-ش-ف
جَذْر
root: ج-ذ-ر / noun / plural: جُذور / definition: root
I feel a very nerdy rush of excitement as I begin this post, because it’s the first in the new Root Exploration series!
In this series of posts, we’re going to take a single Arabic root and explore all of its different forms, derivatives, and collocations—using the Hans Wehr (no surprise there!) as our reference.
Continue reading “Root Exploration: ك-ش-ف”Wehr Wednesdays #53
A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
Using سبق أن
بَديل
root: ب-د-ل / noun / plural: بَدائِل / definition: substitute, alternative
Another day, another grammar post! I just love finding different ways to express the same word or structure in Arabic—although perhaps you already know that, considering the fact that this blog has a synonyms series.
This week, I’m presenting you with an alternative way to express the pluperfect tense, instead of using the previously-discussed “كان + a past tense verb” construction.
Continue reading “Using سبق أن”Wehr Wednesdays #52
A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #4
اِستِعارة
root: ع-و-ر / noun / plural: اِستِعارات / definition: metaphor
And… we’re back with the fourth post in the literature translation series! This time, we’re going through an excerpt from another poem: مَسرَح (Theatre) by الصادق الرضي (Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi), whose poetry I previously mentioned in this post.
Continue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #4”Wehr Wednesdays #51
A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
Arabic Observations: Duplicated Roots with Reduplicated Forms
مُلاحَظة
root: ل-ح-ظ / noun / plural: مُلاحَظات / definition: observation
The title might appear somewhat complex, but this topic is just plain cool.
If you’ve been keeping up with the Arabic Observations series, you might remember the post Arabic Observations: Doubled Roots, where we looked at the properties and meanings of roots such as ع-س-ع-س and د-ن-د-ن and ب-ء-ب-ء.
And now, it’s time to share another one of my observations: some of these reduplicated roots have duplicated versions.
Continue reading “Arabic Observations: Duplicated Roots with Reduplicated Forms”Wehr Wednesdays #50
A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
Five Arabic Verbs for “to Include”
تَرادُف
root: ر-د-ف / noun / definition: synonymity
It’s hard to believe: it’s almost been a full year since I started posting on The Arabic Pages, and Wehr Wednesdays #49 was our 100th post! (Most surprising is that I’ve kept up with two posts a week. Two!)
As for today’s post—a.k.a. #101—we’re diving into another edition of the synonyms series with five Arabic verbs for “to include”.
Continue reading “Five Arabic Verbs for “to Include””Wehr Wednesdays #49
A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
Comparing the Grammar of Arabic Comparison Particles
مُقارَنة
root: ق-ر-ن / verbal noun of form III / plural: مُقارَنات / definition: comparison
A while back, on The Arabic Pages‘ Instagram page, I received a brilliant idea for a post: to explain the differences between several comparison words which include كَ.
It’s not something that I’d given too much thought to before, but I’ve since realised how confusing these words may seem—so I guess this post is much needed!
Continue reading “Comparing the Grammar of Arabic Comparison Particles”Wehr Wednesdays #48
A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
Learning Arabic Through Poetry
شِعْر
root: ش-ع-ر / noun / plural: أَشْعار / definition: poetry
In the course of my language learning journey, I’ve found that going through Arabic texts and looking up each unfamiliar word is a really great way to pick up vocabulary.
And what helps is if you encounter those pieces of vocabulary in interesting contexts.
Continue reading “Learning Arabic Through Poetry”Wehr Wednesdays #47
A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
How to Use the Arabic Phrase “مِن قِبَلِ”
فاعِل
root: ف-ع-ل / noun / definition: subject (e.g. of a verb)
It’s no coincidence that I included “مِن قِبَلِ” in the very first Small but Useful Arabic Phrases That You Need To Know post. And because this phrase is so helpful, I thought it was worth making a post explaining how and when to use it.
Continue reading “How to Use the Arabic Phrase “مِن قِبَلِ””
The Arabic Pages 