The Arabic Pages

Wehr Wednesdays #64

A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.

Root Exploration: م-و-ه

بَسيط

root: ب-س-ط / adjective / definition: simple

What can we get from the root of a word as simple as “water”? In Arabic, quite a lot!

Here we are, with the second post in the Root Exploration series, and this time we’re taking a look at the root م-و-ه.

Wehr Wednesdays #63

A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.

How to Say “Such” in Arabic

كَيْف

root: ك-ي-ف / interrogative / definition: how

One thing I’ve noticed about myself since starting this blog is that I can never definitively plan out the order of my posts—I post what I feel like writing that day (well, night, usually), whether I noted down the topic months ago or just thought of the idea.

This post’s topic happens to be one I wrote down many months ago, when I came across a construction that I don’t remember seeing before.

Wehr Wednesdays #62

A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.

Four Particles That Mean “So That”

حَرْف

root: ح-ر-ف / noun / plural: حُروف / definition: letter, (grammatical) particle

It’s never too soon for another synonyms post, so this week we’re taking a look at four different particles we can use to express purpose—they can all be translated as “so that” or “in order to“.

Wehr Wednesdays #61

A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.

Arabic Observations: the Abstract Noun of a Question?

تَأنيث

root: ء-ن-ث / verbal noun of form II / definition: feminisation

You might know that, in order to create an abstract noun in Arabic, you can simply feminise a regular noun with the typical ـِيّة ending.

Examples include:

إنسانِيّة – humanity (derived from إنسان, human)
اِشتِراكِيّة – socialism (derived from اِشتِراك, participation)
لاشَيئِيّة – nothingness (derived from لاشَيء, nothing)

Wehr Wednesdays #60

A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.

Arabic Headline Analysis #5

نِقابة

root: ن-ق-ل / noun / plural: نِقابات / definition: syndicate, union

It’s been a while since the last instalment in the Arabic Headline Analysis series, so we’re back today with another headline from the Project Syndicate website to analyse. (Take a look at this post to find out why this news website is great for language learners!)

Wehr Wednesdays #59

A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.

Three Ways to Say “One of” in Arabic

واحِد

root: و-ح-د / active participle of form I / definition: one

Do you know the different ways to say “one of” in Arabic? It seems quite a simple thing, but I remember that I didn’t actually learn these three ways until my third year of university.

And if you haven’t learnt them yet, keep reading!

Wehr Wednesdays #58

A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.

Reference: A List of Abbreviations in the Hans Wehr Dictionary

اِخْتِصار

root: خ-ص-ر / noun / plural: اِختِصارات / definition: abbreviation

So, admittedly, this may not be the most interesting post you’ll read on this blog. But anything that helps with understanding the Hans Wehr dictionary—and, by extension, Arabic—is worth posting, in my opinion.

Wehr Wednesdays #57

A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.

Arabic Observations: Same Root Letters, Different Sequence

تَرْتيب

root: ر-ت-ب / verbal noun of form II / plural: تَرْتيبات / definition: order, sequence

I just couldn’t resist another post in the Arabic Observations series this week! (But an in-demand post about the Hans Wehr dictionary is coming soon! Can you guess what it might be?)

For this post, we’re taking things down to the root again and looking at words with the same root letters in a different sequence. Could there be any connection between the meanings of these words?

Wehr Wednesdays #56

A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.

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).

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.