The Feminine Superlative in Arabic: When to Use It

سوق

root: س-و-ق / noun / plural: أَسْواق / definition: market, bazaar

It’s nearing midnight and I’ve just returned from Souq Waqif having mistakenly ordered a very sugary tea of which I could only drink half before succumbing to the headache and nausea that now strike whenever I consume sugar.

A cup of (very much sugar-free) aniseed tea is keeping me company as I write this post in hopes that it will dilute some of the sweetness clinging to the back of my throat.

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Arabic Headline Analysis #10 and an Invitation to Akkadian Class

دَعْوة

root: د-ع-و / noun / plural: دَعْوات / definition: invitation, call

There’s not much that lifts my spirits like an email from my enthusiastic Akkadian teacher, who reached out a few days back about resuming our language classes in October.

As I’m spending a semester here in Qatar (and drowning in the workload of compulsory and optional classes, plus conducting my PhD research), I’ll inevitably miss the first term. But as for you, well, you should sign up right now.

I’ll tell you why.

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Six Arabic Verbs Meaning “to Prefer”

حُبّ

root: ح-ب-ب / noun / definition: love

Deciding to spend the rest of my year studying in Qatar has come with many immediate benefits.

For one, it motivated me to finally address a major point of procrastination: sorting through the big bag of miscellanea at the foot of my bed which has been sat there for two years too long.

What a relief, at last, to show the door to this uninvited guest I’d been tiptoeing around in my own space.

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Form I Active Participles of Hollow Roots

فَراغ

root: ف-ر-غ / noun / definition: void, emptiness

I’m wrapping up my last week in London for the next few months on the emptiness of fallen-through plans and the urge to claw out a silent space to curl up in and calm my mind.

In the corner of my field of vision, I see my airport clothes laid out on the chair, and I wonder now if it was too soon to pack my pillowcases. (Probably.)

But you know what else is empty? Hollow roots.

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Dictionary Finds: فَوَّزَ

إنْجاز

root: ن-ج-ز / form IV verbal noun / definition: milestone

Have I really written five hundred posts on this blog? It seems so. I would reflect more deeply on this milestone, but there’s an open suitcase on the living room floor with a four-month supply of my various vitamins, four pairs of shoes, enough socks for probably four years—yet only a four-day supply of outfits.

My mind is flicking through my digitalised wardrobe on Indyx as we speak, reminding myself of all that I still need to pack.

I have to tell myself that now is probably not the best time to start researching new languages. (So, Tigrinya and Igbo are currently on pause.)

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Root Exploration: ع-ذ-ب

سِلْسِلة

root: س-ل-س-ل / noun / plural: سَلاسِل / definition: series, chain

Due to an unexpected series of events, I found myself this weekend somewhere I never thought I’d go: mini golf. As it turns out, I’m quite the pro (for a beginner, anyway).

But I bring myself back to more familiar territory now, as we prepare for another dive into the Hans Wehr dictionary.

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Prepositions and Pronoun Suffixes: Pronunciation Shifts

نُطْق

root: ن-ط-ق / noun / definition: pronunciation

We’re probably all aware that Arabic prepositions can take pronoun suffixes to denote the object. For example, we can add the suffix ـكَ (you) to مَعَ (with) to give us مَعَكَ (with you).

However, when we add (certain) pronoun suffixes to certain prepositions, the spelling and pronunciation of the combined form might be different to what we expected. Let’s take a look…

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Arabic’s Chameleon Words: حقّق

حَقّ

root: ح-ق-ق / noun / definition: truth

After I washed down the social anxieties of last week with a few Kalms‘, I woke up this Monday looking ahead to an empty social calendar for the next two weeks. Huh. Feels odd.

Well, it’ll give me some time to work on creating more content for this blog and beyond. And also to start packing for an ever-nearing trip.

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A New Resource and a New Schedule

جَلْسة

root: ج-ل-س / noun / plural: جَلسات / definition: session

I coerced myself into attending an online writing session starting at 10am this morning so the sense of accountability from strangers’ faces in boxes on my screen would push me to finally write up and send off the short article that hadn’t made it past the planning stage for many months.

It worked. By 4pm the article was finished, and I spent the final hour of the session ticking miscellaneous tasks off of my to-do list.

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Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #15

قَيْلولة

root: ق-ي-ل / noun / definition: nap

It must be this autumnal weather that’s breezed into mid-summer like an uninvited guest that has me seeking out daytime naps all of a sudden. Maybe I’m squirrelling away energy so I can cope with the gloom.

But I’ll claw myself away from another micro-hibernation long enough to write this latest addition to the step-by-step literature translation series. Just for you.

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