Category Archives: grammar explanations

Quadriliteral Active Participles in Arabic

اِسم فاعِل root: ف-ع-ل / phrase / definition: active participle If you’d asked me a week ago, I’d have told you that I lead a somewhat minimalist life—I hate having *things* cluttering up spaces around me which could very well be left empty. (This is, of course, ignoring my book-filled shelves and surfaces—books are entirelyContinue reading “Quadriliteral Active Participles in Arabic”

The Grammar of Using Arabic Numbers

عَدَد root: ع-د-د / noun / plural: أَعْداد / definition: number I remember learning the grammar for using Arabic numbers at university. It seemed fairly simple as there were essentially three sets of rules: one for the numbers 3-10, one for 11-99, and another for whole hundreds, thousands, etc. But when I looked a littleContinue reading “The Grammar of Using Arabic Numbers”

Using كاد

مَشغولة root: ش-غ-ل / passive participle of form I, feminine / definition: busy I’ve finally got round to writing this post, as you can see, five or six months after I mentioned I would in Four Arabic Roots to Express the Phrase “on the Verge of”. But time’s not an issue for us Arabic learners, right?Continue reading “Using كاد”

How to Say “Post-” in Arabic

مَرْحَلة root: ر-ح-ل / noun / plural: مَراحِل / definition: stage, phase Don’t get confused, it’s not البريد (the post, mail) that we’re talking about this week—we’re actually looking at how to create words with the post- prefix, such as: postcolonial, postmodern, post-pandemic, etc.

The Three Types of “If” in Arabic

إمْكانِيّة root: م-ك-ن / noun / plural: إمْكانِيّات / definition: possibility I intended for this week’s post to be a headline analysis or root exploration—neither of which we’ve had in a while. But then someone mentioned they’d like to see a post about the different types of “if” in Arabic, which happens to be oneContinue reading “The Three Types of “If” in Arabic”

Comparing بعض and بضع

تَحْديد root: ح-د-د / verbal noun of form II / definition: specifying The specifiers بَعْض and بِضْع are another example of the “same root letters, different sequence” phenomenon, as they have shared meanings. However, there’s some key differences between the meanings and grammar of these two words that we should know.

Meanings and Uses of غير

اِسْتِعْمال root: ع-م-ل / verbal noun of form X / plural: اِسْتِعْمالات / definition: use, application This week, it’s another grammar explanations post (yay!) which was requested through Instagram. And the question we’re going to answer is: what are the different meanings of the word غير and how can we use it?

An Indefinite Noun Followed by ما

نَكِرة root: ن-ك-ر / noun / definition: indefinite noun It doesn’t feel like we’ve had a grammar explanations post in a while—perhaps because the last two were focused on less-discussed verb forms (interesting stuff for fellow grammar nerds) rather than syntactic structures. So today, we’re going to look at what effect ما has on anContinue reading “An Indefinite Noun Followed by ما”

Arabic Verb Forms XI-XV

أَكْثَر root: ك-ث-ر / comparative, superlative / definition: more, most As you can see, I couldn’t wait too long for another post about Arabic roots following our look at quadriliteral (four-letter-root) verb forms. But this time, we’re going back to triliteral (three-letter) verb forms and exploring the ones above X—i.e. forms XI-XV (yes, they exist!).

Quadriliteral Arabic Verb Forms

وَزْن root: و-ز-ن / noun / plural: أَوْزان / definition: form, pattern We’ve come across some Arabic words from quadriliteral roots before on this blog—that is, roots comprising four letters. And I even went into a little depth about a quadriliteral verb form in Wehr Wednesdays #23. But “a little depth” doesn’t really do itContinue reading “Quadriliteral Arabic Verb Forms”

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 theContinue reading “How to Say “Such” in Arabic”

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, keepContinue reading “Three Ways to Say “One of” in Arabic”

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 alternativeContinue reading “Using سبق أن”

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, butContinue reading “Comparing the Grammar of Arabic Comparison Particles”

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 useContinue reading “How to Use the Arabic Phrase “مِن قِبَلِ””