Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #8

سيرة

root: س-ي-ر / noun / plural: سِيَر / definition: biography

For this post in the literature translation series, we’ll be going word-by-word through a non-fiction excerpt, taken from بغداد: سيرة مدينة (Baghdad: Biography of a City) by the Iraqi writer نجم والي (Najem Wali).

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How to Say “Both” in Arabic

اِثنانِ

root: ث-ن-ي / noun / definition: two

We might know of some different ways to say “all of“, but do we know how to say “both” when we’re dealing with dual nouns in Arabic? Let’s take a look at how it’s done!

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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 little deeper, I realised that there were a few little exceptions and special cases! Well, now’s a good a time as ever to delve into the details…

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Root Exploration: ع-ر-ق

زَمَن

root: ز-م-ن / noun / plural: أَزمان / definition: stretch of time

It’s been a long time since our last post in the Root Exploration series. (In all honesty, though, it hasn’t felt long at all to me since I explore roots in the dictionary every day!)

I’ve had a few roots written down in my notes that I’d like to explore in this series but today I sat here—glasses on, laptop on desk, sweet sunshine outside the window to my right—and typed three letters into my Hans Wehr app: ع-ر-ق.

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Arabic Observations: Compound Quadriliteral Arabic Verbs

اِندِماج

root: د-م-ج / verbal noun of form VII / definition: merging

I’m super excited as I begin this post, because not only is it part of my beloved Arabic Observations series, it’s all about quadriliteral roots!

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Different Ways to Say “During” in Arabic

فَترة

root: ف-ت-ر / noun / plural: فَتَرات / definition: interval, period

Sometimes it’s the little things, right? Like those little words you end up using all the time and you’re left craving some variety.

And here I bring you that variety—in the form of a small collection of Arabic synonyms, all meaning “during“.

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كان Plus the Future Tense

مُسْتَقْبَل

root: ق-ب-ل / passive participle of form X / definition: future

On this blog, we’ve previously looked at combining كان with a past tense verb and with a present tense verb—but did you know we can place the future tense directly after كان too?

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