Tag Archives: arabic

Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #7

مُؤَلِّف root: ء-ل-ف / noun / plural: مُؤَلِّفون / definition: author, writer We’re adding to the literature translation series this week—it’s been a while!—with a short excerpt from عائد إلى حيفا (Returning to Haifa) by غسان كنفاني (Ghassan Kanafani).

Academic Pursuits

مَسْعى root: س-ع-ي / noun / plural: مَساعٍ / definition: pursuit, endeavour It’s been over a year since my last update about my language learning journey, where I wrote about all the uncertainties surrounding my return to the formal study of Arabic. And the reason I haven’t given any updates until now is that myContinue reading “Academic Pursuits”

Arabic Verbs for “to Look at”

بَصَر root: ب-ص-ر / noun / plural: أَبْصار / definition: sight I’m feeling really refreshed as I start this post (perhaps thanks to taking Friday off work and having a little time to breathe)! And as you’ve figured out from the title, it’s another addition to our synonyms series. Oh, I can’t explain just howContinue reading “Arabic Verbs for “to Look at””

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.

Arabic Headline Analysis #6

شَهر root: ش-ه-ر / noun / plural: أَشهُر or شُهور / definition: month Seeing as it’s the first week of Ramadan (!رمضان مبارك)—and hopefully it still is by the time I finish this post—I’ve chosen a fitting headline to analyse in our latest addition to the series. Let’s begin our word-by-word vocabulary and grammar explanationContinue reading “Arabic Headline Analysis #6”

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.

Dissertation Topic Ideas for Arabic Language Students

رِسالة root: ر-س-ل / noun / plural: رَسائِل or رِسالات / definition: dissertation I remember—back in autumn 2018, starting my final year of BA Arabic and Linguistics—I was searching for dissertation ideas. I’m not sure why I was surprised, given the general lack of specific resources for Arabic students, but I didn’t find anything helpfulContinue reading “Dissertation Topic Ideas for Arabic Language Students”