حالة root: ح-و-ل / noun / plural: حالات / definition: state, case, condition In the post Treasures in Translation, I used a quote from an article to illustrate a cool translation point—the quote being: وما ينذر بالسوء أن درجة حرارة الأرض أصبحت الآن أعلى مما كانت عليه خلال عصر الهولوسين …and the translation point beingContinue reading “What Does مما كان عليه Mean?”
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Forming “Too X to X” Constructions in Arabic
بَعيد root: ب-ع-د / adjective / definition: far, distant How do we form constructions like “too far away to see” or “too young to understand” in Arabic? Let’s take a look!
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.
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”
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””
Saying “May” or “Might” in Arabic
مُصْطَلَح root: ص-ل-ح / noun / plural: مُصْطَلَحات / definition: term (e.g. linguistic or technical) If you’re studying Arabic, you’ll know that there is usually a plethora of corresponding Arabic terms for each English word—and you’ll also know that a lot of those Arabic words can carry a variety of different meanings based on theContinue reading “Saying “May” or “Might” in Arabic”
Explaining “Although”
تَفسير root: ف-س-ر / verbal noun of form II / plural: تَفاسير / meaning: explanation The phrase “بالرغم مِن أنّ ــــــ إلّا أنّ ـــــــ” means “although”–but how do we actually use it and what goes where?
How to Use (and Love) the Hans Wehr Dictionary
قاموس root: ق-م-س / noun / plural: قَواميس / definition: dictionary If I had started this blog for the purpose of sharing only a single post, it would be this one. You would only have to be studying Arabic for a short while before you’d hear the name “Hans Wehr” flying at you from allContinue reading “How to Use (and Love) the Hans Wehr Dictionary”
The Arabic Pages 