Tag Archives: learning

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”

Four Particles That Mean “So That”

حَرْف root: ح-ر-ف / noun / plural: حُروف / definition: letter, (grammatical) particle It’s never too soon for another synonyms post, so this week we’re taking a look at four different particles we can use to express purpose—they can all be translated as “so that” or “in order to“.

Arabic Observations: the Abstract Noun of a Question?

تَأنيث root: ء-ن-ث / verbal noun of form II / definition: feminisation You might know that, in order to create an abstract noun in Arabic, you can simply feminise a regular noun with the typical ـِيّة ending. Examples include: إنسانِيّة – humanity (derived from إنسان, human) اِشتِراكِيّة – socialism (derived from اِشتِراك, participation) لاشَيئِيّة –Continue reading “Arabic Observations: the Abstract Noun of a Question?”

Arabic Headline Analysis #5

نِقابة root: ن-ق-ل / noun / plural: نِقابات / definition: syndicate, union It’s been a while since the last instalment in the Arabic Headline Analysis series, so we’re back today with another headline from the Project Syndicate website to analyse. (Take a look at this post to find out why this news website is greatContinue reading “Arabic Headline Analysis #5”

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”

Reference: A List of Abbreviations in the Hans Wehr Dictionary

اِخْتِصار root: خ-ص-ر / noun / plural: اِختِصارات / definition: abbreviation So, admittedly, this may not be the most interesting post you’ll read on this blog. But anything that helps with understanding the Hans Wehr dictionary—and, by extension, Arabic—is worth posting, in my opinion.

Arabic Observations: Same Root Letters, Different Sequence

تَرْتيب root: ر-ت-ب / verbal noun of form II / plural: تَرْتيبات / definition: order, sequence I just couldn’t resist another post in the Arabic Observations series this week! (But an in-demand post about the Hans Wehr dictionary is coming soon! Can you guess what it might be?) For this post, we’re taking things downContinue reading “Arabic Observations: Same Root Letters, Different Sequence”

Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #5

شَمس root: ش-م-س / noun / plural: شُموس / definition: sun Welcome back! For our fifth post in the literature translation series, we’re taking a look at an excerpt from the famous novel رجال في الشمس (Men in the Sun) by the Palestinian writer غسان كنفاني (Ghassan Kanafani).

Four Arabic Roots to Express the Phrase “on the Verge of”

أَرْبَعَة root: ر-ب-ع / noun / definition: four We couldn’t go much longer without another synonyms post (even though my posts-to-write list is ever-expanding with other wonderful things)—so this week we’re taking a look at four different roots that we can use to express the meaning of “on the verge of” in Arabic.

Root Exploration: ك-ش-ف

جَذْر root: ج-ذ-ر / noun / plural: جُذور / definition: root I feel a very nerdy rush of excitement as I begin this post, because it’s the first in the new Root Exploration series! In this series of posts, we’re going to take a single Arabic root and explore all of its different forms, derivatives,Continue reading “Root Exploration: ك-ش-ف”