Tag Archives: vocabulary

What Does مما كان عليه Mean?

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?”

Reading Arabic Literature: Vocabulary Finds

صَفحة root: ص-ف-ح / noun / plural: صَفَحات / definition: a page I brought so many books with me to university and I really thought I’d be spending a lot more time reading Arabic literature during this degree. Alas, my novels have been banished to the dark corner underneath my desk for around two monthsContinue reading “Reading Arabic Literature: Vocabulary Finds”

Listening Resource for Arabic Dialects

العامِّيّة root: ع-م-م / noun / definition: the colloquial language So I’m now seven weeks into this master’s course and we’ve just had our first عامية lesson. It sort of feels like being transported back to the first year of undergrad, except that the stakes are a bit higher now because in a matter ofContinue reading “Listening Resource for Arabic Dialects”

Arabic Vocabulary Resource for Students

مَورِد root: و-ر-د / noun / plural: مَوارِد / definition: resource It’s reading week already—which means this year is going entirely too fast and I’m mildly wildly panicking about what I’m going to do next September. At least, though, I finished writing the first essay that I actually enjoyed researching so far this year. Anyway,Continue reading “Arabic Vocabulary Resource for Students”

What Does إذ Mean and How Do We Use It?

سَبَب root: س-ب-ب / noun / plural: أَسْباب / definition: reason, rationale So many milestones! It’s been two years now since my first post on this blog, where I was pretty much writing for an audience of one (thanks Mum <3). In this time, I’ve received so many messages from you guys—blog readers and fellowContinue reading “What Does إذ Mean and How Do We Use It?”

Three Arabic Words for “Obstacle”

صَعْب root: ص-ع-ب / adjective / definition: difficult Last week’s Wehr Wednesdays post included an Arabic word meaning “obstacle”, which is just one of those words that you’ll use frequently when writing Arabic essays or the like. So I thought why not look at three of the most common Arabic translations for it here? Interestingly,Continue reading “Three Arabic Words for “Obstacle””

How to Form Words with the “Re-” Prefix in Arabic

تَشْكيل root: ش-ك-ل / verbal noun of form II / definition: forming, formation I’ve never been great when it comes to time perception. But I do know that it feels like ages since we last had a grammar post on here (the last was Quadriliteral Active Participles in Arabic, it seems). I can’t stay away fromContinue reading “How to Form Words with the “Re-” Prefix in Arabic”