Thursday, June 22, 2017

Introduction to Arabic: Day 4 - Passive Participle Ism al Maf'ul - إسم المفعول

إسم المفعول - Ism/isim al Maf'ul, is an object, or the person who receives the action

We have started with Verb - فعل
From فعل , we will be able to derive the noun or doer from the verb to فاعل
From فعل , we will be able to derive the object or past participle (pp)  from the verb to مفعول, the receiver

In English, we have "write" as the verb , convert to pp , it is "written", it is kind of similar concept in arabic as well.

Similar to The Doer, for  derivation, there are 2 type of rules applied.

  • 3 letters
    • Step 1 - from Madhi, add م at the beginning of the word, the original letter will now have a sukun harakah
    • Step 2 - add at the 2nd last letter, or in other word in between 2nd and 3rd
    • Step 3 - the last harakah now becomes dhommatun


  • >3 letters
    • Step 1- Find out the mudhori' form of the verb
    • Step 2 - Change the letter ي to   م
    • Step 3 - Change the harakah of the 2nd last letter to fathah


Derivation example for > than 3 letters verb

Monday, June 12, 2017

Introduction to Arabic: Day 3 Lesson - Making Nouns from Verb

By now, we know how to get 29 different verbs from one basic or root word given. Moving on...

إِسْمُ الفَاعِل - The Doer

In English, we have the verb derived into noun in these form: 

to write (verb)  >> writer  (person)
to read (verb)   >> reader  (person)

Similar concept applies in Arabic as well.  For 3 letters verb, the scale to follow is from the verb he did, فَعَلَ .  Observe the pattern of the derivation in the image, 

From here, the rule that we can deduce to change a verb to a person (for 3 letters only)
Step 1: add letter alif, ا to the first letter
Step 2: 2nd letter has to be a kasrah in harakah, retain or change the 2nd letter to kasrah 
Step 3: The last letter will have a dhommatun as its harakah

to make the noun female, add ة (ta marbutah) at the last letter

More example: 

    ضَرَبَ    >>      ضَارِبٌ     >>    ضَارِبَةٌ
 The Giver (female)            The Giver (male)                      He gave 


  فَتَحَ     >>      فَاتِحٌ      >>    فَاتِحَةٌ
The Opener (f)          The Opener (m)               He opened

Special verb -  نَاْمَ , he slept
For this one, we need to add a house for the letter alif, as alif alone cannot house a kasrah ... 

If we break down the verb  نَاْمَ , we will get  نَ , ا, م.  Following the steps/rules, we have to add alif to  نَ, make ا alif kasrah ...

 نَاْمَ >> نَائِمٌ                                          قَالَ >> قَائِلٌ

أكَلَ >> آكِل                                           دَرَسَ  >> دَارِسٌ

Making verb into person (doer) from root word with > 3 letters 

Step 1:  Find the مُضَارِع form of the verb 
Step 2: Change the letter ي to م

Example:   
Root word , أَسْلَمَ , means to surrender/he surrendered

Checking the dictionary (or ask the teacher :)) to get the مُضَارِع tense for أَسْلَمَ

(أَسْلَمَ  (ماضِي)   -   يُسْلِمُ (مُضَارِع

to make the doer female, just add ةٌ (ta marbuthoh) to the last letter.  مُسْلِمٌ is for male and مُسْلِمَةٌ for female.

More examples :



sorry ... there is a missing dot on the letter ف  in the word فاعل 





Sunday, June 11, 2017

Introduction to Arabic: Practice

The only way to learn is to practice.. thus, I made an effort to write all the pronouns learnt and make columns/tables in my notebook. Then, I just looked up a verb in ماضِي from dictionary or the handout given by Al-Furqan and looked up its relevant مُضَارِع and أَمْرُ.

Some examples ...



I think I had these checked from doing it together in the class.... sorry if there's unintentional mistake :) 

Introduction to Arabic: Lesson #2 - Present Tense مُضَارِع

The class continue for another 3 hours on Day 2....

2nd Lesson : Present Tense مُضَارِع & Command أَمْرُ

المضارع

Present tense form in Arabic is derived from the root word (in ماضِي). It may not follow the same format, thus, we have to look up in the dictionary to be sure that we get the right verb. The Mudhori' always starts with the letter ي followed by similar form of ماضِي.

Example: 

The مُضَارِع for فَعَلَا is يفْعَلُ

General rules to convert from Maadhi to Mudhori'
He is doing, هُوَ يفْعَلُ is the base and we follow this form to derive or conjugate with other pronouns.


Verb Form – مُضَارِع (Mudhori’ )

Pronouns – (Dhomair) ضَمَائِر

My Notes
أَفْعَلُ
أَنَا

Start from the root word in mudhori'. Replace letter ي with أَ at the beginning of the verb;
يَفْعَلُ  becomes  أَفْعَلُ
نَفْعَلُ
نَحْنُ

Replace letter ي with نَ at beginning of the verb;
يَفْعَلُ  becomes  نَفْعَلُ
تَفْعَلُ
أَنْتَ

Replace letter ي with تَ at beginning of the verb;
يَفْعَلُ  becomes  تَفْعَلُ
تَفْعَليِن
أنتِ

Follow format of anta, add suffix يِنَ at last letter
تَفْعَلُ becomes تَفْعَليِن
تَفْعَلاَنِ
أَنْتُمَا

Follow format of anta, add suffix اَنِ at last letter
تَفْعَلُ becomes تَفْعَلاَنِ
تَفْعَلُوْنَ
أَنْتُمْ

Follow format of anta, add suffix ون at last letter
تَفْعَلُ becomes تَفْعَلُوْنَ
تَفْعَلْنَ
أنْتُنَّ

Follow format of anta, add suffix ن at last letter, make the last letter with harakah sukun
تَفْعَلُ becomes تَفْعَلْنَ
يَفْعَلُ
هُوَ

This is the root word that we start with, it will not change. We use this as basis for others
تَفْعَلُ
هِيَ

هِيَ Always follow the form of anta, أَنْتَ
يَفْعَلَانِ
هُمَا

Follow the form from 2nd person أَنْتُمَا, change the prefix letter تَ to ي
تَفْعَلاَنِ becomes يَفْعَلَانِ
يَفْعَلُوْنَ
هُمْ

Follow the form from 2nd person أَنْتُمْ, change the prefix letter تَ to ي
تَفْعَلُوْنَ becomes يَفْعَلُوْنَ
يَفْعَلْنَ
هُنَّ

Follow the form from 2nd person أنْتُنَّ, change the prefix letter تَ to ي
تَفْعَلْنَ becomes  يَفْعَلْنَ

الامر

The command أمر only applies to 2nd person. Thus, we will get only 5 derivation words from the root for أمر . The root word for أمر refers to pronoun أَنْتَ. We always starts أمر with letter ا alif.  


Verb Form – أمر (Amr )

Pronouns – (Dhomair) ضَمَائِر

My Notes
إِفْعَلْ
أَنْتَ

This is the root word that we start with, it will not change. We use this as basis for others. Note that for أمر, the root word is always ending with sukun
إِفْعَلِي
أنتِ

Follow format of anta, add suffix يِ at last letter
إِفْعَلَا
أَنْتُمَا

Follow format of anta, add suffix اَ at last letter
إِفْعَلُوا
أَنْتُمْ

Follow format of anta, add suffix وا at last letter
إِفْعَلْنَ
أنْتُنَّ

Follow format of anta, make the last letter with harakah sukun, add suffix ن at last letter

At this point, we can see the pattern of the derivation or conjugation.  In summary, the following rules apply: 

ماضِي  and أمر :  suffix added to the root word
مُضَارِع : Prefix and or suffix add to the root word

We can see commonality in the ruling as well: 

Letter ا (alif) added for  هُمَا + أَنْتُمَا
Letter و (wau) added for هُمْ + أَنْتُمْ
Letter ن (nun) added for هُنَّ + أنْتُنَّ

That's all for the next 3 hours on day 2.  Spent with revision and practices to ensure we have good understanding... 

Our class - dominated by women. Truly international 

Introduction To Arabic - Intensive Class

Alhamdulillah, this Ramadhan I was blessed with the opportunity to learn (and revise a bit) basic understanding on Arabic Language.

It was a 24-hours intensive course, broken down into 3 hours spread over 8 days. Dr Mu'tasem Am Ali, a Palestinian who holds a PhD (UM) in Teaching Arabic to Non-Native speakers using the methods he developed from his studies. It was a very rewarding, well-spent 24-hours, Alhamdulillah. The course was offered by Al Furqan Academy, TTDI.

The Arabic that we had learnt was called Fusha, a classical arabic, based on Quran.  The most important thing to learn in Arabic (and many other languages) is know how to do derivation or conjugation, in arabic it is called Ishtiqaq (اشتقاق ).  Understanding of this concept will give us the knowledge to derived more words from one given/learnt/known root word, mainly verbs.

1st Lessson - Pronouns - ضَمَائِر
There are altogether 14 pronouns used. However, for this course, we learnt 12 most commonly used in Quran.   The 12 pronouns that are important to remember: 



ضَمَائِر  Pronouns (in Arabic)
Pronouns (in English)
Meaning
انا
Ana
I , 1st person
نحن
Nahnu
We, 1st person
انت
Anta
You, M (Male), 2nd person
أنتِ
Anti
You, F(Female), 2nd person
انتما
Antuma
You, 2F/2M/1M&1F, 2nd person
انتم
Antum
You, Group (G), All M/F/M&F, 2nd person
أنْتُنَّ
Antunna
You, Group of Female only, 2nd person
هُوَ
Hu-wa
He , 3rd person
هِيَ
Hi-ya
She, 3rd person
هُمَا
Hu-maa
They, 2F/2M/1M&1F, 3rd person
هُمْ
Hom (like home)
They, Group (G), All M/F/M&F, 3rd person
هُنَّ
Hunna
They, group of female only, 3rd person


 I had also put this in simpler form ... as per the table below.  


انا
I, Me

هُوَ
He
نحن
We
هِيَ
She
انت
You, M
هُمَا
They, 2P
أنتِ
You, F
هُمْ
They, G
انتما
You, 2P
هُنَّ
They, G F
انتم
You, G

أنْتُنَّ
You, G F

   
From Pronouns we moved on to the next topic - VERBS

In Arabic, there are 3 forms of tenses that are important for us to remember: 

Past Tense -  ماضِي    (Maadhi)
Present Tense - مُضَارِع   (Mudhori')
Command - أَمْرُ  (Amru/Amir)

We then must learn how to make the verbs go into the pronouns.  The verb that is commonly use to demonstrate the how to "He did", which is in ماضِي form.  The basic or root word is normally given in ماضِي  form.  From here, we can find out what is the مُضَارِع أَمْرُ form as well. This can be looked up in the dictionary.   Find Arabic-English dictionary that will give all 3 forms in the table form.  Always start looking at the ماضِي form. 

He did is  فَعَلَ (fa'ala).  The verb "فَعَلَ" changes its form as it goes together with the pronouns. Arabic verbs always tell gender and the number of people/objects that we are talking about (Singular, 2 Persons, Plural)    
Verb Form –  ماضِي (Maadhi )
Pronouns – (Dhomair) ضَمَائِر

My Notes
فَعَلْتُ
أَنَا

Add تُ (tu) at the end of the verb and make the last letter of the verb sound as “sukun”;
 تُ + فَعَلْ  -
(in this case “fa’ala” becomes “fa’al)
فَعَلْنَا
نَحْنُ

Add نَا at the end of the verb; last letter of the verb a sukun;
 نَا + فَعَلْ 
فَعَلْتَ
أَنْتَ

 تَ + فَعَلْ     
فَعَلْتِ
أنتِ

 تِ + فَعَلْ
فَعَلْتُمَا
أَنْتُمَا

   تُمَا + فَعَلْ
فَعَلْتُمْ
أَنْتُمْ

تُم + فَعَلْ
فَعَلْتُنَّ
أنْتُنَّ

تُنَّ + فَعَلْ
فَعَلَ
هُوَ

This is the root word that we start with, it will not change. We use this as basis for others
فَعَلَتْ
هِيَ

Follow the basic word and just add تْ  (ta sukun) at the end
تْ + فَعَلَ
فَعَلَا
هُمَا

 ا + فَعَلَ
فَعَلُوا
هُمْ

وا + فَعَل
Change the harakah of the last letter to dhommah and add وا
فَعَلْنَ
هُنَّ

Change the harakah of the last letter to sukun and add نَ
نَ + فَعَل

The notes that I had written described the rules of conjugation, how the root word, the verb in   ماضِيform is then derived into new verb following the pronouns that should be applied to it.  For the verb  ماضِي , we always , always add something at the back of the root verb (suffix). 

End of  Day 1 lesson.  Practice the derivation/conjugation using other verbs... using the following empty table ... example: 

ماضِي
ضَمَائِر

أَنَا

نَحْنُ

أَنْتَ

أنتِ

أَنْتُمَا

أَنْتُمْ

أنْتُنَّ
أَكَلَ
هُوَ

هِيَ

هُمَا

هُمْ

هُنَّ