A question

[USPatriot]

I have always been interested in languages. I learned German from German speaking people and I may try to learn some rudimentary Arabic. My question is - How is the basic sentence structure in Arabic. As you know, in English it is Noun/Verb. What is the structure in Arabic? Also, are there articles such as "is, are"? One last thing, are nouns and verbs declinated with prefixes or suffixes?

[.: Anna :.]

salaam

I will try and answer.....

the sentence order usually has the verb first eg

yaghsul (washes) alwalad (the boy) assayara (the car)

but you can also say

alwalad yaghsul assayara. I think its supposed to be better to have verb first though.

about are and is....in normal sentences like the bag is big or the boy's name is Tariq, you dont have them...

eg...

alhaqiba kabira
ism alwalad Tariq

the difference between saying these sentences eg the bag is big is that is

alhaqiba kabira

but the big bag is....
alhaqiba alkabira
and [b]a[/a] big bag would be
haqiba kabira

if you are saying there is then you say hunaaka eg...

there is a bag on the table

hunaka haqiba alal tawla

hunaka ghrf (rooms) katheera (alot) fi (in) bayti (my house)

in the past tense you do use a verb for to be tho so its like "was"

eg.....

kuntu mareeDHa (I was ill) (the a is cuz I am a girl btw)
Kaan alwalad mareeDH (the boy was ill)
kaanat albint mareeDHa (the girl was ill)

now I will have to admit I dont know what declinated means! :p sorry but it does get pre/suffixes on the verbs so ill just tell you about that....

in a verb there are the 3 root letters to tell the meaning, those by itself are the past singluar male form eg

akl - eat - it means he ate

if you want to change the time and who did it you add pre or suffixes eg in the present

yakl - he eats
takl - she eats
takl - you eat
aakl - i eat
nakl - we eat
yakloo - they eat

in the past...

akl - he ate
aklat - she ate
aklat - you ate (not 100% sure.....if thats right i cant remember sorry)
akltu - i ate
aklnaa - we ate
aklhum - they ate (not 100% on that one either)

nouns just change to make it plural or sometimes to make it feminine eg
attabeeb - the male docter
attabeeba - the female docter

a few plurals....

albint ---> albinat
the girl ----> the girls
alwalad ----> alawlad
the boy ----> the boys
alqalam ----> alaqlam
the pen -----> the pens
alhaqiba ----> alhaqaaib
the bag -----> the bags


Hope I explained that all ok :)

[USPatriot]

Many thanks Anna. It is very helpful.

[.: Anna :.]

Originally posted by USPatriot
Many thanks Anna. It is very helpful. you're welcome :)