.: Anna :.
04-06-05, 11:26 AM
Last time we learned how to say "This is.." and "That is..." but now we are going to learn how to say what more things are.
The rules are the same as before, we still have no need for a word meaning "is".
The sentence is made up of 2 parts which are known as the subject and the predicate. These strange terms may seem alarming so here is a short explanation of what they mean :
The subject here is basically what the sentence is about. We could say it is the topic of the sentence. When we say "The house is big.", the sentence is telling us something about the house, so the house is known as the subject.
The predicate is simply a word which tells us something about the subject. "Big" in the above sentence is the predicate because it is telling us about the house.
The subject will be a noun (naming word) and if it is not a person's name it should have "Al" at the beginning,(ie names of things such as the table, the book, the man). The predicate should not have "al". Look at the examples below :
الرجلُ فقيرٌ
the man is poor
الكتابُ صغيرٌ
the book is small
المسجدُ حميلٌ
the mosque is beautiful
If the subject is a person's name, we do not have to put "Al" on front of their name as a person's name is already definate by it's nature (ie, if you say "Taariq", you know who you are talking about which makes it something definite in sense) See the following examples :
طارق طالبٌ
Taariq is a student
محمّد مجتهد
Mohammed is hard working
عليّ فقيرٌ
Ali is poor
If both the parts of the sentence were definate, or indefinate (ie when they match) then actually it is no longer a sentence, but it becomes an adjective phrase. An adjective phrase is when you have a noun and adjective together, ie something is being described. An example in English would be "the good book" (definate adjective phrase because it includes the word "the") or "a small tree". (indefinate adjective phrase because it doesnt include the word "the")
Look at the examples below:
الولدُ الصغيرُ
the small boy
البيتُ الكبيرُ
the big house
الطالبُ المجتهدُ
the hardworking student
قلمٌ جميلٌ
a beautiful pen
رجلٌ فقيرٌ
a poor man
مطبخٌ صغيرٌ
a small kitchen
The definate adjective phrases could themselves be used as the subject in an equational sentence. See the following examples.
الطالبُ المجتهدُ فقيرٌ
the hardworking student is poor
البيتُ الكبيرُ جميلٌ
the big house is beautiful
The predicate could also be an indefinate adjective phrase
الكلبُ الصغيرُ كلبٌ شَقِيّ
the small dog is a bad (naughty) dog
الطالبُ الفقيرُ ولدٌ ذكيٌّ
the poor student is a clever boy
We could sum this up with the following formulae (if you like to think in a mathematical way this may help. If it confuses you, please ignore it - people's brains work in different ways!!)
definate noun + indefinate noun = equational sentence
الولدُ طالبٌ
The boy is a student
definate noun + indefinate adjective = equational sentence
الولدُ كبيرٌ
The boy is big
definate noun + definate adjective = definate adjective phrase
الولدُ الكبيرُ
The big boy
indefinate noun + indefinate adjective = indefinate adjective phrase
ولدٌ كبيرٌ
a big boy
definate adjective phrase + indefinate noun = equational sentence
الولدُ الكبيرُ طالبٌ
The big boy is a student
definate adjective phrase + indefinate adjective = equational sentence
الولدُ الكبيرُ ذكيٌّ
The big boy is clever
The rules are the same as before, we still have no need for a word meaning "is".
The sentence is made up of 2 parts which are known as the subject and the predicate. These strange terms may seem alarming so here is a short explanation of what they mean :
The subject here is basically what the sentence is about. We could say it is the topic of the sentence. When we say "The house is big.", the sentence is telling us something about the house, so the house is known as the subject.
The predicate is simply a word which tells us something about the subject. "Big" in the above sentence is the predicate because it is telling us about the house.
The subject will be a noun (naming word) and if it is not a person's name it should have "Al" at the beginning,(ie names of things such as the table, the book, the man). The predicate should not have "al". Look at the examples below :
الرجلُ فقيرٌ
the man is poor
الكتابُ صغيرٌ
the book is small
المسجدُ حميلٌ
the mosque is beautiful
If the subject is a person's name, we do not have to put "Al" on front of their name as a person's name is already definate by it's nature (ie, if you say "Taariq", you know who you are talking about which makes it something definite in sense) See the following examples :
طارق طالبٌ
Taariq is a student
محمّد مجتهد
Mohammed is hard working
عليّ فقيرٌ
Ali is poor
If both the parts of the sentence were definate, or indefinate (ie when they match) then actually it is no longer a sentence, but it becomes an adjective phrase. An adjective phrase is when you have a noun and adjective together, ie something is being described. An example in English would be "the good book" (definate adjective phrase because it includes the word "the") or "a small tree". (indefinate adjective phrase because it doesnt include the word "the")
Look at the examples below:
الولدُ الصغيرُ
the small boy
البيتُ الكبيرُ
the big house
الطالبُ المجتهدُ
the hardworking student
قلمٌ جميلٌ
a beautiful pen
رجلٌ فقيرٌ
a poor man
مطبخٌ صغيرٌ
a small kitchen
The definate adjective phrases could themselves be used as the subject in an equational sentence. See the following examples.
الطالبُ المجتهدُ فقيرٌ
the hardworking student is poor
البيتُ الكبيرُ جميلٌ
the big house is beautiful
The predicate could also be an indefinate adjective phrase
الكلبُ الصغيرُ كلبٌ شَقِيّ
the small dog is a bad (naughty) dog
الطالبُ الفقيرُ ولدٌ ذكيٌّ
the poor student is a clever boy
We could sum this up with the following formulae (if you like to think in a mathematical way this may help. If it confuses you, please ignore it - people's brains work in different ways!!)
definate noun + indefinate noun = equational sentence
الولدُ طالبٌ
The boy is a student
definate noun + indefinate adjective = equational sentence
الولدُ كبيرٌ
The boy is big
definate noun + definate adjective = definate adjective phrase
الولدُ الكبيرُ
The big boy
indefinate noun + indefinate adjective = indefinate adjective phrase
ولدٌ كبيرٌ
a big boy
definate adjective phrase + indefinate noun = equational sentence
الولدُ الكبيرُ طالبٌ
The big boy is a student
definate adjective phrase + indefinate adjective = equational sentence
الولدُ الكبيرُ ذكيٌّ
The big boy is clever