Arabic: An Essential Grammar

35.14 Christian festivals

The Christian year is called ّيـ ُةَس َن ُة  ْلـ ِمي َلا ِدَّ َأل

as-sanatu l-mı ̄la ̄diyyatu

‘the year of the birth (of Christ)’.

Christmas is ِعي ُد ْلـ ِمي َلا ِد



ı-du l-mı-la ̄di.

Easter is ِعي ُد ْل ِف ْص ِح



ı-du l-fis

̇

h

̇

i or ِعي ُد ْل ِق َيا َم ِة



ı-du l-qiya ̄mati.

BC (^) َق ْب َل ْلـ ِمي َلا ِد qabla l-mı-la ̄di AD (^) َب ْع َد ْلـ ِمي َلا ِد ba

da l-m-ıla ̄di
Note: One of the most common festival greetings for both Muslims and
Christians is ِعي ٌد ُم َبا َر ٌك

ı ̄dun muba ̄rakun, which means ‘A blessed feast’.
Exercises
Practise your reading:
1
ُتْظِفَح
2
َسْرَد اًبْيَغ
3
ِدَدَعْل
4
يِف َ ّيِبـيـِتْر َّ تـل
5
ِةَيِداَحـْل ِةَحْف َّ صـل
َنـِم َنيِعَبْرْ َلأَو
6
ِءْزُجـْل
7
ِباَتِكِل ِل َّ وْ َلأ
8
ِدـِعاَوـَق
9
.ِةـ َّ يـِبَرـَعْل ِةـَغـ ُّ لل
(1)
1
I learned
2
by heart (memorized) the lesson on
4
ordinal
3
numbers
on
5
page 41 in the
7
first
6
part of the book on Arabic
9
language
8
grammar.
ٌةَسْمَخ
1
ْنِم ِةَئِمـْلˆِب
2
ِةَنيِدَمـْل ( ٌنِكاَس ) ِنا َّكُس
3
ْنِم v ( ٌّ يِبَنْجَأ ) ُبِناَجَأ
ِرْشَع
4
ٍتا َّ يِسْنِج
5
ْنِم ْمُهْنِم ِةَئِمـْلˆِب ِناَنْثِإ vٍةَفِلَتْخُم
6
ْتَسْيَل ( ٌةَلْوَد ) ٍلَوُد
7
ًةَعِباَت
8

. ُيِبُروْ لأ ِداَح َّ تِْلاِل

(2) Five

1

per cent of

2

the inhabitants of the city are

3

foreigners of ten

5

different

4

nationalities. Two per cent of them are from

6

countries not

7

belonging to the European

8

Union.

1

ُباَتـِك ُف َّ لَأَتـَي

2

ِبَرَعْل ِخـيِراَت

3

ِةَعَبْرَأ ْنـِم ِثيِدَحـْل

4

( ٌءْزُج ) ٍءاَزـْجَأ

ُهـْنـِم ُتْأَرـَق

5

ِنْيَأْزـُجـْل

6

و َل َّ وْ َلأ

ا

َيـِناـ َّ ثـل

7

. ْطَقـَف

(3) The

3

modern Arab

2

history book

1

consists of four

4

volumes. I read

7

only

6

the first and the second

5

parts (volumes).

277

Ordinal

numbers,

fractions,

expres-

sions of

time,

calendars