Arabic: An Essential Grammar

َأْل َب ْيـ ُت ْل َوا ِس ُع^

al-baytu l-wa ̄si



u, the large house

َب ْي ٌت َوا ِس ٌع baytun wa ̄si



un, a large house OR A house is large.

Note a: The

alif (^) ا of the definite article in ْل َوا ِس ُع... ... l-wa ̄si

u in the first of
the two sentences above is elided in pronunciation after a vowel (discussed in
chapter 9 dealing with was
̇
lah).
Note b: There is no formal difference between the predicative and attributive
construction of an adjective when the head noun is indefinite (compare the
translations of the second sentence in the above pair).
Note c: Again, when the combination of the letter لـ... /l/ followed by


alif ا
is written as لا, or ..ـلا /la ̄/, the same principle is applied as when لـ.. /l/ is
followed by


alif with hamzatu l-qat
̇

i أ, i.e. لأ /l...


/ (refer to chapter 6).
Exercises
Practise your reading:
1
ُمَلـَقْلَأ
2

. ٌليِوَط

(1)

al-qalamu t

̇

awı

• lun.
  1
  The pen (is)
  2
  long.

1

ُمـَعـْطـَمـْلَأ

2

. ٌعـِساَو

(2)

al-mat

̇



amu wa ̄si



un.

1

The restaurant (is)

2

large.

َتـْنَأ

1

ٌبـِلاـَط

2

. ٌلِقاَع

(3)

anta t

̇

a ̄libun



a ̄qilun.

You (m.) (are)

2

a reasonable

1

student.

1

؟َوُه / َيِه َنْيَأ

(4)

ayna hiya / huwa.

1

Where (is) she/he?

مُّلأَُأْ^

al-

ummu, the mother َأْ َلأ َم ُل

al-

amalu, the hope

ًأْ َلأ ِمي ُر

al-

amı

• ru, the commander,

the prince

لأ ْخ ُتَُأْ^

al-

uh

̆

tu, the sister

Definite

article,

nominal

and verbal

sentences,

adjectives

34