Arabic/Formal

Alphabet

• أ
• ب
• ت
• ث
• ج
• ح
• خ
• د
• ذ
• ر
• ز
• س
• ش
• ص
• ض
• ط
• ظ
• ع
• غ
• ف
• ق
• ك
• ل
• م
• ن
• ه
• و
• ي

Nouns

طالب Student
استاذ Professor
كتاب Book
مطعم Restaurant
سيارة Car
بيت House
جامعة University
طبيب Doctor
مطبخ kitchen
مدرسة school

People's names

• Mohamed : محمد
• Sarah : سارة
• Faisal : فيصل
• Chaimae : شيماء
• Youssef : يوسف
• Leila : ليلى
• Hassan : حسن

Definite Article

The use of definite articles in Arabic can completely change the use of the word. ال (Alif Lam) is the definite article in Arabic. This is the equivalent to the English "the". Without the definite article ال the noun will become either two things. كتاب (book), is displayed indefinite and can mean either "a book (one book)" or just "book". An example of كتاب used without the definite article is: "Do you have a book?" "I want one book." "I like that book"

Definite: الطالب قرا الكتاب The student read the book الكتاب
Indefinite: اريد ان اقرا كتاب I want to read a book كتاب

Feminine & Masculine

Every noun in Arabic is either feminine or masculine. The general rule for feminine words are that they end in the letter ة. There are words that don't end in ة but are still feminine; but, there are no words that end in ة that are masculine. Non proper nouns like book كتاب and house بيت always remain either masculine or feminine. But others like student طالب and teacher استاذ that are actual living beings that differ in gender differ in spelling. A male student would be a طالب while a female student would be a طالبة. To differ between genders, add a ة to designate that the person is a female, and drop the ة to designate that the person is masculine.

طالب Student (male)
طالبة Student (female)
استاذ Teacher (male)
استاذة Teacher (female)
صديق Friend (male)
صديقة Friend (female)
طبيب Doctor (male)
طبيبة Doctor (female)

Adjectives

جميل Beautiful
كبير Big
بارد Cold
صغير Small
حار Hot
In Arabic, an adjective also is either masculine or feminine depending on the gender of the noun being described. ة is used at the end of adjectives if the noun is feminine, and the ة is dropped when the noun is masculine.

البيت الكبير The big house
السيارة الجميلة The beautiful car
المطعم الصغير The small restaurant
NOTE: The adjective comes after the noun in this context

When connecting nouns and adjectives (i.e.: the teacher is big), use either هي or هو .هو means either "he" or "is (masculine)". هي means either "she" or "is (feminine)".
الاستذة هي صغيرة The teacher is small
السيارة هي جديدة The car is new
البيت هو جميل The house is beautiful
محمد هو كبير Muhammad is big

Pronouns

انا I (me)
انت You (enta = masculine, enti = feminine)
هو He
هي She
انتم You (plural)
نحن We

When connecting these pronouns with adjectives, there is no connector needed. انت جميلة You are beautiful. Connectors consist of "is" "are" which occur in the middle of a sentence.

Possessive Pronouns

To express possession upon an object or noun, Arabic uses suffixes. The suffixes remain the same for all nouns.

Using the noun كتاب memorize these basic possessive pronouns.

كتاب Book
كتابي My book
كتابك Your book
كتابه His book
كتابها Her book
كتابكم Your (plural) book
كتابنا Our book

Verbs

Like many other languages, Arabic conjugates verbs through numerous prefixes and suffixes. When displaying a verb, the verb will most likely be conjugated in all tenses as هو. So before using these verbs, be sure you know how to correctly conjugate them. Using the verb كتب, memorize these conjugations. Notice how each conjugation has كتب in it.

اكتب I write
تكتب She writes / You (male) write
تكتبين You (female) write
يكتب He writes
نكتب We write
تكتبون You (plural {masculine & feminine}) write
يكتبون They (masculine & feminine) write

اريد I want
احب I like
اذهب I go
اقرا I read
اشاهد I watch
اكل I eat
ادرس I study
استمع I listen