Egyptian Self-Taught/The Grammar of Arabic
THE GRAMMAR OF ARABIC.
Remarks.
Arabic is a very rich language with numerous synonyms, so much so that it has been described by a wag as a language in which every word has its own meaning and exactly the opposite, and a third meaning of some kind of camel. Fortunately for the common needs of life, Arabic-speaking people are content with an ordinary vocabulary, and even the educated reserve the richness of their mother-tongue for special occasions. The appalling thirteen forms of the verb of grammarians dwindle in practice to the intransitive, transitive, and an impersonal form, with occasionally a passive form, and prepositions are considered sufficient without the inflection of the various cases. Again, the student has the building-up of a vocabulary made more easy for him, by fairly consistent changes which are made in the roots to express various ideas.
THE VERB.
The root form is that of the 3rd person singular of the past tense of the verb.
From this is formed most regularly a word which means the place or time of performing the action indicated by the root form.
Thus, katab (he wrote) makes maktab (the place of writing, i.e., the office). Khazan (he treasured up) makes makhzan (the place of storing, hence our "magazine"). Sām (he fasted) makes māusim (the time of fasting, hence our word "monsoon"). Rakab (he rode) makes merkeb (a ship). Sharab (he drank) makes mashrab (the drinking- place), used in the form of mashrabīch, the lattice-work round native windows. Shorbah (properly shorbat), a drink (Eng. "sherbet"), is another derivative from this root.[1]
The past participle of a verb is also regularly formed, and can be used like an adjective.
| Thus, from | katab,he wrote, | maktūb, written. |
| ,, | shagal, he worked, 'mashghūl, busy. | |
| ,, | fataḥ, he opened, | maftūḥ, opened. |
| ,, | fehem, he understood, | mafhūm, understood. |
The intransitive verb is made transitive by doubling the medial letter; thus, shaghal, he worked; shaghghal, he made to work.
The impersonal form is constantly used as it is in French, and is formed by prefixing the sound of yit. Yítfáteh, it is opened (compare Il s'ouvre in French); yitghísil, it is washed.
Auxiliary Verbs.
| PRESENT OR FUTURE | |||
| ana akūn, | I will be or become (German werde) | eḥna nekūn, | we, &c. |
| inta, tekūn, | thou, &c. | intum tekūnu, | you, &c. |
| huwa yekūn, | he, &c. | humma yekunu, | they, &c |
| PAST. | |||
| ana kunt, | I was or became. | ehna kunna, | we, &c. |
| inta kunt, | intum kuntu, | ||
| huwa kān, | humma kānu. | ||
There is no verb corresponding to I am. It is omitted. Thus, ana mabsūt, I am contented; hmwa faqīr, he is poor.
I have, &c., is formed with the preposition 'and (near) and the personal pronouns, as
| 'andi, | I have. | 'andena, | we have. |
| 'andak, | thou hast. | 'andehum, | you have. |
| 'andu, | he has. | 'andehum, | they have. |
I had is kān 'andi, (there was near me) ; and similarly for the other persons.
General Formation of Tenses.
An ordinary verb—katab, he wrote—is here given, and all the verbs are formed similarly:—
| katab, | he wrote, | kātib, | writing, | maktūb, | written. |
| PRESENT OR FUTURE. | ||
| ana aktib, | I write or will write, | ehna niktib, |
| inta tiktib, | intum tiktibu, | |
| huwa yiktib, | humma yiktibu. | |
| PAST. | ||
| ana katábt, | I wrote. | ehna katábna, |
| inta katdbt, | intum katábtu, | |
| huwa katab, | humma katabu. | |
| IMPERFECT. | ||
| ana hunt aktib, | I was writing. | ehna kunna niktib, |
| inta kimt tiktib, | intum kuntu tiktibu, | |
| huwa kān yiktib, | humma kdnu yiktibu. | |
| PLUPERFECT. | ||
| ana hunt katábt, | I had written. | ehna kunna katábna, |
| inta kunt katábt, | intum kuntu katábtu, | |
| huwa kān katab, | humma kānu katabu. | |
Nearly all imperatives are formed uniformly, as Iktib—Write! Imsik—Take hold of! Imshi—Walk! or Go! Iftaḥ—Open! From masak, māshi, fatah.
A form to express present action, to distinguish the present from the future, is often used, the present being given the prefix bi. Thus,
| ana baktib, | I am writing (now), |
| inta bitiktib, | |
| huwa biyiktib, &c. |
The verbs call for no further remark beyond the fact that there is a feminine form of the 3rd person sing., present and past tense. Thus, "she writes," hīya tiktib instead of yiktib; "she wrote," hīya katabet instead of katab; similarly, "she was," kānet instead of kan. Collective nouns also take this feminine singular form; as El gemāl tākul, the camels eat.
THE PRONOUN.
Except when governing the verb or as the subject of a sentence, the forms of personal pronouns ana, inta, huwa, &c., are not used, but another form as in 'andi, I have, quoted above; similarly, taḥti, under me, ganbi, by my side.
To express possession the word bit'a, belonging to, is used. Thus,
| bit'ai, mine, | bit'aak, thine, | bit'a-u, his, |
| bit' ana, ours, | bit'akum, yours, | bit'ahum, theirs. |
But, unless it is intended to lay stress on the possessive, this word is generally replaced by the suffix. Thus,
| milki, my property; | wishak, your face; | riglu, his leg, &c. |
The dative form of the personal pronoun is made with the prefix l:—
| lī, to me, | lak, to thee, | lu, to him, |
| lena, to us, | lakum, to you, | lahum, to them. |
FORMATION OF PLURALS.
The regular form of plural is made by the addition of -īn to masculine words and -āt to feminine. The feminine word generally ends in ة (see p. 10) and is transcribed as ah when it is a simple noun and īeh when a derivative noun. It therefore causes little difficulty, and being feminine in accordance with previously conceived ideas on the subject, one is not troubled with unreasonable genders. As a set-off to this, the plurals of nouns disport themselves under so many guises that the above rule of adding -īn and -āt is chiefly of use in the formation of the plurals of adjectives and of feminine derivative nouns. The plurals of nouns[2] ring the following kinds of changes, and each must be learnt as an exception. For instance:
| Sing. | Plur. | Sing. | Plur. |
| shibāk, a window, | shebabīk. | fūtah, a towel, | fowāt. |
| gebel, a mountain, | gebāl. | heytah, a wall, | heytān. |
| merkeb, a ship, | merákib. | walad, a boy, | āulād. |
| beyt, a house, | beyūt. | ḥakīm, | a doctor, ḥukama. |
The dual form is obtained by adding -eyn; thus, rāgil, a man; rāgileyn tāyyibeyn, two good men.
THE DEFINITE ARTICLE.
The definite article el, the, is repeated with a qualifying adjective. Thus el geysh el kebīr, the large army. It has no feminine or plural form. Before certain letters el suffers elision and duplicates the initial letter of the following word. Thus, en nār, the fire; esh shems, the sun.
THE NEGATIVE.
The negative is peculiar. "Not" is mush, compounded of ma, not, and shey, a thing, and can be separated like ne pas in French.
Thus, "I know" is ana'aref; "I don't know," ana ma'arefsh or manīsh 'aref, or simply mush 'aref.[3]
THE ADJECTIVE.
Comparative and Superlative.
The forms are regular, and as follows:−
ḥasan, good (beautiful); aḥsan, better; el aḥsan, the best.
shāter, clever; ashter, cleverer; el ashter, the cleverest.
ketīr, many (much); aktir, more; el aktir, most
(classical, el aksir, hence "elixir").
kebīr, great; akbar, greater; el akbar, greatest.
e.g., Allāhu 'l akbar! God is the greatest !
Genders.
The feminine of adjectives is formed by adding the letter hey.
Thus, the feminine form of the above words becomes ḥasanah, shātirah, ketīrah, &c.
The adjectives of colour are peculiar; e.g.,
abiad, white; (fern.) beyda.
āḥmar, red; (fem.) ḥamara (hence Alhambra).
A list of these is given on page 34.
POLITE DICTION.
It is not impolite, as in most European languages, to use the 2nd person singular; but it is usual in speaking to equals to use the word ḥāderet, presence. Thus, instead of inta, thou, and huwa, he, one says politely ḥādrétak, ḥādrétu. It is not necessary when the expression used is in itself polite; as, Min fadlak, Please! Kattar kheyrak, Thank you! Allāh yeḥfázak, God keep you! Nehārak sa, īd, Good morning! Leyltak sa'īdah, Good evening!
If the person addressed is of much higher rank, the word sa'adetak or sa'adetkum should be used, and pronounced sa'ādtak, sa'ādtkum.
It is well to be familiar with the expressions by which God is invoked. Thus, Allah! is often 'used during a pause in conversation; Bismillah! In the name of God! (on starting work or a journey); Insha, Allah! Please God I (used constantly for perhaps); Masha, Allah! an expression of surprise or admiration (in the latter case with the intention of avoiding the evil eye). Yallah! By God! (used always for "Go on!" "Let us proceed! " &c.).[4]
On entering a room or house, one is addressed with the words Marḥabba! (Welcome!) or more cordially with Āhlan wa'sāhlan! (Make yourself at home!).
As a rule, the expression Salām' aleykum! (Peace be upon you!) is reserved by Mohammedans for Mohammedans, but if used to a Christian or other should be answered by 'Aleykum es salām! (On you be peace!).
Politeness requires that on all occasions of making an offer of a seat, cigarette, coffee, &c., the word Itfáddal (Be gracious) must be used as a preliminary.
- ↑ It is interesting to note the number of Arabic words that have been Imported into the English language, besides the above and the well-known forms generally beginning with al or el', alchemy, almanac, alembic, elixir, algebra—the last from an Arab mathematician with the appellation of Al Gebbār, the giant. Thus, many less distinctive words are found, such as admiral, arsenal, to drab, to booze, ghoul, zany, popinjay, bug (not indigenous to England). The introduction of these into our language is probably due to the Crusaders. The soldiers of later days are responsible for a great many Hindustani words in current use in our colloquial language, such as to crab (military term from Arabic root kharab), club, punch, bobbery, So long! and numerous others.
- ↑ And of some adjectives.
- ↑ In the Sudan the form is ma b'aref, and is more correct Arabic. Egyptian S.-T. 5"
- ↑ Wallah! is a form of oath for By God!"