DIALECTS

Arabic is the dominant language spoken in the Middle East. Arabic varies between the different countries of Middle East, making numerous dialects. Arabic dialects will not only vary per country but between different regions in the countries. The most commonly known dialect is the Egyptian dialect.

RULES OF THE LANGUAGE

Arabic reads from right to left. Arabic uses masculine and feminine words. Although Arabic is generally simple, the system of plurals are a bit more complicated. Arabic uses a system of symbols to create short vowel sounds called harakat. Harakat arent always written or printed. Arabic letters have four forms, since they are written in one line. The four forms Arabic letters appear in are singular, initial, median, and final.

RULES OF THE LANGUAGE

MASCULINE & FEMININE

FEMININE WORDS
Feminine words in Arabic will usually be considered one of two categories, although there are a few that dont. The first will of course refer to females or groups of females.
The second are words that end in the letter Ta Marbuta (), which makes the eh sound.

MASCULINE WORDS
Most nouns that dont fall into either category are male. The exceptions include countries or natural features like the sun )(-shmems or a desert ((-sahra.

RULES OF THE LANGUAGE

ROOTS

Arabic uses a system of roots for creating words. The roots are usually made of three consonants. For example:
The root //( K/T/B) Kitab: book Maktab: office Maktaba: library

All of the words that came from the root (K/T/B) have to do with books and writing.

RULES OF THE LANGUAGE

PLURALS

PLURALS MADE WITH SUFFIXES

Suffix plurals vary by whether the word is masculine or feminine .
The suffix t is added to feminine words after the end ah sound is extended:

- siyarrah (car) - siyarraat (cars) The suffix in or un will be added to the masculine words to make them plural. -mudarris (teacher) -mudarrisun (teachers)

RULES OF THE LANGUAGE

PLURALS THE BROKEN PLURAL With the broken plural, the vowels in the middle of the word will be changed, like how tooth becomes teeth. There are multiple patterns that are used to create broken plurals. For example: kelb (dog) becomes keelab (dogs). This uses the fial pattern of adding an ee sound after the first consonant then a sort a between the second and third.

PRONOUNS
The pronouns and In Arabic are divided into masculine and feminine forms, depending on whether the person in question is male or female.

Me/I Male Pronunciation Female Pronunciation ana ana

You * anta * anti

He/She/it huwa hiya

We nahnu nahnu

They hum hunna

*These words appear similar, because the harakat are absent, but they have different pronunciation.

MOON AND SUN

SUN

The word the in Arabic is the prefix -al. Certain words such as -siyarra)car( and -teen)fig( start with what are known as sun letters. Words that start with sun letters make the l in al silent. After the l is made silent the sun letter in question will have its sound elongated, -assiyarra, -atteen. THE SUN LETTERS

MOON AND SUN

MOON

In Arabic moon letters are letters that when the prefix is added, both the word and the prefix remain the same -bayt (house) -elbayt (the house). Moon letters

THE ARABIC ALPHABET

ALIF a,eh,i RA r ZAYN z FA f BA b SEEN s QAFF q KAFF k TA t SHEEN sh LAM l THA th AD m JEEM j AD n A AH HA h KHA kh DHA WOW w,o,u DAL d DHAL dh AYN a YA y,ee, GHAIN gh

MEEM NOON

References
Easy Arabic Grammar Jane Wightwick & Mahmoud Gaafar Easy Arabic Script Jane Wightwick & Mahmoud Gaafar The Rosetta Stone Arabic Level 1-3 Rosetta Stone (computer software) Various textbooks over the years Primary sources (dad, teachers, tutors, T.V.)