Arabic Articles, Definite and Indefinite

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Arabic Articles

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You will learn in this lesson: Arabic articles, definite and indefinite articles.

Arabic Definite Articles:

The definite article in Arabic is formed by adding the prefix “al” to the noun, “al” is equal to “the” in English and it should be connected to the noun. Examples: the boy = al walad الولد, the girl = al bent البنت , the house = al bait البيت .

The definite article “al, ال ” is not all the time pronounced as “al”, the “al” would be pronounced as “a” instead of “al” if it precedes one of the following letters: (t - ت , th- ث , d - د , dh- ذ , r- ر , z- ز , s- س , sh- ش , s- ص , d -ض , t - ط , z- ظ , n- ن )

This process is called assimilation. An easy way to make the pronunciation easier, just like the way English does with the indefinite article “a” (a book, but an eagle).

The sky = assamaa السماء (instead of alsamaa) because sky =samaa سماء starts with a (s س which is part of the letters above).

The moon = alqamar القمر , since the letter q ق is not in the list above we can always use the full “al” with it.

Note that the omission of the letter “l” is only in pronunciation and not in writing.

Examples:

Arabic Definite Articles

When the “l” is omitted (assimilation)

When the “l” is not omitted (no assimilation)

The merchant = attajer التاجر (merchant = tajer تاجر )

The notebook = addaftar الدفتر (notebook = daftar دفتر)

The painting = arrasm الرسم (painting = rasm رسم)

The time = azzaman الزمن (time = zaman زمن)

The eagle = annasr النسر (eagle = nasr نسر )

These are just examples of words starting with the letters below:

(t - ت , th- ث , d - د , dh- ذ , r- ر , z- ز , s- س , sh- ش , s- ص , d -ض , t - ط , z- ظ , n- ن )

The moon = alqamar القمر (moon = qamar قمر )

The sunset = alghuroub الغروب(sunset =ghuroub غروب )

The eye = al’ayn العين(eye = ‘ayn عين )

The king = almalik الملك(king = malik ملك )

The present = alhadiah الهدية(present = hadiah هدية )

These are just examples of the rest of alphabets that no assimilation is needed for, so you can use the “al” without omitting the “l”. the letters the assimilation is not needed for are:

(a - أ , b ب , j ج , h ح , kh خ , ‘ ع , gh غ , f ف ,q ق , k ك , l ل , m م , n ن , h هـ , w و, yaي )

Note that whenever an assimilation is needed you need to double the first consonant coming after the first “a” in the word, to understand it more look at the table above.

Arabic Indefinite Articles:

To use the indefinite article in Arabic, there is not much that you can add, just leave the word with no article, especially when you write in Arabic alphabet, there is a small modification however that occurs to the tail of the word, called nunation (adding the suffix “un”):

A house = bait +un = baitun بيتٌ, the “un” is expressed by this symbol ( ُُ ُُ or ٌٌٌٌ ) when written in Arabic alphabet, like in the example of: baitun = بيتٌ .

A sun = shams+un = Shamsun شمسٌ , a dog = kalbunكلبٌ , a tree = shajaratun شجرةٌ , a student = tilmeedun تلميذٌ , a language = lugatun لغةٌ .

Since the nunation is a property of the indefinite article you cannot apply it to the definite article,

The star = annajm النجم , a star = najmun نجمٌ .

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