Arabic A2, Unit 2: Verb, subject, object

Verb, subject, object

Arabic A2 · Unit 2

GoalBuild a sentence with a verb, a subject and an object.

New words

يُغْلِق (yughliq) · he closesيَسْمَع (yasmaʿ) · he hears, listens toيَفْهَم (yafham) · he understandsيُشَاهِد (yushāhid) · he watchesرِسَالَة (risāla) · message, letterجَرِيدَة (jarīda) · newspaper

Explanation

A sentence with a verb has up to three parts: the verb (the action), the subject (who does it) and the object (what the action is done to). The object comes right after the verb, with no small word between them: هُوَ يَفْتَح الْبَاب. The subject can be a pronoun, a name or a noun. As in Arabic A1, an object without الْ and without ة takes ـًا: أَقْرَأ كِتَابًا, but أَكْتُب رِسَالَة. Some verbs, such as يُغْلِق and يُشَاهِد, have u in the prefix: أُغْلِق، تُغْلِق، نُشَاهِد. There is no word for “is” in the present tense.

Subject	Verb	Object
أَحْمَد	يَقْرَأ	الْجَرِيدَة
مَرْيَم	تَكْتُب	رِسَالَة
أَنَا	أُغْلِق	الْبَاب
هُمْ	يُشَاهِدُون	التِّلْفَاز

Worked examples

Three sentences with a verb and an object.

أَحْمَدsubject·يَفْتَحverb·النَّافِذَةobject

A sentence in three blocks: subject, verb, object.

Karim

هَل تَفْهَمِين الدَّرْس؟

Layla

نَعَم، أَفْهَم الدَّرْس.

Karim

وَأَنَا أَقْرَأ الْجَرِيدَة.

Layla

جَيِّد.

Karim asks Layla about the lesson.

Class activity

Three blocks. Take nine cards or small pieces of paper. On three write subjects (أَحْمَد، مَرْيَم، هُمْ), on three verbs (يَفْتَح، يَقْرَأ، يَكْتُب with the right prefix) and on three objects (الْبَاب، الْجَرِيدَة، رِسَالَة). Mix them and build five sentences that make sense. Check the verb prefix for each subject. Read each sentence aloud.

Practice

Press Listen. What does the boy do?

…

Name the subject, the verb and the object: مَرْيَم تُغْلِق النَّافِذَة.

The picture shows a newspaper. Write: “Omar reads the newspaper.”

The picture shows a TV. Say: “we watch TV.”

Put the words in order: الْبَاب / تُغْلِق / هِيَ

Sentences with verbs

Verb, subject, object