Arabic A2, Unit 7: Age and appearance

Age and appearance

Arabic A2 · Unit 7

GoalGive a person’s age and describe the hair and the eyes.

New words

شَعْر (shaʿr) · hairعُيُون (ʿuyūn) · eyesبُنِّيّ (bunnī) · brownأَشْقَر (ashqar) · blondشَابّ (shābb) · young manكَبِير فِي السِّنّ (kabīr fī s-sinn) · old (a person)عُمْرُه (ʿumruh) · his ageعُمْرُهَا (ʿumruhā) · her age

Explanation

Say a person’s age with عُمْر and an ending: عُمْرُه سِتُّون سَنَة, “he is sixty years old”. A person is not قَدِيم: say كَبِير فِي السِّنّ. The word شَعْر is masculine, so it takes the masculine word, even for a woman: شَعْرُهَا أَشْقَر. Eyes are a plural of things, so the describing word is feminine singular: عُيُونُه بُنِّيَّة. The colours for the feminine are سَوْدَاء، خَضْرَاء، زَرْقَاء، شَقْرَاء and بُنِّيَّة.

Masculine	Feminine and eyes	Meaning
أَسْوَد	سَوْدَاء	black
أَشْقَر	شَقْرَاء	blond
بُنِّيّ	بُنِّيَّة	brown
أَخْضَر	خَضْرَاء	green
أَزْرَق	زَرْقَاء	blue

Worked examples

Hair and eyes. Listen and repeat.

Layla

كَم عُمْر جَدِّك؟

Karim

عُمْرُه سَبْعُون سَنَة، لَكِن هُوَ مَرِح جِدًّا.

Karim

وَأَنْتِ؟ كَم عُمْرُكِ؟

Layla

عُمْرِي عِشْرُون سَنَة.

Layla and Karim talk about age. Press each line.

Who is it? A short description.

Class activity

Guess who? Write four sentences about a person you know, without the name: age, hair and eyes. Let a friend guess who it is. Use عُمْرُه or عُمْرُهَا once.

Practice

Press Listen. Is it “long” or “short”?

Write in Arabic: “his hair is black”.

The picture shows a girl with green eyes. Write “her eyes are green”.

The picture shows an older person. Write “he is old”.

Write in Arabic: “her age is forty years”.

Family and describing people

Age and appearance