1
Question words
Arabic A1 · Unit 12
GoalAsk who, what and where with مَن, مَا and أَيْن.
New words
مَن (man) · whoمَا (mā) · whatأَيْن (ʾayn) · whereمِن أَيْن (min ʾayn) · where fromمَن هَذَا؟ (man hādhā?) · who is this?مَا هَذَا؟ (mā hādhā?) · what is this?أَيْن الْبَيْت؟ (ʾayn al-bayt?) · where is the house?
Explanation
A question word comes first, and the answer is a short sentence. Use مَن (man) to ask about a person: مَن هَذَا؟ is “who is this?”. Use مَا (mā) to ask about a thing: مَا هَذَا؟ is “what is this?”. Use أَيْن (ʾayn) to ask about a place: أَيْن الْبَيْت؟ is “where is the house?”. مِن أَيْن means “where from?”. There is no word for “is” in these questions. In writing, a question ends with the mark ؟.
| Question word | Asks about | Example |
|---|---|---|
| مَن | a person | مَن هَذِهِ؟ |
| مَا | a thing | مَا هَذِهِ؟ |
| أَيْن | a place | أَيْن الْبَاب؟ |
| مِن أَيْن | where from | مِن أَيْن هُوَ؟ |
Worked examples
Omar
مَا هَذَا؟
Layla
هَذَا مِفْتَاح.
Omar
مَن هَذِهِ؟
Layla
هَذِهِ هِنْد.
Where? Listen: where is the door, the pen, the key?
Where is she from? A question and an answer.
Class activity
Ask and answer. Point at six things around you and ask مَا هَذَا؟ for each one. Answer with هَذَا or هَذِهِ and the noun, for example هَذَا قَلَم. Then ask about two people in your family with مَن هَذَا؟ or مَن هَذِهِ؟ and say who they are. Write three questions with أَيْن and answer them.
Practice
1
Press Listen. Does the question ask about a person, a thing or a place?
About a person: مَن هِيَ؟ (man hiya?), “who is she?”.
2
Which question word do you use to ask about a place?
أَيْن (ʾayn).
3
Write in Arabic: “what is this?”.
مَا هَذَا؟
4
The picture shows a man. Which question fits: مَن هَذَا؟ or مَا هَذَا؟
مَن هَذَا؟ (who is this?), because it is a person.
5
The picture shows a key. You want to ask what it is. Which question do you ask?
مَا هَذَا؟ (what is this?).