Arabic A1, Unit 17: Yesterday's story: review

Yesterday's story: review

Arabic A1 · Unit 17

GoalRead and write a short story about yesterday with jobs and time words.

New words

أَمْس ذَهَبَتْ سَلْمَى إِلَى الْعِيَادَة (ʾams dhahabat Salmā ʾilā l-ʿiyāda) · yesterday Salma went to the clinicهِيَ طَبِيبَة وَهِيَ تَعْمَل كُلّ يَوْم (hiya ṭabība wa-hiya taʿmal kull yawm) · she is a doctor and she works every dayأَنَا أَكَلْتُ فِي الصَّبَاح (ʾanā ʾakaltu fī ṣ-ṣabāḥ) · I ate in the morningهَل شَرِبْتَ الْمَاء أَمْس؟ (hal sharibta l-māʾ ʾams?) · did you drink water yesterday?الْأُسْبُوع الْمَاضِي عَمِلْتُ فِي مَصْنَع (al-ʾusbūʿ al-māḍī ʿamiltu fī maṣnaʿ) · last week I worked in a factoryأَخِي مُهَنْدِس (ʾakhī muhandis) · my brother is an engineerأُمِّي طَبَّاخَة (ʾummī ṭabbākha) · my mother is a cookنَحْنُ نَعْمَل غَدًا (naḥnu naʿmal ghadan) · we work tomorrow

Explanation

This is the review of the past tense. For the past: the base form is “he”, add تْ for “she”, and add تُ, تَ or تِ for “I”, “you” (man) and “you” (woman). For the present: the prefixes أَ، يَ، تَ، نَ. Time words show which one to use: أَمْس and الْأُسْبُوع الْمَاضِي for the past, الْيَوْم and كُلّ يَوْم for the present, غَدًا for tomorrow. Jobs take ة for a woman. Read the sentences here aloud, then write your own story.

Who	Now (present)	Before (past)
I	أَذْهَب	ذَهَبْتُ
he	يَذْهَب	ذَهَبَ
she	تَذْهَب	ذَهَبَتْ
you (man)	تَذْهَب	ذَهَبْتَ

Worked examples

Dina

مَا عَمَلُك؟

Yusuf

أَنَا مُعَلِّم.

Dina

هَل ذَهَبْتَ إِلَى الْمَدْرَسَة أَمْس؟

Yusuf

نَعَم، ذَهَبْتُ. وَأَنْتِ؟

Dina

أَنَا طَبِيبَة. أَمْس عَمِلْتُ فِي عِيَادَة.

Dina asks Yusuf, a teacher, about yesterday.

ذَهَبْwent (stem)+تُI

The past form of “I went” in two pieces.

Nour tells about yesterday evening. Read each line before you listen.

Class activity

Yesterday's page. Write six lines about yesterday: where you went, what you ate and drank, what you read or wrote. Then write one line about tomorrow with غَدًا and a present verb. Give every word its vowels, and read the page aloud.

Practice

Press Listen. Who slept: he, she or I?

…

Write in Arabic: “I went to the factory”.

The picture shows a teacher. Say “she is a teacher”.

The picture shows an office. Say “yesterday he worked in an office”.

Change from now to the past: هُوَ يَشْرَب.

Yesterday and work: the past tense

Yesterday's story: review