2
Sentences without a verb
Arabic A1 · Unit 8
GoalMake a sentence from a pronoun and a noun, with no word for “am, is, are”.
New words
طَالِب (ṭālib) · student (boy or man)طَالِبَة (ṭāliba) · student (girl or woman)مُدَرِّس (mudarris) · teacher (man)مُدَرِّسَة (mudarrisa) · teacher (woman)فِي (fī) · inهُنَا (hunā) · hereالْبَيْت (al-bayt) · the houseالْمَدْرَسَة (al-madrasa) · the school
Explanation
In Arabic you need no word for “am”, “is” or “are”. Put the pronoun and the noun side by side: ʾanā ṭālib means “I am a student”. There is no word for “a” either, so ṭālib is “student” or “a student”. A woman uses the form with ة at the end, ʾanā ṭāliba; unit 10 explains this. The same works with a place: huwa fī l-bayt, “he is in the house”. When you read, make a tiny pause where English has the word “is”.
أَنَاʾanā · I+طَالِبṭālib · student
Worked examples
Pronoun + noun. A man and a woman: the noun changes with ة.
Pronoun + fī + place. Again no word for “is”.
Karim
أَنَا طَالِب
Salma
أَنَا طَالِبَة أَيْضًا
Class activity
Say it about the room. Look around and say where you and your family are: ʾanā hunā, ʾanā fī l-bayt. Then say what each person is, with the words ṭālib, ṭāliba, mudarris, mudarrisa. Write four sentences on paper with all the vowels.
Practice
1
Press Listen. Is it a person or a place?
…
A person: جَدَّة (jadda), “grandmother”.
2
A woman says in Arabic: “I am a teacher”. What does she say?
أَنَا مُدَرِّسَة
3
Which little word does Arabic leave out of the sentence “I am a student”?
The word for “am” (also “is” and “are”).
4
Say in Arabic: “I am in the house.”
أَنَا فِي الْبَيْت
5
Read aloud and translate: هِيَ طَالِبَة.
Hiya ṭāliba, “she is a student”.