Arabic grammar

Chapter 1: Phonological foundations

1.1 The Arabic alphabet

The Arabic alphabet is made up of 28 letters, written from right to left. Each letter can take up to four different forms: initial, medial, final and isolated. Here is a brief presentation of these letters:

1.2 The vowels

In Arabic there are three short vowels (a, i, u) and three long vowels (ā, ī, ū). The short vowels are represented by diacritics called ḥarakât:

• Fatḥa ( َ ): represents the sound /a/
• Kasra ( ِ ): represents the sound /i/
• Ḍamma ( ُ ): represents the sound /u/

The long vowels are simply the lengthened versions of the short vowels and are represented by the letters alif (ا), yâ (ي) and wâw (و) when used as vowels.

1.3 The emphatic consonants

The emphatic consonants are a distinctive feature of Arabic phonology. They are produced with a stronger articulation and a certain tension in the throat. Some examples: Ṣâd (ص), Ḍâd (ض), Ṭâ (ط), Ẓâ (ظ).

Chapter 2: Arabic morphology

2.1 Roots and patterns

Arabic morphology rests on a system of roots (generally triliteral) and patterns (vowel templates). A root supplies the basic meaning, while the patterns modify it to create different words. For example, the root “k-t-b” (to write) can be placed into various patterns to form words such as kitâb (book), maktab (office) and kâtib (writer).

2.2 Nouns

Nouns in Arabic can be definite or indefinite, masculine or feminine, singular, dual or plural. Definiteness is marked by the definite article “al-” (الـ), while the indefinite has no specific article.

2.3 Verbs

Arabic verbs are conjugated according to tense (past, present, future), mood (indicative, subjunctive, jussive), voice (active, passive) and person (first, second, third). The verbal root is modified by prefixes, infixes and suffixes to indicate these variations.

Chapter 3: Arabic syntax

3.1 Word order

The typical word order in Arabic is Verb-Subject-Object (VSO), although other orders can appear depending on emphasis or style. For example:

• VSO: “كتب الطالب الرسالة” (Kataba al-ṭâlibu al-risâlah) — “The student wrote the letter.”
• SVO: “الطالب كتب الرسالة” (Al-ṭâlibu kataba al-risâlah) — “The student wrote the letter.”

3.2 Nominal and verbal sentences

In Arabic, sentences may be nominal (beginning with a noun) or verbal (beginning with a verb). Nominal sentences consist of a subject and a predicate, while verbal sentences generally begin with a verb followed by the subject and the object.

• Nominal sentence: “البيت كبير” (Al-baytu kabîr) — “The house is big.”
• Verbal sentence: “ذهب الولد إلى المدرسة” (Dhahaba al-waladu ilâ al-madrasah) — “The boy went to school.”

Chapter 4: The cases in Arabic

4.1 The three main cases

In Arabic, nouns, adjectives and certain pronouns can be declined in three main cases: nominative, accusative and genitive. The cases are indicated by specific endings, often marked with ḥarakât (diacritics).

• Nominative: used for the subject of a sentence. Typical ending: -u (e.g. “الكتابُ” al-kitâbu)
• Accusative: used for the direct object. Typical ending: -a (e.g. “الكتابَ” al-kitâba)
• Genitive: used to indicate possession or relation. Typical ending: -i (e.g. “الكتابِ” al-kitâbi)

Chapter 5: Pronouns

5.1 Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns in Arabic vary according to number (singular, dual, plural), gender (masculine, feminine) and person (first, second, third).

Chapter 6: Tense and aspect

6.1 Aspect and tense

Arabic distinguishes aspect (perfective vs. imperfective) and tense (past, present/future). The perfective aspect generally corresponds to the past, while the imperfective can represent the present or the future, depending on context and the use of temporal particles.

6.2 Temporal particles

Particles such as “سوف” (sawfa) or “سـ” (sa-) are used to indicate the near or distant future. For example: “سوف يكتب” (sawfa yaktubu) — “He will write”; “سيكتب” (sa-yaktubu) — “He is going to write”.

Chapter 7: Negation

Verbs are generally negated with the particles “لا” (lâ) for the present and “لم” (lam) for the past. For example: يكتب (yaktubu) → لا يكتب (lâ yaktubu, “he does not write”); كتب (kataba) → لم يكتب (lam yaktub, “he did not write”). A nominal sentence is negated with laysa: “هو طالب” (huwa ṭâlib, “he is a student”) → “هو ليس طالبًا” (huwa laysa ṭâliban, “he is not a student”).

Chapter 8: Particles and conjunctions

8.1 Conjunctions

Conjunctions in Arabic, such as “و” (wa, and) and “أو” (aw, or), are used to link sentences and clauses. They play a crucial role in building complex sentences.

8.2 Interrogative particles

Particles such as “هل” (hal) and “ما” (mâ) are used to ask questions. For example: “هل هو طالب؟” (hal huwa ṭâlib?) — “Is he a student?”; “ما اسمك؟” (mâ ismuka?) — “What is your name?”

Chapter 9: Adjectives and agreement

9.1 Adjective agreement

Adjectives in Arabic agree in gender, number and case with the noun they qualify. For example: بيت كبير (bayt kabîr, “a big house”); بيوت كبيرة (buyût kabîrah, “big houses”).

9.2 The position of adjectives

In general, adjectives follow the noun they qualify, unlike the order of many Western languages. For example: “رجل طويل” (rajul ṭawîl) — “a tall man”.

Chapter 10: Complex structures

10.1 Relative clauses

Relative clauses in Arabic are introduced by relative pronouns such as “الذي” (alladhî, who/that) for the masculine singular, and “التي” (allatî) for the feminine singular. For example: “الرجل الذي رأيته” (al-rajul alladhî ra’aytuhu) — “the man whom I saw”; “المرأة التي رأيتها” (al-mar’ah allatî ra’aytuhâ) — “the woman whom I saw”.

10.2 Conditional clauses

Conditional clauses use particles such as “إذا” (idhâ, if/when) and “لو” (law, if). For example: “إذا حلّ الصيف أثمرت الأشجار” (idhâ ḥalla al-ṣayf athmarat al-ashjâr) — “When summer comes, the trees bear fruit”; “إنْ درستَ، ستنجح” (in darasta, satanjaḥ) — “If you study, you will succeed”; “لو كنتُ غنيا، لسافرتُ” (law kuntu ghanîyan, lasâfartu) — “If I were rich, I would travel”.