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ARABIC ONLINE اللّغة العربيّة |
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Sound Masculine Plural Nouns Irregular Perfective Conjugation Irregular Imperfective Conjugation Inactive Particles Vocative Particles Praise & Disparagement Participle-like Adjectives Place-nouns Tool-nouns Diminutives
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 Interrogative sentences, or questions, are two types: yes/no questions (verification questions), and questions requesting additional information about the sentence by using words such as what, who, when, etc. Yes/no questions can become multiple choice questions when the word "or" is used.
Yes/no questions are formed in Germanic languages, of which English is one, by inverting the subject and the verb of the sentence; e.g. "you are" becomes "are you?" and "you can" becomes "can you?" etc. Of course modern English has its own way with the verb "do," which is used before the subject in place of most of the verbs. Turning a sentence into a yes/no question is easier in Arabic than in English. Here we will not need to invert the subject and the verb or anything like that. We will just put a particle in front of the sentence and that will turn it into a yes/no question. No changes in cases or moods are required. There are two particles that we can use to create yes/no questions, or multiple choice questions with the addition of "or." Here are those two particles:
Those particles resemble in meaning the French est-ce que = "is it that?"
Lets have some examples.
1) Positive Questions
Note that there are many alternatives for forming a negative answer. I used here ones commonly used in modern standard Arabic. (See negation for more information) More examples:
The purple vowels, barring the first one, were added for phonological reasons, namely to prevent still letters from directly following each other. However, the first purple vowel was added for a different reason which is to clarify that the statement was a question. This vowel will always be added when attaching interrogative 'a- to the definite article ('a)l-, and the combination will become 'aa-l-.
More examples:
Multiple-Choice-Questions Multiple choice questions have the conjunction "or" in them; e.g. "do you like apples more or bananas?" The particle hal is not used in questions containing the word "or." Only 'a- will be used here. In Arabic, there are two versions of the conjunction "or," one for regular sentences and another one for questions or sentences preceded by 'a-. If the sentence containing "or" were not preceded by 'a-, the version 'aw أَوْwould be used for "or." If the sentence were preceded by 'a-, the version 'am أَمْ would be used.
Note: Syria can be also written sooriyya(t) سُوْرِيَّةُ . This is the only form that was used before the 20th century, and the form used by the people of the country itself until now. It is more correct from an Arabic point of view, but I used up there the form that is common in the Arab world in general.
'a- Meaning If/Whether The particle 'a- becomes in certain sentences a conjunction word that introduces alternatives like "if" or "whether." Example: سَنَبْدَأُ سَوَاْءٌ أَحَضَرُوْا أَمْ لَمْ يَحْضُرُوْا sa-nabda'(u) sawaa'(un) 'a-hadaroo 'am lam yahduroo = (we) will begin, a same (it is) if/whether (they plu. masc.) came or did not came Translation: we will begin whether they came/showed up or not
The word sawaa'(un) = "a same" is often employed in such sentences, but it can be done without: سَنَبْدَأُ أَحَضَرُوْا أَمْ لَمْ يَحْضُرُوْا sa-nabda'(u) 'a-hadaroo 'am lam yahduroo = (we) will begin if/whether (they plu. masc.) came or did not came Translation: we will begin whether they came/showed up or not
The 'a- itself can also be omitted in such sentences: سَنَبْدَأُ سَوَاْءٌ حَضَرُوْا أَمْ لَمْ يَحْضُرُوْا sa-nabda'(u) sawaa'(un) hadaroo 'am lam yahduroo = (we) will begin, a same (it is) (if/whether) (they plu. masc.) came or did not came Translation: we will begin whether they came/showed up or not
A mostly reduced version: سَنَبْدَأُ حَضَرُوْا أَمْ لَمْ يَحْضُرُوْا sa-nabda'(u) hadaroo 'am lam yahduroo = (we) will begin (if/whether) (they plu. masc.) came or did not came Translation: we will begin whether they came/showed up or not
2) Negative Questions Negative sentences (e.g. you don't) are turned into yes/no negative questions (e.g. don't you?) by the same mechanism mentioned for positive sentences. However, the particle 'a- is the one used in negative questions.
An important difference here from English lies in the answer to the question. If a question is a negative question then the answer must be with the word na"am نَعَمْ for agreement with the negative sentence of the question, or for saying "no" (e.g. no, I don't), and the word balaa بَلَىْ for disagreement with the negative sentence of the question, or for saying "yes" (e.g. yes, I do).
Examples:
When the 'a- in the negative question is separated from negative word (e.g. lays(a)) by the subject, the emphasis of the question will be on the subject, making the question primarily about the subject rather than the verb or the action.
When the 'a- in the negative question is followed directly by the negative word, the emphasis of the question will be on the verb or action, making the question primarily about it rather than about the subject.
'a-conjunction- As we have mentioned before on this site, Arabs tended to use a lot of unnecessary "and's" in their talk. Here we are going to see another manifestation of this fact. However, the wa- = "and" will not come here before the interrogative particle 'a- , but it will rather come between it and the word following it. Examples: أَوَتَعْرِفُ الْجَوَاْبَ ؟ 'a-wa-ta"rif(u) ('a)l-jawaab(a) = is it that and (you sing. masc.) know the answer? = and is it that (you sing. masc.) know the answer? Translation: do you know the answer?
أَوَلا تَعِيْ مَاْ أَقُوْلُ ؟ 'a-wa-laa ta"ee maa 'aqool(u) = is it that and (you sing. masc.) not comprehend what (I) say? = and is it that (you sing. masc.) not comprehend what (I) say? Translation: don't/won't you understand what I'm saying? don't/won't you understand what I say?
أَوَلَمْ تُؤْمِنْ بَعْدُ ؟ 'a-wa-lam tu'<min ba"d(u) = is it that and (you sing. masc.) did not believe yet? = and is it that (you sing. masc.) did not believe yet? Translation: haven't you believed yet?
However, wa- was not the only particle that could be inserted between 'a- and the word following it. Other conjunctions could be inserted as well, like fa- = "then/so," and thumm(a) = "after that/afterwards" أَفَلا تَعِيْ مَاْ أَقُوْلُ ؟ 'a-fa-laa ta"ee maa 'aqool(u) = is it that then/so (you sing. masc.) not comprehend what (I) say? = then/so is it that (you sing. masc.) not comprehend what (I) say? Translation: so don't/won't you understand what I'm saying? so don't/won't you understand what I say?
أَثُمَّ إِذَاْ مَاْ وَقَعَ آمَنْتُمْ بِهِ ؟ 'a-thumm(a) 'ithaa maa waqa"(a) 'aamantum bi-h(i) = is it that after that if that (he/it) fell (you plu. masc.) believed in him/it? = after that is it that if that (he/it) fell (you plu. masc.) believed in him/it? Translation: after that, if it happened, will you believe in it (the punishment)? This was a difficult sentence from the Koran (the Muslim holy book).
The insertion of conjunction words after 'a- is common in the Koran.
Etymology note The etymology of the interrogative particle 'a- أَ is ha- هَـ (cf. Hebrew -הֲ). The transition of litter هـ into أ was common in classical Arabic. Ha- as interrogative particle was attested in some classical dialects.
e.g. وَأَتَىْ صَوَاْحِبُهَاْ فَقُلْنَ : هَذَاْ الَّذِيْ مَنَحَ الْمَوَدَّةَ غَيْرَنَاْ وَجَفَاْنَاْ ؟
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