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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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Arabic Sentences
 In English sentences, the subject usually precedes the verb. In Arabic, there are two types of sentences in regard to subject and verb ordering:
Usage of Each Type of Sentences Unlike in English, where the change in the intonation of the speaker is probably the only way to emphasize or stress different elements of the sentence, emphasis of different elements can be achieved in Arabic by alternating between the two types of sentences. Nominal sentences are used when the SUBJECT is the most important element in the sentence and which the speaker seeks to emphasize. Verbal sentences are in fact the normal tone, they are used when the speaker is not stressing anything in particular, or also when the speaker seeks to stress the verb or the ACTION.
Nominal Sentences
A nominal sentence in Arabic الْجُمْلَةُ الاِسْمِيَّةُis a sentence that starts with the subject (a noun) and the verb follows. The subject can be a noun, a pronoun, a demonstrative, or a relative clause. The defining property of a nominal sentence is that the subject precedes the verb. Thus there are more than one possibility for nominal sentences in the presence of an object, an adverb, a prepositional phrase, etc. The first one is the standard usual one:
The capitalization is a reference to the fact that the subject is the stressed element in nominal sentences. The other possible structures for nominal sentences are more rare:
So the important point is that the subject always precedes the verb in nominal sentences.
Examples on nominal sentences:
Subject - Verb - Object الْوَلَدُ يَقْرَأُ كِتَاْبَهُ 'al-walad(u) yaqra'(u) kitaaba-h(u) = the boy reads (the) book (of) him Translation: THE BOY reads his book
Subject - Verb - Prepositional Phrase الْبَنَاْتُ يَلْعَبْنَ فِيْ الْحَدِيْقَةِ 'al-banaat(u) yal"abn(a) fee ('a)l-hadeeqa(ti) = the girls play in the yard/park Translation: THE GIRLS are playing in the yard/park
Be-Sentences We talked in a separate section about the fact that nominal, present tense, "be" sentences do not have verbs in Arabic (the verb "be" is omitted in the present tense). This is the only case in Arabic in which there is no verb in the sentence. In these verb-less sentences, the stress usually falls on the predicate not the subject (the part after the "be"); unless the intonation says otherwise.
Subject - Predicate حَسَنٌ هُنَاَْ hasan(un) hunaa = Hassan (is) here Translation: Hassan is here
Subject - Predicate هَذَاْ يَوْمٌ عَصِيْبٌ haathaa yawm(un) "aseeb(un) = this (is) a day a hard Translation: this is a hard day
Subject - Predicate لَيْلَىْ هِيَ زَوْجَةُ مَحْمُوْدٍ laylaa hiy(a) zawja(tu) mahmood(in) = Layla she (is) (the) wife (of) Mahmud Translation: Layla is Mahmud's wife
Subject - Predicate صَدِيْقِيْ هُوَ مَاْلِكُ الْمَتْجَرِ sadeeq-ee huw(a) maalik(u) ('a)l-matjar(i) = (the) friend (of) me he (is) (the) owner (of) the shop Translation: my friend owns the shop
Subject - Predicate الْقَاْهِرَةُ هِيَ عَاْصِمَةُ مِصْرَ 'al-qaahira(tu) hiy(a) "aasima(tu) misr(a) = Cairo she (is) (the) capital (of) Egypt Translation: Cairo is the capital of Egypt *Note: مِصْر is a "forbidden to Noonation" word and it takes an irregular sign for the genitive case.
Sentences that begin with an indefinite word, such as "a man is here" are NOT usually used in Arabic. The demonstrative "there" will be usually used for such sentences.
هُنَاْكَ رَجُلٌ بِالْبَاْبِ hunaak(a) rajul(un) bi-l-baab(i) = there (is) a man by the door Translation: there is a man at the door
ثَمَّةَ أَحَدٌ مَاْ thammat(a) 'ahad(un) maa = there (is) one-some Translation: someone is there
Note that such sentences that begin with "there is" will NOT become "there was" when rendered in the past tense; nor will they become "there will be" when in the future tense. To change the tense of these sentences from the present to the past of the future, a verbal sentence is usually used (i.e. "was there a man at the door" or "will be there a man at the door," we will cover this when we talk about verbal sentences soon).
Be-sentences in the past tense will have the perfective verb kaan(a) كَانَ = was or one of its conjugations.
Subject - Verb - Adverb الْسَّمَاْءُ كَاْنَتْ صَاْفِيَةً 'as-samaa'(u) kaanat saafiya(tan) = the sky was/existed clearly Translation: the sky was clear *The verb "be" in Arabic requires an adverb after it rather than an adjective as in English. This is only true when the verb appears but not when it is not apparent (i.e. in the present tense). Such verbs are called in Arabic the incomplete verbs الأَفْعالُ النَّاْقِصَةُ .
Subject - Verb - Adverb حُسَيْنٌ كَاْنَ هُنَاْكَ husayn(un) kaan(a) hunaak(a) = Hussein was there Translation: Hussein was there
Subject - Verb - Adverb هَذَاْ كَاْنَ يَوْمًا عَصِيْبًا haathaa kaan(a) yawma(n) "aseeba(n) = this was a day a hard Translation: this was a hard day *The literal sense: "this existed as a hard day."
In the future tense, "be" verbs will be sa-yakoon(u) سَيَكُوْنُ = will be, or sawf(a) yakoon(u) سَوْفَ يَكُوْنُ = will be.
Subject - Verb - Adverb الْسَّمَاْءُ سَتَكُوْنُ صَاْفِيَةً 'as-samaa'(u) sa-takoon(u) saafiya(tan) = the sky will be/exist clearly Translation: the sky will be clear
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