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Chapter 1.2: Grammar in Context—Describing Places

Learning Objectives

In this chapter, you will:

  • Learn the structure of place nouns and how to use them in context.
  • Learn how to describe a house using fronted predicate and location prepositions.

Grammar 1: Nouns of Place
اسم المكان 

Do you remember the following words? What do they have in common?

  • مَطبَخ ج. مطابِخ
  • مَكتَب ج. مكاتِب
  • مَكتَبة ج. مكتبات
  • مَسبَح ج. مسابِح
  • مَطعَم ج. مطاعِم

They all refer to places: places where we cook, write, swim, eat, and so forth. This category of nouns in Arabic are called اسم مكان, literally place noun.

These nouns follow a particular pattern مَفعَل and the plural is مفاعِل. Few exceptions exist like مكتبة – مكتبات.

Few nouns follow the pattern مَفعِل. Consider the following:

  • مَجلِس ج . مجالِس council (the place where one sits)
  • مَنزِل ج. منازِل residence (the place where one stays)

Examples

Consider the root سَكَن:

  • What meaning does it invite? Yes: it has to do with living or residing.
  • Now put this root into the pattern مَفعَل
  • We come up with the word مَسكَن
  • This is the place where you live or reside.
  • مَسكَن place of residence and its plural مساكِن
  • Consider the following and guess the meanings based on the roots.
Watch this video for more elaboration on the concept of اسم المكان

Activity 7: Place Nouns and Plurals of Roots

Figure out the meanings of the roots listed and create place nouns and their plurals for each.

Activity 8: Identify اسم المكان

Identify all instances of اسم المكان in the following paragraph.

Grammar 2: Definite and Indefinite Idafa
الإضافة المعرفة والنكرة

Our typical knowledge about Idafa tells us that it is definite (consisting of indefinite noun followed by definite noun).

Examples:

غرفة النوم – غرفة الجلوس – مكتب والدي

All these refer to specific entities (the bedroom, the living room, and my father’s office).

However, there are contexts when you express Idafa in its indefinite structure. What are these contexts?

Examples

Consider the difference between the following:

Arabic English
غرفة النوم في بيتي كبيرة The bedroom in my house is big
عندي غرفة نوم كبيرة في بيتي I have a big bedroom in my house
استراحة الغداء الساعة الواحدة The lunch break is at one O’clock.
هناك استراحة غداء الساعة الواحدة There is a lunch break at one O’clock

Indefinite Idafa commonly occur with existential pharses like “there is/are” or after numerals counting the items (for example: three bedrooms).

Compare the following:

  • حمام السباحة خلف البيت
  • هناك حمام سباحة خلف البيت
  • غرف النوم في الطابق الثاني
  • هناك 3 غرف نوم في الطابق الثاني

Watch the following video for more elaboration on the concept of indefinite Idafa.

Activity 9: Definite vs. Indefinite Idafa in Context

Decide whether a definite or indefinite Idafa is appropriate in each of the following contexts.

Grammar 3: Fronted Predicate
الخبر المقدم

In describing places and houses, you encountered sentences like the following:

أمام البيت حديقة صغيرة = هناك حديقة صغيرة أمام البيت

في بيتي أربع غرف نوم = بيتي فيه أربع غرف نوم

في هذه المنطقة بيوت كثيرة = هذه المنطقة فيها بيوت كثيرة

The previous examples all show nominal sentences which consist of مبتدأ subject and خبر predicate. The usual order of them is reveresed because المبتدأ is indefinite and you cannot start a sentence in Arabic with an indefinite subject. This is why the prepositional phrase jumps in front of the subject and is described as a fronted predicate.

Examples

Consider the following examples and rephrase them in different ways:

  • في هذا الشارع مكتبة عامة
  • في جامعتنا بنايات كثيرة
  • عندي سيارة جديدة
  • هناك شباك كبير في هذه الغرفة
  • ليس هناك طلاب من أصل عربي في فصلنا

Activity 10: Mark the Subject

Analyze the sentences and mark the subject.

Watch this video for more elaboration on the concept of fronted predicate.

Grammar 4: Dual
المُثني

In describing your house, you may need to say “two rooms”, or “two floors”. The concept of two things in Arabic is less than a plural, and it is treated as a dual.

Examples

Study the following sentences.

Note the ending of the dual in different tenses and cases

Dual

Singular

بيتي يتكون من طابقين

My house consists of two floors

بيتي يتكون من طابق واحد

My house consists of one floor

(1)

في الطابق الثاني غرفتان كبيرتان وحمامان

In the second floor two big rooms and two bathrooms

 في الطابق الثاني غرفة كبيرة وحمام

In the second floor a big room and a bathroom

(2)

هذان كتابان جديدان سندرسهما في الفصل

These are two new books we will study in class

هذا كتاب جديد سندرسه في الفصل

This is a new book we will study in class

(3)

نيويورك وشيكاغو مدينتان كبيرتان

New York and Chicago are two big cities

نيويورك مدينة كبيرة

New York is a big city

(4)

 

Identify the Dual

Spot the dual in these sentences.

Did you figure out how the dual is formed? To summarize, study the following rules:

Activity 11: Convert Sentences to Dual

Change each of the following sentences to dual and make corrections as needed.

Verbs in use
الفعل (يتمنّى)

Study the conjugation of the verb “to wish”.

English Arabic
I wish أنا أتمنّى
You (m.) wish أنتَ تتمنّى
You (f.) wish أنتِ تتمنين
He wishes هو يتمنّى
She wishes هي تتمنّى
We wish نحن نتمنّى
You (pl.) wish أنتم تتمنّون
They wish هم يتمنّون

Activity 12: Conjugation Practice of “To Wish” and “To Buy”

Practice the conjugation of the verb “to wish” and learn how to do the similar verb “to buy”.

Do the same for the verb يقضي “to spend time”.

المصباح السحري

Blue genie and yellow magic lamp
Image by azwer from Pixabay
  • لو وجدت المصباح السحري وظهر لك الجنّي ماذا تتمنى؟
  • لك ثلاث أمنيات

Activity 13: My Dream House 

Talk about your dream house using the following prompts and images. Make use of the location prepositions, place nouns and fronted predicate. Record your response in the audio box below.

  1. أتَمنّى أن أعيش في بيت فيه blank
  2. أمام البيت blank
  3. خَلف البيت blank
  4. البيت يَتكوّن من blank طوابِق
  5. في الطابق الأول blank
  6. في الطابق الثاني blank
  7. في غرفة المعيشة blank
  8. غرفة النوم فيها blank

 

large house with swimming pool
Photo by Digital Marketing Agency NTWRK on Unsplash
Living room of a house decorated with neutral toned colors
Photo by Francesca Tosolini on Unsplash
bedroom decorated with plants
Photo by Spacejoy on Unsplash

Key Takeaways

  • I can identify and create place nouns in Arabic.
  • I can describe a house in detail using relevant structures.

License

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Intermediate Arabic I Copyright © by Ayman Mohamed and Sadam Issa is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.