Arabic

[Madarijas-Salikeen]

as-salaamu alaykum,

So, Im studying arabic and the terminology for things easily gets me confused. Let me inshaallah see if I have some of this understood.

I reading about basic sentence structure in arabic.

It states 'As in english, in arabic sentences normally consist of a subject (an actor about whom information is provided in the sentence) and a predicate (the portion of the sentence providing information about the subject). Predicates can be verbs, nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. If the predicate is a verb, it normally comes FIRST in the sentence. It is followed by the SUBJECT, which in turn is followed by any other element of the sentence, such as an object, adverb, etc.'

So let me see if I understand correctly.

If someone wants to say 'the party took place yesturday' They would say 'kanat al-hafla ams.' (literally: was the party yesterday).

So kanat would be the adjective (which is the verb)?

Similarly if one says 'There was a music band.' They would say kanat hunak firqa musiqiyya (literally: was there a music band). The word again kanat (was) the verb would be the adjective and thus at the beginning of the sentence structure?

Another sentence 'Nadia ate tabouli yesterday. Would be 'akalat nadiya t-tabula ams. (literally: ate Nadia tabouli yesterday)

so akalat (ate) is at the beginning because it is the adjective that happends to be a VERB?

or Nadia spoke a lot would be 'takallamat nadya kathiran (literally: spoke nadia a lot) where the takallamat (verb) (spoke) is at the beginning because its an adjective that happends to be a verb?

Am I understanding correctly?

[I_Am_A_Hermit]

I really don't think any of the Arabic speaking members are very helpful.

Check this link (http://www.kalamullah.com/learning-arabic.html) out Insha'Allah.

[Fajr]

If someone wants to say 'the party took place yesturday' They would say 'kanat al-hafla ams.' (literally: was the party yesterday).

So kanat would be the adjective (which is the verb)?

Similarly if one says 'There was a music band.' They would say kanat hunak firqa musiqiyya (literally: was there a music band). The word again kanat (was) the verb would be the adjective and thus at the beginning of the sentence structure?

Another sentence 'Nadia ate tabouli yesterday. Would be 'akalat nadiya t-tabula ams. (literally: ate Nadia tabouli yesterday)

so akalat (ate) is at the beginning because it is the adjective that happends to be a VERB?

or Nadia spoke a lot would be 'takallamat nadya kathiran (literally: spoke nadia a lot) where the takallamat (verb) (spoke) is at the beginning because its an adjective that happends to be a verb?

Am I understanding correctly?
Wa `alaykumusalam

Your understanding seems fine alhamdulillah, but I think maybe you meant predicate instead of adjective (above in bold)?

Also, depending on what book you're studying from... sometimes the sentences that begin with a verb are termed jumlah fi'liyyah and they discard using terms such as subject/predicate and just resort to stating the verb, subject and object (there'll be no mention of predicate). But understanding-wise, you've grasped another explanation of how nominal sentences are structured - either way is fine insha'Allah so long as you can understand and form your own proper sentences.

Sis hearandobey, doesn't this sound like the musnad ilayhi/musnad explanation? :)

[hearandobey]

Sis hearandobey, doesn't this sound like the musnad ilayhi/musnad explanation? :)


lol, yes it does :)! i think people need to revise their arabic books and just put musnad/musnad ilayhi instead of mubtada'/khabr. it would make things much easier, wouldn't it?

[Fajr]

Thinking about it now, yes subhanallah it makes things much easier and simpler to understand... but I've come to terms with the fact that grammarians like to create definitions for everything & then categorise them into an impossible no. of groups! :)

[hearandobey]

yeah true, just like the four different tanweens (of ism) and their sub-categories :rolleyes:

[Fajr]

lol, tell me about it. I'm still chuckling over the tanween of the jam3 mu'anath salim - classic attempt at إصلاح :)

[hearandobey]

lol, are you talking about the one which tries to sound logical due to the N sound of the jama' mudhakkar?

like mu'minooN and mu'minaatUN ?
lol

btw, will you be coming this tuesday :cool:?

[Madarijas-Salikeen]

Qalamun with an un? Pen

Waraqun- paper with an un

Talibun-student with an un

babun- door with an un

[Fajr]

lol, are you talking about the one which tries to sound logical due to the N sound of the jama' mudhakkar?

like mu'minooN and mu'minaatUN ?
lol

btw, will you be coming this tuesday :cool:?
lol, that's the one... first thing I thought after I heard it was what happens in the case of ta3reef - I wonder what kind of answer they would've given :)
Insha'Allah, I'll see you tomorrow.

[Abu Bakr as-Somali]

Qalamun with an un? Pen

Waraqun- paper with an un

Talibun-student with an un

babun- door with an un

lol bro no one talks like that, everyone just says Taalib or Baab etc. and the way you put your sentence doesn't matter either

Al-Haflah kaanat ams or kaanat alhaflah ams.