Medina Arabic - book 1 (translated notes)

1. The Rules for Book 1
With an explanation in the
English language
Written by Abu Salmaan Talha ibnu William
Translated by Umm Mujaahid
Demonstrative Pronouns

2. 2
The demonstrative pronouns (for near):
This is (for masculine singular)
These are (for dual masculine)
These are (for dual feminine)
These are (for plural masculine or feminine)
This is (for feminine singular or plural irrational)
for things which are
near
The ,demonstrative pronouns are similar to the English ‘that’ , ‘this’
and they are of two types; for things which are close, and for things at
a distance. Unlike in English, demonstrative pronouns in Arabic have a different form
for singular, dual, and plural, and they also change to correspond to the gender of the
noun. So if the noun is feminine then the demonstrative pronoun is also feminine,
however there are a few exceptions to this rule, as indicated below.

3. 3
The demonstrative pronouns (for far):
Examples
for things which
are far
That is (for masculine singular)
That is (for feminine singular or plural irrational)
Those are (for dual masculine)
Those are (for dual feminine)
Those are (for plural masculine or feminine)
-
This is a man This is a book
(for masculine singular-rational) (for masculine singular-irrational)
-
--
This is a woman This is a car
(For feminine singular-rational) (For feminine singular-irrational)
--
These are scholars These are pens
(For masculine dual-rational) (For masculine dual-irrational)
-

4. 4
-
--
These are Muslims These are Muslims
(For feminine plural-rational) (For masculine plural-rational)
is likewise allowed for irrational (nouns) but this is rare. For
example:
These words
-
That is engineer That is a star
(for masculine singular-rational) (for masculine singular-irrational)
--
-
That is a nurse That is a fridge
(For feminine singular-rational) (For feminine singular-irrational)

5. 5
--
Those are farmers Those are notebooks
(For masculine dual-rational) (For masculine dual-irrational)
-
Those are teachers Those are rulers
(For feminine dual-rational) (For feminine dual-irrational)
-
--
Those are Muslims Those are Muslims
(For feminine plural-rational) (For masculine plural-

6. 6
Possessed and possessor
Examples
The teacher’s
book
Haamid’s book
To show belonging in Arabic we use the possessive construction. This
consists of two parts. The possessed , which appears first and
the possessor , which follows straight after. The
takes a damma, depending on its function in a sentence and the
takes a kasra. It is important to note that the can never take an
alif or laam or a tanween whereas the can do so.

7. 7
Possessor Possessed Possessor Possessed
With alif and laam
Adjective and qualifying noun
Adjective qualifying noun Adjective qualifying noun
(Without alif and laam) (With alif and laam)
Example
A new house The new house
The adjective in Arabic follows the noun it qualifies, unlike in English it
comes after the noun. The adjective in Arabic is called the and the
noun it qualifies is referred to as the (the qualifying noun). The
follows the in its gender (masculine and feminine), in its
definite and indefiniteness, and like wise in its case.

8. 8
The Vocative particle
and the Addressed
The Genitive prepositions
The
Vocative
Particle
The
Addressed
To call upon someone in Arabic you use the vocative particle ,
which is , equivalent to the English oh. The noun that comes after it is
called the (the addressed), and it takes a single damma
regardless of gender.
Oh Yaasir!

9. 9
(
The Genitive prepositions are:
Examples:
For (used for belonging)
In
On
From
To
By/at
The watch is on the desk
Zaynab is from Japan.
I am a student at the university
This book is for Muhammad
The teacher is in the class.
Arabic nouns have endings to show their function in a sentence. The normal
ending of a noun is damma, and the case of it is called
(Nominative). However, when the noun is proceeded by any of the
(genitive prepositions) it changes to a kasra and its case is no longer
(Nominative) instead it becomes (Genitive).

10. 10
Haamid went to the masjid
The hospital
America
Musa
Zakariyya
Germany
The end case of the noun
does not change
A noun which is ismul maqsoor, has an ‘aa’ sound ending. The ending
vowels of these nouns remain constant, despite their change in
function. For example, if they are preceded by a genitive preposition
(Harful Jarr), which would cause them to take a kasra, they remain
unaffected.

11. 11
The Relative pronouns are (for masculine):
The Relative pronouns
Who/which (for singular masculine rational and irrational)
masculine)
…for Musa …to America …in the hospital
The Relative pronouns, have the meaning of ‘which’, ‘who’,
and differ in their form to correspond to the correct gender. They also
differ to correspond to the singular, dual and plural noun. Note that the
pronoun is also used for plural irrational nouns (ghayru ‘aaqilin). Objects,
animals and concepts are classified as irrational nouns whilst rational include;
humans, angels and devils.

12. 12
Example
Who/which (for singular feminine rational and plural masculine
and feminine irrational)
Who (for plural feminine rational only)
Who/which (for dual feminine rational and irrational)
Who/which (for dual masculine rational and irrational)
Who (for plural masculine rational only)
The man who left the masjid is a famous merchant.
For masculine singular rational
The book, which is on the desk, belongs to the teacher.
For masculine singular irrational
For masculine
For feminine

13. 13
The teachers who went to the classroom, are new.
For masculine dual rational
The pens, which are in my bag, are old.
For masculine dual irrational
The engineers who left the restaurant are from
Turkey.
For masculine plural rational

14. 14
The woman who went to the school is a
headmistress
For feminine singular rational
The ruler, which is on the desk, belongs to Muhammad.
For feminine singular irrational
The donkeys, which are in the field, belong to the
farmer.
For masculine plural irrational

15. 15
The cars, which are in front of the masjid, belong to
the minister.
For feminine dual irrational
The students, who left from the school, are from
England.
For feminine dual rational
The Muslims who went to the market, are teachers from
Germany.
For feminine plural rational

16. 16
The Muslims who went to the market, are teachers from
Germany.
For feminine plural rational

17. 17
The laam of definiteness
Example
This house This is a house
(The laam of definiteness)
A noun that has tanween, the indefinite article, is referred to as
indefinite. The Tanween is the double vowel that you find at the end of a
noun (look at the first example below). Its equivalent in English is ‘A’. In
Arabic to make a noun definite we add on the alif and laam. The laam here
is called the ,laam of definiteness.

18. 18
The detached pronouns
They are:
WeI
We are students
For plural or dual
student
I am a student
For singular
: For first person (masculine or feminine)
...
Pronouns are of two main categories: , the detached
pronouns and ,the attached pronouns. The pronouns
in this category are detached pronouns. Detached pronouns give the
meaning ‘he’ ‘she’ ‘they’ etc and even ‘it’. They are divided into 3 types:
for first person, second person, and third person, in each of these
categories they differ in form. Please note unlike in English, pronouns
in Arabic have a different form for dual and plural.

19. 19
You (plural)(dual)You(singular)You
You (plural)(dual)YouYou (singular)
You are students
For masculine dual
You are a student
For masculine singular
You are students
For masculine plural
You are students
For feminine dual
You are a student
For feminine singular
You are students
For feminine plural
: For Second person (masculine)
: For second person (feminine)
For third person (masculine)

20. 20
They (plural)(dual)TheyHe (singular)
They (plural)(dual)TheyHe (singular)
The attached pronouns
They are students
For masculine dual
He is a student
For masculine singular
They are students
For masculine plural
For third person (feminine)
They are students
For feminine dual
She is a student
For feminine singular
They are students
For feminine plural

21. 21
Our book
Masculine and feminine
plural and dual
My book
Masculine and feminine
singular
As mentioned earlier Pronouns are of two categories: The Detached
Pronouns and the Attached Pronouns. The category mentioned here is
that of Attached Pronouns. Similarly Attached Pronouns are divided
into 3 types: for first person, second person, and third person and
within these categories they differ in form. The pronouns once again
have a different form for dual and plural.

22. 22
Your book
Masculine and feminine
dual
Your book
Masculine singular
Your book
Masculine plural
Your book
For masculine and
feminine dual
Your book
For feminine singular
Your book
For feminine plural

23. 23
The kam of interrogation
and its specification
Their book
For masculine dual
His book
For masculine singular
Their book
For masculine plural
Their book
For masculine and
Feminine dual
Her book
For feminine singular
Their book
For feminine plural
Kam of interrogation comes before a noun and it is used for questioning. It gives
the meaning how much/many. The noun that comes after it is called its tamyeez
(specification) and it is always singular and takes the mansoob case (Accusative
case). Please look at the example below.

24. 24
Example
Verbs
The taa’ of feminine form
How many wheels
belong to the bike?
How many pens do
you have?
The tamyeez (distinctive term) of kam is always singular.
It is ended with an alif, except when the noun ends with
the taa marboota (a closed taa)
The kam of
Interrogation
Its
specification
Its
specification
The kam of
Interrogation
Arabic verbs have a root, similar to English. Verbs are normally made up
of three letters knows as radicals. To make a verb represent the past
tense certain letters are added at the end of the root (look at the

25. 25
The noon of women form
The mother left the
house
The student sat in the
classroom
The (female – pl.)
nurses left the
hospital
The women (pl.) went
to the masjid
Example

26. 26
The waw of group form
The number and the enumerated
From 3 to 10
The pilgrims (male –
pl.) returned from
Mecca
The men (pl.) went to
the school
In Arabic, to construct a number two things are included; the (the number)
and the (the enumerated). The noun, which denotes the thing numbered, is
called and the number is called the . Unlike in English, Arabic numbers
can be feminine or masculine. With regards to the numbers 3 to 10, if the
is feminine the is masculine and if the is masculine the is
feminine (opposites come together). Also the numbers from 3 to 10 follow the
mudaaf and mudaafun ilaihi construction.

27. 27
When the enumerated is masculine then the number is feminine, and
when the enumerated is feminine then the number is masculine, like
what is clear in the two examples (above).
3 Female students
to 1
3 Male students
The enumerated
(Feminine- )
The enumerated
(Masculine- )The number The number
For the masculine enumerated

28. 28
Five students
then the
Four students
then the
Three students
Eight students Seven students
Six students
Ten students Nine students
Five students
then the
Four students
then the
Three studentsSix students
For the feminine enumerated

29. 29
The Diptotes
The Diptotes do not like two things, and they are nunation and the kasra
Eight students Seven studentsTen students Nine students
The Diptotes are nouns that do not take a single kasra nor do they take a
Tanween (double vowel), which can be of: dammataan , fathataan and
kasrataan . So it is important to understand that if a diptote is in a
sentence where it is supposed to take a kasra, it does not do so, rather it is
substituted with a fatha. (Please look to the examples below)

30. 30
To Zaynab
In the schools
From London
The following examples are from the diptotes:
Feminine proper nouns
Jeddah Mecca ‘Aaishah Faatima Zaynab

31. 31
Yuusuf Paris London Edward William
A feminine proper noun designated for the
masculine
Talha Mu’aawiya Usaama Hamza
Masculine nouns, ending with aalif and noon on the
scale of fa’laan
The foreign proper nouns
Marwaan Sufyaan ‘Affaan ‘Uthmaan

32. 32
The proper nouns on the scale of af’alu
better greater blue yellow red black white
Adjective and colour on the scale of af’alu
Anwar Ahmad
full thirsty hungary lazy
Adjective on the scale of fa’laan

33. 33
doctors strongones truthful ones rich ones
pl. pl. pl. pl.
on the scale of af’ilaau
scholars colleagues ministers poor ones
pl. pl. pl. pl.
On the scale of fu’alaau
minutes doctors hotels schools mosques
pl. pl. pl. pl. pl.
on the scale of mafaa’ilu

34. 34
chairs cups keys handkerchiefs
pl. pl. pl. pl.
on the scale of mafaa’eelu