Lesson 12

Nominative Sentence in Arabic

A sentence in which the predicate is expressed without the help of a verb is called a nominative (nominal) sentence, and its predicate is called a nominative predicate.

All the Arabic sentences used in the previous lessons are nominative sentences.

This type of sentence is common in Arabic. Arabic does not have a present tense ‘to be’ verb, which is obligatory in English, German and French, for example.

Here are the basic grammatical rules concerning the Arabic nominative sentence:

A. Rules for the subject

1. The subject preceding a nominative predicate is usually in the definite state (see examples 1-8 below). Nouns in the definite state are considered to be: 1) nouns with articles, 2) demonstrative and personal pronouns, 3) proper nouns: personal, geographical, etc.

2. The subject following the nominative predicate is usually in the indefinite state (see examples 9, 10 below).

B. Rules for the predicate

3. A nominative predicate expressed by a noun or adjective without a preposition is usually in the indefinite state (see examples 1, 2 and 4-8 below).

4. The predicate in a nominative sentence may be expressed by an adverb. An adverb is neither definite nor indefinite (see examples 3 and 10 below).

Examples

When constructing sentences according to the patterns of Examples 1-8, it is necessary to be especially careful that the subject be in the definite state and the predicate in the indefinite state, in other words, that the subject and predicate be separated in the states. This is very important, because otherwise, instead of a sentence expressing some thought, a message, we will get either a mere combination of the determiner with the attribute, or even an incoherent set of words. Let’s consider it on the examples:

Translating these examples shows that examples 1 and 4 are nominative sentences, examples 2 and 3 are combinations of the determiner with the attribute, and examples 5 and 6 are incoherent pairs of words.

The role of demonstrative pronouns in a sentence

An indicative pronoun can be used in a sentence both as a subject (see lesson 7) and as an attribute. As an attribute of a noun with the article, the demonstrative pronoun is placed before that noun (as in English) and agrees with it in gender and number, e.g.:

It is necessary to clearly distinguish between the use of demonstrative pronouns in the role of subject and in the role of attribute. Let’s show it with some examples:

The first three examples are nominative sentences (there is a disjunction in the states); the second three are not sentences, but combinations of modified nouns with their attributes expressed by demonstrative pronouns.

The demonstrative pronouns هذا — this (m.) and هذه — this (f.) are used to indicate nearby objects. The pronouns ذَلِكَ — that (m.) and تِلْكَ — that (f.) serve to indicate distant objects. In the word ذَلِكَ the first vowel /a/ is long /zalika/, despite the absence of alif.

The pronouns ذلك and تلك fulfill the same role in a sentence as هذا and هذه, i.e., the role of subject or attribute.

Thus, we already know four demonstrative pronouns:

Closed syllable length contraction

In word combinations like هذا البيت and هذه الوردة the article hamza is naturally used as a connection hamza. In doing so, the pronoun هذا loses the length of the second /a/, retaining, however, alif in the writing. Such a phenomenon is called length contraction and occurs usually with any long vowel, if it turns out in the flow of speech, as in this case, in a closed syllable: /hā / ða-l / baj / tu/.

Exercise 1. a) Write down with vowel marks (check by hovering), transcribe. b) Make a syntactic analysis (identify the members of the sentence). c) Read observing the rules of the connecting hamza, assimilating the /l/ article to sun consonants, and the length contraction.

١) هذا كتاب وتلك جريدة.
٢) هذا الكتاب وتلك الجريدة.
٣) هذه مدرسة وذلك بيت.
٤) هذه المدرسة وذلك البيت.
٥) هذا كتاب نادر.
٦) هذا الكتاب نادر.
٧) هذا الكتاب النادر.
٨) تلك جريدة جديدة.
٩) تلك الجريدة جديدة.
١٠) تلك الجريدة الجديدة.

b)
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 8) 7) 9) 10)

c)

The intonation of a simple nominative sentence

A. A narrative sentence is divided into two intonational segments: the first segment is the subject group. (the subject with all its attributes) and the second — the predicate group (the predicate with all its attributes).

The first segment is pronounced with rising (ascending) intonation, and the second with falling (descending) intonation. A short pause is possible between them. The intonation of a narrative sentence as a whole is falling, e.g.:

B. In an interrogative sentence, the first intonation segment is spoken with falling intonation, and the second with rising intonation. A pause is also possible between them. The intonation of the interrogative sentence as a whole is rising, for example:

C. These rules about intonation also apply when the subject comes after the predicate, the only difference being that the first intonation segment is here the predicate group and the second is the subject group, for example:

هل, اجل and لا before the article

If the particle هل is immediately before a word with the article, it is pronounced /hali/, and connects the article hamza, e.g.:

Hamza does not connect after the particles اجل and لا, as these particles are separated from subsequent words by a pause.

Text of Lesson 12

١) ما هذا؟ هذا بستان. هل هذا البستان كبير؟ أجل، هذا البستان كبير. هل هذا البستان الكبير جميل؟ أجل، هذا البستان الكبير جميل. هل هناك نباتات نادرة؟ أجل، هناك نباتات نادرة. هل النباتات النادرة جميلة؟ أجل، النباتات النادرة جميلة.
٢) هل هذا البيت الكبير منزل؟ لا، هذا البيت الكبير مدرسة، وذلك البيت منزل. هل المدرسة جديدة؟ أجل، المدرسة جديدة. هناك مكتبة. تلك المكتبة كبيرة. هناك كتب ومجلّات. هل الكتب والمجلّات روسيّة؟ أجل، الكتب والمجلّات روسيّة. هل هي جديدة؟ اجل، هي جديدة.
٣) هذا الرجل كاتب روسيّ. هذا الكاتب مشهور. له مكتبة. المكتبة كبيرة. هناك كتب ومجلّات. الكتب نادرة والمجلّات جديدة. هل هناك ديوان؟ أحل، هناك ديوان. هل ذلك الديوان وثير؟ أجل، ذلك الديوان وثير.
٤) ما هذه؟ هذه جريدة. هل هذه الجريدة تركيّة؟ لا، هذه الجريدة روسيّة، وتلك الجريدة تركيّة. هل الجريدة الروسيّة جديدة؟ أجل، الجريدة الروسيّة جديدة.
٥) من هي؟ هي مهندسة. هل هذه المهندسة ماهرة؟ اًجل، هذه المهندسة ماهرة. هل لها سيّارة؟ أجل، لها سيّارة. هل السيّارة جديدة؟ أجل، السيّارة جديدة. هل السيّارة الجديدة جيّدة؟ أجل، السيّارة الجديدة جيّدة.
٦) هل هذه المدينة كبيرة؟ أجل، هذه المدينة كبيرة. هل هذه المدينة الكبيرة جميلة؟ أجل، هذه المدينة الكبيرة جميلة. هل هناك بيوت جديدة؟ أجل، هناك بيوت جديدة. هل البيوت الجديدة جميلة؟ أجل، البيوت الجديدة جميلة.

Exercise 2. a) Write down the text with the vowel marks; transcribe the first paragraph. b) Make a syntactic analysis (identify the members of the sentence); Explain the use of the article with nouns and adjectives; translate the text. c) Read the text with correct intonation observing the connecting hamza and the assimilation of the /l/ article.

Exercise 3. Translate from English into Arabic using the article correctly.

1) This man is a prominent Russian writer, and that woman is a famous engineer. She has a big library. There are magazines and books. These books and magazines are new.
2) What is this? This is a newspaper, and that is a book. The newspaper is Russian, and the book is Turkish. The Russian newspaper is here, and the Turkish newspaper is there. This Russian newspaper is new. That Turkish book is rare.
3) Who is she? She is a teacher. She has a new pupil. Is the new pupil diligent? Yes, the new pupil diligent.
4) What is this? This is a lesson. Is this lesson new? Yes, this lesson is new. Is the new lesson easy? Yes, the new lesson is easy. Are there new words? Yes, there are new words. Are they easy? Yes, these words are easy.
5) This is a knife, and that is a fork. The fork and the knife are here. Here are milk and butter. The milk is tasty. The butter is cold. And is sugar here? Yes, the sugar is here. And is soup here? No, the soup is there. Is it rich? Yes, it is rich and delicious.
6) Is here a severe cold? Yes, the cold here is severe.