Lesson 13

The letter ف and the sound /f/

The letter ف /fā/ is pronounced similar to the English /f/ sound.

Consonant /f/ is a moon consonant.

The letter ف connects both ways and has four graphic shapes (see from right to left):

The head of fа̄ is the same as that of wа̄w, and the tail in the isolated and final forms is the same as that of bа̄. In the initial form the head is slightly raised above the line and is placed as if on the neck; in the medial form it becomes a rounded superscript loop, slightly inclined to the right; fа̄ is connected with neighbouring letters in the same way as bа̄, tа̄ etc. There is a single dot above the letter ف.

Exercise 1. Read and write it down 5 times.

فَ فُ فِ فُفْ فِفْ فَفْ فُفَفِ فِفَفُ فَفُفِ

Exercise 2. Read and write it down with the transcription. Mark the main stress.

Exercise 3. Write down the transcribed words with vowel marks in Arabic letters.

/fа̄’idatun, mufīdun, aiʤlun, ’afrа̄dun, firа̄ʃun, farrа̄ʃun, mafrūʃatun, faʤwatun, ’infirа̄dun, mufradun, taftīʃun, fitratun, ’iflа̄sun, fihа̄, fannun, funūnun, fannа̄nа̄tun/

Names of Letters

Let’s clarify the names of the studied letters taking advantage of the fact that we now know the previously missing sounds. Here are the names in Arabic script and in transcription:

The pronunciation of the ending /-un/ in letter names is optional.

The letter ق and the sound /q/

The letter ق /qа̄fun/ stands for the hard voiceless consonant sound /q/, which bears a very distant resemblance to the hard English /k/.

The consonant /q/ is a moon consonant.

The letter ق is a voiceless uvular stop, meaning it is pronounced by pressing the back of the tongue against the uvula, then releasing it forcefully. It differs from ك /k/ which is articulated further forward in the mouth. English speakers might find it similar to a deep /k/ sound, but it requires a stronger, more guttural approach. The hardness or softness of the English /k/ depends on the place of this contact: the closer it is to the larynx, the harder the /k/ is. This can be seen by pronouncing the Russian syllables /ki-ka-ku/ one by one, observing how with each syllable the place of contact between the tongue and the palate moves further and further back, into the depths of the oral cavity.

When pronouncing Arabic /q/, the contact is even deeper, as deep as it can be: between the root of the tongue and the deepest part of the soft palate.

Exercise 4. Pronounce these groups of syllables achieving a deep-back Arabic /q/ in the last syllable of each group.

The audio for: ka - ku - ki - ka - ku - ki - qa - qu - qi - qa - qu - qi - qa - qu - qi - ka - ku - ki - qa - qu - qi - ka - ku - ki - qa - qu - qi:

The letter ق connects both ways and has four graphic shapes (see from right to left):

The letter ق differs from ف in the number of distinctive dots (two instead of one) and in the shape of the tail in the isolated and final forms — this tail drops below the line and is similar to the isolated or final nūn.

Exercise 5. Read and write it down 5 times.

قَ قُ قِ قَقْ قُقْ قِقْ قُقِقَ قِقَقُ قَقِقُ

Exercise 6. Compare the pronunciation of ك and ق with the neighboring vowels in the following words (you don’t need to memorise these words).

Exercise 7. Read by pronouncing ق and the neighboring vowels correctly. Write down with the transcription. Mark the main stress.

Exercise 8. Write down the transcribed words in Arabic letters.

/rifа̄qun, qа̄’imun, qahwatun, ’aqdа̄mun, qа̄dirun, ’aqlа̄мun, muqaddamatun, θaqа̄fatun, fiqhun, qafzatun, sibа̄qun, qа̄filatun, qumа̄ʃun, qawlun, ’iqbа̄lun, ’istiqbа̄lun/

Genitive Case in Arabic

Nouns, adjectives, participles, and pronouns in Arabic are declined, i.e. they change their cases. So far we have used only the nominative case, but in addition to the nominative case, Arabic has the genitive and accusative cases.

In the genitive case, the endings /-un/ (in the indefinite state) and /-u/ (in the definite state) are changed to /-in/ and /-i/ respectively.

To indicate the tanween ending of the genitive case /-in/ a double vowel mark of /i/ is used, e.g.:

Plural nouns also get the same endings in the genitive case.

Examples of declension of nouns and adjectives in indefinite and definite states

Short /i/ and /u/ in the final closed syllable

In the tanween ending /-in/ in place of the vowel /i/ a vowel close to the English /e/ is sounded (like in the word ‘bed’ or ‘teacher’ /'ti:ʧə/), and when the tanween is dropped, a pure Arabic /i/ is sounded.

We have already seen a similar vowel change in the tanween ending /-un/ and in the words لَكُمْ and لَهُمْ (see lesson 2, lesson 11 (B).

In all these cases the following phonetic law of the Arabic language is fulfilled: in the final closed syllable in the place of the short /i/ sounds /e/, and in the place of the short /u/ sounds /o/.

Exercise 9. Read the declension examples in the table above observing the difference in the pronunciation of the vowels /i/ and /u/ with tanween (closed syllable) and without tanween (open syllable).

Prepositions في, من, قرب

Prepositions in Arabic require the genitive case after themselves.

Preposition فِى

Preposition فِى, corresponding to English ‘in’, denotes location (but not direction). Before a noun with the article with the connecting hamza, the long /i/ of the preposition فى contracts into a short vowel (compare lesson 12), e.g.:

Preposition مِنْ

Preposition مِنْ means ‘from’. Before a noun with the article, the final vowel of the preposition مِنْ is changed from sukoon to /a/ to make it possible to make the connecting hamza of the article (compare lesson 12), e.g.:

Preposition قُرْبَ

Preposition قُرْبَ means ‘near’, e.g.:

Exercise 10. Read and translate. Write it down with the vowel marks.

Case Agreement of the Attribute

Adjectives that act as attributes agree with the modified nouns not only in gender and state, but also in case. This means that an adjective referring to a noun in the genitive case will also have the genitive case form. The demonstrative pronouns تلك، هذه، ذلك، هذا are not declined, e.g.:

The words for the text of lesson 13

Text of Lesson 13

I

١) فى بيت قديم
٢) فى البيت القديم
٣) فى شقة جديدة
٤) فى الشقة الجديدة
٥) فى فنجان جميل
٦) فى الفنجان الجميل
٧) فى مقال كبير
٨) فى المقال الكبير
٩) فى قرية قريبة
١٠) فى القرية القريبة
١١) فى دفتر جيّد
١٢) فى الدفتر الجيّد

II

١) فى هذا البيت القديم
٢) فى تلك الشقة الجديدة
٣) فى ذلك الفنجان الجميل
٤) فى هذه القرية القريبة
٥) فى ذلك الدفتر الجيّد
٦) فى هذا المقال الكبير

III

١) من فنجان جميل
٢) من الفنجان الجميل
٣) من مقال مشهور
٤) من المقال المشهور
٥) من رفيق قديم
٦) من الرفيق القديم
٧) من قرية قريبة
٨) من القرية القريبة
٩) من فلم جديد
١٠) من الفلم الجديد
١١) من نافذة كبيرة
١٢) من النافذة الكبيرة

IV

١) من هذا الفنجان الجميل
٢) من ذلك المقال المشهور
٣) من هذا الرفيق القديم
٤) من تلك القرية القريبة
٥) من ذلك الفلم الجديد
٦) من هذه النافذة الكبيرة

V

١) هذه القرية قرب المدينة.
٢) ذلك البيت القديم قرب المدرسة.
٣) المائدة قرب النافذة المقفولة.
٤) البستان الجميل قرب هذا البيت.

Exercise 11. Read the text paying attention to the connecting hamza of the article, the length contraction and the correct use of the genetive case. Translate into English. Write it down with the vowel marks. Transcribe the passages I and III.

Exercise 12. Read by pronouncing the consonants ف and و correctly.

١) شابّ وفتاة ٢) بدلة وفستان ٣) كوب وفنجان ٤) أنف وفم

Exercise 13. Read paying particular attention to the pronunciation of the consonant ق and its neighbouring vowels. Write it down with the vowel marks and translate.

١) النافذة الكبيرة مقفولة. ٢) الفستان الجديد جميل. ٣) القلم والريشة هنا. ٤) هذه الفتاة تلميذة مجتهدة. ٥) هذا البيت جديد وذلك البيت قديم. ٦) هذه المدينة قريبة. ٧) القهوة واللبن هناك. ٨) هذا الرفيق استاذ مشهور. ٩) هنا كتاب وهناك دفتر. ١٠) هذا الفلم الجديد جيّد. ١١) الشقة الجديدة كبيرة. ١٢) هذه القرية قريبة.

Exercise 14. Make questions to all the sentences from the previous exercise.