Lesson 5

The letter ل and the sound /l/

The letter ل (laam) is similar to the English ‘l’ in words like ‘light’ or ‘love.’

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

The height of laam is equal to that of alif, the ornamental tail is the same as the arc of the isolated noon.

Exercise 1. Read from right to left. Write it down 5 times.

لَ لُ لِ لَلْ لِلْ لُلْ لَلِلُ لُلَلِ لِلُلَ

Exercise 2. Read by pronouncing the consonant and vowel sounds correctly. Write down with the transcription, mark the stress.

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

/dalīlun, bulbulun, waladun, baladun, labanun, laðīðun, lawnun, tilwun, dilwun, lawlabun, wālidun, wālidatunā, talwīnun, janālu, niltu, lī, talwīθun, taðlīlun/

The letter ك and the sound /k/

The letter ك (kaaf) is similar to the English sound /k/.

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

The height of the vertical stroke kaaf is equal to that of alif, a sloping stroke of about the same length is drawn from right to left and added after the whole word is written. The ornamental tail in the isolated and final forms is the same as the arc of bā and lies on the line. The additional mark in these forms is a miniature image of kaaf.

Exercise 4. Read from right to left. Write it down 5 times.

كِ كَ كُ كِكْ كَكْ كُكْ كِكُكَ كَكُكِ كُكَكِ

Exercise 5. Read the following. Write down with transcription, mark the stress.

كِبَارٌ كِتَابٌ لَكِ

كَبِيرٌ لَكَ كَتَبَ

كُوبٌ يَكُونُ دِيكٌ

يَكْتُبُ بِكْرٌ يَتْرُكْ

Exercise 6. Read, paying attention to the vowel length. Write down with transcription, mark the stress.

Exercise 7. Write down the transcribed words in Arabic letters with vowel marks.

/kitābun, laka, jakūnu, dīkun, jatruku, labanun, kabīrun, bulbulun, laðīðun, laki, buldānun, kibārun, kibarun, takwībun, kawnun, waladun, kutubun, natruku, zurnāka, kūbun/

Exercise 8. Write down, transcribe and memorise the following words:

The audio for the words without the ending -un:

Conjunction وَ

Coordinating conjunction وَ is, with few exceptions, an unstressed conjunction. It is always written together with the following word and is never separated when moving to the next line, e.g.:

When enumerating, where English uses a comma, Arabic prefers to use the conjunction وَ, e.g.: a* bull, a* rooster and a* nightingale — ثور وديك وبلبل

* Arabic does not have indefinite article, you will only see it in the English version of texts.

The usage of vowel marks

The vowel marks are not used in ordinary Arabic writing or in print. They are used only for educational purposes, in dictionaries, and in poetry and the Koran. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to read without vowel marks, recovering the vowels based on knowledge of the words and understanding of the context.

Exercise 9. Read, transcribe and translate, write down with vowel marks.

١) باب كبير
٢) بلبل نادر
٣) بلد كبير
٤) نبات نادر
٥) كتاب نادر
٦) ديوان وثير
٧) ولد كبير

٨) ثور وديك
٩) لبن بارد ولذيذ
١٠) وزير بارز
١١) نبيذ لذيذ وبارد
١٢) بيت كبير
١٣) كوب كبير

Exercise 10. Translate from English into Arabic. Use vowel marks. Write down in your notebook.

1) Big country. 2) Rare book. 3) Prominent minister. 4) Cold and tasty milk. 5) Rare nightingale. 6) Rooster and nightingale. 7) Big road. 8) Delicious wine. 9) Soft divan. 10) Cold provision. 11) Rare plant. 12) Big glass. 13) Big bull. 14) Big and cold house.

Possession

To express possession, Arabic uses special expressions that change in persons, numbers and genders. Here are some of them:

لِي — I have;
لَكَ — you have (addressing one man);
لَكِ — you have (addressing one woman);
لَنَا — we have.

These phrases allow you to construct sentences without verbs like (no verbs in Arabic, but the verb ‘have’ in Englilsh):

It should be kept in mind, however, that these constructions denote the possession of an object as property.

Text of Lesson 5

١) لك كتاب نادر ٢) لنا بيت كبير ٣) لي لبن بارد ٤) لك نبيذ لذيذ ٥) لنا نبات نادر ٦) لي ثور كبير ٧) لك لبن لذيذ وبارد ٨) لك كوب كبير ٩) لك ديك كبير

In the audio above, sentence 4 is skipped by the speaker.

Exercise 11. Read the text, write it down with vowel marks, transcribe, translate and memorise.

Exercise 12. Translate from English to Arabic. Do not forget vowel marks.

1) I have a rare book. 2) We have a big and soft divan. 3) You have (m) big bull. 4) You have (f) rare plant. 5) We have tasty and cold milk. 6) You have (f) a big house. 7) I have a big rooster. 8) You have (f) cold and delicious wine. 9) We have a big glass.