Arabic Short Story : Let's Play!

We are going to learn Arabic through short story. I'll tell you a short story in Arabic, then explain you the word by word translation.

By reading the short story, we can improve our Arabic vocabulary and learn basic Arabic grammar. 

Notes : I don't explain i'rab or tasrif here, you can study both lesson at another section in this blog. We'll focus on vocabulary and basic Arabic grammar.

The title is "Let's play". 

لَبِسَ أَحْمَدُ مَلَابِسَ جَمِيْلَةً

وَذَهَبَ إِلَى بَيْتِ زَمِيْلِهِ مُحَمَّدٌ

قَرَعَ جَرَسَ البَيْتِ  

قَالَ أَحْمَدُ : السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُم, يَا أُمَّ مُحَمَّدٍ

قَالَتْ أُمُّ مُحَمَّدٍ : وَعَلَيْكُمُ السَّلاَمُ, تَفَضَّلْ, إِنَّهُ فِى البَيْتِ

فَجَاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ وَرَحَّبَ بِأَحْمَدَ 

قَالَ مُحَمَّدٌ : مَا هَذَا الَّذِي مَعَكَ يَا أَحْمَدُ ؟

قَالَ أَحْمَدُ : هَذِهِ  لُعْبَتِي, أُرِيْدُ أَنْ أَلْعَبَهَا مَعَكَ

قَالَ مُحَمَّدٌ : هَيَّا بِنَا نَلْعَبُهَا فِي المَلْعَبِ

لَبِسَ أَحْمَدُ مَلَابِسَ جَمِيْلَةً

Ahmad wore beautiful clothes.

وَذَهَبَ إِلَى بَيْتِ زَمِيْلِهِ مُحَمَّدٌ

Then he went to his friend's house, the name is Muhammad.

قَرَعَ جَرَسَ البَيْتِ

He rang the doorbell.

قَالَ أَحْمَدُ : السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُم, يَا أُمَّ مُحَمَّدٍ

Ahmad said: Peace be upon you, O Muhammad's mother.

قَالَتْ أُمُّ مُحَمَّدٍ : وَعَلَيْكُمُ السَّلاَمُ, تَفَضَّلْ, إِنَّهُ فِى البَيْتِ

Muhammad's mother said: Peace be upon you, come in please, Muhammad is at home.

فَجَاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ وَرَحَّبَ بِأَحْمَدَ 

Then Muhammad came and greeted Ahmad.

قَالَ مُحَمَّدٌ : مَا هَذَا الَّذِي مَعَكَ يَا أَحْمَدُ ؟

Muhammad asked: What is this O Ahmad?

قَالَ أَحْمَدُ : هَذِهِ  لُعْبَتِي, أُرِيْدُ أَنْ أَلْعَبَهَا مَعَكَ

Ahmad answered: This is my toy, I want to play it with you.

قَالَ مُحَمَّدٌ : هَيَّا بِنَا نَلْعَبُهَا فِي المَلْعَبِ

Muhammad said: Let's play it in the playground.

1. لَبِسَ - يَلْبَسُ = wear; get dressed

fi'il madi = لَبِسَ

fi'il mudari' = يَلْبَسُ

fi'il amr = اِلْبَسْ

2. مَلَابِسُ  = clothes

In the sentence, مَلَابِسُ is object (maf'ul bih).

Maf'ul bih is isim mansub, so the harakat becomes مَلَابِسَ

3. جَمِيْلٌ = beautiful; good

In the sentence, جَمِيْلٌ is na't (adjective)

As we've known that there is agreement between adjective and the noun (noun that is described by the adjective) in gender, number, etc.

In Arabic, plural noun agrees with single and female adjective. 

مَلاَبِسَ is plural noun, the condition is mansub (fat-hah), therefore the na't become single & female and the condition is also mansub => جَمِيْلَةً  

4. ذَهَبَ - يَذْهَبُ  = go

fi'il madi = ذَهَبَ

fi'il mudari' = يَذْهَبُ  

fi'il amr = اِذْهَبْ

5. بَيْتٌ = house

In the sentence, the condition of بَيْتٌ is majrur because it's preceded by harf jar (إِلَى), so it becomes بَيْتٍ

In addition to this, بَيْت is also mudaf , so it has no tanwin.

زَمِيْلٌ is mudaf ilaih, so the condition is majrur, it becomes زَمِيْلٍ, then it's followed by damir هُوَ, finally it becomes زَمِيْلِهِ

6. زَمِيْلٌ = colleague

بَيْتُ زَمِيْلِهِ means his friend's house (house of his friend).

Because this phrase is preceded by harf jar, so it becomes بَيْتِ زَمِيْلِهِ

7. قَرَعَ - يَقْرَعُ = knock; ring

fi'il madi = قَرَعَ 

fi'il mudari' = يَقْرَعُ 

fi'il amr = اِقْرَعْ

sentence examples:

قَرَعَ البَابَ = He knocked the door.

قَرَعَ الجَرَسَ = He rang the doorbell

8. جَرَسٌ = bell

جَرَسُ البَيْتِ means doorbell (bell in our house)

جَرَسُ is mudaf, البَيْتِ is mudaf ilaih.

جَرَسُ is maf'ul bih, so the condition is mansub, therefore in the sentence it becomes جَرَسَ 

Finally, we write it جَرَسَ البَيْتِ 

9. قَالَ - يَقُولُ = say

fi'il madi = قَالَ 

fi'il mudari' = يَقُولُ 

fi'il amr = قُلْ

10. يَا = O

يَا is vocative particle (harf nida), it's used to call someone.

a. يَا is harf nida.

b. someone who is called is munada'.

munada is ma'rifah, so it has no tanwin.

munada's condition is marfu'.

Example: 

- يَا مُحَمَّدُ = O Muhammad!

- يَا أُسْتَاذُ = O teacher!

c. If munada is idafah, so the mudaf's condition is mansub.

Idafah example: أُمُّ مُحَمَّدٍ

أُمُّ مُحَمَّدٍ means muhammad's mother.

أُمُّ is mudaf. مُحَمَّد  is mudaf ilaih.

Suppose you call muhammad's mother, you've to say : يَا أُمَّ مُحَمَّدٍ 

أُمَّ is mansub, because mudaf in munada is mansub. mansub with fat-ha.

11. تَفَضَّلْ = come in; please!

fi'il madi = تَفَضَّلَ

fi'il mudari' = يَتَفَضَّلُ

تَفَضَّلَ - يَتَفَضَّلُ means please (the act of begging someone to do something)

12. جَاءَ - يَجِيءُ = come; arrive; show up

fi'il madi = جَاءَ 

fi'il mudari' = يَجِيءُ 

fi'il amr = جِئْ

13. رَحَّبَ - يُرَحِّبُ = greet; welcome

fi'il madi = رَحَّبَ 

fi'il mudari' = يُرَحِّبُ 

fi'il amr = رَحِّبْ

14. مَا هَذَا ؟ = what is this?

15. مَعَ = with

مَعَكَ = with you.

16. لُعْبَةٌ = toy; game

لُعْبَتِيْ means my toy.

17. أُرِيْدُ  = I want

The root verb of أُرِيْدُ is أَرَادَ - يُرِيدُ 

18. أَلْعَبُ = play

أَلْعَبُ is fi'il mudari' for damir أَنَا

In the sentence, أَلْعَبُ become mansub because it's preceeded by harf nashab (أَنْ) , so we say أَلْعَبَ

The root verb is لَعِبَ - يَلْعَبُ

fi'il madi = لَعِبَ 

fi'il mudari' = يَلْعَبُ 

fi'il amr = اِلْعَبْ

19. هَيَّا بِنَا = let's go

20. نَلْعَبُ = we play

نَلْعَبُ  is fi'il mudari' for damir نَحْنُ

The root verb of  نَلْعَبُ  is لَعِبَ - يَلْعَبُ

نَلْعَبُهَا means we play it.

21. مَلْعَبٌ = playground.

That's all for today, I'll continue the story in the next post, in shaa Allah.

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Let's check our understanding in Arabic text above, answer some questions here, click the following link to do exercise : reading comprehension: let's play

- Going to Campus

- Going to the market

- Vacation