Types of words in Arabic | Arabic Grammar Concepts

We should review the previous lesson part of speech in Arabic  and understanding words in Arabic  to refresh our memory of this subject.

Today, we are going to restudy basic concept of Arabic grammar.

In the first segment, I'll explain you types of word in terms of Arabic grammar.

Arabic word concept

1. Word in Arabic = الكَلِمَةُ (al-kalimah)

2. Commonly, the words are associated with a "root verb" composed of  "three root letters"

3. The meaning of the word generally related (directly or indirectly) to the root word.

example:

- عَامِلٌ from the verb عَمِلَ

 عَمِلَ  means do; perform; work

عَامِلٌ means worker; employee; a person performs an action

root verb and it's associated words example

4. From the example, we can draw a conclusion that majority of Arabic nouns are based on one three-letter root verb.

5. There are three types of Arabic word, they are:

a. noun = اسْمٌ (ism)

b. verb = فِعْلٌ (fi'l)

c. particle = حَرْفٌ (harf)

The Arabic noun (الاِسْمُ) basic concept

1.  The noun in Arabic includes: noun, pronoun, adjective, verbal noun.

examples:

noun: كِتَابٌ (kitaabun) = a book

pronoun: هُوَ (huwa) = he

adjective: جَدِيْدٌ (jadiidun) = new

verbal noun: دَرْسٌ (darsun) = studying; lesson


note:  verbal noun is verb which is not confined to a specific time period like past, present, or future.


2. Commonly, indefinite nouns carry tanwin

example:

قَلَمٌ (qalamun) = a pen

3. Commonly, definite nouns beginning with ال (al)

example:

القَلَمُ (al-qalamu) = the pen

===special note===

Read in the following link for more detail about noun (اسم) : types of noun in Arabic

===special note===

The Arabic verb (الفِعْلُ) basic concept

1. verb (فِعْلٌ) is an action confined to a specific time period.

example:

كَتَبَ (kataba) : wrote => past (الماضى/al-maaḍi)

يَكْتُبُ (yaktubu) : write => present (المضارع/al-muḍaari')


2. Characteristic of fi'l :

- never has ة (ta marbutah) at the end of the word

- never has tanwin at the end of the word

- never has particle ال (al)

The Arabic particle (الحَرْفُ) basic concept

1. Particles in Arabic includes: preposition, conjunction, word indicating emphasis, negation particle, connector, interrogation particle, conditional particle.


2. Particles join the word directly following it (noun or verb) to result in a useful meaning.

3. Particles usually comes before the word that it links to.

4. Particles often composed of less that three letters.

5. Examples of particles :

إِلَى = to

مِنْ = from

عَلَى = on

etc.


6. Some particles cause a change in inflection (case of the word) that it is associated with. Some particles act on nouns whereas others act on verbs.

Three types of Arabic words summary

The lesson recap in video.

The lesson recap in picture.

components of  اسم , فعل, حرف  (noun, verb, particle)

Parts of speech (types of word) in Arabic : noun (اسم/ism), verb (فعل/fi'l), and particle (حرف/harf).

examples of  اسم , فعل, حرف  (noun, verb, particle)

We will observe more detail in the next lesson.

In the next lesson, I will explain the characteristics of noun, examples, and so on.