Table Of ContentArabic Today
Second Edition
Arabic Today
A student, business and professional course in
spoken and written Arabic
Second Edition
John Mace
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS
© John Mace, 1996, 2008
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
22 George Square, Edinburgh
First published in 1996
This edition 2008
Typeset by the author in Palatino, Times and Arial
and in Traditional Arabic, Giza and Ruq‛a,
and printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wilts
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7846 3557 3 (hardback)
ISBN 978 0 7846 3558 0 (paperback)
The right of John Mace to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
The audio material in the CD accompanying this book is also available to
download from our website at
www.euppublishing.com/page/ArabicToday/audio
Contents
Introduction vii
Pronunciation ix
Part I: Spoken Arabic
Lesson 1 Greetings 3
Professions and countries. Gender and Number. Pronouns.
(cid:8216)to be(cid:8217). Adjectives.
Lesson 2 At the Airport 11
Travel. Gender of nouns. Article. Adjectives. Prepositions.
Possessives. (cid:8216)to have(cid:8217).
Lesson 3 In the Hotel 19
Construct. Triliteral verb. Past tense of sound and
initial- w verbs. Sound nouns. Transition vowel.
Lesson 4 In Town 29
Demonstratives. Object pronouns. Indirect Statement.
Numbers 0(cid:8211)10. Negative. Adverbs.
Lesson 5 In the Office 39
Administration. Present tense and imperative of sound and
initial- w verbs. Numbers 11(cid:8211)199. Interrogatives.
Indirect questions. Regional variations.
Lesson 6 A Visit to Friends 49
Egyptian speech. House and family. Past tense of hollow verbs.
Clauses of circumstance. Broken plural. Continuous past tense.
Regional variations.
Lesson 7 On the Telephone 61
Present tense and imperative of hollow verbs. (cid:8216)may/can/must/
might(cid:8217). Numbers above 199. Fractions and percentage. Time.
Days of the week. Indirect Command. Regional variations.
Lesson 8 Teaching and Training 71
Doubled and final-weak verbs. Auxiliary verbs. Relative clauses.
Interrogatives. (cid:8216)some/same/all(cid:8217). Ordinal numbers.
Activities, instruments and places. Regional variations.
Lesson 9 In the Restaurant 83
Food and drink. Collective nouns. Verbs of Form II.
Comparison of adjectives and adverbs. Indefinite pronouns.
Lesson 10 A New Project 93
Meetings. Participles. Verbal nouns. Future tense. Calendar.
Lesson 11 Visit to a Factory 103
Levantine speech. Industry and economy. Verbs of Forms
III and IV. Pluperfect tense. Conditional and concessive
sentences. Regional variations. Adverbs. Participial verb.
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Lesson 12 At the Surgery 117
Body and health. Verbs of Forms V and VI. Absolute object.
Special adjectives. Quadriliteral verb.
Expressions of circumstance. Age. Regional variations.
Lesson 13 A Visit to the Village 129
Geography and climate. Verbs of Forms VII and VIII.
Abstract nouns. Reflexive. Passive. Diminutives.
Lesson 14 In the Market 141
Shopping. Clothes. Verbs of Forms IX and X.
Lesson 15 The News 149
Politics and international relations. Broadcasting.
Written forms. Recapitulation of verb, Forms I to X.
Part II: Written Arabic
Lesson 16 Reading and Writing. Alphabet. Article. 159
Sound plural and dual endings. Doubled letters.
Lesson 17 Reading and Writing. Alphabet. 169
Lesson 18 Reading and Writing. Alphabet. Arabic transcription. Pointing. 177
Lesson 19 Insurance 187
Full and short pronunciation. Nouns and adjectives.
Possessive suffixes. Prepositions. Pronoun suffixes.
Lesson 20 Transport and Communications 197
Subject pronouns. Verbs with sound final root letter. Dictionary.
Lesson 21 Personnel Management 205
Object pronouns. Complements. Negatives. Interrogatives.
Sentence structure. Future.
Lesson 22 Petroleum 215
Demonstratives. Clauses of purpose. Auxiliary verbs.
Comparison of adjectives and adverbs.
Lesson 23 From the Newspapers 223
Relative pronouns. Final-weak verbs. Dictionary.
Lesson 24 Correspondence 235
ruq9a script. Numbers. Time. Calendar.
Anomalous nouns and adjectives.
Lesson 25 The Transfer of Technology 249
Auxiliaries with the present tense. Doubly weak verbs.
Lesson 26 The United Nations 257
Expressions with the jussive. Conditional sentences. Passive.
Improper agreement. Equivalent spoken and written forms.
Key to exercises 269
Index of words 281
Arabic, Part I 281
English, Parts I and II 309
Arabic, Part II 339
Grammar index 351
Introduction
You can learn Arabic.
This course is designed to help people visiting the Arab world – whether for
work, study or other reasons – who wish to communicate at first hand with the
people and the institutions of the region. It is written in a manner suitable either
for self-tuition or for use in a classroom.
One problem facing teachers and students of Arabic is the divergence between
the written language and the many regional forms of speech. Teachers and
students feel forced to make a choice, and this sometimes highlights or even
exaggerates this divergence.
This course attempts to cut through the dilemma. Part I offers, in a simple and
reliable Roman-letter transcription, a form of educated spoken Arabic which
leads without strain to the written language explained in Part II. Here the Arabic
letters are learned in groups, the most useful ones first, while the written
language is presented not as a contrast but as a complement to the spoken.
Grammatical terms, kept to a minimum, are explained in the text.
Part I is based on the speech of the Levant, Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula
which is also widely understood from Morocco to Oman. The reasons for this
choice lie in the cultural, political and economic importance of the region. Not
only will this form of speech enable you to understand and be understood in the
Arab Middle East, among rich and poor alike, as well as among educated people
in North-west Africa, but it also serves as a base on which the bridge to standard
written Arabic is easily built.
At the same time, you will find in Part I important regional speech variations.
You may choose to stop at the end of Part I, if you have no time, or no need, for
reading and writing. Or you may, after a time if not immediately, go on to Part
II, building on what you learned in Part I.
This course rejects the premise that Arabic is very difficult, remote or
mysterious, accessible only to specialists. It recognises the need for our better
understanding of the Arabs, and offers some help in achieving it. True, it is
possible to live and work in an Arab country with no knowledge of the
language. But it is rather like listening to Bach with your head under a pillow.
You always feel you are missing something.
For the pronunciation, you should make full use of the compact disc
accompanying this book. Some Arabic sounds are not easy, and, while they are
described in the following chapter, the best result is achieved by hearing a native
produce the real thing. Everything marked is recorded on the disc.
References in the lessons and indexes indicate: lesson no./paragraph no.
I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Dr Julia Bray of the University
of Paris VIII for many valuable suggestions and corrections made for an earlier
edition, and to Professor Carole Hillenbrand of the University of Edinburgh for
her support and encouragement in this venture. I am likewise indebted to
Marilyn Moore for her tireless help in checking the text of both editions, and to
viii ARABIC TODAY
Jihad Haddad for checking the Arabic text. My thanks also go to Dolly Saba,
Alain Chbeir and Jihad Haddad for recording parts of the text. Willem Herpels
gave me valuable and unstinting help with the computer technology, for which I
am also very grateful. Any shortcomings remaining in the book are my
responsibility.
I dedicate this book to the memory of my teacher, and to the many other Arab
refugees who have contributed to development in the Middle East and
elsewhere.
Pronunciation
1. General
Throughout this book, the Arabic sounds are transcribed in a simple system of
symbols. The following description of the sounds represented by the symbols
refers by comparison to standard English pronunciation. It does not replace the
disc available with this book; good Arabic pronunciation can be learned only by
listening to a native voice.
Bearing this in mind, pronounce the symbols of the transcription (in italic type)
as shown below. Every symbol should be pronounced wherever it occurs; none
is silent as is the case with some letters in English spelling.
2. Vowels and diphthongs
a as a in English (cid:8216)man(cid:8217): bada (cid:8216)to begin(cid:8217).
ā as a but long: (cid:8216)ma-a-an(cid:8217): k(cid:257)n (cid:8216)to be(cid:8217).
i as i in English (cid:8216)pit(cid:8217): min (cid:8216)from(cid:8217).
ī as i in English (cid:8216)machine(cid:8217): k(cid:299)s (cid:8216)bag(cid:8217).
u as u in English (cid:8216)put(cid:8217): zurt (cid:8216)I visited(cid:8217).
ū as u in English (cid:8216)rule(cid:8217): bid(cid:363)n (cid:8216)without(cid:8217).
aw as ou in English (cid:8216)loud(cid:8217): law (cid:8216)if(cid:8217).
ay as ay in English (cid:8216)day(cid:8217): bayn (cid:8216)between(cid:8217).
ou as ou in English (cid:8216)soul(cid:8217): youm (cid:8216)day(cid:8217).
3. Consonants similar to English
b, d, f, k, m, n, s, t, v, w, z much as in English.
dh as th in English (cid:8216)that(cid:8217): kadha (cid:8216)so(cid:8217).
g as g in English (cid:8216)good(cid:8217): g(cid:257)r(cid:257)j (cid:8216)garage(cid:8217) (see under j below).
h as h in English (cid:8216)head(cid:8217): hum (cid:8216)they(cid:8217), lahja (cid:8216)accent(cid:8217).
j as j in English (cid:8216)jam(cid:8217): jamb (cid:8216)beside(cid:8217); in Egypt this sound is replaced with g,
see above.
l as light or front l in English (cid:8216)leaf(cid:8217): li (cid:8216)for(cid:8217); not as dark or back l in English
(cid:8216)wall(cid:8217).
r always rolled: rama (cid:8216)to throw(cid:8217), yirm(cid:299) (cid:8216)he throws(cid:8217).
sh as sh in English (cid:8216)she(cid:8217): masha (cid:8216)to walk(cid:8217).
th as th in English (cid:8216)thin(cid:8217): thal(cid:257)tha (cid:8216)three(cid:8217).
y as y in English (cid:8216)year(cid:8217) (i.e. a consonant): yam(cid:299)n (cid:8216)left(cid:8217).
4. Consonants different from English
kh as ch in German (cid:8216)Buch(cid:8217), Welsh (cid:8216)bach(cid:8217) or Scots (cid:8216)loch(cid:8217): khamsa (cid:8216)five(cid:8217); if you
have difficulty, first form k, but before pronouncing it, release the closure
slightly. The result will be kh.
gh as r in the French pronunciation of (cid:8216)Paris(cid:8217): gh(cid:257)z (cid:8216)gas(cid:8217); this is the voiced
counterpart of kh. Proceed as for kh, but starting with g instead of k
h(cid:61477) as h but pronounced far back in the throat: h(cid:61477)(cid:257)l (cid:8216)condition(cid:8217), bah(cid:61477)r (cid:8216)sea(cid:8217); h(cid:61477) is
the sound produced when you breathe on glass to clean it
x ARABIC TODAY
’ glottal stop: sa’al (cid:8216)to ask(cid:8217); this is the sound heard before each word in the
expression (cid:8220)absolutely awful(cid:8221), which we could transcribe as [ ’absolutely
’awful ]. In the text we often refer to the glottal stop as hamza, which is
the sign marking it. There is more about hamza in paragraph 9 below.
q as k but pronounced far back in the throat: q(cid:257)l (cid:8216)to say(cid:8217); for k the closure is
at the rear of the palate, while for q the closure is as low in the throat as
you can make it.
9 a sound like a gulp: s(cid:257)9ad (cid:8216)to help(cid:8217). Proceed as follows. Repeat several
times the name Maggie; as you say it, try to stop making contact in the
throat for the sound -gg-; let this middle consonant become progressively
more vague until it is no more than a gulp, with no contact. The result is
near to the Arabic word ma9(cid:299) (cid:8216)with me(cid:8217). Probably the most difficult sound
in Arabic. Listen carefully to the disc.
5. Deep (‘velarised’) consonants
t(cid:61482), d(cid:61477), s(cid:61477), ð(cid:61477) and z (cid:61482) are the deep or velarised counterparts of t, d, s, dh and z. The
difference is important. In pronouncing t, d and dh, the end of the tongue
touches the top front teeth or teeth-ridge. For s and z the contact is between the
middle of the tongue and the teeth-ridge. In both cases the rest of the tongue
follows the curve of the palate. For each of the velarised counterparts, the point
of contact is unchanged, but the rest of the tongue is dropped as far as possible,
forming a deep cavity. Prepare, for example, to pronounce t. Now, maintaining
the contact between the tip of the tongue and the top front teeth-ridge, create a
cavity by dropping the rest of the tongue as low as possible. Say t with this
position. It will sound something like t(cid:61482).
Proceed in like manner for each of the other velarised consonants. Prepare the
unvelarised sound, then, holding the point of contact, drop the body and base of
the tongue to make the cavity for the velarised counterpart. Feel the cavity
clearly when pronouncing the velarised consonants, which are unmistakable on
the disc.
ð (cid:61477) and z (cid:61482) are the velarised counterparts of dh and z respectively. But Arabs use
either ð(cid:61477) for both velarised sounds, or z (cid:61482) for both velarised sounds. ð (cid:61477) is the
‘classical’ pronunciation and is especially common in the Arabian Peninsula and
the Gulf. Both forms are correct.
6. Vowel-attraction: velarised a and ā
Next to a velarised consonant (t,(cid:61482) d(cid:61477), s(cid:61477) or ð/(cid:61477)z(cid:61477), see above), the vowels a and (cid:257)
automatically acquire a deeper sound because of the cavity. They are ‘attracted’.
This happens also when a or (cid:257) occur next to q because of the latter’s depth, and
very commonly with kh and r, especially when the vowel is stressed (see below).
Distinguish carefully, and listen for the difference on the disc. In the following
examples, and at certain other points in the book, we mark the velarised a’s as a (cid:61477)
and (cid:257)(cid:61477) for clarity.
a (cid:61477)sounds like u in English (cid:8216)but(cid:8217): ma(cid:61477)t(cid:61482)a(cid:61477)r (cid:8216)rain(cid:8217); (cid:257) (cid:61477)sounds like a in English (cid:8216)calm(cid:8217): t(cid:61482)(cid:257)(cid:61477)r
(cid:8216)to fly(cid:8217). Compare the a’s in the two columns:
tamm to end t(cid:61482)a(cid:61477)b(cid:299)b doctor
