"سَمَك جَديد"
Translation:new fish
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Does anyone else hear an extra syllable between سَمَك and جَديد? It sounds like "un" or something.
There is an extra syllable, and you're correct – it's -un.
Copying my answer from a similar question on a different sentence:
Yes, it's the nominative indefinite ending. In formal MSA (and Qurani Arabic), you have three cases and six endings:
Nominative: -u (definite) / -un (indefinite)
Accusative: -a (definite) / -an (indefinite)
Genitive: -i (definite) / -in (indefinite)
The nominative is used as you'd expect – for the subject of the sentence.
تَكَلَّمَ رَجُلٌ لَطيفٌ مَعِي أَمسِ
takallama rajulun latifun ma3i amsi
"A nice man spoke to me yesterday"
يُعجِبنا البَيتُ الجَديدُ
yu3jibna l-baytu l-jadidu
"We like the new house" ("The new house pleases us")
The accusative is also used as you'd expect – for the direct object of the verb. Note that a final alif will always be added for the accusative indefinite ending (except after a ta' marbuta).
هَل اِشتَرَيتَ هاتِفاً غاليّاً؟
hal ištarayta hatifan ghaliyan?
"Did you buy an expensive phone?"
أُحِبّ القِراءَةَ
u7ibb al-qira'ata
"I love reading"
The genitive is used both on the possessor in an idafah construct (idafah being the genitive construct in Arabic), and on nouns following prepositions.
عاصِمةِ مِصر
3aSimati miSr
"The capital of Egypt"
(Note that the definite genitive ending is used, not the indefinite, even though there is no definite article on the noun. This is due to idafah, but I won't go into detail on that here)
رَأَيتُهُ في كِتابٍ قَديمٍ
ra'aytuhu fi kitabin qadimin
"I saw it in an old book"
المَفاتِحُ عَلى الطاوِلةِ
al-mafati7u 3ala T-Tawilati
"The keys are on the table"
Note that in more casual MSA, the endings aren't used as much. For example, the last sentence, "المفاتح على الطاولة", would be more commonly pronounced "al-mafati7 3ala T-Tawila". Also in casual MSA, at the end of the sentence, the ending isn't used; this can be seen in the Duolingo exercise; "baytun kabir", not "baytun kabirun" (which would be the official formal pronunciation). Furthermore, the cases disappear completely in the dialects.
It's inferred. And, of course, in everyday Arabic, no vowel markers are used at all, except to clear up ambiguity.
In MSA the nunation case ending specifically should be put in writing as opposed to other casings, but the nunation at the end of a sentence is not pronounced.
Im sorry, this may sound stupid, but what is the difference between definite and indefinite?
Thanks for the explanation.
A small correction: the genitive is used on the possessor, not necessarily its possession.
كتابُ النحوِ
مربطُ الفرسِ
in case of your example it would be ِعاصمة ُمصر (only the possessor in this particular case may be considered a proper noun so its gentive ending is optional)
MSA by definition is a formal language, lacking a casual element. The casual aspect differs from dialect to dialect, so this is a tricky suggestion. It is preferred to treat MSA as a formal language always.
So in the last example, the only correct way in MSA to write it would be بيتٌ كبيرٌ.
But the only correct way to pronounce it would be: baytun kabiir. The nunation is written but not pronounced, as it is the end of the sentence. And this is correct MSA.
And have a lingot :)
So, are we learning MSA then? I was thinking that with the logo we would be learning Egyptian dialect.
This course is very heavily based on MSA. While there are some words from dialect (Egyptian mainly) like شانطة (which is حقيبة in MSA) and دكتور (which is طبيب in MSA), the grammar is all MSA.
I think fresh fish is more like سمكٌ طازجٌ
tbh this Duo sentence doesnt make much sense - the writer seems to be thinking in English, not Arabic.
the English translation should be "a new fish" not "an new fish". Doesn't allow to choose "a", only "an" is available.
It says I have a typo in my answer ("an" new fish instead of "a" new fish), but I was not given "a" as an option.
A new fish is not really how natives of the english would say. Fresh fish makes more sense.
