38 Comments
سامية (هي) المحامية الذكية Hiya is optional, but it is not optional to include the definite article الـ in front of the adjective ذكية
Thanks Thom! I put "Samia is the smart lawyer" as well so thanks for the explanation!
that is incorrect.
The correct options are:
سامية محامية ذكية. Samia is a smart lawyer.
سامية المحامية ذكية. Samia the lawyer is smart.
سامية المحامية الذكية. ...Samia the smart lawyer... (a phrase) OR exceptional usage: Samia is the smart lawyer (as in: 'she is that one smart lawyer out of the bunch')
سامية هي المحامية الذكية. (more common usage) Samia is the smart lawyer. (as in: 'she is that one smart lawyer of the bunch.')
I have a doubt on the word order here. I feel المُحامية سامية ذَكِيَة sounds more natural.
The case endings seems wrong. The sound is "saamiati l-muHaamiyyati dhakiyyatan" But it should be "samiatu l-muHaamiyyatu dhakiyyatun" since it is a nominal sentence and nominal sentences are always in nominative case.
In boring languages like Swedish and English, the word order in a sentence is strict. Basically Subject (doer) Verb Object. Like "The monkey ate the banana". In Arabic the word order in a sentence is free.
All these sentences mean "the monkey ate the banana".
القِردُ أَكَلَ المَوزَةَ (al-qirdu 'akala al-mawzata)
أَكَلَ القِردُ المَوزَةَ ('akala al-qirdu al-mawzata)
أَكَلَ المَوزَةَ القِردُ ('akala al-mawzata al-qirdu)
القِردُ المَوزَةَ أَكَلَ (al-qirdu al-mawzata 'akala)
المَوزَةَ أَكَلَ القِردُ (al-mawzata 'akala al-qirdu)
المَوزَةَ القِردُ أَكَلَ (al-mawzata al-qirdu 'akala)
Thanks to the case endings, you know who is the subject (doer) and who is the object.
The subject (doer) has nominative case (u-case) (مرفوع). It means it generally ends in u (if it is definite) or un (if it is undefinite). The object always has accusative case (a-case) (منصوب). It means it generally ends in a (if it is definite) or an (if it is undefinite).
So for example in the sentence أَكَلَ القِردُ المَوزَةَ ('akala al-qirdu al-mawzata) we know that the monkey (al-qirdu) is the subject because it has u-case and the banana (al-mawzata) is the object because it has a-case. So we translate it to "the monkey ate the banana".
And in the sentence أَكَلَ القِردَ المَوزَةُ ('akala al-qirda al-mawzatu) we know that the monkey (al-qirda) is the object because it has a-case and the banana (al-mawzatu) is the subject because it has u-case. So we translate it to "the banana ate the monkey".
There are three cases in Arabic:
Nominative (u-case) is the default and is used when the word is the subject (the doer). Nominative is used in nominal sentences like "the doctor is tired", "Samia is smart". That is why I say that this sentence should be in nominiative.
Accusative (a-case) is used when the word is the object (there are five types of objects in Arabic). It is also used for al-Haal (الحال) and tamyiiz (تمييز).
Genitive (i-case) is used after prepositions, and in idafa constructions.
182
are you sure that sentence order in Arabics is really free? Since case endings are not usually pronounced, sentence can't be as free as you say. ...subjunctive is a verb mood
Yes I am sure that the word order in a sentence is free in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Gramatically all of the sentences I wrote are correct, but of course practically some would seem more normal than others. In MSA Verb Subject Object is the standard word order, but Subject Verb Object is also common.
In MSA, case ending are not pronounced in the end of the saying. In daily speech (dialects) case endings are even less pronounced, as you write. But words still have case, so the case endings are still there grammatically even if they are not pronounced.
You are right about subjunctive (I have changed the term in my comment above).
Arabic nouns can have three different cases: Nominative (مرفوع), Accusative (منصوب), Genitive (مجرور).
Arabic verbs can have three different: Indicative (مفروع), Subjunctive (منصوب), Jussive (مجزوم).
In English, we talk about "case" for nouns and "mood" for verbs. But in Arabic, we talk about 2i3raab (إعراب) for both nouns and verbs. And in Arabic we say (منصوب) for the a-case, while in English the a-case is called accusative for nouns and subjunctive for verbs.
Using English grammatical terms for Arabic grammar is quite confusing.
Yes you are right. I have changed it now, thank you. In Swedish we call it "imperfekt indikativ". In Arabic we call nominative and indicative the same thing (مرفوع). I just prefer the Arabic way of thinking about grammar and the Arabic grammar terms, and I probably know them better, even though I am Swedish.
- 182
they are.. The noun in Arabics has three declinations, subject case, direct object case and indirect object case.
I think you mean declension.
Arabic nouns can be declined differently depending on gender (masculine or feminine), numerus (singular, dual or plural) and definiteness. So there are more than three declensions in Arabic.
Arabic nouns can also have one of three cases (nominative, accusative and genitive).
Arabic nouns can also be altered with suffixed pronouns.
In English and Swedish, we talk about direct object and indirect object. In Arabic, we talk about المفعولُ بِهِ الأوَّلُ (the first object) and المفعولُ بِهِ الثَانِي (the second object). A sentence can have at least three objects even though it is not so common. All of the objects in Arabic are in accusative (a-case).
For example: عَلَّمتُ القِردَ الرَقصَةَ
(3allamtu al-qirda ar-raqSata)
"I taught the monkey the dance."
al-qirda (the monkey) is the first object and ar-raqSata is the second object. Both of them are in accusative (a-case).
- 30
You mean like: أَكَلَ الْجَمَلُ = The camel ate. أُكِلَ الْجَمَلُ = The camel was eaten. أَكَلَ زَيْدٌ الْجَمَلَ = Zaid ate the camel.
أَكَلَ الجَمَلُ = the camel ate
is a normal verbal sentence with active voice (فِعل مَعلُوم) the camel is the subject (the doer) (الفَاعِلُ) and is in nominative case in Arabic
أُكِلَ الجَمَلُ = the camel was eaten
is a verbal sentence with passive voice (فِعل مَجهُول) The camel is the subject, and in Arabic we say that the camel is deputy of the doer (نَائِبُ الفَاعِلِ) The camel is still in nominative case.
أَكَلَ زَيدٌ الحَمَلَ = Zaid ate the camel
is also a normal verbal sentence with active voice (فِعل مَعلُوم) Zaid is the subject (the doer) (الفُاعِلُ) and the camel is the object (المُفعُولُ بِهِ)
What Feibio00 talks about, direct object and indirect object, is something else. More like "Someone gave Zaid the camel".
- 1008
I had the same question and it was answered by Thom112240 (see above). In order to have this meaning the adjective needs the definite article, too.
So how would, "Samia is the smart lawyer," and, "Samia the lawyer is smart," be written differently? My bet is the case ending on المحامية but that's only a guess.
- 1008
As noted by Thom112240, the difference is in the definite article before "smart":
سامية المحامية الذكية vs سامية المحامية ذكية
Your acceptance protocol is beginning to require the students to become mind readers. your acceptance protocol is far too rigid. I understand the answer but when you want it worded in YOUR PRECISE VERBIAGE the problem becomes one of reading your mind not one of solving what the question is asking. Kindly fix your acceptance protocol. This problem has caused a great deal of trouble in your other language courses. Mind Reading is a subject separate from language learning!
- 10
Relax Joe. The course is in Beta, after all. Learn from the comments. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience here.
Again this is a very stupid answer rejection, it requires reading yor mind as to how you want the answer worded. We students learn NOTHING FROM THIS TYPE OF REJECTION.
THIS WAS A VERY STUPID REDO! until this lesson the course was a very practical and well organized course. Nonsence like this does nothing but ggravate the student and take time away from learning a language. Kindly adjust your ACCEPTANCE PROTOCOL!
