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- Topic: Arabic >
- "بوب دُكتور."
23 Comments
There is, but it's not used in the same way as it is in English. When describing someone or something now, it's not used. If we want to talk about how someone or something was in the past, we do use it. For example:
"Bob was a doctor" = بوب كانَ دُكتوراً
In this case, كانَ is the verb "to be" in the past tense, and its presence makes us add the اً at the end, which is pronounced -an (but it's ok if you drop that sound, we often do that when speaking or reading).
Having said that, the order of the words is more flexible in Arabic, and it's actually more natural to say:
كانَ بوب دُكتوراً
What is this word "كان" in arabic spelled in english? Like "zamaan" for time but people say it as "the past" basically. Just curious.
font to small to read, please increase all fonts of Arabic script so we can see and learn
That would be دُكتور بوب which is the same word order as English :-)
doesn't it need "ال" to come before (or attached in front of..) Doctor for it to mean Doctor Bob ? so it would read الدكتربوب ?
300
Mark_albiljiki,
Yes, you're correct!
الدكتور بوب : Professor/Doctor Bob
We can see "الدكتور" in many Arabic Book covers. "Doctor" is written as الدكتور in front of the name as its title.
The way the pronounce bob makes it sound like pop. I thought there wasn't suposed to be a 'p' sound in arabic?
- 300
annettehanze,
Yes it is. Arabic is the opposite of English in this term (noun - attributive adjective). So, there is منعوت (noun, which is described by adjective) comes first, then is followed by نعت (attributive adj.).
But, in this sentence, there is no attributive adj.
Bob is a doctor: بوب دكتور
Bob is a subject while a doctor is a predicate.
They pronounce 'Bob' as 'Pop' in Arabic which is clearly incorrect, as the sound 'P' doesn't exist in formal Arabic. They must record the pronunciation again.
There are, but my knowledge is too limited to explain this to you. Maybe you can learn something from this.... https://blogs.transparent.com/arabic/indefinite-nouns-and-definite-nouns-in-arabic/
(and there are certainly more of these sites to be found ... google for "definite indefinite article arabic" and you will definitely find information. Hope this helps a little.
- 300
In this sentence, "doctor" needs the article "a". So, it is "a doctor" (and not "doctor" or "an doctor").
