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- "تامِر عَرَبِيّ."
18 Comments
1978
"Arab" is a bit of an odd word in English. I would only ever say "Tamer is AN Arab," because I have only ever heard the word used as a noun. For the language, of course, I would say "Arabic," as in "Tamer is an Arabic translator." For some other things, I would use "Arabian," as in "Arabian cuisine," but I think that would really only apply to the cuisine of the Arabian Peninsula. I would never say a person is "Arab," but then I would not say a person was "Arabic" or "Arabian" either (unless the word Saudi came right before it), only ever that he was "an Arab." We have a few other very old ethnonyms like that, such as "Turk" and "Jew," though even in those cases, we are more likely to use the adjectives "Turkish" and "Jewish" do describe the people, possibly because the former describes a nationality and the latter a religious identity.
- 586
He is an Arab. They are Arabs. He is Arabic. They are Arabic. Is what I've always said. He is Arab, though, is also correct.
Contrary to what Prof. Brians of WSU wrote on his website, that cuzi_hd kindly gave us a link to, the adjective "Arabic" is generally used and is capitalized. The computer even auto corrects "arabic" to Arabic.
I consulted Webster's New World College Dictionary. "Arab" is a noun and means "1. a native or inhabitant of Arabia. 2. Any of a race of Semites, native to Arabia: commonly, a Bedouin: some Arab tribes are now widely scattered and mixed with other races."
Arabic is an adjective and means "1. of Arabia 2. of the Arabs, their language, culture, etc."
Arabian is an adjective and means: "of Arabia or the Arabs." Arabian is also a noun and means: "a native or inhabitant of Arabia; Arab."
There is no box to check in the Report section that says "My sentence should be accepted" or "There is an error in the English sentence", if we would want to do so.
Perhaps it's a regional thing? I, as an English speaker, wouldn't say someone is an ( insert ethnicity). To me its sounds wonky to say 'is an Arab'. To me 'Omar is Arab' sounds, and feels correct. Though, I'm sure both technically are correct and mean the same thing.
- 1978
I think many people are very nervous using ethnic terms with which they are unfamiliar, for fear they will offend. I taught at a school with, as far as I could tell, no Jewish students, for instance, and some of my students thought the term Jew might be offensive. Of course, I pointed out that I studied at a school with many Jews, who all used the term of themselves and preferred others to use it of them. At that school, there were many students who were Arabs, who also used that term to describe themselves, when they were speaking English. Turks, Swedes, Mongols, Britons, and Danes are others who seem perfectly happy to be described with such a noun.
friend.. in Arabic language there are /harakat/ that don't exist in other languages...
for example..
1.. رْ = R
2.. رَ = Ra
3.. رُ = Ru
4.. رِ = Ri
the difference in pronounciation
also another example about your question
1.. ع or عْ = 3 consonant
2.. عَ = 3a
3.. عُ = 3u
4.. عِ = 3i
hope it would be useful
The real question is: is this the correct and commonly used Arabic expression. I also find the English form a bit strange, but in this course it is about learning Arabic.
- 1978
I find that many people using these courses are also studying English, so clarification of proper English usage is quite welcome.
Why Tamer and not Tamir? Is this one of the cases of names from spoken Arabic which may have more than three vowels?
- 586
I have a question about the spelling of the word عربيّ. Is the shadda there to double the ii sound to ii ii, double the y sound to yy, signal an ii and a y sound together iiy, or something else? All I hear is 3arabi.
The full sound is iyy, but you don't really hear it when it's at the end of an utterance.
I am Arabic and I am doing this course in order to have an idea of its content because I wanted to recommend it to a friend . In my opinion, whoever put this course is not very expert in Arabic.. the course is full of weaknesses and faults. It needs reconstruction from beginning and I would like to help with that. I think that Duolingo was absolutely unsuccessful in preparing this curriculum. Though it is great with other languages.
Why not Tamar is AN arab? The whole time it's A doctor.. A fish rtc etc. But this is without ??
