RSS feed for Week 1: Introduction to the Arabic alphabet

Introduction

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

This is the first session of a two-part pre-course of the short course Introduction to Arabic Language and Culture by the Open Centre for Languages and Cultures. Completing this course will take you about four hours. This course focuses on the most basic steps in learning Arabic: you will learn the alphabet, vowels, and also learn a bit about different dialects and the history of the Arabic language. At this stage, you are encouraged to listen to the audios, and practise writing.

This week you will learn the Arabic alphabet, vowels, and also a little bit about the history of the Arabic language.

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

After studying this course, you should be able to:

understand the Arabic writing system
pronounce and write the Arabic alphabet
understand the influence of Arabic on other languages.

1 Arabic alphabet

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

The first step to learning any language is to learn the alphabet. The Arabic alphabet consists of twenty-eight letters, which you will find in the following table with the English transliteration. Listen carefully to the audio, and repeat the letters you hear. Before you move to joining letters in the next section, learning to write independent letters is highly recommended.

Figure 3.1 Figure 1 Arabic alphabet

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An image contains Arabic letters with names and pictures of animals containing each letter in arabic.

Figure 1 Arabic alphabet

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Audio 3.1 Audio 1

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Table 3.1 Table 1 Arabic letters
Transliteration	The letter’s name in English	The letter’s name in Arabic	The letter (Independent)
A	alif	أَلِف	ا
B	baʾ	بَاء	ب
T	taʾ	تَاء	ت
Th - ṯ	Tha’ - ṯaʾ	ثَاء	ث
J - ǧ	ǧīm	جِيم	ج
ḥ	ḥaʾ	حَاء	ح
Kh - ẖ	ẖaʾ	خَاء	خ
D	dāl	دَال	د
Th - ḏ	Thal - ḏāl	ذَال	ذ
R	rāʾ	رَاء	ر
Z	zāy	زَاي	ز
S	sīn	سِين	س
Sh - š	šīn	شِين	ش
ṣ	ṣād	صَاد	ص
ḍ	ḍād	ضَاد	ض
ṭ	ṭāʾ	طَاء	ط
ẓ	ẓāʾ	ظَاء	ظ
ʿ	ʿain	عَين	ع
Gh- ġ	ġain	غَين	غ
F	fāʾ	فَاء	ف
Q	qāf	قَاف	ق
K	kāf	كَاف	ك
L	lām	لَام	ل
M	mīm	مِيم	م
N	nūn	نُون	ن
H	hāʾ	هَاء	هـ
W	wāw	وَاو	و
Y	yaʾ	يَاء	ي

Activity 3.1 Activity 1

Timing: 20 minutes

To practise, match the letters with the correct English translation.

Two lists follow, match one item from the first with one item from the second. Each item can only be matched once. There are 5 items in each list.

Match each of the previous list items with an item from the following list:

The correct answers are:

1 = d,
2 = b,
3 = a,
4 = e,
5 = c

The correct answer is c.

The correct answer is b.

1.1 Letters with articulation points

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

There are several letters that have very close articulation points. Articulation points refer to the location in the vocal tract where a sound is produced. These letters may be a bit more difficult for beginners to pronounce, and to practice you will find these letters along with examples of words they occur in in the table below. Listen carefully and try to notice the difference. Repeat the words you hear.

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Audio 3.4 Audio 4

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Table 3.2 Table 2 Letters with close articulation points
Examples	Letters
تِلْمِيذ - طَالِب	ت - ط
ثَمَرَة - ذَهَب	ث - ذ
حَدِيقَة - هَدِيَّة	ح - هـ
ذُرَة - زَرَافَة	ذ - ز
سَيف - صَيف	س - ص
ذُرَة - ظَبْي	ذ - ظ
قَلَم - كَلَام	ق - ك

Activity 3.2 Activity 2

Timing: 15 minutes

هِجْرة

حَدِيقَة

حَمَل

The correct answers are b and c.

قَلِيل

كَاتِب

قَمَر

The correct answers are a and c.

صَدِيق

سَفِير

سَمِير

The correct answers are b and c.

2 Vowels in Arabic

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

Vowels in Arabic are called ‘ḥarakāt’. These vowels are important, not only for reading, but also for the meaning of the sentence, as the meaning is often linked to the vowel on the last letter. For example: the following two sentences contain the same words in the same order, but the meaning is different. The only difference is the vowel above the last letter of each word.

١- سَمِعَ الطَّالِبُ الأُسْتَاذَ

٢- سَمِعَ الطَّالِبَ الأُسْتَاذُ

The student heard the teacher.
The teacher heard the student.

The change that occurs at the end of words in Arabic is called إِعْرَاب - Iʿrāb (declensions). Each of these vowels is a sign of a case:

kasra: is a sign for the genitive case which concerns nouns only.
ḍamma: is a sign for the nominative case which concern both nouns and verbs.
Fatḥa: is a sign for the accusative case which concern both nouns and verbs.
Sukūn: is a sign for the jussive case which concern verbs only.

You are not expected to understand and apply this yet – declensions will be taught later in the Beginners Arabic Course with the Open Centre for Languages and Cultures.

In Table 3 you can find the vowels with examples. Listen carefully and repeat.

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Table 4.1 Table 3 Vowels in Arabic
Examples in words	Examples with independent letters	Pronunciation	Vowels
عِلْم - حَقِيبَة	عِ - قِ	I	kasraكَسْرَة below the letter
لُب - نُمُور	لُ - نُ	U	ḍammaضمّة above the letter
جَمَل - ثَعْلَب	جَ - ثَ	A	Fatḥaفَتْحَة above the letter
مَفْهُوم - عَمَلْ	فْ - لْ	indicates the consonant	Sukūnسُكُون above the letter

In addition, there are tanwīn vowels, denoted by doubling the vowel signs ( ـٍ ، ـٌ ، ـً ). These vowels are used for an indefinite noun or adjective for example: قَلَمٌ a pen (a definite noun would translate to “the pen”). It also comes with the last letter of the word. The pronunciation of these vowels is: in - un or an. Alif letter should be added to the end of the word when the tanwīn is double Fatḥa. Listen to the audio file to see how tanwīn is pronounced.

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Audio 4.2 Audio 9

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١- طَالِبٍ - طَالِبٌ - طَالِباً

٢- مُعَلِّمٍ - مُعَلِّمٌ - مُعَلِّماً

٣- طَوِيلٍ - طَوِيلٌ - طَوِيلاً

٤- قَلَمٍ - قَلَمٌ - قَلَماً

٥- بَابٍ - بَابٌ - بَاباً

Activity 4.1 Activity 3

Timing: 20 minutes

جُ

مِ

بَ

The correct answer is c.

يَعْمَلُ

مَلْعَباً

بَيتٌ

The correct answers are b and c.

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Listen to the next audio and write the letters you hear in independent form, click ‘reveal answer’ to see the letters written down.

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Audio 4.4 Audio 11

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Audio 4.4 Audio 11

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Answer

Table 4.2 Table 4 answers
1	2	3	4	5
ج	د	ش	و	ث

3 Other signs

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

Shadda الشّدّة
The sign (ـــّــ) is called ‘shadda’. It is used to indicate doubling of consonant. In the following table you will see words contain ‘shadda’ in column A and see how is it pronounced in column B. Listen carefully and repeat what you hear.

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Audio 5.1 Audio 12

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Table 5.1 Table 5 Shadda الشّدّة
A	B
الطَّالِب	الطْطَالِبُ
كَذّبَ	كَذْذَبَ
يُدَرِّسُ	يُدَرْرِسُ
حَجٌّ	حَجْجَ
ثُمَّ	ثُمْمَ

Madda المَدّة
The sign ( آ ) is called ‘madda’. It comes only above the letter ( ا ) to be pronounced as (ā).
Here are some examples of ‘madda’. Listen carefully and repeat.

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Audio 5.2 Audio 13

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Audio 5.2 Audio 13

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١- آخِذ

٢- الآمَال

٣- آثَرَ

٤- الآن

٥- مَلْجَآن

Activity 5.1 Activity 4

Timing: 20 minutes

يُفَكِّر

وَرَقَة

الذَّهَب

The correct answers are a and c.

الأَمْر

الآدَاب

مُؤْمِن

The correct answer is b.

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4 A short history of Arabic

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact date of the emergence and development of the Arabic Language, but it was likely around the 7th century BC on the Arabian Peninsula. Arabic belongs to the Semitic Language Family (along with Hebrew, for example) and has been influenced by and impacted other languages over the course of its almost 3000 year long history.

Figure 6.1 Figure 2 The Ramadan Kaaba

Arabic was chosen to be the Holy Qur'an's language at the advent of Islam (622). Arabic then became an important language of all Muslims, and non-Arab Muslims started to learn it to understand the Qur'an. This situation also transformed Arabic from a language spoken in a relatively small area into a language used worldwide. The Qur'an was also central to the development of Arabic language sciences. The Qur'an as the holy text of God is seen as unlikely to contain any mistakes in linguistics, and Arab linguists therefore regard the language used in the Qur’an as a rule of linguistics based on this belief. You will find that the Qur'an is quoted in most Arabic grammar books not to primarily reinforce religious beliefs, but to teach the language.

Those who is interested in learning Arabic will find it difficult in several stages of learning the language, regardless of their first language. The majority of these difficulties are due to the quite complex grammar of Arabic. In Arabic, as was previously explained, vowels are important in determining meaning. Examples for this are that unlike many other languages, Arabic distinguishes between singular, plural and dual. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns and articles can furthermore be male and female. This is something you might know from European languages like French and German, but unlike in these languages, verbs are also gendered.

The Arabic alphabet will be new to most learners, and Arabic, unlike many other languages, is written right to left. The letters are not written separately within the word. Each letter can take three different forms depending on its position within the word.

While it is important to be aware of these potential challenges, worry not – it is by no means impossible to learn Arabic, but it will take practice!

5 Standard Arabic and dialects

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

The first thing that new learners often wonder about is the difference between Standard Arabic and its dialects: Where should the learner begin? What are the differences between the standard language and the dialects?

Arabic dialects are as old as the language itself. After the spread of the Arabs to different geographical regions, the dialects also developed further. The dialect of each society that emerged was affected by the languages spoken by their neighbours and from groups who already lived in the area, for example. Don’t forget, the distance between each of these groups was vast – it stretched from North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula and across the Asian continent.

The most important difference between standard Arabic and local dialects is that the dialects are flexible and not bound by the strict rules found in Standard Arabic. Standard Arabic is the language of writing, literature and journalism and has grammar that has not changed for centuries. This makes the Arabic language distinct from other languages, as those who know Arabic can understand the Arabic texts written more than a thousand years ago. If you would like to find out more about this, click on the links to these resources:

The reasons that drive people to learn Arabic are varied, as it is a language with a long scientific, literary, and cultural history, and it is spoken by more than 300 million people as their mother tongue. It is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

You have reached this point of the course because you have a reason why you would like to learn the language. There will be ‘lightbulb’ moments as a learner where you are especially passionate about the language, but there will also be times when you will consider giving up on this challenging endeavour. When that day comes, it might be good to remind yourself of why Arabic is a great language to learn. Here are two resources that might be helpful:

Activity 7.1 Activity 5

Timing: 15 minutes

As a last step in this first part of the course, take a few minutes to think about your expectations and motivations for learning a new language.

Why would you like to learn Arabic? How proficient would you like to be?

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Answer

There is no right or wrong here, of course. It can be fun to get a basic understanding of how a language works that is very different (or also similar!) to languages you already speak, or if you have holidays booked, it is nice to demonstrate an interest in the local culture by speaking in the local language where possible. If you would like to become fluent enough to hold a conversation, it’s important that you manage your expectations. Studying alone can only get you so far, but finding a tandem learning partner, listening to music and watching films or shows with subtitles can be very helpful, too.

How much time would you like to spend on learning Arabic each week?

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Answer

There is actually a magic number that the US Foreign Service Institute came up with that tells you how many hours English native speakers need to study in order to become fluent in Arabic: 2200. This means that if you studied the language for 4 hours per week, you could be fluent in 10 years – more dedicated periods or intensive courses would shorten this time, of course. As a comparison, the same institute estimates that if a native speaker of English learned French instead, they could do so in “only” 580 hours, so a quarter of the time. These are of course not reliable numbers, but they do indicate that Arabic is one of the hardest languages to learn. This should not discourage you at all, as it’s highly rewarding!

This course is a pre-course for the short course Introduction to Arabic Language and Culture. Based on these reasons, why do you think culture as a subject to teach is included this early on?

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Answer

Language and culture cannot be seen as separate entities. Language reflects beliefs, values and worldviews of its speakership. Learning a language while considering why certain phrases and communication styles are preferred in particular contexts allows you to understand people and their ways of being better than by simply learning grammar.

6 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

Check what you’ve learned this week by taking the end-of-week quiz.

Activity 8.1 Activity 6

Timing: 20 minutes

The correct answer is b.

The correct answer is a.

The correct answer is c.

كَسْرَة

فَتْحَة

ضَمَّة

The correct answer is c.

كَسْرَة

فَتْحَة

ضَمَّة

The correct answer is b.

It can come with any letter of the word.

It can come with all kinds of words including the verb.

It comes with the last letter of the word.

The correct answer is c.

خَشَبٌ

كُرْسِي

وَلَدٍ

The correct answers are a and c.

مُدِيراً

يَدْرُسُ

سَافَرَ

The correct answers are b and c.

كَسْرَة

فَتْحَة

ضَمَّة

The correct answer is a.

الظُهُور

الدُّرُوب

الآمال

The correct answer is c.

Summary of Week 1

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

In this week you took the first steps of learning Arabic, namely learning about the alphabet and an introduction to the role vowels. You also read about reasons for learning Arabic and who speaks (or writes!) it, and how dialects differ from Standard Arabic. In Week 2 you will learn how to connect the letters, and you will have a first try at writing in Arabic.

Now go to Week 2.

Introduction

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

In this week you will learn joining letters, long vowels, interrogative particles, and the influence of Arabic on other languages.

Week 2 will be focusing on the further foundations of learning Arabic, like joining letters, long vowels, interrogative particles, and the influence of Arabic on other languages. At this stage, listening repeatedly to the audios, repeating, and writing are highly recommended. This second week forms the basis for further courses on the Arabic language – resources you discover here will prove useful as you continue learning.

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

After studying this course, you should be able to:

understand the Arabic writing system
pronounce and write the Arabic alphabet
understand the influence of Arabic on other languages.

1 Joining letters

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

In Arabic, joining letters is a fundamental aspect of reading and writing. Arabic is a cursive script, meaning that letters are written in a connected manner. Joining letters correctly is essential to ensure legibility and readability of written Arabic. The first thing you should learn is that Arabic, unlike many other languages, is written from right to left. Each letter has two or three forms in joint writing in addition to its independent form, depending on their position in the word: initial (beginning of the word), medial (in the middle) and final (last). In the tables below you can find a complete list of all Arabic letters, as well as their form in each of the three possible positions in a word, as well as examples. The table is long and you are not expected to know all of it by heart after one session. We recommend that you revisit it as you learn the language. To break the table up, there are activities for you to practice with in-between.

Meanings of words will not be given because the aim here is to focus on writing exercises.
Some letters are not connected to the letter that follows them, so they are written in the same way in the middle of the word and at the end of the word.

Table 13.1 Table 1 Joining letters part 1
Final	Medial	Initial	The letter (Independent)
ــا	ــا	ا	ا
عصا	ذهاب	الم
ــب	ــبــ	بــ	ب
حب	طبق	بقرة
ــت	ــتــ	تــ	ت
بيت	كتب	تعلم
ــث	ــثــ	ثــ	ث
حث	مثال	ثوم
ــج	ــجــ	جــ	ج
حج	يجب	جمل
ــح	ــحــ	حــ	ح
بلح	الحب	حمل
ــخ	ــخــ	خــ	خ
بطيخ	يخسر	خوف
ــد	ــد	د	د
يد	حديد	دب
ــذ	ــذ	ذ	ذ
لذيذ	هذب	ذهب

Activity 13.1 Activity 1

Timing: 15 minutes

The correct answer is b.

يخسر

بطيخ

جمل

The correct answers are a and b.

Now, try to write some of the letters yourself. Watch the videos and copy the movement on a piece of paper.

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Table 13.2 Table 2 Joining letters part 2
Final	Medial	Initial	The letter (Independent)
ــر	ــر	ر	ر
تمر	طائرة	راهب
ــز	ــز	ز	ز
تلفاز	ميزان	زرافة
ــس	ــســ	ســ	س
شمس	السماء	سد
ــش	ــشــ	شــ	ش
عش	الشروق	شمس
ــص	ــصــ	صــ	ص
مقص	الصبر	صباح
ــض	ــضــ	ضــ	ض
أبيض	حضر	ضب
ــط	ــطــ	طــ	ط
خيط	بطريق	طبيب
ــظ	ــظــ	ظــ	ظ
حفظ	محفظة	ظهر
ــع	ــعــ	عــ	ع
بائع	لعب	علم
ــغ	ــغــ	غــ	غ
صائغ	الغروب	غفر

What is the second letter of the word حضر ? Write it in the independent form in the box below.

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Answer

ظهر

بائع

الغروب

The correct answer is c.

Now, try to write some of the letters yourself. Watch the videos and copy the movement on a piece of paper.

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Table 13.3 Table 3 Joining letters part 3
Final	Medial	Initial	The letter (Independent)
ــف	ــفــ	فــ	ف
ضعيف	جفاف	فهم
ــق	ــقــ	قــ	ق
أغلق	صقر	قريب
ــك	ــكــ	كــ	ك
سمك	يكتب	كتاب
ــل	ــلــ	لــ	ل
ليل	علم	لعب
ــم	ــمــ	مــ	م
علم	ليمون	منزل
ــن	ــنــ	نــ	ن
غصن	عنب	نمر
ــه	ــهــ	هــ	هـ
وجه	يهتف	هذا
ــو	ــو	و	و
يلهو	الوصول	وصل
ــي	ــيــ	يــ	ي
غني	ثمين	يلعب

The correct answers are a and c.

For this task you need a piece of paper. Below are five words, all written in independent letters only. Can you connect them? Click reveal answer to see the correct answer.

١- ك ت ب

٢- ر س م

٣- ي ذ هـ ب

٤- ق ل م

٥- ب ي ت

Answer

١- كتب

٢- رسم

٣- يذهب

٤- قلم

٥- بيت

Match the word written by the independent letter with the word written by the same letters in the connected form.

Two lists follow, match one item from the first with one item from the second. Each item can only be matched once. There are 5 items in each list.

م ن ز ل
خ ر ي ف
ع ص ف و ر
س ن ج ا ب
ق م ي ص

Match each of the previous list items with an item from the following list:

a. خريف
b. منزل
c. قميص
d. عصفور
e. سنجاب

The correct answers are:

1 = b,
2 = a,
3 = d,
4 = e,
5 = c

Rewrite the following words as separate letters as in the example.

Example:

تفاح ت ف ا ح

١- طعام

٢- شراب

٣- مطبخ

٤- منزل

٥- سرير

Answer

١- ط ع ا م

٢- ش ر ا ب

٣- ن ط ب خ

٤- م ن ز ل

٥- س ر ي ر

Now, try to write some of the letters yourself. Watch the videos and copy the movement on a piece of paper.

Download this video clip.Video player: arabic_character_20.mp4

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Download this video clip.Video player: arabic_character_21.mp4

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Download this video clip.Video player: arabic_character_22.mp4

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Download this video clip.Video player: arabic_character_23.mp4

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Download this video clip.Video player: arabic_character_24.mp4

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Download this video clip.Video player: arabic_character_25.mp4

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Download this video clip.Video player: arabic_character_32.mp4

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2 Long vowels and issues with reading and writing

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

In Week 1 you were introduced to Arabic vowels. In this week you will learn about long vowels in addition to ‘At-Tāʾ al-marbūṭah’ and ‘Hamza’, which are also crucial for reading and meaning-making. As a reminder, have a look at the table from the last week:

Table 14.1 Table 4 Vowels in Arabic (repeated from Week 1)
Examples in words	Examples with independent letters	Pronunciation	Vowels
عِلْم - حَقِيبَة	عِ - قِ	I	kasraكَسْرَة below the letter
لُب - نُمُور	لُ - نُ	U	ḍammaضمّة above the letter
جَمَل - ثَعْلَب	جَ - ثَ	A	Fatḥaفَتْحَة above the letter
مَفْهُوم - عَمَلْ	فْ - لْ	indicates the consonant	Sukūnسُكُون above the letter

Long vowels:

Long vowels in Arabic can appear in three forms:

Fatḥa followed by Alif : ā
Kasra followed by yāʾ: ī
ḍamma followed by wāw: ū

Examples: listen to the following audio and repeat to practice the long vowels in Arabic.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 4

Audio 14.1 Audio 4

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Audio 14.1 Audio 4

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Table 14.2 Table 5 Examples of long vowels in Arabic
1 Fatḥa followed by Alif : ā	زَرَافَة - خَالد - مَاجِد
2 Kasra followed by yāʾ: ī	عَلِيم - جَدِيد - طَبِيب
3 ḍamma followed by wāw: ū	خَرُوف - ضُمُور - زُهُور

Activity 14.1 Activity 2

Timing: 15 minutes

حُزْن

سَفِير

أَجَابَ

The correct answers are b and c.

2.1 At-Tāʾ al-marbūṭah التّاء المَرْبُوطَة

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

This letter only appears at the end of a word, and it is written (ــة) when the previous letter is connected to the letter before, and (ة)when the previous letter is written separately from the previous letter.

The most important thing to pay attention to with regard to writing is that when a word contains ‘At-Tāʾ al-marbūṭah’ and is connected to a pronoun, the ‘At-Tāʾ al-marbūṭah’ turns into a normal ‘ت’ letter, but is still pronounced in the same way.

For example: سَيَّارة means “a car”, and when you want to say ‘my car’ you need to add a ي letter at the end, so the word should be written: سَيّارَتِي

You are not expected to learn the pronouns in this early stage, the focus should be on writing.

In terms of pronunciation, this letter is pronounced ‘هــ / H’ when it is in the last word of the sentence or in a single word, even though it is written without change.

Listen to the following audio to learn more about the pronunciation of ‘Et-Tāʾ al-marbūṭah’

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 5

Audio 14.2 Audio 5

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Audio 14.2 Audio 5

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١- سَيّارَة

٢- اشْتَرَيتُ سَيّارةً جَدِيدَة

٣- مَدْرَسَة

٤- زُرْتُ المَدْرَسَةَ القَديمَة

Activity 14.2 Activity 3

Timing: 15 minutes

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Rewrite the following words and connect ‘At-Tāʾ al-marbūṭah’ with the pronoun ي as in the example.

Example:

حَقِيْبَة حَقِيبَتِي

١- مَدْرَسَة

٢- طَاوِلَة

٣- وَرَقَة

٤- مُعَلِّمَة

٥ –شَجَرَة

Answer

١- مَدْرَسَتي

٢- طَاوِلَتي

٣- وَرَقَتي

٤- مُعَلِّمَتي

٥ - شَجَرَتي

2.2 Al-hamzah الهَمْزَة

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

This signء which is pronounced as a glottal stop and can be written in different forms based on factors like its vowel and the vowel of the previous letter, such as: ‘ أ - إ - ؤ - ئ - ء - ــئــ’. You don’t have to memorise all of these at this stage, but you should pay close attention to the different pronunciations. Listen to the following audio and repeat what you hear.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 6

Audio 14.3 Audio 6

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Audio 14.3 Audio 6

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١- مَبْدَأ

٢- شَاطِئ

٣- البَرَاءَة

٤- الاكْتِئَاب

٥- سَمَاء

٦- أَخَذَ

Activity 14.3 Activity 4

Timing: 15 minutes

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2.2 Al-Alif al-maqsūrā الألف المقصورة

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

This letter only appears in the final position of some words, written (ــى) when the previous letter is connected to the letter before, and (ى) when the previous letter is written separately. It is important at this stage not to confuse ‘Al-Alif al-maqsūrā’ which is pronounced as ‘ā’ with the ‘ya’, which is written similarly with a colon added below it (ي). Listen to the following audio and repeat what you hear.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 7

Audio 14.4 Audio 7

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Audio 14.4 Audio 7

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١- عَلَى

٢- هُدَى

٣- أَحْصَى

٤- فَتَى

٥- قَضَى

Activity 14.4 Activity 5

Timing: 15 minutes

إِلى

نَفَى

يَهْدِي

The correct answers are a and b.

3 Interrogative particles in Arabic

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

Interrogative articles like when or who in English are the first step in forming a question to seek information. In the following table you will find a list of interrogative articles. In the activities that follow you will see how interrogative articles are used in a sentence. Listen carefully to the audio.

* Interrogative particles in Arabic comes first at the sentence.

Table 15.1 Table 6 interrogative particles in Arabic
English	Arabic	Transliteration
Yes, No questions	هَلْ - أَ	Hal - Aʾ
Who	مَنْ	Man
What	مَاذَا - مَا	Māḏā - Ma
Where	أَيْنَ	Ayna
When	مَتَى	Mata
Why	لِمَاذا - لِمَ	Limāḏā - Lima
How	كَيفَ	Kayfa
How much - how many	كَمْ	Kam
which	أَيّ	Ayyu

4 The influence of Arabic on other languages

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

In Week 1 you learned a bit about the history of the Arabic language, and how its dialects are influenced by other languages. In this section, you’ll learn a bit about how Eastern and Western languages were affected by Arabic. Some of these languages only adapted a few Arabic words, while some languages even adapted the Arabic alphabet in writing. These changes reflect the relationship that Arabs and locals had with each other.

Figure 16.1 Figure 1

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Smiling person shaking hands

Figure 1

In English for example, words that are used in the realms of politics, religion or law are usually of French origin (e.g., constitution, to baptize, judge – juge) whereas mundane words stayed Germanic (e.g. to say – sagen, hand – Hand), which reflects that following the Norman Conquest of 1066 the ruling class of Britain was French, spoke in French and only very slowly mingled with the locals.

Here are four examples of languages in which you can spot Arabic in the following sections.

4.1 The influence of Arabic on English

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

In addition to the influence of Arabic on the current numbering system used in English-speaking countries, when the Roman system was replaced by the Indo-Arabic numbering system, it may be surprising for some people that there are hundreds of Arabic words used in English. According to www.mothertongue.ae there are approximately 10,000 words in English which stem from Arabic. But the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) narrowed it down to about 900 words by omitting speculative derivations and proper nouns. Often it’s not just single words that are borrowed, but full phrases: For example: The expression ‘Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back’ is a translation of the Arabic expression ‘القَشَّةُ الّتِي قَصَمَتْ ظَهْرَ البَعِيرِ’.

Activity 16.1 Activity 6

Timing: 15 minutes

The following English words are of Arabic origin. Look each word up in the dictionary and write them in Arabic.

Lemon
Sugar
Alcohol

Answer

١- لَيمُون / Laymōn
٢- سُكَّر / Sokkar
٣- الكُحُول / Alkoḥol

4.2 The influence of Arabic on Spanish

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

Arabs ruled the Iberian Peninsula for a long period of nearly eight centuries (711–1492), and this period was full of cultural, scientific, literary and architectural achievements, some of which we are still witnessing until the present era.

Figure 16.2 Figure 2

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Two people shaking hands with another person looking on.

Figure 2

The influence of Arabic on Spanish seems clear in many aspects, as some Spanish cities still retain their Arabic name to the present time, such as: Madrid مجريط and Valladolid بلد الوليد . In addition, Spanish uses a significant number of Arabic words - up to eight thousand.

Activity 16.2 Activity 7

Timing: 15 minutes

The following Spanish words are of Arabic origin. Look each word up in the dictionary and write them in Arabic.

Arroz
Albuhera
Hasta

Answer

١- أَرُز / Aroz
٢- البُحَيْرة / Al-buḥayra
٣- حَتّى / attaḥ

4.3 The influence of Arabic on Turkish

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

Naturally, the influence of Arabic on languages spoken in close geographical and cultural proximity is greater. Additional religious links are further incentives for people to learn Arabic language, as it is the language of the Holy Qur’an.

Turkish is one of the languages that was influenced by Arabic the most. The Arabic alphabet was for instance used throughout the Ottoman Empire – it was only in 1928 that Ataturk implemented reforms for the Turkish Republic that introduced Latin script as the official writing system.

According to the Turkish Language Academy, more than 6,000 words are loanwords from Arabic. For example: Saat , سَاعَة ,Saʿa - Kalem قَلَم , Qalam, - Seccade , Saǧǧada, سَجّادَة - Kitap, Kitab, كِتَاب.

4.4 The influence of Arabic on Persian and Urdu

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

Persian and Urdu are among the languages most affected by Arabic, and they still use the Arabic alphabet to the present day. Persian is spoken in Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Urdu is mostly spoken in Pakistan. Both languages contain thousands of Arabic loanwords. For example : Silāḥ سِلَاح - Taʾṯīr تَأثِير in Persian, and Ḥawḍ حَوض - Ṣaḥn صَحْن in Urdu.

Activity 16.3 Activity 8

Timing: 15 minutes

Are there any words of Arabic origin in your mother tongue? Give examples.

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4.5 The contribution of Arab: Muslim scholars to different science fields

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

The influence of the Arabic language was not only confined to some words that other languages borrowed from Arabic, but the Arabic-speaking scholars made great scientific contributions, and their impact can still be felt today.

Figure 16.3 Figure 3 Map of the Arabian Peninsula

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A Map of the Arabian Peninsula

Figure 3 Map of the Arabian Peninsula

Activity 16.4 Activity 9

Timing: 15 minutes

The Guardian has named six amazing inventions from between the 9th and 15th centuries by Arab - Muslim scholars. Read this article and answer the questions next.

Al-Zahrawi

Ibn Firnas

Al-Idrisi

The correct answer is b.

What does Al-Idrisi’s world map contain?

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Answer

It contained detailed descriptions of the Christian north as well as the Islamic world, Africa and the Far East.

In the following video, you will see a condensed summary about ‘The rise and fall of the medieval Islamic Empire’. This will give you an idea of the civilization that used Arabic as an official language. Watch the video and then answer the questions.

Download this video clip.Video player: The rise and fall of the medieval Islamic Empire: Petra Sijpesteijn & Birte Kristiansen

Video 16.1 The rise and fall of the medieval Islamic Empire: Petra Sijpesteijn & Birte Kristiansen

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Video 16.1 The rise and fall of the medieval Islamic Empire: Petra Sijpesteijn & Birte Kristiansen

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What is the capital of the Umayyad state? Does this city still exist or has it disappeared?

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Answer

Damascus, it is the capital of Syria currently.

The Abbasids built a new capital for their state, Baghdad. In which Arab country is this city currently located?

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Answer

Iraq

5 This week’s quiz

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

Check what you’ve learned this week by taking the end-of-week quiz.

Activity 17.1 Activity 10

Timing: 20 minutes

The correct answer is b.

The correct answers are a and b.

The correct answer is c.

The correct answer is b.

طَرِيق

مُنْذُ

صَبَاحَاً

The correct answers are a and c.

كَأس

طُفُولَة

قَلَم

The correct answer is b.

مَاء

دَفْتَر

الإِمْلاء

The correct answers are a and c.

كَيفَ

مَن

كَم

The correct answer is c.

أَينَ

مَا

لِمَاذَا

The correct answer is b.

Turkish

Persian

Urdu

The correct answers are b and c.

Summary of Week 2

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

This second week covered joining letters, long vowels, and interrogative articles. Additionally, the influence of Arabic on other languages, and the history of Arabic empires and scientific achievements were introduced. To continue your journey of learning Arabic, we recommend that you practice how to write and connect letters in a vocabulary book. If you choose to continue to do the full short course with the Open Centre for Languages and Cultures, you will find it useful to continue using a notebook for new grammar rules and vocabulary, too.

Acknowledgements

The Open University — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 10:40:12 GMT

This free course was written by Dr Ahmed Halil and it was first published in 2024.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence .

The material acknowledged below and within the course is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Images

Course image: eli_asenova / iStock / Getty Images

Figure 1: Freepik

Week 1

Figure 2: Photo by ekrem from Pixabay

Week 2

Figure 1: Photo by: fauxels / Pexels

Figure 2 (and course image): eli_asenova / iStock / Getty images

Activity 9 video: The rise and fall of the medieval Islamic Empire - Petra Sijpesteijn & Birte Kristiansen, TED-Ed, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

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RSS feed for Week 1: Introduction to the Arabic alphabet

Introduction

Learning outcomes

1 Arabic alphabet

Activity 3.1 Activity 1

Question 1a

Question 1b

1.1 Letters with articulation points

Activity 3.2 Activity 2

Question 1a

Question 1b

Question 1c

2 Vowels in Arabic

Activity 4.1 Activity 3

Question 1a

Question 1b

Answer

3 Other signs

Activity 5.1 Activity 4

Question 1a

Question 1b

4 A short history of Arabic

5 Standard Arabic and dialects

Activity 7.1 Activity 5

Answer

Answer

Answer

6 This week’s quiz

Activity 8.1 Activity 6

Question 1a

Question 1b

Question 1c

Question 1d

Question 1e

Question 1f

Question 1g

Question 1h

Question 1i

Question 1j

Summary of Week 1

Introduction

Learning outcomes

1 Joining letters

Activity 13.1 Activity 1

Question 1a

Question 1b

Answer

Question 1c

Question 1d

Answer

Answer

2 Long vowels and issues with reading and writing

Activity 14.1 Activity 2

Activity 2

2.1 At-Tāʾ al-marbūṭah التّاء المَرْبُوطَة

Activity 14.2 Activity 3

Answer

2.2 Al-hamzah الهَمْزَة

Activity 14.3 Activity 4

2.2 Al-Alif al-maqsūrā الألف المقصورة

Activity 14.4 Activity 5

Activity 5

3 Interrogative particles in Arabic

4 The influence of Arabic on other languages

4.1 The influence of Arabic on English

Activity 16.1 Activity 6

Answer

4.2 The influence of Arabic on Spanish

Activity 16.2 Activity 7

Answer

4.3 The influence of Arabic on Turkish

4.4 The influence of Arabic on Persian and Urdu

Activity 16.3 Activity 8

4.5 The contribution of Arab: Muslim scholars to different science fields

Activity 16.4 Activity 9

Question 1a

Answer

Answer

Answer

5 This week’s quiz