Space for Living (مساحة المعيشة) is the theme for the 2008 IKEA catalogue. IKEA has locations in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, selling the same furnishings and other products for the home as is sold in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere.
The 2008 catalogue is published in both English and Arabic: http://www.ikea.com.sa.ethosksa.com/
On the first page, it says إكتشف أفكار تخزين (discover storage ideas): إكتشف - discover أفكار (fikr) thought, idea - from افكار (afkar) thinking, cognition, reflection, meditation, speculation, … خزين (khazana) to store, stock, amass, accumulate
The first page also has an index to the catalogue, listing the various rooms of the home. Here are some of the sections of the catalogue: غرفة (ghurfa) - room غرفة الجلوس (ghurfat al jaloos) - sitting room or living room غرفة النوم (ghurfat al naum) - bedroom الحمام (hamam) - bathroom العمل في المنزل (al a’mel fi al-menazil) - work in/at home or home office غرفة الطعام (ghufat al ta’am) - dining room المطبخ (al matbakh) - kitchen
One topic that is very important is vocabulary involved in renting an apartment. The Arabic word for apartment is شَقّة - shaqqa (pl. سُقَق - shuqaq).
Here is an advertisement for an apartment: http://www.mehtag.com/
Some useful words here: رقم (roqum) - number لِلبيع (lilbay’) - for sale سعر (si’r) - price منطقة (mintaqa) - area, region مصر (misr) - Egypt شارع (shaari’) - street
In the description, it says منطقه حيويه وجميله, with the word منطقة (area). This word is followed by three adjectives, which are connected with the word “and” which is و (wa) in Arabic. The adjectives are حيوية (hayawiya), which means vitality, vigor, lively …, and جميلة (jamila), which means beautiful. The third adjective is راقية.
The advertisement also says غرف وريسبش وحمام ومطبخ. غرف (ghuraf) - rooms (singular - غرفة, ghurfa) حمام (hamaam) - bathroom مطبخ (matbakh) - kitchen
A new word for the day is الأمم المتحدة (al-omma al-mutaheeda), which is Arabic for “the United Nations”. Google is a good friend for learning a language. Searching الأمم المتحدة, I found a United Nations radio website (إذاعة الأمم المتحدة) that has Arabic-language news stories, along with audio. The audio stories tend to be the exact same thing that is written in the article text. Also, these clips are fairly short — just a few minutes, and can be replayed over and over again in case you missed something or want to stop and look up a word.
Indefinite nouns take no article prefixed to them. However, the indefinite status of a noun can be denoted with a diacritical mark placed at the end of the word. To say “a car”, you can say سيارةً (siyaaratan). Here the ta’marbuta takes the “t” sound and the diacritical mark adds the “an” sound to the word, making it “siyaaratan”. This diacritical mark is called a tanwin. The use of this sound at the end of words to denote indefinite status is also known as nunation.
The mark is a double fatha, which makes the sound at the end of the word, “an” and not “un” or “in”. In this example (سيارةً), the tanwin sits atop the ta’marbuta at the end of the word.
For words that do not end in a ta’marbuta, such as كتاب, an alif (ا) is attached at the end of the word, and the tanwin is placed atop the alif. For example, كتاباً (kitaban), which means “a book”. Words ending in a hamza (ء), alif (ا), or alif maqsura (ى) do not require an alif attached.
In some grammatical situations, the indefinite mark will instead be a double damma (سيارةٌ) “siyaaratun” or a double kasra (سيارةٍ) “siyaaratin”. For double damma or double kasra endings, an added seath (alif) is not needed.
Arabic is a bit different than this, with different pronouns depending on gender as well as number.
Gender
Like Spanish, there is no equivalent of “it”. Instead, all objects or nouns are assigned a gender.
For example, الجريدة (al jareeda) - the newspaper, is a feminine noun. It ends in a ta’ marbuta, which is an indication that the noun is feminine. On the other hand, the word الحاسوب (al haasuub) computer, is a masculine noun. In Arabic, you would refer to the computer with the pronoun “he” and the newspaper is “she”.
Gender is also important for the “you” and the “they” pronouns. Arabic has one word for “you”, talking to a female and a different word for referring to a male. Same, for a group of men (or masculine objects) or females (or feminine objects).
Number
There are also different pronouns for “you”, depending on the number of people or objects you are referring to. In Spanish, there are different pronouns for you (singular), you (plural, masculine), and you (plural, feminine). In Arabic, there are different pronounce for you (singular, masculine), you (singular, feminine), you (dual), you (plural, masculine), and you (plural, feminine). The use of dual pronouns is something more unusual for Arabic, compared to other languages. The third person pronouns also vary in the same way, according to gender and number. There is he, she, they (dual), they (masculine, plural), they (feminine, plural).
Wikipedia is a very useful tool for studying and learning a new language. The English Wikipedia is very well known, with over 2 million articles. But, it is important to know there are versions of Wikipedia in 253 other languages, ranging from major languages such as German to other languages not spoken as widely, such as Wolof (spoken in Senegal). The Arabic language Wikipedia currently has 45 483 articles, so is still relatively small and growing.
The software (MediaWiki) that runs all the different Wikipedia sites is the same, along with consistencies in how other aspects of the sites are set-up. Articles and pages usually have links to the same articles or pages in other languages. This helps if you want to know how a word is said in another language. One feature of Wikipedia sites is the use of templates, which denote article maintenance tasks needed for articles, or other things. Many of these templates have been translated into other languages.
In reviewing vocabulary words, I came across one such template on Wikipedia:
Source: Arabic Wikipedia (licensed under GFDL)
This template is used by Wikipedia users to let others know they are busy and will not available (much or at all) on Wikipedia, for some time period.
Source: English Wikipedia (licensed under GFDL)
The key part of this is: هذا المستخدم مشغول هذا - (hatha) - this المستخدم (al mustkhadam) user مشغول - (mashrul) busy
In Arabic, there is no “to be” verb. So, put together the words “this” + “user” + “busy” and that translates as “this user is busy”.
The English language has the definite article “the”, which is used to refer to a specific object, person, or other noun. (the car, the books …) The indefinite article “a” or “an” is used in reference to a non-specific object or noun (a bicycle, a tree, …). In English, there is also the option of using no article, such as saying “I study chemistry“, instead of saying “I study the chemistry” or “I study a chemistry”. Definite
In Arabic, the definite article is ال (al) and is attached in front of a word. For example, الموز (al mawz), the banana.
For words such as chemistry, the definite article should be used. For example, الكيمناء (al kiimiya’a). Indefinite
For indefinite nouns, the ال article is omitted and you would simply say موز to say “a banana”. There is no indefinite article to use.
The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage has funded a project that will to start with, translate 100 seminal works in science, philosophy, and other areas into Arabic. That includes works by Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Stephen Jay Gould, and James Watson. The project will encourage higher quality translations and support marketing and distribution of the books. Kalima (كلمة) means “word” in Arabic. Science in Arabic - Jascha Hoffman Kalima project - Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage
Searching YouTube for something to watch and listen to relating to the last post about government ministries, I found this: حريق في فندق الرشيد قرب وزارة الخارجي
A fire at the Al-Rashid Hotel near the Foreign Ministry. حريق (hareeq) is the word for “fire”. فندق (funduk) means “hotel”. وزارة الخارجي (wizara al kharija) means “foreign ministry”.
This is a hotel in Baghdad, located in the Green Zone. I’m not entirely sure of the date for when this happened, but found news articles that talk about it (I think). Baghdad hotel hit by rocket attack - BBC News
The video:
The Al Jazeera news article, واشنطن ترفض دعوة بن لادن للأوروبيين بمغادرة أفغانستان(about a new video from Osama bin Laden)
mentions وزارة الخارجية الأميركي which means the U.S. State Department.
The word, وزارة (wizara) translates to ministry. الخاجية (al kharijeea) literally means external affairs (or foreign affairs), with the word derived from خارج (kharij) which means outer, outside. external, exterior. It can also mean foreign country. في الخارجى means “in a foreign country” or abroad. الأميركي is American, as an adjective.
Together it literally translates to “foreign ministry of the United States”. Or, the “U.S. State Department”.
The word for government itself is حكومة (hakuma). This word is frequently mentioned when listening to news broadcasts or reading news articles. وزارة can also be used to describe other ministries or branches of government. وزارة الاستملامات - ministry of information وزارة الاشغال العمومية - (’umumiya) ministry of public works وزارة الاوقاف - ministry of religious endowments وزارة البحرية - naval department وزارة التجارة - ministry of commerce والتمايم وزارة التربية - (at-tarbiya) ministry of education وزارة الخربية - (al harbiya) war ministry وزارة الخارجية - (al kharijiya) foreign ministry وزارة الحقانية - ministry of justice وزارة الداخاية - (al dakhiliya) ministry of interior وزارة الزراعة - ministry of agriculture الشوون الاجتماعية وزارة - (al-shuun al-ijtimdiya) ministry of social affairs البلدية والقروية وزارة الشوون - (baladiya, qarawiya) ministry of municipal and rural affairs وزارة الصحة العروية - (as-sihha al-umumiya) ministry of public health
I am studying Arabic at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, and will be in Egypt in the summer. This site covers Arabic grammar, vocabulary, and other aspects of the Arabic language, and makes frequent use of YouTube videos, news, and other Arabic language resources on the Internet.
