While English only has plural and singular forms of nouns, Arabic also has the dual form to denote two of something. Adjectives that describe a dual noun will also be in dual form.

Forming dual nouns

To form a dual noun, a suffix is added:

انِ (-ani) or ينِ (ayni)

The انِ (-ani) suffix is used for nouns (and adjectives) in the nominative case, that is when the noun is the subject of the sentence.

For example:

• كنابانِ (kitabani) - two books
• طلفانِ (tilfani) - two kids

Note that in casual speech (colloquial), the final kasra is usually not pronounced.

A different suffix (ينِ or “-ayni”) is used for words that are in the accusative (object of the sentence) or genitive (object of a preposition) case.

For example:

• أكلتُ تفاحينِ (akaltu tufaahayni) - I ate two apples.
• في كتابينِ (fi kitabayni) - in two books

When a word ends in a ta marbuta, the ta marbuta is becomes a ت (”ta”).

The verb “translate” is ترجم (tarjama) in Arabic.

From this verb, a number of different nouns can be derived including “translator”. The word for “translator” (male, singular) is مترجم (mutarjim) and for “translator (female, singular) is مترجمة (mutarjima). The plural, masculine form of the word is مترجمون (mutarjimun) or in some grammatical situations, it is مترجمين (mutarjimin). The feminine, plural form (”translators”) is مترجمات (mutarjimat).

Another noun derived from the verb is “translation”. The singular form of the word is ترجمة (tarjima) and the plural is ترجمات (tarjimat).

The BBC Xtra English program for March 26, 2007 was about translators or more specifically about subtitlers (people who write subtitles for films). They talk about how skill and quality is important for the job, and how lack of quality has led to some “bad translations”. They use the word ركيكة (rakika) to describe these as “weak, meager, poor quality, feeble” - ترجمة ركيكة (tarjima rakika).

The entire clip can be heard on the BBC Xtra English website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/arabic/elt/newsid_6495000/6495143.stm

Most verbs in Arabic are built around a trilateral root, consisting of three consonants. For example, the word دَخَلَ (dakhala) which means “to enter”. The root of the word is د + خ + ل . The consonants will remain the same, no matter what tense the verb is in. As in Spanish, verbs in Arabic are conjugated (change form, depending on pronoun). In the “present” tense, it works like this, with use of a prefix (ت - “ta” , ي - ya, or ن - na) along with modifying the vowel pattern. The root consonants remain the same. The following example is in the “past” or perfect tense, with a suffix attached to the root.
He entered - دَخَلَ (dakhala)
She entered - دَخَلَتْ (dakhalat)
You (m. sing.) entered - دَخَلَتَ (dakhalata)
You (f. sing.) entered - دَخَلَتِ (dakhalati)
I entered - دَخَلَتُ (dakhalatu)
They (dual m. - 3rd person) - دَخَلا (dakhala)
They (dual f. - 3rd person) - دَخَلَتَا (dakhalata)
You (dual 2nd person) entered - دَخَلْتُمَا (dakhaltuma)
They (m. pl) entered - دَخَلُوا (dakhalua)
They (f. pl) entered - دَخَلْنَ (dakhalna)
You (m. pl) entered - دَخَلْتُمْ (dakhaltum)
You (f. pl) entered - دَخَلْتُنَّ (dakhaltunna)
We entered - دَخَلْنَا (dakhalna)

Arabic does not have an exact equivalent of the “present” and “past” tense, as used in English. Instead, it has the “perfect” and “imperfect” tenses. Perfect tense is used to describe actions that have been completed, such as “he ate” but not “he was eating” which is imperfect (incomplete action in the past or present). The above example is the perfect tense, describing completed actions in the past. The above is also in the “active” voice (”he entered”), rather than “passive” which would be “he had entered”.

When looking up words in the dictionary, verbs are given in the male singular third person (”He”), in the perfect tense. For example, you would find “to enter” listed as دَخَلَ (dakhala).

A demonstrative is a word such as “this” and “that”, used to refer to a specific object, person, or entity.
In Arabic, demonstratives agree with the noun in gender, as well as number. To refer to a single masculine object, you use the word هَذا (hatha) - this. For a female object, use the word هذِهِ (hathahi) - this.
For example:
ٌٌٌٌهذا الخبزُ لذيذٌ (hatha al-khubzu lathithun) - This bread is delicious.
هذه التفاحةُ حلوٌ (hathahi al-tuffahatu hulwun) - This apple is sweet.
Both of the above sentences are nominal sentences, with words in the nominative case with a damma (”u”) or double damma (”un”) ending. The demonstrative makes the words “apple” and “bread” definite.
To refer to an object that is far, you would use say “that” instead of “this. In Arabic, the word ذلِكَ (thalika) is used with masculine objects, and تِلكَ (tilka) is used with feminine objects.

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.