Arabic grammar, explained simply

Free bite-size Arabic grammar lessons: articles, word order, verbs and more. Read the lesson, then practise it with spaced repetition on Langrit.

• The Arabic script, letter forms and short vowels A1 · How the script works Arabic is written right to left, and letters inside a word are joined. There are 28 lette
• Personal pronouns (الضمائر المنفصلة) A1 · The independent pronouns Arabic pronouns distinguish gender not only in "he/she" but also in "you" and "they".
• The definite article ال and sun/moon letters A1 · One article: ال Arabic has one article, ال (al), meaning "the". It is joined to the front of the noun and neve
• Masculine and feminine nouns (المذكّر والمؤنّث) A1 · Two genders, no neuter Every Arabic noun is either masculine or feminine. This applies to things as well as pe
• Nominal sentences (الجملة الاسمية) A1 · A sentence without a verb In the present tense Arabic has no verb "to be". Two words are enough for a full sen
• Demonstratives (أسماء الإشارة: هذا، هذه، ذلك، تلك) A1 · The forms Arabic demonstratives agree with the noun in gender and number: Near ("this / these") Far ("that / t
• Possessive (attached) pronouns (الضمائر المتّصلة) A1 · "My", "your", "his" as endings Arabic has no separate words for "my, your, his". Instead, a short suffix is at
• Noun-adjective agreement (النعت) A1 · After the noun, matching in four ways An Arabic adjective comes after the noun and copies four features from i
• Questions and question words (أدوات الاستفهام) A1 · Yes/no questions: هَلْ and أَ Arabic does not change word order and has no helper like "do". To make a yes/no
• Prepositions and the genitive (حروف الجر) A1 · The core prepositions Preposition Meaning Example فِي in فِي الْبَيْتِ (fi lbayti) in the house عَلَى on عَلَى
• Iḍāfa, the possessive construct (الإضافة) A1 · Two nouns, no word for "of" To say "the door of the house", Arabic puts the two nouns side by side, possessed
• The present tense (المضارع) A1 · A prefix for the person, a suffix for number and gender The Arabic present tense wraps the verb stem: a prefix
• Negation in the present: لا and ليس A1 · Two negations for two kinds of sentence Arabic chooses the negative word by what it is negating: a sentence wi
• Numbers 1-10, telling time and the days of the week A1 · One to ten Digit Arabic Sound ١ وَاحِدٌ wāḥid ٢ اثْنَانِ ithnāni ٣ ثَلَاثَةٌ thalātha ٤ أَرْبَعَةٌ arbaʿa ٥ خَ
• Plurals: sound and broken (الجمع) A1 · Three ways to make a plural Arabic has two sound plurals, which add an ending, and the broken plural, which re
• The past tense (الماضي) A1 · Endings only The past tense adds a suffix to a fixed stem. There is no prefix. The bare form كَتَبَ already me
• The future (سـ / سوف) and negating the past and the future A2 · The future is the present plus سـ Arabic has no separate future tense. You put سَـ in front of the present ver
• كان: "was" and its sisters A2 · The present has no "to be", the past does أَنَا طَالِبٌ. needs no verb. To move the same sentence into the pas
• Verbal sentences and verb agreement (الجملة الفعلية) A2 · The verb comes first The neutral word order in written Arabic is verb, subject, object: كَتَبَ الطَّالِبُ الرِ
• The dual (المثنّى) A2 · A separate form for exactly two Arabic does not use the plural for two of something. It has its own ending, wh
• Object pronouns on verbs and prepositions A2 · The same suffixes, one exception The suffixes you learned on nouns (كِتَابِي, كِتَابُهُ) also serve as object
• Comparatives and superlatives (أفعل) A2 · One pattern for every comparative Arabic does not choose between "er" and "more". Most simple adjectives are p
• The imperative (الأمر) A2 · Built from the present, step by step Take the أَنْتَ form of the present, cut off the prefix, and give the wor
• إنّ and its sisters A2 · A small group of words that change the case إِنَّ and the words built on it stand at the head of a nominal sen
• Relative pronouns (الذي، التي، الذين) B1 · The forms The relative pronoun agrees with the noun it refers back to: Antecedent Relative pronoun masculine s
• Derived verb forms (الأوزان II-X) B1 · Roots and patterns Almost every Arabic word is built from a root of three consonants poured into a pattern. Th
• Case endings (الإعراب): nominative, accusative, genitive B1 · Three cases, two sets of endings An Arabic noun carries a short vowel at the end that says what job it does in
• Subjunctive and jussive moods (المنصوب والمجزوم) B1 · The present verb has three endings The present verb you learned ends in damma. Certain particles in front of i
• Verbal nouns (المصدر) B1 · The noun of the action The مَصْدَر is the name of the action itself: كَتَبَ he wrote gives الْكِتَابَة, writin
• Weak verbs (hollow, defective, assimilated) B1 · When a root letter is و or ي A verb is weak when one of its three root letters is و or ي. Those two letters do
• Active and passive participles (اسم الفاعل واسم المفعول) B2 · Two nouns made from every verb From any verb Arabic builds a word for the one doing the action, اِسْم الْفَاعِ
• The passive voice (المبني للمجهول) B2 · Vowels, not extra words English builds a passive out of two words: "was written". Arabic changes the vowels in
• Conditional sentences (إذا، إنْ، لو) B2 · Three particles, two situations English uses one word, "if", and shifts the tense to show how likely something
• Numbers 11 and above and counted nouns B2 · The counted noun is the hard part In English the noun after a number is always a plural: three books, eleven b