Yes/no questions: هَلْ and أَ
Arabic does not change word order and has no helper like "do". To make a yes/no question, put هَلْ (hal) in front of the statement:
- أَنْتَ طَالِبٌ. → هَلْ أَنْتَ طَالِبٌ؟ — Are you a student?
- تَسْكُنُ هُنَا. → هَلْ تَسْكُنُ هُنَا؟ — Do you live here?
- هَلِ الْمَطْعَمُ مَفْتُوحٌ؟ — Is the restaurant open? (before ال, هَلْ becomes هَلِ)
The prefix أَ does the same job and is joined to the first word: أَتَسْكُنُ هُنَا؟ Use أَ, not هَلْ, before a negative: أَلَيْسَ كَذَلِكَ؟ (Isn't that so?)
Answers: نَعَمْ (yes), لَا (no). To answer "yes, it is" to a negative question, use بَلَى.
Question words
The question word stands at the start; the rest of the sentence keeps its normal order.
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| مَا | what (+ noun) | مَا اسْمُكَ؟ — What is your name? |
| مَاذَا | what (+ verb) | مَاذَا تَدْرُسُ؟ — What do you study? |
| مَنْ | who | مَنْ هَذَا؟ — Who is this? |
| أَيْنَ | where | أَيْنَ الْمَحَطَّةُ؟ — Where is the station? |
| مِنْ أَيْنَ | where from | مِنْ أَيْنَ أَنْتَ؟ — Where are you from? |
| مَتَى | when | مَتَى يَبْدَأُ الدَّرْسُ؟ — When does the lesson start? |
| كَيْفَ | how | كَيْفَ حَالُكَ؟ — How are you? |
| لِمَاذَا | why | لِمَاذَا تَدْرُسُ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ؟ — Why do you study Arabic? |
| كَمْ | how many / how much | كَمْ عُمْرُكَ؟ — How old are you? |
مَا and مَاذَا both mean "what": مَا before a noun or pronoun, مَاذَا before a verb. Without harakat, مَنْ (who) and مِنْ (from) look the same: من.
كَمْ + singular noun in the accusative
"How many" is followed by a singular noun with the accusative tanween -an:
- كَمْ كِتَابًا عِنْدَكَ؟ — How many books do you have?
- كَمْ طَالِبًا فِي الصَّفِّ؟ — How many students are in the class?
- كَمْ سَاعَةً تَعْمَلُ؟ — How many hours do you work? (ة takes -an without an extra alif)
For prices, add بِـ: بِكَمْ هَذَا؟ — How much is this?
Answering "why"
Answer لِمَاذَا with لِأَنَّ (because) + noun, or a suffix: لِأَنَّ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ جَمِيلَةٌ (because Arabic is beautiful), لِأَنَّهَا جَمِيلَةٌ (because it is beautiful).
Watch out as an English speaker
- English leaves "from" at the end. Arabic cannot. ✗ أَيْنَ أَنْتَ مِنْ؟ / ✓ مِنْ أَيْنَ أَنْتَ؟
- English "how many books" has a plural. ✗ كَمْ كُتُبٌ عِنْدَكَ؟ / ✓ كَمْ كِتَابًا عِنْدَكَ؟
- English uses one "what". Before a noun, use مَا. ✗ مَاذَا اسْمُكَ؟ / ✓ مَا اسْمُكَ؟
- No word swap for yes/no questions. ✗ طَالِبٌ أَنْتَ؟ / ✓ هَلْ أَنْتَ طَالِبٌ؟
Example dialogue
مِنْ أَيْنَ أَنْتِ؟ — Where are you from? (to a woman)
أَنَا مِنْ تُونِسَ. وَأَنْتَ؟ — I am from Tunisia. And you?
أَنَا مِنْ كَنَدَا. مَاذَا تَدْرُسِينَ؟ — I am from Canada. What do you study?
أَدْرُسُ الطِّبَّ. وَلِمَاذَا تَدْرُسُ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ؟ — I study medicine. And why do you study Arabic?
لِأَنَّ عَمَلِي فِي عَمَّانَ. — Because my work is in Amman.