Learn some common suffixes in Arabic
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Intro |
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| Michael: What are some suffixes in Arabic? |
| Nora: And why are they useful to know? |
| Michael: At ArabicPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Farida, a college student, finds a book in an empty classroom. She sees Ben, another student, and asks |
| "Is this your book?" |
| هَل هَذا كِتابُك؟ (hal haḏā kitābuk?) |
| Dialogue |
| Farida Fahmy: هَل هَذا كِتابُك؟ (hal haḏā kitābuk?) |
| Ben Lee: .نَعَم، شُكراً (naʿam, šukran.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Farida Fahmy: هَل هَذا كِتابُك؟ (hal haḏā kitābuk?) |
| Michael: "Is this your book?" |
| Ben Lee: .نَعَم، شُكراً (naʿam, šukran.) |
| Michael: "Yes, thank you. " |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Suffixes in Arabic can help you specify whom items belong to, which is a very important part of everyday speech. Are you talking about your bag? Or your friend’s bag? Were you referring to your family? Or your partner’s family? A small difference in a one or two letter suffix can make all the difference. Let’s talk about the most commonly used possessive pronouns. We will start with: |
| Nora: ـي (ī) |
| Michael: meaning "my." This word is a suffix, meaning that it is attached to the final part of another word. Let’s see it in combination with the word |
| Nora: بَيت (baīt) |
| Michael: meaning "house." Here is the first example: |
| Nora: بَيتي (baītī) |
| Michael: meaning "my house." As you can see, it is a combination of the word "house," followed by the first person possessive suffix. Next is: |
| Nora: بَيتُك (baītuk) |
| Michael: meaning "your house." Here, we have a combination of the word "house" followed by the second person possessive suffix or |
| Nora: ك (k) |
| Michael: Then, we have: |
| Nora: بَيتُهُ (baītuhu) |
| Michael: meaning "his house." Here, we have the word "house" followed by the third person masculine possessive suffix or |
| Nora: ه (h) |
| Michael: For a woman, that is |
| Nora: ها (hā) |
| Michael: and "her house" is |
| Nora: بَيتُها (baītuhā) |
| Michael: Let’s try to do this again but with the feminine noun |
| Nora: حَقيبَة (ḥaqībah) |
| Michael: meaning "bag." Here is the first example: |
| Nora: حَقيبَتي (ḥaqībatī) |
| Michael: meaning "my bag." As you can see, it is a combination of the word "bag," followed by the first person possessive suffix. Next is: |
| Nora: حَقيبَتُك (ḥaqībatuk) |
| Michael: meaning "your bag." Here, we have a combination of the word "bag" followed by the second person possessive suffix. Then, we have: |
| Nora: حَقيبَتُه (ḥaqībatuh) |
| Michael: meaning "his bag." Here, we have the word "bag" with the third person masculine possessive suffix attached to its end. For a woman, it becomes: |
| Nora: حَقيبَتُها (ḥaqībatuhā) |
| [Recall] |
| Michael: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Farida says "Is this your book?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Nora as Farida Fahmy: هَل هَذا كِتابُك؟ (hal haḏā kitābuk?) |
| Michael: Here, we can see a word with a possessive suffix. |
| Nora: كِتابُك (kitābuk) |
| Michael: meaning "your book." We can separate this word into two sections: |
| Nora: كِتاب (kitāb) |
| Michael: meaning "book," and |
| Nora: ك (k) |
| Michael: meaning "your." Attaching them to each other creates "your book." Had this word been |
| Nora: كِتابُها (kitābuhā) |
| Michael: What do you think that would mean? (PAUSE) That’s right, it would mean "her book." |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: Now, let’s summarize the top possessive suffixes that we learned in this lesson. First is |
| Nora: ـي (ī) |
| Michael: meaning "my." Then, we had: |
| Nora: ك (k) |
| Michael: meaning "your." Then, we had: |
| Nora: ه (h) |
| Michael: meaning "his." And, lastly, we had: |
| Nora: ها (hā) |
| Michael: meaning "her." There are more possessive pronouns in Arabic, but the ones introduced here are definitely the most common. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Additionally, if you want to say that an item belongs to someone, and you want to use their name to indicate that, you say the item then the person’s name. For instance, |
| Nora: بَيتُ هُدى (baītu hudā) |
| Michael: meaning "Huda’s house." It is a very simple structure, but it is the opposite order from English, so it might take a bit to get used to. |
| Review |
| Michael: Now, let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "Is this your book?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Farida Fahmy: هَل هَذا كِتابُك؟ (hal haḏā kitābuk?) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Nora as Farida Fahmy: هَل هَذا كِتابُك؟ (hal haḏā kitābuk?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Farida Fahmy: هَل هَذا كِتابُك؟ (hal haḏā kitābuk?) |
| Michael: And do you remember how Ben Lee says "Yes, thank you?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Ben Lee: .نَعَم، شُكراً (naʿam, šukran.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Nora as Ben Lee: .نَعَم، شُكراً (naʿam, šukran.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Nora as Ben Lee: .نَعَم، شُكراً (naʿam, šukran.) |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Nora: !سلام (Salam!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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