English and Arabic/Contrastive grammar

Nouns

Gender

In Arabic, a noun is either masculine or feminine, as there is no neuter, while in English, all nouns are neuter gender. However, there are some words which could be considered either masculine or feminine.

The usual feminine form is the addition of the feminine ending "تاء مَرْبُوطَة", which transliterates to "taa' marbooTa" (tied or attached 't') to masculine nouns and adjectives to make them feminine. For example:

• سيارة → "sayyāra" (car)

• حقيبة → "haqība" (bag)

• خالة → "khāla" (maternal aunt)

All nouns are considered masculine unless they have a feminine ending. There are very few feminine nouns without a feminine ending, which include geographical names and parts of the body that come in pairs as well as a few others.

• عَيْن → "eayan" (eye)
• مصر → "misr" (Egypt)
• شَمْس → "shams" (sun)

Dual nouns

Plural nouns in Arabic are represented specially when in groups of two, while in English the number "two" is just mentioned before the regular plural noun.

• كتابين → "kitaban" (two books) , كرة → "kutub" (books)

• قطتان → "quttan" (two cats) , القطط→ "alqatat" (cats)

• غرفتين → "gharfatayn" (two rooms) , الغرف→ "alghuraf" (rooms)

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

These are usually used when the sentence is nominal (i.e. does not use a verb) usually to prevent ambiguity. Otherwise, they are frequently dropped.

Sentence Structure

Verb-Subject-Object Structure

Sentences in Arabic are arranged with the verb first, followed by the subject, and then the object, as opposed to English, where the subject comes first, followed by the verb, and lastly the object. For instance:

• كرةَ تاسىٌ رسانحً قصيرجً → "kataba basimun resalatan qa-sēratan"

(direct: wrote Baseem a letter short)

(correct translation: Baseem wrote a short letter)

• خرجت منال مبكرا → "xarajat Manaal mubakkiran"

(direct: early came Manaal)

(correct translation: Manaal came out early)

• أكل الولد تفاحة→ "akala l-waladu tuffaaHatan"

(direct: ate the boy an apple)

(correct translation: The boy ate an apple)

Nominal Sentences

There is no equivalent of "to be" verbs in English in the present form in Arabic. Thus, sentences can be made in Arabic without the use of these verbs. The subject can be followed directly by the predicate without the verb:

• القط في المنزل→ "al-qat fī l-manzil"

(direct translation: The cat in the house)

(correct translation: The cat is in the house)

• حَسَنٌ هُنَاَْ → "hasan hunaa"

(direct translation: Hassan here)

(correct translation: Hassan is here)

• ثَمَّةَ أَحَدٌ مَاْ → "thammat ahad maa"

(direct translation: There one-some)

(correct translation: There is someone)

Passive Structure

When a sentence is changed into passive form, then the agent/subject is ignored. Sometimes particles (groups of letters) can be added to these agents to re-introduce them, but this is not usually done. However, in English, this effect is not created. For example:

• كُرثد انزسانحُ → The letter was written (direct translation: was written the letter)

• تم شراء الكتاب → The book was bought (direct translation: was bought the book)

• سرقت قطة → A cat was stolen (direct translation: was stolen a cat)

Adjectives

In English, the adjective is placed before the noun to describe it. However, in Arabic, the adjective comes after the noun, for example:

• صبي هادئ → a quiet boy (direct translation: boy quiet)

• سيارة قديمة → an old car (direct translation: car old)

• الرجال الغاضبين→ angry men (direct translation: men angry)

Adjectives are also gendered, as well as nouns. The suffix "ـة " is added to make the adjectives feminine. Here are situations which require specific applications of either feminine or masculine adjectives:

Adjectives for human plural nouns

Whether masculine or feminine, these are modified with masculine plural adjectives:

• المرأة الجميلة → beautiful women

• الرجال لطيفة → nice men

• الفتيان الذكية → smart boys

Adjectives for non-human plural nouns

These are modified with feminine singular adjectives:

• سيارات صغيرة → little cars

• الكلاب الكبيرة → large dogs

• أوراق جديدة → new papers

References

• http://faculty.kfupm.edu.sa/ics/muhtaseb/Research/UKPAPER.pdf

• http://www.reshtia.org/library/14.Easy%20Arabic%20Grammar.pdf

• http://languageguide.org

• http://arabic.desert-sky.net/g_adj.html