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

Nouns in Arabic are represented specially when in groups of two:

• كتاب

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)

References

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

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

• languageguide.org