Arabic Articles

If you're trying to learn Arabic Articles you will find some useful resources including a course about Definite and Indefinite Articles... to help you with your Arabic grammar. Try to concentrate on the lesson and notice the pattern that occurs each time the word changes its place. Also don't forget to check the rest of our other lessons listed on Learn Arabic. Enjoy the rest of the lesson!

Arabic Articles

Learning the Arabic Articles is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you master it the more you get closer to mastering the Arabic language. But first we need to know what the role of Articles is in the structure of the grammar in Arabic.

Arabic articles are words that combine with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Generally articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun. Examples are "the, a, and an". Here are some examples:

English Articles	Arabic Articles
articles	مَقَالَات - maqaalaat
the	ال - al
a	no equivalent in arabic - no equivalent in arabic
one	وَاحِد - waahed
some	بَعْض - ba'th
few	قَلِيْل - qaleeel
the book	الْكِتَاب - alketaab
the books	الْكُتُب - alkotob
a book	كِتَاب - ketaab
one book	كِتَاب وَاحِد - ketaab waahed
some books	بَعْض الْكُتُب - ba'th alkotob
few books	الْقَلْيْل مِن الْكُتُب - alqaleel men alkotob

In Arabic the definite article is ال al. As for the indefinite article, there is none. An indefinite noun in Arabic is indicated by a declension, or rather “nunation” of the noun. Each definite noun in Arabic has the definite article ال attached to it and ends on u, a or I, depending if it is a subject, object ore possessive. When the noun is indefinite, the nouns end on respectively un, an or in, hence the name “nunation”, th n in Arabic is pronounced nun ن. For example الرَّجُلُ يَقْرَءُ الْجَرِيدةَ Ar-rajalu yaqra’u al-djaridata, The man reads the newspaper, مُحَمَّد يَأَكْلُ خُبْزاً Muhammed ja’akulu gubzan - Muhamad eats a bread.

A very important rule in Arabic is المضاف والمضاف إليه Al-mudhaf wa-al-mudhaf ilaihu. This is used to denote the passive like in the book of the man is translated as كتاب الرجلِ kitaab ar-radjuli. According to the Arabic grammarians, book is made definite by the man so it doesn’t need a definite article! Also the man is declined with I the sign of the possessive. If one wants to say the book of this man, then this must be put at the end of the construction, since nothing may break it. كتاب الرجل هذه Book (of) the man this.

As you can see from the example above, the structure of the Articles in Arabic has a logical pattern. Locate the Articles above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in Arabic.

List of Articles in Arabic

Below is a list of vocabulary where you can use the Definite and Indefinite Articles in Arabic. Try to practice but also memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your Arabic vocabulary.

English Vocabulary	Arabic Vocabulary
Food	غِذَاء - ghethaa'
almonds	لُوْز - lowz
bread	خُبْز - khobz
breakfast	إِفْطَار - eeftaar
butter	زُبْدَة - zobdah
candy	حَلْوَى - halwaa
cheese	جَبُن - jabon
chicken	دَجَاج - dajaaj
cumin	كُمُوْن - komown
dessert	حَلْوَى - halwaa
dinner	عِشَاء - 'eshaa'
fish	سَمَك - samak
fruit	فَاكِهَة - faakehah
ice cream	الْآَيْس كْرِيْم - alaaees kreeem
lamb	خَرُوْف - kharowf
lemon	لَيْمُوْن - laeemown
lunch	غَدَاء - ghadaa'
meal	وَجْبَة - wajbah
meat	لَحْم - lahm
oven	فُرْن - forn
pepper	فُلْفُل - folfol
plants	نَبَاتَات - nabaataat
pork	لَحْم خِنْزِيْر - lahm khenzeeer
salad	سَلَطَة - salatah
salt	مِلْح - melh
sandwich	شَطِيْرَة - shateeerah
sausage	سُجُق - sojoq
soup	حَسَاء - hasaa'
sugar	سُكَّر - sokar
supper	عِشَاء - 'eshaa'
turkey	دِيَك رُوْمِى - deeeak rowmea
apple	تُفَّاحَة - tofaahah
banana	مَوْز - mawz
oranges	بُرْتُقَال - bortoqaal
peaches	خَوْخ - khawkh
peanut	الْفُوُل الْسُّوْدَانِي - alfowol alsowdaaneee
pears	كُمَّثْرَى - komathraa
pineapple	أَنْاناس - aananas
grapes	عِنَب - 'enab
strawberries	فَرَاوِلَة - faraawelah
vegetables	خُضْرَوَات - khothrawaat
carrot	جُزُر - jozor
corn	ذَرَّة - tharah
cucumber	خِيَار - kheeeaar
garlic	ثُوْم - thowm
lettuce	خَس - khas
olives	زَيْتُوْن - zaeetown
onions	بَصَل - basal
peppers	الْفُلْفُل - alfolfol
potatoes	الْبَطَاطِس - albataates
pumpkin	الْيَقْطِيْن - aleeaqteeen
beans	فَاصُوْلِيَّا - faasowleeeaa
tomatoes	طَمَاطِم - tamaatem

Like English, Arabic has one definite article "the", but it has no indefinite article “a”.  Instead the Arabs use a declension to indicate that a noun is indefinite. For example the book is translated as Al-Kitabu الكتابُ, having al- in front (note the indefinite article is written attached to the noun it describes, so is wa و meaning and) and ending on the vowel u indicates that the noun is indefinite.

A book however is written as Kitabun  كتابٌ  where a n is added at the end of the vowel to indicate the noun is indefinite, Arab grammarians cal this nunnation.

 

Sun Moon letters

The l of the definite article al assimilates with the letter following it. If the pronouncation of the letter following the l is pronounced in the same region of the l, i.e. in front, the l changes to the consonant following the l, making this consonant effectively spoken twice, when the consonant following the l is pronounced in the back then the pronunciation of the l is maintained. The Arabs call this sun and moon letters حَرْفُ الشَّمْسِ HHarf(u)-asj-sjamsi and

حَرْفُ الْقَمْرِ. The l in case of sun letters is written but in pronnounsiation replace by the sound following it.

Definite and Indefinite Articles have a very important role in Arabic, therefore they need very special attention. Once you're done with Arabic Articles, you might want to check the rest of our Arabic lessons here: Learn Arabic. Don't forget to bookmark this page.