2.1. Nominal Sentences

Nominal sentences do not have a verb.
It can contain determined and undetermined nouns as predicates.

Table of Contents

Nominal Sentences

A nominal sentence always appears in the present tense, in which there is no conjugation of the word "to be". This means, the adjective or noun itself is the predicate of the sentence.

The nominal sentence always starts with a noun or a personal or demonstrative pronoun. The second word is then another noun, an adjective, or a preposition. The first noun can be determined or undetermined, which will change the meaning of the sentence. The second word must always be undetermined.

Determined Structure

This firstly presented structure contains a determined noun or pronoun.

In the following, examples for nominal sentences, starting with a noun, are presented:

English	Arabic
The house is big	البيت كبير al-bayt kabeer
The man is a teacher	الرجل المعلم ar-rajul mu3allim
The teacher is here	المعلم هنا al-mu3allim hunaa
The teacher is in the room	المعلم موجود في الغرفة al-mu3allim fee al-bayt

Personal Pronouns

In the case of personal pronouns, the sentences look as follows:

English	Arabic
He is big	هو كبير huwa kabeer
He is a teacher	هو معلم huwa mu3allim
He is the teacher	هو المعلم huwa al-mu3allim

The last case to be covered uses demonstrative pronouns:

English	Arabic
This is big	هذا كبير hadhaa kabeer
This is a teacher	هذا هو المعلم hadhaa mu3al~im
This is here	هذا هنا hadhaa hunaa
This is in the house	هذا في بيت hadhaa fee al-bayt

Undetermined Structure

Now the noun is undetermined and appears at the end of the sentence:

English	Arabic
Here is a teacher	هنا معلم hunaa mu3allim
In the room, there is a teacher	في الغرفة معلم fee al-ghurfah mu3allim

Exercises

Translate into Arabic:
a) Here is paper.
b) There are a table and a chair.
c) Here is a board.
d) Here is a wall and there is a door.

a) هنا ورقة
b) هناك طاولة وكرسي
c) هنا لوحة
d) هنا جدار وهناك باب

Vocabularies

Arabic	Translation
معلم	teacher
هو	he
كبير	big
في	in
هذا	this
هنا	here
هناك	there
ورق	paper
كرسي	chair
لوحة	board
جدار	wall