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 |