The Definite Article
The definite article (English the) is أل in the Arabic language. It does not change regarding gender, case, or numbers. It is always directly connected with the related noun and creates one unit with it.
| indefinite | definite | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| بَيت bayt | house | ألبَيت al-bayt | the house |
| كُرّاسَ kurrAsa | notebook | ألكُرّاسَ al-kurrAsa | the notebook |
A noun having such a definite article is called determined. Many names of countries and people are undetermined. An indefinite article, like in English a, does not exist in the Arabic language.
The Sun Letters
The Arabic letters knows a few letters, that are called sun letters:
ت, ث, د, ذ, ر, ز, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ن
The reason, why they are called sun letters is because the Arabic word for sun (شَمس) starts with one of these letters. The other letters are called moon letters, because قَمر starts such a letter.
If the noun starts with one of these sun letters, the ل of the article will be assimilated and the letter will be doubled using a shadda on top.
Examples for this assimilation with sun letters are
| ألصَّديق aS-SidIq | the friend |
| ألرَّجُل ar-rajul | the man |
| ألشَّمس ash-shams | the sun |
Examples with moon letters are
| ألبَيت al-bayt | the house |
| ألغُرفة al-ghurfah | the room |
| ألقَمر al-qamr | the moon |
Hamza Wasl
If the noun with the article does not appear in the beginning of the sentence, the hamza on the alif is replaced with the so-called hamza wasl ٱ
Vocabularies
| Arabic | Translation |
|---|---|
| صَديق | friend |
| رَجُل | man |
| شَمس | sun |
| قَمر | moon |
| غُرفة | room |
| بَيت | house |