Learning Arabic?

[Ace]

I've been thinking, we have an excellent 'guide to life' in our hands (i.e the Quran) but many of us have only read its Arabic(without understanding) or the translation(which could be biased by the translator's thinking) so why not try learning Arabic?

Are there any good online resources available? I've found a few and I'm trying to learn off those- the only trouble is, I often do not understand if I have made a mistake.

I was thinking- We could do a post a day from the Learn Arabic site so any others willing to learn couple benefit from it. And if we have any resident Arabic speakers, they could help us out and correct our mistakes.

So people: Can willing students raise their hands? And the teachers, or those who can drop in once a day and correct any mistakes made by any of us? We'll do the learning off a website.

Jaza'kallah All. Maybe this'll give us all a good headstart and keep us motivated and interested.

-Ace

[proudpakistani007]

that will be great bhia..
i would love to learn as well..

can u also share those sites whr u start learning

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Friendship is a precious gift from ALLAH, only lucky ppl have got this gift. And thank God, I am among those ppl

[Sadiaa]

*willing to learn inshAllah

[Muni]

Good idea Ace!

Transliteration just doesn't work well, especially since South Asians mispronounce several of the arabic alphabets and arabic sounds just can't be produced using English alphabet but alhamdulilaah, this is a great suggestion.

If you guys have access to local resources such that u can take a course in person instead of online, I recommend that highly.

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I'm taking a beginning arabic course where we have Quran one hour per week and we translate the Surahs. Since your goal is to understand the Quran, who about we discuss the Surahs that we are doing in class.

Lets start with Suratun Naas
----------------------------------------------

Qual (Quaaf, Laam) = "Say"
A'uduu= Enemy
Ah'udhu (Hamza,ayeen,wau,dhall) = I seek refuge
Malik= Master
Un Naas = The people
Al waswaasu = Whispering
Uwaswusu = whisper
Saudr= chest
Al Khanaas = one who withdraws
Jinnatu = Jinns

I think I covered all the vocabulary, using this list, translate this surah.

[appkiamaanat]

great idea brother, i was actually thinking of starting a similar thread, cause i've been trying to learn but haven't been very successful, insh'Allah we all can help each other

[aishaA]

count me in

[ammarr]

Not getting as much time these days, but i'll try. Enrol me

[Ace]

Wow, great response guys! We'll wait one more day and then class will be in session.

So far, I think this is how we'll go:

We'll study one page of quran every other day (starting from Surah Al-Fateh). It'll be taken off www.asanquran.com since it has translation for most words. And we'll have a mini grammar and sentence making lesson- (stuff like numbers, and then followed by pronounds and such)

And once a week Muni will post one Surah for us to translate and understand. Is that cool with you Muni?

Anyone who has a better study plan up their sleeve can share their ideas too. Jaza'kallah All.

[Muni]

I will try insha'Allah, but I"m a beginner. I can help out with the basics but I shall try.

Perhaps the first thing to do is to learn conjugation of verbs and some basic grammar rules, which I'm am starting to learn.

It would be nice if someone else with more knowledge would pitch in.

[This message has been edited by Muni (edited April 02, 2002).]

[Ace]

[ Lesson! ]

Source

Lets start off with some basic grammar and vocab so that we can get a basic understanding of arabic, be sure to visit the above link to see the letters in actual arabic. I'll be putting a summary of it here so that most of us can get a quick grasp of what the lesson is about, and of the basic rules, making it easier to use and apply them within this thread. Plus, the lessons on that site are confusing.


Grammar: Independent Singular pronouns.
A'na: is a first person pronoun used with singular masculine and feminine. [English= "I"]
Anta: is a second person pronoun used with singular masculine [English= "You(male)"]
Anti: is a second person pronoun used with singular feminine [English= "You(female)"]


Dialogue:
So, when constructing sentences, the proper use would be:
"A'na Abdul" = I am Abdul
"A'na Susan" = I am Susan
"Anta Tariq" = You are Tariq
"Anti Sarah" = You are Sarah

Vocab:

Verbs:
"Askun" = I live

Nouns:
"Al-Dars"(pronounced: Ad-dars) = The lesson
"Sabah" = Morning, "Al-Kher" = good, "Sabah-ul-Kher" = Good Morning
"Sha'Qa" = Apartment
"Manzil" = House

Adjectives:
"Al-Awwal" = The first

Particle:
"Min" = From
"Fee" = In
"Mun" = Who
"Wa" = And

Phrases:
"Marhaba" = Hello
"La" = No

(I think 12 new words would be more than enough, if you're up for more:
Go here A good vocab is always better.)

[ Quran with Urdu translation ]
Go here: Page 1
Read the translation carefully and figure out the words, if there's any difficulty, post here, and maybe our resident experts
will help us out. There wont be any spoon feeding though, visit the sites and learn the vocab yourself. .


[ Drill! ]
Translate the following from Arabic into english:
A'na min-ul kuwait
Askun fee Sha'Qa
A'na Hasan
Anta Haseeb
More drills

Do the drills and then post some question/answers here so that all of us can benefit. Most of the learning will have to be done by the self, since I am no expert. I'll need a lot of help from everyone.


Next up: Numbers.

I feel like I am missing something- is there anything we should add to our lessons?

JazaKallah khairun.
-Ace

[This message has been edited by Ace (edited April 02, 2002).]

[Muni]

Salaam All-

Ace- Good job Buddy! Jazakallah Khair.

Ahh the woes of transliteration!!!! I'm not a fan of transliteration. I've seen images posted in here but I wonder if I scan my personal notes and post 'em, how it will look or if it will even work. I've heard of arabic keyboards, I'm gonna check and see if my neighbor has one, I hope she does so that I could write in arabic itself. Because, transliteration ruins your pronunciation.

Who= Man [Meem (fatha (urdu zabar)) Noon (sukoon)] , I would pronounce Mun , differently so it may be helpful to have it written in arabic.

Originally posted by Ace:
Grammar: Independent Singular pronouns.
A'na: is a first person pronoun used with singular masculine and feminine. [English= "I"]
Anta: is a second person pronoun used with singular masculine [English= "You(male)"]
Anti: is a second person pronoun used with singular feminine [English= "You(female)"]

1st person = A'na= I
2nd person = Anta = (Male) You
2nd person = Anti= (Female) You
3rd person = Heeya= She * Note*
3rd person = Huaa= He* Note*


Dialogue:
So, when constructing sentences, the proper use would be:
"A'na Muni" = I am Muni
"A'na Muhammad" = I am Muhammad
"Anta Tariq" = You are Tariq
"Anti Sarah" = You are Sarah
"Heeya Fatimah" = She is Fatimah* Note*
"Hua Ace" = He is Ace* Note*

Vocab:

*Note* Good way to learn Verbs is to learn the past tense, present tense, command when learning the verb. Infinitives in English start out with "to live" "to work" "to eat". The infinitive form in Arabic is given in the Hua form so you are basically learning, "He lives, He works, He eats" in its infinitive, then you change it to fit the subject. But then this requires us to rush into conjugation so lets hold it for a few weeks. Just an FYI.

Verbs:
"Askun" = I live

* Note* Sakana=He lived/resided; YasKun = He lives; Sakanu = Live (command)
----------------------------------------------
Nouns:
"Al-Dars"(pronounced: Ad-dars) = The lesson

*Note* Later on, you will learn the reason why the Laam is dropped for certain words but not for others such as "Al-Manzil"


"Sabah" = Morning, "Al-Kher" = good, "Sabah-ul-Kher" = Good Morning
"Sha'Qa" = Apartment
"Manzil" = House

Ordinal Numbers:

• "Al-Awwal" = The first *Note* This is Masculine
• " Al OoLaa (alif laam, Hamza w/ damma, wau, laam, alif maksura)This is Feminine, used for Feminine nous.

Particle:
"Min" = From
"Fee" = In
"Mun" = Who
"Wa" = And
* Note* "Bi" = by
* Note* "'Alaa" = on

Phrases:
"Marhaba" = Hello
"La" = No
* Note* "Na'am" = Yes
[* Note* "Aina" = Where

[ Drill! ]
Translate the following from Arabic into english:
A'na min-ul kuwait
Askun fee Sha'Qa
A'na Hasan
Anta Haseeb
* Note* Min Aina Anti? Min Aina Ace? Min Aina Anta? Min Aina Heeya? Min Aina Hua


Next up: Numbers.

* Cardinal & Ordinal Numbers, fun fun! some encouraging words.

I feel like I am missing something- is there anything we should add to our lessons?

dunno, I'm afraid, I'll add too much.


[This message has been edited by Muni (edited April 02, 2002).]

[Muni]

PS. If you wanna have another conversation drill, I could post a very basic intro conversation. But let me know when, in a week or so or whatever.

BTW, when speaking to someone, you address them as "Ya Zainab", "Ya Ace", Ya Muni, Ya Ibrahim, Ya Muhammad, Ya Fatimah, Ya A'eeshah... Ya, just means "O!" like in old english.

Ok chickies, goodnight and good luck with studying.

I'm excited about this ace, you've done a great job, I've heard ppl talk about arabic lessons on gupshup lots of times, Keep up the good work! Insha'Allah, the enthuiasm will continue.

Wassalaam

(now translate that )

[Ace]

Muni, JazakAllah, you've made my work a lot easier. I'll respond tommorow with answers to the drill and I hope so will the others- and then you can tell us if we did 'OK'. Lets keep the conversation drill for next week- Arabic can be hard to digest in the start.

[Indian_Muslim]

Originally posted by Muni:
Lets start with Suratun Naas
----------------------------------------------

Qual (Quaaf, Laam) = "Say"
A'uduu= Enemy
Ah'udhu (Hamza,ayeen,wau,dhall) = I seek refuge
Malik= Master
Un Naas = The people
Al waswaasu = Whispering
Uwaswusu = whisper
Saudr= chest
Al Khanaas = one who withdraws
Jinnatu = Jinns

Actually, what I've noticed is that if you read the translation and try to figure out the familiar words, your Arabic actually improves. Atleast, you are able to understand it better.

Also, if you know Urdu/Persian (or even Punjabi), you will be able to identify a lot of the words.

In Arabic, most of the words are have 3 letter roots, and from those 3 letter roots, you get scores of words. Arabic is the bomb !!! - The more I ponder over this language, the more I get fascinated by it. Give it a try people, most probably, you too will find it extremely enchanting

For example, take these words given above:

Qual (Quaaf, Laam) = "Say"

Recall the words "Qaul" or "Qawwaal" or "Qawwaali" , "Ba-Qaul aap kay" etc
Rings a bell???


A'uduu= Enemy

I'm not sure if it appears in Surah An-Naas, but anyways, if you love to read Shairi, you must have come across this word: "'aduww" ('ain, daal, wow) - which means something similar.


Ah'udhu (Hamza,ayeen,wau,dhall) = I seek refuge

Again, if you have a fair-bit knowledge of Urdu, you must be familiar with this word - "Isti'aadha" (alif, seen, te, 'ain, dhaal) which means something like refuge.

Malik= Master

Recall "maalik" !

Un Naas = The people

"An" is actually "Al" which can be somewhat replaced by "The".

"naas" and "insaan" have the same origin !!!


Al waswaasu = Whispering

Again, the word "waswaas" is used commonly in Urdu and probably, in other languages too (like Punjabi)


Uwaswusu = whisper

same origin as above

Saudr= chest

recall "amreeki SADR" - I do not know why we use it for president, although it means "chest" in Arabic.

It's my speculation, just speculation, that chest may denote something central, of crucial importance etc.

Al Khanaas = one who withdraws

I don't think I can find a common word of the same origin. Maybe, those ppl who are more into Urdu literature may recognize it.

Jinnatu = Jinns

same origin, which is apparent

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Now, some other words from the same Surah:

Bi-(I)ism i (A)llah i (A)r-Rehmaan i (A)r-Raheem .

Can you see that "Ism" there. It means "NAME" . Recall "Ism-e-Shareef" (lit. What is your noble NAME ? ). Or recall Ism-e-Mubaarak .

(1) Qul a'oodhu bi-Rabbi nnaas.

You see that "bi" there. It's the letter "ba" (bay) . It is used in Persian and Urdu as well commonly to denote "Along With" .

For example, BA-ghair , which literally means something like "WITH GHAIR ( NOT, ANTI-, SOMETHING ELSE, ETC) which when put together, translates to "WITHOUT" !!!.

Or another example, BI-(a)lKUL . "Kul" means "TOTAL" (kul qeemat!) , and BI-lKUL means, WITH(in) total .

Ok, let's go further:


(2) Malik i (A)n-Naas

Covered above.


(3) Ilaah i (A)n-Naas

"Ilaah" means "God" .

Recall, "Laa Ilaah_a Ill Allah ". (There is No GOD except (Illa) Allah ).

(4) Min Sharr il waswaas il khannaas

You see that word "Sharr" which is again commonly used in Urdu to denote evil .

Rmbr the word "SHaRaaRat" !!! It is from the same root letters - sheen, re , re .

"Min" means "FROM".

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Am I boring you guys?????

I'll stop here. Is there anyone who read this??

[This message has been edited by Indian_Muslim (edited April 02, 2002).]

[Ace]

Indian_Muslim, Jazakallah, lets just try to stick to a format though, how about that? And for the translation of Surah's maybe you could briefly translate word to word the page I have posted from the Quran? That way we could stick to a daily format?.

-Ace