This original email was written for the guide. It models a concise first contact with a female university administrator in contemporary Modern Standard Arabic (formal/professional). Its politeness comes from an informative subject line, a proportionate title, an explicit reason, an answerable request, and a fallback—not from piling up ceremonial phrases.
English email convention often begins with Dear and softens a request with modal verbs such as could or would. Formal Arabic has its own resources: title plus المحترمة, the opening تحية طيبة وبعد, and request frames such as أرجو أن. The verb after light أنْ remains finite, so it marks exactly who should perform the requested action.
For a broader choice of openings, paragraph designs, and closings, see Email and Letter Structure. The present page gives one complete message and closely annotates its request chain.
The complete email
الموضوع: طلب تغيير موعد المقابلة
الأستاذة مديرة القبول المحترمة،
تحية طيبة وبعد،
أنا سارة عادل، وقد تلقيت دعوة من قسم القبول إلى مقابلة يوم الاثنين المقبل.
أكتب إليك لأنني لن أستطيع الحضور في ذلك الموعد بسبب امتحان جامعي.
أرجو أن تسمحي لي بنقل المقابلة إلى صباح الأربعاء، إن أمكن.
وإذا لم يكن هذا الموعد متاحا، فأرجو أن تقترحي موعدا آخر خلال الأسبوع نفسه.
أعتذر عن الإزعاج، وأشكرك على تفهمك.
مع خالص التقدير،
سارة عادل
Faithful translation
Subject: Request to change the interview time
Dear Director of Admissions,
Greetings,
I am Sara Adel, and I have received an invitation from the Admissions Department to an interview next Monday.
I am writing to you because I will not be able to attend at that time due to a university examination.
I would like to ask you to allow me to move the interview to Wednesday morning, if possible.
If that time is not available, please suggest another time during the same week.
I apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.
With sincere appreciation,
Sara Adel
Subject line and salutation
الموضوع: طلب تغيير موعد المقابلة.
al-mawḍūʿ: ṭalabu taghyīri mawʿidi l-muqābala(h).
Subject: Request to change the interview time.
The subject is a compact chain of iḍāfas: طلبُ تغييرِ موعدِ المقابلة. The relationships nest from right to left: the interview has a time, that time is to be changed, and the writer is making a request for that change. Only the final noun المقابلة carries the definite article, but definiteness spreads through the whole chain.
This density works in a subject line because every noun has a clear function. Adding vague words such as مهم “important” would not help the recipient route or answer the message.
الأستاذة مديرة القبول المحترمة،
al-ʾustādhatu mudīratu l-qabūli l-muḥtarama(h),
Dear Director of Admissions, (addressing a woman formally)
الأستاذة is a respectful professional title, مديرة is the feminine occupational title, and المحترمة agrees with the woman being addressed. English director does not reveal gender morphologically; Arabic does. The phrase is a written heading, not a vocative with يا, so it keeps the article.
تحية طيبة وبعد،
taḥiyyatan ṭayyibatan wa-baʿd,
Greetings, (a conventional formal opening before the message body)
The accusative reading تحيةً طيبةً reflects an understood act such as “I offer [you] a kind greeting.” وبعد is a formula that moves from salutation to business. It is established (formal) correspondence language, but it does not require an equally ceremonial email body.
Identification and context before the request
أنا سارة عادل، وقد تلقيت دعوة من قسم القبول إلى مقابلة يوم الاثنين المقبل.
ʾanā sāratu ʿādil, wa-qad talaqqaytu daʿwatan min qismi l-qabūli ʾilā muqābalatin yawma l-ithnayni l-muqbil.
I am Sara Adel, and I have received an invitation from the Admissions Department to an interview next Monday.
The independent أنا is useful here because the sentence explicitly identifies a previously unknown writer. Later first-person verbs can omit it. قد + perfect presents the invitation as a completed event with current relevance. The phrase قسم القبول is an institutional iḍāfa, while الاثنين المقبل is a noun plus matching adjective.
أكتب إليك لأنني لن أستطيع الحضور في ذلك الموعد بسبب امتحان جامعي.
ʾaktubu ʾilayki li-ʾannanī lan ʾastaṭīʿa l-ḥuḍūra fī dhālika l-mawʿidi bi-sababi mtiḥānin jāmiʿiyy.
I am writing to you because I will not be able to attend at that time due to a university examination.
Feminine إليكِ points to the director. Heavy لأنّ takes first-person ـني and introduces the reason. Future-negative لن governs subjunctive أستطيعَ, while الحضور packages “attending” as a verbal noun. ذلك الموعد links back to Monday's interview without repeating the entire phrase.
The reason is specific enough to explain the request without becoming an autobiography. In professional correspondence, relevance is part of politeness: the recipient can evaluate the constraint quickly.
أرجو أن: a finite, person-marked request
أرجو أن تسمحي لي بنقل المقابلة إلى صباح الأربعاء، إن أمكن.
ʾarjū ʾan tasmaḥī lī bi-naqli l-muqābalati ʾilā ṣabāḥi l-ʾarbiʿāʾi, ʾin ʾamkan.
I would like to ask you to allow me to move the interview to Wednesday morning, if possible.
أرجو makes the writer the one who hopes or requests. Light أنْ then governs the finite subjunctive تسمحي, whose feminine singular form identifies the administrator as the requested actor. The indicative would be تسمحين; subjunctive mood deletes its nūn. This is why Arabic أنْ + verb is not simply an uninflected English infinitive.
سمح لـ...بـ... supplies two governed phrases: لي identifies the beneficiary, and بنقل المقابلة identifies the permitted action. إن أمكن acknowledges that the requested change may not be possible, but the request itself remains concrete.
وإذا لم يكن هذا الموعد متاحا، فأرجو أن تقترحي موعدا آخر خلال الأسبوع نفسه.
wa-ʾidhā lam yakun hādhā l-mawʿidu mutāḥan, fa-ʾarjū ʾan taqtariḥī mawʿidan ʾākhara khilāla l-ʾusbūʿi nafsih.
If that time is not available, please suggest another time during the same week.
The condition establishes a fallback. لم يكن is jussive after لم, and متاحا is the accusative predicate of يكن. Linking فـ introduces the response. Again, تقترحي marks a female addressee and loses indicative nūn after أنْ.
The reflexive emphasis نفسه agrees with masculine الأسبوع and its ـه refers to that week. The writer has therefore constrained the alternative without pretending that only one appointment is acceptable.
Apology and closing at the same level of distance
أعتذر عن الإزعاج، وأشكرك على تفهمك.
ʾaʿtadhiru ʿani l-ʾizʿāji, wa-ʾashkuruki ʿalā tafahhumiki.
I apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.
اعتذر عن and شكر على each keep their governed preposition. The final ـكِ suffixes again address one woman. Because the subject of both verbs is the writer, the coordinated second verb needs no repeated أنا.
مع خالص التقدير، سارة عادل.
maʿa khāliṣi t-taqdīr, sāratu ʿādil.
With sincere appreciation, Sara Adel.
مع خالص التقدير is a broadly useful professional closing (formal). It matches the respectful opening without escalating to the more ceremonial وتفضلوا بقبول فائق الاحترام, which would be possible in an official letter but disproportionate here.
A compact alternative with a verbal noun
The same core request can be made more compactly with a maṣdar:
أرجو الموافقة على تغيير موعد المقابلة إلى صباح الأربعاء.
ʾarjū l-muwāfaqata ʿalā taghyīri mawʿidi l-muqābalati ʾilā ṣabāḥi l-ʾarbiʿāʾ.
I request approval to change the interview time to Wednesday morning. (Compact administrative style.)
This version is grammatical and useful (formal/administrative), but it hides the person who approves. أرجو أن تسمحي is warmer and makes the female recipient's role explicit; أرجو الموافقة treats approval as an institutional process. Choose based on relationship and genre, not on an imagined scale where more nominal language is automatically more polite.
Comprehension and production
- What exactly does ذلك الموعد refer to?
- Which two subjunctive verbs identify the director as a woman?
- Why does the message use أنا in the first body sentence but omit it before later first-person verbs?
- How does the conditional sentence make the request easier to answer?
For production, write a four-sentence email to a male course coordinator asking to submit an assignment on Thursday instead of Tuesday. Change the heading to a masculine title, use أكتب إليك with masculine -ka, and request أرجو أن تسمح لي.... Include one fallback and close at the same professional distance.
Common Mistakes
Translating “Dear” with inappropriate intimacy
❌ عزيزتي مديرة القبول التي لا أعرفها،
Inappropriate register—the message itself says the writer does not know the recipient, so عزيزتي creates false intimacy.
✅ الأستاذة مديرة شؤون الطلبة المحترمة،
al-ʾustādhatu mudīratu shuʾūni ṭ-ṭalabati l-muḥtarama(h),
Dear Director of Student Affairs, (addressing a woman formally)
Keeping indicative nūn after light أن
❌ أرجو أن تقترحين موعدا آخر.
Incorrect—light أن governs the subjunctive, so feminine singular تقترحين loses nūn.
✅ أرجو أن تقترحي موعدا يناسب جدول القسم.
ʾarjū ʾan taqtariḥī mawʿidan yunāsibu jadwala l-qism.
Please suggest a time that suits the department's schedule. (Addressing one woman.)
Mismatching the title and adjective
❌ الأستاذة مدير البرنامج المحترم،
Incorrect for a female director—the occupational title and its adjective should both be feminine.
✅ الأستاذة مديرة البرنامج المحترمة،
al-ʾustādhatu mudīratu l-barnāmaji l-muḥtarama(h),
Dear Program Director, (addressing a woman)
Putting a noun directly after light أن
❌ أرجو أن تغيير الموعد في أسرع وقت.
Incorrect—light أن must introduce an imperfect subjunctive verb, not the verbal noun تغيير.
✅ أرجو تأكيد موعد المقابلة قبل ظهر الخميس، إن أمكن.
ʾarjū taʾkīda mawʿidi l-muqābalati qabla ẓuhri l-khamīsi, ʾin ʾamkan.
Please confirm the interview time before noon on Thursday, if possible.
Key Takeaways
- A useful formal email aligns subject line, title, opening, request, fallback, and closing.
- أرجو أن + subjunctive keeps the requested action finite and marks the person expected to perform it.
- Title and agreement choices reveal recipient gender: مديرة، المحترمة، إليكِ، تسمحي، تقترحي.
- Pronouns such as ذلك and نفسه create cohesion only when their antecedents are unmistakable.
- Precision and a viable response path make a request courteous; ceremonial length by itself does not.
Now practice Arabic
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