Same letters, a second word
Arabic is printed without short vowels or the doubling mark, so a word you know can hide a second word. Four of today's words share every letter with a word you have already met.
| you know | the new word |
|---|---|
| سِنّ tooth | سِنّ age |
| حَضَرَ to attend | حَضَّرَ to prepare |
| عَرَفَ to know | عَرَّفَ to introduce; to define |
| مُنَظِّم organizer | مُنَظَّم organized, tidy |
Tooth or age?
سِنّ sounds the same in both meanings, so only the sentence decides. After في and before a number, it is an age:
| My sister started working at the age of twenty. | بدأت أختي العمل في سن العشرين.bada'at ukhtî al-'amala fî sinni al-'ishrîn |
Here both meet: the first سن is lost, the second has a number after it.
| My son lost his first tooth at the age of six. | فقد ابني أول سن له في سن السادسة. |
A doubled middle letter
حَضَّرَ and عَرَّفَ double their middle letter. You hear it but do not see it, so look at the object: you attend a party, but you prepare the food.
| The guests attended the party, and my sister prepared the food. | حضر الضيوف الحفلة، وحضرت أختي الطعام. |
عَرَّفَ takes a person and then على to:
| My friend introduced me to her brother. | عرفتني صديقتي على أخيها. |
The organizer and the organized
مُنَظِّم with i is the person who organizes (an active participle); مُنَظَّم with a is the thing or person that is organized (a passive participle):
| The organizer of the party was very organized. | كان منظم الحفلة منظما جدا. |
Three more words about people
مُطَلَّق divorced, أَمِين trustworthy and مُرْهَق exhausted add ة for a woman, like any adjective.
| My aunt is divorced and has two sons. | خالتي مطلقة وعندها ابنان. |
Here مرهقة describes the state the nurse is in as she comes home, like any word of state (حال):
| The nurse came back home exhausted. | رجعت الممرضة إلى البيت مرهقة. |
