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This lesson introduces respectful and common vocabulary related to faith, worship, and spiritual concepts.

### Prayer and the Sacred

The core of many spiritual practices is prayer. The verb for "to pray" is صلى. When describing places, books, or ideas as "sacred" or "holy", use the adjective مقدس. The word for "soul" or "spirit" is روح.

To talk about when a continuous or repeated action happens, use the conjunction عندما (when). Notice how it links two clauses together in a single sentence to show how one action relates to another.

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### Faith and Fasting

In Arabic, the concept of "faith" or "belief" is إيمان. To express knowing or believing *that* something is the case, use the conjunction أن (that) to connect the main verb to the noun clause.

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Another important spiritual practice is fasting. The verb "to fast" is صام, and the noun form (fasting) is صيام. Both of these are forms of عبادة (worship).

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### Prophets and Believing In

When discussing spiritual leaders and figures, the word for a "prophet" is نبي.

If you want to say that you "believe in" a person, idea, or text, use the verb آمن. Importantly, this verb must always be followed by the preposition بـ (in) attached directly to the object of belief.

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### Nouns of Practice and Past-Tense Time Clauses

While we learned the verb to pray earlier, the noun form "prayer" is صلاة. You will often see it paired with other spiritual concepts.

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To express "when" specifically with past-tense actions, Arabic often uses the conjunction لما. Like عندما, it sets the scene for another action to occur, but is strongly associated with completed events.

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Religion & Spirituality

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

interrogative

noun

numeral

particle

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite article and locatives (الـ)

Basic noun gender (ة)

Sun and moon letters

Singular subject pronouns (أنا، أنت، هو، هي)

Indefinite nouns and nominal sentences (ـٌ)

Demonstrative pronouns for 'this' (هذا / هذه)

Separate prepositions (في، من، إلى، على)

Attributive adjectives

Predicative adjectives

Yes/No questions (هل، أ)

Basic questions (من، ما، أين)

Singular possessive pronouns (ـي، ـك، ـه، ـها)

Plural subject pronouns (نحن، أنتم، هم)

Plural possessive pronouns (ـنا، ـكم، ـهم)

Noun possession

Attached prepositions (بـ، لـ، كـ)

Pronouns with prepositions

Having and possessing (عند، لـ، مع)

Regular plural nouns (ـون، ـين، ـات)

Broken plurals

Dual nouns (ـان / ـين)

Plural and distant demonstratives (هؤلاء، ذلك، تلك)

Non-human plural agreement

Present tense singular verbs

Verbal sentences (VSO)

Present tense plural verbs

Topicalized sentences (SVO)

The indefinite accusative case (ـاً)

Verb object pronouns (-ني، -ك، -ه)

Present tense negation (لا)

Question words with verbs (متى، كيف...)

Adverbs of time and place

The future tense (سـ / سوف)

Intentions and desires (أن)

Negating states and possession (ليس)

Past tense singular suffixes

Past tense plural suffixes

Negating past events (ما)

Singular commands

Numbers 1 to 10

Number agreement for 1 and 2 (واحد، اثنان)

Asking how many (كم)

Numbers 3 to 10 (ثلاثة إلى عشرة)

Ordinal numbers 1 to 10 (الأول، الثاني)

Basic conjunctions (فـ، أو، لكن)

Ordering at a café (واحد، اثنان)

Food and drink with conjunctions (و، ف، أو، لكن)

There is and there are (هناك / ليس هناك)

Direct address (يا)

Giving reasons (لأنّ)

Relative pronouns (الذي / التي)

Quantifiers (كل / بعض)

The past tense of 'to be' (كان)

Past possession

Numbers 11 to 19 and tens to 80

Telling time (الساعة)

This book vs this is a book (هذا الكتاب، هذا كتاب)

Greetings (مرحبا، السلام عليكم)

How are you? and goodbye (كيف حالك، مع السلامة)

Nationalities (مصري، مصرية)

Roots and patterns (كتب، كتاب، مكتب)

Politeness (من فضلك، آسف)

Complex possession chains

Colors and traits (أفعل / فعلاء)

Plural colors and traits (فُعْل)

Comparative adjectives (أفعل من)

Superlative adjectives (أفعل)

Adverbs of manner (ـاً)

The nominative case (ـُ)

The genitive case (ـِ)

The accusative case (ـَ)

Dual noun cases (ـان / ـين)

Masculine plurals and 'the best of' (أفضل النجارين)

Emphasizing sentences (إنّ)

Connecting clauses (أنّ)

Reporting speech (قال إنّ)

Expressing contrast (لكنّ)

Comparison and probability (كأنّ, لعلّ)

Distant plural pointing (أولئك)

Plural relative pronouns (الذين, اللواتي)

Past habits (كان + present)

Ongoing actions (ما زال)

Masculine plurals online (مبرمجون، مؤثرون)

Perfective past (قد)

Probability (قد)

The subjunctive mood (أن)

Question	Answer
to pray	صلىsallâ
sacred	مقدسmuqaddas
The employees prayed in the sacred mosque.	صلى الموظفون في المسجد المقدس.sallâ al-muwazzafûna fî al-masjidi al-muqaddasi
soul	روحrûh
When I pray, I feel peace in my soul.	عندما أصلي، أشعر بسلام في روحي.'indamâ usallî, ash'uru bisalâmin fî rûhî.
faith	إيمانîmân
She knew that faith is a beautiful thing.	عرفت أن الإيمان شيء جميل.'arafat 'anna l-îmâna shay'un jamîlun.
to fast	صامsâma
The women fast during the day.	تصوم النساء في النهار.tasûmu an-nisâ'u fî an-nahâr
fasting	صيامsiyâmun
worship	عبادةibâda
Fasting is worship for the soul.	الصيام عبادة للروح.as-siyâmu 'ibâdatun lir-rûhi.
prophet	نبيnabiyy
When the prophet spoke, the people listened to him.	عندما تكلم النبي، استمع الناس إليه.'indamâ takallama an-nabiyyu, istama'a an-nâsu ilayhi.
to believe in	آمن بâmana bi
We believe in the prophet and the sacred book.	نحن نؤمن بالنبي والكتاب المقدس.nahnu nu'minu bin-nabiyyi wal-kitâbi al-muqaddasi
prayer	صلاةsalâh
Faith and prayer are important in life.	الإيمان والصلاة مهمان في الحياة.al-'îmânu wa-ṣṣalâtu muhimmâni fî-l-ḥayâti
He believes that fasting is a difficult act of worship.	يعتقد أن الصيام عبادة صعبة.yataqidu anna as-siyama ibadatun sabatun
I read a book about the life of the prophet.	قرأت كتابا عن حياة النبي.qara'tu kitâban 'an hayâti n-nabiyyi
She went to the sacred temple for worship.	ذهبت إلى المعبد المقدس للعبادة.dhahabat ilâ al-ma'badi al-muqaddasi lil-'ibâdah
The doctors prayed after the meeting.	صلى الأطباء بعد الاجتماع.sallaa al-aTibbaa'u ba'da al-ijtimaa'i
The women believed in God.	آمنت النساء بالله.âmanati n-nisâ'u billâhi
We woke up early for prayer.	استيقظنا مبكرا للصلاة.istayqaznâ mubakkiran lissalâh.
When the sick man fasted, he became tired.	لما صام الرجل المريض، أصبح متعبا.lammâ ṣâma r-rajulu l-marîḍu, aṣbaḥa mut'aban
When the girl prayed, she felt that she was happy.	عندما صلت البنت، شعرت بأنها سعيدة.'indamâ sallati-l-bintu, sha'arat bi'annahâ sa'îda.
We remembered that the sacred mosque is big.	تذكرنا أن المسجد المقدس كبير.tadhakkarnâ anna-l-masjida-l-muqaddasa kabîr