Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

### Boats and Setting Sail

When taking to the water, you might travel in a small boat (قارب) or a larger ship (سفينة). Out on the water, you will inevitably encounter a wave (موج). 

To say a ship has "set sail," Arabic uses the verb أبحر, which is built from the root word for "sea."

{{item:1137470}}

{{item:1137473}}

### Parts of the Vessel

To describe your marine adventure, you will need to know the parts of a boat. To talk about the "deck of the ship," use the possession structure (إضافة): سطح السفينة (literally "the deck of the ship").

You should also know the mast (سارية), the sail (شراع), and the heavy anchor (مرساة) used to keep the ship in place.

{{item:1137474}}

{{item:1137477}}

{{item:1137479}}

### The Crew and the Destination

A ship requires people to run it. A single sailor is a بحار, while the entire crew is referred to as the طاقم. The person in charge of them all is the captain (قبطان).

Smaller boats might require the crew to use a paddle (مجداف) to navigate and finally reach their destination, such as a distant island (جزيرة).

{{item:1137482}}

{{item:1137492}}

{{item:1137495}}

Sailing & Boats

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
boat	قاربqârib
wave	موجmawj
The small boat sank because of the high wave.	غرق القارب الصغير بسبب الموج العالي.ghariqa l-qâribu s-saghîru bisababi l-mawji l-'âlî.
ship	سفينةsafîna
to set sail	أبحرabhara
The ship had set sail before the storm.	كانت السفينة قد أبحرت قبل العاصفة.kânati as-safînatu qad abharat qabla al'âsifah
Aisha looked from the ship's deck.	نظرت عائشة من سطح السفينة.nazharat â'ishatu min sat'hi s-safînati
mast	ساريةsâriya
sail	شراعshirâ'
The wind broke the mast and the sail fell.	كسرت الرياح السارية وسقط الشراع.kasarati r-riyâhu s-sâriyata wa saqaṭa sh-shirâ'u
anchor	مرساةmirsâh
Fatima raised the anchor and the boat set sail.	رفعت فاطمة المرساة وأبحر القارب.rafa'at fâtimatu al-mirsâta wa abhara al-qâribu
sailor	بحارbahhâr
paddle	مجدافmijdâf
The sailor used the paddle to move the boat.	استخدم البحار المجداف ليحرك القارب.istakhdama al-bahhâru al-mijdâfa liyuharrika al-qâriba
We lost the paddle because of a strong wave.	فقدنا المجداف بسبب موج قوي.faqadnâ al-mijdâfa bisababi mawjin qawiyyin.
Everyone went to the ship's deck except the sailor.	ذهب الجميع إلى سطح السفينة إلا البحار.dhahaba al-jamî'u ilâ sathi as-safînati illâ al-bahhâra.
Fatima opened the large sail thanks to the wind.	فتحت فاطمة الشراع الكبير بفضل الرياح.fataḥat fâṭimatu ash-shirâ'a al-kabîra bifaḍli ar-riyâḥ
The boat had lost the mast and the anchor.	كان القارب قد فقد السارية والمرساة.kâna al-qâribu qad faqada as-sâriyata wal-mirsâta
captain	قبطانqubtân
Captain Youssef raised the boat's sail.	رفع القبطان يوسف شراع القارب.rafa'a al-qubtânu yûsufu shirâ'a al-qâribi.
island	جزيرةjazira
Aisha discovered a very distant island.	اكتشفت عائشة جزيرة بعيدة جدا.iktashafat 'â'ishatu jazîratan ba'îdatan jiddan.
crew	طاقمtâqam
The crew must listen to the captain.	يجب على الطاقم أن يستمع إلى القبطان.yajibu alâ at-tâqimi an yastamia ilâ al-qubtân
Tariq had not lowered the anchor before the storm.	لم يكن طارق قد أنزل المرساة قبل العاصفة.lam yakun târiqun qad 'anzala al-mirsâta qabla al-âsifah
Maryam can reach the island by boat.	يمكن لمريم أن تصل إلى الجزيرة بالقارب.yumkinu limaryama an tasila ilâ aljazîrati bilqâribi
The captain sailed with the crew to the island.	أبحر القبطان مع الطاقم إلى الجزيرة.abhara al-qubtânu ma'a at-tâqimi ilâ al-jazîrati